Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman
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Name	Bessie Coleman
Caption	Coleman in 1922
Birth date	January 26, 1892
Birth place	Atlanta, Texas
Death date	April 30, 1926
Death place	Jacksonville, Florida
Known for	First African-American and first Native American woman pilot

Bessie Coleman was a pioneering aviator who became the first African-American woman and the first woman of Native American descent to earn an international pilot's license. Facing racial discrimination and sexism in the United States, she traveled to France to earn her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in 1921. Coleman became a famous barnstorming and air show performer, known for her daring aerial maneuvers and her commitment to challenging societal barriers, inspiring future generations in both aviation and the civil rights movement.

Early life and education

Bessie Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas, to George Coleman and Susan Coleman, who were sharecroppers of African-American and Native American descent. The family moved to Waxahachie, Texas, where she attended a segregated, one-room schoolhouse, excelling in mathematics before attending the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University) for one term until finances forced her to leave. In 1915, she moved to Chicago, Illinois, joining her brothers and working as a manicurist at the White Sox Barber Shop on the city's South Side, where she first heard thrilling stories of World War I pilots from returning veterans, sparking her aviation ambition.

Aviation career

Denied entry by every flight school in the United States due to her race and gender, Coleman was advised by Robert S. Abbott, publisher of the Chicago Defender, and banker Jesse Binga to train abroad. She learned French at the Berlitz Language Schools and sailed to France in 1920, where she trained on a Nieuport 82 biplane at the Caudron Brothers School of Aviation in Le Crotoy. On June 15, 1921, she was awarded her international pilot's license (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale license number 18398) by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, becoming the first African-American woman to achieve this feat. To further hone her skills, she took advanced lessons in Germany with aircraft designers like Anthony Fokker before returning to the United States, where she made her first U.S. public flight in 1922 at an event honoring the 369th Infantry Regiment on Long Island.

Coleman quickly gained fame as a "Queen Bess" barnstormer, performing daring aerial tricks like loop-the-loops, figure-eights, and near-ground dips in Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplanes. She used her celebrity to advocate for African American advancement, refusing to perform at segregated events and lecturing at churches and theaters in cities like Los Angeles, Memphis, and Savannah to inspire Black audiences and raise funds for a school of her own. Her dream was to establish a flight school for African Americans, and she took a managerial role with the Air Circus in Jacksonville, Florida, to continue fundraising and performing.

Legacy and honors

Bessie Coleman's legacy as a trailblazer profoundly influenced later figures in aviation and civil rights, including William J. Powell, who founded the Bessie Coleman Aero Club in Los Angeles, and inspired pilots like the Tuskegee Airmen. Numerous institutions bear her name, including the Bessie Coleman Boulevard in Chicago, the Bessie Coleman Middle School in Cedar Hill, Texas, and the Bessie Coleman Branch of the Chicago Public Library. She has been honored with a U.S. postage stamp in 1995, induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame and the National Women's Hall of Fame, and is celebrated annually on the anniversary of her license achievement. Her story is a cornerstone in narratives of both women in aviation and the struggle for racial equality in the early 20th century.

Death and memorials

On April 30, 1926, in Jacksonville, Florida, Coleman was preparing for a parachute jump at an air show sponsored by the Negro Welfare League. During a test flight with her mechanic and publicist, William D. Wills, the Curtiss JN-4 aircraft unexpectedly went into a dive and then an uncontrolled spin, likely due to a loose wrench jammed in the control gears. Coleman, who was not wearing a seatbelt as she was scouting the terrain from the cockpit, was thrown from the plane at about 2,000 feet and died instantly upon impact; Wills also perished in the subsequent crash. Her funeral in Chicago, attended by thousands, was led by activist Ida B. Wells and held at the Greater Salem Baptist Church before burial at the Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island, Illinois. Memorials include gravesite monuments, the annual flyover known as the "Bessie Coleman Flyover" by the U.S. Coast Guard and other aviators, and her inclusion in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum collections.

Category:American aviators Category:1892 births Category:1926 deaths