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Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in a one-room, dirt-floored cabin in Atlanta, Texas, to George and Susan Coleman, both children of slaves. When Bessie was two, her father, a day laborer, moved his family to Waxahachie, Texas, where he bought a quarter-acre of land and built a three-room house in which two more daughters were born. In 1901 George Coleman left his family, and Bessie's mother and two older brothers went to work, leaving Bessie to care for her two younger sisters.

BOOKS HELP BESSIE FIND HOW SHE WOULD

"AMOUNT TO SOMETHING"

While the rest of her siblings worked in the cotton fields, her mother recognized that Bessie was gifted in math. So, at the age of eight, Bessie worked as the family bookkeeper. And, as Baptists, Bessie and her siblings learned to read and write by reciting from the Bible each evening. She walked four miles each day to the one-room school in Waxahachie, completing all eight grades. She often brought library books home about African-American heroes and read them to the family at night. Soon, Bessie established her position as family leader, reading aloud to her siblings and her mother at night. Bessie often assured her mother that she intended to "amount to something" with her life.

An Older Brother Pushes Bessie

To Go For Her Dream

After high school Bessie worked as a laundress. But, yearning for more, she took her hard-earned savings and enrolled at the Colored Agricultural and Normal University, a teachers college in Langston, Oklahoma. It was here that she read about the Wright Brothers and Harriet Quimby, a woman pilot. But, unfortunately, Bessie only had enough money to complete one term at the university.

Back in Waxahachie, Bessie worked again as a laundress until 1915 when she moved to Chicago to live with her older brother, Walter. Within months she became a manicurist and moved to a place of her own. In 1920, her brother John, a World War I veteran, began teasing Bessie that French women were better than American women. "They could even fly airplanes," he said. That was exactly what Bessie needed to hear. Her brother's taunting inspired her to finally figure out how she was going "to amount to something" – she would become a pilot!

LEARNING TO FLY

But pursuing this dream was not easy. It was hard enough for a white woman to get flying lessons. For black women in the U. S. it was impossible. When no white pilot was willing to teach her to fly, Bessie set out to find a sponsor, and found one in Robert Abbott, publisher of the nation's largest African American weekly, the Chicago Defender. Abbott suggested that Bessie go to France where, he insisted, the French were not racists.

So, in late 1920 Bessie Coleman left for France. There she completed flight training at the best school in France and was awarded her Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (F.A.I.; international pilot's license) license on June 15, 1921, becoming the first U. S. licensed black pilot.

Later that year Bessie returned to the U.S., but was unable to find anyone who would give her the advanced training she needed to become a performing, barnstormer stunt pilot. So, in 1922 she returned to Europe to receive advanced flight training.

"BRAVE BESSIE" FINDS HER PASSION & MISSION

Back in New York in August 1922, Bessie outlined to reporters two goals for the remainder of her life: to be a leader in introducing aviation to her race, and to start a school for aviators of any race.

On September 3, 1922 Bessie appeared in her first American air show at an airstrip near New York City, and was soon proclaimed “the world’s greatest woman flyer” by several white and black newspapers. In interviews,Bessie had poise, self-assurance and an eloquence that belied her simple childhood upbringing in rural Texas.

After this highly successful debut, Bessie toured the country, performing amazing daredevil maneuvers wherever she went, earning her the name, “Brave Bessie.” She also spent time lecturing and encouraging young black Americans to pursue careers in aviation.

In 1923 Bessie purchased a small plane, but crashed it on the way to her first scheduled West Coast air show. The plane was destroyed and Coleman suffered injuries that hospitalized her for three months. Returning to Chicago to recover, it took her another eighteen months to find financial backers for a series of shows in Texas. Her flights and theater appearances there during the summer of 1925 were highly successful, earning her enough to make a down payment on another plane. Her new fame was also bringing in enough money to open her school for fliers.

A TRAGIC ENDING IN JACKSONVILLE

Early in 1926, Bessie gave flight exhibitions in Florida. She decided to stay in Orlando and open up a beauty shop to raise more money for her aviation school. With the help of a wealthy Orlando businessman, Bessie was able to purchase another plane and arranged to have it flown to her next performance scheduled for May 1, 1926 in Jacksonville, Florida. But, the mechanic-pilot had to make three forced landings en route.

On the evening of April 30, Bessie and her mechanic-pilot William Wills took her plane on a trial flight. William piloted while Bessie sat in the other cockpit to survey the area over which she was to fly and parachute jump the next day. Bessie's seat belt was unattached because she had to lean out over the edge of the plane to pick the best sites for her program. Suddenly the plane accelerated, flipped over, and Bessie was thrown from the plane, falling 1,500 feet. Upon impact, every bone in her body was crushed and she died. The plane crashed nearby, killing the pilot.

Thousands of people mourned Bessie Coleman's death – from Jacksonville and Orlando to Chicago, where her body was transported by train. Three funerals were held, one in each city. An estimated 10,000 people paid their last respects at the memorial service at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago. She was buried at Lincoln Cemetery.

BESSIE'S LEGACY:

PIONEERING ACHIEVEMENTS

AS AN AVIATOR & AS A CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER   

In the years since her death, Bessie Coleman has frequently been honored for her pioneering achievements as an aviator and civil rights advocate, including with a U. S. postage stamp. She thrilled audiences with her piloting skills and charmed them with her eloquence and poise.

But, just as important, Bessie Coleman became a role model for women and African Americans, and used her influence to fight segregation and effect change whenever she could.