Bessie Coleman was an early American civil aviator.
33 Facts About Bessie Coleman
2.
Bessie Coleman was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license.
3.
Bessie Coleman earned her license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale on June 15,1921, and was the first Black person to earn an international pilot's license.
4.
Bessie Coleman attended one term of college at Langston University.
5.
Bessie Coleman developed an early interest in flying, but African Americans, Native Americans, and women had no flight training opportunities in the United States, so she saved and obtained sponsorships in Chicago to go to France for flight school.
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Bessie Coleman then became a high-profile pilot in notoriously dangerous air shows in the United States.
7.
Bessie Coleman was popularly known as "Queen Bess" and "Brave Bessie", and hoped to start a school for African-American fliers.
8.
Bessie Coleman's pioneering role was an inspiration to early pilots and to the African-American and Native American communities.
9.
Elizabeth Coleman was born on January 26,1892, in Atlanta, Texas, the tenth of 13 children of George Coleman, an African American who had Cherokee grandparents, and Susan Coleman, who was African American.
10.
When Bessie Coleman was two years old, her family moved to Waxahachie, Texas, where they lived as sharecroppers.
11.
Bessie Coleman began attending school in Waxahachie at the age of six.
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Bessie Coleman walked four miles each day to her segregated, one-room school, where she loved to read and established herself as an outstanding math student.
13.
Bessie Coleman returned to Oklahoma, or Indian Territory, as it was then called, to find better opportunities, but his wife and children did not follow.
14.
At the age of 12, Bessie Coleman was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church School on scholarship.
15.
Bessie Coleman completed one term before her money ran out and she returned home.
16.
In 1915, at the age of 23, Bessie Coleman moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she lived with her brothers.
17.
Bessie Coleman took a French-language class at the Berlitz Language Schools in Chicago and then traveled to Paris, France, on November 20,1920, so that she could earn her pilot license.
18.
On June 15,1921, Bessie Coleman became the first black woman and first Native American to earn an aviation pilot's license and the first black person and first Native American to earn an international aviation license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.
19.
Bessie Coleman became a media sensation when she returned to the United States.
20.
Bessie Coleman spent the next two months in France completing an advanced course in aviation.
21.
Bessie Coleman then left for the Netherlands to meet with Anthony Fokker, one of the world's most distinguished aircraft designers.
22.
Bessie Coleman traveled to Germany, where she visited the Fokker Corporation and received additional training from one of the company's chief pilots.
23.
Bessie Coleman then returned to the United States to launch her career in exhibition flying.
24.
Bessie Coleman primarily flew Curtiss JN-4 Jenny biplanes and other aircraft that had been army surplus aircraft left over from the war.
25.
Bessie Coleman made her first appearance in an American airshow on September 3,1922, at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I Held at Curtiss Field on Long Island near New York City, and sponsored by her friend Abbott and the Chicago Defender newspaper, the show billed Coleman as "the world's greatest woman flier" and featured aerial displays by eight other American ace pilots, and a jump by black parachutist Hubert Julian.
26.
Six weeks later, Bessie Coleman returned to Chicago, performing in an air show, this time to honor World War I's 370th Infantry Regiment.
27.
Bessie Coleman never lost sight of her childhood vow to one day "amount to something".
28.
Bessie Coleman quickly gained a reputation as a skilled and daring pilot who would stop at nothing to complete a difficult stunt.
29.
Bessie Coleman absolutely refused to participate in aviation events that prohibited the attendance of African Americans.
30.
The couple, who treated her as a daughter, persuaded her to stay, and Bessie Coleman opened a beauty shop in Orlando to earn extra money to buy her own plane.
31.
Bessie Coleman gladly accepted, hoping the publicity would help to advance her career and provide her with some of the money she needed to establish her own flying school.
32.
Bessie Coleman had recently purchased a Curtiss JN-4 in Dallas.
33.
Bessie Coleman was planning a parachute jump for the next day, and wanted to examine the terrain as seen from the cockpit.