The contributions African Americans have had in this country are many, so let’s find out more about the little known, first African American pilot.
Bessie Coleman, born January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas, was described as a daring woman due to the acrobatic tricks she performed in her plane which earned her the nicknames “Brave Bessie” and “Queen Bess.”
After being denied attending flight school in the U.S., Coleman went off to France where she earned her pilot’s license. It wasn’t a walk in the park being a woman and also being “black,” but Coleman accomplished what she set out to do.
She later returned to the U.S. where she would perform at certain airshows as long as “blacks” were allowed to watch. Coleman had dreams of opening a flight school to teach other “black” women to fly before her untimely death in 1926.
Source: Smithsonian Institute
Reporting for WGRT – Choze Powell
