Elizabeth in which others know her as Bessie Coleman ... January 26, 1892 - April 30, 1926) was the first female African American pilot ever to hold an international pilot license. Bessie Coleman fought discrimination beacuse she wanted to follow her dream of becoming a pilot. Bessie became a very skilled barnstormer or brainstormer and also aviation educator.
Bessie Coleman was born in Texas in 1892. Jessie's mother was African American and her farther was Native American. Coleman had two brothers and a younger sister. Both her parents were sharecroppers. When Bessie Colman was just two years old, her family moved to Waxahachie, Texas where Bessie went to school as a child. Bessie loved reading and was also very good at math. Her farther Hoped to get a job while they lived in Waxahachie, Texas.
Bessie's farther was very disturbed by the racial barriers in Texas. Her farther believed that the family would be treated a lot better if they moved to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.
while Bessie's farther was unable to convince his wife to accompany him, Bessie's farther left the family when she was just nine years old. Eventually her older brother's grew up and moved away. However Coleman's mother worked as a maid. Bessie helped take care of her younger sisters.
During the cotton harvest, everyone in Bessie's family worked in the fields to earn extra money. However, It was very hot, boring work, and during the harvest, even worse African American children could not go to school. Still, Bessie Coleman managed to finish all eight grades in the local school. She had decided that she wanted to go to college, so she saved her money. In about exactly four years, Bessie Coleman had enough money to begin college. A year later, Coleman ran out of money.
When Coleman was at the age of 23, she boarded a train and made the trip to Chicago. Coleman moved in with her brothers and their wives. Bessie also took a class to learn to become a manicurist, and soon found a job at the White Sox Barber Shop on Chicago's Southside. Although, Coleman wanted to do something more with her life.
Bessie Coleman's friend Robert Abbott told her that she could travel to France to fly. Coleman studied the French language after work at night. She even got a new job managing a restaurant and saved her money. Robert Abbot and her friends helped her pay for the trip. Eventually in 1920, Bessie Coleman went to France on a ship. She learned to be a pilot at the Caudron Brothers' School of Aviation. In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first female African American pilot ever to hold an international pilot license. She even earned it from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
Bessie Coleman eventually went back to the United States to work as a barnstormer, performing tricks and stunts in her airplane. Barnstormers like Coleman flew planes in loops and figure eights and other patterns while audiences watched. She even performed in the United States and Europe. In the 1920s, much of the United States still practiced racial segregation. But Coleman refused to perform at places that did not let African Americans watch equally. For one show in Texas, Coleman refused to perform unless the showrunners let everyone in the audience enter through the same gate instead of making one gate for white people and one for black people. Coleman also taught flying lessons and encouraged women to learn to be pilots.
Coleman wanted to open an aviation school in the United States where black students could learn to be pilots.
In April 1926, Bessie Coleman and her mechanic, William Will, were practicing for a performance the next day. Willam was piloting the plane, when it flipped over and started to dive. Bessie Coleman fell out of the plane and was killed. William Wills was unable to regain control of the plane and it plummeted to the ground. Wills died upon impact and the plane exploded and burst into flames. Although the wreckage of the plane was badly burned, it was later discovered that a wrench used to service the engine had jammed the controls.
Today Coleman is buried in Chicago's Lincoln Cemetery.
