Bessie Coleman
On September 3, 1922, Bessie Coleman Made Her First Flight In An American Airplane, At An Exhibition Honoring The All-Black 15th Infantry Regiment Of The New York National Guard.
Coleman Had Recently Returned From France, Where In 1921, She Had Received A Pilot's
License From The Federation Aeronautique
International. She Was The First Black, As Well As The First American Woman, To Get An International Pilot's License.
Bessie Coleman Was Born In Texas, In 1893, To Sharecropper Parents. She Was Twelfth Of Thirteen Children. She Was Inspired To Become A Pilot By Eugene Jacques Bullard, An African American Who Flew For The French During World War I.
Coleman Was Refused Admission To Flight-Training Schools In America Because Of Her Color And Sex. Subsequently, She Learned To Speak French While Working As A Manicurist. She Went To Paris In 1920, And After Ten Months, Had Her Airplane Pilot's License.
After Returning To America In 1922 --Now A Celebrity -- She Toured The Country Doing Daredevil Stunts At Air Shows.
On April 30, 1926, She Was Killed When Her Plane Crashed During A Test Flight In Jacksonville, Florida. Prior To Her Death, She Had Plans To Open A Flight Training School For African Americans.
"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." -- Hubert Gaddy, Jr.
