Remembering Bessie Coleman
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Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born on January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. She was born to sharecroppers George and Susan Coleman. Bessie began school at the age of six and walked four miles each day. Despite the limited supply of materials such as chalk and pencils, she was an excellent student. Coleman enjoyed reading and was an outstanding math student. She completed all eight grades of her one room school.
In the year 1901, Colemans life turned upside down. Her father, George Coleman, had left his farm family. He became fed up with all the racial prejudice that existed in Texas. He returned to Oklahoma, but Susan and the children did not go with him.
At the age of eighteen, Bessie took all of her savings to enroll in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University. She was only able to complete one term due to lack of money and was soon forced to return home. By Coleman knowing that there was no future for her in her home town, she went to live with her two brothers in Chicago.
While in Chicago, Bessie began looking for a job. She found a job at the White Sox Barber shop as a manicurist. There were many pilot, that came into the shop, who were returning from World War I. They told her stories about flying in the war. Coleman began to fantasize about being a pilot. Her brother would tease her by saying that French woman are better than African American women because French woman are already pilots. That comment did not change Bessies dream about being a pilot.
Unfortunately, she could not gain admission to American flight schools because she was black, and a woman. A man named, Robert S. Abbott asked Coleman to explore more into why black women cant be pilots. She began to receive financial backing from Jesse Binga (a banker) and the Chicago Defender to promote her cause.
Coleman took French classes at the Berlitz School in Chicago and later traveled to Paris on November 20, 1920. She learned to fly in a Nieuport Type 82 biplane. This plane had a steering system that consisted of a vertical stick in front of the pilot and a rubber bar under the pilots feet. On June 15, 1921, Coleman became not only the first African American woman to earn an international aviation license from the Federation Aeronautique International, but the first African American woman in the world to earn an aviation pilot license.
Coleman then realized, in order to make a living as a civilian aviator she would have to become a “brainstorming” stunt flyer. Returning to Chicago, no one was willing to teach her so in February 1922 she sailed to Europe. She spent the next two months in France to complete an advanced course in aviation. After her course, she left for the Netherlands to meet Anthony Fokker, one of the worlds most famous aircraft designers.
She returned to the United States in September of 1921 and became a media sensation. “Queen Bess” as she was known, was a highly popular draw for the next five years. She was invited to important events, often interviewed by newspapers; she was admired blacks and whites. Coleman primarily flew Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplanes and army surplus planes left over from the war. On February 22, 1922, Colemans plane stalled and crashed leaving her with a broken leg and three broken ribs.
Bessie made