Flying Chocolate: Happy BirthdayBessie Coleman , First African American Women to Hold Pilot’s License in 1921

by Samuel Gonzalez | January 26, 2017 7:33 pm

I never heard of this woman until I came across her name by accident on Google. But, then again thanks to Hidden Figures, I never knew Black women worked for NASA and helped John Glenn orbit the Earth in 1962. Bessie Coleman achieved a great accomplishment and maybe a movie about her life will in the future.?

Wikipedia[1] reports Bessie Coleman (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926) was an American civil aviator[2]. She was the first woman of African American[3] descent, and the first of Native American[4] descent, to hold a pilot license.[1][5][2][6][3][7] She achieved her international pilot license[8] in 1921.[2][6][3][7][4][9][5][10]

Born to a family of sharecroppers in Texas, she went into the cotton fields at a young age but also studied in a small segregated school and went on to attend one term of college at Langston University[11]. She developed an early interest in flying, but because neither African Americans, nor women had flight school opportunities in the United States, she saved up money to go to France to become a licensed pilot. She soon became a successful aviation show pilot in the United States, and hoped to start a school for African American fliers. She died in in a plane crash in 1926 while testing a new aircraft. Her pioneering role was an inspiration to early pilots and to the African American community.

More here[12]

Talented and beautiful. She was quite a woman who died way too young.

The Last Tradition[13]

Endnotes:
  1. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman
  2. civil aviator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_aviation
  3. African American: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American
  4. Native American: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States
  5. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman#cite_note-1
  6. [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman#cite_note-Women_in_Aviation_International-2
  7. [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman#cite_note-essence-3
  8. international pilot license: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_licensing_and_certification
  9. [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman#cite_note-phof-4
  10. [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman#cite_note-5
  11. Langston University: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_University
  12. here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman
  13. The Last Tradition: http://www.thelasttradition.com/

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