"Elizabeth "Bessie Coleman"(January 26,1892-April 30,1926)

Was an American civil aviator.She was the first female pilot of African American descent and the first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license.Bessie was born in Atlanta Texas,the tenth of thirteen children to sharecroppers George and Susan Coleman.Her father was part Cherokee.Bessie began school at age six and had to walk four miles each day to her all-black,one-room school.Despite sometimes lacking such materials as chalk and pencils,Bessie was an excellent student.She loved to read and established herself as an outstanding math student.She completed all eight grades of her one-room school.Every year,Bessie routine of school,chores,and church was interrupted by the cotton harvest.In 1901,Bessie life took a dramatic turn:George Coleman left his family.He had become fed up with the racial barriers that existed in Texas.He returned to Oklahoma,or Indian Territory as it was then called,to find better opportunities,but Susan and the children did not go with him.At the age of twelve,she was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church.when she turned eighteen,Bessie took all of her savings and enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now called Langston University) in Langston,Oklahoma.She completed only one term before she ran out of money and was forced to return home.Bessie knew there was no future for her in her home town,so she went to live with two of her brothers in Chicago while she looked for a job.In 1915,at the age of twenty-three,she moved to Chicago Illinois,where she lived with her brothers and worked at the White Sox Barber Shop as a manicurist.there she heard tales of the world from pilots who were returning from home from World War 1,they told stories about flying in the war,Bessie started to fantasize about a pilot.Her brother used to tease her by commenting that French women were better than African-American women because French women were pilots already.She could not gain admission to American flight schools because she was black and a woman.No black U.S. aviator would train her either.Robert S.Abbott,founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender,encouraged her to study abroad.Bessie received financial backing Jesse Binga (a banker) and the Defender,which capitalized on her flamboyant personality and her beauty to promote the newspaper,and to promote her cause.She took a French language class at the Berlitz in Chicago,and then traveled to Paris on November 20, 1920.Bessie learned to fly in a Nieuport Type 82 biplane,with a steering system that consisted of a vertical stick the thickness of a baseball bat in the front of front of the pilot and a rubber bar under the pilot's feet.On June 15,1921,Bessie became not only the first African-American woman to earn an international aviation license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale,but the first African-American in the world to earn an aviation license.Determined to polish her skills,She spent the next two months taking lessons from a French ace pilot near Paris,and in September sailed for New York.Bessie quickly realized that in order to make a living as a civilian aviator-the age of commercial flight was still a decade or more in the future-she would need to become a "barnstorming"stunt flyer,and performing for paying audiences.But to succeed in this highly competitive arena,she would need advanced lessons and more extensive repertoire.Returning to Chicago,She could find no one willing to tech her,so in February 1922,she sailed again to Europe.She spent the next two months in French completing an advanced course in aviation,then left for the Netherlands to meet with Anthony Fokker one of the world's most distinguished aircraft designers.She also traveled to Germany,where she visited Fooker Corporation and received additional training from one the company's chief pilots.Bessie return to the United States  with the confidence and enthusiasm she needed to launch her career in exhibition flying.In September 1921,she became a media sensation when she returned to the United States."Queen Bess,"as she was known,was a highly popular draw for the next five years.Invited to important events and often interviewed by newspapers,she was admired by both blacks and whites.She primarily flew Curtis JN-4 "Jenny"biplanes and army surplus aircraft left over from the war.In Los Angeles,California, she broke a leg and three ribs when her plane stalled and crashed on February 22,1922.She made her first appearance in American airshow on September 3, 1922,at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th American Expeditionary Force of World War1.Held at Curtis Field on Long Island near New York City and sponsored by her friend Robert and the Chicago Defender newspaper,the show billed Bessie as "the world's greatest woman flyer"and featured aerial displays by eight other American ace pilots.Six weeks later she returned to Chicago to deliver a stunning demonstration of daredevils maneuvers-including figure eights,loops, and near-grounds dips-to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Checkerboard Airdrome (now Chicago Midway Airport).But the thrill of stunt flying and the admiration of cheering crowds were only part of her dream.Bessie never lost sight of her childhood vow to one "amount to something."As a professional aviator,Bessie would often be criticized by the press for her opportunist though her career nature and flamboyant style she brought to her exhibition flying.However,she also quickly gained a reputation as a skilled and daring pilot who would stop at nothing to complete a difficult stunt.Through her media contacts,she was offered a role in a feature-lengh film titled Shadow and Sunshine,to be fancied by the African-American Seminole Film Producing Company.She gladly accepted,hoping the publicity would help her to advance her career and provide her with some of the money she needed to establish her own flying school.But upon learning that the first scene in the movie required her to appear in tattered clothes,with a walking stick and pack on her back,she refused to proceed."Clearly"wrote Doris Rich,[Bessie] walking off the movie set was a statement of principle.Opportunist though she was about her career,she was never an opportunist about race.She had no intention of perpetuating the the derogatory image most whites had of blacks.Bessie would not live long enough to fulfill her greatest dream-establishing a school for young,black aviators-but her pioneering achievement served as an inspiration for a generation of African American men and women."Because of Bessie Coleman,"wrote Lieutenant William J. Powell in Black Wings 1934,dedicated to Bessie,"We have overcome that which was worse than racial barriers.We have overcome the barriers within ourselves and dared to dream.William served in a segregated unit during World War 1,and tirelessly promoted the cause of black aviation though his book,his journals,and the Bessie Coleman Aero Club,which he founded in 1929.On April 30,1926,Bessie at age of 34 was in Jacksonville Florida.She had recently purchased a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny in Dallas,Texas and had it flown to Jacksonville in preparation for an airshow.Her friends and family did not consider the aircraft safe and implored her not to fly it.Her mechanic and publicity agent,William Willis,was flying the plane with her in the other seat.Bessie did not put on her seat belt because she was planning a parachute jump for the next day and wanted to look over the cockpit to examine the terrain.About 10 minutes into the flight,the plane did not pull out of a planned nosedive;instead it accelerated into a tailspin.Bessie was was thrown from the plane at 500 feet and died instantly when she hit the ground.William Willis was unable to gain control of the plane and it plummeted to the ground.William died upon impact and the plane burst into flames.Although the wreckage of the plane was badly burned,it was later discovered that wrench used to service the engine had slid into the gearbox and jammed it,causing the plane to spin out of control.Experts noted at the time that gears in more modern planes had a  protective covering-an accident like this need not have happened.Her funeral in Jacksonville, Florida on May2,1926 was attended by 5,000 mourners.Many of them,including Ida B.Wells,were prominent members of black society.Three days later, her remains arrived in Orlando, Florida,where thousands more attended a funeral at the city's Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.Her last journey on May 5 was to Chicago's Pilgrim Baptist Church.An estimated 10,000 people filed past the coffin all night and all day.After funeral services,she was buried in the Lincoln Cemetery.