Bessie Coleman was born in Atlanta, TX to a family of sharecroppers and was the 10th of 13 children! Her father, who was of African-American and Native American descent, grew sick of the racism in Texas and left for Oklahoma in search of better opportunities. This left her mother with four little girls all under the age of 9, but once her mother found work, she became the “surrogate mother.”
In 1915, a 23 year-old Bessie had moved to Chicago where she lived with two of her brothers, Walter and John, as she worked as a manicurist. Three years later, her mother and three younger sisters, would join her as they awaited their two older brothers return from World War 1. In 1919, Walter and John returned to see the Chicago race riots plaguing the city, but interestingly enough, their experience at war got the now, 27 year old Bessie, curious about war pilots. All she ever wanted to do was “amount to something” so, she saved her money and moved to France in pursuit of a new career!
Bio.com:
“In 1922, a time of both gender and racial discrimination, Coleman broke barriers and became the world’s first black woman to earn a pilot’s license. Because flying schools in the United States denied her entry, she took it upon herself to learn French and move to France to achieve her goal. After only seven months, Coleman earned her license from France’s well known Caudron Brother’s school of Aviation.
Though she wanted to start a flying school for African Americans when she returned to the U.S., Coleman specialized in stunt flying and parachuting, and earned a living barnstorming and performing aerial tricks. In 1922, hers was the first public flight by an African- American woman in America.”
According to BessieColeman.com, “Her first appearance was in an air show on September 3, 1922 at Curtiss Field near New York City. The show, sponsored by Robert Abbott and the Chicago Defender, billed Bessie as “the world’s greatest woman flyer.”
Fun Fact: Robert Abbott also worked closely with Langston Hughes! He was a columnist for Abbott’s Chicago Defender and addressed racism vicariously through his comic book character, Jesse B. Semple!
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Source: http://www.bessiecoleman.com/
http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928#breaking-barriers
