Bessie Coleman: The High Flying Boss
QUEEN BESS 👸🏾👑
Do you know the story of Bessie Coleman aka one of the BADDEST women to ever take to the skies?
Brave Bessie soared across the sky like a boss and was the first African-American & first Native American woman pilot. She was also the first Black person to get an international pilot's license.
Bessie was born in Atlanta, Texas in 1892 and had twelve brothers and sisters. Her brothers served in the military and inspired her to learn how to fly. She applied to many flight schools across the country, but no school would take her because she was both African-American and a woman.
Famous African-American newspaper publisher Robert Abbott told her to move to France where she could learn how to fly. She began taking French classes at night because her application to flight schools needed to be written in French.
Bessie was eventually accepted at the Caudron Brothers' School of Aviation in Le Crotoy, France and she received her international pilot’s license on June 15, 1921. In 1922, she performed the first public flight by an African American woman. She was famous for doing “loop-the-loops” and making the shape of an “8” in an airplane.
Queen Bess stood up for what she believed in and refused to perform or speak at any venue that was segregated or that discriminated against African-Americans.
Sadly, the world lost Bessie Coleman far too early in her young promising career. She tragically died in a plane accident on April 30, 1926 at the age of 34. While we may have lost Bessie in body, her spirit continues to live on as an inspiration for young girls & boys who dare to dream, defy the status quo, and embrace ADVENTURE!