Bessie Coleman was the first African American aviator.  She was born in 1896 in Atlanta, Texas and later moved to Chicago, Illinois.  Bessie became interested in aviation during World War I, but she was denied entry into flight school because she was African American and a woman.  Businessmen financed her education in France, and she became the first American woman to earn an international pilot’s license.  Bessie became a parachutist and stunt flyer and was famous all of the world for her acts.  Sadly, she died in 1926, at the age of 30, when she was thrown from her plane while performing aerial stunts in Florida.

Although she has passed on, Bessie is still remembered for breaking the aviation barrier for both women and African Americans.   For a number of years starting in 1931, black pilots from Chicago instituted an annual fly over of her grave. In 1977 a group of African American women pilots established the Bessie Coleman Aviators Club. And in 1992 a Chicago City council resolution requested that the U.S. Postal Service issue a Bessie Coleman stamp (see above picture). When the stamp was released, it was noted that "Bessie Coleman continues to inspire untold thousands even millions of young persons with her sense of adventure, her positive attitude, and her determination to succeed."


For more information on Bessie Coleman, you can visit the following websites:

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