Bessie Coleman

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Elizabeth Coleman (January 26, 1892Template:Spaced ndashApril 30, 1926)<ref name=":3">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license,<ref name="ABC">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="PBS">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Women in Aviation International">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="essence">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="af">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="pueblo">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="whm">Template:Cite web</ref> and is the earliest known Black person to earn an international pilot's license.<ref name=":0" /> She earned her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921.<ref name="Women in Aviation International"/><ref name="essence"/><ref name="phof">Template:Cite web</ref>

Born to a family of sharecroppers in Texas, Coleman worked in the cotton fields at a young age while also studying in a small segregated school. She attended one term of college at Langston University. Coleman developed an early interest in flying, but African Americans, Native Americans, and women had no flight training opportunities in the United States, so she saved and obtained sponsorships in Chicago to go to France for flight school.

She then became a high-profile pilot in notoriously dangerous air shows in the United States. She was popularly known as "Queen Bess" and "Brave Bessie",<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> and hoped to start a school for African-American fliers. Coleman died in a plane crash in 1926. Her pioneering role was an inspiration to early pilots and to the African-American and Native American communities.

Early life

Coleman<ref name=Slotkin/> was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> the tenth of 13 children of George Coleman, an African American who may have had Cherokee or Choctaw grandparents, and Susan Coleman, who was African American.<ref name="Texas_Takes_Wing">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> Nine of the children survived childhood, which was typical for the time.<ref name="Texas_Takes_Wing" /> When Coleman was two years old, her family moved to Waxahachie, Texas, where they lived as sharecroppers.<ref name=":1" /> Coleman began attending school in Waxahachie at the age of six. She walked four miles each day to her segregated, one-room school, where she loved to read and established herself as an outstanding math student.<ref name=":1" /> She completed her elementary education in that school.<ref name=":1" />

Every season, Coleman's routine of school, chores, and church was interrupted for her to participate in bringing in the cotton harvest. In 1901, George Coleman left his family. He moved to Oklahoma, or Indian Territory, as it was then called, to find better opportunities, but his wife and children did not follow. At the age of 12, Coleman was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church School on scholarship. When she turned eighteen, she took her savings and enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma (now called Langston University). She completed one term before her money ran out and she returned home.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Chicago

In 1915, at the age of 23, Coleman moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she lived with her brothers. In Chicago, she worked as a manicurist at the White Sox Barber Shop, where she heard stories of flying during wartime from pilots returning home from World War I. She took a second job as a restaurant manager of a chili parlor to save money in hopes of becoming a pilot herself.Template:Sfn American flight schools of the time admitted neither women nor black people, so Robert S. Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender newspaper, encouraged her to study abroad.<ref name="PBS"/> Abbot publicized Coleman's quest in his newspaper and she received financial sponsorship from banker Jesse Binga and the Defender.Template:Sfn

France

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Bessie Coleman took a French-language class at the Berlitz Language Schools in Chicago and then traveled to Paris, France, on November 20, 1920, so that she could earn her pilot license. She learned to fly in a Nieuport 564 biplane with "a steering system that consisted of a vertical stick the thickness of a baseball bat in front of the pilot and a rudder bar under the pilot's feet."<ref name=rich>Template:Cite book</ref>

On June 15, 1921, Coleman became the first black woman<ref name=":0" /> and first Native American<ref name="WoHiMu">Template:Cite web</ref> to earn an aviation pilot's license and the first black person<ref name=":0" /> and first self-identified Native American<ref name="WoHiMu" /> to earn an international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.<ref name=":0" /> She is also the first American of any race or gender to be awarded these credentials directly from the FAI, as opposed to applying through the National Aeronautic Association.<ref name="whm2">Template:Cite web</ref> Determined to polish her skills, Coleman spent the next two months taking lessons from a French ace pilot near Paris and, in September 1921, she sailed for America. She became a media sensation when she returned to the United States.

Airshows

Template:Quote box With the age of commercial flight still a decade or more in the future, Coleman quickly realized that in order to make a living as a civilian aviator she would have to become a "barnstorming" stunt flier, performing dangerous tricks in the air with the then-still-novel technology of airplanes for paying audiences. But, to succeed in this highly competitive arena, she would need advanced lessons and a more extensive repertoire. Returning to Chicago, she could not find anyone willing to teach her, so in February 1922, she sailed again for Europe.<ref name=rich/>

Coleman spent the next two months in France completing an advanced course in aviation. after this, she 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 the Fokker Corporation and received additional training from one of the company's chief pilots. She then returned to the United States to launch her career in exhibition flying.<ref name=rich/>

"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 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny biplanes and other aircraft that had been army surplus aircraft left over from the war. She made her first appearance in an American airshow on September 3, 1922, at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I. Held at Curtiss Field on Long Island, near New York City, and sponsored by her friend Abbott and the Chicago Defender newspaper, the show billed Coleman as "the world's greatest woman flier"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and featured aerial displays by eight other American ace pilots, and a jump by black parachutist Hubert Julian.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Six weeks later, Coleman returned to Chicago, performing in an air show, this time to honor World War I's 370th Infantry Regiment. She delivered a stunning demonstration of daredevil maneuversTemplate:Sndincluding figure eights, loops, and near-ground dips to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Checkerboard Airdrome – now the grounds of Hines Veterans Administration Medical Center, Hines, Illinois, Loyola Hospital, Maywood, and nearby Cook County Forest Preserve.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

The thrill of stunt flying and the admiration of cheering crowds were only part of Coleman's dream. Coleman never lost sight of her childhood vow to one day "amount to something". As a professional aviator, Coleman often would be criticized by the press for her opportunistic nature and the flamboyant style she brought to her exhibition flying. She also quickly gained a reputation as a skilled and daring pilot who would stop at nothing to complete a difficult stunt.

In 1922, Bessie acquired a Curtiss JN-4D with an OX-5 engine from a Los Angeles Army depot. She had arranged an airshow at the new Los Angeles County Fairgrounds (now Fairplex), but, on February 4, 1923, shortly after takeoff from Santa Monica the motor stalled, and the plane smashed into the ground. Coleman survived and, despite a broken leg and fractured ribs, pleaded with the doctors to "patch her up" enough to perform at the airshow. Instead, she was grounded for several months.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="whm2" />

File:Bessie Coleman and her plane (1922).jpg
Coleman, c. 1922

Committed to promoting aviation and combating racism, Coleman spoke to audiences across the country about the pursuit of aviation and goals for African Americans. She absolutely refused to participate in aviation events that prohibited the attendance of African Americans.Template:Sfn

In the 1920s, she met the Rev. Hezakiah Hill and his wife Viola on a speaking tour in Orlando, Florida. The community activists invited her to stay with them at the parsonage of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church on Washington Street in the neighborhood of Parramore. (A local street was renamed "Bessie Coleman" Street in her honor in 2013.) The couple, who treated her as a daughter, persuaded her to stay, and Coleman opened a beauty shop in Orlando to earn extra money to buy her own plane.<ref name="os">Template:Cite news</ref>

Through her media contacts, she was offered a role in a feature-length film titled Shadow and Sunshine, to be financed by the African American Seminole Film Producing Company. She gladly accepted, hoping the publicity would help 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 a pack on her back, she refused to proceed. "Clearly ... [Bessie's] 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 derogatory image most whites had of most blacks," wrote Doris Rich.<ref name=rich/> Template:Quote box

Death

File:Grave of Bessie Coleman (1892–1926) at Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, IL 1.jpg
Coleman's grave at Lincoln Cemetery, near Chicago

On April 30, 1926, Coleman was in Jacksonville, Florida. She had recently purchased a Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) in Dallas. Her mechanic and publicity agent, 24-year-old William D. Wills, flew the plane from Dallas in preparation for an airshow and had to make three forced landings along the way because the plane had been so poorly maintained.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Upon learning this, Coleman's friends and family did not consider the aircraft safe and implored her not to fly it, but she refused. On take-off, Wills was flying the plane with Coleman in the other seat. She was planning a parachute jump for the next day and was unharnessed as she needed to look over the side to examine the terrain.<ref name="Slotkin" />

About ten minutes into the flight, the plane unexpectedly went into a dive and then a spin at 3,000 feet above the ground. Coleman was thrown from the plane at Template:Convert, and was killed instantly when she hit the ground. Wills was unable to regain control of the plane, and it plummeted to the ground. He died upon impact. The plane exploded, bursting into flames. Although the wreckage of the plane was badly burned, it was later discovered that a wrench used to service the engine had jammed the controls. Coleman was 34 years old.<ref name="rich" />

Funeral services were held in Florida, before her body was sent back to Chicago. While there was little mention in most media, news of her death was widely carried in the African-American press. Ten thousand mourners attended her ceremonies in Chicago, which were led by activist Ida B. Wells.<ref name=Slotkin/>

Honors and legacy

Although Coleman would not live long enough to establish a school for young black aviators, her pioneering achievements 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 Coleman, "we have overcome that which was worse than racial barriers. We have overcome the barriers within ourselves and dared to dream."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Powell served in a segregated unit during World War I, and tirelessly promoted the cause of black aviation through his book, his journals, and the Bessie Coleman Aero Club, which he founded in 1929.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=rich/>

Coleman's example proved an inspiration for a number of pioneers in aeronautics and eventually astronautics, including John Robinson, Cornelius Coffey, Willa Brown, Janet Harmon Bragg, Robert H. Lawrence Jr., and Mae Jemison.<ref name=Nettles>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:2023 Bessie Coleman Womens Quarter.jpg
In 2023, Coleman was honored in the American Women quarters series. 6.15.1921 (June 15, 1921) is the date she was awarded her international pilots license.
File:DSC06136 Frankfurt Flughafen Gateway Gardens Bessie-Coleman-Straße.jpg
Large poster on a scaffolding at "Bessie-Coleman-Straße" (aka "Bessie-Coleman-street") in the district Gateway Gardens at Frankfurt Airport

See also

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References

Citations

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Further reading

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