Bessie Coleman Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Bessie Coleman
OCCUPATION: Pilot
BIRTH DATE: January 26, 1893
DEATH DATE: April 30, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH: Atlanta, Texas
PLACE OF DEATH: Jacksonville, Florida
Nickname: Brave Bessie
Nickname: Queen Bess
Full Name: Bessie Coleman

Best Known For

In 1922, aviator Bessie Coleman became the first African American woman to stage a public flight in America. Her high-flying skills always wowed her audience.

Quiz

Think you know about Biography?

Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.

Play Now

Print Cite This

Bessie Coleman

APA Style

Bessie Coleman. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 06:04, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928.

Harvard Style

Bessie Coleman. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928 [Accessed 23 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Bessie Coleman." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 06:04 http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928.

MHRA Style

"Bessie Coleman," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928 [accessed May 23, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Bessie Coleman," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928 (accessed May 23, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Bessie Coleman [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928.

Bluebook Style

Bessie Coleman, http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928 (last visited May 23, 2013).

AMA Style

Bessie Coleman. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-36928. Accessed May 23, 2013.

Synopsis

Bessie Coleman was the first black woman to earn a pilot's license. Because flying schools in the United States denied her entry, she taught herself French and moved to France, earning her license from France's well-known Caudron Brother's School of Aviation in just seven months. Coleman specialized in stunt flying and parachuting, earning a living barnstorming and performing aerial tricks. She remains a pioneer of women in the field of aviation.

Early Life

Born on January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas, Bessie Coleman was one of 13 children to Susan and George Coleman, who both worked as sharcroppers.

At 12 years old, Coleman began attending the Missionary Baptist Church in Texas and, after graduating, embarked on a journey to Oklahoma to attend the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (Langston University), where she completed only one term due to financial constraints.

In 1915, at 23 years old, Coleman moved to Chicago, where she lived with her brothers and worked as a manicurist. Not long after her move to Chicago, she began listening to and reading stories of World War I pilots, which sparked her interest in aviation.

Breaking Barriers

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.