Bessie Coleman (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926) was a woman ahead of her time—independent, determined, and ready to take on the challenge of learning to fly. But in the early 1900s, she had two major hurdles: her race and her gender. At the time, there was no place in the U.S. where she could receive flight training, so Bessie did something groundbreaking—she went to France. There, she earned her pilot’s license, making history on June 15, 1921, as the first African American woman to receive a license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.
When she returned to the U.S. in September 1921, Bessie began performing in airshows around Chicago, showing off her aerobatic skills with loops and figure eights. But she wasn’t just performing for fun—her ultimate goal was to open a flying school for African Americans. In 1925, she moved to Houston and continued to perform, drawing diverse crowds from all backgrounds. She was close to achieving her dream of opening a flight school when tragedy struck.
On April 30, 1926, Bessie was in Jacksonville, Florida, practicing for a May Day celebration when the plane she was in—a Curtiss Jenny biplane flown by her mechanic and publicity agent, William Wills—suddenly went into a nosedive and flipped. Bessie, whose seatbelt was unfastened, was ejected from the plane and fell to her death. It was later discovered that a wrench, left inside the engine during maintenance, had jammed the controls and caused the crash.
Although her life was tragically short, Bessie Coleman’s career inspired countless young African Americans to pursue aviation. Her legacy lives on in aviation clubs, tributes, and even a U.S. postal stamp issued in her honor in 1995. Each year, on the anniversary of her death, African American pilots gather to fly over her grave in Chicago, dropping flowers in tribute to “Brave Bessie.”
She was one of 13 siblings. She was inspired by World War One pilots.
