It’s black history month so why not share some (instead of arguing about who should impart some, when, and for what cost)? This knowledge comes free, culled from newspapers and the internet, for all to use.
Our first topic is Bessie Coleman, the first licensed black pilot in America. As a direct descendant of Ms. Coleman, I am especially proud of her accomplishments and am pleased to see her fighting spirit pass through the generations.
Life
Elizabeth ‘Bessie’ Coleman (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926), popularly known as “Queen Bess,” was the first African American woman to become an airplane pilot, and the first American woman to hold an international pilot license.
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In 1915, at the age of twenty-three, Coleman moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she lived with her brothers and where she worked at the White Sox Barber Shop as a manicurist. There she heard tales of the world from pilots who were returning home from World War …
At the barbershop, Coleman met many influential men from the black community, including Robert S. Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender, and Jesse Binga, a real estate promoter. Coleman received financial backing from Binga, and from the Chicago Defender, who capitalized on her flamboyant personality and her beauty to promote his newspaper, and to promote her cause. She could not gain admission to American flight schools because she was black and a woman. No black U.S. aviator would train her either. Robert Abbott encouraged her to study abroad.
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Coleman took French language class at the Berlitz school in Chicago, and then traveled to Paris on November 20, 1920. Coleman learned to fly in a Nieuport Type 82 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.” On June 15, 1921 Bessie Coleman became the first African-American woman to earn an aviation pilot’s license in the world — and the first African-American woman to earn an international aviation license from the Federation Aronautique Internationale.
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Coleman made her first appearance in an American air show on September 3, 1922, at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th American Expeditionary Force of World War I.
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Six weeks later she returned to Chicago to deliver a stunning demonstration of daredevil maneuvers – including figure eights, loops, and near-ground dips—to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Checkerboard Airdrome (now Midway Airport).
-Wikipedia Entry: “Bessie Coleman”
Pre-Mature Death
At the end of April in 1926, Bessie’s Jenny arrived in Jacksonville. On the evening of April 30th, she and her mechanic took the plane up for a test flight. Once aloft, the plane malfunctioned and the mechanic, who was piloting the plane from the front seat, lost control of the plane. Bessie fell from the open cockpit several hundred feet to her death.
Five thousand mourners attended a memorial service for Bessie before her body traveled by train from Orlando to Chicago. An estimated ten thousand people filed past Bessie’s coffin to pay their last respects. Thousands more attended the funeral of that little girl from Texas who dreamt of a better life as she picked cotton at the dawn of the 20th century.
-BessieColeman.com – “Universal Legacy”
Legacy
In 1929, Lt. William J. Powell founded the Bessie Coleman Aero Club, the aviation school she’d longed to establish, in Los Angeles. In 1931, the Challenger Pilots’ Association of Chicago did their first annual flyover above Lincoln Cemetery, in honor of her. In 1934, Powell dedicated his book Black Wings to her memory. And in 1977, women pilots in the Chicago region founded the Bessie Coleman Aviators Club.
In 1990, a road near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport was re-named Bessie Coleman Drive, and two years later, Chicago declared May 2, 1992, Bessie Coleman Day. In 1995, the U.S. Postal Department issued the Bessie Coleman stamp. And finally, in 2000, Bessie Coleman was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame.
-Lakewood Public Library – “Bessie Coleman Biography”
News Articles
Below are some scans of news articles collected by my family over the past couple of decades. The articles vary in quality – sometimes zooming in at 150% helps. Click on pictures to enlarge
“Woman Was First Black Pilot”
Chicago Defender. July 14, 1979
Hunt, Rufus. “First Black Pilot was a Woman”.
The Baltimore Afro-American. August 8, 1991.
“Miss Bessie may Fly in Norfolk, Va.”
(unknown). August 18, 1922.
“Bessie Coleman, Aviatrix, Killed” (front page)
Chicago Defender. May 6, 1926.
Interesting story. How exactly are you related to Bessie Coleman?
Bessie is a great aunt or great-great aunt (I get these mixed up). My grandmother is American.
I was just laughing because my mom’s name is Elizabeth and my name is Emilia – and I’ve always been teased about flying over the Atlantic Ocean because of Amelia Earhart, though I always emphasize my name is spelled differently and is really not the same name (they are pronounced completely differently in languages like Italian and Spanish, for instance). So I can say that our family names link us to the history of aviation!
Just a suggestion: have you thought of publishing this article on Bessie Coleman in a local Black paper like Share?
Good post. I still remember being told about her as a child when my interest in flight and becomming a pilot became obvious.
If you have interest to make one or two more posts thru the month of February….I can (find and)forward info about two important places/events: Africville (Halifax) and its destruction (60s), and Black Wall Street (Tulsa Oklahoma) and its destruction during a race riot (1921).
Those are two things that I learned about during adulthood that stayed with me. The Black Wall Street impressed me…..and the destruction of it…and the destruction of Africville in Halifax digusted me. So thats why I suggest them.
Thanks for the post.
B
Bessie Coleman was a very self determined, highly intelligent, brave and beautiful woman. She is truly a very special part of African American history.
I’m a descendant of Jesse Binga, he is my great, geat uncle. His older sister, Adelaide Binga-Cotillier was my great, great grandmother. I’ve been doing a lot of research on Jesse Binga and a found a tid-bit of information from the book, Queen Bess by Doris L. Rich, that Bessie and Jesse were rumored to have had an affair during the time she was in school (learning French) and working at a chili shop.
I’m wondering if there are any stories within your family about this situation?
Peace, Styln;)
I am currently researching Bessie Coleman and came across your article. Are any other relatives still around that would be willing to talk about her and possibly film a documentary?
This is a serious inquiry, I had no other way of reaching you.
Thank you,
Alexandra H.
AviationMedia
Styln:
Never heard that story but I’m going to contact some relatives to get the story.
What have you found so far? I’d be interested in your research!
I’ve only found that tiny bit of information, indicating that it was rumored they were having an affair because he was giving her money on a regular basis for school and other expenses (people may have just been jealous).
He was married to Eudora Johnson-Binga at the time (and had been married for about eight years when he met Bessie). Upon his marriage to Eudora, people were up in arms saying that he only married her for her money because, he was tall and hansome and she was “a caricature of a Black mammie”. I’m not sure what Eudora looked like as the only photos I’ve seen are too small to tell. I could only see her general body shape. I’m hoping to get a clear photo soon.
Sorry I don’t have more information, I was hoping your family might shed some light on it.
Peace, Styln;)
HEY IS SHARON WELL I REALLY LIKE LEARNING ABOUT HER BECAUSE SHE STUD UP FOR WHAT HE WANTED SHE SHOULD ME SOMETHING THINK U
I work at a museum that is dedicated to women in air & space and was working to update our Bessie Coleman exhibit and came accross this article. I was wondering if you have any other images of her (different from the ones that are typically found on the internet), since you are a relative, and could send them to me as jpegs. Our current exhibit is really outdated and I want to give her the type of exhibit she deserves but have limited images and artificats to do so. Any help or recommendation would be greatly appreciated=0)