Bessie Coleman – A Dream to Reach the Sky – Fulfilled!
By
John C Abercrombie
This post was updated 10/16/2021 to include a new book about Bessie Coleman. That link is at the bottom of this post. This history is deep but seldom discussed. Enlighten yourself and make Amazing Black History a must read. We post weekly.
Bessie Coleman was born January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. She was the 10th of 13 children born to George and Susan Coleman.
Atlanta, Texas is a small town in northeastern Texas. Named after Atlanta, Georgia, it was founded on the building of the Texas and Pacific Railway. It was settled by planters who brought African Americans to work the land. The town was established 1871.
Many Slaves and ex-slaves were located by owners and former owners who took them to places where their free labor could be exploited for the profit of the owner. While the owners enjoyed the benefits of having free labor, the slaves or later tenant sharecroppers were forced to accept the worst of all conditions and incessant labor often lasting from sun up to sun down.
Early Life of Bessie Coleman
When Bessie was 2 years, the family moved to Waxahachie, Texas and built a 3-room house. This was quite an accomplishment for a Black family in those days.
Bessie started school when she was 6 years old. She had to walk 4 miles each way to attend the all Black School. She was an eager student and was excellent in math.
Life as a Black person was often difficult as men were denied opportunities to work. Financial opportunities for self-employment as skilled artisans, or economic enterprises were none existent.
Educational opportunities were limited. Schools were underfunded and inconvenient when available.
Barriers to Family Life
George Coleman became fed up with racial barriers that affected his ability to provide for his family and provide what White people were able to enjoy. He returned to Oklahoma, called Indian Territory, since he was part Cherokee. He was unable to convince his family to join him.
This is just another tragedy to the Black family arising from limited opportunities based on the color of a person’s skin, not ability, not desire, not willingness, only the factor over which they have no control, the color of their skin.
Because of limited opportunities and low wages, everyone was needed to work during cotton harvest which provided the wealth of White owners.
The Education of Bessie Coleman
Bessie was fortunate to be accepted by the Missionary Baptist Church School. She completed 8 grades in the one-room school.
An eager student, Bessie saved every penny she could and in 1910 enrolled in the Colored A & N University in Langston, OK. The name of that school is now known as Langston University. A great Historically Black College and University (HBCU).
After running out of funds, Coleman was forced to return home. When she was 23, she set out for better opportunities and moved to Chicago to live with 2 of her brothers who had left home earlier, also in search of opportunities.
Bessie’s one goal was to “amount to something”. Something more than a person living from hand to mouth. A person who was respected for themselves and what they had done.
The application of Jim Crow Laws
Many Black people were stymied in their desire to “amount to something” by the enforcement of Jim Crow Laws. Laws that enforced racial segregation, primarily but not limited to the Southern States.
These laws rose to prominence after the 1896 ruling of The United States Supreme Court in Plessey v Ferguson case that stated, “separate but equal” as the law of the land.
This case established the policy of “Separate but Equal”. There were clear distinctions on separate, but there never was any semblance of equal – ever!
Facilities and services for African Americans were consistently inferior, underfunded or none existent. This body of laws institutionalized and normalized economic, educational and social disadvantages based on race.
The disadvantages covered housing, including discriminatory clauses that prevented Blacks from enjoying privileges that they would otherwise be able to afford or enjoy.
The effects of Jim Crow Laws
In some cases, as with her father George, it caused problems with the family. In some cases, it caused people to move as it had with her 2 brothers in Chicago and now with Bessie herself.
In Chicago, she became a beautician, specializing in manicuring. Bessie was still an avid reader and Robert Abbott; the editor and publisher of the Chicago Defender was one of her true idols.
By 1918, Bessie’s mother and 3 sisters had joined the family in Chicago. Her 2 brothers, Walter and John served in World War 1 and fortunately returned unharmed.
After serving in WWI, the brothers returned to Chicago only to witness some of the worst race riots in history. The summer after the soldiers returned from serving their country in WWI became known as “The Red Summer” because of the bloodshed in rioting.
Many Black Soldiers were murdered just for wearing a military uniform.
Imaginer going to another country to fight for the principals of your country only to return home and face a greater enemy on your home soil than you faced in one of the greatest wars in history. All because of the color of your skin. How demoralizing!
The Decision to Fly
Her brother John would tease Bessie about French women flying and having careers. It was at that moment that Bessie decided she too would become a flier!
Flying was much easier said than done. There was nobody in the country that would teach a Black, let alone a woman to fly.
She took to heart, the advice of her idol and the publisher of the Chicago Defender, you must prepare yourself for your greatest opportunity.
She earned enough money to finance a trip and schooling in France. She learned the French language. Bessie was inspired and completed the 10-month course in 7 months. She received her license June 15, 1921.
Bessie had become the first Black woman in the world to earn a pilot’s license and was the only woman in the class of 62 candidates.
The problem facing Blacks is not the ability, or desire, it was the lack of opportunity!
Following graduation, Coleman spent 3 additional months training. She soon found that flying as entertainment could provide financial benefits, but she needed to learn additional skills.
Never one to be deterred from her dream. She was off to France once again and received that necessary training before leaving for New York.
Undertaking the part of showmanship required for her new career, she generated excitement by using a military style uniform and an eloquence that revealed her intelligence and poise.
She first performed at Curtiss Field near New York City. The show was sponsored by her idol, Robert Abbott of the Chicago Defender, and billed Coleman as “The Worlds Greatest Woman Flyer”
Coleman performed at Memphis, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Richmond, her former home of Waxahachie, Dallas and uncounted small towns and fields.
She even pursued a movie career to be able to purchase her own plane. Coleman, of course faced racial barriers as well as gender barriers. Coleman undertook a series of lectures and exhibition flights on her growing career.
With her goals always on the horizon in everything she did, she opened a beauty shop in Orlando to speed up funding for more training and plane purchases. She continued to fly and an occasional parachute jump.
What a brave woman, not only for the parachute jumping, but the wiliness to do what ever it took to pursue her dreams. There is a lesson here for anyone reading this article.
As a tribute to a person of principal, despite the financial considerations of money alone, Bessie Coleman refused to perform unless the audiences were desegregated and everyone attending used the same gates.
Remember the Jim Crow laws never missed an opportunity to lessen the worth of Black people by making them use separate facilities. Facilities that were in almost 100% of the cases inferior to those afforded Whites.
In April of 1926, Bessie Coleman took possession of her newest plane. As she and her mechanic took a test flight, a wrench became dislodged and the mechanic who was at the controls lost control and Bessie Coleman fell from the open cockpit to her death.
It is estimated that 5,000 people attended her memorial service in Orlando. 10,000 additional people filed past her coffin to pay last respects.
The girl from humble beginnings earned respect, not from her death, but from the life that she lived.
Her dream of a flying school for African Americans became a reality When William J Powell established the Bessie Coleman Aero Club in Los Angeles, I 1929.
Bessie Coleman inspired the Five Blackbirds and the Colored Air Circus
The flying Hobos, James Herman Banning, Thomas C. Allen made the first transcontinental flight by African American pilots in 1932
The Tuskegee Airmen – the first African American fighter squadron fighting for America (Eugene Bullard an African American pilot fought in WWI, but for the French Air Force)
Cornelius Coffey –The first African American to establish an aeronautical school in the United States. His school was the only aviation program not affiliated with a university or college to become part of the Civilian Pilot Training Program.
John Charles Robinson – the “Brown Condor” pushed for equal opportunities for African Americans. Opened his own aviation school. Helped initiate the program for pilots at Tuskegee Institute.
Willa Beatrice Brown was the first African American Woman to earn her pilot’s license in the United States, in 1938. She also has other firsts to her name, becoming the first African American woman to run for Congress. The first African American officer in the US Civil Air Patrol and the first woman in the United States to hold both a pilot’s license and a mechanic’s license.
Once again, we are not limited by ability, but the lack of opportunity.
Harold Hurd graduated in the all Black class of Aeronautical University in Chicago. He helped organize the Challenger Air Pilots Association in 1937. Later the name was changed to the National Airmen’s Association of America. He taught at Chicago’s Harlem Airport with Cornelius Coffey.
He served with the Tuskegee Airmen, being discharged in 1946, but continued to fly into the 1970’ds. He was inducted into the Illinois Aviation Hall of fame in 1991.
Harold Hurd first saw a black man fly an airplane at an airshow in 1929. Three years later, he was one of the first class of all black graduates from Aeronautical University in Chicago. Mr. Hurd received his aeronautical mechanic’s license in only six months.
After graduation he helped organize the Challenger Air Pilots Association and its 1937 successor organization, the National Airmen’s Association of America, in efforts to expand black interest in flying. He underwrote his aviation interests by working at the Chicago Defender newspaper.
Hurd was taught to fly at Chicago’s Harlem Airport by Cornelius Coffey and in 1936 at the age of 24, Hurd earned his Private Pilot Certificate. During World War II, he taught mechanics and flying at Wilberforce University but was drafted by the Army and eventually became a Sergeant Major.
After graduation he helped organize the Challenger Air Pilots Association and its 1937 successor organization, the National Airmen’s Association of America, in efforts to expand black interest in flying. He underwrote his aviation interests by working at the Chicago Defender newspaper.
Dr. Mae Jameson – the first African American female Astronaut took a picture of Bessie Coleman with her on her space mission. Inspiring people inspire others!
February 12, 2009 purely by chance history was made when Captain Rachelle Jones, First Officer Stephanie Grant together with flight attendants Diana Galloway and Robin Rogers became the first all Black, All female flight crew on an ASA flight from Atlanta to Nashville.
All were inspired to the air by Bessie Coleman.
This should demonstrate the value of a good role model. Role models don’t just inspire by race, color, gender, or any of those values, they inspire by something much stronger than that!
To see an amazing story of Eugene Bullard, the first Black fighter pilot who fought in World War I for the French and was highly decorated and regarded click here
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The Life of Bessie Coleman (Legendary African Americans)
Author Connie Plantz captures all the tension and excitement of Coleman’s soaring achievements. From an early age, Bessie Coleman dreamed of flying, but racial bigotry and gender bias threatened to keep her grounded. Denied entrance to flight training school in the United States, Coleman went to Europe. She returned, triumphant, with a pilot’s license and hopes of opening a flight school for African Americans. Raising funds as a stunt pilot, “Brave Bessie” thrilled her audiences with aerial tricks. Coleman’s life ended in a tragic accident, but not before her dream of flight made aviation history
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Bessie Coleman for Kids is all about Bessie Coleman the first black female pilot. Bessie Coleman was the first African American woman to earn a pilots licence.
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The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman (Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books) Soar along with Bessie Coleman in this inspirational tale of a woman whose determination reached new heights. Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was always being told what she could & couldn’t do. In an era when Jim Crow laws and segregation were a way of life, it was not easy to survive. Bessie didn’t let that stop her. Although she was only 11 when the Wright brothers took their historic flight, she vowed to become the first African -American female pilot. Her sturdy faith and determination helped her overcome obstacles of poverty, racism, and gender discrimination. Innovatively told through a series of monologues.
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The Story of “Brave Bessie” Coleman The story of Bessie Coleman becoming the first licensed African American aviator is sure to inspire readers to follow their own dreams. As a young black woman in the 1920s, Bessie Coleman’s chances of becoming a pilot were slim. But she never let her dream die and became the first licensed African-American aviator. Reeve Lindbergh honors her memory with a poem that sings of her accomplishment. With bold illustrations by Pamela Paparone, Nobody Owns the Sky will inspire readers to follow their dreams.
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This post was updated 10/16/2021 to include the following book about Bessie Coleman written by a pioneering female in the aviation world.
A Pair of Wings : A Novel Inspired by Pioneer Aviatrix Bessie Coleman
A Pair of Wings is an epic novel about the life of pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman. Arriving in Chicago in 1915, Coleman is in the first wave of African Americans to be part of the Great Migration, the largest movement of Black people fleeing the agricultural South towards the promise of opportunity in the North.
By 1921, America was a nation of change, steeped in both turmoil and progress. Jim Crow laws forced segregation in the South, lynchings terrorized, prohibition loomed, and Tulsa, Oklahoma smoldered after being bombed from the air. While American women had just earned the right to vote, Coleman can find no one willing to teach a Black woman to fly. Undaunted, she learns French and travels by ship to France in order to fulfill her dream of earning a brevet.
As the 1920s progress, Coleman comes of age, and both aviation and the Great Migration continue in parallel. Hardscrabble and burnished, Coleman becomes the only woman in the world to compel these lines of latitude to bend and intersect. Just as she translates deftly from English to French, she also converts wargame maneuvers into daring, graceful, and swashbuckling performances which she brings back to the United States. This fearless woman inspires a nation, earning the nicknames Daredevil, Queen Bess, and Brave Bessie for her breathtaking airshows.
A full century after her accomplishments, Coleman’s story is brought to life by author Carole Hopson. A United Airlines pilot who flies the Boeing 737, Hopson, considers Bessie Coleman the pioneer who cut the path for her and believes that it is her job to continue Coleman’s work to make that path wider for those who follow. It’s Coleman’s bold determination and courage that lifted Hopson, as well as an entire people upon A Pair of Wings.
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Bessie Coleman was a pioneer. Determined to pursue her dream, she had to learn French, move to France to take pilot training because no flight instructor in America would take her as a studeent because of the color of her skin. Bessie Coleman represents the relentless pursuit of a dream and should serve as a role model for ALL!