Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman( real name Elizabeth "bessie" Coleman) was born into a large family in Atlanta, Texas, on January 26, 1892, the tenth of thirteen children. By the time of Bessie’s birth, Susan and George Coleman, her parents, had been married for 17 years. George was of mixed blood—part African American and part Cherokee.

Atlanta was a place where fortunes could be made in railroads, oil and lumber. The main street was studded with shady pin oaks and citizens often gathered at the general store. However, the town’s shady Main Street and general store were not part of the Colemans’ world. Her parents were sharecroppers. Her life was filled with dirt roads, tenant farms, and incessant labor. Soon thereafter, George decided the family would move to Waxahachie, Texas to make a better life for his family, thinking there would be greater opportunities for work in this cotton town.He purchased a ¼-acre plot in the black section of town and built his family a small, 3-room house. Bessie was two years old when the family moved into their new dwelling.

Her early childhood was a happy one, spent playing in the front yard or on the porch. Sundays were spent at church, morning and afternoon. As the other children began to age and find work in the fields, Bessie assumed some new responsibilities around the Coleman house. She kept her eyes on her sisters and helped her mother work in her garden. Bessie began school at the age of six and had to walk 4 miles each day to her all-black school. She was intelligent and established herself as an outstanding math student.

In 1901, Bessie’s happy life took a dramatic hit. George Coleman left his family. He had become fed up with the racial barriers that existed in Waxahachie and all across the state of Texas. He returned to Oklahoma, or Indian Territory as it was called then, to find better opportunities.Unable to convince his wife and children to go with him, he left with a heavy heart.Soon after Bessie's father left, her remaining older brothers also left home, leaving Susan Coleman with four girls under the age of nine. Within days of George’s departure, Susan found work as a cook/housekeeper for Mr. And Mrs. Elwin Jones. They were generous employers who allowed Susan to continue to live at home and who would give food and handed-down clothing to the Coleman girls. While her mother worked at the Jones residence, Bessie took over as surrogate mother and housekeeper at the Coleman home on Mustang Creek. Bessie completed all eight grades of her one-room school, yearning for more. Bessie saved her money and then in 1910 took her savings and enrolled in the Colored Agricultural and Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma. Bessie completed only one term before she ran out of money and was forced to return to Waxahachie. In 1915, at the age of twenty-three, she set out to stay with her brother, Walter, in Chicago while she looked for work. All she wanted was a chance to “amount to something”.

It was with high hopes that Bessie escaped the oppressive Jim Crow south and headed to Chicago. She entered a new world-the ghetto of the north not so different from the segregated south where she had grown up. This new urban community, however, was exciting and offered big city opportunities.

By 1918, Bessie's mother Susan and her three younger sisters, Georgie, Elois and Nilus, had joined Bessie and her brothers in Chicago. Walter and John had served in France during World War I and returned safely, only to witness 1919 Chicago battered by the worst race riot in history. By then, Bessie had been in Chicago for nearly five years. During that time, she had moved north, learned a trade and supported herself, watched her brothers return from war and survived a race riot. As the summer of her 27th year ended, she was still looking for a way to "amount to something." Taking her cue from brother John's teasing remarks about French women flying and having careers, Bessie decided she would become a flier.

French Skies- Bessie's yearning to "amount to something" was now a driving force in her goal to become a pilot. When Bessie couldn't find anyone to teach her to fly, she took the advice of publisher Robert Abbott and prepared herself to attend aviation school in France. Having secured funding from several sources and received a passport with English and French visas, Bessie departed for France in November of 1919. She completed in seven months, a ten month course at the Ecole d'Aviation des Freres Caudon at Le Crotoy in the Somme. Learning to fly in a French Nieuport Type 82, Bessie's schooling included "tail spins, banking and looping the loop." She received her license from the renowned Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) on June 15, 1921. Her birthplace was listed as Atlanta, Texas, but her age was listed as 25(the figure she had given passport authorities in Chicago) rather than 29 that she actually was. The license did not indicate that Bessie was the first black woman to ever earn a license from the prestigious FAI nor that she was the only woman of the sixty-two candidates to earn FAI licenses during that six-month period.Bessie spent three additional months training in France before departing for New York on September 16, 1921 aboard the S. S. Manchuria. She was greeted by a surprising amount of press coverage upon her return to the United States. Flying as entertainment could provide financial benefits for an aviator but required skills that Bessie did not possess. Once again, Bessie departed for France, arriving in Le Havre on February 28, 1922. She received advanced training in the Nieuport, returning to New York in August. During her European stay, she visited plane manufacturers in Holland and Germany.