{"id":52477,"date":"2020-07-14T11:41:36","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T18:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/?p=52477"},"modified":"2020-07-14T11:41:36","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T18:41:36","slug":"bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/","title":{"rendered":"Bessie Coleman: Daredevil Black Aviatrix"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 110 years,\u00a0the U.S.\u00a0Navy finally has its first Black female\u00a0tactical jet pilot! Her\u00a0path was paved by the iconic\u00a0Bessie Coleman:\u00a0the first BIPOC\u00a0female\u00a0pilot, who\u00a0saw aviation as a way to empower\u00a0women and\u00a0people of color in the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n

Born to poor sharecropper parents in 1892, Bessie Coleman, one of 13 children, had a hardscrabble childhood in rural east Texas\u00a0raised by a single mom\u00a0\u2014\u00a0but she soared past her humble beginnings to become the first African-American and Native American female pilot. Known for performing daredevil flying tricks, she was dubbed \u201cQueen Bess,\u201d \u201cBrave Bessie,\u201d and \u201cThe Only Race Aviatrix in the World.\u201d Her goal? To encourage women\u00a0\u2014\u00a0especially African-American and other women of color\u00a0\u2014\u00a0to reach their dreams.<\/p>\n

Humble Beginnings<\/h3>\n

Her mother was an African-American maid;\u00a0her father, a Native American sharecropper. When Bessie was 9, her father moved back to Oklahoma to try and escape discrimination. Bessie\u2019s mother did not go with him,\u00a0staying\u00a0in Waxahachie, Texas.\u00a0Childhood was what you\u00a0might\u00a0imagine for poor African-American\u00a0children\u00a0in the\u00a0racially-divided South\u00a0at that time. She walked four miles to a one-room schoolhouse\u00a0that lacked the basic materials that most students take for granted today,\u00a0and\u00a0helped her Mom pick cotton and wash laundry to help earn extra money. But despite these humble beginnings, Bessie excelled at mathematics, and she finished all eight grades.<\/p>\n

College, Chicago, and Falling in Love with Flight<\/h3>\n

By the time she turned 18, Bessie had saved enough money to attend the Colored Agricultural and Normal University\u00a0\u2014\u00a0today Langston University\u00a0\u2014\u00a0in Langston, Oklahoma, but completed only one semester before running out of money, and returning to Waxahachie, Texas.<\/p>\n

When she turned 23,\u00a0Bessie decided to move to Chicago, where she moved in with one of her brothers. She went to beauty school in 1915 and became a manicurist at the\u00a0White Sox Barber Shop.\u00a0Chicago is where she fell in love with flying; she would listen for hours on end to pilots\u2019\u00a0stories about their adventures during World War I.<\/p>\n

Her two brothers served in the military during World War I and came home with tales from their time in France\u00a0\u2014\u00a0where French women were allowed to learn how to fly airplanes. This\u00a0fueled her dreams of becoming a pilot. Bessie applied to many flight schools across the United States\u00a0but\u00a0received countless rejections; no\u00a0school would accept her because she was both a woman\u00a0and\u00a0a woman of color.\u00a0Her brother teased her, saying that women in France were better than those in the United States because they were allowed to fly. Bessie\u00a0\u2014\u00a0determined to fly\u00a0\u2014\u00a0decided to take her dream across the pond to France, where she could become a pilot.<\/p>\n

Vive\u00a0le France<\/h3>\n

With support from a local banker and famed\u00a0Chicago Defender\u00a0newspaper publisher, Robert Abbott (one of the first self-made African American millionaires),\u00a0she took a crash course in French from the Berlitz language school so that she could complete her application, which needed to be in French. At long last,\u00a0she was accepted at the\u00a0Caudron Brothers’ School of Aviation\u00a0\u2014\u00a0founded by sibling aviation pioneers Ren\u00e9 and Gaston\u00a0Caudron, in Le\u00a0Crotoy, in northern France. Triumphant, she set off for Paris on November 20, 1920, aboard the ocean liner\u00a0S.S. Imperator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She began a seven-month flight course, learning to fly in a\u00a0Nieuport\u00a0Type 82\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a fragile, 27-foot long biplane, with a 40-foot wingspan. Not the steadiest craft,\u00a0Coleman had to inspect it tip to tail before every flight. She learned aerial maneuvers like tail spins, banking, and loop-the-loops, but also witnessed an accident that killed another student. On June 15, 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first\u00a0African-American and Native American woman to earn an international\u00a0pilot\u2019s license, granted by the\u00a0F\u00e9d\u00e9ration A\u00e9ronautique Internationale<\/a>,\u00a0an organization that oversees aeronautic sports, that gave her the right to fly anywhere in the world.\u00a0After several months of additional training with a top French pilot, Coleman was ready to return home and fulfill her dream of owning a plane and opening her own flight school stateside.<\/p>\n

Bessie Coleman:\u00a0The Sky Kissing Sensation<\/h3>\n

When she returned to New York City in September of 1921, The Associated Press lauded her as \u201ca full-fledged aviatrix, said to be the first of her race.\u201d Coleman gave speeches and showed films of her airborne exploits in theaters, schools, and churches to earn money\u00a0\u2014\u00a0but refused to speak anywhere that was segregated, or that discriminated against people of color. In 1922, Coleman performed the first public flight by an African American and Native American woman.\u00a0She dazzled onlookers with her daring stunts\u00a0\u2014\u00a0showing off her aerial skills by doing loop-the-loops, making the figure \u201c8\u201d with her plane,\u00a0and became\u00a0famous\u00a0for walking on the wings of her plane while aloft or parachuting down while a co-pilot took the\u00a0controls.<\/p>\n

Her performances riveted people in both the United States and Europe. Her aerial exploits were widely covered by the press \u2014 particularly in black newspapers \u2014 and she became a glamorous sensation. Coleman toured the United States, giving flight lessons, performing in aerial shows, and inspiring African Americans, Native Americans, and women to learn how to fly.<\/p>\n

A Plane of Her Own<\/h3>\n

Eventually, Coleman saved up enough money to buy her own plane:\u00a0a military surplus Curtiss JN-4, known colloquially as a Jenny. She went to Santa Monica, California to pick it up. While there, Coleman was to perform at an air show\u00a0\u2014\u00a0but instead ended up surviving her first major plane crash. As she was taking off to fly to the Los Angeles Fairgrounds, the site of her show, her engine suddenly stopped working, and she plummeted from 300 feet up to the ground. She destroyed her plane and sustained severe injuries, including a broken leg, several cracked ribs, cuts on her face\u00a0\u2014\u00a0but was able to fully heal and went back to performing daredevil aerial stunts in 1925.<\/p>\n

It All Comes Tumbling Down<\/h3>\n

By April 1926, Coleman had saved enough money to purchase another surplus Jenny plane. She scheduled an aerial show for May 1. On April 30, Coleman and her co-pilot, William Wills, took a practice flight in the new plane. Coleman sat in the passenger seat, unharnessed so that she could peer over the side of the plane\u00a0once in the sky\u00a0and find a good place for her parachute landing during the show. But at 3,500 feet in the air, a loose wrench got stuck in the engine of the plane,\u00a0and Wills was unable to control the steering wheel. The plane flipped over\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and Coleman\u00a0immediately fell from the open plane and died instantly on impact.\u00a0She was 34.\u00a0Wills crashed the plane just a few feet from Coleman\u2019s body;\u00a0he\u00a0also died. Her death was heartbreaking. More than 10,000 people\u00a0came to pay their respects, with the journalist\u00a0Ida B. Wells<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0famed for her crusade against lynching\u00a0\u2014\u00a0leading the ceremonies.<\/p>\n

She was never able to open her flight school, but many\u00a0flight clubs<\/a>\u00a0have since been named in her honor. In 1931, the Challenger Pilots’ Association of Chicago began a tradition of flying over Coleman’s grave every year; in 1977, African American female pilots created the Bessie Coleman Aviators Club; and in 1995, the Bessie Coleman stamp was issued to honor her accomplishments.\u00a0At a time when flights are largely grounded due to COVID-19,\u00a0we remember Bessie Coleman, who saw aviation as a way to empower people of color in the United States.<\/p>\n

\n

About the author.<\/strong>
\nAn award-winning creator and digital health, wellness, and lifestyle content strategist \u2014 Karina writes, edits, and produces compelling content across multiple platforms \u2014 including articles, video, interactive tools, and documentary film. Her work has been featured on MSN Lifestyle, Apartment Therapy, Goop, Psycom, Pregnancy & Newborn, Eat This Not That, thirdAGE, and Remedy Health Media digital properties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After 110 years,\u00a0the U.S.\u00a0Navy finally has its first Black female\u00a0tactical jet pilot! Her\u00a0path was paved by the iconic\u00a0Bessie Coleman:\u00a0the first BIPOC\u00a0female\u00a0pilot, who\u00a0saw aviation as a way to empower\u00a0women and\u00a0people of color in the United States. Born to poor sharecropper parents in 1892, Bessie Coleman, one of 13 children, had a hardscrabble childhood in rural east […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":52483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dei","category-perspectives"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBessie Coleman: Daredevil Black Aviatrix | Creative Circle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Known for performing daredevil flying tricks, Bessie Coleman was dubbed \u201cQueen Bess,\u201d \u201cBrave Bessie,\u201d and \u201cThe Only Race Aviatrix in the World.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bessie Coleman: Daredevil Black Aviatrix\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Known for performing daredevil flying tricks, Bessie Coleman was dubbed \u201cQueen Bess,\u201d \u201cBrave Bessie,\u201d and \u201cThe Only Race Aviatrix in the World.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Creative Circle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CreativeCircleStaffing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-14T18:41:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BessieColeman-danielnolen.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"778\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samantha Slezak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Creative_Circle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Creative_Circle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Samantha Slezak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/\",\"name\":\"Bessie Coleman: Daredevil Black Aviatrix | Creative Circle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BessieColeman-danielnolen.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-14T18:41:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1eb0026e3648f1cedddf7a36755e6872\"},\"description\":\"Known for performing daredevil flying tricks, Bessie Coleman was dubbed \u201cQueen Bess,\u201d \u201cBrave Bessie,\u201d and \u201cThe Only Race Aviatrix in the World.\u201d\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BessieColeman-danielnolen.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BessieColeman-danielnolen.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":778},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/\",\"name\":\"Creative Circle\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1eb0026e3648f1cedddf7a36755e6872\",\"name\":\"Samantha Slezak\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ce891852d68712fe1c0c6b5bce9b1da49af86493cac0781243f00b4d7efa177?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ce891852d68712fe1c0c6b5bce9b1da49af86493cac0781243f00b4d7efa177?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Samantha Slezak\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/author\/sslezak\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bessie Coleman: Daredevil Black Aviatrix | Creative Circle","description":"Known for performing daredevil flying tricks, Bessie Coleman was dubbed \u201cQueen Bess,\u201d \u201cBrave Bessie,\u201d and \u201cThe Only Race Aviatrix in the World.\u201d","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bessie Coleman: Daredevil Black Aviatrix","og_description":"Known for performing daredevil flying tricks, Bessie Coleman was dubbed \u201cQueen Bess,\u201d \u201cBrave Bessie,\u201d and \u201cThe Only Race Aviatrix in the World.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/","og_site_name":"Creative Circle","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CreativeCircleStaffing","article_published_time":"2020-07-14T18:41:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":778,"url":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BessieColeman-danielnolen.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Samantha Slezak","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Creative_Circle","twitter_site":"@Creative_Circle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Samantha Slezak","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/","url":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/","name":"Bessie Coleman: Daredevil Black Aviatrix | Creative Circle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BessieColeman-danielnolen.jpg","datePublished":"2020-07-14T18:41:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1eb0026e3648f1cedddf7a36755e6872"},"description":"Known for performing daredevil flying tricks, Bessie Coleman was dubbed \u201cQueen Bess,\u201d \u201cBrave Bessie,\u201d and \u201cThe Only Race Aviatrix in the World.\u201d","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/bessie-coleman-daredevil-black-aviatrix\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BessieColeman-danielnolen.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/BessieColeman-danielnolen.jpg","width":1000,"height":778},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/","name":"Creative Circle","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1eb0026e3648f1cedddf7a36755e6872","name":"Samantha Slezak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ce891852d68712fe1c0c6b5bce9b1da49af86493cac0781243f00b4d7efa177?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ce891852d68712fe1c0c6b5bce9b1da49af86493cac0781243f00b4d7efa177?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Samantha Slezak"},"url":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/author\/sslezak\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}