| NASA Center: |
Headquarters |
|---|
| Image # : |
80-12873 |
|---|
| Date : |
06/15/1921
|
|---|
|
Title
Bessie Coleman, First African American Pilot
Full Description
Born on January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas to a family of
sharecroppers, Bessie Coleman grew up in poverty. Her father
abandoned the family when she was nine, and her elder brothers
soon left as well, leaving her mother with the four youngest of
her thirteen children. While taking care of her younger
sisters, Bessie completed all eight available years of primary
education, excelling in math. She enrolled at the Colored
Agricultural and Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma in
1910, but lack of funds forced her to leave after only one
term.
Five years later, she left the South and moved to Chicago
to join two of her brothers, Walter and John, where she worked
as a beautician for several years. An avid reader, she learned
about World War I pilots in the newspaper and became intrigued
by the prospect of flying. As a black woman, she had no chance
of acceptance at any American pilot school, so she moved to
France in 1919 and enrolled at the Ecole d'Aviation des Freres
Caudon at Le Crotoy.
After returning briefly to the United States, she spent one more
term in France practicing more advanced flying before finally
settling back in her birth country. She did exhibition flying
and gave lectures across the country from 1922 to 1926. While
flying, she refused to perform unless the audiences were
desegregated. She was test flying a new plane on April 30, 1926
when it malfunctioned, killing both her and the mechanic who was
piloting it. Her career as the world's first African American
pilot inspired many who followed.
Keywords
Bessie Coleman first African American woman pilot aviation
Subject Category
Early Aerospace-Pioneers, Women,
Reference Numbers
- Center:
HQ
- Center Number:
80-12873
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2004-00027
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASM
- Original Source: DIGITAL
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
Thumbnail |
JPEG |
18 |
25 |
0 |
Small |
JPEG |
129 |
181 |
5 |
Medium |
JPEG |
303 |
425 |
23 |
Large |
JPEG |
1 |
850 |
95 |
Other relevant NASA Web sites:
• NASA Headquarters
• NASA History Office
• NASA Image eXchange (NIX)
• NASA Multimedia Gallery
• NASA Human Spaceflight
Updated October 31, 2002
• History Questions: NASA History Office
• Responsible NASA Official: Steve Garber
• Author: Michael Hahn. Editor: Dwayne A. Day
• Curator & Technical Questions: Erin Needham
• NASA's Privacy Statement
|
