Bessie Coleman(1892 — 1926)
Bessie Coleman
États-Unis
9 min read
Bessie Coleman (1892–1926) was the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license, obtaining it in France in 1921 because no American school would accept her due to her race and gender. She became a celebrated stunt aviator before dying in a plane crash.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- 1892: born in Atlanta, Texas, into a poor African American family
- 1921: earned an international pilot's license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in France, the first Black woman to do so
- 1922: first public airshow in the United States performed before an African American audience
- Consistently refused to perform before segregated audiences
- 1926: died at age 34 in a plane crash in Jacksonville, Florida
Works & Achievements
Bessie Coleman's first major achievement: earning her FAI pilot's license in France after being turned away by every American flight school. This founding act made her the first African-American woman in history to hold an international pilot's license.
Bessie Coleman performed her first public stunt flying exhibition in America before thousands of spectators. The performance established her national reputation and officially launched her career as a traveling barnstormer.
For four years, Coleman traveled from city to city across the United States performing aerobatic stunt shows, using her earnings to raise awareness of aviation among African Americans and gather the funds needed for her planned school.
Alongside her airshows, Coleman gave numerous lectures at Black churches, schools, and associations to encourage young people to overcome racial discrimination. She was convinced that aviation could serve as a symbol of emancipation.
Bessie Coleman's great unfinished project: to establish the first flight school open to African Americans on American soil, so that no one would be forced to cross the Atlantic as she had been. Her accidental death prevented her from bringing it to fruition.
Anecdotes
Rejected by every American aviation school because of her race and gender, Bessie Coleman decided to learn French and crossed the Atlantic to train in Europe. In June 1921, at the Caudron brothers' aviation school in Le Crotoy, Normandy, she earned her international pilot's license issued by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, becoming the first African-American woman pilot in history.
Back in the United States, Bessie Coleman flatly refused to perform at air shows where Black and white audiences were segregated. If organizers maintained that policy, she would simply cancel her appearance — even at the cost of her fee — insisting that aviation should stand for equality, not division.
Nicknamed "Queen Bess" by the African-American press, she performed spectacular aerobatic displays across the United States to raise funds for a project she held dear: opening the first flight school for African-Americans, so that no one would ever have to cross the Atlantic just to learn how to fly.
On April 30, 1926, during an aerobatic rehearsal in Jacksonville, Florida, the plane she was in suddenly went into a spin. Bessie Coleman, who was not wearing a seatbelt so she could survey the terrain from the cockpit, was thrown from the aircraft at roughly five hundred meters altitude and died instantly. She was thirty-four years old.
Forgotten for decades, Bessie Coleman is today celebrated as a pioneer on two fronts. In 1995, the United States Postal Service honored her with a commemorative stamp, and several airports across the country bear her name or pay tribute to her legacy, making her an icon of the struggle for racial equality and women's emancipation.
Primary Sources
Official document issued on June 15, 1921 by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, certifying that Bessie Coleman had passed the theoretical and practical flying tests. This license, recognized in all FAI member countries, made her the first African-American woman to hold such a certificate.
The Chicago Defender, the leading African-American newspaper of the era, covered Bessie Coleman's return to Chicago in 1921 and reported her statements: she declared that her goal was to prove that African Americans could become pilots, and that she intended to open a flight school open to everyone, regardless of race.
Bessie Coleman stated: "I knew we needed Black aviatrices, and I knew that if it was to be done, I was the one to do it." She emphasized her determination to inspire African-American youth and to show that racial barriers could be overcome through hard work and perseverance.
The official report established that the Curtiss JN-4 aircraft piloted by William Wills suffered a loss of control due to a wrench jammed in the controls. Coleman, who was riding in the open rear cockpit without a seatbelt in order to survey the grounds for her upcoming performance, was thrown out at high altitude.
Key Places
Bessie Coleman's hometown, where she was born on January 26, 1892. She grew up there in a sharecropping family that faced poverty and the everyday racial segregation of the American South.
Bessie Coleman moved here around 1915 and worked as a manicurist. It was in this vibrant city — a hub of the African American press and culture — that she first heard about aviation and decided to learn French in order to train in France.
At the Caudron brothers' aviation school, on the shores of the Somme Bay, Bessie Coleman learned to fly in 1920–1921 and earned her international pilot's license, becoming the first African American woman pilot in history.
The site of Bessie Coleman's first public air show in the United States, on September 3, 1922. Her performance before a large crowd marked the official start of her career as a stunt aviator in America.
Bessie Coleman died here on April 30, 1926 during an aerobatic rehearsal over the city. Thrown from her Curtiss JN-4 biplane at approximately five hundred meters altitude, she was killed instantly.
