Bessie Coleman
Bessie Coleman Was Born In Texas, In 1893, To Sharecropper Parents. She Was Twelfth Of Thirteen Children. She Was Inspired To Become A Pilot By Eugene Jacques Bullard, A Black Pilot Who Flew For The French During World War I. Coleman Was Refused Admission To Flight-Training Schools In America Because Of Her Color And Sex. Subsequently, She Learned To Speak French While Working As A Manicurist. She Went To Paris In 1920, And After Ten Months, Had Her Airplane Pilot's License From The Federation Aeronautique International. She Became The First Licensed, Black Female Pilot, In The United States!!
On September 3, 1922, Bessie Coleman Made Her First Flight In An American Airplane, At An Exhibition Honoring The All-Black 15th Infantry Regiment Of The New York National Guard.
Prior To Her Death, She Had Plans To Open A Flight Training School For Black Americans.
**SPECIAL NOTE: A Recent And Documented, Historical Discovery, Reveals Emory Conrad Malick Was The First Licensed Black American Aviator, Earning His International Pilot’s License (Federation Aeronautique Internationale, or F.A.I., license), #105, on March 20, 1912, While Attending The Curtiss Aviation School On North Island, San Diego, California.
James Herman Banning Became The First Black Aviator To Obtain A License In America, From the U. S. Dept. Of Commerce (1926).
" In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." -- Hubert Gaddy, Jr.