Elizabeth bessie coleman

Bessie Coleman

By virered11

  • Bessie was born

    Bessie was born
    Bessie Coleman was born January 26, 1892. She was the 10th out of 13.

  • Goodbye, Father

    In 1901, George Coleman, Bessie's father, got fed up with the racial barriers and moved to Oklahoma, or "Indian Territories", without his family to find a better life.

  • Bessie moves to Chicago

    When Bessie was 23, she moved to Chicago. She started Reading and listening to stories about WWI pilots, which sparked her interest in flight.

  • Bessie gets her license

    Bessie gets her license
    Bessie Coleman became the first African-American woman to earn a pilots license on June 15, 1921.

  • Bessie stages her first public flight

    Bessie stages her first public flight
    In 1922, Bessie became the first African-American woman to stage a public flight in the United States.

  • Bessie dies

    Bessie dies
    On April 30, 1926, Bessie was flung to her death in Jacksonville, Florida when she was test-flying her open-cockpit plane and it spun out of control.