Bessie Coleman
By Leah Jernberg
Bessie's History
Bessie Coleman came from a poor family in Waxahatchie, Texas. Her mother was an African American and her father was an Native American. When her father left the family Bessie had to watch her sisters when her mom went to work. Bessie wanted her life to be better than her mothers and the only way for that to happen was Bessie would have to go to school and get good education. She studied for a year at all black school langston industrial college in Langston, Oklahoma. When her money ran out she had to leave college. Soon after Bessie was working as a manicurist in a barber shop. She readed a lot of articles about the Wright brothers. That is how she got interested in flying. When Bessie was working in the barber shop she met Robert Abbott. He recommended that she would go to France to study. In 1920 she left Frances. She was accepted by the best flying school in France. On June 15, 1921 she became the first woman to earn a pilot´s license. Later she returned to the United States. She gave speeches and performed in a air show all over the country. When she was in Florida she was in a plane crash. She was famous because she was the first woman be able to fly a airplane.