A demonstration record, compiled from public archives. Bessie Coleman did not write it; the institutions cited here did. Sources and clearance →
Exhibition
1892 to 1926
A Professional Identity Record compiled from institutional archives, held together by one document: the aviator's licence the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale issued on June 15, 1921.
The document at the centre of this record is an aviator's licence issued by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921, which the National Air and Space Museum records as the first pilot's licence issued to an African American woman and to a Native American woman. Before it, the smallest sentence Chicago filed her under was manicurist: the Handbook of Texas records the job at the White Sox Barbershop through the early years of the First World War, and a small but profitable chili parlor afterwards. No American school would take her, so she enrolled in French lessons on the advice of the publisher of the Chicago Defender, saved the fare, sailed for France, and was accepted by the Caudron Brothers School of Aviation. On September 3, 1922, at Curtiss Field on Long Island, in a borrowed Curtiss JN-4D Jenny, she made what the museum records as the first public flight by a Black woman in the United States, followed by a flight in Memphis and an exhibition at Checkerboard Field in Chicago on October 15 before an integrated crowd of 2,000. The exhibition years were also a speaking career, and the museum records that the talks often paid more than the flying. The Handbook of Texas records that she lectured at schools and churches to encourage young Black men and women to enter aviation, and that at Waxahachie she refused to give an exhibition on White school grounds unless Black attendees were admitted through the same entrance as White attendees. She was killed on April 30, 1926, at Paxon Field, Jacksonville, Florida, during a practice flight before a scheduled show; her mechanic William Wills, who was at the controls, was killed with her, and authorities found a loose wrench lodged in the control gears and determined the cause to be accidental.
The document of record, issued June 15, 1921. The National Air and Space Museum publishes it as the first pilot's licence issued to an African American woman and to a Native American woman, and reproduces the licence alongside its account of the training at the Caudron Brothers School of Aviation.
September 3, 1922, in a borrowed Curtiss JN-4D Jenny at Curtiss Field on Long Island, followed by a flight in Memphis and an exhibition at Checkerboard Field, Chicago, on October 15 before an integrated crowd of 2,000.
Library of Congress, Chronicling America (National Digital Newspaper Program). The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety.
The Handbook of Texas records lectures given at schools and churches to encourage young Black men and women to enter aviation, and one occasion at Waxahachie where Coleman refused to give an exhibition on White school grounds unless Black attendees were admitted through the same entrance as White attendees. The Handbook records that the request was granted and that the audience remained segregated once inside.
1892
The Handbook of Texas records the birth on January 26, 1892, the twelfth of thirteen children, and a childhood at Waxahachie.
1915
The older children of the family joined the Great Migration north, and the National Air and Space Museum records Coleman arriving in Chicago in 1915, later followed by her mother and the rest of the family.
1916
The museum records that she trained at the Burnham School of Beauty Culture and won a contest in 1916 that named her the best manicurist in Black Chicago, work that let her save toward flight training.
1920
Refused instruction by white pilots in the United States, she took French lessons on the advice of the publisher of the Chicago Defender, travelled to Paris, and was accepted by the Caudron Brothers School of Aviation, training on a Nieuport 82 dual-controlled trainer.
1921
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale issued the licence on June 15, 1921. The National Air and Space Museum records it as the first pilot's licence issued to an African American woman and to a Native American woman.
1922
The first public flight by a Black woman in the United States, in a borrowed Curtiss JN-4D Jenny at Curtiss Field on Long Island, followed by Memphis and by Checkerboard Field, Chicago, on October 15 before an integrated crowd of 2,000.
1925
By May 1925 she was in Houston for the first of a multi-city tour that included Waxahachie, flying loops, figure-eights and parachute jumps before large integrated crowds and speaking to audiences whose fees often exceeded the flying. The stated goal throughout was a flight school of her own, open to all interested students; the museum records that it was never achieved.
1926
Coleman was killed during a practice flight at Paxon Field, Jacksonville, Florida, before a show scheduled for the following day. Her mechanic William Wills, who was piloting, was killed with her. Authorities found a loose wrench lodged in the control gears and determined the cause to be accidental.
June 15, 1921
The date the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale issued the aviator's licence, after training at the Caudron Brothers School of Aviation in France.
September 3, 1922
The first public flight by a Black woman in the United States, per the National Air and Space Museum: Curtiss Field on Long Island, in a borrowed Curtiss JN-4D Jenny.
2,000 in the crowd
The integrated audience at Checkerboard Field, Chicago, on October 15, 1922, as the National Air and Space Museum records it.
12th of 13
Coleman's place among her siblings, per the Handbook of Texas: born at Atlanta, Texas, raised at Waxahachie.
32 cents
The United States Postal Service commemorative stamp issued in her honor in 1995, per the Handbook of Texas.
Because no school in the United States would train her. The National Air and Space Museum records that white pilots in the United States refused to train her on account of her race and her gender, and that the publisher of the Chicago Defender advised her to learn French and seek training in France.
Manicurist. The Handbook of Texas records her working at the White Sox Barbershop in Chicago through the early years of the First World War, after a period at beauty school, and afterwards running a small but profitable chili parlor.
The Handbook of Texas records that at Waxahachie she refused to give an exhibition on White school grounds unless Black attendees were permitted to use the same entrance as White attendees; the request was granted, and the audience remained segregated once inside.
No. The Handbook of Texas records that the flying school she intended for Black students never materialized, and that the Bessie Coleman Aero groups were organized after her death.
The Broad Ax of Chicago reported on May 8, 1926, that her remains reached the city that Wednesday and lay in state at an undertaking establishment on Indiana Avenue, where they were viewed by several thousand people, and that funeral services were held on the Friday morning at Pilgrim Baptist Church, with interment at Lincoln Cemetery.