Bessie Coleman

Did you know Bessie Coleman had to leave the United States because American flight schools wouldn't train her—then returned from France as the first African American woman known to hold an international pilot's license?

Bessie Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in Waxahachie, Texas.

When Coleman decided she wanted to learn to fly, no American flight school would train her—because she was Black and because she was a woman. So she learned French, saved her money, and traveled to France.

On June 15, 1921, Coleman earned her international pilot's license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)—the only organization at the time whose recognition granted the right to fly anywhere in the world. She became the first African American woman known to hold an international pilot's license.

Coleman returned to the United States and became a celebrated exhibition pilot, performing daring aerial stunts. She dreamed of opening a flight school for Black Americans. She died on April 30, 1926, in an airplane accident near Jacksonville, Florida, while preparing for an exhibition—before she could open her school.