![]() ![]() Meanwhile, her brothers served in the military during World War I and came home with stories of their time in France. She went to the Burnham School of Beauty Culture in 1915 and became a manicurist in a local barbershop. She dropped out of college after only one semester because she could no longer afford tuition.Īt age 23, Coleman went to live with her brothers in Chicago. By the time she was eighteen, she saved enough money to attend the Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma. Coleman grew up helping her mother pick cotton and wash laundry to earn extra money. Instead, Coleman, her mother, and siblings stayed in Waxahachie, Texas. Coleman’s mother decided not to go with him. In 1901, her father decided to move back to Oklahoma to try to escape discrimination. Her mother, Susan Coleman, was an African American maid, and her father George Coleman was a sharecropper of mixed Native American and African American descent. Though her life and career were cut short in a tragic plane crash, her life and legacy continue to inspire people around the world.īorn in Atlanta, Texas on January 26, 1892, Bessie Coleman had twelve brothers and sisters. Known for performing flying tricks, Coleman’s nicknames were: “Brave Bessie,” “Queen Bess,” and “The Only Race Aviatrix in the World.” Her goal was to encourage women and African Americans to reach their dreams – and this became her legacy. Bessie Coleman soared across the sky as the first woman of African American and Native American descent to earn her pilot’s license in the U.S. ![]()
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