She was the first African-American woman to obtain a civil aviation pilot’s license.

She was born in 1892 in Atlanta. She had 12 siblings and the father was a farm worker. When she was 9 years old her father was forced to go work elsewhere to have a better income for his family.

She attended a school for black students and then a Baptist school.

At 18, she enrolled in a university for black students in Oklahoma. But she left a year later due to lack of money.

In 1916 she went to Chicago to work. She wanted to be a pilot but no school would accept her because she was a woman and black. With the help of people who appreciated her, she went to Paris in 1920 and a year later got her pilot’s license.

He returned to the US but could not find work as a pilot. So in 1922 she began additional pilot courses in France and Germany.
When she completed them she returned to the US and became a demonstration pilot. She became very famous and her abilities were the focus of the press.

She was killed in a plane crash in 1926 in Florida.

The movie The Legend: The Bessie Coleman story was made about her life.

[Source: http://www.sansimera.gr]