Tag: African-American descent
Pioneering Aviator Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman
On June 15, 1921, Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman became not only the first Black woman to earn an international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, and the first American of any gender or ethnicity to do so, but the first African-American woman to earn an aviation pilot's license. Determined to polish her skills, Coleman spent the next two months taking lessons from a French ace pilot near Paris, and in September 1921 sailed for New York. She became a media sensation when she returned to the United States.
