Born: January 26, 1892, Atlanta, Texas Died: May 1, 1926, Jacksonville, Florida African-American aviator Bessie Coleman was the first African-American to earn a bachelor's degree international pilot. She dazzled crowds with her stunts at air shows and refused to be slowed down by racism (a dislike or lack of respect toward a person because of their race). Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayBessie Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in a one-room, dirt-floored cabin in Atlanta, Texas, of George and Susan. Coleman, the children of illiterate (unable to read and write) slaves. When Bessie was two years old, her father, a day laborer, moved his family to Waxahachie, Texas, where he purchased a quarter-acre of land and built a three-room house in which two other daughters were born. In 1901, George Coleman left his family. Bessie's mother and two older brothers went to work and Bessie remained the caretaker of her two younger sisters. Coleman's education was limited to eight years in a one-room schoolhouse that closed whenever students were needed in the fields to help their families harvest. cotton. Coleman easily established his position as head of the household, reading aloud to his siblings and mother in the evenings. She often assured her ambitious, church-going mother that she intended to “do something.” After finishing school, she worked as a laundress and saved her wages until 1910, when she moved to Oklahoma to attend Langston University. She left after a year, due to lack of money. Returning to Waxahachie, Coleman again worked as a laundress until 1915, when she moved to Chicago, Illinois, to live with her older brother, Walter. Within months, she became a manicurist and moved into her own place while continuing to search for – and ultimately, in 1920, find – a purpose for her life: to become a pilot. After befriending several leaders of the African American community on South Side Chicago, Coleman found a sponsor in Robert Abbott (1868–1940), publisher of the nation's largest African American weekly, the Chicago Defender. There were no African American aviators (pilots) in the area, and with no white pilots willing to teach her how to fly, Coleman turned to Abbott, who suggested she go to France. The French, he insisted, are not racist and are world leaders in aviation. Coleman left for France in late 1920. There she took flight training at the best school in France and obtained her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI; international pilot's license) on June 15, 1921. She traveled in Europe, thus gaining new flight experience. she could perform in air shows. Returning to New York in August 1922, Coleman outlined the goals of Bessie Coleman's remnant. Reproduced with permission of Corbis Corporation his life for journalists. She would be a pioneer, she said, in introducing aviation to her race. She would found a school for aviators of all races and appear before audiences in churches, schools, and theaters to spark interest among African Americans in the new and expanding technology of flight. Intelligent, beautiful, and well-spoken, Coleman often exaggerated her already notable achievements in the interest of better publicity and a wider audience. As a result, the country's African-American press, primarily the weeklies, quickly proclaimed her "Queen Bess.".