1. By Julia S. Mrs. Hart 4 th Grade

2.  Bessie Coleman was born on January 26 th, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas.  Bessie was very poor and looked after her three sisters at the age of 9.  She picked cotton in the hot fields when she was a young girl.  Whites and blacks were not allowed to go to the same school, could not live in the same neighborhood and they didn’t have the same opportunities.  She had 13 brothers and sisters and she was the 10 th one born in her huge family.  In the 1900s flying was dangerous and people were called ‘’Flying Fools’’  Bessie was killed in a plane crash when her plane’s nose dived in 1926.

3.  Bessie Coleman attended school at the age of six.  She was really good at all of her subjects, especially math.  Bessie was forced to quit college because she was short of money.  Bessie took pilot lessons in a pilot school.

4.  Bessie Coleman was born into slavery  She could not go to schools with whites  No one wanted to teach her how to be a pilot  She didn’t have enough money to buy a plane,so she couldn’t get one.

5.  Bessie got her pilot license on June 15 th, 1921.  At the age of 29 she had become the first black women to earn a pilots license.  She was in the newspaper because a black pilot was big news.  Bessie got her first plane for $400.  She taught herself how to speak French.

6.  Bessie had no birth certificate and lied about her age.  Somebody wrote a poem about her.  Her real name was “Elizabeth Coleman.’’  The U.S postal service issued a stamp honoring her bravery.  Her family included some American blood as well as African American blood.

8.  Hart, Philip S. "Up In the Air". Minneapolis, Minnesota: First Avenue Edition, 1996. Print.  Coleman, Bessie." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier Online, 2013. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.