Bessie Coleman

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Bessie Coleman A Pioneer in Aviation

description

Biography of Bessie Coleman written for first graders.

Transcript of Bessie Coleman

Page 1: Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman

A Pioneer in Aviation

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Questions from Mrs. Holsapple’s and

Mrs. Webster’s Students

• How does the yellow airplane fly?

• Why did they have the gravestone?

• How do you read those words?

• Does nobody own the sky?

• Did she die in an airplane?

• How high does the plane go?

• Why was she on a gold coin?

• How much did the airplane cost?

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Facts About Bessie Coleman

• NAME: Elizabeth (Bessie) Coleman

• DATE OF BIRTH: January 26, 1892 ( She

was born 119 years ago!)

• PLACE OF BIRTH: Atlanta, Texas

• DATE OF DEATH: April 30, 1926(She was

34 years old when she died.)

• PLACE OF DEATH: Jacksonville, Florida

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Bessie’s Childhood

• Bessie was one of thirteen children.

• Her father, who was part Native American and

part African American, left for Oklahoma when

Bessie was 9.

• Bessie’s mom and two brothers went to work

and Bessie took care of the younger kids.

• Bessie went to school in a one room

schoolhouse. She finished eighth grade.

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Bessie was born in Atlanta, Texas, in 1892.

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Working and Saving

• Bessie loved reading and math. She

wanted to go to college, so she worked as

a laundress and saved her money.

• In 1910 she went to Langston University in

Oklahoma. She only stayed for a year

before she ran out of money.

• She moved back home and once again

became a laundress.

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To Chicago

• In 1915 Bessie moved to Chicago where

two of her brothers lived.

• She worked as a laundress and a

manicurist.

• In 1920, she realized that she wanted to

be a pilot.

• There were no African American pilots

who would teach her to fly.

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To France

• Bessie studied French while working to

save money.

• She went to the best school in France and

received her International Pilot’s License

in 1921.

• She traveled around Europe and practiced

flying until she returned to the United

States in 1922.

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Bessie’s Passport Photo

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Bessie Coleman trained at the Ecole d'Aviation des Freres Caudron on the

Nieuport Type 82 becoming the first licenced black female pilot on 15 June

1921. Her machine would have been similar to this one but with civilian

registration

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In 1921, Bessie got her Pilot’s license in

France.

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Bessie with her wings

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Bessie in Germany

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Bessie’s Dream

• Bessie was famous to African Americans

and shared her dream in interviews with

many newspapers.

• She wanted to save enough money to

start her own flight school for people of

any race or gender.

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Chicago

Defender

interview with

Bessie

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About World War I

• Bessie became a pilot after World War I

ended in 1918.

• At that time, there were no airports or big

jet planes for transportation.

• The Army had extra airplanes left over

from the war.

• Pilots could buy the airplanes for a cheap

price and use them to make money.

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Curtiss JN-4 JennyThis type of plane was produced by the Army for World War I. After the war, pilots could buy a plane

for as little as $200. The Army paid $5000 each.

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Bessie’s Words

I knew we had no aviators, neither men nor

women, and I knew the Race needed to be

represented along this most important line, so

I thought it my duty to risk my life to learn

aviation and to encourage flying among men

and women of our Race who are so far

behind the white Race in this modern study.

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Barnstorming

• Pilots would fly over a town and drop papers that told

where their show would be. They would get permission

from a farmer to use his field.

• People would come and pay to see the show.

• Some people could even pay for a ride in a plane.

• After the show, the pilots would pay the farmer for using

his fields. Then they would move to another town.

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Wing Walking

• At an air show,

people could see

wing walkers,

parachute

jumpers, people

moving from one

plane to another,

and other

dangerous tricks.

• Some pilots would

sell tickets and

give rides.

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Tragedy in Florida

• In 1926, Bessie took a train to Florida to give a benefit

for the Jacksonville Negro Welfare League.

• She was going to use a plane that she just bought. It

was a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny. It was having trouble on the

way to Florida.

• Bessie and her pilot friend, William D. Wills, went on a

flight to look for a good place for Bessie to jump from a

parachute. Bessie was not wearing her seatbelt

because she needed to see over the front of the plane.

• The plane dove and flipped. Bessie was thrown out and

killed.

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The Chicago Defender, an African American weekly

newspaper, reported on Bessie’s tragic death.

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Bessie Coleman

died at an air show

in Jacksonville,

Florida in 1926.

• Bessie’s Grave

Bessie’s grave is located in

Lincoln Cemetery, just

outside of Chicago. To

honor her memory, Black

pilots began a tradition of

flying over her grave

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In Her Memory

• Bessie had three memorial services.

Many people attended them. She was

buried outside of Chicago.

• Over the years she has become an

inspiration for overcoming the two huge

barriers she faced: her color and her

gender.

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Lt. William J. Powell, the founder and president

of theBessie Coleman Aero Clubs stated that,

"because of Bessie Coleman, we have

overcome that which was much worse than

racial barriers. We have overcome the barriers

within ourselves and dared to dream."

William J PowellStarted the Bessie Coleman flying

school in Los Angeles.

African Americans could get

their pilot licenses at the

school.

He began a company called

Bessie Coleman Aero, which built

airplanes and was owned by

African Americans.

On Labor Day of 1931 the Los

Angeles Bessie Coleman Aero

Club, under the direction of William

J. Powell, sponsored the first all-

black air show in U.S. history. The

show drew over 15,000 attendees.

He dedicated his book, Black

Wings, to Bessie Coleman.

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Bessie Coleman flew before

Amelia Earhart.

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In 1995, Bessie’s image was featured on a

stamp in the Black Heritage series.

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National Historical Plaque in

Texas

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Bessie Coleman One Dollar Coin

• Bessie’s image was considered for the dollar coin. While

they were not made in large numbers, you can find them

on eBay for about $40.00

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This article discusses the dollar coin.

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Books about Bessie

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Bessie Coleman

1893-1926

First Black Woman Licensed Pilot

Inducted in 1989

Bessie Coleman was born into a poor Texas family, and although she was a bright

student, poverty kept her from attending college. She moved to Chicago where

she saw her first air show. The excitement and thrills created by the barnstorming

stunt pilots inspired her to learn to fly.

Coleman refused to give in to the racial and gender prejudices of her day.

Rejected by American flight schools, she went to France, learned to fly in Nieuport

biplanes, and earned the first International Pilot's License issued to a black

woman.

Returning to America in 1921, Coleman yearned to open a flight school for black

pilots. She believed "the air is the only place free from prejudices." She turned her

accomplishments into celebrity, appearing on newsreels, performing at air shows,

and lecturing to encourage other blacks to pursue aviation careers.

By 1926, Coleman had raised almost enough money to open her school. As fate

would have it, her dreams never came true. She died in a crash at a Florida air

show in 1926.

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Additional Information

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Barnstormers

• Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would

perform tricks with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming

was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight.[citation needed]

• The term barnstormer was also applied to pilots who flew throughout the country selling airplane

rides, usually operating from a farmer's field for a day or two before moving on. "Barnstorming

season" ran from early spring until after the harvest and county fairs in the fall.

• The term barnstorming comes from an earlier American tradition of rural political campaigns.

• During the first World War, the United States had manufactured a significant number of Curtiss

JN-4s (called Jennys) to train its military aviators and almost every U.S. airman had learned to fly

using the plane. After the war the U.S. federal government sold off the surplus materiel, including

the Jennys, for a fraction of its initial value (the $5,000 purchase price of a Jenny could be

reduced to as low as $200). This permitted many of the servicemen, who were already familiar

with the JN-4's, to purchase their own planes.• Most barnstorming shows started with a pilot, or team of pilots flying over a small rural town to attract the attention of the local inhabitants.

They would then land at a local farm (hence the name "barnstorming") and negotiate with the farmer for the use of one of his fields as a

temporary runway from which to stage an air show and offer airplane rides to customers. After obtaining a base of operation, the pilot or

group of aviators would "buzz" the village dropping handbills offering airplane rides for a small fee and advertise the daring feats that

would be performed. Crowds would follow the planes to the field, purchase rides and watch the show. In some towns the appearance of a

barnstormer or an aerial troop would lead to almost everything in the town shutting down as people attended the show.[citation needed]

• Barnstormers would perform a variety of stunts, with some specializing as stunt pilots or aerialists. Stunt pilots performed a variety of

aerobatic maneuvers, including spins, dives, loop-the-loops and barrel rolls while aerialists would perform feats of wing walking, stunt

parachuting, midair plane transfers or even playing tennis, target shooting or dancing while on the plane's wings.

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