In Honor of Black History Month

In honor of Black history month, Bas Bleu spotlights a heroic real-life pilot who is the subject of one of our favorite recent historical fiction titles.

Bessie Coleman was born in 1892 in Waxahachie, Texas. One of thirteen children, she was raised by parents who were likely born into slavery. Growing up under Jim Crow, she attended a segregated school where her intelligence flourished and she excelled especially in math. After school, she moved to Chicago as part of the Great Migration, where she became a manicurist and married.

At age 27, Coleman learned from her brother of women flying airplanes in France during World War I. Intrigued, she applied to almost every American flying school, but was rejected because of her race and gender. Frustrated but undeterred, she applied to French aviation schools. In 1920, she enrolled in the Ecole d’Aviation des Frères Caudron at Le Crotoy in the Somme. Two weeks after the Tulsa Race Riot, Coleman received her license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, which granted her the right to fly anywhere in the world. She was the first American—man or woman, Black or white—to receive these credentials.

In 1921, she returned to the US and became a stunt pilot, earning her the title of “Queen Bess, Daredevil Aviatrix.”  As she toured the US and Europe performing and giving flying lessons, she used her fame to fight for equality and civil rights.  

In A Pair of Wings, Carole Hopson pays due tribute to Bessie Coleman, bringing her remarkable story to life as a powerful and inspiring novel.

Source: Mathias, M. (2024). Bessie Coleman. Retrieved from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/bessie-coleman