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Bessie was born
Bessie Coleman was born January 26, 1892. She was the 10th out of 13. -
Goodbye, Father
In 1901, George Coleman, Bessie's father, got fed up with the racial barriers and moved to Oklahoma, or "Indian Territories", without his family to find a better life. -
Bessie moves to Chicago
When Bessie was 23, she moved to Chicago. She started Reading and listening to stories about WWI pilots, which sparked her interest in flight. -
Bessie gets her license
Bessie Coleman became the first African-American woman to earn a pilots license on June 15, 1921. -
Bessie stages her first public flight
In 1922, Bessie became the first African-American woman to stage a public flight in the United States. -
Bessie dies
On April 30, 1926, Bessie was flung to her death in Jacksonville, Florida when she was test-flying her open-cockpit plane and it spun out of control.
