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Bessie Coleman

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC10109 Author/Creator: Place Written: s.l. Type: Photograph Date: 1922 Pagination: 1 photograph : b&w ; Order a Copy

One photograph of Bessie Coleman with her airplane dated 1922. Bessie Coleman was born to a family of sharecroppers, picking cotton as a child. She became the first African-American woman (and first Native American) to hold a pilot license by earning her license while training in France because she was not allowed to earn such license in the United States. Bessie was also the first Black person to earn an international pilot’s license.

Coleman, Bessie, 1892-1926

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