1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: show that pays tribute to people of the past by 4 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:19,599 Speaker 1: sharing their stories. Today, I'm Gabelusier, and in this episode, 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,680 Speaker 1: we're celebrating the life of Bessie Coleman, a gutsy black 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: pilot who overcame gender bias and racism to make history 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:38,480 Speaker 1: both on the ground and in the air. The day 8 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: was January twenty sixth, eighteen ninety two. Pioneering aviator Elizabeth 9 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: Bessie Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas. She pursued her 10 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: dream of becoming a pilot during an era of severe 11 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: racial prejudice and Jim Crow laws, and when her own 12 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: country stood in the way of her dream, she went 13 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: to France and learned to fly there. Her determination paid 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: off in nineteen twenty one, when she made history as 15 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: the first African American woman and the first woman of 16 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: Native American descent to become a licensed pilot. Bessie Coleman 17 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: was born in a small North Texas town at the 18 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: turn of the twentieth century, roughly a decade before airplanes 19 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: were even invented. She was the tenth of thirteen children 20 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,760 Speaker 1: born to a couple named George and Susan Coleman. Her 21 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 1: mother was an African American maid and her father was 22 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: a sharecropper of African American and Cherokee ancestry. They moved 23 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:42,119 Speaker 1: to Waxahachie, Texas when Bessie was two, but after about 24 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: seven years there, her father was ready to move again. 25 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: He was fed up with the indignities of segregation and 26 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: believed the family would face less abuse living among the 27 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: Cherokee in Oklahoma, where Jim Crow laws had yet to 28 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: be enacted. Bessie's mother, however, was unconvey vinced by the 29 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: plan and decided that she and the children would stick 30 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: it out and wax a Hatchee For the rest of 31 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: her teenage years, Bessie Coleman picked cotton alongside her mother 32 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 1: and washed laundry to earn extra money for herself. By 33 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: the time she was eighteen, she'd saved enough to begin 34 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:23,399 Speaker 1: taking classes at the Colored Agricultural and Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma, 35 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: but the money didn't go as far as she had hoped, 36 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: and she wound up having to drop out after just 37 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: one semester. In nineteen fifteen, Coleman joined the Great Migration 38 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: and headed north with millions of other African Americans. She 39 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: settled in Chicago, where her older brothers lived, and was 40 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: followed soon after by her mother and the rest of 41 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: the family. She got a job as a manicurist at 42 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: the age of twenty three, and while it was a 43 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:53,079 Speaker 1: welcome change from her hard scrabble upbringing in the oppressive South, 44 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 1: she still longed for more. I want to find a 45 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: bigger life, she said. I want to amount to something. 46 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: Coleman spent the next five years trying to figure out 47 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: what that something might be, and in nineteen twenty she 48 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 1: finally got her answer. Strangely enough, it came in the 49 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: form of a taunt from her brother John. He had 50 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: served in the military during World War One, and after 51 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: returning home, he told his sister stories about the women 52 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: pilots he'd encountered in France. Sometimes he even teased her 53 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: about it, pointing out that here she was trying to 54 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: elevate herself and getting nowhere, while over in France women 55 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: were literally soaring to new heights. Coleman took the insult 56 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: as a challenge and replied, that's it. You just called 57 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: it for me. With her new goal in sight, she 58 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: took a second job to raise money for tuition and 59 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: sent out applications to flight schools across the country. She 60 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: was rejected each and every time because she was both 61 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: African American and a woman, but Coleman was relentless, as 62 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: she famously declared, quote, every no takes me closer to 63 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: a yes. In pursuit of that elusive yes, Coleman sought 64 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: advice from Robert s Abbot, an influential newspaper publisher in 65 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: Chicago and one of the first self made black millionaires 66 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: in the country. Abbot could tell she was serious about 67 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: becoming a pilot, and he also knew her story would 68 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: sell lots of papers if she succeeded. With that in mind, 69 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: he recommended that she seek training in France, where black 70 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 1: people were afforded more opportunity than in the US, and 71 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: promised to report on her progress in his newspaper. Because 72 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: her applications would need to be written in French, Coleman 73 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: started taking French classes in the evenings. Once she had 74 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: a decent grasp of the language, she applied to several 75 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:48,359 Speaker 1: well respected flight schools and was ultimately accepted by the 76 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: Caudron Brothers School of Aviation. She traveled to France in 77 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: late November of nineteen twenty and began learning to fly 78 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: the Newport eighty two, a dual controlled training plane to 79 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: f during World War One. After seven months in the cockpit, 80 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: Bessie Coleman earned her pilot's license on June fifteenth, nineteen 81 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: twenty one, becoming the first African American woman to do so. 82 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:15,599 Speaker 1: She hoped to make a living off her new skill 83 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 1: by performing as a barnstormer, an exhibition flyer who performed 84 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 1: aerial stunts at air shows. However, she quickly realized she'd 85 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: need more training for that, so she logged another two 86 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,479 Speaker 1: months worth of lessons in France and then spent ten 87 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,719 Speaker 1: weeks in Berlin flying under the instruction of German ace pilots. 88 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: In the spring of nineteen twenty two, Coleman made her 89 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: triumphant return to the US, where her achievement was hailed 90 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: by black and white newspapers. Her first public air show 91 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: was held on September third of that year in Garden City, 92 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: Long Island. According to one Kansas reporter, as many as 93 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: three thousand people turned out for the event, watching in 94 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: awe as Coleman flew thousands of feet above the ground, 95 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: pulling off barrel rolls, loops, and spins as if she'd 96 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: been flying all her life. Over the next five years, 97 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 1: the intrepid pilot would perform at countless air shows throughout 98 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 1: the country, earning nicknames such as Queen Bess and Brave Bessie. 99 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: One of her most daring acts involved another pilot taking 100 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: the controls while she walked across the wings of the 101 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: plane and then parachuted safely to the ground. The stunts 102 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: didn't always go as planned, though, and on one occasion, 103 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:32,720 Speaker 1: Coleman broke a leg and three ribs when her plane 104 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,479 Speaker 1: stalled and crashed. The accident left her grounded for a 105 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: few months, but it didn't put her off flying, and 106 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: she soon returned to barnstorming as fearless as ever. As 107 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: her celebrity status grew, Coleman also began using her fame 108 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: to advocate for inclusivity in American society. She refused to 109 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: perform in exhibitions that required black people to use a 110 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: separate entrance and to sit apart from the rest of 111 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,600 Speaker 1: the crowd, and she frequently gave speeches at churches, theaters, 112 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: and schools, in which she encouraged other African Americans to 113 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,679 Speaker 1: take up flying. The air is the only place free 114 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: from prejudice, she once told a reporter, and you've never 115 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: lived until you've flown. Coleman's dream was to raise enough 116 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: money to open her own flight school so that more 117 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: women like her could experience the same freedom she felt 118 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: in the air. Blacks should not have to experience the 119 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: difficulties I have faced, she said, So I decided to 120 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: open a flying school and teach other black women to fly, 121 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: for accidents may happen, and this way there would be 122 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:40,080 Speaker 1: someone to take my place. Coleman's statement would prove tragically 123 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: prescient in the days ahead. On April thirtieth, nineteen twenty six, 124 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: she took flight over Jacksonville, Florida, in a Curtis j 125 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: N four, a plane she had recently purchased after years 126 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: of saving. She had asked her mechanic, William Wills, to 127 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: pilot the plane that day so that she could scope 128 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 1: out the terrain below in preparation for a parachute jump 129 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: scheduled for the following day. Roughly ten minutes into the flight, 130 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: in unsecured wrench somehow got lodged in the control gears, 131 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: causing the plane to lurch into an uncontrollable dive. Coleman, 132 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: who was not wearing her seat belt, was thrown from 133 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: the plane several thousand feet in the air, and when 134 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: it crashed and exploded, William Wills died as well. A 135 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: funeral service was held for Coleman in Florida before her 136 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: remains were returned to Chicago, where ten thousand mourners came 137 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,600 Speaker 1: to pay their last respects. The ceremony was attended by 138 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: several prominent black figures, including Ida B. Wells, a renowned 139 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,479 Speaker 1: journalist and activist who had led an anti lynching crusade 140 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: in the eighteen nineties. In the years ahead, Coleman's adopted 141 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: town of Chicago would continue to honor her memory. In 142 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one, the Challenger Air Pilots Association began flying 143 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: over her grave each year to drop flowers, and around 144 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: the same time, I'm a Black engineer and pilot named 145 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:07,200 Speaker 1: William J. Powell established the Bessie Coleman Aarow Club. Its 146 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: purpose was to fulfill Coleman's dream of bringing aviation opportunities 147 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,319 Speaker 1: to the black community, and it welcomed both men and 148 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: women alike. I'm Gabe Luesier and hopefully you now know 149 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 150 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us 151 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and 152 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,959 Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to 153 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:41,559 Speaker 1: pass them along by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia 154 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 155 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:47,839 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 156 00:09:47,840 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: here again soon for another day in History class.