Online A: February 2013

Bryce Crawford

2-7-13

5^th hour

Bessie Coleman Script

Bessie Coleman’s life began on January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. Although some say that she was born four years later, this is her actual birthdate. She was the 10^th of 13 children in her big family. Her father was one-fourth African-American and three-fourths Choctaw and Cherokee Indian, while her mother was African American. Their family ran a cotton-picking company in Texas. Even at a young age, it seemed as if her family knew she was going to be great. In 1901, frustrated by racial intolerance, her father moved back to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, but her mother decided to keep the rest of the family at home.

Bessie’s older brothers struck out on their own, leaving Bessie’s mother with four daughters under the young age of nine. Her mother needed to work as a cook and a housekeeper to make money, so Bessie had to take care of her siblings. When her mother realized that Bessie excelled in mathematics at the age of 8, she became the family bookkeeper. She was a Baptist (as was the rest of their family) so she learned how to read by reciting the bible every night at the dinner table with her siblings. She attended a one-room school in Waxahachie, which was a four-mile walk every day, and finished all eight grades. You could tell right at this moment that she really wanted to be a successful person.

When she was young, she used to read books on African-American heroes such as Harriet Tubman. She enrolled at the Colored Agricultural and Research University, which was a teachers college in Langston, Oklahoma. When she moved in with her brother in Chicago, she got motivation to amount to something and to become a pilot. So she moved to France, where she completed a ten-month course at the Ecole d'Aviation des Freres Caudon at Le Crotoy in the Somme. On June 15, 1921, Bessie received her pilot's license from the renowned Federation Aeronautique Internationale. Her birthdate was listed as 1896 (the year she had given passport authorities in Chicago) rather than 1892 -- making her appear 25 years old instead of the 29 years she actually was. Although Bessie was not the first black woman (or even the only woman in her class) to receive a license from the FAI, she was the first American to obtain her pilot's license from the French school. She was also the first licensed black pilot in the U.S. On September 3, 1922, Bessie gave her first performance at an air show at Curtiss Field, near New York City. She also began lecturing in black theaters, churches and schools, not only in Texas, but also Georgia in 1925, where she was becoming famous. Her fans called her Queen Bess or Brave Bessie.

On the evening of April 30, Bessie and her mechanic-pilot took the airplane for a test run. It malfunctioned and the mechanic lost control. Too short to see over the cockpit's edge, Bessie was not wearing a seatbelt so she could lean over to check out the field. The plane suddenly accelerated and flipped over. She plummeted 1,500 feet. Upon impact, every bone in her body was crushed and she died. Three funerals were held in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Chicago. Over 10,000 people attended these funerals, and people all over the world mourned over her death. Bessie Coleman was truly an American hero.

Works Cited

. "Bessie Coleman." Women in History. N.p.. Web. 14 Feb 2013. <http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/cole-bes.htm>.

. "Black History." gale.engage.com. N.p.. Web. 14 Feb 2013. <http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/coleman_b.htm>.

. "Bessie Coleman." pbs.org. American Experience. Web. 14 Feb 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/peopleevents/pandeAMEX02.html>.

Pictures:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Coleman

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/bessie-coleman/

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txecm/bessie_coleman.htm

http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/women/coleman.cfm