Bessie Coleman:
Community Innovator
Conversation Kit
Bessie Coleman Aero Club, organized by William Powell. National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian
Institution.
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 2
Table of Contents
03 Bessie Coleman: Community
Innovator
05 Driving Question
Supporting Questions
Civic Learning Themes
06 Learning Objectives and
Aligned Standards: College,
Career, and Civic Life (C3)
Framework for Social Studies
State Standards
Primary & Secondary Sources
07 Facilitation Strategies &
Discussion Formats:
Background Information,
Preparation Notes for
Facilitators, Option 1 (Large
Group Discussion), Option 2
(Small and Large Group
Discussion), Option 3 (Large
Group Discussion), Extension
Ideas
16 Supplemental Resources
18 Supplementary Materials:
Article "Aviatrix Must Sign
Away Life to Learn Trade," The
Chicago Defender, 1921:
Article Transcription
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 3
Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator
Bessie Coleman, around 1924. National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Bessie Coleman (1893-1926) was the first woman of African American and Native
American descent to receive her pilot's license in the United States. While working as a
manicurist in Chicago, she was challenged about her future by her brother, a World
War I veteran who taunted her with stories of French women flyers. She sassed back,
"That's it. . . . You just called it for me!" But Black men were not welcome in aviation, let
alone Black women. Unfazed, Bessie learned French, earned her pilot license in France,
and returned to the United States to perform aerobatics in air shows in front of
desegregated crowds.
Bessie Coleman enjoyed strong support from the African American press in her fight for
racial and gender equality. When rejecting a movie role that required her to play an
ignorant woman wearing tattered clothing, she said, "No, Uncle Tom stuff for me." Even
with her untimely death in a plane crash in 1926, she continued to be a symbol for
African American communities across the United States that dreamt of flying high.
Through the suggested discussions, students will explore Bessie Coleman's legacy, her
commitment to her community, and how they can support change in their community.
"Well, because I knew we had no aviators, neither men nor women, and I knew
the Race needed to be represented along this racist important line, so I thought
it my duty to risk my life to learn aviating and to encourage flying among men
“I knew the Race
needed to be
represented...so I
thought it my duty
to risk my life to
learn aviating.”
– Bessie Coleman (1921)
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 4
and women of the Race who are so far behind the white men in this special line,
I made up my mind to try. I tried and was successful."
– Excerpt from "Aviatrix Must Sign Life Away to Learn Trade," Chicago Defender,
October 8, 1921
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 5
Driving Questions
____
Supporting Questions
____
• What are the ways that you contribute to innovation in your community?
• Should you help affect change for a community that is not your own?
• What are the issues in your community that you would like to change?
• What barriers exist for women and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) in
aerospace?
• What was life like for Bessie Coleman in the early twentieth century?
• What were attributes used to describe Bessie Coleman as an aviator and
community innovator?
Civic Learning Themes
____
• Rights and Responsibilities: The freedoms, duties, and responsibilities that all
Americans should exercise and respect as participants in our shared democracy.
• Democratic Principles: Principles such as equality, freedom, liberty, respect for
individual rights, and deliberation that make up the founding ideals of our
democracy. These principles, along with civic virtues, including honesty,
cooperation, and attentiveness to multiple perspectives, apply to both official
institutions and informal interactions among citizens.
How do we bring change to our community?
As individuals, what do we have to offer our communities?
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 6
• Civic Disposition and Values: The personal dispositions important in a democracy
include concern for others' rights and welfare, fairness, reasonable levels of trust,
and a sense of public duty.
Learning Objectives and Aligned Standards
____
This conversation kit follows the learning arc outlined in the National Council for the
Social Studies College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework.
D2.His.2.3-5. Compare life in specific historical time periods to life today.
D3.4.3-5. Use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions.
D4.1.6-8. Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources, while
acknowledging the strengths and limitations of the arguments.
D4.7.3-5. Explain different strategies and approaches students and others could take in
working alone and together to address local, regional, and global problems, and
predict possible results of their actions.
D2.Soc.18.9-12. Propose and evaluate alternative responses to inequality.
Primary & Secondary Sources
____
All conversation kit resources can be found in this Learning Lab collection.
Individual links to resources are also included below or enclosed as an excerpt for your
convenience.
• Images:
o The Bessie Coleman Aero Club
o Bessie Coleman
o Charter Members of The Ninety-Nines
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 7
• Video:
o The First Female African American Pilot
• Newspaper article:
o "Aviatrix Must Sign Life Away to Learn Trade," Chicago Defender, October
8, 1921 (enclosed)
Facilitation Strategies & Discussion Formats
____
Background Information
____
Aviator Bessie Coleman not only wanted to fly herself, but she also wanted to help bring
Black communities into the current age through aviation. Bessie's sister Elois Coleman
Patterson wrote an article about her sister that described Bessie's commitment to
helping Black people across the United States become aviators themselves:
"Bessie barnstormed across the country and undertook a rigorous program of
speaking engagements.… When Bessie appeared over the town in which she
was reared, Waxahachie, Texas, she was permitted to use the university grounds
of the whites for her exhibition flying. She refused to exhibit unless her people
were allowed into the grounds through the front entrance, although they were
separated once inside the grounds... She decided to make an all-out effort to
establish a school where she could train young Negro men to fly."
– Excerpt from Brave Bessie by Elois Coleman Patterson
Black people were rejected from aviation schools across the United States in the early
20th century due to racist views and laws. Bessie applied to many US flight schools and
was rejected from all of them, sometimes on the basis of being Black, and sometimes
being both Black and a woman. This lack of opportunity is what lead her to France:
"She was refused by each aviation school to which she applied, sometimes
because of her race and sometimes because she was both a Negro and a
woman. She took her quest to Robert S. Abbott, a founder, editor, and publisher
of the Chicago Weekly Defender. He advised her to study French, and Bessie
promptly enrolled in a language school in Chicago's Loop. That accomplished,
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 8
he assisted her in contacting an accredited aviation school in France. She
planned to obtain certification and return to the United States to open an
aviation training school for young blacks… Bessie made two trips to Europe,
returning to Chicago from the second one in 1922...holder of a certificate from
the FAI [Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the flying school that issued
Bessie's license]... She put on an air exhibition in 1922 at Checkerboard Field,
today known as Midway Airport, Chicago, after which she received many calls
from young Negro men, anxious to learn to fly. Bessie had obtained her
certificate at great personal expense and sacrifice. She told prospective
students that they had to wait until either some forward-thinking blacks opened
a training school or until Bessie herself could give enough demonstrations and
accrue sufficient money to undertake opening a school herself."
– Excerpt from Brave Bessie by Elois Coleman Patterson
Bessie Coleman had many nicknames, including the gendered "aviatrix." These
nicknames included "Brave Bessie" and "Queen Bess"; many different people saw her as
brave, successful, a risk-taker, and determined. These attributes inspired people across
the United States, especially after her untimely death in a plane crash. Thousands of
people attended her funeral in Jacksonville, Florida, including activist and journalist Ida
B. Wells, and thousands more visited her remains as they lay in state in both Orlando,
Florida, and Chicago, Illinois. Bessie Coleman Aero Clubs, like the one run by William J.
Powell, sprung up around the country. These clubs promoted aviation awareness in the
Black community. Both men and women were welcome to apply. Powell became a
talented visionary and promoter of Black involvement in aviation. Five years after
Bessie's death, the first all-Black Air Show occurred in California, with an estimated
15,000 spectators attending.
White women also struggled to find slots in aviation clubs and aviation, though they
had more success due to the color of their skin. The first woman to receive her pilot's
license in the United States was a white woman, Harriet Quimby, about a decade
before Bessie took to the skies. One of the first aviation clubs for women would become
the international women's organization "The Ninety-Nines," which was open to any
woman with a pilot's license "for mutual support, the advancement of aviation, and to
create a central office to keep files on women in aviation." Though inclusive of women
from the United States and around the world, the early members of The Ninety-Nines
were predominantly white. Women continued to break barriers throughout the 20th
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 9
century, but the trend of white women gaining access to spaces first continues to this
day.
Preparation Notes for Facilitators
____
• Gather and distribute resources listed above for the classroom.
• Prepare for facilitating open-ended, difficult conversations. Each classroom and
facilitator has techniques unique to them. If you are looking for further ways to
develop these types of conversations, please explore the following resources:
o “Preparing Students for Difficult Conversations” from Facing History and
Facing Ourselves
o “Starting With Ourselves: Preparing for Tough Classroom Conversation”
from Learning for Justice
o “Difficult Dialogues” from Vanderbilt University’s Center for Teaching
o By cultivating an open, honest, and respectful space for dialogue year-
round, students and facilitators will be in a great starting place to begin
conversations around Bessie Coleman and her legacy.
• This conversation kit uses the thinking routine "See/Think/Wonder." Learn more
about how to use this thinking routine in your classroom:
o (Video) See/Think/Wonder in the Museum from the National Gallery of Art
o (Article) “See, Think, Wonder” from Facing History and Facing Ourselves
o (Article) “See, Think, Wonder” from the Harvard Graduate School of
Education
Depending on your class size, knowledge of class behavior, and your favorite discussion
strategies, use the following strategies to help mold conversations about Bessie
Coleman as a community innovator in your classroom. Use these in tandem with the
background information, the extension ideas, and other resources.
*A note on grading strategies: We'd recommend gauging student engagement in
being able to interpret the objects, and potentially connect to their daily lives.
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 10
Option 1. Large Group Discussion: Who was Bessie Coleman?
____
• Introduce the topic.
o Potential introduction: "Today, we are going to explore the story of Bessie
Coleman, the first woman of African American and Native American
descent to earn a pilot's license in the United States."
• Have students watch the Smithsonian Channel video about Bessie Coleman:
o The First Female African American Pilot
• Afterward, bring up the photo of Bessie Coleman:
o Bessie Coleman
• With the group, use the routine "See/Think/Wonder" to explore the photo of
Bessie Coleman. Ask each question one at a time:
o "What do you see in this photograph?"
▪ These should only be observations, such as "I see a woman on a
plane," or "I see a photograph in only one color".
▪ Repeat or rephrase the observations being shared, such as
"Student X sees a propeller."
▪ Things they may see or notice: time period, clothing (pilot),
confident pose, determined look, African American person.
o "What do you think is going on in this photograph?"
▪ When a student responds, ask the follow-up, "What makes you say
that?"
▪ Repeat or rephrase what they think, such as "Student X thinks that in
this image, a pilot is getting ready to fly. What makes you say that?"
▪ Tell students a little about the photograph after they view it. "This is
a photograph of Bessie Coleman, the first woman of African
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 11
American and Native American descent to be a licensed pilot,
shown here on the wheel of a Curtiss JN-4 "Jennie" in her custom-
designed flying suit (circa 1924)."
o "What do you wonder about this photograph?"
▪ Repeat what students wonder out loud, and make connections
between what they wonder now, and what they saw and thought
in the image.
▪ Tell students a little more about Bessie Coleman, depending upon
what they are wondering (refer to the Background Information
section for more connections).
• Wrap up the conversation.
o Potential wrap-up: "Bessie Coleman was a confident, successful flyer; the
first woman of African American and Native American descent to earn
their pilot's license. In this image, we see a confident professional aviator
standing on the wheel of an aircraft. Bessie was not only an aviator but
also a community innovator. A community innovator is a person that
affects positive, impactful change in their community."
Option 2. Small and Large Group Discussion: Who is represented?
____
• Introduce the topic.
o Potential introduction: "Today, we're going to view some photographs of
aviation clubs that started near the time that the first licensed Black
woman pilot, Bessie Coleman, was alive. We'll look closely at the
photographs, ask questions, and see if these photographs can tell us more
about the time, place, and situation when these photographs were
taken."
• Pair students in groups of 2-4, and have them examine this photo of the Bessie
Coleman Aero Club:
o The Bessie Coleman Aero Club
• Have students use the routine "See/Think/Wonder" to explore the photograph.
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 12
• Prompt students with each question, and then have students answer in their
small group:
o "What do you see in this photograph?"
▪ Have students write down what others in the group saw in the
photograph.
▪ Things they may notice: time period, clothing (pilots), group of
people, some are sitting/standing, some are smiling, different
genders, all are African American.
o "What do you think is happening in this photograph?
▪ Have students listen to each other, and the student listening should
ask for evidence with the question, "What makes you say that?"
o "What do you wonder about the photograph?"
▪ Have students write down their answers for what they wonder
individually.
▪ After, have the students share what they wondered with their
group.
• Ask the small groups to share with the larger group what they saw, thought, and
wondered, and collect their answers in a large format that everyone can see.
• Ask students to look for similarities and differences they might have noticed.
• After sharing out to the larger group, have students compare the photograph to
this photograph of the first meeting of the aviation club The Ninety-Nines:
o Charter Members of The Ninety-Nines
o Give students some background on The Ninety-Nines: "This is a group
photograph of many of the charter members of the women pilots'
organization The Ninety-Nines, photographed seated at Curtiss Field,
Valley Stream, Long Island, New York, on November 2, 1929."
o Ask the students to contemplate the follow questions, and share with the
larger group:
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 13
▪ "What do you see/notice?"
▪ "What similarities do you notice?"
▪ "What differences do you notice?"
▪ "What do you wonder while comparing the two paragraphs?
o Things students may notice:
▪ Those in both groups were interested in supporting each other and
having fun; one photo is of multiple genders and all African
American people, and one image is of all white women. Both are
from a different time period from today.
• Wrap-up the conversation.
o Potential wrap-up: "Though there were aviation clubs for both white men
and white women, many African Americans weren't welcome. Bessie
Coleman inspired aviation clubs to form in different communities across
the United States. African Americans of different genders formed these
aviation clubs. If you were to start one today, what sort of club would you
form to help your community, and who would be the members of your
club?"
Option 3. Large Group Discussion: What are the qualities that make a
community innovator?
____
• Introduce the topic.
o Potential introduction: "A community innovator is a person that affects
positive, impactful change in their community. Change can come in a
variety of forms, including social, environmental, political, and more.
Bessie Coleman was one such community innovator. We're going to take
a closer look at an article written in an African American-run newspaper
about Bessie Coleman and explore how she is presented as a community
innovator."
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 14
• Hand out copies of the newspaper article: "Aviatrix Must Sign Life Away to Learn
Trade," Chicago Defender, October 8, 1921
• While reading this article, have students think about the following questions:
o "What are some of the words or attributes used to describe Bessie and her
life as a pilot?"
o "What are some ways that you would describe Bessie?"
• After reading, have students write attributes and descriptions on post-it notes,
and post them in a central space.
o Students may notice the following descriptions/attributes in the article: risk-
taking, determined, successful, not satisfied, courage, nerve, ambition,
charming, responsible.
• Have students read the attributes listed, and answer the following questions as a
group:
o "Are these attributes that make a successful community innovator? Why or
why not?"
o "Are there attributes that are not currently represented that you think
would describe a community innovator? Why or why not?"
o Potential extension question: "Who wrote this article, and who was the
intended audience? Would the attributes be different if this article was
published in a white newspaper?"
• After discussing the attributes and descriptions of Bessie Coleman as a group,
have students think individually about who a community innovator might be
today. This community innovator could be a person from anywhere, and the
student does not have to know the person. Ask them to list the attributes they
think make them a community innovator.
• Then, have the students gather in groups of 2 to 4 and share who they chose,
and the reasons they picked them as a community innovator. In small groups,
students should ask each other:
o "What made you choose those attributes?"
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 15
o "Is the way they are affecting change in their community good? Bad?
Why?"
o "How would you affect change if you were in their place?"
• Wrap-up the conversation.
o Potential wrap-up: "Bessie Coleman helped innovate her community by
taking risks, being determined and brave, and never being satisfied until
African Americans were able to fly as easily as white people in America.
Many different attributes can help change your community, and not
everyone does things the same way."
Extension Ideas
____
• After using either Option 2 or Option 3, or both options, have students explore
how they can create change in their communities:
o Have students pick one topic that they are passionate about.
o Research if that topic is discussed, presented, or represented in their
community
o Have students ask the 3 Y's:
▪ "Why might this [topic, question] matter to me?"
▪ "Why might it matter to people around me [family, friends, city,
nation]?"
▪ "Why might it matter to the world?"
o Plan what tools (media, outreach, speaking, conversations) could be
used to spread the word about the chosen topic.
o Present their plan to fellow students, and have students critique their plan.
• Explore the story of Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to go to
space.
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 16
o Ask, "What are the similarities and differences to Bessie's story?" "What
changed between Bessie's time and Mae's?" "Have things changed since
then, why or why not?"
• Explore the stories of women and femmes of color in aviation and aerospace,
and look for attributes that made them successful, or that people describing
them thought made them successful.
o Ask, "Are they the same as Bessie's? Different?" "Do all successful
community innovators have to have the same attributes? Why?"
• Bessie Coleman died at a young age, doing what she loved. Even though it is
challenging to consider, have students write a letter to a family member or
friend, answering the question:
o If you died today, what would you want your legacy to be?
Supplemental Resources
____
• Related Smithsonian Learning Lab collections:
o Athletes and Aviators: Women Who Shaped History
o Let Women Fly: Female Aviators and Astronauts
o Scientists, Inventors, and Entrepreneurs: Women Who Shaped History
• National Air and Space Museum Resources:
o “Teacher Guide: African American Pioneers in Aviation, 1920-Present”
• Articles:
o “Overlooked No More: Bessie Coleman, Pioneering African-American
Aviatrix” from The New York Times
o Bessie Coleman from the Barry Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery at the
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 17
o “Bessie Coleman: Barnstorming Through Barriers” from the Smithsonian
National Air and Space Museum
o “She Had a Dream: Mae C. Jemison, First African American Woman in
Space” from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
o “Black Wings: The Life of African American Aviation Pioneer William
Powell” from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
• Websites:
o The Ninety-Nines
o Black Wings: African American Pioneer Aviators from the Smithsonian
National Air and Space Museum
• Books:
o Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator by Doris L. Rich (1993)
This conversation kit was authored by Rebecca Ljungren at the National Air and Space
Museum. Learn more at womenshistory.si.edu and airandspace.si.edu.
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 18
Supplementary Materials: "Aviatrix Must Sign Away
Life to Learn Trade," The Chicago Defender, 1921
____
"Aviatrix Must Sign Life Away to Learn Trade," Chicago Defender, October 8, 1921
21
Activity 1: CARTOON — THEY CAN’T
KEEP US DOWN
Miss Bessie Coleman, 4533
Indiana Avenue, the only femi-
nine aviatrix of the Race in
the world, arrived in Chicago
Saturday direct from France
where she has just completed a
ten months’ course in aviating.
Miss Coleman was seen by a
Defender reporter at her home.
When asked why she took up the
game of flying, she said: “Well,
because I knew we had no aviators,
neither men nor women, and I
knew the Race needed to be repre-
sented along this racist important
line, so I thought it my duty to risk
my life to learn aviating and to
encourage flying among men and
women of the Race who are so far
behind the white men in this spe-
cial line, I made up my mind to
try. I tried and was successful.
Not Satisfied Yet
“But I shall never be satisfied
until we have men of the Race
who can fly. Do you know you
have never lived until you have
flown? Of course, it takes one
with courage, nerve and ambition
to fly. And, too, age and health
are to be given great considera-
tion. But I am thankful to know
we have men who are physically
fit: now what is needed is men
who are not afraid to dare death.”
Miss Coleman paused a
moment and with a charming
smile, she continued: “I f irst
went to Paris and decided on the
school. But the first to which I
applied would not take women
because two women had lost their
lives at the game, so I went to
another school in the Somme
Crotcy, the city where Joan of
Arc was held prisoner by the
English. There I finished my
course, took the examination and
passed: then afterwards I still I
still kept flying to perfect myself.
Later, I left the school in the
Somme and attended another in
Paris where I had lessons under
an ‘ace’ who had brought down
thirty-one German planes during
the world war. Here I decided on
my plane, which is a Neuport de
Chasse, 130 horse-power, and
with which I shall give exhibition
flights in America and other
countries.”
Japs Buy From France
When asked how did the darker
races of China and Japan compare
with the races of other countries
in aviating, Miss Coleman replied:
“Japan is greatly interested in the
air. She is buying planes from
England and France. China also
is doing her bit in this direction,
but both countries are far behind
the others. “I saw France’s fine
Goliath airplanes, the largest
built in the House of Faurman,
equipped with two Samson motors
which carry fourteen people.
They are not built as passenger
carrying planes; they are fitted out
as fighting planes Only people
who are flyers are permitted to
see them. Flying is as popular in
Europe as automobiling is in
America. Kings own their own
their private planes just as our
President owns his car.”
Better to Fly High
When asked how she felt while
flying so high, Miss Coleman
replied that she felt more safe in
an aeroplane than an automobile.
“I have flown as high as 5,000
feet. Of course, 1,000 feet is high
enough for traveling if you are
sure of your motor, but the higher
you fly the better chance you
have in case of accident. In
school I saw a pupil killed
instantly; it was a terrible shock
to my nerves, but I never lost
them; I kept on going. “When
you first enter the aviation school
there you must sign away your
life, that is, you must sign a con-
tract agreeing to assume all
responsibility and risk. They are
not responsible for your life:
however, I signed the contract
and my determination to com-
plete the course impelled me to
walk nine miles a day every day
to school for ten months. “We
must have aviators if we are to
keep pace with the times” Miss
Coleman concluded. Any one
desiring information concerning
aviation or aviation schools may
see Miss Coleman.
Please note: This newspaper article has been re-typeset to improve readability. No wording or
punctuation has been altered in the process. The original article appeared on page 2 of the
Defender. It was centered just under the masthead.
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Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 19
Article Transcription, "Aviatrix Must Sign Away Life to Learn Trade," The
Chicago Defender, 1921
____
Miss Bessie Coleman Walked Nine Miles Each Day While Studying Aviation
Miss Bessie Coleman, 4533 Indiana Avenue, the only feminine aviatrix of the Race in the
world, arrived in Chicago Saturday direct from France where she has just completed a
ten months’ course in aviating. Miss Coleman was seen by a Defender reporter at her
home. When asked why she took up the game of flying, she said: “Well, because I knew
we had no aviators, neither men nor women, and I knew the Race needed to be
represented along this racist important line, so I thought it my duty to risk my life to learn
aviating and to encourage flying among men and women of the Race who are so far
behind the white men in this special line, I made up my mind to try. I tried and was
successful.
Not Satisfied Yet
“But I shall never be satisfied until we have men of the Race who can fly. Do you know
you have never lived until you have flown? Of course, it takes one with courage, nerve
and ambition to fly. And, too, age and health are to be given great consideration. But I
am thankful to know we have men who are physically fit: now what is needed is men
who are not afraid to dare death.” Miss Coleman paused a moment and with a
charming smile, she continued: “I first went to Paris and decided on the school. But the
first to which I applied would not take women because two women had lost their lives
at the game, so I went to another school in the Somme Crotcy, the city where Joan of
Arc was held prisoner by the English. There I finished my course, took the examination
and passed: then afterwards I still I still kept flying to perfect myself. Later, I left the
school in the Somme and attended another in Paris where I had lessons under an ‘ace’
who had brought down thirty-one German planes during the world war. Here I decided
on my plane, which is a Neuport de Chasse, 130 horse-power, and with which I shall
give exhibition flights in America and other countries.”
Japs Buy From France
When asked how did the darker races of China and Japan compare with the races of
other countries in aviating, Miss Coleman replied: “Japan is greatly interested in the air.
She is buying planes from England and France. China also is doing her bit in this
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Bessie Coleman: Community Innovator Conversation Kit 20
direction, but both countries are far behind the others. “I saw France’s fine Goliath
airplanes, the largest built in the House of Faurman, equipped with two Samson motors
which carry fourteen people. They are not built as passenger carrying planes; they are
fitted out as fighting planes Only people who are flyers are permitted to see them.
Flying is as popular in Europe as automobiling is in America. Kings own their own their
private planes just as our President owns his car.”
Better to Fly High
When asked how she felt while flying so high, Miss Coleman replied that she felt more
safe in an aeroplane than an automobile. “I have flown as high as 5,000 feet. Of
course, 1,000 feet is high enough for traveling if you are sure of your motor, but the
higher you fly the better chance you have in case of accident. In school I saw a pupil
killed instantly; it was a terrible shock to my nerves, but I never lost them; I kept on going.
“When you first enter the aviation school there you must sign away your life, that is, you
must sign a contract agreeing to assume all responsibility and risk. They are not
responsible for your life: however, I signed the contract and my determination to
complete the course impelled me to walk nine miles a day every day to school for ten
months. “We must have aviators if we are to keep pace with the times” Miss Coleman
concluded. Any one desiring information concerning aviation or aviation schools may
see Miss Coleman.
Description of political cartoon accompanying the article: Airplane flying through the
clouds. Seemingly attached to the bottom of the airplane are the words on a piece of
paper that read: “Miss Bessie Coleman – the Race’s First Aviatrix”. The caption above
the cartoon reads “They Can’t Keep Us Down.”
Please note: This newspaper article has been re-typeset to improve readability. No
wording or punctuation has been altered in the process. The original article appeared
on page 2 of the Defender. It was centered just under the masthead.
