Black History Month is a joyous time when renowned achievements of Black Americans are honored and celebrated. This year, in partnership with the Port of Portland's Alliance of Black Employees resource group, we're sharing the remarkable legacy of American civil aviator, Bessie Coleman (Jan. 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926). With great fortitude, Bessie weathered the barriers of segregation to become the first African American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot’s license. She was also the first Black person to earn an international pilot’s license at the age of 29.

Bessie’s early life and path to becoming a pilot was not easy. She lived as a sharecropper in Waxahachie, Texas, walking four miles to school and saving every penny towards buying her own plane someday. Also, no school in the U.S. would receive her pilot license application, both because of her race and gender. However, this didn’t stop her. With great determination – "I refused to take no for an answer," she remarked – she took a French language class and traveled to Paris to earn her pilot license. It was during the training in France where she took her first solo flight. This moment was noted in the film, The Legend: Bessie Coleman Story, “she realized what it was like to be totally free.” 

"The air is the only place free from prejudice."
- Bessie Coleman

As a young aviatrix, Bessie boldly etched the skies and in 1922 became the first African American woman to perform the first public flight. Her famous aeronautic exhibitions of loop-the-loops , figure eights and low dips garnered her great acclaim, including the nicknames "Brave Bessie" and "Queen Bess."

With great bravery, activism, and a vow to one day “amount to something”, Bessie paved the way for a future generation of aspiring aviators, "I decided Black people should not have to experience the difficulties I had faced so I decided to open a flying school and teach other Black women to fly." Although her dream of opening a flying school fell short with her untimely death, her valiant legacy lives on.

Learn more about Bessie’s life and achievements: biograpy on Wikipedia, 100th year anniversary celebration flight by American Airlines and the United States Mint first coin in the 2023 American Women Quarters (AWQ) Program, honoring Bessie Coleman