For a number of years starting in 1931, black pilots from Chicago instituted an annual fly over of her grave. In 1977 a group of African American women pilots established the Bessie Coleman ...

Bessie Coleman was born to sharecroppers in Texas ... Every year on the anniversary of her death, Black pilots honor Coleman by performing a flyover and dropping flowers on her grave.

During a test flight for an air show, a mechanical issue with the plane caused it to crash throwing Bessie Coleman from the plane to her death. (Courtesy Mitch Hemann) The tribute by Paxon ...