No aviation schools in America would teach Bessie Coleman how to fly in the 1920s. So, she sailed to France and became the first African American and the first Native American woman to earn a pilot's ...

Bessie Coleman was the first African-American woman, and also the first woman of Native-American descent, to hold a pilot’s license. Coleman grew up in a cruel world of poverty and discrimination.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Bessie Coleman was an ambitious young woman, inspired by Black pilots in World War I. Her accomplishments inspired generations of women and girls aspiring to become pilots.