Bessie Coleman

Elizabeth Bessie Coleman was an American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent and was also the first woman of Native American descent to hold a pilot license. She is also the first person of African American and Native American descent to hold an international pilot license.

Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas, the tenth of thirteen children to sharecroppers George, who was part Cherokee, and Susan Coleman. When Coleman was two years old, her family moved to Waxahachie, Texas, where she lived until age 23. Coleman began attending school in Waxahachie at age six and had to walk four miles each day to her segregated, oneroom school where she loved to read and established herself as an outstanding math student. She completed all eight grades of her oneroom school. Every year, Colemans routine of school, chores, and church was interrupted by the cotton harvest. In 1901, Colemans life took a dramatic turn George Coleman left his family. He returned to Oklahoma, or Indian Territory as it was then called, to find better opportunities, but Susan and the children did not go with the father. At age 12, Bessie was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church. When she turned eighteen, she took her savings and enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricu

Source: Wikipedia