Bessie Coleman: A Legend in Flight

The History Cache Podcast

The turn of the 20th century was an incredible time for aviation and in 1892, eleven years before the Wright Brothers’ famous flight, a pilot was born. Bessie Coleman, known as Queen Bess, was the first African American and the first Indigenous American to receive an international pilot’s license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, two years before Amelia Earhart. Bared from American flight schools because of her sex and unable to find a pilot to give her lessons in the US due to her race, she left for flight school in France. Upon her return, she had an exciting career barnstorming, or stunt flying, wowing audiences with tailspins, parachute jumps, and walking along the wing of her plane while it was in flight. Her tragic death in 1926 came too soon, but her legacy still lives on. Come hear the inspirational life story of the unstoppable Queen Bess.