American Airlines is celebrating the 100-year legacy of Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license, by operating a Black-women led flight, according to The Dallas Morning News. This month, a crew of 36 Black women flew from Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport to Phoenix.
Let me remind you who “Queen Bess” is. She grew up in Atlanta, Texas, with little access to education. When she hit her 20s, she began dreaming about becoming a pilot, according to her biography. At the time, the only women who flew were from France. Back here, they didn’t dare allow women let alone Black women learn how to fly a plane. That’s when Coleman decided to go to France and earn her pilot’s license which she received in 1921. She returned to the States greeted with praise for becoming the first Black woman pilot and became an air show performer. Read more at www.theroot.com
