Bessie Coleman, African American airplane pilot, Los Angeles, circa 1922

Title: Bessie Coleman, African American airplane pilot, Los Angeles, circa 1922
Alternative title: Bessie Coleman, first female pilot of African descent
Date Created: [circa 1922]
Collection: OpenUCLA Collections
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection

Description: Bessie Coleman standing in an air field wearing air pilot clothing, including a leather flying helmet, a jacket and knickerbockers, a leather coat, and knee-high lace-up boots.
Bessie Coleman was an African American civil aviator. She was the first woman of African-American descent to hold a civilian pilot license. Due to discrimination against blacks in the U. S., she traveled to Paris in, 1920 to learn to fly and earn an international pilot's license. She then returned to the United States in 1921 and became a "barnstorming" stunt flier. "Queen Bess," as she was known, was a highly popular draw for the next five years. She was a speaker, was often interviewed by newspapers, and she was admired by both blacks and whites. In 1926 Coleman died in a tragic airplane accident. She was 34 years old.
Caption: Typescript on back of photo: Bessie Coleman, an Afro-American was one of the first women in the world to earn an international pilot's license. She was forced to go to Europe to learn to fly since American Aviation Schools refused to teach members of her race. She spent a great deal of time in Los Angeles raising funds for an aviation training school she hoped to establish for Afro-Americans before her untimely death in 1926. Written on back of photo: Bessie Coleman in Los Angeles.

Genre: photographs
Subject topic: African American women air pilots
African Americans in aeronautics
Names: Coleman, Bessie,1892-1926
Subject geographic: Los Angeles (Calif.)
Resource type: still image