THIS MONTH IN AIRPOWER HISTORY: Celebrating the Centennial of Bessie Coleman as the First Licensed African American Woman Pilot

On June 15, 1921, Bessie Coleman received the first pilot’s license issued to an African American woman and to a Native American woman. The license was issued by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the aviation licensing body of Europe. In doing so, Coleman, a bravely independent and determined woman, sought to fulfill her mother’s hope for her children: “to amount to something.”

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Read more about Bessie Coleman at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

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