Bessie Coleman

February 28, 2008

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Profile America for the 28th day of Black History Month. Bessie Coleman picked cotton to help support her family and finished high school by studying on her own. Her dream was to fly, but every flying school turned her down because of her gender and race. So, she learned to speak French and went to France, where she earned her international flying license. At the time, she was the only licensed female black pilot in the world. For the rest of her short life, she encouraged others to turn their dreams into reality. Sadly, she died in a crash while practicing for an air show in 1926. There are 121,000 pilots and flight engineers working in the U.S. today, 2.5 percent are African-American. This special edition of Profile America for Black History Month is a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.