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If your kids love flying and aviation history, these coloring facts pages about Bessie Coleman are a perfect way for them to learn about one of the most important women in aviation.
Here are 12 of our favorite Bessie Coleman facts for kids that you’ll find on the printable sheets, ready for you to not only learn but be creative too.
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Coleman, affectionately known as “Brave Bessie,” became the first African American woman to become a pilot and did so over 100 years ago, a time when only white people went to learn to fly at a school of aviation in the United States.
Bessie Coleman Facts FOR KIDS
- Bessie Coleman was an early American aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native American to go to flying school and hold a pilot license.
- Coleman’s mother, Susan Coleman, was an African American maid, and her father George Coleman was a sharecropper of mixed Native American and African American descent.
- Her brothers served in the military during World War I and their stories about French women flying inspired her to become a pilot.
- Robert Abbott, a famous African American newspaper publisher told her to move to France to apply to flight schools.
- Because university applications had to be in French, she started taking French classes at night after working as a manicurist during the day.
- She earned her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Le Crotoy, France on June 15, 1921, becoming the first Black person to earn an International pilot’s license.
- After aviation school, she mastered stunt flying in Europe. She was famous for making the figure “8” in her airplane.
- On September 3, 1922, at Curtiss Field on Long Island, Bessie made the first public flight by a black woman in the United States.
- She faced many obstacles such as gender and racial discrimination. She used to say that “the air is the only place free from prejudice.”
- In 1923, Coleman survived a bad accident that left her with a broken leg and ribs, but she recovered and started doing air shows again.
- She had a dream of opening a school for Black pilots.
- On April 30, 1926, she died in a plane accident caused by a loose wrench lodging into the engine’s controls.
SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR BESSIE COLEMAN FACTS
Bessie Coleman Facts are sized for standard letter printer paper dimensions – 8.5 x 11 inches.
This pdf file includes two coloring sheets loaded with Bessie Coleman Facts that you don’t want to miss. Print as many sets as needed and give them to friends or family!
DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE Bessie Coleman Facts PDF FILE
MORE FUN FACTS COLORING PAGES FROM KIDS ACTIVITIES BLOG
What were your favorite facts about brave Bessie Coleman?
