Everyone knows about the Wright brothers, Amelia Earhart, and maybe even Charles Lindbergh. But among these aeronautical heroes, one American aviator is tragically overlooked.

In June 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license and the first woman of any race to earn an international pilot’s license. On January 26, what would be her 125th birthday, Google has devoted its homepage Doodle to Coleman, honoring her accomplishments as a pioneer for women in flight.

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Tales from combat pilots returning from WWI first piqued her interest in flight as the entire nation became captivated with taking to the sky. Throughout the 1910s, women like Blanche Scott, Harriet Quimby, Ruth Law, and Katherine Stinson earned pilot licenses and helped destigmatize the idea of female pilots.

Nevertheless, race was an added challenge for Coleman in an era that saw a revival in the Ku Klux Klan and lynchings not far from her birthplace in Atlanta, Texas. After moving to Chicago at 23, Coleman was denied entry into every flight school to which she applied.

Rather than giving up, she learned French, saved up her money from working as a manicurist, and, with the help of Robert Abbott, owner of the Chicago Defender newspaper, moved to France in November 1920 to pursue her dream. Seven months later, she was a pilot – two years before Amelia Earhart.

Upon returning to the United States, Coleman made a living as a barnstormer, performing parachuting and aerial tricks at county fairs, carnivals, and airfields. Her skill earned her the nickname “Queen Bess.”

On April 30, 1926, Coleman fell to her death during a stunt rehearsal when the plane unexpectedly plummeted toward the earth.   

In just 34 years, she defied the laws of gravity as well as racial and gender stereotypes. She was an absolute trailblazer. And she is woefully unknown in American folk lore. Her legacy is one of inspiration for those to go after their dreams whether in the air or on the ground.

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Google’s decision is one effort at increasing the scope of Coleman’s accomplishments which, in turn, could have a greater effect on the disproportionate representation in STEM jobs (science, technology, engineering and math).   

A 2013 report from the US Census Bureau found that, “among science and engineering graduates, men are employed in a STEM occupation at twice the rate of women.” What is more, as of 2011, only six percent of STEM workers were Black, while Latinos fared slightly better at seven percent of the workforce.

According to her website, Coleman hoped she would inspire later generations as her role models did for her. Recognition is step one.     

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Google Doodle Honors Trailblazing Pilot Bessie Coleman on Her 125th Birthday

By James O'Hare