 Hello from the National Archives Public Programs and Education staff. My name is Sarah Lyons Davis, I'm an education specialist at the National Archives. Welcome to the National Archives Comes Alive Young Learners Program. Today we meet Bessie Coleman, portrayed by actor and storyteller Daisy Sentry. Bessie Coleman was the first African American and Native American woman pilot in the early 20th century. Facing discrimination in America, Coleman went to France to earn an international pilot's license. While abroad, she learned aerial stunts such as Loop the Loops and Figure 8s, as well as parachuting. Her fame as an aerial entertainer grew quickly and she used her platform to encourage future generations about aviation as a career, especially for women and people of color. The National Archives has records related to Bessie Coleman and other female aviators. These can be found in the National Archives online catalog and in our education specific resource docsteach at docsteach.org. In this image, we have a photograph of Bessie Coleman from 100 years ago in the early 1920s. Today, aviation or mechanical flight with airplanes is commonplace. But back in the 1920s, the flying industry was still very new and it was an industry that Bessie wanted to be a part of. When she applied to flight school in the United States, she was not accepted due to her status as a woman and an African American. When Ms. Coleman could not find aviation training in the United States, she went to France and she earned her pilot's license there. If you look closely at the image, you can see Bessie Coleman speaking with Tony Foker, an aircraft builder and designer on a visit to the Netherlands. This program is brought to you from the National Archives Public Programs and Education Team and the National Archives Foundation. You can find information for teacher and student programs on the National Archives website, archives.gov, under Archives News, Upcoming Events. And if you follow the National Archives on social media as well, let us now give a warm welcome to Bessie Coleman. Fly away, fly away, fly up high, fly away, fly away and never come down. I don't know why we have to pick cotton all day long in this hot cotton field. It flies in the mosquitoes and this one row is so long, I can't see the end of this one row. It's going to take me a whole week to finish this one row. But mama say, pick cotton Bess, pick cotton. The more cotton we pick, the more money we'll have to put food on the table. Pick, pick, pick, all day long in this hot field. I like to pretend a daydream, so I see this ladybug beetle. If I had wings like that ladybug beetle, I'd fly far away from this field. I'd fly and I'd never come back. I'd fly away to places that I read about in my book, places like Africa and China, Australia. I'd fly far up in the clouds and everybody would say, there go that little flying girl. And I would say, hello everyone, hello everyone. Bessie Coleman, get back to work girl. Yes ma'am, pick, pick, pick, all day long. Pick, pick, pick. Well, it's another day of picking cotton in the fields of me and mom. We put all cotton on the scale to see how much money we made for the day. Mr. Johnson say, oh, that's about 35 pounds. I went around and looked, I said, oh no, Mr. Johnson, that's 135 pounds. Mr. Johnson say, oh, I forgot. Bessie, you can read. I said, yes, sir, I can read and I can cypher too. Quicker than most people can cypher with paper and pencil. So Mr. Johnson on one side, just mumbling and grumbling. Oh, I got to watch out for that little girl. That little girl can read and write real good. That little girl can cause me trouble and he just mumbling, grumbling. Mama on the other hand was so proud. Mama said, that little girl gonna make herself something one day. I just know it. And she got spoke too. She just stood up to Mr. Johnson just like that. So mama on one side being very proud. Mr. Johnson on the other side mumbling and grumbling. So another day of me and mama picking cotton in the fields. My name is Elizabeth Bessie Colby and I'm nine years old. I was born January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. Mama said, when I was about three years old, we moved to another part of Texas called Waxahatcha, Texas. So I lived with my mama and daddy and my three little sisters, Georgia, Eloise and Nigel. I got two older brothers, Walter and John. They went to fight off in the war. I'm not quite sure which war, but they didn't come back to little old Texas. They stayed in the big city of Chicago. So most days, me and mama pick cotton in the cotton field. When the sun's shining, but when it's raining cloudy out, I help mama take in washing sometimes to help mama clean the big houses up on the hill. I don't like cleaning the big houses. I don't like to take in wash. And I sure enough don't like to pick cotton. But the one thing I do like, I like going to school. I like to learn. I like to read about people and places and mountains, rivers and streams and alligators and crocodiles and flowers and rocks. I just like to find out about everything. But better than reading, math is my favorite subject. I can figure out math in my head quicker than most people can figure it out with paper and pencil. I like to draw circles and squares and triangles and find out how much space is inside and out. Oh, I love to learn. But I can't go to school till we finish picking the cotton. That's not till the last of November 1st of December. I can't go to school till we finish picking the cotton. Mama said, there's sharecroppers. I don't quite know what that is. So when I don't understand something, I put it in the back of my head to think on it a little bit later on. But sharecropping can't be nothing good because we barely surviving. Most of the days, we hardly have enough food. It's hardly any work besides picking cotton. And my daddy said, he's half Indian. I don't understand that either, half Indian. So I put that in the back of my head to think about it a little bit later on. My dad said he half Indian. So he's going to go to Oklahoma, Indian territory and look for work. And he want all of us to come with him. But mama said, no, you go on, George. You get everything set up and squared away. And then you can send for us. So my daddy went to Oklahoma Indian territory and we waited and waited and waited for my daddy to send for us. But my daddy never did send for us. So I'm the oldest one. I got to take care and look after everybody. I'm the only one that can read and write. Mama can't read nor write. My little sisters, they too little. And everybody who live in the one room shanty shack, they can't read either. They would bring their letters and mail to me. Now read their letters and write their letters for them. Somebody would bring a newspaper. We'll all sit around and I'd read the newspaper so we can find out what's going on. So I pretty much took care of everybody, but I didn't mind. So as time went on, I finished picking the cotton. I could go to school. My school was three miles away, but I would run so fast I got to school at no time. My teachers gave me all my assignments. I couldn't wait to get back home. Put my little sisters to bed. Turn up the kerosene lamp. Did all of my assignments. Took geography. Did my math. Did my reading. Got them all done. Went to school the next day and gave the teacher all my assignments. She said, Bessie, you finished all of this last night? I said, yes, ma'am. She said, Bessie, you were so gifted. You're a talented little girl. We have to tell your mama to start saving up money to send you off to finishing school. You did all of this work in one night? I said, yes, ma'am. I caught up with all the kids who've been going to school since September in one night. And she called all the other teachers. Come look and see what Bessie did. They all looked and said, Bessie, you are truly gifted little girl. You're so smart. I felt right proud. Oh, then I went home and told mama the good news that was so proud of me. And, oh, everybody was so happy that I was in school and I got all my work done. And as time went on, I got up in the eighth grade. Eighth grade was as far as the school went. Back then, if you had enough money or you're smart enough, you could go on to finishing school, which was like 12th grade college back then. And somehow, mama got some kind of scholarship from the church and she begged everybody for one penny, one nickel, whatever they could give. And she had enough money to send me off to finishing school, which was like 12th grade college back then. So she sent me off to the Oklahoma Color Agricultural and Normal School in Langston, Oklahoma, which is today Langston University. Oh, I love being there. I love learning. Oh, I took world literature. I took algebra, geometry. I studied philosophy, religion. Oh, I studied my notes. My hand would go up. I would write my notes. I would answer the question. I was learning. I love being in school. I just like to learn. Oh, then after one semester, mama run out of money. I had to come back home. I didn't want to come back home. I want to stay in school to learn. But I had to come back home, right back to the cotton field. I don't belong in this cotton field. I want to do something important with my life. I don't know what. I want to make something of myself. I want to do something spectacular. I can't do nothing in this cotton field. I had an idea. I wrote to my brother, Walter, in Chicago, and asked him if I could come live with him and look for work. I sent the letter off. In about three weeks' time, the letter came back. Said, dear Bess, there are plenty of jobs in Chicago. You can come and live with me. So I told mama all about it. Mama said, Bess, oh, it's a place called the Stroll. We would put on our finest clothes. And sometimes we would have brunch. We would buy a dress or a purse or hat. We would take in a live play. But mostly we would go to the jazz club and dance the night away and listen to all of the great jazz giants, Louis Armstrong. Oh, he would play on his trumpet. Bess and Smith would sing. Bill Bojangle, Robinson would sing. Oh, and we would spend the night away every weekend on the Stroll. Huh, but something else was eating inside of me. Said, I can't, I don't think, I don't think I'm supposed to be a manicurist for the rest of my life. But I continued doing people nails. I continued listening to their stories. And on this particular day, there were soldiers who just came in from France. I said, you know what? While we were in France, there were women flying planes, bringing us mail and supplies. What did you just say? I said, while we were in France, there were women bringing us supplies and bringing us the mail. There were women flying planes in France. He said, yes, that's what I want to do. That's what I want to do. I want to fly. I've been pretending since I was little. Not that I want to do it for real. Everybody in the barbershop laughed at me. I said, no, I want to fly. I said, well, what do you know about flying? Bessie Coleman. I said, I don't know anything about flying, but I'm smart. I can learn anything. I said, well, good luck on that. Oh, who's going to teach you Bessie Coleman? Well, that flight school's here in Chicago. One of them will teach me. I said, well, good luck to you. And they all went about laughing and snickering and went about talking. But I was serious. So the next day, I made sure I went and visited my very good friend, Mr. Robert Abbott. He became my friend and best mentor ever while I was in Chicago. He owned a Chicago Defender newspaper. He said, you know, Bess, I've got a lot of boxes and papers, but there are three flight schools right here in Chicago. I'll bring the address back tomorrow. Good luck to you. Oh, the next day, Mr. Abbott brought the addresses of three flight schools and they gave them to me. I was so nervous. I knocked on the first door. Come in. Good morning, sir. My name is Bessie Coleman. I want to enroll in your school of flight. I want to become a pilot. I want to learn how to fly. He said, what did you say? Good morning, sir. My name is Bessie Coleman. I want to enroll in your school of flight. I want to learn how to fly. I want to become a pilot. And he was a Portland gentleman. He said, I heard you the first time. I just wanted to make sure that I heard right. You fly. Ha, ha, ha, ha. You fly. There is no room in the sky for you. You belong on the floor scrubbing it and keeping it clean. Be gone. Don't waste my time. It was like someone ripped my heart out. I went to the second school. The same thing. I went to the third school. The same thing. No one wanted to teach me how to fly because of the color of my skin. Because I'm a woman. I just wanted to make something of myself. It wasn't like I wanted free lessons. I have money. I said, oh, I gotta get myself together before I get back to the barbershop. I got back to the barbershop and said, well, tell us the good news. Tell us the good news. There's no good news. I said, all three turned you down. Yes. They all turned me down. You know, Mr. Abbott, we tried though, didn't we? I'm going to go back and knock on the door every week until they let me in. Mr. Abbott said you shouldn't have to do that, Bess. You're smart. You've got money. You can just walk in the door and sign the papers. Well, I'll think about doing something else, Mr. Abbott. I don't know what, but I'll think of something. Mr. Abbott said, Bess, it shouldn't be like this. I said, no, it shouldn't be. Mr. Abbott said, Bess, I've known you for quite a while. You don't give up this easily. Is this something you really want? I said, Mr. Abbott, I've never been so sure of anything in my whole life. I want to fly. He said, you know what? We might have to go all the way to Paris, France to learn how to fly. Oh, Mr. Abbott, you think so? You think so? He said, none. Don't get too excited. Let's write to some schools first and fly. So Mr. Abbott and I sat down and we applied to several schools, flight schools in Paris and we sent the applications off. In about four months' time, the letter came back and said, I want to teach you how to fly. The Caldron Brother School of Aviation, McCroy-Toyd, Paris, France. I said, Mr. Abbott, they want to teach me how to fly. Read it. Maybe I'm too excited. I could have misread it. Read it, Mr. Abbott. They want to teach me how to fly. And they didn't even ask what color I was. They just want to teach me how to fly. Oh, Mr. Abbott, thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Abbott, thank you. Mr. Abbott said, OK, now I'm best. Now let's get a plan together. You're going to need a passport. He said, no problem. I can fill out a passport and send it off. He says, all right, you're going to need lots of money because you have to take the train from Chicago to New York, get on the ship. And when you get there, you have to find a place to stay. You're going to have to buy food and clothes. So you're going to need lots of money. So I got another job at the chili parlor. Then I got a part-time job downtown as an usher in one of the theaters. I put the word out to the churches to help me with my future endeavors. And every month they would send money to me. I would put it all in my account. I call it my flying bank account. And he said, now Mr. Abbott says, now best. This is the hardest one of all. When you get there, they might not speak English. You're going to have to learn the language. No problem, Mr. Abbott. I enroll in the police school of French downtown Chicago. I studied and I studied. I followed the diagrams, says, bonjour. Your mouth should be in an old circle. Bonjour. Bonjour, monsieur. Bonjour, mademoiselle. Comment allez-vous? Comment allez-vous? Au revoir. Au revoir, mademoiselle. Au revoir, monsieur. Je m'appelle. Je m'appelle Coleman. Je m'appelle Coleman. Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça? I practiced and I practiced until I got it. I was fluent in French. Two and a half years, row by, I was ready. My passport came back. I had enough money. I could speak fluent French. I says, when you see me again, I'll be Aviatrix. That's the code. So I got on the train from Chicago to New York. Got on the SS in Perida. Sailed off the Paris France. When I got to Paris France, Paris was absolutely gorgeous. Oh, the cobblestone streets. The fountains and the statues. The beautiful flower gardens. The buildings with golden tips and stained glass windows. Paris was absolutely gorgeous. They would pass me by and says, bonjour, mademoiselle. And I would say, bonjour, monsieur. And I would smile to myself. I understand them. Oh, I lived in a small town called La Croix-Toy. La Croix-Toy, France. Not too far from the Song River. I'm all fish in town. I found out that my flat school was about seven miles away. So to save money, I walked there. My school in Texas was three miles away. So I ran and flew half of the way. So I did the same thing in Paris, France. I would walk real fast and I would just float along. When I got to my school, the Cold Drone Brothers School of Aviation. Welcome, mademoiselle Coleman. Welcome to the Cold Drone Brothers School of Aviation. And they shook hands with everyone and he said, everyone have a seat. This is a 10 month course. It's divided into three parts. There's a rick part. There's a mechanical part and you have to fly solo. Once you finish all those three, you will get your politics license. He gave us our textbooks and says you read chapter one tonight. And before you leave, I'm going to show you around. He showed us the hanger, the runway, the supply room, and of course, he showed us the closet. I was so excited. I went home and of course, I read chapters one. I did all my diagrams, my vocabulary. Of course, I read chapter two. Well, I sat down front and I took my notes. I was learning. Oh, I was learning. We talked about aerodynamics and anything that would fly. We started the Bernoulli principle of flying. What makes things fly? Oh, we studied the parts of the plane. The rudder bar, the flight stick, the propeller. Oh, the compass bearing. Oh, the tachometer. We studied all the parts of the plane, the struts. Oh, we studied weather, wind, wind speed, wind direction. We studied lift and drag, air pressure. Oh, we studied flight maneuvers, figure rates, bank turns, loop in the loop. Oh, I was learning. I was learning. I wrote down all my notes. I was learning. I was learning. We divided ourselves in groups and we figured out sophisticated, complex, very complex and sophisticated formulas. We had to figure out how much gas would it take to get to get from point A to point B before point B to back to point A, considering the weight of the plane and the weight of the pilot. Oh, I was learning. There was 12 people in my class. They were all men. I was the only woman. The only black person in the class, but I didn't mind. I wanted to learn how to fly. And in no time, I passed the written test, A plus. I passed the mechanical test, A plus. And then my instructor took me up the first time, the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth time. He says, how do you feel, Mademoiselle? He says, I think I'm ready. He says, I think so, too. You'll go up in one week. And this time you'll be all by yourself. It was a week away. My knees were already buckling because I was so nervous. But I saw how some of the other men looked when they took their flight test. So I wanted to look like a pilot, too. So I went into town for the flat shop to look for some flying clothes. When I got there, the lady said, oh, you've come to the right place. Try this coat on. This looks like about your size. She said, oh, that's a perfect fit. Don't forget, you're going to need your hat. And it buckles underneath. And don't forget your goggles. And don't forget your scarf. She said, look in the mirror. I said, yeah, I like it. She said, you know what? I've been meaning to ask. Why in the world do powders have scarves? I said, well, when we fly, we fly up in the air. Sometimes our goggles get fogged up. So we have something to wipe it off. We can't look around for a piece of rag or cloth. So if we have our trusted scarf, we can wipe it off. And sometimes the engine kick back oil. And sometimes it splashes on our goggles. So we have our trusted scarf to wipe it off. She said, oh, well. Now I know. And I said, when we go somewhere, we wear our scarf as a fashion statement also. She said, well, well, well, isn't that something? And she said, don't forget, you got to try on your boots. And I tried on all kinds of boots. Brown boots. I tried on tan boots, boots with buttons, boots with zippers. But I like these the best. These were black boots that had buttons all the way up to the top and zip to the side. She said, now, we're all set. Good luck. The day that I walked to my class, my knees were buckling. I was so scared. All the men were saying, best, you're the best pilot out of all of us. Just remember in your head the diagrams. I got thumbs up. I got hugs, handshake. This time it was just me in the plane. I was so, so scared. My heart was beating. It says, OK, best, you can do this. I put on my safety latch, placed my feet on the rudder bar. It says, OK, best. OK, you can do this, best. You can do this. You've been waiting for this best all of your life. One of our fellow students came and they turned the propeller until a propeller caught and it spun around. The plane started to shake. I taxed the runway and I got the signal to go up. I pulled back on the flight stick and I climbed higher and higher. I could hear the engine. I saw the flight school way off in the distance. Oh, the breeze felt good on my face. I said, the sky belongs to no one. There's no prejudice in the sky. If all of Chicago could see me now, did my maneuvers? Then I climbed high until I heard the engine strain. Came back down. Yes, best, you did it. Then I pressed down on the flight stick. I got lower and lower until I saw the flight school off in the distance and I touched down. I taxed the runway until I got in the hangar. Oh, best, you did it, best. I said, OK, go back to yours, go back. I don't want the men to see me cry, OK? Everybody came running out to the airplane. Oh, the instructor says, I like everybody, everybody inside, inside, inside, inside, everybody inside. Bessie Coleman come down front. He said, we've never had a student quite like you. You did everything with such class and precision. This was a 10-month course and you finished it in eight months. Oh, Bessie Coleman, you're going to be a student of all ages. So you've earned your pilot's license, your international pilot's license. That means you can fly here in France and back home in the U.S. June 15, 1921, a cold aviation, a foray called Drone et la Croix-Toy France, called Drone Brothers School of Aviation. I give to you your pilot's license, Elizabeth Bessie Coleman. Oh, of course, I couldn't hear anything from the cheers and yelling. I said, I'm sorry, I can't celebrate with you. I'll come back to you. He said, don't worry, whenever you want to come back, we'll celebrate then. All the way home, I said, you did it Bessie, you did it Bessie. Not too long ago, your little girl picking cotton in Texas. Now, here you are, an international pilot. Of course, I wrote home and let everybody know that I'm a pilot and I'll be home in a couple of months. When I sailed back home, that met me hundreds of people with us. They were at the ship dock and took pigeons. I did speaking engagement, but they want to see me fly. So I rented a JN Jenny from the Army Surplus. And my first exhibition flying was at the Curtis Field in Long Island. Thousands of people came and I dazzled the crowd. My scarf, sailing in the breeze. And I got the name Queen Bess. They would say, there's Queen Bess, Queen of the Skies. Fly away, fly away. Fly up high, fly away, fly away, and never come down. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that wonderful and inspiring story. I learned so much about your life and it was really amazing, all of the things that you accomplished on the road to your goal. Yeah. A few questions came to mind while I was listening to you speak. So how did you overcome being turned down three times by Chicago's aviation schools before going to Paris to learn how to fly? What was that like, that experience? It hurt. It was like someone just ripped my heart out. It took me a long time to get over that. But I had a very good friend, Mr. Robert Abbott. So it's so important to have good friends around you who support you and believe in you. And he believed in me. He said, this is what you want. He says, you can do this best. So he was the one who encouraged me along the way to get me going, to help me with putting out the applications to go to France. So he was there with me every step of the way. And then I remember something my mother used to say to us when we were small. She would say, can't don't live in the cold one household. So I remember that. I says, maybe can't today, but maybe tomorrow I can. So built on what my mom said, built on my good friend, Mr. Abbott. I was able to get enough courage to fulfill my dream. Yes. That's wonderful. It sounds like you had a really fantastic support system behind you as well. Yes. And, but I know that, you know, you mentioned having to deal with racism along your path. How did you, how did you handle that? How did you deal with the racism you encountered once you came back to America to fly? You know, I, I told everyone, I says, if you want me to fly at your feel of your particular event. Everyone will have to come in through the same gate because back then they have one gate for color, one gate for white says unless everyone come through the same gate, I will not fly there. So that was a start to let people know that my accomplishment is not only for me, but it was something positive for the black race and for women. So I wanted to spread that good news to everyone. And that's what I did. And everyone started doing the same thing. They would say, you know, she's not going to fly here unless everyone come through the same gate. So they literally would shut down one gate, let everyone come through the same gate. So that was the start how I handle that. Thank you. And what impact do you think being the first black female to get her pilots license applied on future generations of black women entering the aviation field? Oh gosh, my being the first. I used to think about that. I says, you know, I not only just did something positive for myself, but I did it for the black women and for the black race. And my goal was to get enough money to start my own flight school so that I would teach the young boys and girls how to fly so they wouldn't have to go all the way to Paris France. That was my goal. And I know looking way, way, way into the future. I know women will probably have my picture on the wall to say this was Bessie Coleman. She did it back in 1921 to get her pilot's license. Here I am way in the future, maybe in the 1900s or maybe the 2000. Maybe I can do the same thing as Bessie and hopefully I will be some type of flight or some bright spot that would get them over being afraid or feeling that they're not good enough or smart enough. So I'm hoping that that's what my getting my pilot's license will do. Not only now, but way, way in the future for women. All women, specifically women of color. That's incredible. Thank you. And how about we end with one last question? What advice do you as Bessie Coleman have for our youth today? Oh, the youth today, I would tell them boys and girls and ladies and gentlemen, why walk? You can fly when you can fly like me. Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, never let anyone tell you that you can't because you can. Once you make up your mind, you can. And I tell you, it's not easy, but like anything, you take one page at a time, one page at a time. And that's what you can do, but you cannot stop at one note. You have to keep going until you get to the yes. But my whole personalities won't walk. Fly, fly like Bessie Coleman. Well, thank you so much for that incredible advice and sharing your amazing story with us, Ms. Coleman. I know I learned so much. It was so wonderful to hear it in your own words. Thank you for your time today. Thank you so much. Thank you. And let's take one last look at the Docs Teach Educational Activity before we wrap up today. So again, this is the Docs Teach Educational Activity of Bessie Coleman standing next to Tony Foker, who is the Aircraft Builder and Designer on a visit to the Netherlands. And this activity, again, is on docsteach.org. So I hope you can all join us next month as well for our Young Learners Program with John Jay, Attorney, Diplomat, and one of our nation's founding fathers. And thank you all for participating in our program today.