The Only Place Free from Prejudice

Worksheet Description

Bessie Coleman was the first African American and first Native American female pilot. Born in Texas in 1892, she was the 10th of 13
children. Her mother was African American, and her father was descended from both Black and Choctaw (Native American) lines. Both
of her parents were sharecroppers who picked cotton. She attended a segregated school, which meant she and other Black children went to a different school than the local white children. Although she tried to attend college in Oklahoma in 1910, she had to drop out because she could not afford to go. A few years later, she moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she got a job in a barber shop painting fingernails.
Her brother fought in France during World War I, and he returned home full of stories about the freedom enjoyed by the women overseas, who could even be pilots.