Elizabeth Coleman was born the 10th of 13 children in 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. Early in her childhood, they moved to Waxahachie, Texas to be sharecroppers. In 1901, her father, George, left the family for Oklahoma, leaving her mother to raise all of the children. By the age of 12, she enrolled in a Missionary Baptist Church for her education. She excelled in mathematics. After completing her schooling, she enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma. She only completed one term because she ran out of money and was forced to return home.

When she was 23 years old, she moved to Chicago, Illinois as part of the Great Migration to live with her brothers and look for work. She found a job as a manicurist. When one of her brothers and others returned from World War I, she heard stories about the aviators in the war. She became so intrigued that she tried to apply to a flight school, but was denied because of her race and gender. However, a big break came her way when the publisher of the Chicago Defender, Robert S. Abbott, and a local banker, Jesse Binga, financed her way to study in Europe.

After taking a course in French in Chicago, Bessie left to study flying in France. She learned to fly a Nieuport Type 82 biplane in just seven months of a ten-month course. On June 15, 1921, she became the first American of any color to earn an international pilot’s license and the first woman of African-American descent. When she returned to the United States, she became a media sensation. However, she would not be able to earn a living flying a plane in America unless she could learn tricks for an air show. So she returned to France for further study. She travelled to Holland, France and Germany and took tours of airplane makers.

Three months later, Bessie returned to the United States to start her career barnstorming. The pressed dubbed her “Queen Bess.” Her first show was in September of 1922 at an event honoring an all-black regiment of World War I in Long Island, New York. She was billed as the “world’s greatest woman flier.” Six weeks later, she performed a dazzling display in Chicago. She was flamboyant and daring and never afraid to do a stunt. In 1923, she was severely injured in a plane crash in Los Angeles and was hospitalized for three months. She returned to Chicago and and found financial backing to start a new show in Texas. Her goal was to earn enough money to start her own flight school.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck on April 30, 1926 when she and her co-pilot will killed in a rehearsal accident over Orlando, Florida. Thousands attended her memorial services. In 1931, the Challenger Pilots’ Association of Chicago began annual flyovers of her grave in her honor. In 1977, women pilots of the Chicago area established the Bessie Coleman Aviators Club. In 1995, the United States Postal Service dedicated a stamp in her honor. She is considered an American heroine and a great America.

Andrew Jackson Beard was born into slavery sometime around 1821 in Jefferson County, Alabama. At the age of 15, he became emancipated, eventually becoming a farmer. After a few years, Beard built a flour mill and ran it successfully. During this time, he invented several types of plows and patented two of them. He used the profits from his inventions to buy land. Later, he invented a steam-driven rotary engine. Beard was able to be an inventive genius without ever having a formal education.

In 1897, Beard made his greatest contribution to America. Beard invented and patented an improved railroad coupler called a Jenny Coupler. He was motivated to invent this coupler because he had lost his leg in a car-coupling accident. His invention probably saved thousands of lives and limbs as it made the coupling of railway cars safer. He sold the rights to the coupler for $50,000.

Variations of Beard's coupler are still used to this day. In 2006, Andrew Jackson Beard was inducted into the National Inventor Hall of Fame. His inventions and contributions to safety made him a great American.