Feb. 9-13 & 23rd pm, 2026

Learning Targets/Agenda: (not necessarily in this order)

Students will listen to information and a story about Bessie Coleman.

Students will answer questions about the story.

Students will take an Accelerated Reader quiz for the story OR complete an activity on the story.

Students will read/preview ebooks on Epic, the Southwood OPAC, or complete various digital academic activities.

Students will check out a book.

Brain Breaks (as needed): movement activities

1.I.T.2 Recall prior and background knowledge as a context for new meaning.

1.I.S.1 Interact with content presented by others.

1.I.S.2 Provide constructive feedback.

3.C.G.1 Actively contribute to group discussions.

1.I.G.1 Continually seek knowledge.

This week we will learn about aviator Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman, an African American woman that is called "Queen Bess" and "Brave Bessie".

Born January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. If she were still alive today, she would be 134 years old.

Because of discrimination, she was not allowed to enter aviation schools in the United States, but she didn't let that stop her. She learned French and enrolled in an aviation school in France. On June 15, 1921, she became the first American woman (of any race) to obtain an international pilot's licence.

She returned to the United States and put on aerial stunt shows, earning money to one day open her own flight school for African Americans in the United States. Throughout her career as a "barnstorming" pilot, she would only perform at air shows if the crowd was desegregated and allowed to enter through the same gates.

Bessie Coleman died April 30, 1926 at the age of 34 years old in Jacksonville, Florida, during a rehearsal for an aerial show. Her plan spun out of control, and she fell 2,000 - 3,000 feet to her death.

Despite her tragic fate, Coleman's legacy of flight still inspires others including the Tuskegee Airmen and NASA astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, who carried Bessie Coleman's picture with her on her first mission into space when she became the first African American woman in space in 1992.

Untimely Death and Legacy

In April of 1926, Bessie Coleman prepared for a show at Jacksonville’s Field Day on May 1st. On April 28th, a 24 year old white mechanic, William D. Wills, flew Coleman’s new plane from Dallas to Jacksonville. On April 30th, Coleman and Wills took a test flight. While Wills was in the front cockpit taking over the controls, Coleman sat in the rear so she could study the field for good jump sites. She was unable to fasten her seat belt since looking down on the field required peering over the edge of the back seat cockpit, and Bessie was too short to do so while fully seated (Rich 110). At about 3,000 feet in the air, a loose wrench got stuck in the engine of the aircraft and the plane flipped over. Coleman fell out of the plane and did not survive the fall. The aircraft also crashed with Wills still on board, killing him as well.

Blue Island, IL

Bessie Coleman is commemorated on a stamp from 1995.

Bessie Coleman is one of five women featured on the back of the 2023 American Women Quarters.

Mae Jemison, who in 1992 became the first African American woman to go into space, wrote that she “wished I had known her while I was growing up, but then again I think she was there with me all the time.” In one way Coleman was indeed with her when she left Earth. Jemison carried a picture of Bessie Coleman with her into space, flying far higher than Coleman ever dreamed. Coleman’s intelligence, strength and determination continues to inspire younger generations of African American women.

5th & 6th