MLA Biographical Project: Bessie ColemanBessie Elizabeth Coleman was born on January 28, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. Her mother wanted to move back to Texas when Bessie was just 2 years old. Waxahachie, a town of fewer than 4,000 people. She was the tenth of thirteen children in her family with her two parents Susan and George Coleman. Susan and George were married for 17 years with ups and downs. George was a mix of African American and part Cherokee. But Susan was a straight African American to her roots. George Coleman left his family in 1901 to return to Indian Territory due to the racial barriers that existed in Waxahachie and throughout Texas. Susan Coleman refused to take the children back to Oklahoma. Bessie stayed along with four other siblings, to help with the family's financial matters by picking cotton or helping with the washing and ironing that her mother did for work. But his mother was determined to give her children an education. When Bessie graduated from high school, she enrolled at Colored Agricultural and Normal University, which is now Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. But due to financial problems he had to abandon his studies after the first semester because all his savings were exhausted. But she could have stayed and worked, but her mother needed help at home, so Bessie dropped out of school just to help her mother at home. Not long afterward she moved to Chicago in 1915, where her brother then lived, and attended beauty school. He spent his early years during World War I working as a manicurist at the White Sox Barber Shop. He ran a small but profitable chili shop. Unfortunately, she got married to Claude Glenn, but she never said it publicly since she knew it wasn't really for her life, so s...... middle of paper... ... American-Statesman, September 6, 1993 Roger Bilstein and Jay Miller, Aviation in Texas (Austin: Texas Monthly Press, 1985). Dallas Morning News, September 8, 1993. Houston Post-Dispatch, May 1, 1926. Anita King, "Brave Bessie: First Black Pilot," Parts 1 and 2, Essence, May, June 1976. Doris L. Rich, Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/peopleevents/pandeAMEX02.html1996-2009 WGBH Educational FoundationThis site is produced for PBS by WGBHhttp:// www.bessiecoleman.com/By the Atlanta Historic of Museum http://www.biography.com/people/bessie-coleman-369281996–2013 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.http://womenshistory.about.com/od/aviationpilots/a/bessie_coleman.htmBy Jone Johnson Lewis