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Up in the air : the story of Bessie Coleman

by Hart, Philip S.

Format: Print Book 1996
Availability: Available at 1 Library 1 of 1 copy

Available (1)
Location Collection Call #
Monroeville Public Library Juvenile Non-fiction 92 COLEMAN
Location  Monroeville Public Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Non-fiction
 
Call Number  92 COLEMAN
 
 

Summary
The author of Flying Free: America's First Black Aviators ( C. 1992) turns his focus here to Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to obtain a pilot's license. Bessie Coleman saved her tips as a manicurist on Chicago's South Side in order to scrape together the money for pilot training in France, where prejudice against women and blacks was not as widespread. Obtaining her license in 1921, Bessie was soon making exhibition flights in the U.S. But before she could realize her dream of starting a school for black aviators, Bessie died tragically in a plane crash in 1926. Readers will be inspired by this courageous woman's life story.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Gr. 4-6. The first African American woman to become an airplane pilot, Coleman overcame many obstacles in pursuit of her goal. She grew up in poverty but was determined not to spend the rest of her life picking cotton in Waxahachie, Texas. When American flying schools refused to train an African American woman, she enrolled in an aviation school in France, where she became a pilot in 1921. Hart wears the juvenile biographer's usual rose-colored glasses while creating his portrait of Coleman. To his credit, he occasionally hints that she may have been less than perfect but then immediately tries to give each imperfection a positive spin, apparently not realizing that Coleman's flaws only make her more human and more interesting. Still, the book provides a very readable account of Coleman's life from childhood until her death in a 1926 plane crash. Black-and-white photos provide many images of Bessie Coleman and the world she knew and also show such documents as her passport and her pilot's license. Lillian Fisher's biography Brave Bessie: Flying Free (1995) covers the same subject, but many libraries will welcome another book on such a dynamic historical figure. (Reviewed Aug. 1996)0876149492Carolyn Phelan"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Additional Information
Subjects Coleman, Bessie, -- 1892-1926 -- Juvenile literature.
Coleman, Bessie, -- 1892-1926.
African American women air pilots -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.
Air pilots.
African Americans -- Biography.
Women -- Biography.
Publisher Minneapolis, MN :Carolrhoda Books,1996
Language English
Description 80 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references (page 78) and index.
ISBN 0876149492
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