Bessie Coleman was a pioneering woman of the skies. She was at once the first African-American woman and the first Native American of either gender to earn a pilot's license.

She was born on Jan. 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas. Her mother, Susan, was African-American. Her father, George, was, too, but his grandparents were Cherokee. Thus, Bessie and her eight siblings had both African-American and Native American heritage.

The family moved to Waxahachie, Texas. George Coleman moved to Oklahoma in 1900. Susan Coleman and the children stayed in Texas. They were sharecroppers, and young Bessie worked in the cotton fields while also going to school, where she excelled in math. She graduated from high school and then began her collegiate studies at what is now Langston University. She did not have enough money to continue past one term and so moved to Chicago and lived with her brothers. She attended the Burnham School of Beauty Culture and then found work as a manicurist at a barber shop. She came into contact with many of Chicago's most famous people, including Robert Abbott, the editor and publisher of the well-known newspaper the Chicago Defender, who would become a lifelong friend and supporter.

While working at the barber shop, Coleman heard pilots returning from World War I tell stories of pilots and planes, and she found the call of such an avocation irresistible.

At that time in the United States, women did not have access to flight training programs. Coleman went to France (after taking a French language class) and attended the well-known Caudron Brothers' School of Aviation, in Le Crotoy, France. The International Aeronautics Federation issued her license on June 15, 1921. She spent another two months taking flying lessons from a German flying ace, a Captain Keller. She also counted among her instruction an advanced training course in aviation in France and another course of study at the Fokker Corporation in the Netherlands. She had met its namesake, the well-known aircraft designer Anthony Fokker, and had studied under him for a time.

Coleman returned to the U.S. and made a name for herself flying in air shows across the country. She took part in her first airshow in Garden City, N.Y., in September 1922 and then embarked on a series of shows elsewhere. She performed daring stunts in the air, some of which men refused to attempt. A broken leg and three ribs sustained in a crash in 1923 didn't stop her.

She was personable and fearless and became well-known across the country. People called her Brave Bessie, Dapper Bess, and Queen Bess. She counted as friends many well-known Americans, including actors Paul Robeson and Josephine Baker (whom Coleman inspired to get her own flying license in the 1930s).

Coleman also made it known that she would not fly in any airshows that did not admit African-Americans. She worked tirelessly to advance the ideas of gender and racial equality. She once said, "The air is the only place free from prejudices."

She pursued her dream of establishing a flight school for African-Americans, both by continuing to fly dangerous stunts in the air and by saving money that she earned working at a beauty salon in Orlando, Fla. She also earned money by speaking at public gatherings.

It was in Jacksonville, Fla., on April 30, 1926, that she climbed once again into a plane, one that had been delivered to her by another pilot, William Wills, who had flown through serious mechanical problems on the way there. Ignoring the warning signs, Coleman and Wills took the plane up for a test flight. The plane crashed, and they both were killed.

Bessie Coleman was 34 when she died. More than 10,000 people attended the multiple funerals honoring her. Speaking at the Chicago service was the well-known activist Ida B. Wells.

She is remembered in several ways:

• Los Angeles in 1929 opened the Bessie Coleman Aero Club, a flight school for African-Americans.
• In 2001, the National Women's Hall of Fame inducted her in its ranks.
• She is in the National Aviation Hall of Fame and the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame.
• The U.S. Postal Service in 1995 issued a stamp honoring her.
• Roads named after her in the U.S. are in Chicago, Oakland, Tampa, and Atlanta (Texas). Frankfurt has a street named after her, as do the French cities of Paris and Poitiers.
• Cedar Hill, Texas, has a middle school named after her.