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Most adventure heroes are male and white, but the biography Brave Bessie: Flying Free is refreshingly different and gives young girls an exciting role model. It tells the story of Bessie Coleman, who picked cotton in Waxahachie as a child but grew up to fly. Bessie overcame many obstacles on her way to wowing airshow crowds. No American flying school would accept her because I was Indian, I was Ne... More

Most adventure heroes are male and white, but the biography Brave Bessie: Flying Free is refreshingly different and gives young girls an exciting role model. It tells the story of Bessie Coleman, who picked cotton in Waxahachie as a child but grew up to fly. Bessie overcame many obstacles on her way to wowing airshow crowds. No American flying school would accept her because I was Indian, I was Negro, I was female. And I wanted to fly. Bessie learned French so she could take flying lessons in France where there was less prejudice. She earned her pilot's license in 1921 -- two years before Amelia Earhart. Bessie performed daring stunts at major U.S. airshows, although her career lasted only five years before she died in a 1926 flying accident. Just a few years ago, Bessie Coleman was honored with a postage stamp.

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