When you ask someone about famous women from the early days of aviation, they will likely mention Amelia Earhart—but rarely Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to earn a pilot certificate and a renowned barnstormer.
In honor of Black History Month, we remember her with Gigi Coleman—her great niece—who performs a different kind of barnstorming, traveling the country in a one-woman show sharing Bessie’s story. FLYING caught up with Gigi at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
