Bessie Coleman Flying the Blues - A Short Film by Opio Sokoni

Bessie Coleman Flying the Blues

Short film by Opio Sokoni

PART 2

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eBook: Bessie Coleman Flying the Blues

Florida Times Union Reports on Possible Bessie Coleman Airport Memorial

 

Memorial to celebrity aviator Bessie Coleman could find home at Jacksonville's airport

Posted: October 27, 2013 Florida Times Union

By Matt Soergel

The famous and daring Bessie Coleman plunged to her death in Jacksonville in 1926, falling 2,000 feet from an airplane over the Westside. The death of the woman known as “Queen Bess” was headline news all across the country. Then America moved on, to other dramas, other tragedies, other heroes.

More than 87 years later, though, her life could soon be honored again at a most appropriate place — in the airport of the city where she died.

Jacksonville native Opio Sokoni has been pushing for a memorial somewhere in the city to Coleman, who was the first black woman to get a pilot’s license. He’s suggested a statue of her, or a street, park or school named after her.

He recently found a supporter in Steve Grossman, CEO of the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, who said he favors doing something at Jacksonville International Airport to recognize Coleman.

Grossman said he’s not sure what that would be yet, though he plans to get the project moving in the next few weeks. “I would like to figure out: What should we do, and where should we do it?” he said.
He’s familiar with Coleman’s story; when he was head of the airport in Oakland, Calif., he supported efforts there to name a street after her. “It was the right thing to do,” he said.

Coleman was a nationwide celebrity, famed for her perseverance, boldness and beauty. She died Aug. 30, 1926, the day before a big air show in Jacksonville, after she and pilot William Wills took off to scout where she would make a parachute jump the next day.

During the flight, the plane went into a sudden dive — reports said a wrench slid and jammed the controls — and Coleman, who had been peering over the side, was thrown to her death. Wills was killed as the plane exploded on impact.

In 2012, a bronze plaque with Coleman’s likeness was placed at the front doors of Paxon School for Advanced Studies. In the 1920s, that was the site of the airfield where the ill-fated flight began. But Sokoni thinks more should be done for her. And what better place, he said, than an airport?


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-10-27/story/memorial-celebrity-aviator-bessie-coleman-could-find-home-jacksonvilles#ixzz2j4n2IZUU

Bessie Coleman Original Screenplay now Registered

A screenplay has been registered on the life of Bessie Coleman

LOGLINE:   

A story about the life of the first African-American female to fly an airplane. Bessie Coleman fights through racism and gender bias in the 1920s to eventually triumph in the new aviation field as a barnstormer and stunt pilot.

STORY:       “Men of Honor” meets “Amelia”

SYNOPSIS

The major newspapers in the 1920s had a fascination with aviation. The first black female to fly an airplane, however, was made a household name among African Americans by the black press. They both covered her. Bessie Coleman was called “a vivacious little cutie” in one major newspaper and a “nervy lady” by The Chicago Defender, a black weekly. Bessie’s antagonist is a storm of circumstances that includes her being female, black and economically poor in the exciting times of the roaring twenties. Blues songs and swing-Jazz dances created excitement everywhere. Bessie’s best friend and confidant, Ethel, becomes one of the most celebrated Blues, Gospel and Jazz singers of the day.

             We see a thoughtful and intelligent child grow up and leave the harsh realities of a small southern town. Bessie Coleman moves to the big city of Chicago where those that meet her observe signs of a woman destined for greatness. When Bessie decides that she wants to fly an airplane, she could not get flight lessons anywhere in the United States. No flight school would take a black student during that time. But, schools in France would. With the help of wealthy donors, Bessie Coleman takes up studying French and leaves the country to receive flight lessons. A fatal air accident happens while she is in flight school. She decides to stay and complete her training – earning her an international pilot’s license. Bessie Coleman becomes the first black person to receive a pilot’s license in the United States. The press eats it up. The fact that she is regal and stunningly beautiful is not lost on her throngs of admirers.

               Reporters flock behind the incredibly dressed Bessie at airshows. She repeatedly tells them her dream of building a flight school so that [everyone] could learn how to fly. She also angers some by refusing to perform at events that did not permit African Americans. Coleman gets her way because she is a star whose skills as a barnstormer are unmatched. She out dazzles even the best stunt pilots of her day. She walks on the wings of planes and makes her airplane do tricks that only a few would dare. Many barnstormers died at airshows during the early times in aviation. Queen Bess, as she is sometimes called, consistently compels thousands to come see her defy death.

                 Triumph turns to tragedy, however. One day before an airshow she was to headline, Brave Bessie falls 2000 feet from her airplane. She dies instantly. Her not so trusted assistant also dies a bizarre death immediately thereafter when the plane crashes to the ground. What about her dreams? The Red Tails, aka The Tuskegee Airmen, were trained at Bessie Coleman inspired flight schools that sprung up immediately after her death. This screenplay is based on a graduate study and short documentary film of the same name.

Historical Resolution Honoring Bessie Coleman Set for August 27, 2013

Great News!



The resolution to honor Bessie Coleman has been approved by the Jacksonville, Florida city council and signed by the mayor. Please keep August 27th (Tuesday) 5:30 pm open on your calendar if you plan to attend this historical occasion at the council meeting - 

located:  Jacksonville City Hall 117 West Duval St., Suite 425. Jacksonville, FL 32202 
adjacent to Hemming Plaza downtown. 

Also, send me a message if you would like a reserve seat to politainment1@gmail.com. 


Thanks so much for your contribution and support for this incredible pioneer in aviation.

Draft City Council Resolution Honoring Bessie Coleman

This is the draft resolution honoring aviatrix pioneer Bessie Coleman.  It will be presented at the next big city council meeting. The public is welcome and encouraged to come and witness history in the making.

THIS IS A DRAFT

Introduced by Council Member Jones:       

RESOLUTION 2013-

A RESOLUTION HONORING AND COMMEMORATING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF PIONEERING AVIATRIX BESSIE COLEMAN; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

     WHEREAS, Bessie Coleman was born January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas and raised in Waxahachie, Texas where she was the tenth of 13 children and attended a one-room segregated schoolhouse and became the family’s bookkeeper at a very young age for her mother’s cooking and housekeeping business; and

     WHEREAS, Bessie Coleman at 18 years old attended college at the Colored Agricultural and Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma for several months before she ran out of money and headed back home to Waxahachie in grand style with members of the marching band in tow; and she moved to Chicago several years later during the mass migration from the south during World War I where she worked and became known as the fastest manicurist in the city while dreaming of learning to fly and becoming a pilot in the new world of aeronautics; and

     WHEREAS, in 1920 Bessie Coleman, having learned French and using money that she had saved, and receiving an investment from an African-American banker, went to France where gender and racial prejudice was much less pronounced, and completed an aviation course, becoming the first American to receive a pilot’s license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale and thereby became the first licensed black pilot in the United States upon her return to America; and

     WHEREAS, Bessie Coleman performed in air shows around the country where she became known as “Queen Bess” and “Brave Bessie” as a result of her breath-taking air maneuvers and highly entertaining parachute jumps, and the Norman Studios in Jacksonville communicated with Bessie about using her flying skills to make what will later become The Flying Ace, and Queen Bess gave lectures inspiring others to pursue their dreams all while saving up money to make her dream of opening a flight school come true so that African Americans could learn how to fly here in the United States; and

     WHEREAS, in 1926 on April 30^th while on a barnstorming tour in Florida, Brave Bessie fell from her plane in Jacksonville at the now defunct Paxon Airfield where Bessie Coleman was killed, and thousands of mourners filed pass her coffin here at the St. Philips Episcopal Church and Bethel Baptist Institutional Church; now therefore

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Jacksonville:

     Section 1.      The City of Jacksonville hereby honors and commemorates a legacy of pioneering aviation, self-confidence and heroism of famed African-American female aviatrix Bessie Coleman, and urges all people to profit from her example of persistence and self-determination to follow her dreams and achieve unprecedented success despite long odds and discouraging circumstances.

     Section 2.      Effective Date.  This Resolution shall become effective upon signature by the Mayor or upon becoming effective without the Mayor's signature.

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Opio Sokoni's St. Philips Episcopal Church Speech about Aviatrix Bessie Coleman

 

SPEECH TEXT
April 28, 2013

He knows my soul so weak and blind, 
So full of fears of mortal mind,
And He will lead, and I shall find
The way to Him, I know.
He guides my steps, and He knows best,
He will not harm where He is blessed.
And so goodnight, I'll take my rest,
Where sweet wild roses grow.

Thank You:   Father Hugh Chapman, Rector
                      The St. Philips Church Family

                      And a special thanks to your administrator
                      Mrs. Barbara Lee who gave me a church
                      tour during the week.

             The words I opened with are lyrics to “I’ve Done My Work” - the favorite song of Pioneering Aviatrix Bessie Coleman who died here in Jacksonville in 1926. She had two funerals here in the city. One was at Bethel Baptist Church and the other funeral was here. That song would have been sung here that day.

A movement is now under way to properly honor her memory here in Jacksonville.

I would like to read to you the letter I read before the City Council last week at their meeting.

[Opio Sokoni’S SPEECH TO THE JACKSONVILLE, FL. CITY COUNCIL]

          I would like to personally thank St. Philips Episcopal Church for being among the first to honor Bessie Coleman. And, for still being here in the same place for so many years.

          Bessie’s story has some parallels to the disciple Philip in the Bible. I’m the grandson of two pastors and I seem to remember that Apostle Philip was with Jesus when he fed the multitudes with the five loaves of bread and fish. That feast is held around May 1. Bessie came her to headline the airshow here on the very month and day in 1926. Bessie’s funeral was held here almost to the exact day.

Bessie died doing what she loved in the field of aeronautics. Her dream was to open up a school so that Blacks did not have to go to France to learn how to fly. When she died, people were so inspired that flight schools were opened in her honor. One such school created the Tuskegee Airmen who were heroes of WWII.  I think about the Apostle Philip being hung upside down and preaching from the cross. Bartholamew was released as a result of St. Philips preaching. He, himself, refused to be taken off the cross and died for his convictions. Your church and you are special. You are here for a reason.

          I want to end by citing the words of another song that the research said was sung at her funerals. The song is entitle, “Jesus Savior Pilot Me.” The last verse of the song goes…

When at last I near the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar
’Twixt me and the peaceful rest,
Then, while leaning on Thy breast,
May I hear Thee say to me,
“Fear not, I will pilot thee.”

Thank you so much for having me. This is such an honor.

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This is how St. Philips Episcopal Church would
have looked during Bessie Coleman's Funeral

Order of Leadership at
St. Philips Episcopal Church
Note: Reverend Parchment is
the Rector in 1926, the year
Bessie Coleman's funeral
was held at the church.

Reverend Satterwhite
would have been at
Bessie Coleman's Funeral.
He was the Rector before and
after Reverend Parchment who
was the Rector when the funeral
was held for Bessie Coleman at
St. Philips Episcopal Church.

Current Picture of St. Philips Episcopal Church

Father Hugh Chapman is the current Rector of
St. Philips Episcopal Church

Reverend Hugh Chapman and Opio Sokoni

Opio Sokoni is an activist, researcher of
Pioneering Aviatrix Bessie Coleman
in Jacksonville, Florida

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Program - April 28, 2013

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Honor Aviatrix Bessie Coleman Speech by Opio Sokoni at Jacksonville, FL City Council Meeting

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Below is the text of the speech given at the Jacksonville, Florida City Council's April 23, 2013 meeting. Opio Sokoni requested that the City commit to officially honoring Bessie Coleman who died in Jacksonville, Florida April 30, 1926. 

SPEECH TEXT:

              I come before you to respectfully request that we as a city properly honor aviatrix pioneer Bessie Coleman. The city of Jacksonville, Florida is the only town relevant to her storied life that has not formally recognized her memory with a street, building or other major city honor.

            Bessie Coleman earned an international pilot’s license from the most prestigious flight school in France. She was the first African American female to fly a plane. Bessie was immensely popular during the 1920s and was admired by many pilots of the day. She was known for breath-taking air maneuvers and highly entertaining parachute jumps. The Norman Studios here in Jacksonville communicated with Bessie about a film based on her incredible flying.

            On April 27th, 1926 Coleman came to Jacksonville to headline an airshow sponsored by the Negro Welfare League. Her contact here was an impressive, young 21 year old name John Thomas Betsch, a Howard University graduate. He is the father of our very own Johnetta B. Cole. While here in Jacksonville, Bessie made speeches at the Strand Theatre, Stanton High School, Davis Street Elementary and Darnell Cookman.

             On April 30, 1926, while flying over the now defunct Paxon Airfield, Brave Bessie fell 2000 feet from her airplane. She died instantly. Bessie’s body was taken to the Lawton L. Pratt funeral home. Bessie was to appear at the Elite Circle and Girls’ DeLuxe Club’s much anticipated dance that evening, a memorial was held for her instead. A funeral was held for Bessie here at the Bethel Baptist Institutional Church. Thousands of mourners filed past her coffin in Jacksonville. Reverends Scott Bartley, T.H.B. Walker and John E. Ford presided over the massive funeral. The choir sung Bessie’s favorite gospel song; “I’ve Done My Work.” A second service was held for her in the city at the St. Philips Episcopal Church on Union Street - presided over by Reverend Parchment. 

              When Bessie Coleman died, The Florida Times Union newspaper refused to mention her by name; simply calling her “that woman.” A letter has been sent to their editor asking them to run a story to correct the record.

              Bessie would not live to see the Norman Studios make its most famous film, The Flying Ace. The United States Postal Service, however, did recognize Bessie’s pioneering achievements with a postage stamp.  The city of her childhood in Texas and her adopted city (Chicago) have both named major roads and schools in Bessie’s honor. Jacksonville, on the other hand, has streets named after Amelia Earhart and the Wright brothers. Bessie has a closer tie to Jacksonville than either of these great aviation pioneers but has not been honored as they have. It is my belief that this woman belongs to this city as much as she belongs to either of the other cities mentioned. This was the place she made her last flight, before she fell into history, doing what she loved while contributing to the new world of aeronautics.

            I say let’s formally commit to doing something major to honor this woman. It will be long overdue for the life and memory of Elizabeth Bessie Coleman.

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Opio L. Sokoni, MSCJ, JD at the Jacksonville, FL

city hall on April 23, 2013 - after making a speech

to the City Council concerning formally honoring

female pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman.

Opio Sokoni is from Jacksonville, Florida where he did an independent graduate study on pioneering aviatrix Bessie Coleman at the University of North Florida. He is also a political science graduate from Norfolk State University and has a law degree from Howard University.

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Frankfurt Germany has a Street Named in Bessie Coleman's Honor

Did you know that Frankfurt Germany has a street named in Bessie Coleman's honor near their Main airport. So does Chicago (Bessie Coleman Drive).  The hotel below is on Bessie Coleman Street. There are no streets or anything named after her in Jacksonville, Florida (the place she made her last flight before falling to her death). It is time that someone spoke up about this omission.

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MEININGER Hotel Frankfurt/Main Airport

Bessie - Coleman - Straße 11, 60549 DR Frankfurt/Main

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Chicago's Bessie Coleman Drive 

Bessie Coleman Honored, but Not in Jacksonville, Florida

Bessie Coleman has been honored in many cities and by the federal government. She has not been properly honored however in the city of her death - Jacksonville, Florida. www.Poli-Tainment.com.

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Inscribed plaque honoring Bessie Coleman at the Paxon High School in Jacksonville, Florida

Bessie "Queen Bess" Coleman 

1892-1926 

The first African American Female Pilot, on April 29, 1926 visited the local schools in Jacksonville, FL to encourage young individuals to explore aviation. While rehearsing for her well-renowned aerobatics show held at Paxon Airfield, which today is Paxon School for Advanced Studies, a few miles away from the airfield her plane crashed. Bessie Coleman's last day was in Jacksonville Florida, on April 30, 1926.

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This marker is in Waxahachie, Texas.

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