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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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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The Chicago Defender vs The Florida Times Union - Reporting on Aviatrix Bessie Coleman's Death

The Florida Times Union, the major newspaper

in Jacksonville, Florida, never mentioned 

aviatrix Bessie Coleman by name in their 1926

reporting. They reported the death of her

assistant instead. The Chicago Defender,

however, reported her death as a front

page piece. The Chicago Defender was banned

from a number of southern cities as a result

 of their inspiring articles about African Americans.

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Florida Times Union News photograph of airplane wreck in which African American aviatrix Bessie Coleman and William D. Wills were killed - Jacksonville, Florida

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             "Bessie Coleman Flying the Blues" takes a look at the times of the roaring twenties in the United States through the life of pioneering aviatrix Bessie Coleman. She was admired by the women and men of her day in aviatrix because of her death defying skills as an airshow barnstormer. She was the first American woman to receive an international pilots license. Because of her race in the Jim Crow era, Bessie had to go to France to receive training. Her influence reached beyond race and gender. She inspired Amelia Earhart who came after Bessie. Coleman died in 1926 in a plane crash one day before an airshow she was to headline in Jacksonville, Florida. Coleman's dream of opening a school inspired her followers to form the schools that trained the Tuskegee Airmen. This book is the most thorough research done into the life and circumstances of this American female pioneer in the field of aeronautics. Bessie Coleman remains a celebrated figure during Black History Month and she is hugely popular among aeronautics enthusiasts. Finally, this ebook captures race and Bessie's connection to the hugely popular Blues and Jazz music genres. 

             Bessie Coleman was the first African American to earn a pilot's license. She taught herself French and moved to France in order to earn a license. Her international license came from France's well-known Caudron Brother's School of Aviation in just seven months. She specialized in aerial tricks, stunt flying and parachuting. This is how she made a living as a barnstormer around the United States and France. She remains a pioneer in the field of aviation.

Letter to the Florida Times Union: Correct the Record on Pioneer Aviatrix Bessie Coleman

Dear Florida Times Union Editor

            This letter is a request that the Florida Times Union newspaper do a correction on an important historical figure. On April 30, 1926, female aviatrix pioneer Bessie Coleman died at the (now defunct) Paxon Airfield here in Jacksonville, Florida. When Bessie Coleman died, your publication refused to mention her by name; simply calling her “that woman.” However, it did mention the name of the man who piloted the plane. Your story also falsely reported that he was teaching Bessie how to fly. The truth is, Mrs. Coleman held an international pilot’s license she earned from the most prestigious flight school in France. The young pilot was Bessie’s junior and had less flying skills.

            Bessie Coleman was immensely popular during the roaring 20s and was admired by the male and female pilots of her day. One of her admirers was Amelia Earhart. Bessie was known for breath-taking air maneuvers and highly entertaining parachute jumps.  Bessie is also the first African American female to fly an airplane. This woman’s story is important to all. The Unite States Postal Service recognized Mrs. Coleman’s achievements with a stamp in her honor.  The Norman Studios (of Laurel and Hardy fame) here in Jacksonville communicated with Bessie concerning an idea about a film based on her flying skills. She would not live to see the company make its most famous film, The Flying Ace. This film was completed and screened at the end of the same year Bessie Coleman died.

            Bessie was invited to Jacksonville by the Negro Welfare League. Thousands of people in Jacksonville were going to enjoy their May 1^st sponsored airshow. However, a day before the event, Bessie was leaning over her airplane checking out the field below while her assistant piloted the plan. The plane jerked downward throwing Bessie from the plane. She fell 2,000 feet to her death. Her body was taken to the Lawton L. Pratt funeral home. There were thousands of mourners at two funerals held for her here in Jacksonville. One service was held for Bessie at the Bethel Baptist Institutional Church of Jacksonville. Minister Reverend Scott Bartley, Reverend T.H.B. Walker and Reverend John E. Ford presided over the massive funeral. A second service was held for her in the city at the St. Philips Episcopal Church on Union Street then lead by Reverend Parchment. Other funerals were held for her in Orlando and in Chicago where over 15,000 mourners filed pass her casket.

            Jacksonville is the only city relevant to this story that has not officially recognized Bessie Coleman with an honor. This town needs to know that Chicago named a major road leading to one of their major airports, Bessie Coleman Boulevard. There are streets and schools named in her honor around this country. Jacksonville has streets named after Amelia Earhart and the Wright brothers. Bessie has a closer tie to Jacksonville than either of those great aviation pioneers but has not been memorialized as they have. Such an important figure is worthy of your attention and most importantly, making the record straight. An ideal piece would be a series about Bessie Coleman explaining her heroics and the time in which she lived. The city will get to know a pioneering woman who belongs to this city because of her death here. This would be an award-winning story for a talented journalist.

                Enclosed with this correspondence is a copy of both a summary (attached) of her life, ebook and a documentary film entitled “Bessie Coleman: Flying the Blues.” I did this project several years ago while a graduate student at U.N.F. The film has run on the city’s public access channel. I will also be asking the City Council and Mayor Brown to consider honoring Bessie Coleman in some official way. Thanks again and I can be reached by email at politainment1@gmail.com or by text/call at 904-422-6078.

Sincerely,

Opio Sokoni