Former president Barack Obama was in Chicago this week, doing what celebrities do to light up social media: springing himself unexpected on ordinary people, in this case young kids at the Bessie Coleman branch of the Chicago Public Library in Woodlawn. There he read "Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman's Dreams Took Flight" by Karyn Parsons.
Which is all good -- Coleman is one of those Chicagoans who doesn't get enough attention. I learned about her so I could include a story in my 2022 book, "Every Goddamn Day" (which, now that I think about it, is being stocked again at the Book Bin in Northbrook. If you are looking for a Christmas gift for that Chicago history lover in your life, the book contains this and 365 other Chicago stories, will be gift-wrapped for free, inscribed however you like by me, and mailed to the lucky recipient for only an additional $5 shipping fee. You can reach the Book Bin at 847-498-4999)
June 15, 1921: Lots of jawboning goes on in a barbershop. Lots of idle talk, waiting for a shave, or a haircut. Chatting up the pretty manicurist in the window. Teasing her.
June 15, 1921: Lots of jawboning goes on in a barbershop. Lots of idle talk, waiting for a shave, or a haircut. Chatting up the pretty manicurist in the window. Teasing her.
“You Chicago girls don't know shit,” one former doughboy says, or words to that effect. “Now those French girls, they know where it's at. There are French girls who know how to fly.”
Usually this kind of thing leads nowhere. Not this time. Right then, Bessie Coleman makes a decision. “That’s it!” she says. “You just called it for me.”
She has always wanted to make something of herself. That's why she's in Chicago, doing nails, and not back home washing clothes in Waxahachie, Texas. If French girls can fly, so can she. There are airfields in Chicago and flying instructors, but nobody who is going to teach a Black manicurist how to pilot a plane. Coleman studies French. She saves her money. She gets some help — a manicurist holds the hands of many rich men. Maybe from Jessie Binga, the banker. Maybe from Robert S. Abbott, the publisher.
Today a French official fills out her license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. She is the first Black woman to hold a pilot's license, and returns to this country a star, performing acrobatic stunts. It will be 17 years before a Black woman earns a pilot's license in the United States.
Interesting.
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