Immortalizing a pioneer | Famed Atlanta aviator Bessie Coleman to appear on quarter in 2023

In this archive photo from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, Bessie Coleman, in a tailor-made officer's uniform, stands on the running board of a Ford Model T automobile, with the nose and right wing of her Curtiss JN-4 Jenny to her left. Photo courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. (Photo courtesy of aopa.org)
In this archive photo from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, Bessie Coleman, in a tailor-made officer's uniform, stands on the running board of a Ford Model T automobile, with the nose and right wing of her Curtiss JN-4 Jenny to her left. Photo courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. (Photo courtesy of aopa.org)


ATLANTA, Texas – Pioneering pilot Bessie Coleman continues to achieve, even posthumously.

The Cass County aviator is being immortalized on the quarter as part of the U.S. Mint's 2023 American Women's Quarters Program. The program seeks to honor women from various ethnic, racial and geographical backgrounds. Coleman is being honored along with the likes of Edith Kanaka'ole, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jovita Idar and Maria Tallchief.

"Cass County, rich heritage, bright future," Atlanta Mayor Travis Ransom wrote about Coleman and her legacy in a Facebook post.

The quarter designs show Coleman in a variety of stances -- in a plane, looking solemn against a background of clouds and appearing to smile with her plane behind her.

Born Jan. 26, 1892, in Atlanta to a sharecropper father and domestic worker mother, Coleman was the first female African American pilot and first Native American pilot to acquire an international license. She earned it from the Federation Aeoronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921.

Coleman died midflight in 1926. According to the National Women's History Museum, the 34-year-old was a passenger on a test flight with a mechanic when a loose wrench got lodged in the plane's engine, causing the mechanic to lose control of steering. The plane rolled, and Coleman, who was not wearing a seatbelt, fell 3,000 feet.

"Airplanes at the time did not have a roof or any protection," the National Women's History Museum noted.

On June 15, 2021, the 100th anniversary of Coleman's obtaining her license, the female pilots organization The Ninety-Nines hosted the Bessie Coleman Fly-In at Atlanta's Hall-Miller Airport.

"With Bessie Coleman and the celebration, I was like, what a beautiful opportunity to be able to introduce girls of color, both brown and black, and all girls to aviation," said Monica Randolph-Graham, international director of The Ninety-Nines.

  photo  Bessie Coleman’s quarter is part of the U.S. Mint's 2023 American Women’s Quarters Program, which seeks to honor women from various ethnic, racial and geographical backgrounds. (Photo courtesy of usmint.gov)
 
 


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