Flying Free

Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman's Dreams Took Flight

by Karyn Parsons (Author), R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)

Based on Karyn Parson's critically acclaimed Sweet Blackberry video series comes the story of Bessie Coleman, the first African American female to earn her pilot's license.

Before Bessie Coleman blazed a high trail with her plane . . . Before she performed in death-defying flying shows that would earn her fame as "Queen Bess" . . . Before she traveled the country speaking out against discrimination, Bessie was a little girl with a big imagination that took her to the sky, through the clouds, and past the birds.

Knocking down barriers one by one, Bessie endured racism and grueling training to become the first black female pilot and an inspiration to Mae Jemison, Josephine Baker, and many more influential people of color for years to come