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Journal Staff Report
The city of Atlanta honored one of its own Friday when it
unveiled a street sign renaming the road leading to the city
airport to Bessie Coleman Drive. The road was originally named
Airport Drive.
Coleman was American's first female African-American pilot.
She was born in Atlanta on Jan. 26, 1892, the sixth surviving
child of Susan and George Coleman.
She made headlines in 1921when she became the first African-American
woman to earn an international pilot's license. On Sept. 3,
1922 she made history as she became the first black woman
to fly over American soil.
Coleman died April 30, 1926 in a flying accident near Jacksonville,
Florida.
She was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame on
Nov. 10 of this year.
Mayor Kay Philips unveiled the sign and guests were treated
to refreshments afterward in the terminal at the Atlanta Municipal
Airport.
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