Photos of Historical Figures Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before

Bessie Coleman broke barriers in early aviation. In 1921, she earned a pilot’s license in France because U.S. flight schools would not train her. She became the first African American woman and the first woman of Native American descent to earn a pilot’s license.

Coleman returned to the United States and performed daring flying stunts for crowds. She hoped to open a flight school for Black students. On April 30, 1926, she died in a plane crash during a practice flight. She was 34.