Bessie Coleman: Pioneer in Aviation
Explore the life and achievements of Bessie Coleman, the first African American and Native American woman pilot, with this engaging worksheet for Grade 5.
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Bessie Coleman: Pioneer in Aviation
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Read the questions carefully and answer to the best of your ability. This worksheet will test your knowledge about the life and accomplishments of Bessie Coleman.
Bessie Coleman was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license. Coleman was born in Texas in 1892. She worked as a laundress and manicurist, saving her money to pursue her dream of flying. Because of racial segregation and gender bias, no American flight schools would admit her. She learned French and moved to France in 1920 to attend flight school, earning her international pilot's license in 1921. Upon her return to the United States, she became a sensation, performing daring aerial stunts at airshows across the country. Her goal was to establish a flight school for African Americans, but she tragically died in a plane crash in 1926 at the age of 34.
1. What was Bessie Coleman's primary goal upon returning to the United States from France?
To become a movie star
To open a beauty salon
To establish a flight school for African Americans
To become a politician
2. Why did Bessie Coleman have to go to France to learn how to fly?
She preferred French culture.
No American flight schools would admit her due to racial segregation and gender bias.
She wanted to learn to fly a special French airplane.
Her family lived in France.
3. Bessie Coleman was the first woman and first to hold a pilot license.
4. Bessie Coleman earned her international pilot's license in the year .
5. Bessie Coleman lived a long life and saw her flight school for African Americans open.
True
False
6. Describe one challenge Bessie Coleman faced and how she overcame it.