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TrendingDecember 31, 2021

The Manicurist Turned Record-breaking Aviator

Someone once said that taking hold of opportunities is one of life’s great pleasures. Chicago manicurist Bessie Coleman must have realized this. But rather than wait around for opportunities to come knocking, she built her door. The U.S. may have closed off flight training to people of color and women in particular, but Paris had no such restrictions.

So Coleman learned French and moved to Paris, where she became the first black person to earn an international pilot’s license. She also became the first Native American and the first African-American woman to hold a pilot license. In 2021, O’Hare International Airport in Chicago unveiled a new exhibit in Coleman’s honor.