February 28, 2001
(Ebc ;|Jtfrilattò (Observer
During a nosedive from
3500 feet at one hundred
and ten m iles an hours
her plane could not come
out o f the turn, leading to
a fatal crash. She was
hailed as a heroine who
taught black wom en to
n e v e r g iv e up th e ir
dream s. Every M emorial
Day, pilots fly over the
p la c e w h e re B e ssie
C olem an had died and
th ro w flo w e rs to the
ground in her memory.
Bessie Coleman was trained and
licensed to pilot a plane in France in
'1921. She established a flight school
fo r blacks, raising money fo r the
venture by performing aviation stunts.
She bought three airplanes and began
touring the country. She tragically
died on April 30, 1926 in a plane
crash.
the coveted 1983 Pulitzer Prize
for Literature. Although the
youngest o f eight children and
the daughter o f G eorgia share
croppers, her literary focus has
been on her good experiences
as a black w om an in America.
Alice W alker’s efforts in litera
ture have d raw n h er p ra ise
throughout the world as a loyal
readership patiently aw aits her
next novel.
Toni Morrison
T ony M orrison once
said, “My world did not
shrink because I was a
black female. It just got
bigger.” A fter a divorce,
Toni M orrison once said
it was in her tim es o f sad
ness, loneliness and de
pression that got her w rit
ing as a form o f healing. Late at
night when the kids were asleep
in their beds, a young woman
bom Chloe Anthony W oford be
gan putting the ink on the paper.
These dark and lonely nights as
she described them helped trans
form this single parent into what
many consider the best black
female w riter o f all times. Toni
has written num erous books and
even shocked the world as the
first black woman to win the
Nobel Prize for Literature. Her
accom plishm ents as a w riter
and an educator highlight her
not only as a tribute to her race,
but also as a role m odel for
aspiring young authors across
all m inority “plains.” From her
first novel, The Bluest Eye, to
her prize-w inning Beloved, and
beyond, one can only guess
what she will com e up with
next. The breadth and depth o f
her writing truly does show her
world getting bigger all the time.
P ill 'ARM
iMiURAMCt
STATE FARM
IN S U R A N C E C O M P A N IE S
Madam C.J. Walker
If you could invest one d ay ’s
wages to becom e the richest
person in the world, would you
do it? That was the risk that
Madam C.J. W alker took in the
very early 1900’s. Her invest
ment o f a single day’s wages to
try an experiment made her the
richest Black woman in the world
in her time. Before this, Madam
Walker suffered from too much
bad luck. She lost both her par
ents at the age o f six, was married
by the time she was 14, bore a
daughter and became a widow
before she was twenty. This was
all followed by eighteen years of
Page 7
back breaking, dirty laundry work
that paid her only $ 1.50 per day.
Fed up, she risked a little money
on an experiment that revolution
ized the hair care industry. Her
“solutions” would soften a Black
woman’s hair and her specialized
curling iron could straighten it.
Black women could finally have
long, silky, smooth hair. These
items along with a line ofW alker’s
designer toiletries made her the
first African American millionaire
in the world.
Shirley Chisholm
Staring at a large crowd of
white m en, Shirley Chisholm
Off.: (503) 286-1103
Fax: (503) 286-1146
HOME OFFICES: BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS
ERNEST J. HILL, JR.
Agent
6527 NE MLK, Jr. Boulevard
Suite A
Portland, OR 97217
Bessie Coleman
Have you ever dream ed o f
being a pilot? Born in 1922, this
Black wom an w ould show us
all how to m anifest that dream ,
no m atter what the odds. As the
twelfth o f thirteen children bom
to poor and illiterate parents,
Bessie C olem an grew up with a
.passion for learning. Two times
a year, a traveling library wagon
would pass though their little
’town. H er m other bought what
few books her m eager earnings
could afford. Bessie would learn
how to read and later finished
highschool. W orking as a m ani
curist by day and m anaging a
chili parlor at night, she saved
her m oney. She wanted to learn
how to fly. As a black wom an,
Am erica refused her this right.
Not willing to give up, she earned
enough m oney to go to France.
When she returned, she was the
w orld’s first black woman pi
lot. From 1922 to 1926 she
flew exhibitions, saving every
nickel she could to open up a
school for black pilots. Her
plans were suddenly cut short
when she had a fatal accident.
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