Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born on January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas to Susan and George Coleman. At the time of her birth, her parents were already married for seventeen years and had nine children; Bessie was the tenth child of thirteen. Her father was of African American and Cherokee Indian decent and her mother was of African American decent which made it difficult for her from the start. Her family settled down in Waxahachie, Texas as sharecroppers. Her older brothers and sisters started to work while Bessie was home taking care of her younger sisters and helping her mother. She started going to school at the age of six, walking four miles every day to school. It was when she was nine that her father left the family because he was
