O’Hare International Airport opens display honoring aviation achievements of Bessie Coleman

By WBBM Staff

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — Chicago is honoring the achievements of one historic woman whose dreams took flight more than 100 years ago.

Friday, a new display commemorating aviator Bessie Coleman was unveiled at O’Hare International Airport.

Coleman was the first African American, Native American woman to earn her pilot’s license back in 1920.

Born in Texas, she moved to Chicago at 23 and then to Paris to study Aviation.

Thanks to the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Chicago Department of Aviation was able to buid the display with a copy of Coleman’s license and other memorabilia.

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