Queen Bess gets her likeness on a quarter

On March 30, 2022, the U.S. Mint announced that it will be commemorating Bessie Coleman’s, “Queen Bess,” achievements on the backside of a US Quarter. Coleman a native of Atlanta, Texas, is known among many things to be the first African American to earn an international pilot’s license. With the announcement, the Mint released nine potential designs, one of which will begin circulation in 2023. American Women Quarters Program will also honor Maria Tallchief, Edith Kanaka’ole, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jovita Idar.

This is not the first time Coleman has received a honor like this. She has also had a stamp in her likeness, libraries, schools, named after her, and has been induced National Women’s Hall of Fame.

On the US Mints website, it was noted that she was honored as a “pilot, advocate, and pioneer who flew to great heights as the first African American and first Native American woman pilot, as well as the first African American to earn an international pilot’s license.”

Along with making history with the accomplishment of the International Pilot’s License, she went on to make a successful career as an acrobat flyer.

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association notes that “Coleman’s aviation story is one of perseverance in the face of racism and sexism: She earned a pilot’s license in 1921 after learning French and moving to France—because no U.S. flight school would teach her—and received her international pilot’s license from the Fédération Aéronautique In ternationale. She could not find employment in aviation in the United States, so she gained additional flight and aerobatic training in Europe, working with Anthony Fokker and others to perfect loops, “trick” climbs, and engine-out landings. Back in the United States, she flew in airshows and gave flight instruction, while encouraging African Americans and women to learn to fly. She refused to perform or give speeches at any segregated venue. In 1922, she performed the first public flight by an African American woman, according to the National Women’s History Museum.”

Coleman died in Jacksonville, FL, on April 30, 1926, while rehearsing a stunt. Coleman was 34 years old, documents Wikipedia.

Even in death, Coleman’s legacy continues to inspire. “Despite this tragic fate, Coleman’s legacy of flight endures and she is credited with inspiring generations of African-American aviators, male and female, including the Tuskegee Airmen and NASA astronaut, Dr. Mae Jemison, who carried Bessie Coleman’s picture with her on her first mission in the Space Shuttle when she became the first African American woman in space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor in September 1992,” celebrates the Cradle of Aviation Museum.

“The range of accomplishments and experiences of these extraordinary women speak to the contributions women have always made in the history of our country,” said Mint Deputy Director Ventris C. Gibson. “I am proud that the mint continues to connect America through coins by honoring these pioneering women and their groundbreaking contributions to our society.”

“Authorized by Public Law 116-330—the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020—the American Women Quarters Program features coins with reverse (tails) designs emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of prominent American women. Contributions come from a wide spectrum of fields including, but not limited to, suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts.

“The women honored come from ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds. As required by the public law, no living person will be featured in the coin designs, and thus all the women honored must be deceased. The Mint is issuing five coins with different reverse designs annually over the four-year period from 2022 through 2025,” – US Mint.