1926 – Pilot Bessie Coleman Passes Away
Born in 1982, Bessie Coleman became the first Black woman to gain an international permit to fly. After Coleman was turned away from a number of flight schools in the U.S. because of her race and gender, she traveled to Paris in 1920 to receive her pilot’s license. She became an international sensation and returned to the States to become a stunt pilot. Her lifelong dream of opening a flying school to train future Black aviators was never realized. She passed away in 1926 during an aerial show rehearsal at 34 years old.
1979 – Robert Maynard Buys the Oakland Tribune
Journalist Robert C. Maynard, became the owner and editor of The Oakland Tribune. He is one of the first African Americans to own a major metropolitan newspaper. The Oakland Tribune had previously been dubbed “the second worst newspaper in the United States,” but met great success under Maynard’s guidance. Under his ownership, the publication won numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1990.
