How "Brave Bessie" Overcame Racism to Earn International Fame By Diana Vice Diana Vice is the Honorary Regent & Historian for the General de Lafayette Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. She also serves as the Indiana State Chair for the E Pluribus Unum Committee, which was formed to increase awareness of often underrepresented Revolutionary War Patriots, including those who were African American, Native American and female." Amelia Earhart was not the only woman of her era to break barriers in aviation. Though Earhart became famous for her transatlantic flights, Bessie Coleman, known as "Queen Bess" and "Brave Bessie" had already made history as the first Black and Native American woman to earn an international pilot’s license, overcoming institutional racism in the U.S. and building an influential aviation career before Earhart’s most celebrated achievements. Born into a Texas sharecropping family, Coleman carried her ambitions nort...