When Bessie returned to Chicago in October, she was interviewed in her apartment by a reporter from the Chicago Defender. The paper photographed her proud mother, Susan, holding the silver cup presented to her daughter by the Shuffle Along cast. Bessie told the Chicago Defender that she had ordered a plane built for her own use, a Nieuport de
Chasse with a 130 horsepower engine in which she intended to give exhibition flights in America and other countries.
Although Bessie was known for much exaggeration, the pride she had for her race was deep and genuine. When a reporter from the Chicago Herald offered to do a story on her if she agreed to pass as white, she took her mother and niece along with her for the interview. She was laughing as they walked into the reporter’s office. Pointing to Susan and Marion, who were dark-skinned, she said, “This is my mother and this is my niece, and you want me to pass?” Apparently, the interview didn’t take place.
Bessie went back to France to learn about stunts to entertain a crowd. She soon discovered that money couldn’t be made from her initial training. No one knows Bessie Coleman, nor where Bessie received her money, but she had chic Paris gowns and attractive leather flying apparel and much …show more content…
She received injuries during some of her stunts. She lost an expensive plane due to mechanical failure, but she still had many admirers. Among one of Bessie’s admirers was a young white man, Paul McCully, who later became National Governor of the OX-5 Pioneers, pilot who flew planes with the O-5 engine. “I credit this lady with helping launch my flying career,” he said. McCully recalled a group of black aviator landing in the river bottom near Fort Worth. With them was a beautiful black lady in charge of the group, and between selling ride tickets and helping gas the airplanes, she didn’t have much time to talk. She drew almost as much crowd as the other