Queen of The Air
Bessie Coleman — known as “Brave Bessie” and “Queen Bess” — was a trailblazing aviator who became the first Black woman to earn an international pilot’s license in 1921. Born to sharecropper parents in Texas, Coleman refused to accept the limits imposed on her by race and gender, traveling to France to train when no American flight school would accept her.
She went on to thrill thousands with her daring aerial shows across the country, championing Black audiences and inspiring a generation of pilots — long before the Tuskegee Airmen ever took to the skies. Published in Smithsonian Magazine, June 2025.
Editorial illustration for Smithsonian Magazine’s feature on Bessie Coleman, the pioneering Black aviator whose courage and ambition made history in the skies. I created the artwork accompanying writer Victor Luckerson’s portrait of Coleman — capturing the boldness and grace of a woman who refused to be grounded.
Art Direction
Collage – Mixed Media
