Download or read book Queen Bess written by Doris L. Rich and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the brief but intense life of Bessie Coleman, America's first African American woman aviator. Born in 1892 in Atlanta, Texas, she became known as “Queen Bess,” a barnstormer and flying-circus performer who defied the strictures of race, sex, and society in pursuit of a dream.