Bessie Coleman

Even though she was born before airplanes were developed as we know them today, Bessie Coleman wanted to fly. Not allowed into U.S. flight schools because she was African-American and a woman, Coleman didn’t let that stop her. She just learned French and went to Paris in 1921, where she was allowed to receive the necessary training. Despite the dangerous nature of flying at a time when planes were often cobbled together and highly unreliable, Coleman was soon granted her pilot’s license and returned to the U.S. as a popular folk hero.

Though she performed many air shows and was interviewed numerous times, Coleman unfortunately failed to reach her goal of opening a flight school for African-Americans before she was killed in a plane crash when she was only 34. Still, her drive to overcome all obstacles and be her in-your-face self resulted in her being honored by her image appearing on a U.S. stamp in 1995.