Bessie Coleman :: essays research papers

Elizabeth Bessie Coleman was born on January 26, 1892 to Susan and George Coleman who had a large family in Texas. At the quaternionth dimension of Bessies birth, her parents had already been married for seventeen years and already had guild children, Bessie was the tenth, and she would later have twelve brothers and sisters. Even when she was small, Bessie had to deal with issues ab step to the fore race. Her paternity was of African American and Cherokee Indian decent, and her mother was black which made it rocky from the start for her to be accepted. Her parents were sharecroppers and her life was filled with renter farms and continuous labor. Then, when Bessie was two, her fuss decided to move himself and his family to Waxahacie, Texas. He thought that it would offer more opportunities for prevail, if he were to live in a cotton town. While Bessie was young, and her older brothers and sisters started to work in the fields, Bessie took on some new responsibilities. She wo uld now look subsequently her sisters, and sometimes even help her mother in the garden. Bessie started school when she was half dozen years old and walked four miles to school e reallyday. In school, she was very gifted and excelled at math. Then, in 1901, when Bessie was nine, her life changed dramatically, her father George Coleman left his family. It was said that he was tired of the racial barriers that existed, and so he returned to Oklahoma (Indian Territory as it was called then) to search for better opportunities. When he was unable to convince his family to come with him, he left Susan and his family. Shortly thereafter, her older brothers also moved out, leaving Susan with four girls under the age of nine. This caused Susan to have to get a job, which she found very soon. She became a housekeeper for Mr. and Mrs. Jones, who allowed Susan to still live at home, and they would also give her nourishment and other handed-down clothing. Since her mother was now at work, Be ssie took on the duty of acting as a mother and a housekeeper. Every year at the cotton harvest, Bessies routine was changed because she now had to go out into the field and pick cotton for her family to be able to survive. This continued on until Bessie was twelve, and this was when she was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church, where she completed all of her eight grades.