Abby Connolly
When she returned to the United States to start working as an exhibition pilot and was known to a lot of her fans as “Queen Bess.”
Bessie appeared in a series of airshows during the war effort that wowed audiences. Her planes would do all sorts of loops and crazy spins.
Although she was adored and admired by many, Bessie faced a lot of scrutiny for her race but was determined to rise about it. For instance, she would only perform at airshows where the attendees would be treated as equals, no matter their skin color.
Bessie once told a reporter, “The air is the only place free from prejudice.”
Tragically, the world lost Bessie too soon when she was only 34-years-old. Bessie died while trying to fly in the plane she had just purchased, which had a series of mechanical issues.
Around ten thousand people attended her funeral in Chicago. Bessie is honored in so many ways today, including several institutions, roads, and scholarships being named after her.
In the early 2000s, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
Bessie was truly an American icon and proved to women everywhere that they can be anything they want when they put their minds to it.
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