Bessie Coleman     

Bessie was born in Atlanta, Texas in 1893. Her father was an Indian and her mother an African American. Her father left the family when she was seven. At such a young age, Bessie picked cotton. She also took on extra washing and ironing to help her mother meet family expenses.

After finishing high school, Bessie went to Chicago to stay with a younger brother. She became interested in aviation （飞行） shorty after World War I. But because of her sex and color she could not enroll （注册入学） in an aviation school in the US. Later, a newspaper editor told her that the only path left open to her would be an aviation school in Europe． She then made two trips to Europe. She studied under top German and French pilots, and returned to Chicago with an international pilot's license. Bessie became the only black woman pilot in the world.

Her work as a pilot took her into a field untouched by women in her day. This field was exhibition flying.  In 1922, Bessie gave her first exhibition flying show. Several thousand eager fans came to see the uausual show. She went on giving air shows all over the US. She gained national attention and thousands of fans of all races. She was not discouraged by words from her family or seeing the death of a student pilot. Nor did suffering a broken leg and arm in an air crash scare her.

Letters poured in from young black people. Like Bessie, they wanted to go into the field of aviation. Long before her first exhibition, Bessie dreamed of setting up a flying school for blacks. Unfortunately, she died in a flight accident before her dream was realized.

Bessie was kept out of the US aviation schools because _____.