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Hey hey ladies! It’s February, so you know what that means…it’s Black History Month in the US! *Hip, hip hooray!* Can we be real for a second? We all know the unfortunate truth: Black American achievements are often overlooked and we also know that people love the rhythm but want none of the blues. But I’m gonna put an end to that here on the blog.
Every Tuesday this month, I’ll be keeping you busy and highlighting all things black travel from places to go in America’s Black Mecca to celebrating Black History women who make and have made travel what it is today. History is like Hansel and Gretel’s breadcrumbs. They are puzzle pieces that we can use to learn more about where we are today, how we got here, and how we can move forward. There are several extraordinary black women who have impacted and changed the way we travel.
In this post, I’m going to spotlight four of them. This one is for my history buffs who are ready to celebrate those who came before us. Ready to soak up the culture? Let’s get into it.
Psst. This post is part of a series. Check out the other posts in this amazing Black History series:
- 24 Hours in Black Atlanta: A Historical and Celebratory Guide
- 5 Less-famous Places to Celebrate Black History
- 4 Black-owned Etsy Stores to Make Your Travels Even Sweeter
1. Dr.Gladys West
Remember the days when getting lost or map-questing every nook and cranny of your destination was a travel rite of passage? Well, we can one the amazing Black History women, Dr. Gladys West for better and easier days. Ever heard of a little thing called GPS? You know, the thing that could arguably be every traveler’s top travel tool? Dr. West was one of the key developers for the global positioning system.
As a mathematician, she worked at the US Navy base. Her contributions to GPS were instrumental and helped the accuracy of satellite data, particularly in the orbit over water. She was born in 1930 in Virginia to a family of sharecroppers. As a child, she knew she wanted nothing to do with staying in the sun and working on the farm, so she hit the books and decided that if she wanted to be successful, she would have to put her education first. A lady of beauty and brains…my kind of woman. She kept that same energy throughout school and graduated at the top of her class as valedictorian. She later received a scholarship to college and even earned a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.
Fun fact, she’s a member of the famous Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority! During the Civil Rights Movement, she wasn’t allowed to participate due to being a government employee. So instead, she and her husband chose to make change indirectly, by pushing even harder in her work to prove that people, especially people of color, should be judged on their competence and capabilities and not the color of their skin. In 2018 Dr. West was presented and inducted into the Air Force Pioneers Hall of Fame. Believe it or not, this trailblazer still loves her paper maps and says she trusts her brain. With a brain like that, I would too. Thank you Dr. Gladys West.
2. Bessie Coleman
Most people have heard of Amelia Earhart. She set tons of records and was the first female woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. But, have you ever heard of one of the most amazing Black History women, Bessie Coleman? Born in 1982, she was the first African American female pilot and one bad-ass motherf@&%*#. And guess what? She actually got her pilot license two years before Amelia did.
Bessie Coleman was scrappy. She saved money from helping her mother and attended Langston University in Oklahoma. Later she moved to Chicago and went to beauty school. While killing the manicure game she followed the war and listened to her brothers’ stories about their time in France and serving in the war. This inspired her to become a pilot, only she was denied from several flight schools in the US…simply because she was black.
She met Robert Abbott, the publisher of The Chicago Defender, a prominent black newspaper. He told her that her best bet at becoming a pilot was to learn French, move to France, and go to aviation school there. So, she did just that. After graduating with her international pilot’s license she began flying for entertainment and was known for her tricks and air shows. Because of Ms. Coleman, we have people like Jill Brown-Hiltz, the first black woman to serve as a pilot for a major US airline. Or Beth Powell, a high-ranking, black female pilot who is currently taking us around the world. Thank you Bessie Coleman.
3. Ruth Carol Taylor
The year was 1958 and a young black woman was making history as the first African American flight attendant. Ruth Carol Taylor worked as a nurse for several years before she took her skills to the sky. She was hired at Mohawk Airlines in December 1957. The following year, she made history on a flight from Ithaca, in upstate New York, to New York City. Ruth was rejected by Trans World Airlines before getting the job at Mohawk. But get this, shortly after she made history she was forced to resign from the airline after marrying Rex Legall, due to the marriage ban.
It’s hard to wrap our heads around this sometimes, but flight attendants were required to adhere to strict standards regarding their appearance and weight and it was also compulsory for them to remain single, oh and retire by age 32. Like what the actual…?! But cheers to women with slashes in their names (nurse, flight attendant, journalist, writer)! After leaving the airline industry, Ruth worked as a journalist and activist covering the famous March on Washington. Thank you Ruth Carol Taylor.
4. Bessie Stringfield
Often referred to as the ‘Queen of the Road,” Bessie Stringfield was the first black woman to ride solo on a motorcycle across the United States. She conquered this arduous task a total of eight times, and this is back when the roads were pure dirt and highways weren’t built yet. She was self-taught and started riding at the age of 16.
To raise money for her travels, she performed stunts at carnivals and also led parades. Bessie was one to let her wanderlust lead her, she would toss a penny onto a map and go wherever it landed—talk about brave. Black History women rule! During her travels she often wasn’t accepted by motels, cause y’know Jim Crow, so she would sleep on her bike or find black people that would let her in.
Imagine what it must have been like riding as a solo black woman through the deep south? I just can’t. She didn’t just do it for herself, during WWII she served as a civilian dispatch rider, transferring documents among bases. Because of her, there are now more black female riders than ever. There’s even a group of bikers who take an annual cross country trip in her honor. Thank you Bessie Stringfield.
Drop a comment below and let me know your thoughts on these awesome women. Stay tuned for more posts in celebration of Black History Month! Until next time!
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