A close-up look at emancipation that dispels macho clichés and discrimination, with the lives of two female pilots who have left their mark on aviation history.
The book’s author, André Berthon, chose a rather unprecedented angle for addressing the topic of aviation, shining the spotlight on black female pilots who have propelled aviation forward while they simultaneously discredited a sort of obscurantism, and continue to do so. To accomplish this, two women from different time periods take center stage in this work: the French woman, Marie-Claude Valide and the American woman, Bessie Coleman.
Currently serving as president of the Training Center for Apprentices in Sky Overseas Aeronautics (CFACIOM), airline pilot Marie-Claude Valide, originally from Martinique, has founded two airlines – Validair and SATT – with the aim of combating Air France’s monopoly in the Antilles.
As for the American Bessie Coleman, she trained in France and was one of the pioneers of aviation, becoming the first woman of African American and Native American descent to hold a pilot’s license, in 1921, and taking part in numerous air shows across the Atlantic.
Two very different lives, but both sharing the same driving principle that aviation is for everyone! Now it’s up to future generations of women to fill the shoes of these two exceptional women…
Book. “Pionnières noires de l’aviation – Bessie Coleman, Marie-Claude Valide & leurs héritières.” Author, André Berthon. Éditions L’Harmattan. ISBN: 978-2-14-028968-2
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