Review of A Pair of Wings

A Pair of Wings by Carole Hopson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was featured in the book section of the Chicago Tribune, so it's hardly obscure. It is, however, very interesting. It's a novelization of the life of Bessie Coleman, the first American to get an international pilot's license.

Bessie was a Black woman, the daughter of a freed slave turned poor sharecropper in Texas, was an unlikely pilot, especially in 1920. But she made her dream come true - a dream which alas killed her in a plane crash in 1926. As a student of Chicago history, I found it especially interesting in that Jesse Binga, Chicago's first Black banker, and Robert Abbott, founder of the Black newspaper the Chicago Defender, both play prominently in this story.

This is a really good book and I highly recommend it.



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