Native American women who were aviators
Many notable Native American women contributed to the rich aviation history of Oklahoma. In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we are sharing the stories of Bessie Coleman (Cherokee Nation), Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee Nation), and Eula Pearl Carter Scott (Chickasaw), who all made significant contributions to Oklahoma aviation and space exploration.
Visit the Oklahoma History Center Museum to see the exhibit Taking Flight: Oklahomans Explore the Skies, which explores how Oklahomans contributed to all aspects of aviation.
Mary Golda Ross (1908–2008)
Mary Golda Ross (Cherokee Nation), was born on August 9, 1908, in Park Hill, Oklahoma.
She was the daughter of William Wallace Ross, Jr., and Mary Henrietta Moore Ross and the great-great-granddaughter of Cherokee Chief John Ross.
Ross excelled in mathematics, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in the subject from Northeastern State Teachers College (now Northeastern State University) in Tahlequah.
She attained her master’s degree in 1938, with an emphasis in astronomy and mathematics.
Ross was hired by Lockheed Aircraft Company as a mathematician in 1942. She solved the complicated design issues with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft and was retained by the company after World War II.
Mary Golda Ross went on to attain certification in engineering at UCLA, worked as an advanced systems staff engineer, and authored a publication for The National Aeronautics and Space Administration that detailed space travel to Venus and Mars.
Read more about the life of Mary Golda Ross in The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.
Bessie Coleman (1892–1926)
Bessie Coleman (Cherokee Nation) was the first Black, Native-American woman to hold a pilot’s license.
She grew up in a family of 13 children in Texas, leaving there for a short time to complete one term at Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma.
At age 23, Coleman moved to Chicago and worked a variety of small jobs. While living there, she heard stories about pilots returning from World War I and became interested in flying.
American flight schools admitted neither women nor Blacks, so, after receiving private financial backing, she moved to Paris to train and become licensed to fly.
Over the next several years, she would spend time both in the United States and Europe, appearing as a barnstormer and stunt flyer. She did not live long enough to see the establishment of flying schools that admitted Blacks, but she did inspire others dreaming of accepted Black aviation.
Eula Pearl Carter Scott (1915–2005) Eula Pearl Carter Scott (Chickasaw) was a stunt pilot and activist born in 1915 in Marlow, Oklahoma.
Her father, George Washington Carter, was an aviation enthusiast. He developed an airfield and built an airplane hangar on his farm.
Eula Carter first flew in an airplane with Wiley Post—a family friend—inspiring her to become a pilot. She flew her first solo flight at age 13, becoming one of the youngest Oklahomans to fly. As her expertise grew, she performed as a stunt pilot around the state.
Scott went on to serve in the Chickasaw Legislature for three terms.
In 1995, she was inducted into the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame.
She was a member of the International Women’s Air and Space Museum and a charter member of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution. In 2014, her portrait, painted by artist Christopher Nick (seen at left), was dedicated at the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
