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11/19/2026 04:30:00 PM11/19/2026 05:30:00 PMAmerica/Los_AngelesA Pair of WingsJoin The Flourish Collective for a conversation with author Carole Hopson about her debut novel, A Pair of Wings — a richly imagined story inspired by the true life of Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn a pilot's license. Coleman's journey from Texas cotton fields to the skies of France, where she trained after being turned away in the U.S., is a story of determination, migration, and the search for freedom against the backdrop of Jim Crow-era America. Hopson, herself a Boeing 737 captain who considers Coleman a personal trailblazer, brings both a pilot's insight and a novelist's craft to this celebration of Bessie's legacy. Come for the story, stay for the conversation with the woman who lived it forward.
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Join The Flourish Collective for a conversation with author Carole Hopson about her debut novel, A Pair of Wings — a richly imagined story inspired by the true life of Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn a pilot's license. Coleman's journey from Texas cotton fields to the skies of France, where she trained after being turned away in the U.S., is a story of determination, migration, and the search for freedom against the backdrop of Jim Crow-era America. Hopson, herself a Boeing 737 captain who considers Coleman a personal trailblazer, brings both a pilot's insight and a novelist's craft to this celebration of Bessie's legacy. Come for the story, stay for the conversation with the woman who lived it forward.
About This Event
Join The Flourish Collective for a conversation with author Carole Hopson about her debut novel, A Pair of Wings — a richly imagined story inspired by the true life of Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn a pilot's license. Coleman's journey from Texas cotton fields to the skies of France, where she trained after being turned away in the U.S., is a story of determination, migration, and the search for freedom against the backdrop of Jim Crow-era America. Hopson, herself a Boeing 737 captain who considers Coleman a personal trailblazer, brings both a pilot's insight and a novelist's craft to this celebration of Bessie's legacy. Come for the story, stay for the conversation with the woman who lived it forward.
About the Author
Carole Hopson is a Boeing 737 Captain for United Airlines, based in Newark, NJ. After a remarkable 20-year career as a journalist and executive, she followed her dream to become a pilot and share her passion with others as a flight instructor, while raising her family. Walking away from executive-level positions, she went to flight school with gusto and completed flight training at the peak of her corporate accomplishments.
True to her roots as a writer, Carole published her debut novel: A Pair of Wings, based on the life story of pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, the first American to earn a French civilian pilot’s license.
Carole also heads the Jet Black Foundation, dedicated to sending 100 Black women to flight school by the year 2035.
Location
Zoom
Date & Time
Thursday, 11/19/2026
4:30pm PDT
-
5:30pm PDT
Add to Calendar
11/19/2026 04:30:00 PM11/19/2026 05:30:00 PMAmerica/Los_AngelesA Pair of WingsJoin The Flourish Collective for a conversation with author Carole Hopson about her debut novel, A Pair of Wings — a richly imagined story inspired by the true life of Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn a pilot's license. Coleman's journey from Texas cotton fields to the skies of France, where she trained after being turned away in the U.S., is a story of determination, migration, and the search for freedom against the backdrop of Jim Crow-era America. Hopson, herself a Boeing 737 captain who considers Coleman a personal trailblazer, brings both a pilot's insight and a novelist's craft to this celebration of Bessie's legacy. Come for the story, stay for the conversation with the woman who lived it forward.
Zoom
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