By Natalie Herr ’25
Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. Her father worked on the railroads and struggled with alcoholism throughout his life. Her mother came from a wealthy family. She stayed at home, taking good care of her family and house. However, after Amelia’s grandparents died, her family went through a period of struggle with finances.
In 1817, Amelia used a school break to to visit her sister in Canada. During that time she found a passion in caring for soldiers who were wounded (this was during WW1). In 1918 Amelia decided to leave Columbia University to become a nurse’s aide in Toronto, Canada.
Once the war ended, her parents decided they wanted to move to California, which led to Amelia’s first plane ride. She fell in love with planes, and bought her own plane in 1921. Two years later Amelia got her pilot’s license.
People all over the US wanted a woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean since Charles Lindbergh did a year prior. In April of 1928, Amelia was selected to do so. Amelia didn’t pilot the plane, but she was a passenger. She then wrote her first book called 20 Hrs. 40 Min. In May of 1932, Amelia piloted her own plane across the Atlantic with a record time of 14 hours and 56 minutes.
The flight wasn’t smooth, however. She experienced a few mechanical issues, and the weather didn’t allow her to land in the location where she was scheduled to land. After this flight Amelia published her second book The Fun of It. She then took up many flights all around the US.
George Palmer Putnam was the publisher who helped Amelia publish her books, as well as organize her first flight over the Atlantic. In 1931 George and Amelia got married, but she wanted to keep her maiden name because she viewed her marriage as an equal partnership. Later that year she set another record, this time for flying 18,415 feet in the air.
Not only was Amelia known for being a pilot, but she was also known for being a part of the ongoing women’s movement. In 1929 she made her own clothing line designed for “the woman who lives actively.” She also founded an organization for female pilots which is now known as the “Ninety-Nines.” There she taught engineering and was a career counselor at Perdue University.
On June 1, 1937 Amelia went on a quest to fly around the world, starting from Miami, with a total of 29,000 miles to cover. During her journey she wrote a plethora of documents, including diary entries and letters. These were published in the book Last Flight, which was published by her husband later in the year.
On June 29 she made it to Lae, New Guinea, which was 22,00 miles out of the total 29,000 miles. On July 2 she made her way to Howland Island, 2,600 miles away from New Guinea. This part of the journey wasn’t expected to be easy. US ships were stationed to help mark the route, and Amelia kept in contact with those ships over radio.
Shortly after Amelia took off, she radioed that she was running out of fuel. A little later she said that the plane was going north and south. And that was the last anyone heard from her. The plane was assumed to have gone down 100 miles from Howland Island. A huge search was out to find Amelia, but on July 19, 1937 the search was called to a halt, and Amelia was pronounced lost at sea.
There are many myths regarding Amelia’s disappearance. Some think she was a spy for the US government, landed on the wrong island, and got taken captive and killed. Others believe she crashed into an ocean and drowned. There are some who think the US military had something to do with her death and then tried to cover it up. Others believe that she landed safely but took on another name and lifestyle. Her disappearance remains an unsolved mystery to this day.
Sources:
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/amelia-earhart
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Amelia-Earhart
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/legend-amelia-earharts-disappearance