Planes have been around for over 120 years, beginning with the Wright brothers in 1903. However, it wasn’t until the 1920s that the first woman flew a plane.
Amelia Earhart, born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, KS, was the first woman to fly a plane by herself across the Atlantic Ocean.
She flew for nearly 15 hours from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1928. She was originally enrolled in Columbia University for pre-medicine, but then she had been exposed to planes while working as a nurse’s aide in Toronto during WWI.
Then, in Dec. 1920, she developed a serious interest in flying after taking her first plane ride with pilot Frank Hawks in California. This short 10-minute flight had convinced her to take her own flying lessons with Neta Snook on Jan. 3, 1921.
After many years of training, she had the opportunity to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean. She departed on June 3, 1928, after 3 unsuccessful attempts to take off in East Boston.
After successfully landing in Northern Ireland, Earhart received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government, and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Herbert Hoover.
She later became friends with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who also liked flying, due to her rising fame. Later on July 2, 1937, she attempted to circumnavigate the globe with navigator Fred Noonan while en route to Howland Island.
Unfortunately, they both disappeared and were declared dead on Jan. 5, 1939. There are still many theories as to what happened to her, with the most popular being that she ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific Ocean or that Earhart and Noonan went into Japanese-held territory, were captured due to suspicion of being American Spies, and were held prisoner until their death.
After Earhart’s death, she had fundamentally impacted society by getting rid of many gender barriers, promoting women’s equality, and advocating for the Equal Rights Amendment. This empowered women to pursue jobs and careers in a “man’s world”.
Overall, Earhart paved the way for women to pursue more things that they weren’t able to pursue before, and she made it possible for women to fly and drive during her lifetime.