Today in History: Amelia Earhart
Eighty-two years ago to the date, Amelia Earhart disappeared over central Pacific Ocean waters near Howland Island during an expedition that began a month earlier, one she prefaced with this quote: “I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this trip is it.” As we know today, her last trip ended in tragedy rather than triumph.
But that isn’t in any way meant to diminish what she achieved – in fewer than twenty years as a pilot, her list of accomplishments is absolutely astounding. Some of the achievements that stand out to me:
- First women to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (accompanied, and then solo).
- First women to fly nonstop coast-to-coast across the United States.
- The first person to fly solo from Honolulu-Oakland, Los Angeles-Mexico City, and Mexico City-Newark.
- Set multiple speed records and reached new altitudes, often breaking her own records.
I think it’s pretty fair to make a sweeping declaration: Amelia Earhart was a badass. She remains a pioneer when evaluated by today’s standards, and her story becomes even more impressive when you establish the context in which she was able to find success. The 1920s and 30s were none too kind to women; in fact, she flew and later purchased her first plane a full two years before the first Equal Rights Act was established, granting “men and women equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction.”
Her legacy is certainly a memorable one. It is inevitable that most of what we remember about Amelia Earhart is related to the mystery that surrounds her disappearance, but what remains is the positive influence her vision, her courage, and her achievements have on women in our society.
It’s a disastrous reality that women can often encounter more frequent or more strenuous obstacles in order to achieve their goals. The barriers to success have always been tailored towards benefitting men – but progress is being made. It seems to me that more and more women are entering and importantly thriving in male-dominated fields, albeit slowly, e.g. politics, science, entertainment, and more.
Right now I can think of an abundance of incredible women of our recent generations – Malala, Michelle Obama, Amal Clooney, and Serena Williams quickly come to mind – and I’m confident each and every one of these women had many female role models growing up, and if they were to be asked to reveal theirs, I would be quite shocked to hear Earhart’s name and achievements go unmentioned. A heroine in every sense of the word, Amelia paved the way for women of all areas of interest to stop at nothing to achieve anything they set their minds to.
“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.” – Amelia Earhart