The Legendary Amelia Earhart
"Women must try to do things as men have tried." Amelia Earhart wrote this in a letter she left behind before taking off on her flight around the world. Earhart believed in her words and lived by them her entire adult life.
As a 10 year old, though, she preferred books and poetry and not airplanes. Her impression changed a decade later during her first flight and she soon enrolled in flying lessons. Instead of saving money for a car, Earhart saved money to buy her own plane – a yellow one she called Canary.
She racked up many firsts on her resume. After three women died trying to be the first to fly the Atlantic, she succeeded. She also was the first person to fly solo over the Pacific from Honolulu to Oakland, California AND the first to fly alone from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey.
Earhart disappeared in the South Pacific – plane and all –attempting to fly around the world in 1937. As the 75th anniversary of that flight approaches on July 2, we remember her brave spirit and groundbreaking accomplishments, which continue to inspire Americans of all ages.
Content provided by Oakland University.
