Kristin Thiel - Amelia Earhart: First Woman to Fly Solo Across the Atlantic

Amelia Earhart was a famous airplane pilot who met the challenges of flying and celebrity head on.

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Amelia Earharts Corner of the World

Flying would eventually define her, it would bring her unheard-of fame, and in time it would lead to her famous disappearance, one of the greatest mysteries in the history of the United States W. C. Jameson

T he phrase that describes Amelia Earhart in her senior-year high school yearbook is: The girl in brown who walks alone. Exactly what the writer meant by that is lost to history, but we can look back on Earharts life and read the line as a simple, powerful description of her. As a curious child, Earhart was constantly doing her own thing, while her familys frequent moves kept her the new kid in school. She grew up to be a pioneer in her career, and she died in a remote corner of the world, doing the unique work she loved.

During Earharts time, there were a lot of restrictions and challenges for women and others who were trying to break outside of societys constraints. In the early 1900s, also known as the early twentieth century, there were different rules for men versus women, for those of different ethnic groups, and for those of different socioeconomic classes. Many lives were stymied because of the laws and expectations of the times, but other strong and remarkable people were able to succeed. Earharts story is one in which she pressed forward and overcame the odds, even though her passion brought her to a mysterious end.

The Haunting Allure of Amelia Earhart

Almost eighty years after she was proclaimed dead, people continue to pose theories about Earhart. Why her story has had such a strong and lasting hold on the public may be an even greater mystery than her final journey. Now that shes long gone, why are people holding onto this? wondered Dorothy Cochrane, a curator at the National Air and Space Museum, in a Smithsonian magazine article. People who never met her, who may not have even lived during her time, express intense feelings about her, some positive, some negative. Many of the theories surrounding her death offer troubling rumors of Earhart. Some claim she was an incompetent pilot, and others accuse her of being a spy. Furthermore, as new evidence is found, many have changed their opinions about her. With the emergence of new information, some who had once been Earharts critics now express relief at being able to look fondly upon her. Earhart seems to feel as real as a family member to many people, the circumstances of her final flight as newsworthy as if they had transpired today.

Earhart has received the same attention anyone with major celebrity does: some people love her, and some dislike her; some admire and respect her; and some dont understand why she is considered such a mythic figure. In some ways, it is not surprising that she has come to overshadow other trailblazers in her field. She was born with a lot of social and economic advantages. She was white at a time when race mattered a lot. Though her family didnt always have money, they came from it, and they always seemed to find a way out of tough spots. These advantages helped her attend school, pay for flying classes, and buy airplanes. She also went on to marry into money and prestige.

Earhart was charismatic, charming those around her and not shying from the spotlight. Earhart may have grown up a plain Jane, but people gravitated toward her style once she was an adult. She was featured in magazine photo spreads and had her own fashion line. Still, hers is a story as much about celebrity and the life cycle of myth as it is about the early days of .

As we move just a little closer to understanding Earharts story, which may never offer all the answers we crave, it may be best to keep in mind what then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said about a major search for Earhart that kicked off in 2012: Even if you do not find what you seek, there is great honor and possibility in the search itself. When thinking about such a needle in a haystack adventureas the oceanographer who found the Titanic and Bismark shipwrecks called looking for Earharts last planethat may be the best attitude to hold.

Being Different Just Made Sense!

Today, we see Earhart as someone who shattered glass ceilings. As a girl and then as a woman, she did things that society did not consider very feminine. Some of her feats were fantastic for any human, let alone females. It is, after all, quite daring to pilot your own plane, especially back in the days when air travel was new and experimental. We look up to her, call her brave, and say she took a stand against convention and sexism. Yet Earhart often took a logical view of her bold choices. Even though it can be said that the decisions she made were progressive, they just made common sense to her.