American Experience

Amelia Earhart (31x7)

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The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart was one of America’s first celebrities. After only a few years as a pilot she became the best-known female flier in America, not only for her daring and determination, but also for her striking looks and outspoken personality. Amelia even had an uncanny resemblance to Charles Lindbergh — the most famous man in America at the time — that publicists seized upon, nicknaming her “Lady Lindy.” Three weeks short of her 40th birthday, Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, and her story became legend. Amelia Earhart was raised to be a proper Victorian woman, but decided early on that was a role that did not suit her. Amelia collected newspaper articles and pictures of women who were successful in male-dominated fields such as film, law, management, and engineering. Unsure of her own direction, Amelia moved between various schools and jobs. At 23, however, Amelia Earhart discovered her passion at an airfield, when she paid $5 for her first ride in a biplane. “As soon as we left the ground,” she later wrote, “I knew I myself had to fly. 'I think I’d like to fly,’ I told the family casually that evening, knowing full well I’d die if I didn’t.” To raise money for her own plane — a yellow Kinner Airster biplane she named The Canary — Amelia worked as a truck driver, photographer, and stenographer. In 1921, she passed her pilot's test from the National Aeronautic Association and received her license two years later from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, all while flying in races and setting an unofficial altitude record for female pilots. In 1928, Earhart gained international fame after she became the first female passenger to fly across the Atlantic on the Friendship with pilot Wilmer Stultz and co-pilot Louis Gordon. After writing a bestselling book about the experience Amelia’s celebrity exploded. With publicist George Palmer Putnam — who would become her husband — Amelia planned a nationw