Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart is known today for her accomplishments in the world of aviation, as the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and beyond. Earhart paved the way for females in the aviation world and helped establish the need and justification for commercial transport. She was a true hero of the 20th century, especially for young women and used her fame to support the cause of woman's equality. This support empowered other women to believe that they could do anything they put their minds to.

Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas. For most of her early life she was raised in a middle class household, by her maternal grandparents. At the age of 10 she went to live with her parents, but because of family issues, her mother moved her to Chicago. While in Chicago, she graduated high school excelling in chemistry. After graduation she spent Christmas with her sister in Toronto, Canada where she began working as a Red Cross aid helping wounded soldiers returning from World War I. She developed a strong admiration for aviators, spending much of her time watching the Royal Flying Corps practice. She enrolled in Columbia University to study medicine, but quit a year later to move to California (bio.com).

At a Long Beach Air Show, she took a plane ride that would change her life. The ride was only 10 minutes, but Earhart knew she had to fly. Working a variety of odd jobs, she saved up enough money to take flying lessons from Anita "Neta" a pioneer female aviator, the 1st woman to graduate from Curtiss School of Aviation. Earhart spent all of her time reading aviation books and hanging out at the air field. She cut her long hair short, and slept in her new flight jacket to give it a worn look (Winters 24).

Earhart saved up enough money to purchase her own plane for $2,000 in 1921. It was a used Airster the second one ever built painted yellow and named it "Canary." On October 22, 1922, she flew her plane to 14,000 feet-the world record for female pilots. Then in 1923, she became the 16th woman to receive an official Federation Aeonautique International pilot license. Earhart's family inheritance ran out forcing her to sell her plane and move back to Boston to help

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