How to use this Page

By Susan Ware

In 1928 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean, a feat which made her an instant celebrity even though she was only a passenger, or in her self-deprecating description, “a sack of potatoes.” In 1932 she became the first person since Charles Lindbergh to fly the Atlantic solo, doing it in record time and becoming the first person to have crossed the Atlantic by air twice.

Having received far more credit than she felt she deserved in 1928, “I wanted to justify myself to myself. I wanted to prove that I deserved at least a small fraction of the nice things said about me.” So on 20 May 1932 (the fifth anniversary of Lindbergh’s flight), Amelia Earhart took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland in her single-engine bright red Lockheed Vega. The flight, rocked by storms, lasted over 14 hours and landed her in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

The below map features quotes from Earhart’s acceptance speech of The Society’s Special Medal after her unparalleled achievement. (Please note all pinpoints are approximate as there are no logs of times and coordinates for her flight.)

View Amelia Earhart’s 1932 Transatlantic Solo Flight in a larger map. Or, download the accompanying American National Biography Online Amelia Earhart infographic.

The hundreds of telegrams, tributes, and letters that poured in after the 1932 solo flight testify that women in the United States, indeed throughout the world, took Amelia Earhart’s individual triumph as a triumph for womanhood, a view she herself encouraged. At a White House ceremony honoring her for her flight, she succinctly captured the links between aviation and feminism: “I shall be happy if my small exploit has drawn attention to the fact that women are flying, too.”

With all the mythology surrounding Amelia Earhart’s last flight in 1937, it is hard not to let the unsolved mystery of her disappearance cloud our historical memories. Without that dramatic denouement, however, it seems likely that Amelia Earhart would have been remembered primarily for the skill, daring, and courage demonstrated in her 1932 Atlantic solo. It is the life, not the death, that counts.

Susan Ware is the General Editor of American National Biography Online and author of Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism. A pioneer in the field of women’s history and a leading feminist biographer, she is the author and editor of numerous books on twentieth-century US history. Ware was recently appointed Senior Advisor of the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

For more information on Earhart, visit her entry in American National Biography. The landmark American National Biography offers portraits of more than 18,700 men and women — from all eras and walks of life — whose lives have shaped the nation. More than a decade in preparation, the American National Biography is the first biographical resource of this scope to be published in more than sixty years.

Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only American history articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Image credit: Earhart and “old Bessie” Vega 5b c. 1935. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The post Charting Amelia Earhart’s first transatlantic solo flight appeared first on OUPblog.

        

Related Stories

• Unknown facts about five great Hollywood directors
• Photography and social change in the Central American civil wars
• Ricky Swallow, Grove Art Online

 

When adults go exploring, they often consult a map, travel manual or visitor’s guide.

Now, when young beachcombers in your life go looking for mermaids, they’ll have a resource all their own.

It’s The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Mermaids (Tanglewood Press, 2012) by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Marie Letourneau.

This picture book provides all the clues small seafarers will need to increase their odds of finding an elusive mermaid.

Today’s guest reviewer loves to visit the beach — as you can see in the photo above – and would very much like to meet a mermaid one day.

Here’s what she had to say about this book.

Our reviewer: Amelia

Age: 4

Things I like to do: Play with my brothers, color and do projects.

This book was about: Mermaids that like to play hide and seek. They hide from people, but they also help the people find them.

The best part was when: When the little girl finds the mermaids.

I smiled when: When the mermaids primped and styled themselves.

I was surprised when: I was surprised by all of it.

This book taught me: Mermaids are real, and they live in the ocean. Daddy and me are going to find some next time we go to the ocean.

Three words that best describe this book are: I don’t know what describe means.

My favorite line or phrase in this book is: Magic!

My favorite picture in this book is: Mermaids playing in the coral with sea horses.

Other kids reading this book should watch for: Another kid trying to steal it, because everyone is going to want to have it.

You should read this book because: I love this book, and we’re going to read it tomorrow at bedtime too. Mommy is going to love it too.

Thank you, Amelia!

If this book is popular at your house, you’ll also want to find its predecessor, The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies from 2010. 

If you’d like to learn more about Ammi-Joan Paquette, you can visit her website. You also can read this review of her book for older readers, Nowhere Girl.

If you’d like to learn more about Marie Letourneau, you can visit her website.

Have fun searching. And when you find a mermaid, take its picture and send it to me. Maybe I can post it on this blog!

Ameila and her grandma spent the whole morning creating sugary pettifours. They were having a lot of company for a special luncheon.