Today in History: Amelia Earhart Flies Solo Across the U.S.

But when you are young you are apt to make important decisions for reasons that seem later on quite superficial. And I decided against medicine in just this way, hearkening to the pleadings of my mother and father, leaving Columbia and going to California.

-Amelia Earhart,  from "Aviation and I Get Together", The Fun of It.

On August 24th, 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first female aviator to successfully fly solo from coast to coast in the United States. Her 19-hour nonstop flight began in Los Angeles, California and ended in Newark, New Jersey, adding to her list of aviation achievements which started with the woman's world altitude record of 14,000 feet in 1922 and concluded with being the first person to fly solo from from the Red Sea to Karachi in 1937.  She was also the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo and the first person to fly the Atlantic twice in 1932.

Amelia Earhart (born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; pronounced  dead January 5, 1937) briefly became a student at Columbia University where she took courses in medicine and other subjects before deciding to rejoin her family, newly moved to California. There she pursued her interests in flying and gained a pilot's license in 1923, becoming the  16th woman in the United States to be so credentialed.

Amelia Earhart's disappearance in July 1937 has never been resolved. On a world flight that would mark the culmination of her career in aeronautics, her plane, Electra, from Lae Airfield in Honolulu never made it to Howland Island, a distance of 2,556 miles and is believed to have run out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific.

Amelia Earhart has been the inspirational subject of many books, including those for the social studies curriculum, as she represented a pioneering aviator and women's rights advocate with a daring spirit and dauntless courage.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• Amelia Earhart Toasted by British Journalists. (1932, May 24). Los Angeles Times (1923-1995) 
• Amelia Hops from Coast: Leaves Los Angeles on Flight to Newark to Be the First Woman Solo Flyer to Cross Non-Stop.  (1932, Jul 13). Daily Boston Globe (1928-1960) 
• de Lapp, T. (1932, Jul 17). Amelia Earhart Relates How She Felt During Long, Silent Hours of Her Ocean Flight: Fear Totally Absent on Trip. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995) 
• Earhart Ocean Hop Grips Imagination: Piccard's Ascent to 53,152 Feet Among Highlights of Aviation Year.  (1933, ). The Washington Post (1923-1954) 
• Allen, C. B. (1937, Feb 21). Amelia Earhart Prepares to Gird the Earth at Its Waistline. The Hartford Courant (1923-) 
• Amelia Earhart, a Chicagoan Who Flew to Glory: Daring Puts Her at Top Among Women Pilots.  (1937, Jul 04). Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963) 
• Lilliston, L. (1969, Jun 26). Amelia Earhart Exhibit: The Memorabilia of a Mystery. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995) 
• Hillinger, C. (1986, Oct 12). Amelia Earhart's Legacies Fly High: Memories of Famous Flier Live on in Kansas Hometown. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995) 
• Dean, P. (1987, Jun 28). A New Theory on Amelia Earhart: 50 Years After Disappearance, Experts Puzzle over Flyer's Fate. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995) 
• Flanagan, M. (1987, Jul 05). Amelia Earhart: Mystery Still Clouds Soaring Achievements. Chicago Tribune (1963-1996) 

Tips:

• Blair, Margaret Whitman. The Roaring 20 : The First Cross-Country Air Race for Women. National Geographic, 2006. Curriculum ; GV759.2.P74 B53 2006.
• Earhart, Amelia. 20 Hrs. 40 Mins.; Our Flight in the Friendship / The American Girl, First across the Atlantic by Air, Tells Her Story. G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1928. e-book.
• Earhart, Amelia. The Fun of It.  Chicago, IL : Academy Chicago Publishers. 1977. e-book.
• Ferris, Helen Josephine, et al. Five Girls Who Dared : The Girlhood Stories of Five Courageous Girls as Told by Themselves. Macmillan Company, 1931. Closed Stacks Curr ; CT3205 .F38 1931.
• Fleming, Candace. Amelia Lost : The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011.  Curriculum ; TL540.E3 F58 2011.
• O’Brien, Keith. Fly Girls : How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History. Young readers’ edition., Houghton Mifflin, 2019.  Curriculum ; TL539 .O27 2019b.
• Puzin, Kris, comp. Amelia Earhart: A Resource Guide. Library of Congress LibGuide. Originally compiled by Kathryn Funk, The Catholic University of America, Fall 2009 SLIS MSLS Practicum.
• Smith, Chari R. Extraordinary Women from U.S. History : Readers Theatre for Grades 4-8. Teacher Ideas Press, 2003.  Curriculum ; PS3619.M555 E35 2003.

Images:

• Amelia Earhart, 8c Airmail, 1963 Issue, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
• Poster Image: Amelia Earhart in Airplane, Courtesy of Library of Congress.