Amelia Earhart

Overview

Amelia Earhart was a pioneering American aviator famous for her numerous flight records, including being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. Earhart disappeared in 1937 over the central Pacific Ocean during an attempted circumnavigation of the globe, a mystery that continues to this day. Join Active Minds as we explore the life of this remarkable woman.

Key Lecture Points

  • Born in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, Amelia Earhart would only live 40 years but would leave a lasting legacy.  Although she was born into economic advantage with money coming from her mother’s side, her family life as a child was turbulent, with her mother leaving her father at multiple times.  Her early education put her on a path toward nursing.
  • In 1920, at the age of 23, after her father paid for her to take a brief airplane flight, Amelia’s life shifted toward aviation. One month after her first flight, Amelia would undertake flying lessons.  Within the year, she acquired her pilot’s license and a plane to utilize it.  Although her parents’ financial and marital strain would delay her “takeoff”, Earhart would be launched into fame and fortune in 1928 when she would be selected as a part of a crew of 3 to fly across the Atlantic.
  • With the support of her publicist George Putnam (whom she would later marry), Earhart would leverage her global fame to help finance her passion for adventure in aviation.  In 1932, she would become the first woman (and second person, after Charles Lindbergh) to fly solo across the Atlantic for which was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
  • Earhart’s fame would go beyond aviation, as well.  She would write for magazines, including National Geographic, would partner with businesses to create a line of women’s clothing and luggage and become a member of the faculty of Purdue University.  And throughout, she would advocate for the rights and economic opportunities of women.
  • As she approached her 40th year, Earhart undertook what even she knew ahead of time was likely her last big aviation effort: a circumnavigation.  With the support of Purdue, she acquired a new plane that she hoped to take her around the world.  After one failed attempt, she began again in the summer of 1937. 
  • On July 2, 1937 Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan took off from New Guinea for longest and most perilous leg of the journey, a 2600 mile flight to Howland Island, a tiny speck in the middle of the Pacific.  Although there was spotty radio communication between the plane and the island, Earhart and Noonan would not reach the island.  Notwithstanding an extensive search, the plane would never be found, a mystery that has endured for nearly a century.
  • In 2025, Purdue University announced an effort to locate Earhart’s aircraft. The team plans to search a lagoon on the island of Nikumaroro about 350 miles from the intended landing point of 1937.

Discussion Questions

  • What do you view as the most lasting legacy of the life of Amelia Earhart?
  • In what ways was Amelia Earhart a reflection of a changing society in the early 20th Century?
  • Imagine the conversation between Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt when they flew from Washington to Baltimore and back after a White House reception.  What do you think they talked about?

More to Explore

Books For Further Reading

  • Butler, Susan.  East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart. 2009. Grand Central Publishing. 520 pages. Based on a decade of archival research through Earhart's letters, journals, and diaries, and drawing on interviews with the aviator's friends and relatives, East to the Dawn provides the most authoritative and richly textured account of both Earhart's record-setting aviation career and her personal life.
  • Earhart, Amelia. The Fun of It. 2006. Academy Chicago Publishers. 219 pages.
    “The Fun of It” is the second of three books written by or attributed to Amelia Earhart. In this 1932 memoir, Earhart recalls how she became interested in being an aviator, talks about other ground-breaking female flyers of her time, and recounts her famous 1928 trans-Atlantic flight.
  • O’Brien, Keith. Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History. 2019. Mariner Books. 352 pages. In the 1920s and '30s, many people believed that women had no business flying in the hugely popular air races. Meet the five women that refused to listen…