"Triumph and Tragedy" Disaster

This years NHD theme is “Triumph and Tragedy”. Tragedy, meaning a disaster or mishap, and triumph meaning a great victory or achievement. I chose to do Amelia Earhart this year because she wasn’t just known for being one of the first woman to fly an airplane, but because she also gave encouragement to young women to follow their dreams. Amelia Earhart is one of the most influential idols in the 20th century. She was a pioneering female, supported women’s right, and through all of this she had been determined and independent.

From her countless awards for setting records to being the first to do what she did leading to her mysterious disappearance in 1937.

Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. When she was twelve her and her sister, Muriel, moved to Iowa where her parents lived, until then she lived with their grandparents. She was at a state fair one day and that is where she saw her first impression of a plane.

You would think it would would have been ‘love at first sight’ but actually she was to impressed with airplanes quite yet. The main people in Amelia Earhart’s life are George P. Putnam, Fred Noonan, and Eleanor Roosevelt. George P. Putnam was her husband and almost like a manger of some sort. He would publish her writings, make meetings, and schedule important dates for Amelia. Fred Noonan was Amelia’s navigator for their big flight across the Pacific Ocean. Eleanor Roosevelt was the first lady at the time.

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Both Eleanor and Amelia had a strong passion about women and world peace movements.

One day, Amelia took Eleanor on a night flight. After that, Eleanor took Amelia all around town in her own car. On May 20th, 1932, Amelia became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo. On May 22nd, 1932, she made an appearance in London. Her flights established her as an international hero. As a result, she won many honors, including the Gold Medal from the National Geographic Society, the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Congress, and the Cross of the Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French government. On June 1st, Earhart and Fred Noonan, her navigator, left Miami and began their 29,000-mile journey. By June 29th, when they landed in Lae, New Guinea, all but 7,000 miles had been completed.

Constantly inaccurate maps had made navigation difficult for Noonan, and their next hop was to Howland, Island. This was by far the most challenging. Located 2,556 miles from Lae in the mid-Pacific, Howland, Island is a mile and a half long and a half-mile wide. In 1937, Amelia and Fred set off to go around the world! Unfortunately, while on that trip more than two-thirds on the way there, their plane suddenly disappeared. President Franklin D. Roosevelt required a massive two-week search for the pair, but they were never found. On July 19, 1937, Earhart and Noonan were pronounced lost at sea. Amelia encouraged so many young women to be different from society’s expectations. She set so many records and inspired so many lives. Her story may have ended in a tragedy, but her legacy will always remain a triumph.