Beyond Legend: The Life of Amelia Earhart

by

Jennifer Egiziaco

Submitted to the School of Liberal Studies and Continuing Education

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies

Purchase College

State University of New York

May 2016

Instructor: Judith Dupré

Egiziaco 1

Jennifer Egiziaco Professor Judith Dupré CAP 4800 May 1, 2016

Beyond Legend: The life of Amelia Earhart

When you walk onto an airplane do you ever think that you rarely see a female pilot fly

the plane to your destination safely? I saw a female pilot once, for the first time, on my last

flight to Florida and she was the co-pilot. We as females have come a long way.

Amelia Earhart, who paved the way for the acceptance of female aviators, was born on

July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. Her greatest accomplishment was in 1932 when she became

the first person to cross the Atlantic twice. She gave hope to the American people, to look

forward, to the underdog story.

Amelia Earhart was a feminist before that term existed. The future for women like

Amelia Earhart was limited. At the time women were expected to become a homemaker, a

mother, a secretary or maybe a Hollywood starlet. During this period in America’s history, the

country was going through rough economic times due to the effects of the Spanish-American

War of 1898, World War I and the Great Depression

Earhart was ten years old when she first saw an airplane show with her grandparents.

She was unimpressed by it. It wasn’t until she took a ride in an airplane in her twenties that she

fell in love with airplane flying. For most of her childhood she was a “tomboy” who hunted for

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rats and other small creatures. During most of her childhood she lived with her grandparents

due her father’s inability to hold a job because of alcoholism. (Lovell 16)

In Earhart’s book, The Fun of It, she wrote about asking her parents to help to pay for

the flying lessons when she found out the cost would be about a thousand dollars. (24) A

thousand dollars, still a large amount for the average American today, was especially so in the

1920’s, when the average salary was $1,159 a year (Manly 5). The economic and social

challenges were factors that Earhart had to overcome in the 1920’s.

When Earhart told her parents that she wanted to fly a plane they wanted to be

supportive of her. At first her father didn’t believe her and asked, “You really weren’t serious,

were you? I thought you were just wishing. I can’t afford to let you have instruction” (Fun 25).

With or without her parents support, however, she was determined to fly an airplane. At one

time Earhart took a lesson with Frank Hawks, who held the record for being the fastest airman

in the world. This lesson was a turning point, fanning her desire to obtain her pilots license.

(Fun 25)

Before Earhart could cross the Atlantic by airplane as a passenger in 1928, she had to

raise the funds. She did this by performing public lectures and writing aviation columns for

Cosmopolitan Magazine, endorsing automobiles and other products and acted as an advisor to

college students at Purdue University.

“After I had really flown alone, Mother was a good sport enough to help me buy a small

second hand plane” (Fun 27). It was a turning point for Earhart, to show her that at least her

mother supported her and her dreams. Even though she supported Earhart, her mother

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worried about the dangers of flying. Once her father found out about how expensive the costs

of being an inspiring pilot, his support wavered. This lack of support may have had something

to do with his addiction to alcohol.

She supported her mother and her sister and brother-in-law by sending money and

wrote letters to her mother once a week. She wrote to her mother a few time a week, time

permitting. The approval of her lifestyle may not have been approved by her mother. Her

mother might have been upset about Earhart not having a traditional life style as a mother and

housewife. It was also pointed out that her mother may have been jealous of Earhart’s life

because she may have wanted to be independent of her husband and independent after her

husband passed away. Amelia’s mother may have lived vicariously through her daughter’s

accomplishments.

There were rigorous requirements to acquire a pilot’s license and a transport license. In

the 1920’s, “The cost of obtaining a license varies from approximately $300 to a possible out-of-

pocket cost of $4,000 for the transport grade. Of course, all that the schools can give is the

training and supervised solo flights” (Fun 30). The pilot diploma requirements were a written

test, a road test, and tended to be for a physician or lawyer to verify that he was a person who

was thoroughly competent. These requirements were actually to place limits on working class

people, black people or unfit people. The average American was struggling for funds to put

food on their table. Most average American’s could not afford the $300 fee which could be the

equivalent of a few months living expenses. Women were expected to become a housewife, a

mother, a nurse or a secretary, not a pilot. These expectations were the rules for females of

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the time period to be dependent on her father or husband to support them. Most black people

had fewer rights than women of the time. Most black people couldn’t eat at the same

restaurant as white people or go to the same schools. Black people were not allowed to attend

a flying school or take pilot lessons. Earhart was a determined young woman who wanted to

fly. It took a lot of motivation to overcome these obstacles.

When Earhart got a pilot license in 1920, it was the year after women got the right to

vote. Earhart was not the first female aviator, however. Harriet Quimby was the first American

woman to earn a pilot’s license. Quimby accomplished the first woman’s solo flight across the

English Channel in 1912. (Bix 39)

The stereotype of woman still impacted the female pilot regardless of how efficient they

were as pilots. These famous women wanted American’s to “embrace the principles of

feminism, reflecting both awareness and ambivalence about the perceptions of pioneering

women” (Bix 42). American opinions toward female aviators were that women were show

pilots and that the women were not good at being real pilots. “Female aviators resented the

cute nicknames attached to them “as “angels,” “sweethearts of the air” and “power puff pilots”

(Bix 42). The female pilots wanted to have a fair chance to prove they were as good at being

pilots as their male counterparts.

Hermann’s article described Amelia Earhart as a pioneer similar to Charles Lindbergh

and the Wright Brothers. She was before her time. Earhart crossed the Atlantic in 1928, after

Lindbergh. She did it in the years that people never thought of a female as an airplane pilot.

The fact that she was a woman wasn’t enough for her. She flew the airplane more efficiently

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than Lindbergh said Mayor Walker of New York City. Hermann’s article stated the kind of

woman society was looking for as an aviatrix was an ideal female pilot with certain traits of

what a female pilot should or shouldn’t look like. Earhart looked more like Lindbergh when

flying a plane. The young aviation industry was looking for a name rather than a traditional

female pilot. They wanted the first female aviatrix to be well educated and able to efficiently

fly a plane in addition to being physically attractive with ladylike manners and be a member of

English society. The right “girl” turned out to be "a tall, slender, boyish-looking young woman."

She looked like Lindbergh. That is how Amelia Earhart got nicknamed as “Lady Lindy.” The

nickname stuck with Amelia forever.

The constant battle of the sexes was to determine who was the weaker of the two

sexes. Earhart and others like her proved over the years that this does not mean they can’t do

the things that a man can do. These stereotypes implied that a woman was weak minded or

weak in physical appearance. These attributes applied to woman throughout the ages into

modern times. Earhart twisted a hobby into a path for future pioneers like herself.

As for her famous quote, “Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they

fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.” This quote speaks for itself. When people

tell women that they are unable to do something because it can’t be done by a woman, they

should at least try doing it. If one woman fails at a task then a future woman can learn from her

mistake. Future people can learn from the previous mistake which can turn into a lesson.

The Hermann article stated that Earhart was not promoted because of her sex as a

female but did promote her sense of adventure with social obligation. She felt she did not have

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an obligation to females around the world to show that a female could fly an airplane. She

wanted to show that she had great skills as a pilot. It was her personal style that made her

stand out in the crowd, her short hair and wearing pants. The idea of what women wore, of

their appearance and of their attitude was of the greatest importance in society at the time.

When Earhart started her hobby of flying it was the fashion of the 1920’s for women to have

short hair. It wasn’t unusual for woman to have short hair because of the Roaring ‘20’s flapper

and the 1930’s women continued this short hairstyle. Amy Johnson was an Austrian pilot at the

same the time but was not as famous as Earhart. Johnson had short hair as well. It was hard

for them to comb their hair when it looked like a mess due the air pressure. Even famous

fashion designers such as Chanel, Donna Karan, and others, took note of Earhart’s personal

style. (Black 71)

The article stated that Earhart had two sides to her personality. She felt “to be the

American girl" is to be mediocre in the sense of ordinary, middle-class, a girl not a woman, and

above all, white” (Herman 8). She tended to be a feminist or a young female who liked to fly.

Her hobby was to fly but it had two purposes. One purpose was the joy of flying and to put

adventure in her life. The other purpose was purely accidental and that showed her to be a

modern feminist.

To prove society wrong wasn’t Earhart goal. It was merely an obstacle that came with

the territory of being a woman in a boy’s club industry. In spite of the American fascination of

supporting the underdog, women still needed to work as hard as or harder than men. After

Earhart’s flight across the Atlantic in 1928 she was established as a popular icon of 1930’s along

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with females such as the tennis player, Helen Willis, the movie stars, Katherine Hepburn and

Mae West, and the most popular person, Eleanor Roosevelt. These women are role models of

the modern world.

The organization, Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots was

founded on November 2, 1929, was formed to encourage females to be pilots and aviators, to

enter flying schools, not because they were females but because they were interested in flying

airplanes. (Bix 42) In 1930, Earhart was elected as the president of Ninety-Nines. Also, one of

Earhart’s accomplishments that most people do not know about was that she broke the

women’s world record for speed in airplane racing in 1930.

Earhart was engaged to a gentleman named Sam Chapman, an engineer, from

Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1923. The engagement ended in 1928, before she met George

Palmer Putnam. The problem she had with Chapman was that he wouldn’t let her take up

flying because he wanted a more traditional marriage with children and a family. The attraction

to Putnam was that he was emotionally supportive to Earhart’s goals and dreams. Putnam

helped her put herself on the map. They both had common interests such as aviation and

outdoors, books and sports. “We came to depend on each other, yet it was only friendship

between us, or so at least I thought at first. At least I didn’t admit even to myself that I was in

love.” (Lovell 154) Earhart knew that Putnam was the only person who could put up with her.

He was married at the time but that didn’t matter to him. He was known for getting what he

wanted. His belief was, “if you wanted something, you went all out and you got it, letting

nothing stand in your way” (Lovell 155).

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On February 7, 1931, Earhart and Putnam were married in Noank, Connecticut. Before

they were married Amelia Earhart wrote George Putnam a prenuptial letter to her future

husband. In figure 1, in the book entitled The

Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell, it is said that

Amelia Earhart said in a prenuptial letter to George

Putnam, “On our life together I want you to

understand I shall not hold you to any medieval

code of faithfulness to me, or shall I consider myself

bound to you similarly.” The most important thing

that was referred to in the letter was how

important her flying was to her. “Please let us not

interfere with the others’ work or play, nor let the

world see our private joys or disagreements.”

(Lovell 166) Earhart was afraid of commitment

because she saw that her parents had a difficult marriage and she didn’t want that kind of life

for herself. She felt the marriage needs to hold a mutual respect from each other. In a 1932

interview when Earhart was asked about her husband, she said that she was proud of him and

that he was a good sport about her flying. (Lovell 188)

Earhart wanted independence in her life and with financial matters. However, she was

indeed dependent on Putnam for financial support. Putnam financially sponsored Earhart

through her career starting with her 1928 solo flight across the Atlantic. (Wandersee 142)

Earhart and Putnam agreed not to have children in order for Earhart to advance in her career.

Figure 1: Earhart's pre-nuptial to Putnam on wedding day from February 7, 1932. Mary S. Lovell. "The Sound of Wings." New York, NY. St. Martin's Press, 1989.

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Putnam had children from his previous marriage. Earhart was historically important to popular

culture because of the advancement in the aviation industry. She was also instrumental in the

emergence of the individualistic liberal feminism movement. Earhart was thought to be a

selfish individual who insisted on her way or the highway. She also supported the liberal

policies of the New Deal that were part of President Roosevelt’s plan. She wanted to help all

American women, to be part of their life, especially in aviation. . (Wandersee 143)

Earhart believed that women were flying for their children and their children’s children.

The purpose was for future generations to understand that a woman can fly a plane as well as

any man can. Earhart believed in teaching young people to fly and doing it safely. These

women wanted to change the role of women in society but it was not welcome in society. A

woman can be a mother, a wife and a pilot. A woman can have a career and be a housewife

too. She can have both worlds. These female pilots made these sacrifices for future

generations to be able to be accepted. These women made sacrifices so little girls of the future

can be anything they wanted to be, a housewife or a pilot. Every pilot should be able to feel the

excitement of freedom and the power of flying without having to overcome the sex

discrimination that these women had to endure. (Bix 42)

Earhart decided to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in May 1932.

She became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and the first person doing it twice. In

her book called The Fun of It, Earhart recalled that the reason that she did this mission was for

self-justification, to prove to herself and to anyone else who was interested, that a women with

adequate experience could do it. (Fun 188)

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A few months after the 1932 flight Earhart was invited to The White House by President

Hoover. At the dinner she received the Society’s Special Gold Medal which had previously been

awarded to only eight pilots. The next day she received the Distinguished Flying Cross. She was

the first woman to receive the award.

In Figure 2 Earhart and Roosevelt were on President Roosevelt’s airplane after dinner

with the President and First lady. At this occasion Earhart is

wearing a dress which was a rarity. On April 30, 1933 Earhart

and Eleanor Roosevelt took a flight from Washington, D.C., to

Baltimore, Maryland, and back to Washington, D.C., after a

White House dinner to celebrate Earhart‘s accomplishment of

flying solo across the Atlantic. They both admired each other’s

achievements for women. Eleanor Roosevelt applied for a

student pilot license and was allowed to briefly take the

controls during that flight.

In 1935, Earhart also made a solo flight from Hawaii to Oakland, California, becoming

the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland. The public called the fight the

“great hope.” There were 2,000 people to greet her at the Burbank Airport. It showed how

popular Earhart had become and how much the public respected her. It took twenty–four

hours to complete the mission. (Letter 189)

On September 4, 1936 there was a flying competition called The Bendix Trophy Race. “It

was the start of the coast to coast Bendix Trophy Race,” and the “most important of all air

Fig

Figure 2 Earhart and Roosevelt on Roosevelt’s

airplane after dinner with the President and First Lady 30 April 1933. Mary S. Lovell. "The Sound of

Wings." New York, NY. St. Martin's press. 1989

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races.” (Corn 556) The race took sixteen hours. The first place winner was Louise Thaden and

Blanche Noyes, who flew together. The second place winner was a solo pilot named Laura

Ingalls. Then there were two men that came in third and fourth place. The fifth place was

Amelia Earhart and Helen Richhey. “Women of three places out of five. Outstanding, yes, but

not unusual” (Corn 556).

Earhart played an important part in the development of aviation. She sold airplanes,

piloted aircraft on publicity tours for manufacturers and did promotions for airlines. “She made

solo flights across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and as the ‘Lady Lindbergh’ of her time,

was the best known of the aviatrixes” (Corn 557). Many women pilots of Earhart’s generation

found opportunities because there was little place for women in the railroad and automobile

industries. During the Earhart era the two words “female and flight” conjured the idea of a

stewardess rather than a pilot. The female pilot made the attraction of aviation or airplane a

reliable or practical means of transporting people and goods over great distances from place to

place. The airplane was no longer considered as unless as a toy to the American people after

the Wright Brother invented it in 1903.

When these female pilots entered race competitions, such as the 1936 Bendix Race, the

women won the competition. Women won in at least six categories of the race. It caused a

great stir and the public refused to give these women the credit they deserved. “The public

simply didn’t have confidence in women fliers,” noted Louise Thaden, ‘not without bitterness”

(Corn 563). There were many female pilots who spoke out against their fellow pilots. “Ruth

Nichols, for instance, claimed women had no more place in an airliner cockpit than they do” as

sea captains or truck drivers” (Corn 563).

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The Public remained deeply skeptical about flight. In great numbers people refused to

fly, though in the abstract they were enthusiastic about airplanes or “air minded, put in

contemporary parlance“ (Corn 558). “Many people would go up in an airplane, ran a popular

joke, “only as long as they could keep one foot firmly on the ground.” People were anxious

about height and afraid that the plane would go down. People remembered that decades ago

the planes were made of wood, wire and cloth which made them fragile and often would kill all

their occupants. The public thought of fliers as “birdmen,” a phrase that became popular in the

early 1900’s and 1910’s. The popular thought was that pilots had an extraordinary combination

of active energy, courage, decision of purpose, a quick eye and clearness of judgment, the

utmost presence of mind and great psychical dexterity, the quality that a bird would have.

In 1937 Earhart and Frank Noonan took off from Oakland, California, on

the first leg of their flight to travel around the world, traveling westward. Earhart went missing

on July 2, 1937. She was declared dead on January 9, 1939.

Her legacy has prevailed for years to come. Earhart was a feminist and a female who

loved to fly a plane and a person who liked to be by herself. Earhart was a person who broke

barriers and made new ones, a role model for us all.

There are a lot of myths and rumors about Earhart’s sexuality and to the authenticity of

her being missing. The Hermann article questioned Earhart’s sexuality, if she had no sex life or

preferred men or women. Her marriage was considered a modern relationship. Her fashion

preference came into question but if she wore a skirt it could get in the way of her flying a

plane. “The postmodern rewriting de-‘queers’ Amelia by imagining a heterosexual romance,

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the one she never had, perhaps the one the contemporary woman in a dual-career marriage

would like to have, or worse yet, fears she had renounced”(Hermann 6). Earhart didn’t like the

feminist term. She didn’t see herself the way the media portrayed her. Even after being

missing for seventy years, modern bloggers appropriate her personal qualities for their own

personal gain.

In regard to where her airplane went down and her remains, King’s article talks about

aviation pioneers. Earhart and Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937 in the Pacific. King’s

article also mentions that the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR)

hypothesizes that they landed and died on Nikumaroro, then called Gardner Island. Amelia

Earhart’s bones were found on the island by Kiribati and Tuvaluan colonists in 1940.

TIGHAR has done several studies on the disappearance of Earhart and Noonan, which

has been a priority since 1988. They have gathered information from “archival and oral

historical research in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Kiribati, Tuvaluan and

the Solomon Islands, as well as archaeological reach on Nikumaroro, McKean Island, and

Kanton Island in the Phoenix group”(King 310).

The detail was stated, that “TIGHAR recovered parts of two shoes on Nikumaroro which

were identified by a footwear specialist as a woman’s shoe and a man’s shoe” in 199 (King 310).

These Oxford shoes dated from the 1930’s era which is the time that Earhart went missing.

They found several bones that fit a woman of Earhart’s size and height.

There are still several pieces of the puzzle of her missing remains still in question. There

were problems with the original search and subsequent searches for Amelia Earhart because it

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was during the period before DNA came into play. Evaluators have created a hypothesis that

the remains are from Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan but have not been able to arrive at a

definite conclusion without positive proof.

The impact of Earhart’s life has influenced many of us regardless of our gender. People

are still fascinated about her being missing or the way she lived her life. She was a pioneer and

before her time. What we do know is that she was a female who liked to flight and helped to

change the life of American women forever.

Earhart can teach us many of life’s lessons which go beyond her legendary life. She

never changed herself as she got more famous. She remained grounded during her whole

journey. She was the girl next door. She was a tomboy but she helped many people, including

her mother and sister. She showed me that it is important to have a lover and a friend in one

person and a “partner in crime” who will support you and your goals in life. A mutual respect is

the key to any relationship regardless of romance. Don’t let a label define who you are! Don’t

let someone else’s ideas of how we should act and what we should do in your life determine

what is going to make us happy.

Two of my favorite quotes that Earhart said that inspire me the most is, “Never

interrupt someone doing something you said couldn’t be done.” That is something I know too

well. In my personal life I have done things that people told me that I couldn’t do. I love

proving them wrong. Some people may try to stand in your way to prevent you from

accomplishing your goals. The second quote is, “The most effective way to do it is to do it.” I

feel that a person should not worry about how they are accomplishing something as long as

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they are doing it. A person should stop thinking about doing something and put their plan into

action. If the person fails, at least they tried. A successful person is one who is proactive about

an issue. I feel if you put your mind to doing something, you will achieve it.

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Works Cited:

Bix, Amy Sue. "OAH Magazine of History." OAH Magazine of History 24.3 (2010): 39-44. Web. 8

Apr. 2016.

Black, Prudence. "Fashion Takes Flight: Amy Johnson, Schiaparelli And Australian

Modernism." Hecate 1-2 (2009): 57. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

Corn, Joseph J. “Making Flying ‘thinkable’: Women Pilots and the Selling of Aviation, 1927-

1940.” American Quarterly 31.4 (1979): 556–571. Web. 20 March. 2016.

Earhart, Amelia. The Fun of It: Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation.

Chicago, IL: Academy, 1977. Print.

Earhart, Amelia. Letters From Amelia, 1901-1937. Boston, Mass. Beacon Press, 1982.

Herrmann, Anne. “On Amelia Earhart: The Aviatrix as American Dandy.” Michigan Quarterly

Review 39.1 (2000): 76-107. ProQuest. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

King, Thomas F. “Amelia Earhart on Nikumaroro: A Summary of the Evidence.” Pacific Studies

35.3 (2012):305-323. America History and Life. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

Lovell, Mary S. The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart. N.p.: St. Martin's Griffin, 1989.

Print.

Manly, Basil Maxwell. Are Wages Too High? N.p.: Princeton U, 1922. Google Books. People's

Legislative Service, 2010. Web. 08 Apr. 2016.

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Ryan, Pam Munoz., and Brian Selznick. Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride. New York: Scholastic,

1999. Print.

Wandersee, Winifred D. "Breaking Down The Barriers: Three Women Who Led Public Lives."

Journal of Women's History 6.3 (1994): 140-152. Academic Search Alumni Edition. Web.

29 Mar. 2016.