May 20, 1932 - Amelia Earhart

Human Rights a Day

Amelia Earhart begins solo flight across the Atlantic.Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, later moving to California. Six months after her first flying lesson she bought her first plane. Just seven years later, on June 17, 1928, Earhart, Bill Stultz and Slim Gordon became the first to fly across the Atlantic, leaving Newfoundland and arriving in Wales 21 hours later. Earhart married one of the flight’s supporters, publisher George Putnam. Together, the couple secretly planned for Earhart’s solo crossing of the Atlantic. So it was on May 20, 1932, Earhart launched from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, aimed for Paris, France. Due to bad weather and mechanical problems she landed in a farmer’s field near Londonderry, Ireland, and her effort won her international admiration and awards. Earhart secured many other flying firsts and just prior to her 40th birthday, she made plans for a 29,000-mile trip around the world with navigator Fred Noonan. On June 1, 1937, they left Miami heading east, and by June 29th, had made Lae, New Guinea, en route to California. Their next scheduled stop was Howland Island, 2,556 miles away and only 1.5 miles long, situated between Australia and Hawaii. Although U.S. Coast Guard officials stationed on the island were in radio contact with Earhart and Noonan, the two never made it. The American Navy searched 250,000 miles of ocean at a cost of $4 million, but found no trace of the plane. Her grieving husband opened a letter she’d written in the event of her death. It read in part, “I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”