Amelia Earhart

Born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas, Amelia Mary Earhart was a record-setting aviator, an author, and a businesswoman.

• Shortly after learning to fly in 1921, she set the woman's world altitude record, and she continued to set aviation records throughout her life.
• In 1928, as a member of a three-person crew, she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an aircraft.
• She was a founding member of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots, and she became its first president in 1931.
• In 1932, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
• On June 1, 1937, Earhart set off eastward from Miami, Florida, planning to become the first woman to fly around the world. She and navigator Fred Noonan covered more than 22,000 miles and were last seen on the morning of July 2 when they left Papua New Guinea for Howland Island.
• A weeks-long search began immediately after her disappearance but ended fruitlessly, and Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939.
• The statue depicts Earhart at about 30 years old, when she had already written her first book and was moving into the peak of her flying career