My beef with Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart is one of the world’s most celebrated aviators. She is probably the most famous female pilot. Born Kansas in the US, she even dominates teaching resources in British classrooms. But Amelia Earhart needs to back off, because there was a British aviatrix who far exceeded her achievements.
Amy Johnson was born in 1903 in Yorkshire. She was part of the 1920s aviation craze that saw women take to the skies. But she was different from the rest. Most early female pilots were from aristocratic backgrounds, as you needed quite a bit of money to fly. Amy was the daughter of a fish merchant from Hull. She was also different because she was better than the rest.
In 1930, Amy became the first person to fly solo from London to Darwin, Australia. Two years later she broke another record by flying solo from London to Cape Town, South Africa. Let’s compare that to Amelia Earhart …
In 1932, Amelia flew solo across the Atlantic. That’s amazing, but Amy flew 9000 miles further, two years earlier. So why is her story not being taught in British classrooms?
I have thought a lot about this, and come up with a few theories.
Social class: Amy certainly suffered from class prejudice within Britain. But social class is less rigid in the US, and Amelia’s background was not that different.
Unusual death: A lot has been made of the way Amelia died. She went missing, her body and plane wreckage never found. However death in the air was not unusual during the early aviation period. Flying was incredibly dangerous back then. Amy too would loose her life in her plane. There was also some mystery around her death, with suggestions she was shot down by friendly fire during WW2.
With those ideas dismissed I settled on US cultural imperialism. Women’s history is marginalised; it’s retelling often muddled. So it is more susceptible to a US take over. But this is not ok. British school girls need to have British role models. They need to know about the women from their communities whose shoulders they stand on.
So well done Amelia, but stay in your lane!
And a message for British educators: give Amy the credit she deserves and teach her amazing story to our children
