OPINION: Amelia Earhart is more than her disappearance

Everyone and their mother knows about Amelia Earhart. She was that one lady that almost flew around the world and mysteriously disappeared into the sea, right? Maybe you’ve joked about how she became a tasty meal for some coconut crabs.

But who was she, really? We tend to overlook important female figures, slowly forgetting about their impact on our lives today. Amelia Earhart’s disappearance was only back in 1937, yet many of us don’t know much about her and her impact at all.

Amelia Earhart was best known for her accomplishment of being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. This is where the line is usually drawn in our knowledge. I recently came across a video about how there was a new possible discovery about Amelia Earhart’s strange disappearance and presumed death, which inspired me to dig a little deeper about her as a person.

First off, as many of us did not know, Earhart was not the only one aboard her aircraft at the time of the crash. She was accompanied by navigator Fred Noonan. Earhart was also 39 years old at the time that she was aboard her last flight, dying just before her 40th birthday.

While her most popular accomplishment is a great feat, Earhart was more impressive than any of us even know. She attended Columbia University through its pre-med program before deciding to become an aviator.

Earhart also published multiple books throughout her career. Some titles include “20 Hrs. 40 Min: Our Flight in the Friendship,” “The Fun of It” and “Last Flight.” These books included content about Earhart’s flights, giving us a glimpse into her personality and interest in flying throughout her lifetime.

But Earhart wasn’t just some aviator or author; in her time as a pilot, she broke gender barriers. Although she was married to George Palmer Putnam, she kept her last name and chose to keep her occupation as an aviator, even in marriage. This was not completely unheard of during the time frame but was still frowned upon as women were still expected to be housewives.

Not only that, one of Earhart’s longest-lasting impacts ended up being the club she founded in 1929 called the Ninety-Nines, which is still around today. This club works to educate about and promote women in aviation.

As for her death, there have been many theories surrounding what happened to Earhart on her last flight over the years. The most popular is the idea that Earhart’s plane just happened to crash and sink, but we don’t know the true story. Some others believe Earhart made it to land and was eaten alive by the coconut crabs that inhabit the area.

There are even some theories as wild as the idea that Earhart was captured as a spy by the Japanese or that she survived and chose to live as an anonymous individual someplace. I believe that these are pretty absurd and unlikely considering the type of person Earhart was, alongside the severity of the situation.

In 2018, we received one true lead on the case. Human bones were discovered on Nikumaroro in 1940, which directly correlates with the general area in which Earhart would have crashed back in 1937. At the time, the study of bones was not yet a well-developed system, and the remains were assumed to be a male’s and were promptly discarded.

Years later, the bones were re-evaluated using more advanced systems and proved to have a 99% similarity to that of Amelia Earheart’s make-up. However, the bones are nowhere to be found as they were discarded years ago.

Many people have speculated about what happened to Earhart, and many have posted and spoken about the issue online for years past.

In saying this, I believe it’s upsetting that Amelia Earhart ended up becoming more of a point of interest in death rather than life and all of her accomplishments throughout her time with us.

Earhart was not only inspiring to aviators, but also laid down the basis for women’s rights today.

This Women’s History Month, try to make an effort to appreciate and reminisce on important female figures who came before you. Explore sites such as ​​Women in the National Archives and other similar resources. Not just to learn about Amelia Earhart, but so many other women who deserve to be talked about as well.