Amelia Earhart: Pioneering Aviator and Force for Women's Rights

Amelia Earhart: Pioneering Aviator and Force for Women's Rights — page 5
Women tAke Flight By the time Amelia Earhart took to the skies women had been flying for more than 100 years Two different French women are credited with being the first female to pilot an aircraft Was it Jeanne Garnerin or Sophie Blanchard Both piloted hot air balloons in France in the early 1800s and both have other claims to aviation fame Jeanne was the first woman to make a parachute jump 1799 and Sophie was the first woman to earn her living as an aviator She was also the first woman in history to be killed in an aviation accident In 1819 her balloon caught fire and crashed and Sophie fell to her death In this illustration from a Parisian fashion magazine published in the 1870s French balloonist Jeanne Garnerin is shown rising above a crowd of spectators in a hot air balloon in March 1802 Several years earlier Jeanne had become the first female to ascend in a balloon without a male pilot The death of French balloonist Sophie Blanchard is shown in one of a series of trading cards that depicted events in ballooning and parachuting in the 1800s 88