Amelia Earhart Honored As Statue In US Capitol For Paving The Way In Aviation
When Amelia Earhart took to the skies, many did not believe she could accomplish a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Now, after years of inspiring women and young girls around the world to fly high, the US Congress is honoring her in the form of a statue in the US Capitol.
Earhart’s bronze statue will stand among other notable Kansas citizens, such as President Dwight Eisenhower, in the National Statuary Hall Collection. She will be the 11th woman to receive a statue in the hall—closely following the Mary McLeod Bethune sculpture this month—where each state is represented by two of its most iconic pioneers. Earhart’s likeness will take the place of Kansas Senator John James Ingalls.
In 1999, the Kansas legislature voted to replace its previous statues with ones of President Eisenhower and Earhart. The president’s statue arrived in 2003, where it has been left there since, but Earhart’s effigy could only be made after the Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation raised enough money to fund the statue.
According to the Washington Post, Mark and George Lundeen were the sculptors behind the statue, which reportedly cost US$175,000 to produce.
Earhart’s bronze model depicts in the most memorable image of her with one hand in the pocket of her brown leather bomber jacket as the wind ruffled her short hair and scarf. Her head is tilted downwards, locking eyes with the observer.
Today in the U.S Capitol building, a statue of Amelia Earhart was unveiled. There are 100 statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection, and she is the 12th woman honored.
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) July 27, 2022
Earhart was the 1st woman pilot to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. #RememberHerName pic.twitter.com/u6BZEPnY4R
Earhart was the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for her outstanding work in the aviation world. US representative Sharice Davids, also from Kansas, praises Earhart as the reason women are respected as pilots and for making the gender gap smaller.
Earhart wasn’t just known for her aviation skills, but she was also an advocate for equal rights, an army nurse, a poet, and a best-selling author.
However, her story has a tragic ending as a flight she was taking around the Earth’s equator disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. She and her navigator Fred Noonan were never seen again.
[via The Washington Post and TODAY, cover image via United States House of Representatives Special Events]
