Her Mentor was an Albatross (Women in Aviation)

Who is Harriet Quimby and what did she do? There is little mention of Harriet Quimby in history books, and those references are sketchy and inconclusive. Quimby was an accomplished journalist, the first American woman to earn her pilot’s license, the first to fly a monoplane, the first woman in the world to make a night flight, and to fly the English Channel. She earned acclaim from some people and ridicule from others. She broke social norms and did things women in the early 1900s were not supposed to do. She was a fearless, independent young woman who had self confidence, beauty, ambition, personality and brains.Harriet Quimby drove an automobile, used a camera, a typewriter and flew an airplane. Any of these individually would have been a problem for Victorian men, but all of these accomplishments rolled into one woman were impossible for most men to deal with. Quimby asserted her rights and encouraged other women to do the same. Any actions of an independent woman like Quimby whether or not associated with the growing Suffrage Movement were looked upon as “giving too much freedom to women.” Men raised the question, “Where will it end?” Well we know it never “ended” and the fight for equality continues today.