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Harriet Quimby
By Taylor Lass, 6th Grade, Beer Middle School |
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The year I was born, my grandparents bought a summer cottage in northern Michigan in a little town called Onekama. I've been there many times, but when I was seven, my family and I passed a landmark in Arcadia, Michigan in front of a farmhouse. I learned that the landmark had been where Harriet Quimby was born on May 11, 1875. She was the first female to earn a pilot's license in the United States in the year 1911. Less than a year later, on April 16, 1912, she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Quimby took off from Dover, England to Calais, France and made the flight in only 59 minutes! Sadly, her accomplishment did not get much attention since the Titanic had just sunk the day before on April 15th. Before becoming a pilot, Harriet Quimby was a journalist in the early 1900s working as a theatre critic. Over 250 of her articles were published in a nine year period. She also authored five screenplays made into silent short films by Biograph Studios. She became interested in flying in 1910 when she went to the Belmont Park International Aviation Tournament and met a well known aviator. On July 1, 1912, Harriet flew in the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet in Squantum Massachusetts. Unexpectedly, Harriet Quimby died in a plane accident that day when she was ejected from the plane when it pitched forward for reasons still unknown. Harriet Quimby inspires me because she was the first woman to get her pilot's license and in such hard times for women. She was brave enough to stand up for women and succeed in everything that she did before she died at the young age of 37. In 1991, a United States airmail postage stamp featured Quimby for remembrance of her accomplishments. |
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April 7, 2009 |
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To Contact Congressman Levin: -
Email Congressman Levin In Michigan: 27085 Gratiot Ave, Roseville, MI 48066 | (586) 498-7122 | (248) 968-2025
In Washington: 1236 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 | (202) 225-4961
