How Amelia Earhart Was a Progressive Poster Girl

¶ … Beyond" Earhart To The Reasons We Hear About Her And Not Of Others I had not heard of the other pilots mentioned in the "Beyond Amelia Earhart" article before reading it. The reason that history classes might overlook them could have something to do with the relationship between the Department of Education and myths that the U.S. government likes to promote about American culture, heritage, and events in the 20th century, both in the pre- and post-War period.

This relationship is similar to the one that Earhart herself cultivated with the various industries and the government propagandists in her day, giving lectures and "endorsing automobiles and other products" -- essentially developing herself into a brand, behind which corporations and industries could get in order to promote and sell their own products and ideas to the American public (Bix, 2010, p. 41).

America has essentially always been a business and people like Amelia Earhart are used to cultivate within the consumer public certain tastes and ideas that are likely to lead to the consumption or embracing of new innovative ideas/products that organizations, manufacturers and marketers seek to promote. In this manner, "aviation" is sold to the public (Corn, 1979). Brand Earhart, as it could be called, was everywhere -- from "designing women's clothing and luggage" to "helping airlines promote travel to female passengers" (Bix, 2010, p.

41) -- she was much like Subway's Jared, who lost so much weight eating Subway or like any celebrity endorser of products and missions, such as Clooney and watches/Darfur. And because American history is so frequently taught from the perspective of the corporate victors, whether it is World War II or the Progressive 20s and 30s (in which Earhart factors significantly), what history students learn in classrooms is what the entities who run America want perpetuated.

If it were not for independent research like that done here by Bix, students would remain ignorant of the finer details and underlying reasons for the stories that we hear and accept without questioning the reason for the being told in the first place.

What it appears is that Earhart was, as Bix notes, the poster girl for the liberalization of American girlhood -- an independent woman who was at the forefront of advancement -- flying across the Atlantic (not really -- as Bix observes -- she was merely a passenger invited along for the ride so as to further advance the cause de celebre, which was progressive womanhood), manufacturing designer clothing, giving erudite lectures at universities, and sponsoring women's advocacy.

Thus, she is remembered in classrooms today because the entities that control government and as an extension classrooms want to keep the poster girl image alive and well in the minds and hearts of young Americans. It is part of the cultural education that the young are given -- the indoctrination that they receive regarding good, liberal, progressive beliefs.

The reality, as Bix points out, is not completely in line with the quick, glib, fashionable history that a story like Earhart's packs, and often contains complex issues such as racism, classism, and sexism. But the Earhart brand does not contain any of this: she is the female pioneer, who is clean, white, and classy -- and she died at an.