AMELIA EARHART
February 2, 1934

The first aviatrix to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928, Amelia Earhart, arrived in Richmond to promote not flying, but women’s fashion design. On the third floor dress department of Thalhimers, then Richmond’s largest department store, Earhart publicized her own dress line that incorporated decorative plane elements, like a seatbelt belt.

Earhart also wanted to bring attention to gender inequity in the aviation industry. During her Thalhimers’ presentation, Earhart spoke adamantly about the lack of equal rights between men and women. Her visit came 14 years after Virginia women gained the right to vote though the 19th Amendment. But it was not until 1952 that the General Assembly of Virginia adopted the amendment. As reported by the Richmond Times Dispatch, Earhart exclaimed “Women have to do so many things that men have done just to prove that they can!”

Amelia Earhart, 1928, Courtesy of the Library of Congress; Thalhimer’s Ad, November 14, 1939, Courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society