Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
In 1978, Jill E. Brown made aviation history as the first African American woman to become a pilot for a major U.S. passenger airline. She was born in Baltimore in 1950. Her family owned a farm in West Virginia and, by the time she was nine, Brown had begun operating a tractor there and performing... Continue Reading →
While she ultimately became a world-renowned etiquette maven, Emily Post (1872-1960) was also a female automotive pioneer who firmly established herself as a formidable travel journalist. The zenith of this part of the Baltimore-born Post’s writing career was arguably her participation in an automobile journey from New York City to San Francisco in 1915. This... Continue Reading →
Laurel van der Wal was a mechanical and aeronautical engineer who made key contributions to the research of both human space flight and more earthbound transportation challenges. She was born to Lillian and Richard van der Wal in San Francisco on September 22, 1924. Laurel van der Wal was only 15 when she graduated from... Continue Reading →
For two decades, Sally Snowman served as the keeper of Boston Light on Little Brewster Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor. When she retired from the position on December 30, 2023, Snowman – 72 years old at the time – had the distinction of being the last official lighthouse keeper in the United States.... Continue Reading →
Jeanine Menze made U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) history as that uniformed service’s first black female aviator. She was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She and her family eventually moved to Canada and then relocated to Florida. In 1997, Menze graduated from Miami Killian High School in the Sunshine State’s community of Kendall. Menze subsequently studied at... Continue Reading →
Throughout much of World War II, Sadie Carrie Owney Horton worked for the U.S. Merchant Marine on a barge (a flat-bottomed boat used for transporting freight) that operated along the eastern coasts of the United States and Canada. Horton’s service ultimately earned her the distinction of being the first documented female to serve on a... Continue Reading →
Aviation pioneer Phoebe Jane Fairgrave Omlie was born on November 21, 1902, in Des Moines, Iowa. When Omlie was 12 years old, she and her family moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her lifelong interest in aviation started the day before she graduated from Mechanic Arts High School in Minnesota’s capital city in 1920. This was when... Continue Reading →
Kayla Barron, whose passion for exploration has motivated her to both travel beneath the sea and fly into space, was born on September 19, 1987, in the city of Pocatello, Idaho. Her family eventually moved from the Gem State to the city of Richland, Washington. After graduating from Richland High School in 2006, Barron entered... Continue Reading →
Maria E. Beasley (c. 1836-1913), a pioneering female inventor who was born in North Carolina, is best known for creating machines and other industrial processes for the more efficient production of barrels. She also obtained patents for various other types of inventions, however, and some of those patents involved key improvements to transportation safety. ... Continue Reading →
Aviation pioneer and Olympic athlete Iris Cummings, who is also known by married name Iris Critchell, was on December 21, 1920, in Los Angeles. She attended the 1932 Summer Olympics in that city and shortly thereafter began swimming competitively. Cummings went on to win a large number of local and regional tournaments in this sport.... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 