Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Photo of Ellen Paneok courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program. Aviation pioneer Ellen Evak Paneok died in Anchorage, Alaska, at the age of 48. She had been born in 1959. (Accounts vary on whether her birthplace was in Alaska or Virginia.) Her parents were Bernice Evak Burgandine, who was of Inupiat... Continue Reading →
Brazilian aviation pioneer Ada Rogato died in São Paulo at the age of 66. Rogato had been born in that Brazilian city in 1920. She was the daughter of immigrants from Italy. Rogato developed a strong interest in flying at an early age and, with money that she made through such jobs as selling embroideries... Continue Reading →
Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, landed safely back on Earth after a three-day mission on orbit. Tereshkova was born in central Russia in 1937 to so-called 'proletarian' parents, and out of school worked at a textile factory. She developed a passion for skydiving during this period, and this skill brought her to the... Continue Reading →
Rose Lok achieved nationwide fame as a Chinese-American aviation pioneer during the 1930s. Lok, who was born in China in 1912, immigrated to the United States with her family as a child. They settled in a home on Tyler Street in Boston. By the time she was 20, Lok had developed a strong interest in... Continue Reading →
Leah Hing, who was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1907, achieved a historic record in 1934 when she became the first U.S.-born Chinese-American woman to earn her airplane pilot’s license. While the better known Katherine Sui Fun Cheung obtained her own airplane pilot’s license about two years earlier, she had been born in China and... Continue Reading →
Just three days before her 17th birthday, Australian sailor Jessica Watson – arriving in Sydney Harbour at 1:53 p.m. in her boat Ella’s Pink Lady -- completed a solo non-stop circumnavigation of the Southern Hemisphere. A pink carpet was set out for her and, as she walked on it after getting out of the boat,... Continue Reading →
Professional racing cyclist Lee Wai Sze, who also goes by the name of Sarah Lee, was born in the urban area of Kowloon in Hong Kong. Despite being born with anemia, Lee participated in and excelled in athletics at an early age. She eventually developed a strong interest in cycling, and started pursuing that sport on a... Continue Reading →
During World War II, a large number of Chinese-American women made important contributions to the United States’ efforts in the fight against the Axis powers. A key example of these contributions, many of which centered on transportation, involved Los Angeles’ Chinatown branch of the American Women’s Voluntary Services (AWVS) throughout the war years. AWVS, which... Continue Reading →
In December 2006, Sunita Williams became only the second woman of Indian descent to travel to outer space when she was launched on board Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station (ISS). Kalpana Chawla had become the first woman of Indian descent to travel to outer space when she flew on board Space Shuttle... Continue Reading →
Lifelong Indiana resident Mary E. Landon (1876-1971) was one of the first American women – if not the first American woman – to drive a gasoline-powered automobile. In the late 1890s, she and her husband John moved from South Bend to Kokomo to work there for the automobile manufacturer Haynes-Apperson Company in its new factory.... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 