Course Description

Instructor: Jill Parks

Join us for this presentation, part of our two-part presentations celebrating Woman’s History month and March 8^th for International Woman’s Day.

Offered hyflex.  Those attending in person, will also enjoy Tea or Coffee and Breakfast pastries. 

Women have been part of the history of aviation since as far back as the 1700s when women risked their lives taking off in hot air balloons. Women have been flying powered aircraft since 1908.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, this class will discuss three daring, fearless, pioneering aviatrices who made significant gains in the field of aviation in the 20th century.
Bessie Coleman, the first African American and Native American to receive a pilot's license in the United States who went on to become a "wing walker". Bessie was also a staunch fighter against segregation. Beryl Markham, an aviation pioneer, was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west in 1936. And finally, you will learn the truth about the mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

Instructor Bio: Jill Fein Parks was born and raised in San Francisco, California. She holds a BA degree in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and did graduate work in education at the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. She taught in the public schools for several years in Rhode Island, Arizona, and Florida. She left teaching to become the first female switchman for the Southern Pacific Railroad in Salt Lake City in the early 1990s.