#OnThisDay, 17 Mar 1964, Joan Merriam Smith set off from Oakland airport in California in an attempt to fly solo around the world. She followed Amelia Earhart’s easterly route from 1937 as far as New Guinea where Earhart had vanished.

Merriam Smith arrived back in Oakland on 12 May 1964, the first pilot to successfully make a solo circumnavigation by the equatorial route.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WomenPilots #AmericanHistory #WomensHistoryMonth

1/2

#OnThisDay, 13 Mar 1990, Ertha Pascal-Trouillot became the provisional president of Haiti. She was the first woman to hold the role.

She stabilised the country for long enough for it to hold a free and fair election.

“I accepted the position in the name of Haitian women. I did it as a service to my country. I did it with love and determination.”

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WomensHistoryMonth #CaribbeanHistory #Histodons