Historic re-enactor, Jessa Piaia, will present a one-person interpretation of the sister of pioneer aviatrix, Amelia Earhart. Entitled “I Was Amelia Earhart’s Sister: Candid Recollections on America’s First Lady of the Air,” the program is set in 1963, when Muriel Morrissey (1899-1998) authored a biography of her famous sister. 

At the time of her disappearance, Amelia Earhart was a popular speaker on the national circuit prior to taking-off on her 937 “around-the-world flight,” and was acclaimed as the ‘first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932. Earhart had also been part of the ‘Friendship’ flight departing from East Boston Harbor on its historic trans-Atlantic crossing in 1928. Inspired at an early age by the suffragist movement, both sisters closely identified with the generation of “the new woman” who had won the right to vote in 1920. 

Clad in dungarees, Ms. Piaia bears a striking resemblance to the subject of her character portrayal. She uses drama to reveal the accomplishments, struggles, and contributions of women to American history.

Ms. Piaia studied performance at London’s Oval House Theatre and graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Boston. She currently works at Harvard University. Research for this program began in 1992 and was conducted in the Amelia Earhart Collection at the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge (MA); the Microtext Department at the Boston Public Library; the Earhart Archives at the Medford (MA) Public Library, and the Amelia Earhart Branch Library in North Hollywood (CA).