This Week in History · 24 Aug 2026 · 8 min

Amelia Earhart, MLK's Dream, Krakatoa & First Oil Well | Aug 24–29

This week in history: Amelia Earhart flies solo coast-to-coast, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his 'I Have a Dream' speech, Krakatoa destroys an island, and Edwin Drake strikes oil for the first time. Eight centuries of turning points, all connected by one calendar week.

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Amelia Earhart, MLK's Dream, Krakatoa & First Oil Well | Aug 24–29

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On August twenty-fourth, nineteen thirty-two, above the American continent, Amelia Earhart climbed into her cockpit in Los Angeles and pointed her aircraft east. Hours later, she touched down in Newark, New Jersey, becoming the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop in a solo flight.

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