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A free program at the Champaign County Historical Society Museum will examine how the campaign for equal rights for women contributed to women’s expanding role in aviation.

Bill Albers, a volunteer with the Champaign Aviation Museum, will present “Women in Aviation: The Dream” at 2 p.m. Sunday, August 25 at the Historical Society, 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana.

Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, as a member of the National Woman’s Party, campaigned for gender equality for women. As she endeavored to help women realize that “the sky’s the limit,” Albers says, more women entered aviation.

A prime example of this, which he’ll talk about in his presentation, are the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Among their duties was flying aircraft from manufacturing facilities to air bases in the U.S.

The Champaign Aviation Museum has an exhibit devoted to the WASPs.

Albers researches and speaks widely on topics related to World War II. His interest in the war is rooted in his childhood. He was born in 1940 in the Netherlands and remembers his parents telling him how Allied bombers dropped food to them in German-occupied territory near the end of the war.

About the Champaign County Historical Society

The museum collects, preserves, and interprets artifacts, documents, and other resources from Champaign County to educate current and future generations about our history.

The museum has been located at 809 East Lawn Ave., Urbana, since 1972. Originally established in 1934, the museum first housed its collection at the former location of the Champaign County Library on West Market Street, and then moved to the Nutwood Barn, south of Grimes Field on North Main Street.

The Historical Society is open to the public 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Info from event organizers