Who was Tiny?

Georgia Ann Thompson, a.k.a. Tiny Broadwick, was born in 1893 on a farm in Granville County, North Carolina.  Georgia married at twelve years old, gave birth to her daughter at thirteen, and  soon after was abandoned by her husband.  At fifteen she joined Charles Broadwick's traveling carnival and started using Tiny Broadwick as her name. 

Parachuting from a hot air balloon, she made her first jump in 1908 during the state fair in Raleigh, North Carolina at fifteen years old.  In 1913, just ten years after the Wright Brothers' first flight, Tiny became the first woman to parachute from an airplane.  The plane was built and piloted by aviation pioneer Glenn Martin.  One year later in 1914, doing demonstration jumps for the U.S. Army,  Tiny performed the first parachute free fall, and invented what is now known as the 'ripcord'.  Tiny's bravery and accomplishments have saved countless lives and paved the way for modern military and sport parachuting.

Yet, she is largely forgotten today. Many of her accomplishments are claimed by men.

It is time to tell her story.