While the Green Book has become something of a buzzword lately thanks to Hollywood, the “mother” of the essential guide for African Americans navigating Jim Crow America has been overlooked and all but lost to history.
Category: Gender and Sexuality
The New Tropes of Women’s History are as Damaging as the Old
Labels and stereotypes, long used to subordinate and marginalize women in history, need to be opposed, not embraced.
When the Cult of Celebrity Devours Meaningful History
Katharine Houghton Hepburn helped American women secure the vote and reproductive freedom. Her daughter was a four-time Oscar winner. Chances are, you know about the actress, but not the activist.
H.G. Wells’ Feminism and the Women Who Deconstructed It
English author H.G. Wells envisioned a future of alien invasion and time travel. He dabbled in dystopian nightmares and conjured up mad scientists and invisible men. And, to the disgust of two of his feminist lovers, he imagined a utopia where “women are to be as free as men.”
Quoted // Edith Wharton on Gender Equality
“No nation can have grown-up ideas till it has a ruling cast of grown-up men and women; and it is … More
Marauchie Van Orden: Soldier of the American Revolution
Women played significant and important roles in the American Revolution. Many broke traditional gender roles and suffered as much as the men they served beside. Marauchie Van Orden’s bravery at the Battles of Saratoga in 1777 earned her the rank of soldier and the respect of George Washington.
The Unusual Union That Led to the World’s First Feminist Government
Sweden’s history provides insight into how it has quietly established itself as one of the most gender equal countries in the world, while the United States continues to loudly squabble over legislation guaranteeing equal legal rights regardless of gender.
On International Women’s Day, Women in History Who Pressed for Progress
As the World Economic Forum suggests gender parity is 200 years away, a look at how researching and writing about women from the past 600 years give me purpose and motivation, and constantly remind me that another 200 years is far too long.
Define Her as Scandalous to Obscure Her Substance
What the treatment of two of history’s original “nasty women,” Mary Hays and Mary Darby Robinson, can tell us about how society has long consigned outspoken women to infamy or obliteration.
Condemn Her Actions to Silence Her Words
How the dangerously powerful words of two of history’s original “nasty women,” Olympe de Gouges and Mary Wollstonecraft, were silenced, suppressed, and nearly lost to history.
A Bit of History 