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A Bit of History

Exploring historical thoughts and themes, a bit at a time.

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Victoria Martínez

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Latest Posts

The New Tropes of Women’s History are as Damaging as the Old
Quoted // Matilda Joslyn Gage
Christmas, Written by Women
Faces of Diversity in American First-Wave Feminism
When the Cult of Celebrity Devours Meaningful History

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“Princess Qajar” and the Problem with Junk History Memes
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A President's Son-in-Law, Nepotism and Treason
The Surprising 17th Century Origins of Radical Feminism
The Lesbian and the Novelist Who Escaped the Gilded Age
H.G. Wells’ Feminism and the Women Who Deconstructed It
When Sweden Rescued 31,000 Non-Swedes from Nazi Germany
Gilded Age New York’s “King of Diamonds”
Marauchie Van Orden: Soldier of the American Revolution
Christmas, Written by Women

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Every month is Women's History Month to me, but in honor of the official month, I dedicate each remaining #FemaleFriday this month to women whose work in the field of women's history inspires me. I start with Gerda Lerner, née Kronstein (1920-2013), who - among other things - established the first women's history M.A. program in the United States in 1972. She is, without a doubt, one for my fantasy "dinner party," and I regularly re-read her many excellent works on women's history topics. Within these, certain passages always strike a chord with me. One of these is the following: "What would history be like if it were seen through the eyes of women and ordered by the values they define? When the historian adopts such a stance... the darkness of history lifts and the historical experience of women becomes visible, different from that of men and yet integrally a part of it." You can read about Gerda Lerner's incredible life and accomplishments at http://www.gerdalerner.com/biography/ The image used in the graphic I've created is of Lerner circa 1981 and is courtesy the University of Wisconsin - Madison. #WomensHistoryMonth #womenshistory #writeaboutwomen #GerdaLerner

While researching a recent article about "mixed bathing" in the early 1900s, I came across an article from 1920 that made me both cringe and laugh. I couldn't use it in the article, so I'm sharing an excerpt of it here. Definitely a "you've come a long way, baby" read. “The short-haired woman has the decided advantage in sea bathing. She need not wear those appalling rubber caps which are hideous enough to justify divorce on the spot. And, by the way, it is surprising to notice how few women show to advantage when bathing. An English magistrate has just been advocating separate bathing beaches for men and women at seaside resorts. He does not seem to be an uplifter or a purist. He bases his demand on public policy. Broken engagements, he says, and therefore a lowered marriage rate result from mixed bathing. Women do not show to advantage when they are in the water or after they leave it. A wet woman is usually uncharming to the eye. She is unattractive when covered by an adequate bathing dress. She is apt to be still more uncharming if the bathing dress is inadequate, as it usually is.” -excerpt from an article in "The Argonaut" (San Francisco, Calif.) July 10, 1920. Image credit: "Bathing Beach, 1920," (public domain) courtesy U.S. Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016828042/) The article I wrote about mixed bathing, "The Swedish beach that was the Ibiza of the early 1900s" (subscriber content), can be found at https://www.thelocal.se/20190307/the-swedish-beach-that-was-the-ibiza-of-the-early-1900s #womenshistorymonth #womenshistory #writeaboutwomen #swimsuits #mixedbathing #1920sfashion #1920s

Today, on International Women's Day, as so many posts celebrate women of the past and present, it's important to remember that the World Economic Forum has estimated that gender parity is still 200 years away. To give some perspective, it's been almost that long since Swedish writer Fredrika Bremer wrote in her 1856 novel Hertha the following words, which still ring true: “Women… are not yet all that they might be. Their full day is not yet come.” It is a day that might come a lot sooner than 200 years if the level of interest and enthusiasm expressed on March 8 were sustained throughout the year. You can read more about Bremer and her groundbreaking novel in an article I wrote last year, "The 19th Century Novel Missing from the Feminist Literary Canon" (https://viva.media/the-19th-century-swedish-novel-missing-from-the-feminist-literary-canon). #IWD2019 #BalanceforBetter #WriteAboutWomen #WomensHistory #FredrikaBremer #Hertha

I recently wrote a short article about African-American performer Sammy Davis Jr., who was a member of what has been called the Hollywood "Rat Pack." After reading it, my parents (both American "Baby Boomers") told me I was incorrect when I wrote that actor Humphrey Bogart had been a member of the Rat Pack. Well, with great tact, I told them that it was they who were wrong. In fact, Humphrey Bogart wasn't only a member of the Rat Pack, but a founding member of the original group, which existed before Sammy Davis Jr. was a member. But what is even more intersting, in my opinion, is that legend says that Bogart's wife, actress Lauren Bacall, was the one who christened the group "a rat pack" in the first place. She was also known as the "den mother" of the original group. So there, Mom and Dad. 😉 Here are a couple of links to further reading on the topic: https://knpr.org/desert-companion/answers-why-were-they-called-rat-pack http://www.joanellison.com/blog/2016/6/20/the-original-rat-pack Public domain image of Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), Lauren Bacall (1924-2014), and Frank Sinatra (1915-1998). #funfacts #ratpack #humphreybogart #laurenbacall #franksinatra #sammydavisjr

Elizabeth Keckley, née Hobbs (1818-1907) is the feature of the final #FemaleFriday of Black History Month. Through sheer determination and talent as a seamstress, Keckley bought her way out of slavery to become a successful and much-sought-after entrepreneur in late-Antebellum Washington, D.C. Just before the Civil War, she counted among her clients the wives of the capital’s ruling elite, including Varina Davis, wife of the future Confederate President Jefferson Davis. When President Abraham Lincoln took office in 1861, Keckley was hired by First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln as her personal dressmaker. The two women became close, comforting and supporting one another through tragedies. In 1868, Keckley published her memoir, “Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House” (https://amzn.to/2TVaIc1), which she hoped would vindicate the former First Lady, who had been openly criticized in the American press for selling her own and the late President’s belongings to pay off her debts. Unfortunately, it backfired, and both her friendship with Lincoln and her reputation among her elite clientele were badly damaged. Like the other three women I have featured this month, at least one major (non-fiction) book has been written about her: “Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave” (2003) by Jennifer Fleischner (https://amzn.to/2IkufRD). There is also good information online about Elizabeth Keckley, including a 2013 feature in Smithsonian Magazine (https://tinyurl.com/y2ohyls4), an extensive blog post with great photos published in 2016 by The National Museum of American History (https://tinyurl.com/y5gh6apz), and an “Overlooked No More” obituary published in The New York Times in December 2018 (https://tinyurl.com/yc9x56n4). Elizabeth Keckley, circa 1861, from the collection of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, and sourced from The White House Historical Association (https://www.whitehousehistory.org/elizabeth-keckley). #BlackHistoryMonth #ElizabethKeckley #WomensHistory #WomenEntrepreneurs #AntebellumFashion

#OTD 75 years ago, this unassuming building in Stockholm was part of the Soviet bombing of Stockholm. At the time, it was located in the nearby Eriksdalslunden Park, one of the hardest hit areas. It was later partially rebuilt and moved to its present location. Though it is known as Ryska smällen (Russian Bang), few who pass it will have any idea of its history or how Sweden’s questionable wartime neutrality, a Russian spy, and three “missing” Soviet bombers led to devastation in Stockholm on February 22, 1944. You can read more about the event in my latest article (subscriber content) for @thelocalsweden “The Day Stockholm was Bombed by the Soviet Union” (https://bit.ly/2twwwPv). Image by Sven-Åke Björk, courtesy Wikimedia Commons. #Sweden #Stockholm #Strängnäs #SwedishHistory #History #WorldWarTwo #Finland #ContinuationWar #RyskaSmällen #VasilijSidorenko

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