#whm19

[pixiedane]

Queen | Sarraounia Mangou

Sarraounia, the “panther queen” of the Azna people, fought the French colonial troops at the Battle of Lougou in 1899. While some kingdoms readily collaborated with the French in the hope of finally subduing her and her kingdom, and others capitulated without a fight, she mobilized her people and resources to confront the French forces of the Voulet–Chanoine Mission, which launched a fierce attack on her fortress capital of Lougou. Overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the French, she and her fighters retreated tactically from the fortress, and engaged the attackers in a protracted guerrilla battle which eventually forced the French to abandon their project of subduing her. You can read more about her here. [Image from the 1986 film]

[fromthehandsofquacks]

Annie J. Easley (1933-2011): computer scientist, mathematician & rocket scientist who worked for NASA. She was a leading member of the team which developed software for the Centaur rocket & one of the first African-Americans to work as a computer scientist at NASA -- she was one of four African Americans of about 2500 employees.

[pixiedane]

Gaze | Frances Marion

The silent era of Hollywood is virtually unrecognizable to today's landscape. Back then, women sat in director's chairs, wrote scripts, and edited films in droves. Women were at the forefront of the burgeoning industry. In fact, Hollywood was called a "manless Eden" by a commentator. And screenwriter Frances Marion, who wrote 325 scripts over the course of her career, was at the epicenter. She held "cat parties," women-only parties where women across show business could gather, gossip, and support each other professionally. “They were meeting with each other. Talking with each other. Taking care of each other, professionally and personally,” film historian Cari Beauchamp told Refinery29. In addition to being the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood, Marion championed other women's careers. [source] 

You can read more about her here.

[pixiedane]

Hero | Carol Danvers

I’m kind of done with you telling me what I can’t do.

[pixiedane]

Voice | Pauline Frederick

Pauline Frederick, who started working in radio in the 1930s, once had an executive tell her, "A woman's voice just doesn't carry authority." That attitude helps explain why no network would hire her after World War II, even though she had handled weighty assignments that included covering the Nuremberg trials. With options limited, Frederick freelanced for ABC radio, where she was required to cover women's interest pieces like a forum about "How to Get a Husband."

Still determined to tackle hard news, Frederick started to focus on the newly established United Nations. She also successfully reported from the 1948 national political conventions for ABC television. Afterward, she was finally hired on at ABC — thus becoming the first female news correspondent to work full-time for a TV network. And in 1976, Frederick added another broadcasting milestone to her career when she became the first woman to moderate a presidential debate (where participants Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter found her voice held plenty of authority). [source]

[pixiedane]

Foundation | Lene Hau

In 1999 Lene Hau slowed a beam of light down to the pace of a bicycle. In 2001 she stopped light completely. This work holds important implications for quantum computing and quantum cryptography. Dr. Hau is currently the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics at Harvard University. You can read more about her and her research here. 

[pixiedane]

Future | Shuri

Just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.

[pixiedane]

The Future | ‘The Restorers’

Stacy Owino, Synthia Otieno, Purity Achieng, Mascrine Atieno, and Ivy Akinyi call themselves “the Restorers” because  their mission is “to restore hope to the hopeless girls in the society” by ending the illegal practice of Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya. The five young women invented an app, iCut, which provides girls with easy access to legal and medical assistance before and after FGM. The app's interface has five different buttons: "help," "rescue," "report," "information on FGM," and "donate and feedback." The Restorers were finalists of the 2017 Technovention Challenge. They all want to pursue a career in STEM. Synthia wrote about their project here.