Women In History

This account is dedicated to the women of history who’s stories have been forgotten or ignored. Also on instagram by the same name. CURRENTLY ON HIATUS

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Inez Milholland (1886-1916)

On March 3rd, 1912 Inez Milholland led thousands of women in a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C in support of a new amendment for women’s suffrage. Milholland was a suffragist, labor lawyer, a World War I correspondent and a public speaker who was a big influence on the women’s movement in America. She was a woman who was willing to champion the causes of anyone who found themselves disenfranchised (for example, women, children and the poor). She campaigned with other social reformers in letter writing, speeches and rallies. During a stay in London she became a passionate political radical through her association with aristocratic suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. Milholland Studies at Vassar College where the discussion of suffrage was forbidden. Toward the end of her junior year she gathered 56 people in a small cemetery adjacent to the college for a suffrage meeting. This meeting was the beginning of the Vassar Votes for Women Club. In 1909 she made her first appearance as a suffrage orator, stopping a New York campaign parade for President William Howard Taft when she began speaking through a megaphone from a window in a building the parade passed. Hundred of men broke rank to hear and see her giving her the reputation of the most powerful, persuasive and beautiful orator of the suffrage movement. She also participated in the shirtwaist and laundry worker strikes in NYC and was arrested. Then in 1913 she made her most famous public appearance, the suffrage parade in Washington DC during President Woodrow Wilson’s presidential inauguration. In 1916, she worked for the National Women’s Party on a campaign to encourage women who lived in woman suffrage states to vote for a federal constitutional suffrage amendment. Milholland in the western states during this time while ill with pernicious anemia and refused to rest. She collapsed whole giving a speech and died ten weeks later. She died a martyr to the women’s suffrage cause.

Women in History (@thehistoryofwomankind) • Instagram photos and videos

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Georgette “Dickey” Chapelle (1918-1965)

Dickey Chapelle was a true trailblazer. She overcame years of gender discrimination on her professional and personal life to become one of the very first women on the front lines as well as one of the most important war photographers of the 20th century. Unlike most correspondents in her time who moved onto other things during World War II Chapelle continued. In 1941 she compiled a portfolio of the photographs she took over the years and sold her first photo essay to Look Magazine. That same year Chapelle began her journey as a war correspondent. She covered conflict at a time where most women were not sent to war zones by their editors. She was able to convince the Navy of letting her cover the front lines in the Pacific Theater of WWII and ended up covering the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Later, she joined Fidel Castro in the jungles of Cuba, was smuggled into Algeria by rebels to cover their side of the story in the war with France, and made parachute jumps into conflict zones of Korea, Vietnam, and the Dominican Republic. In 1956 she was imprisoned in Hungary for two months and escaped execution by stuffing her camera into a glove and tossing it out the window on the way to interrogation. Despite her incredible work, she faces much sexism at her job. Few women at the time were sent to cover battlefields and those who did face condescension, disdain, and hostility. A commune excuse used at the time to deny women permission at a base was a lack of bathroom facilities for women. A general once told her that he didn’t want 100,000 Marines pulling up their pants because she was around. Chapelle replied, “That won’t bother me one bit, my object is to cover the war.” In 1965 Chapelle was killed by a mine while on patrol with US Marines outside of Chu Lai, Vietnam, making her the first female war correspondent to be killed in action. Dickey Chapelle was a brave woman who broke many barriers during her time. Rest in Power Dickey!

Women in History (@thehistoryofwomankind) • Instagram photos and videos

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Claudette Colvin (1939-Present)

In March of 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks defied laws of segregation by giving up her seat, there was Claudette Colvin. Colvin was 15 years old at the time of the incident. While taking the bus home from school the bus driver orders her to get up and give her seat to a white man, but she refuse, saying she’d paid her fare and that it was her constitutional right. The police were called and the police officers arrested her. Her school's books flew off her lap. Earlier that day in her segregated school her class was learning about black leaders like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. They also discussed the injustices African Americans were experiencing daily during that time. When asked why she thinks that Rosa Parks was remembered for doing the same as she replied, “She was an adult. They didn't think teenagers would be reliable...Her skin texture was the kind that people associate with the middle class, she fits that profile." Many women participated in this act of civil disobedience before Rosa Parks but due to Park’s reputation with The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), she became a prominent figure in the civil rights movement. The Civil Rights Movement was spearheaded by young people and women but more often than not you most often see images of older men in suits. Claudette Colvin was a brave young woman who helped begin a domino effect of other brave women in order to fight for basic human rights. Thank you, Claudette, for all you have done!

Women in History (@thehistoryofwomankind) • Instagram photos and videos

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March is Women’s History Month. A month in which we celebrate women and their achievements throughout history. Through my account I will post about the women who have been ignored or forgotten in history. I will try to post everyday of March, three times a day (Sorry I missed the first day, but I will make up for it!). My goal is to educate people on these forgotten women. I try to be very inclusive with the women I post about and include women from all different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, sexualities and religions. I’m very excited for this month and hope you enjoy learning about these amazing women! 💗 ♀️

Women in History (@thehistoryofwomankind) • Instagram photos and videos

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Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977)

You might recognize her from my banner photo. Alice Stokes Paul was born in New Jersey into a Quaker family. Paul was taught from a young age that men and women should be treated equally. Her mother was also a suffragist. While studying in England she learned militant protest tactics such as picketing and hunger strikes from the British suffragist. Paul went back to America where she joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). There, she tried to teach them the Militant tactics the british suffragist taught her. For that she was labeled as a radical. So she formed the National Woman's Party in hopes of getting an amendment passed for women’s suffrage. She and Lucy Burns would stand in front of factories after the women got out of her work. Paul gathered more and more women to join the Congressional Union. After she gathered enough she organized a parade. This parade was held March 3rd in 1913 during President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Five thousand women participated in the parade. Halfway through the parade men broke through the rope barriers and attached the women. The police did nothing. After, 100 women were sent to the hospital. In 1917, Paul and a few other women stood in front of the White House picketing. They were arrested for obstruction of traffic. They spent 7 months in the D.C jail. While they were there they were mistreated. Even their food had maggots. Paul refuses to stand for this and went on a hunger strike. Many of the women including Paul were force fed. Doctors even threatened to put her into an asylum if she did not corporate. Word got out to President Woodrow Wilson about the hunger strike and he pardoned the women. In 1918 he declared his support for the suffrage movement. Then in 1920 women were given the right to vote. So this is my last post. Thank you to everyone who followed me, liked and shared these women’s stories. I loved doing this and I’m so grateful for these women and you for supporting this account. Remember to fight for what you believe in. Remember to fight for your dreams. Again, thank you. I’ll see you next March. ♥️

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Coccinelle (1931- 2006)

Born in France in 1931, she was one of the earliest trans women to undergo sex reassignment surgery. In 1952 she started hormone therapy. That same year Christine Jorgensen became America’s most visible trans woman. She quickly became a star. Her surgery and subsequent marriage in France led to the country amending it’s laws so that the gender on ones birth certificate could be amended after a similar surgery.

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Junko Tabei (1939-2016)

Japanese extraordinaire Junko Tabei was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In fact, she was the first woman to ascend all Seven Summits, climbing the highest mountain on each continent.

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Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894)

She started her career as a writer working for her husbands newspaper. But she was unhappy about the lack of content for women. So, she started The Lily which was one of the first female led newspapers. Through The Lily Bloomer was able to share her opinions on women’s suffrage and the temperance movement. She also worked to reform women’s clothing and believed that should say goodbye to corsets and petticoats and opt for more comfortable clothing.

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Hatshepsut (unknown-1458 BC)

She was the first woman to to gain full powers of pharaoh. She started out as a queen, the wife to her half brother. He died young and she assumed the role of regent until her son was old enough to rule. Soon, Hatshepsut took full power and declared her self pharaoh. She reinvented how she was seen. She had statues and paintings commissioned that depicted her as a male pharaoh. She constructed a temple at Deir el-Bahri, which is seen by many as the most beautiful temple in Egypt. After her death her stepson became ruler and erased her from history.

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Ida B. Wells (1862-1931)

Ida B. Wells was a journalist, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader. She was a fearless activist for gender and racial equality. After witnessing the horrors of lynching in the Jim Crow South she moved to Illinois. There Wells began to speak out about the racist violence directed at African Americans. Her anti-lynching crusade was taken up by many women’s clubs across the nation. That issue along with women’s suffrage became the platforms on which the National Association of Colored Women was built, which was founded in 1896. Wells also established the Alpha Suffrage Club which was the largest black woman’s suffrage club in Illinois. Then in 1913 she defiantly marched in the Women’s Suffrage Association’s D.C march despite the organizers rule that black women went to the back of the parade.

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Sylvia Rae Rivera (1951-2002)

She was a transgender and gay liberation activist. She was also a drag queen and philanthropist. Rivera was a cofounder to the organization STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries). This group was devoted to helping homeless trans youth and trans women of color. She was also a founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance. As a kid she was cast out of her home because of her disapproving relatives. To survive Rivera had to do sex work. She wanted to give a voice to the voiceless. She also got involved in the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement and the second wave feminist movement, not to mention a pillar for the LGBTQ+ community. Rivera also rioted at Stonewall.

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Khutulun (1260- 1306)

She was born to the most powerful ruler of Central Asia, and she was a fierce warrior. Khutulun fought along side her father. Marco Polo and Rashid al-Din wrote about her. Marco Polo said she could snatch a captive as easily as a hawk snatches a chicken. When a man wanted to marry her she challenged him to a wrestling match. If they lost they had to give her all their horses. In the process she earned 10,000 horses.

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Lucy Stone (1818-1893)

Stone was a feminist activist and abolitionist. She was the first woman in Massachusetts to obtain a college degree. After college she helped take immense leaps for both the feminist and abolitionist movements. Stone was also a published author and journalist as well as a orator. Not to mention she wore trousers in the 1800’s which was seen as taboo at the time.

We’re coming close to the end of March now...it’s quite bittersweet. Sweet because it’ll give me more free time, but bitter because I love doing this!

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Hürrem Sultan (1526-1558)

Hürrem Sultan, also known as Roxelana was a Ukrainian slave. When she was 15 years old she entered the harem of Suleiman the Magnificent. Hürrem became politically influential, this lead her convincing Suleiman to free her, retire the rest of his harem and marry her. She played a major role in politics and began the Sultanate of Women which was a period of 130 years when women had a lot of political influence over the Ottoman sultan.

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Tawakkol Karman (1979-present)

In 2005 she founded Women Journalists Without Chains. Her organization promotes freedom of expression and democratic rights. It also provided regular reports on human rights abuses in Yemen. Then years later in 2011, Karman became the face of the Yemeni uprising. That same year she also became the first Yemeni, first Arabic woman, and the second Muslim woman to win a Noble Peace Prize. The price recognized her work advocating on behalf of women. Karman was also the second youngest recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, following behind Malala Yousafzai, another Muslim woman.