Mary McLeod Bethune, the woman that revolutionised America (and you’ve never heard of…)

Born in 1875 to former slaves, Mary was the youngest of 17. Despite her parents working long hours and constantly grafting, the family barely managed to scrape by. And it didn’t take little Mary long to work out the root of this struggle.

There was only one difference between hers and other families. One thing separating her and the possibility of coming home and knowing there would be food on the table. Knowing that in the future she’d have opportunities; could expect to earn a fair wage and work to live in a house with basic features like windows.

The only thing stopping Mary and her family was the colour of their skin.

Mary vowed to change this.

Again, Mary was A CHILD when she decided to dedicate her life to revolutionising black rights

And so, everyday, Mary walked miles to get to the only school that would teach her. Then she’d return home and teach her parents and siblings what she’d learnt that day.

Her tenacity didn’t go unnoticed and a local missionary reached out, offering to pay for the reminder of her education.

Soon Mary started attending religious and missionary schools, in 1895 becoming the first African American student to graduate what is now known as The Moody Bible Institute (great name by the way Moody)

Mary dreamed of becoming a missionary, spreading her love for education across the world. BUT this dream was quickly dashed when she was curtly informed that nobody needed nor wanted a black missionary.

Did this stop Mary? OF COURSE NOT!

If she wasn’t allowed to join a mission, she’d set off on her own.

So, just like that, Mary packed up her bags and headed around the US to teach overlooked children from minority backgrounds.

Then in 1898 Mary met and married her husband, Albertus and the two soon welcomed a son, Albert.

Having a child to look after didn’t slow Mary down, in fact she decided the time was now right for her to open up her own school.

Seriously, just you wait, Mary hasn’t even gotten started showing how strong she is!

Mary set up shop in Daytona, Florida, with (supposedly) just $1.50 in her pocket, opening the doors to The Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls in 1904.

Desks and chairs were made from crates, ink was elderberry juice and pens were whittled from wood. Mary kept the lights on by joining forces with local parents to sell homemade pies.

The whole endeavour was shaky as all hell, only being held together by the sheer force of Mary’s willpower. Which was good – because this patchwork school was proving to be revolutionary, finally allowing black children an education.

….This didn’t go down well with the KKK.

Now let’s be clear, this was not a good time to be a black person in Florida. Lynchings were a regular occurrence, with Florida going on to have some of the highest rates of lynching anywhere in the US. The May before Mary opened her school, 4 Florida men were murdered in separate lynchings within just 2 days. In short – Daytona, Florida in 1904, was not the kind of place that was ready for the kind of monumental change that Mary was creating.

And so the local branch of the Klu Klux Klan showed up outside Mary’s school.

BUT Mary stood strong in the schools doorway. Unmovable. Despite the very real threat to her life, she steadfastly refused to stand down. Eventually the KKK left.

Two years later Mary’s school had gone from less than a dozen students to 250.

Mary with early students of her school

But as the school flourished, Mary’s home life was crashing and burning.

The huge workload had put a huge strain on her marriage and in 1907 Albertus left her.

Mary was now a single mother; one that not only had her own child to care for, but hundreds of others.

And yet despite ALL the obstacles against her, Mary persevered.

She decided she wouldn’t just care for her son, her students and staff, but she’d help the entire community!

Mary opened medical facilities by her school, to tackle the awful quality of available local healthcare for black people.

She arranged for her school to be combined with a local college; forming The Bethune-Cookman College and allowing even more kids a shot at an education.

Mary then focused her attention onto women; believing this to be group that particularly overlooked. So she started clubs that would simultaneously help women gain new skills, create opportunities for them AND equip these women with the tools they’d need to fight for their rights.

By 1924 she was elected head of the National Association of Colored Women; immediately getting to work overhauling the NACWs management system and creating a headquarters in the capital.

AND OF COURSE MARY DIDN’T STOP THERE!

• She led a drive to encourage African Americans to register to vote.
• She invested in black business and worked to maximise those businesses potential.
• She helped launch newspapers that were run by African Americans and covered news that was otherwise (quite literally) white washed.

All this work –of course- meant that once more the Klan were at Mary’s door, threatening her life unless she stopped.

Spoiler: she didn’t stop.

Mary at work, probably writing a haiku about all the fucks she doesn’t give

In the 1930s Mary started putting together what she called ‘the black cabinet’ ;a group of leading African Americans who advised President Roosevelt.

The cabinet helped lay the foundations for the civil rights movement; bringing issues facing black Americans into the forefront of politics and actively working to create change.

Groundbreaking doesn’t even cover it, and it could never have happened without Mary acting as the groups organiser and intermediary!

Mary with other members of the ‘Black Cabinet’ in the 1930s. Mary is (of course) standing in the middle of it all

Mary eventually retired due to her failing health. Returning to Florida, to live out the rest of her life

In 1955 Mary delivered her last speech at a luncheon held in her honour.

She used the moment, not to celebrate her work but to thank those around her and encourage others to continue the fight:

‘I have been the dreamer, but oh how wonderfully you have interpreted my dreams’

Mary died just a few months after that speech, at the age of 79. 

She’d started life in poverty and fought her way out; transforming not just her own life, but millions of others too. Leaving a legacy that lives on today.

The Incredible Mary Mcleod Bethune: Did I not tell you, you’d become obsessed with her?!?

This was interesting, where can I find out more? Now I’ve struggled finding a really amazing book on Mary (please do let me know if you have one!!) HOWEVER I’m going to leave you with this, Mary’s public will, in which she outlines the legacy she is leaving and urges you to continue the fight. I promise, it’ll be the best thing you read this week: link here

 

 

Queer Quickie: Stormé DeLarverie

Happy Pride month to all our LGBTQIA+ readers! Last year we celebrated Marsha P Johnson and this year we want to celebrate Pride even more, so all this month we’ll be bringing  you some of the most incredible players in the fight for LGBQTIA+ rights!

Lets kick things off with the story of stone cold butch babe Stormé DeLarverie.

Stormè working security outside The Cubby Hole

Stormé was known in LGBT circles as the ‘Lesbian Rosa Parks’ she fought against ‘ugly’ (her term for bigotry and hatred) for her entire life and always looked out for others.

There’s a Stormé coming

She was born in New Orleans in 1920 to her mother, an African American servant and her father, who was head of the white family her mother worked for. Her parents eventually married and moved to California.

In her teens Stormé realised 2 major things:

A) that she was a lesbian

B) she had a talent for singing and keeping a captive audience.

During the 1940s Stormé toured with a jazz trio as the singer. Stormé started performing in drag around this time and made quite a name for herself as an accomplished Drag King in queer cabaret circles.

She also performed as part of the Jewel Box Review, a drag cabaret, which featured predominantly drag queens and one drag king; our gal Stormé.

Stormé spent the rest of the 1950s and 60s crooning jazz numbers to enthusiastic queer crowds

In full King mode – Doesn’t she look dreamy?

Stormé and Stonewall

Things started to get real rough for Stormé. You see, in the late 60’s there was a relentless campaign against Queer hot spots in New York City by the police and tensions were at an all time high.

On June 29^th 1969 Stormé was hanging out near the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan, having recently come back from touring with the Jewel Box. She was having a wonderful time, drinking and socialising with her mates.

Suddenly police descended on the Stonewall Inn. They forced their way into the bar at around 1.20am and started forcefully dragging patrons outside. The police molested lesbians, beat up young men who resisted arrest and refused to show identification (cross dressing was ILLEGAL then)

Stormé saw one of her friends being assaulted by police. She was not having it. She fought back and threw a punch at one of the policemen, after he assaulted her.

No comment needed

Stormé was then handcuffed and thrown into the back of a police van, but she kept escaping amidst the chaos. She complained her handcuffs were too tight and she was beaten about the head with a baton.

Bleeding and being dragged back to the police van again Stormé addressed the growing crowd directly.

‘WHY DON’T YOU DO SOMETHING?’

The crowds outside started to fight back against the police AND SHIT KICKED OFF!

Speaking later about the Stonewall Uprising she said

“It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience–it wasn’t no damn riot.”

Don’t forget she was nearly 50 when she fought back against the police. She was known for being lovely, but tough as fucking nails.

Truly Stormé is the baddest of all bad bitches.

Stormé: The Later Years

After Stonewall Stormé was an important member of the SVA, The Stonewall Veterans Association, she was a key figure in NY Pride often appearing with her car, which was well known for being parked outside the gay bars in Greenwich Village and was actually outside Stonewall Inn the night of the riots!

She settled in Brooklyn, New York in her later years, giving up touring and promptly appointed herself protector of lesbians within Greenwich village in NYC. 

Stormé would patrol round the local LGBT hot spots checking everyone was ok. She did this well into her 80s.

She was a much loved and familiar face as a bouncer to local gay clubs. She greeted everyone with ‘Hey babies’, or ‘Hey love’ and always encouraged everyone to get home safe.

Stormé was full of love for her community.

She is the best

Stormé passed away in 2014 at the grand old age of 93, and was an inspiration to so many people, myself very much included, showing us that displaying kindness didn’t mean you couldn’t be tough and fight for what you believed in.

That was interesting where can I find out more? Well there’s a short documentary on Stormé called Stormé: Lady of the Jewel Box and you can find it here on YouTube! It’s about her time working on the Jewel Box Revue and shows her working as a bouncer in the 80’s.

Sara Westrop is passionate about making history accessible (and fun!) for everyone. A disabled, queer writer from just outside London, who loves writing about the unsung chapters of history.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The rock & roll pioneer we forgot

Queer muscian, Sister Rosetta Tharpe is FINALLY getting her place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, and you know what?

IT’S ABOUT BLOODY TIME!

This lady is a damn queen! 

Rosetta was a singer/songwriter who rose to fame in the 30’s and 40’s by fusing gospel with seriously funky rhythms; helping give birth to Rock & Roll.

Sadly her contribution often gets forgotten by mainstream audiences.

Some critics argue this is due to her music not being solely rock & roll as it fused gospel with it…and totally not because she was a black woman…

no comment

But I would argue that there is tons of irrefutable evidence that Rosetta’s pioneering sound, left its mark on future groundbreaking musicians, including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and countless others.

So lets give the nice lady her due and discover how Rosetta came to forge rock & roll!

In the beginning, there was Rosetta

Rosetta was born in 1915 Arkansas, close to the Mississippi. She was singing gospel music AND learning to play the guitar by the age of 4 (basically a born over achiever)

Realising her daughter had a heck of a talent Rosetta’s mother took her to Chicago to join the evangelical Church of God in Christ ( a church famed for it’s musicians) when she was 6 years old.

Rosetta was in heaven! Here she could play music everyday; honing her skills as a singer and experimenting with electric guitars.

It was this electric experimentation that led to Rosetta developing distortion techniques that gave birth to Blues Rock.

Rosetta doing her thing!

Rosetta Births Rock & Roll 

When Rosetta was 23 she left the church behind to break out into showbiz and was quickly signed up by Decca Records, where she recorded her ridiculously unique blend of gospel, sensuality and infectiously melodic guitar.

It was the uniqueness made Rosetta into one of the 30’s and 40;s most popular club acts.

Her gospel sound in a seedy cabaret setting was scandalous at the time. This meant that Rosetta was snubbed by religious circles who thought her music evil and her mere act of playing guitar a sin.

Rosetta didn’t care. 

In fact she didn’t care so much that in 1944 she recorded what many music aficionados now believe to be the first Rock & Roll song.

Strange Things Happening Everyday, charted at number 2 in the R&B Chart(then known as the Race Chart) and you can hear how their guitar and piano arrangement influenced Chuck Berry, Little Richard and basically anyone who picked up a guitar after her.

YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN! 

The Later Years and Lady Love

In the late 40’s Rosetta met fellow gospel singer and rumored lover Marie Knight.

The ladies took their act on tour…which again proved to be controversial (so nothing new for Rosetta…) see two women touring alone with no men (!) was unheard of, not matter how ideal it sounds.

Sadly this wonderful partnership didn’t last. During one gig poor Marie’s mother and two small children were killed in a house fire.

Marie was devastated and moved away from Rosetta and started focusing on her solo music.

Rosetta and Marie in happier times

After she and Marie parted ways Rosetta hatched an amazing plan.

She’d have a public wedding (sadly to an arsehole of a bloke -which we will get to-) and a concert afterwards; obvs charging tickets for the whole

It all took place in the Griffith stadium in Washington D.C and it was packed to the gills! For those who couldn’t make the day, a recording was released pretty much immediately.

Though the publicity was huge, it didn;’t last for long. Mainly becuase Rosetta’s new husband, Russel Morrison terribly mismanaged her career.

Oh yeah and he was also a cheating bellend. Nice one Russ.

Fucking Russ

Rosetta moves the fuck on

By this time, Rosetta was due a revamp.

Blues legend Muddy Waters did an incredible tour with Rosetta in the mid 1960’s and they performed a gig in Manchester at a disused railway station.

The concert could have been a disaster though as the heavens opened when it was meant to start.

Rosetta was not having that though. She changed her opening number to ‘Didn’t it Rain?’ arriving on the platform by horse and carriage while it was pissing it down and plugging her guitar in with no worries about it electrocuting her live on stage.

Rossetta, aged 47, giving no fucks about deadly electrics

After an entrance like that…Rosetta obviously blew everyone away

Not only that, but she influenced a whole new heap of musicians who’d been in attendance, including Morissey, a couple members of Joy Division and some of the Buzzcocks….so you know, barely anyone important…

The groundbreaking gig was broadcast on UK TV and was cited by critics as a significant cultural event…

You can view her incredible performance here. Try watching this without bouncing around in your seat. Her energy is just incredible!

She plays an amazing guitar solo, then quips with the audience… Pretty good for a woman ain’t it? UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE MILLENIUM!

Rosetta’s Recognition

In the early 1970’s Rosetta had a stroke that stopped her from performing, and a few years later she had her leg amputated because of issues with diabetes.

Rosetta never really recovered from this and she passed away in 973 after suffering another stroke at the age of 58. She was just about to get back in the recording studio.

Same 😭

Heartbreakingly Rosetta was buried without a gravestone, because her family just couldn’t afford one and her funeral was sparsely attended.

Rosetta remained an obscure figure until the turn of the century when her music was rediscovered.

In 2007 she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and a concert was held in 2008 to raise money to get Rosetta a gravestone.

A memorial Rosetta deserved

In 2008 January 11^th was declared ‘Sister Rosetta Tharpe Day’ by the State Governor of Pennsylvania; she was finally getting recognition she so richly deserved.

Then on December 27^th 2017 Rosetta was inaugurated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influencer.

It’s 40+ years late, but they got there eventually, we wouldn’t have rock n blues without this amazing woman. 

Rosetta had the most incredible voice. It’s hard describing it if you’ve not heard her (and seriously we encourage you to seek her out if you haven’t) but her voice is just so joyful and amazingly rich and sumptuous, AND it has magical healing powers. No joke!

What I love about her songs are the underlying message of hope and cheer, she’s telling us ‘Yeah stuff is difficult and a bit shit, but we are gunna carry on anyway and make the fucking best of it!’ So she’s my go to for days I need a good kick up the arse.

This was interesting where can I find out more?

There’s a wonderful documentary on Sister Rosetta Tharpe by Mick Csaky on Youtube, we highly recommend it. https://youtu.be/FKK_EQ4pj9A

Sara Westrop is passionate about making history accessible (and fun!) for everyone. A disabled, queer writer from just outside London, who loves writing about the unsung chapters of history.

Moms Mabley: The Dirty Granny of Stand Up

Moms Mabley was…to be blunt: a god damn American Institution. Gay, black and all kinds of political she was smashing boundaries left and right.

Born Loretta Mary Aiken on May 1894, Mobs Mabley would become the first African American female stand up who crossed over to mainstream audiences AND she was an out and proud lesbian.

Seriously, she and her story are amazing and I am ridiculously excited to tell you guys all about it! 

The Gorgeous Jackie ‘Moms’ Mabley

Now the start of Moms life reads like the worst Shakespearean tragedy; it’s truly FUCKING HORRENDOUS!

She was born in North Carolina to two loving parents; James Aiken, a business savvy man with fingers in many pies and her Mum, Mary Smith, a hardworking, badass matriarch.

Her Dad died in 1909 while working as a volunteer fireman. After he was caught up in an explosion when their fire engine caught fire.

Moms was just 15.

Her Mum stepped up and took over running the family’s general store,…until 1910, when whilst coming home from church on CHRISTMAS DAY she was run over by a truck and killed

Bad right? Gets worse! 

Moms also had two illegitimate children who were born out of rape.

One of the children was fathered by a white town sheriff who raped Moms.

Both children were given up for adoption… old timey men are awful.

Ok…now all that horrible stuff is out the way lets look forward to the birth of a hilarious stand up QUEEN!

When Loretta was 14 her awesome Gran convinced her to run away and join a travelling vaudeville show, and it was here she started working as a stand up.

She quickly become one of the most popular acts in the Theatre Owners Booking Association Circuit (also known as the Tough on Black Asses circuit) and was soon traveling all over America developing her talent.

At the age of 27 Loretta came out as a Lesbian, a massive deal at the time because most people didn’t even know what a lesbian was, and TBH gay rights was not a thing.

Then add being black during the great depression into that mix?

Girl was a fucking trailblazer.

Loretta’s humour was downright filthy and she was DECADES ahead of her time, with her acts landing more in the ‘CAN SHE REALLY SAY THAT?!’ category.

She talked about racism, sexism, queerness… nothing was off limits.

Her early acts in the 20s and 30s featured her talking about living as a black lesbian in the USA.

Sadly she didn’t record anything during this time so we’ve just got testimonials from people who knew her. (which is a downright shame as that ish sounds amazing!)

The birth of ‘Jackie Moms Mabley’

The character of Jackie ‘Moms’ Mabley was developed early in her career. The dirty talking old lady with a penchant for younger men was based on her much loved Grandmother.

Loretta portrayed Moms while being a younger lady, by hiding behind huge floral dresses, bad grey wigs and big floppy hats.

She struck gold with Moms! Audiences LOVED this dirty granny, which meant she could get away with using blue language and chatting about all sorts… cause she’s just a harmless old lady right?

The OG Dirty Granny. 

Also as if that wasn’t great enough Loretta got the nickname Moms from fellow performers because she was such a loving and friendly lady.

Here’s some of our fave Moms one liners.

• “Only time you see me with my arms around some old man… I’m holding him for the police.”
• “My husband was so ugly, he used to stand outside the doctor’s office and make people sick.”
• “There ain’t nothin’ an old man can do for me but bring me a message from a young one… I’d rather pay a young man’s fare to California than tell an old man the distance.”
• “It’s no disgrace to be old. But damn if it isn’t inconvenient.”

All the lolz 😂

Moms gained popularity with mainstream audiences in the 1960s when her career took off in television.

She appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and later The Ed Sullivan Show and also appeared in a handful of films throughout her career.

Her last starring role was in Amazing Grace, which she completed AFTER having a heart attack!!!

My face when learning that… She’s badass

Moms finally started recording comedy shows during the 1960s and completed around 20 in her lifetime.

They are all hilarious and you should listen to clips of them on YouTube. We recommend her bra shopping joke.

Moms paved the way for future generations of stand up, her influence was far reaching even though she didn’t get the recognition she deserved during her lifetime.

She was the first popular female stand up EVER! so every self-identifying female comedian owes her a serious debt of gratitude. She showed the world that women are fucking hilarious.

That was great, where can I learn more? Whoopi Goldberg also produced a cracking documentary on Loretta in 2014 Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley

Sara Westrop is passionate about making history accessible (and fun!) for everyone. A disabled, queer writer from just outside London, who loves writing about the unsung chapters of history.

Fanny Eaton: The Jamaican Pre-Raphaelite Muse

Fanny was an amazing woman, she moved from Jamaica to London where she became a model for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (them famous dandy painting types)

Sketches of Fanny Eaton by Walter Fry Stocks 1859

But before we get to that bit let’s give you some background.

IN THE BEGINNING

She was born in 1835 to her mother, Matilda Foster, who was an ex slave, but no father was mentioned on her birth certificate which means there’s a theory now that her father was a slave owner.

This was not an uncommon occurrence. Thanks gross old slave owning white dudes!

History again proving dudes are the worst 🤢

There’s also suggestion that Fanny’s Dad was a soldier named James Entwhistle or Antwhistle (Fanny’s maiden name) who died at just 20 in Jamaica.

Either way her Dad ain’t in the picture.

Matilda and Fanny moved to London sometime during the 1840’s and in 1857 Fanny married a hot young cab driver named James Eaton (GO FANNY!).

Fanny mostly worked as a cleaner/domestic servant in London but had a side job working as an artist’s model.

COVERGIRL!

Fanny was mixed race and was by all accounts a total stunner so it’s no surprise she caught the eye of many an artist.

The first sketches and paintings of Fanny are attributed to artist Simeon Solomon.

In fact, the first painting featuring Fanny was The Mother of Moses by Simeon Solomon, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1860. FANNY HAD MADE IT!

The Mother of Moses by Simeon Solomon 1860

While working she caught the eye of some of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

‘Who are they?’

I hear you cry. Well these guys were a bunch of bohemian painters who loved nothing more than hanging out and painting super dreamy babes in big elaborate scenes pulled from the bible or popular mythos.

The core founding group was made up of William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rosetti, but they had roughly a metric shit ton of associated artists.

They were influenced by medieval art and wanted to focus on details and complex scenes rich with imagery.

Gif version of Ophelia by Millais. Via  Giphy

Now the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood considered Fanny a total fucking hottie, because – duh- they had working eyes.

She was a favorite among them. Rosetti was said in a letter to his artist mate Ford Maddox Brown, that Fanny had a

‘very fine head and figure’

NO SHIT MATE!

One of the most famous paintings of Fanny was The Head of Mrs Eaton by Joanna Boyce Wells (sister of Pre-Raphaelite artist George Boyce)

The Head of Mrs Eaton by Joanna Boyce Wells 1861

Sadly Joanna died tragically young just as her career was starting to take off, so we don’t know the true story behind her work with Fanny. But the portrait of Fanny was thought to be a study for was a larger painting that would depict Fanny as a Libyan prophetess or a Syrian Warrior Queen (both sound fucking amazing).

The last painting of Fanny was Jephthah by John Everett Millais.

Fanny worked as a model for classes at the Royal Academy from 1860 to 1879 and after that life got in the way… you see Fanny had 9 children by then.

I repeat: NINE CHILDREN!

THE INFLUENCE OF FANNY

Fanny’s contribution to the arts was largely forgotten, excluded from art history because of her race; the focus always on other Pre-Raphaelite models like Janey Morris or Lizzie Siddal.

But Fanny is a hugely important figure because she was a black woman whose beauty was celebrated in art.

She wasn’t just painted as a token black figure used to make art more exotic, the focus was on HER face, celebrating HER beauty.

FUCK YES!!! Via Giphy

Fanny was sadly widowed in her 40’s, so she brought up (by now) 10 children on her own and worked tirelessly to provide for them all, working as a cook and seamtress.

Unfortunately, little is known about this period in her life.

We do know she lived a long life and died at the grand age of 88 and was living with her loving daughter and grandchildren.

We’re glad Fanny is being brought to the forefront of art history because her impact during a time of serious racial prejudices and divides Fanny was still a symbol for what was then thought of as other forms of beauty.

She’s also an example of how varied working class Victorian culture was, History is often white washed and then it’s presented as fact, but Britain has always been a pot of mixed cultures and influences.

Fanny is a symbol of celebrating black beauty during a time of rigid ideals of what women should be. Long may we celebrate her for that.

 

Sara Westrop is passionate about making history accessible (and fun!) for everyone. A disabled, queer writer from just outside London, who loves writing about the unsung chapters of history.

5 incredible women whose genius changed the world

1. Hypatia

Hypatia was a genius. She was a mathematician, astronomer and inventor. Our babe had some serious brains and was also ballsy as fuck. She’s one of, if not the first recorded women in mathematics.

Yeah, we haven’t even started and you already know she’s the greatest…

Hypatia was born sometime between 350-37 BC in Alexandria (An Egyptian province). Her Dad, Theon, was one of the last members of the Library of Alexandria (an incredibly fancy palace of knowledge). A famed mathematician, Daddy Hypatia wasted no time teaching his little girl everything he knew.

Now, Hypatia was super smart and she quickly surpassed her Dad’s (pretty bloody genius) intellect… and so the student became the teacher.

People came from miles around to hear her teach and in around 400BC she became the head of The Platonist School in Alexandria where she lectured on mathematics and philosophy.

But this is history….so it doesn’t stay good (sorry)

See, back then science and the like was considered a pagan pursuit by Christians, so Hypatia’s teachings were not going down well with the locals. In fact they were not fans to the extent that they formed a mob and killed her…

Death of the philosopher Hypatia, by Louis Figuier

But her work lived on; her influence monumental. Sadly we don’t have any of her surviving work, but she had a real impact on her peers, who talked about her with a reverence that was awe inspiring.

 

2. Dorothy Hodgkin

Dorothy 🙌🏻

Dorothy is a scientific marvel. Fact. She specialised in X-Ray Crystallography which basically is a way to decode the structure of biomolecules. This was important in recreating synthetic structures in 3D to replicate those biomolecules. Like, for example, PENACILLIN! INSULIN! And other stuff people need to not die…

Science, successfully staying the only thing keeping us from death!

Dotty studied chemistry at Oxford in 1928, and left with a first class honours degree. This was pretty bloody amazing at the time, as there were limited spaces available for women to study at degree level (damn you patriarchy!) In fact Dotty was the third woman to receive a first in the history of Oxford university!

After smashing it with her degree, Dotty went on to study her doctorate at Cambridge where she became interested in X-Ray Crystallography.

She came back to Oxford in the late 1930s to continue her research and also to teach a new generation of Crystallographers.

In 1945 Dotty had her first big breakthrough…Penicillin! She pinned down the molecular structure of penicillin; a revolution in medicine that would save countless lives.

Dorothy’s model of the stucture of penicillin

But Dotty didn’t stop! She later cracked the coding for insulin and B12, for which she was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964. She is still the only British woman to receive this honour.

During all of this Dorothy pioneered new techniques to better capture the structures of even more complex biomolecules. Medicine owes one Dotty one hell of a debt!

 

3. Mae Jemison

Mae looking BADASS!

Mae is famous for being the first African American woman in space, but that ain’t all she’s done (though it is still quite a lot…)

Born in 1956, she grew up with a fascination for space travel and was obsessed with the coverage of the Apollo missions, as well as being a massive Trekkie (Lieutenant Uhura was her absolute hero)

And who can blame her?

Mae was also a shit hot dancer, training in every type of dance imaginable. But she also had that passion for science, she struggled with what to do….be a dancer or doctor? Her Mum told her:

‘You can always dance if you’re a doctor, but you can’t doctor if you’re a dancer’

That settled things. Mae trained to be a doctor at the Cornell Medical College and got her degree in 1981. As soon as she’ got that under her belt Mae joined the Peace Corps (because Mae is the best like that)

After The Peace Corps, Mae applied to NASA; the dream of going to space one she just couldn’t get out of her head. And then she got the call…she was going to be an astronaut!

In 1992, Mae was a mission specialist on mission STS-47 on the space shuttle Endeavour. Mae often started her recordings in space with the classic trekkie line

‘Hailing frequencies open’.

Uhura would be proud

After she returned to earth Mae quit NASA and went on to found her own company The Jemison Group that develop science and technology for everyday use. Another one of her company’s developed a device that mean doctors can monitor a patient’s day-to-day nervous system functions, which was developed from NASA technology.

But Mae still can’t quite shake the stars. She’s the principal of the 100 Year Starship project who aim to travel to the next solar system by the next 100 years AND are looking at developing ways to improve recycling & develop more efficient and green fuel solutions (Peace Corps for life!)

Live Long and Prosper Mae, we think you are an absolute legend.

 

4. Wang Zhenyi

Wang Zhenyi is was born in 1796 in China. She was fascinated by eclipses, which were still a mystery back then, but Zhenyi knew it weren’t no magic making that happen!

She wrote a paper on what she she thought was going on and created a model for those less wordy; using a globe, a mirror and a lamp, Wang showed how the eclipse was made by the moon blocking out the sun. Simple!

She also understood that the earth wasn’t flat, that it was a globe and that the earth rotated around the sun. This was revolutionary thinking for the time.

But Wang didn’t stop there, at the age of just 24, she wrote a book called Simple Principles of Calculation…I don’t know what you were doing at 24, but I know I wasnt spending my time moulding mathematics..

With all this science and maths, you’d be forgiven for thinking Wang was just a giant brain….but she had a huge heart to match. She wrote political poetry, touching on topics like gender equality and in her additional spare time she worked to ease the suffering of China’s poor.

How can one twenty something do this much!?!

She died aged only 29. But in her short life she published so many papers on maths, the solar system as well as some lush poems. Her work influenced countless numbers of clever clogs who came after our girl.

I’ll leave you with this mic drop of a poem by Wang:

It’s made to believe, Women are the same as men; Are you not convinced, Daughters can also be heroic?

5. Alice Ball

Alice in her graduation gear 😍

Born in 1892 Alice grew up in Seattle and took an interest in chemistry when helping her photographer Grandfather develop shots in his darkroom

Super smart and a tough cookie, she become both the first woman and the first African American to graduate from the University of Hawaii.

Just casually breaking all the boundaries

With those barriers firmly broken, Alice moved onto a bigger task…saving Hawaii.

See Hawaii had an influx of patients suffering with leprosy, or Hansen’s disease (Mmmmbop) it got so bad that people with the disease were arrested and shipped off to a leper colony on an Island off the mainland! The only treatment was a very painful injection of oil made from chaulmoogra tree seeds…and it only relieved some of the symptoms.

But, Alice had a solution! When she was 24, Alice figured out a way to make the oil injectable! She isolated the ethyl esters of the fatty acids in the oil.

Sadly Alice died shortly after perfecting this method (likely from inhaling chlorine gas during research) One of her fellow peers at Hawaii university decided to be a total shit rag and tried to steal her research and pass if off as his own. BUT thankfully, one of Alice’s mates put that fucker in his place.

I WILL CRUSH YOU!

The treatment worked. It meant people affected with the disease could now go home and see their families, and Hawaii stopped arresting their sick and chucking them on an island to forget about them.

Alice’s method of treatment, known as The Ball Method *snigger* was so good that it was used until the 1940s to treat patients with leprosy.

Her influence was huge in combating this disease, though it did take the University of Hawaii NEARLY 90 YEARS to recognise Alice’s achievements by putting a plaque to her on a chaulmoogra tree outside the University.

 

Sara Westrop is passionate about making history accessible (and fun!) for everyone. A disabled, queer writer from just outside London, who loves writing about the unsung chapters of history.

The Baddest Bitch of Stonewall

Marsha P Johnson was a fucking badass. A badass with a big heart, a creative sense of style and a fearless attitude. She was a veteran of the Stonewall riots in the late 60’s, she campaigned for Queer rights and set up a charity to help disadvantaged Queer youth.

The influence Marsha and other trans women of colour had on bringing Queer rights into the mainstream as well as the creation of Pride, protests and change in laws is often ignored or whitewashed by mainstream culture.

Marsha never missed a protest 💪🏿

Marsha was a child of poverty, she grew up in a rough neighbourhood and moved to New York City from New Jersey when she was 18. Once in New York she legally changed her name to Marsha and started getting the reputation as being the Queen with a big heart.

She was often homeless, hustled to make money (as many trans women had to) and was always getting picked up by police.

The thing I love most about Marsha is her creativity. She was a street queen who could turn any junk into treasure, she was known to put christmas tree lights in her hair and use bits and pieces she found in the trash to make her outfits.

If someone complimented her outfit she was inclined to give it to them. That’s just how she was.

Our babe Marsha 🙌🏿 Via Giphy

Marsha was at the Stonewall Inn Celebrating her birthday with friends when police raided the bar at 1.40am. The police treated the Queer community like shit and were constantly raiding and arresting people in some of the only available safe spaces they had. So tensions were already high.

Marsha fought back against the police that night and threw a shot glass into a mirror stating she knew her rights thus instigating the riots and protests against their treatment by police that lasted THREE FUCKING DAYS! This became known as the:

‘Shotglass heard around the world’

You don’t come to fuck up Marsha’s party and leave without an ass kicking.

Damn right bitch! Via Giphy

After the riots Marsha and her friend Sylvia Rivera (another trans activist) founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) and they used every penny they had to set up a halfway house for runaway LGBT youth.

Seriously EVERYTHING they made went on clothing and food for the ‘children’ they supported. They were utterly selfless.

They were still often homeless and went without themselves to help their kids. Marsha became known as the ‘Queen Mother’ of the house.

My kinda Queen Mother 👑

Marsha and Sylvia are heroes and should be lauded as such right? But during one of the first gay pride marches in New York, Sylvia took to the stage to make a speech AND THE AUDIENCE TRIED TO BOO HER OFF THE STAGE!

No, I don’t see the logic her either… but Sylvia wasn’t going to just walk off stage. Bitch turned that crowd around and by the end was leading a mammoth chant of

 ‘GAY POWER!’

Marsha was also often dismissed by other gay rights activists at the time because of her appearance and ‘kooky’ demeanor. She struggled with mental health issues and was in and out of prisons and mental health facilities throughout her life.

Once when she was in court a judge asked her what the P stood for and she replied

‘Pay it no mind.’

Same. Via Giphy

LEGEND! The judge totally let her off.

Marsha had a varied and incredible life despite her shitty living conditions.

In 1975 Marsha was photographed by Andy Warhol for his Ladies and Gentlemen series. He painted a beautiful picture of Marsha that captured her essence perfectly, our girl looks fucking radiant!

Marsha and her Warhol portrait.

As if that wasn’t cool enough she started performing in the mid 70’s with Hot Peaches an experimental queer cabaret group.

She was super popular with the audiences and loved being on the stage. She played up to being tone deaf so screamed rather than sang her numbers, AND EVERYONE LOVED IT!

Marsha scream/singing. Via Giphy

Now, guys I’m really sorry but… Marsha’s story has a really shitty ending.

She was found dead in the Hudson River not long after the 1992 New York Pride march. The death was dismissed as a suicide by the police, but her friends were adamant that there had been foul play.

There’d been sightings of Marsha being harassed in the street the night she went missing. But hey, she was black, gay and trans so they didn’t give a toss.

Marsha’s case was finally reopened in 2012 which was 20 WHOLE YEARS after her death thanks to a campaign by transgender activist Mariah Lopez (another total badass, who opened the first transgender housing unit for Rikers Island, the largest American Prison in 2014.)

Marsha’s funeral had hundreds of mourners and they threw her ashes in the river along with bunches of bright flowers. She was known for having flowers in her hair, so this gesture gets us right in the feels.

😭 Via Giphy

Her friend Sylvia was bereft without Marsha, but this bitch was tough. She carried on campaigning and helping disadvantaged LGBT youth until her death from liver cancer in 2002.

We love Marsha, she was an incredible woman who was full of life and love for everyone. We could all do with being a bit more like her tbh.

Beautiful Marsha. Via Giphy

This was really interesting! Where can I find out more? The documentary Pay it No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P Johnson is on Youtube and it is much watch stuff!!

But please, we beg you… DO NOT USE THE HOLLYWOOD FILM, AS A REFERENCE! The film, Stonewall, is a whitewashed steaming turd of a mess (obvs our opinion, but…)

Sara Westrop is passionate about making history accessible (and fun!) for everyone. A disabled, queer writer from just outside London, who loves writing about the unsung chapters of history.

How the Harlem Renaissance woke America

The Harlem Renaissance was a game changer. as a much a cultural awakening for the African American community as for the United States as a whole.

Thrusting black voices into pop culture, creating a new crop of black artists and cultural icons and most importantly; fostering a pride that hadn’t been allowed to exist before.

A 1928 copy of Negro American Magazine, fearing civil rights campaigner, Erma Seweatt

The first generation of people born free had a fight on their hands. Removed from the shackles of slavery, they were still oppressed and persecuted in their own country.

So, it shouldn’t come as a huge shock that throughout the 1920s and 30s many chose to leave the Southern states and instead head for Northern cities like Chicago and New York, where things were a whole lot more progressive.

Faced with these new bright lights, they didn’t back down. Forming communities and using art, literature, theatre and music to express themselves, their history and their future.

Strange Fruit

One of the most acclaimed artists to come from the Harlem Renaissance is the one and only Billie Holiday. 

Billie came up during the renaissance and it was here she grew her voice. Famed for touching upon subjects other singers shied away from; perhaps her most iconic song is Strange Fruit.

Recorded in the late 1930s, Strange Fruit deals with lynching. Blunt and unflinching it soon became a protest song.

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze

Though Billie feared repercussions for performing the song, she felt compelled to continue singing. After all it was the the truth, not just for her, but for everyone in America.

Strange Fruit became a stalwart Billie Holiday number for her – yet her record company refused to print it.  

Remember this was the 1930s. The civil rights movement was just a seed. Such public protests were unheard of and tended to end with, well, lynching. But Strange Fruit couldn’t be contained, eventually being released as a single by Comodor.

Strange Fruit remains a protest strong and a vital reminder of this dark time in Americas history. But it’s still banned by some.

When English singer, Rebecca Fergerson, was asked to perform at Donald Trumps inauguration, she agreed…if she could sing Strange Fruit. You can guess what Trump said.

He said no (because he is a wanker)

Shuffle Along

In an era when ‘one black per bill’ was the theatrical norm, musical Shuffle Along high kicked in and smashed every existing idea of what African Americans could contribute to theatre to shittery and back.

The chorus of Shuffle Along taking a break from ass kicking

Now I know musical theatre doesn’t seem like the tool with which groundbreaking cultural change occurs

Much rainbow, such social change

But forget what you think you know. Shuffle Along contains absolutely no technicolor dreamcoats, no needy scarred blokes living below opera houses and no jazz hands (ok fine-maybe some jazz hands)

Produced and written by an all black team and starring a black cast, Shuffle Along shook shit up when it made its debut on the early 1920s, with many of the cast enjoying their Broadway debut (including the incredible Josephine Baker!)

The musical revolved around a mayoral election (of course!) but the politics wasn’t confined to the stage. 

Shuffle Along took off, engaging with theatre goers from all backgrounds. It proved to Theatre bigwigs that even with a cast and creative team who comprised of waaay more than ‘one black’-the public didn’t care; they wanted to pay to see the show. In fact they wanted to see more shows led by African American casts and creatives!

Bigger than that (and it’s a pretty big biggy) the huge popularity of Shuffle Along led to the 1920s desegregation of theatres. For the first time, black theatre goers didn’t have to watch from way up in the gods; at Shuffle Along they could sit up at the front.

See, isn’t musical theatre great!

The Cotton club

For all the groundbreaking being done uptown, racism still existed in Harlem as it did across America. One such hot bed was popular night club, The Cotton Club.

Ok it looks fun…but trust me its not!

As it’s name suggests, the cotton club wasn’t a haven for any form of equality, with the clubs owner, gangster Owen ‘the killer’ Madden wanting his club to ooze ‘stylish plantation’ and insisting on only playing ‘jungle music’ for his all white patrons.

Surprising that someone with the middle name ‘killer’ is also a cock

But there was light! For all the Cotton Clubs racism, it’s all African American workforce was tenacious and somehow managed to turn the clubs stage into one of modern jazz’s early breeding grounds.

Acclaimed musical pioneer, Duke Ellington, served as the Cotton Clubs band leader during the late twenties. There He formed one of history’s greatest jazz orchestras and soon their music took over Americas radio stations.

Duke Ellington

After Duke left for far greener (and less racist) pastures, a new bandleader was appointed-the equally groundbreaking, Cab Calloway. Cab brought drama and flair to the clubs music, in addition to call and repeat scatting that can be seen in still iconic tracks like Minnie the Moocher.

Now those…those are moves.

Yet despite the acclaimed music on stage, the Cotton Club remained determinedly segregated. So it’s perhaps no bad thing that it was forced to close during the Harlem race riots of 1935.

The seeds of civil rights

1935s Harlem race riot effectively ended the renaissance. Much like the Cotton Club, Harlem was a hive of contradictions. Whilst it’s art celebrated the community and was applauded at the highest levels, many of Harlem’s occupants were essentially living in slums.

Things were uneasy. And After rumours ran rife that a young Puerto Rican teen had been beaten to death for shoplifting, the riot was sparked.

Police arrest a man during the 1935 riot

The renaissance art left its impact though. It lay a groundwork of pride and built a clear community voice that would be developed when the civil rights movement started to emerge following WW2.

The music, theatre and talent of this era would become forever synonymous of black culture. Whilst WW2 waged on and civil rights waited, the renaissance artists work served as a lingering reminder of everything that could be and one day would be achieved