Audre Lorde (1934-1992), ca. early 1940s, as a Roman Catholic schoolgirl, dressed for her First Communion.
September 1939. "Liquor store in Gateway District, Minneapolis." 35mm negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sees off a group of Freedom Riders as they board a bus for Jackson, Miss., on May 24, 1961.
Spelman College graduation.
July 1940. Berrien County, Michigan. "Migrant mother of family from Arkansas in roadside camp of cherry pickers." Our second look at the lady seen here last week. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon.
Emma Goldman, political cartoon, From the Yiddish Press c. 1901
Some new women’s history resources are available for you!
Women’s History Research in Archives at the University of Wisconsin has a new guide out that allows researchers to access a large number of digital primary sources. Topics include:
birth control
bookmobiles
clothing
courtship
pregnancy tests
race relations
women in the armed forces
The bookmobile 1931 -1940. The 1931 Dodge was "manned" by two ladies at all times: one to drive and one to stand on the running board to keep it from tipping over. Proper attire included "a long-sleeved dress, a broad brimmed hat and gloves" to prevent tanning.
Recruitment poster for the Women's Army Corps (WAC) dated 1965, printed in green and black, and featuring an illustration of a woman in a WAC uniform. The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project.
Passive Resistance Training, SNCC, Atlanta, 1960, by James Karales, courtesy Duke University Library.
PASSIVE RESISTANCE TRAINING, SNCC, ATLANTA, GA, 1960, BY JAMES KARALES, COURTESY DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Scheveningen (La Haye)
Albacete
The FJ Holden, December 1953.
Glory-box girls, newlywed wives, mothers with food-conscious families, young-in-heart grandmothers, even bachelor girls and bachelors gay love Pyrex. 1953.
Want to get caught up on some feminist theory and history over the summer? (“Yes, Erin, of COURSE I want to spend my summer vacation voluntarily saturating my psyche with the systematic oppression and sexual violence of kyriarchical cultures. Duh.”) Well, in case you’re my kind of masochist, here’s a decent reading list of texts to keep your brain occupied while you sit on the beach/Metro. There’s not too much queer stuff in here ( Lame. I’d supplement this list with some Halberstam, Baldwin, and Lorde at the very least), but a lot of these seem pretty accessible in a non I-have-to-read-this-for-my-women’s-studies-seminar kind of way.
Finals and papers are behind me, and a full summer of missed friends, books for pleasure and Jazz in the Garden awaits. This summer is going to be awesome.
I started this blog as an assignment for my Digital History course with the fabulous Jeremy Boggs, but I’ve found I really like having this forum to talk about history, women in history, music, and the interesting projects I got to work on this year.
Starting with archival and historiographical research, we interpreted the lives of two women inventors, Marion Donovan and Margaret Knight. There have been thousands of women inventors, but many of them haven’t been recognized due to the financial, legal, and and social limitations that women face, particularly during the 19th and early 20th centuries. So James and I took on Marion Donovan’s experiences inventing the Boater, a diaper cover that prevented leaky diapers from soaking everything in its path. We learned a ton about Donovan, about women inventors, about writing theater for museums, and about collaborating with a HUGE number of people and institutions, each with their own goals, missions, and deadlines.
The final product turned out pretty amazing – especially considering none of us had play writing experience, and best practice literature advises that museums hire professionals to develop these sort of projects. Flying by the seat of our pants and succeeding, we decided we were now experts in creating a grassroots museum theater production. So Jordan, James and I created a website, History On Stage, that gives advice on how to create a similar program for other graduate students, public history institutions, or the general public.
Designing the site was fun, and learning CSS and HTML was super educational. Who knew programming would be so fun for a bunch of right-brained history dorks? We used images from old Works Progress Administration posters as our visual inspiration, particularly this one:
Pretty hot, right?
Producing both the script and the website were great experiences, and we were so fortunate to have amazing partners, advisers, and a kick-ass team. James, Jordan, Kelly and I = team awesome. I hope you all have a similar opportunity to do some interesting, collaborative projects in history, theater, or whatever your fields of interest might be.
It’s so refreshing to see filmmakers embracing digital media as a way to explore and share information on topics relating to marginalized groups. Though the digital format cannot reach all marginalized communities (most notably those without financial or time access to the internet), it is becoming more frequently used by activists to explain the complexities of gender and sexuality to a wider audience outside of academic, activist, and queer communities.
This is a very accessible video breaking down gender roles and gender identity produced by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of New York. Props for the inclusion of multiple trans people of color! If you’re unfamiliar with issues dealing with gender and sexuality, such as the differences between gender identity and sexual orientation, what gender roles are, or the definition of “genderqueer,” check this out.
