Women's History Calendar

I just launched a really great Kickstarter campaign and I'm so excited to share it with you.  I've been working on creating a 2019 women's history calendar.  Now this isn't your average calendar, it is filled with all kinds of information like birthdays, historic events, and holidays.  It's like women's history month all year long. Find out more about this exciting project here.  On Kickstarter it's all or nothing so please help me bring this project to life. The campaign only lasts for a few days so don't wait.  

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

Henrietta Swan Leavitt studied the patterns of Cepheid stars in the Magellanic Clouds.  She worked from photographs on glass plates taken from an observatory in Peru.  She was able to correlate the size and brightness of these variable stars to the duration of their cycle. Her research lead to our understanding of distance of stars and galaxies from Earth.

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkins

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkins

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkins is best known for discovering the structure of penicillin, insulin, and B12.  She used a process called x-ray crystallography, similar to how Rosalind Franklin discovered the structure of DNA. And in case you were worried, she did receive a Noble Prize for her work.  She's even on a Britrish stamp.

Headstrong: 52 Women who changed Science and the World:

Dorothy and 51 other amazing women are featured in this amazing book.

Sophie Blanchard

Sophie Blanchard

Sohpie Blanchard may not have been the first female balloonist, but she was the fist female professional balloonist.  She and her husband made a living of ballooning.  They often gave performances such as parachuting down animals and lighting fireworks.  Sophie was also unfortunately the first female to die in a ballooning accident. 

This History Chicks Podcast:
http://thehistorychicks.com/minicast-sophie-blanchard/

Stuff You Missed in History Podcast:
https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/classics-sophie-blanchard.htm

Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr

Born in Austria-Hungry, Hedwig Keisler moved to America and changed her name to Hedy Lamarr.  Not only did she become a sucessfull actress, she also invented a few things.  She co-invented an alternating frequency technology for use in WWII for torpedos.  Later, this technology was used for Wi-fi, GPS, and Bluetooth.

Gal's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast:
https://galsguide.org/2017/06/09/hedy-lamarr-your-gal-friday/

This History Chicks:
http://thehistorychicks.com/episode-60-four-inventors/

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori was an educator best known for creating the Montessori method.  She attended medical school where she was forced to do her cadaver studies alone after hours because she was a woman. After graduation, she spent time working with special needs children.  She then opened the Casa de Bambini and developed a whole new way of educating children.  The methods involved sensory education with colored blocks, chores to keep their workspace tidy, and personal hygiene. 

Stuff You Missed in History Podcast:
https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/maria-montessori.htm

BBC Extraordinary Women Series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXqeTYHn0p4

Williamnia Fleming

Williamnia Flemming

Williamnia Fleming was one of the Harvard computers.  She worked as a maid for Charles Pickerning, the head of the  Harvard University.  Pickerning got frustrated with his male computers he exclaimed that his maid could do a better job.  So he hired her.  She worked on coming up with a classification system for stars.  She also discovered the horse head nebula.

Gal's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast:

The episode is on Annie Jump cannon but other Harvard computer women are mentioned.

https://galsguide.org/tag/annie-jump-cannon/

The Glass Universe:

I just recently heard about this book and am very excited to read it

https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Universe-Harvard-Observatory-Measure-ebook/dp/B01CZCW45O

Cynane

Cynane

Cynane was Alexander the Great's half sister.  She led army's into battle, even defeating a rival queen.

Katherine McCormick

Katherine McCormick

Katherine Dexter McCormick was a suffragist and an advocate for access to birth control in the early 1900's.  She helps smuggle diaphragms into America from Europe.  After the death of her husband, she funded the research and development of the birth control pill.

Stuff You Missed in History Class:
https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/katharine-dexter-mccormick-the-money-behind-the-pill.htm

PBS Program on the Pill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQCTUZP-jQI

Artmesia

Artmesia

Artmesia was the ruler of her city-state under Persian rule.  In 480BCE Artmesia lead a fleet of ships on the Persian side at the battle of Salamis.  At one point in the battle she rammed another Persian ship to convince the ship that was about to attack her ship that she was a Greek vessel.  Prior to the battle, Artmesia was the only one of Xerxes's advisors not in favor of attacking the Greeks.  She received high praise for her part in the battle.

Ahhotep I

Ahhotep

Ahhotep I was an Egyptian princess and later queen.  It is believed that she lead armies into battle against Egypt's enemies.  She was buried with a golden fly necklace which was a military honor. She was also buried with a golden battle ax. 

Sybil Ludington

Sybil Luddington

Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Sybil Ludington.

Sybil Ludington was a teenager during the American Revolutionary war.  Her father was the leader of a local militia.  One night, she rode 40 miles and until dawn to warn local militia of incoming British troops.  Sounds similar to Paul Revere right? except he was 40 and she was 16.  He rode with another man, she rode alone on her horse named Star.  Paul and his buddy were captured by the British a few miles into their ride, Sybil completed her mission. She also carried a big stick to ward off attackers and to pound on doors.  It was also said to be raining that night.  

Julia Gillard

Julia Gillard

Julia Gillard is best known for becoming the first female Prime Minister of Australia. She is also known worldwide for her famous "Misogyny Speech" in parliament in 2012.  As a result of this speech the definition of misogyny was been expanded on to include prejudice against women.

Abigail Adams

Remember the Ladies

Abigail Adams was more than just the wife of John Adams. The two spent many years of their marriage apart and they often wrote to each other. It is from these letters that we get the famous "remember the ladies" quote. "If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."

The History Chick Podcast:

http://thehistorychicks.com/episode-five-abigail-adams-audio/

Cokie Roberts: Founding Mothers

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024CF0GQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 

Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin is most know for discovering the double helix structure of DNA.  She used x-ray crystallography to photograph the structure.  Her lab partners Watson and Crick stole her research and claimed a Noble Prize for her work.  After leaving the laboratory that she shared with Watson and Crick she then studied RNA viruses.  Her parter Aaron Klug got the Noble prize for chemistry for their work.  She was not named on either prizes because she had already died of ovarian cancer at the age of 37.

Science Brunch Podcast:
https://soundcloud.com/science-brunch/episode-3-rosalind-franklin

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Happy Birthday Ruth Bader Ginsburg! 

The notorious Supreme Court Justice turns 85 today.  She has become famous for her dissents and her fight for equal rights not only for women, but men as well.  Even though she graduated at the top of her class in law school she often faced discrimination.  I highly recommend reading her book, In My Own Words. 

Stuff Mom Never Told You Podcast:

https://www.stuffmomnevertoldyou.com/podcasts/the-notorious-rbg.htm

RBG Documentary Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biIRlcQqmOc

Malala Yousafsai

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai is most famous for her fight for the right of girls all over the world to get an education.  When she was a girl in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, she watched the Taliban slowly creep into her town.  She wrote secretly for a BBC blog about life under Taliban rule.  Around her girl's schools were being forced to closed or bombed.  She spoke up for the right for girls to receive an education.  The Taliban shot her on her way home from school.  But that did not stop her.  After recovering in a hospital in the U.K., she still fights for the rights of girls around the world to get an education.  She even started attending university herself this year. She also won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work, the youngest recipient of the award. I was very fortunate to see her speak at DePauw University last year.

I recommend reading her book, I Am Malala.  There is also a documentary called He Named me Malala which covers the same material but with wonderful animations and clips of Malala's family and even her meeting the Queen of England.

Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm is most known for being the first African American woman elected to congress as well as the first African American woman to run for President of the United States.  Early i her congressional career she was selected to serve on the House Agricultural Committee.  She was a representative of New York's 12th district (Manhattan) and felt it was a bad placement.   There she helped establish programs like WIC.  Later she was transferred to the Veteran's Affairs Committee, she thought this was a better fit seeing as she had more veterans in her district than agricultural laborers. She ran fro president in 1972. Her famous slogan was "Unbought and Unbossed" She always felt that was was discriminated against more for being a woman than for her race. She has paved the way for women and people of color making a positive impact in her wake.

The History Chicks Podcast:

http://thehistorychicks.com/episode-78-shirley-chisholm/

Ida B Wells

Ida B Wells was born into slavery a few months before the Emancipation Proclamation.  When both her parents and a sibling died of yellow fever, Ida took a job teaching at a segregated school to support herself and her other siblings.  One day while tracing by train she was asked to move to the smacking car even though she had a first class ticket.  She refused to move and was dragged off the train by several men.  She got a job as a reporter and wrote about lynchings and civil rights issues.  She was also invoked in the Suffrage movement, even participating in the 1917 Washington DC parade.  She was asked to march in the segregated section but snuck into another part of the parade. 

History Chicks Podcast

http://thehistorychicks.com/episode-84-ida-b-wells/

Ida also makes a brief appearance in the Iron Jawed Angels movie.

https://youtu.be/hOrD0tH_WaM

Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly was a journalist.  Her most famous piece was on how she went undercover at a mental institution to expose on her experience as a patient.  The other experience she is famous for is her trip around the world in 80 days.  She actually made it in 72. She also holds a few patients.

The History Chicks Podcast:
http://thehistorychicks.com/episode-20-nellie-bly/

Stuff you Missed in History Class Podcast:
https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/nellie-bly-stunt-journalism.htm