Remember the Ladies
This is a project for my Women's Studies class. I believe that great women are horribly underrepresented in history, and I think that needs to change. In an attempt to raise awareness about women's contributions to world history, I made 48 posters, each dedicated to a different historical figure, and put them up around campus. While you are reading, here are things to keep in mind:
1. These may not include enough info for your liking, but these have to fit on an 8x11 piece of paper, so I have to be choosy.
2. If you find factual errors or have a problem with a post, let me know and I'll do what I can to fix it. Also, feel free to reblog with corrections.
3. If you have a problem with one of the reading suggestions, again, let me know what would be better and I'll fix it. (I haven't read all of them because I'm only 20 and I have not had enough years in my life to read every single one of these books.)
4. I can handle criticism, as long as it is constructive and communicated in a civilized manner, and not full of aggression and menacing angryness. I'm only a freshman and probably an idiot, so a gentle touch is needed.
5. This is an extra credit project and something I'm doing in addition the other mountains of work that I have, so some of these were written in about 15 minutes. Sorry. It's the college way. So enjoy the blog. Happy history-hunting. :)
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When the “East Side Joan of Arc” was just 16, she gave a speech entitled “What Socialism Will Do For Women” at the Harlem Socialist Club. This led to her expulsion from high school, which she seemed to find mildly annoying at best. A year later, she became a full-time organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and spent the next few years organizing campaigns around the country among garment workers, silk weavers, textile workers, restaurant workers, and miners. As a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1920, she was active in the campaign against the conviction of Sacco and Vanzetti (two Italian immigrants convicted of anarchy on flimsy evidence). She also spoke out for women’s rights, particularly birth control and suffrage. In 1961, she was made chairperson of the Communist Party of the United States and continued to campaign for Communist causes (a ballsy position to take in the early 60s). She died a few years later during a visit to the Soviet Union and was given a state funeral in the Red Square before her remains were flown back to Chicago.
Further reading:
The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography, My First Life (1906-1926) by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Words on Fire: The Life and Writing of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn by Rosalyn Fraad Baxandall
Iron In Her Soul: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and the American Left by Helen C. Camp
