Mary Patten: Master of Her Fate

Though rare, famous tales of notorious female pirates have become more widely shared as time went on. Names like Anne Bonny and Mary Read are at least recognizable, if not commonly known. There's nothing wrong with sharing these stories. After centuries of people reveling in the dastardly deeds of the Calico Jacks and Blackbeards of...

Mary Church Terrell, Professional Game-Changer

From the day she was born in 1863, Mary Church Terrell was at a crossroads. As a child of mixed race parents, her very genetic makeup confounded the population and infuriated the racists among them (in Memphis in 1863, the very year the Emancipation Proclamation was—well, proclaimed, there were surely many racists). At school, surrounded...

Founding Mothers: Revolutionary Women Who Helped Build America

"Behind every great man is an even greater woman." I'm sure you've heard that phrase before. It may not always be true, but perhaps its updated, feminist sister quote is: "Behind every great man is not a woman. She is beside him. She is with him, not behind him." The point is, women deserve credit...

Hannah Crafts and The Bondwoman’s Narrative

America's history is, without a doubt, tainted. Chances were, if you weren't a white man on the wealthy side, you were susceptible to judgement, hatred, cruelty, and other goodies. And as much as America would like to burn its bridges with its awful past, the fact and the matter is that America was shaped –...

100 Years of Women’s History

Times have been tough for us women. Even today, we're fighting as hard as we always have for things that should have been ours a long time ago (our own bodies, for example). But, since this is a history blog, the activist movements of the present aren't really my focus – they are, however, my inspiration....

Annie Londonderry: The Circumnavigating Cyclist

I'm sure you're familiar with at least one of these "around the world" stories. There was, of course, the novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, which inspired journalist Nellie Bly to imitate the trip in real life and beat the fictional record. Amelia Earhart attempted her own circumnavigation, but mysteriously disappeared before completing the journey....

Theodosia Burr: The Life and Mysterious Death of Aaron Burr’s Pride and Joy

You've probably definitely heard of Hamilton, the musical that breathed life into the long-dead Founding Fathers–with, you know, more rapping. I–and many others–have since become enamored with the original Broadway cast, including one Leslie Odom Jr., who played Aaron Burr in the musical and whose concert I attended not too long ago. He of course sang a few...