Here are a few links to some of the articles about women in history you’ll find on HistoryNet and our partner sites, ArmchairGeneral. and GreatHistory.
Irena Sendler’s story demonstrates how women in history are overlooked. A social worker in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation, Ms. Sendler saved the lives of over 2,500 children by convincing their parents that relocation were their best chances for living. She recorded the children’s names on bits of paper, which she then placed in jars and buried in her fruit garden. As part of the Zegota, the Underground Railroad for Jews in Warsaw, she smuggled children out of the city in any way she could, even in coffins and body bags. But no good deed goes unpunished, and she was twice imprisoned, first by the Nazis, then later by Communist Poland. Her gift to humanity was recognized by four Kansian schoolgirls who wrote a play, Life in a Jar, to honor her work. Years later the international stage would recognize her heroism through a Nobel Peace nomination in 2007. Alas, global warming was more fashionable that year, and it was awarded to Al Gore.
Women of the Wild West were badass. They braved the untamed frontier, encountering hostile climates, landscapes, men, and beasts. I’m pretty sure they braved wearing dresses, although I’m less sure about heels.
Tales like the one of Dilchthe, the Apache grandmother, escaping from her captors and forging through the Arizona desert to her home with no weapons or provisions, remind us that the will to survive knows no genders or cultures.
The case of Barbara Jones, who with her ten sons and husband moved to the New Mexico territory, is one of extraordinary pragmatism. When one of her son’s eyelids was almost severed on account of his face meeting with some broken glass, she whipped out her sewing kit and stitched him up. Then kissed it better and sent him on his way, I’m sure.
The oldest profession found the West fertile hunting grounds, and while the ladies of the night may not have necessarily lived long, they did prosper.
Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane are known as the rootin’ tootin’ women of the West. The fact is, while Oakley was a sure shot, she retired to her quiet life in Ohio when not traveling with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Ms. Calamity, on the other hand, was a hard-drinkin’, cussin’, brazen sort. Just the type to fit in with the Wild West.
Imagine being so famous and important you have an era named after you. You’d either have to be incredibly lucky or really good. Queen Elizabeth I was probably both.
This British monarch reigned over the England of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and defeat of Spanish Armada, but questions of her legitimate claim to the throne plagued her accession. In response, she created the persona of Queen Elizabeth, a woman who said little and made few strong alliances. She was masterful at keeping her French and Spanish enemies at bay. She even kept the pope guessing, who was very interested to see if Elizabeth was going to exercise the Protestant option and turn England into a state of heretics.
What Elizabeth was best at, however, was not marrying. She had watched her father Henry VII kill a couple of his wives (including her mother Anne Boleyn) and psychologically torture the others. Marrying a king from outside England would mean England was now being controlled by a foreign power. And marrying a mere English nobleman, well, that was out of the question. She stayed single to retain her power as Queen. Interesting.
Great History has its own Women’s History category filled with short, informative articles.
