Bonus: Margaret Sanger and her unusual last name
Who doesn’t love last name origin stories! According to HowManyofMe.com, “Sanger” is the 8,497th most popular last name in the United States. In total, there...
Catherine of Aragon will win all your battles
I know the question that has kept you up in a torment of unknowing is “DID famed 16th century English queen Catherine of Aragon protect England against...
Mary Ann Shadd Cary has had enough of this nonsense
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was a bunch of bullshit. You know who else thought that? Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Shadd Cary (1823-1893) grew up in Delaware, but...
Emma Goldman wants you to dance in the revolution
It’s International Workers’ Day! Let’s look at Emma Goldman! Emma Goldman (1869-1940) was a radical anarchist who is MOST famous for some variant of “If I...
Khutulun of Mongolia could probably spare some horses for a fellow horse gal
Khutulun of Mongolia, a 13th century warrior, SEEMS like fairytales were based off her. This is mainly because she said any man that wanted to marry her had...
Dorothea Dix will fix all your systems
Did you know! Dorothea Dix, in the mid-1800s, not ONLY visited every public and private mental facility she could, but she did so to catalog their issues and...
The Uprising of the 20,000!
This week is the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911. That tragedy is well-talked about, so I’d instead like to focus on the amazing...
Fun facts about women warriors
Triệu Thị Trinh led over 1,000 Vietnamese people in rebellion against the Chinese in the 3rd century when she was TWENTY years old. Also she rode a war...
Doug tells us about Susanna M. Salter
My friend Doug has a long history of writing guest posts for me, and I can't have a themed series without him. A few weeks ago, he texted me saying "I just...
Clara Barton and Einstein
DID YOU KNOW Clara Barton was working in the U.S. Patent Office at the beginning of the Civil War? Then she was like “inventions be damned!” and went to...
It's the witches one!
Today’s “Women’s History. But FUN” is about witches because I decided it would be. So! Here are some famous witches! As listed on witchcraftandwitches.com....
Damn, women have done a wide range of things
Isabella Lucy Bird was the first woman elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. She also visited Australia and DID NOT LIKE IT, which is fair...
Women's History Month Special Edition!
Happy Women's History Month! What a great time of year! As I say in this article for Book Riot, the first women's history conference was held in 1979. 40...
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti is upending all your colonial systems
The country! Nigeria. The woman! Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (1900-1978). Also called "the Lioness of Lisabi," Ransome-Kuti fought for women's rights in Nigeria,...
Angelina Grimke will burn it all down
“All I ask of our brethren is, that they will take their feet from off our necks and permit us to stand upright on that ground which God destined us to...
The Most Beautiful Suffragette
Inez Milholland. The martyr to the American women’s suffrage movement. She died from pernicious anemia, which as martyrdoms go, isn’t the MOST dramatic, but...
Madam C.J. Walker has a tonic for that
Since my life revolves around women's history, sometimes I assume everyone knows a thing when they emphatically do NOT. They've got other shit to do. And I...
Empress Theodora probably knew how to train bears
Theodora was probably a sex worker and was definitely the daughter of a bear trainer AND ALSO became Empress of the Byzantine Empire by being awesome. She...
Women's History: Galentine's Day Edition
Happy Galentine's Day! Did you know if you search "famous female friendships in history" you get a whole bunch of posts about famous TV friendships? If you...
Mary Church Terrell is doing a great job
Mary Church Terrell not only co-founded the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) but also was married to a man named Heberton, which is delightful....