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BREAKING GLASS CEILINGS LEAVES SCARS: Dorothy Lawrence and Cathay William

3/29/2019

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​Writing these blogs about lesser-known women in history has been an eye opener. Being the first person, man or woman, to do anything is risky and subject to criticism, no matter how far reaching the good.
 
Being the first woman to do something often results in outrageously unfair reactions or even downright cruel ones. When you read the backgrounds of the two women I’m featuring here, they have no apparent connection. One is British, one American, and they are not contemporaries, yet each woman disguised herself as a man and, for very different reasons, enlisted in the army.

Photo source: chrissyhamlin.blogspot.com/2018/dorothy-lawrence
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DOROTHY LAWRENCE (1896 – 1964)
Dorothy Lawrence was born in Polesworth, Warwickshire, England, the daughter of Thomas Hartshorn Lawrence and Mary Jane Beddall, an unmarried couple. Details about her parents and early life are vague and contradictory, but in 1909 (one source indicates 1901) her mother either died or abandoned her. Her guardian, appointed by the church, was the wealthy and respected Mrs. Josephine Fitzgerald and her husband, staunch supporters of the Church of England in Salisbury.
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During Dorothy’s early teens, the struggle for women’s rights and the right to vote was heating up in the United Kingdom. The movement challenged age-old perceptions about the role of women, and Dorothy decided on a career as a journalist. She succeeded in having several articles published by the Times and in Nash’s Pall Mall Magazine, but journalism was still a man’s world. Her chances of breaking into the field were slight to non-existent. Women didn’t get by-lines and those who had made it were relegated to light topics and women’s issues such as cooking and fashion. She needed a scoop to get noticed.                                                                    
Dorothy Lawrence - Public Domain        
                                                                                                                  
Photo source: en.wikipedia.org/Dorothy.Lawrence.woman.jpg

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​WHAT DOES A GIRL HAVE TO DO TO FIND A JOB AROUND HERE?
When the World War I broke out, she tried to get an assignment as a war correspondent. What she got was laughter and criticism. Newspapers and magazines couldn’t even get their male reporters to the front lines.

Dorothy, only 19, used her youthful wiles to convince the editor of the Times to help her get a passport to cross the channel to France. She used the same powers of persuasion to get her bicycle smuggled onto the ferryboat, and when they arrived on French soil she bicycled to Paris to volunteer for the Voluntary Aid Detachment.

When turned down for the VAD, Dorothy left Paris and went to the town of Creil, determined to write an article that would astound the journalism world. There were plenty of soldiers and action behind the lines, while the troops waited to be deployed, but not the kind of action she was looking for. After six weeks of staving off men who misunderstood her interest and brushing up on her French, she returned to Paris. Her plan to achieve her goal of reporting from the heat of the battle was to obtain access through the French quarter posing as a freelance journalist.

Two miles from the fighting, she was stopped by the police and sent back. She spent the night in someone’s haystack and decided the only way to get where she wanted to go was to disguise herself as a soldier.

WHAT AN ENGLISH GIRL, WITHOUT CREDENTIALS OR MONEY, ACCOMPLISHED
In the morning Lawrence peddled back to Paris where she met two British soldiers and convinced them to help her. The soldiers smuggled out a uniform for her, piece by piece, in their laundry. It took a while for her to pull off the ruse.

Ten men were involved in the acquisition of a full uniform. She later refers to them as her Khaki accomplices.
Accouterments now in hand, she went about transforming herself into a male soldier. She flattened her chest with a home-made corset, bulked her shoulders with sacking and cotton-wool, and persuaded two Scottish military policemen to cut her long, brown hair in a short military style.

She darkened her complexion with Condy’s Fluid, took a razor to her cheeks to give herself a shaving rash, and then added tan shoe polish to finish the look.
Finally she asked her soldier friends to teach her how to walk like a man, to drill and to march.
                                                                            
Dorothy Lawrence as teen - Photo source:                                  Dorothy Lawrence in 1915 - Public Domain      Photo source: www.wiltshireatwar.org.uk/Lawrence
 ​chrissyhamlin.blogspot.com/2018/dorothy-lawrence                   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Lawrence

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​Somehow she obtained forged identification in the name of Denis Smith, Leicestershire Regiment, and, dressed as a soldier, headed back to the British sector of the Somme River front lines. She ended up near the town of Albert where she met Tom Dunn, a member of the British Expeditionary Force Sapper, either on the road or in a ditch hiding. [A sapper is a soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, tunneling, bridge building, etc.]

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Town of Albert, France, on Western Front WWI
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Amazed by Dorothy’s bravery and worried about her safety, Dunn found an abandoned cottage where she could sleep. He smuggled her into a job with the 179 Company of The Royal Engineers, gave her tasks to do, and with his assistance, managed to maintain her subterfuge for nearly two weeks.

During the day she worked in some capacity as a sapper in the trenches 400 yards from the front line, tromping through contaminated water and dodging sniper fire, and at night returned to the cottage and subsisted on food and water Dunn and his comrades provided to her.                                                                   
In the Trenches At Somme - Photo Credit: PA
                                                                                                                             Source of Photos:
www.dailymail.co.uk/article-2537793/

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After ten days she had become ill and was having cold chills and fainting spells. She needed medical attention which surely would have ended her escapade as a man. Not wanting to jeopardize the men who helped her, Dorothy turned herself in to the nearest commander and was immediately arrested.
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​WHAT’S A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU DOING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS?
First she was interrogated by a colonel who thought her a spy and prisoner of war. Then she was transported to Calais and interrogated again by six generals and twenty other officers. After hours of misunderstanding each other, eventually the military determined she was a camp follower [prostitute] because they couldn’t fathom any other reason for her being there, although she tried to explain.
Photo source: http://www.theheroinecollective.com/dorothy-lawrence/
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Worried that she might leak sensitive information, the British military held her in France for several weeks locked in a convent, and required her to sign an agreement to not divulge her story or be arrested.

The British officials were so worried, Dorothy Lawrence knew if she could publish her story, she would have a hit.

When she got back to London, in poor health with no job and no family to go to, she tried to write an account of her experiences for the Wide World Magazine, only to have the War Office order her to destroy it. By forcing her to sign that affidavit, the government had taken away her ability to earn a living writing articles about her experiences. After the war, in 1919 Lawrence managed to publish her book entitled: Sapper Dorothy Lawrence, The Only English Woman Soldier. It got good reviews, but the conflict was over and people wanted to move on and put the war behind them, leaving her with no standing in the field of journalism and no income.

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
Or is it, “The Consequences of Truth”?

By 1925 her mental and physical health had deteriorated. She was taken to the London County Mental Hospital. It was there she revealed to doctors she had been raped as a young girl by her guardian’s husband. The accusation was written off as delusional and never investigated. Lawrence’s biographer Simon Jones says, “…if it was true it might go some way to explaining why she did what she did during the 1st World War. We know today that victims of sexual abuse do not value their own well-being – did Dorothy deliberately put herself in danger by going to France? If she understood the danger she was in, she did not seem to fear it. Albert in the Somme in those days was somewhere even the soldiers tried to avoid – they would even deliberately injure themselves – yet she headed straight for it.”
chrissyhamlin.blogspot.com/dorothy-lawrence

Chrissy Hamlin writes, “Jones later found that Lawrence's rape allegations were sufficiently compelling to be included in her medical records, which are held in the London Metropolitan Archives but are not available for general access.”

Dorothy Lawrence was transferred to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum where she remained, unvisited by anyone, for 39 years until her death in 1964.  What a terrible waste of a life. □

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CATHAY WILLIAMS (1844 – 1893?)
Cathay Williams was born in Independence, Missouri. Her father was a free man, her mother, a woman in slavery, making Cathay’s legal status also that of a slave.

Williams was also the first African-American woman to enlist and serve in the regular United States Army in the 19th century, the only woman documented to serve in the army posing as a man and prior to the official changes in the rules, and the only known black female Buffalo Soldier.

She grew up working as a house slave on the Johnson plantation outside Jefferson City, Missouri, and was there when the Civil War began in 1861 and Union forces occupied the city. At that time, any slaves captured were considered “contraband” and could be forced to serve the military as paid servants.


Cathay Williams was seventeen when she was pressed into service by the 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and she traveled with them for several years, giving her a taste of army life. She was working at Jefferson Barracks in Washington D.C., as a cook, under General Philip Sheridan’s command, when the civil war ended in 1865.

There is nothing recorded which explains her reasons for wanting a military career. She most likely had no place else to go, and this was a job open to African-American males that promised consistent employment and somewhat decent wages. She probably was uneducated and had no other job prospects. Unfortunately, women were not allowed to enlist.                               Enlistment Papers - Document from the National Archives, retrieved from buffalosoldier.net 
​                                                                                                                 Photo Source:
www.buffalosoldier.net/CathayWilliams 

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SHE DID IT HER WAY
Nonetheless, in November of 1866, disguised as a man, she managed to enlist in the 38th U.S. Infantry, Company A, in St. Louis Missouri, as William Cathay. Some sources cite a cousin and a friend who enlisted first, who not only knew William Cathay was female, but also served in the same regiment. That seemed possible to me, considering the original 8th Regiment probably took other slaves into their employ as well as Cathay. However, there is no further mention of these men.

Her faux surname was written incorrectly by the recruiter as Cathey and all her military records carry that name. She informed the recruiter she was a twenty-two year old cook. On her enlistment papers the recruiter gave her description as 5’9”, with black hair and black complexion.
Painting of Cathay Williams by William Jennings from the U.S. Army Profiles of Bravery
Public Domain - Photo source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Williams


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One has to wonder what type of perfunctory physical exam was the standard of the day or if they gave a medical exam at all, but someone deemed her fit to enlist. Nowhere during her short career did anyone make note of, or question, her gender, at least in writing. That calls for at least one demerit for the army and one for the 19th century medical system.

After several months of training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Company A then marched first to Kansas, then to New Mexico, and back to Fort Cummings, Missouri, where they stayed for eight months.

The hard life and marching took a toll, and Cathay’s health deteriorated. She was hospitalized five times in four different hospitals and missed quite a few days of duty. The final time she was admitted to the hospital was at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, where she was diagnosed with rheumatism and neuralgia. [Neuralgia was a term applied to acute nerve pain, but can be the symptom of several diseases, so the doctors never really understood what was wrong with her.]
Army soldier Cathay Williams by artist Will Davis
Photo source:newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/Cathay-Williams

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Various references claim this is when the doctor discovered she was female and outed her to the post commander. Other sources indicate the army didn’t find out. While there is no mention of her female gender anywhere in any military records, the fact that she was immediately discharged suggests the claim is likely to be true. However, her commanding officer, Captain Charles E. Clarke, stated as the reason for her discharge that Cathay was “feeble both physically and mentally, and much of the time unfit for duty. The origin of his infirmities is unknown to me.”
 

IS THERE LIFE AFTER THE MILITARY?
Honorably discharged on October 14, 1868, Cathay returned to life as a female and, using her own name, took a job as cook for Fort Union, New Mexico. Later she moved to Pueblo, Colorado and worked at a laundress. She married briefly, but her husband stole money and a team of horses from her, so she had him arrested and put in jail. From there, she moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where she was known as Kate Williams and earned her living as a seamstress, cook, and doing other odd jobs.
 
A reporter from St. Louis got wind of her story and interviewed her. The article appeared in the St. Louis Daily Times on January 2, 1876. Information from that interview is probably the most accurate information available to describe Cathay’s feelings and motivations, but was after-the-fact by ten years.
 
In 1890, Cathay was hospitalized for a year and a half, which left her destitute. She applied for a pension from the U.S. Army, claiming her disabilities of deafness, rheumatism, and neuralgia resulted from, and were apparent during her time with the Army. During her stay in the hospital in Trinidad, all of her toes had been amputated, and she could only stand using a crutch.
 
The Army denied the claim, stating that she had no disabilities [although there was no question that she did], her conditions were preexisting, and her service in the Army was not legal [but didn’t note why it was illegal].

Statue, Levenworth, Kansas, dedicated in 2016
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hoto source: sheroesofhistory.wordpress.com/cathay-williams

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No one knows what happened to Cathay Williams after the denial of her claim for a disability pension. Not the time and place of her death, although researchers speculate that she only lived a year or two after the disposition of her claim, and not the location of her grave.

Recognizing and honoring Cathay Williams for being the only documented black woman who served in the Regular Army infantry during the 19th century is important and fitting. That in itself is remarkable. The fact that she was able to enlist at all and keep others from finding out for two years is even more astounding.
 
The real lesson her life teaches us is that regardless of the circumstances, whatever the odds, she prevailed over everything life sent against her. She prevailed and did so with courage, honor and dignity. For that she will be remembered in history.
 
AFTERWORD
Knowledgeable people who have researched Cathay William’s life and medical records speculate that she had a mild, non-insulin-dependent form of diabetes. Apparently that would account for most of the aliments Williams suffered and, without proper treatment and diet, increased her susceptibility to viruses which, no doubt, abounded under those conditions. It would account for the nerve pain and overall weakness. Today, this condition can easily be controlled with diet and exercise. Even then, had diabetes been diagnosed, she was young enough to be treated.□
 

NOTE: “Buffalo soldiers were African American soldiers who mainly served on the Western frontier following the American Civil War. In 1866, six all-black cavalry and infantry regiments were created after Congress passed the Army Organization Act. Their main tasks were to help control the Native Americans of the Plains, capture cattle rustlers and thieves and protect settlers, stagecoaches, wagon trains and railroad crews along the Western front. No one knows for certain why, but the soldiers of the all-black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments were dubbed “buffalo soldiers” by the Native Americans they encountered.” https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/buffalo-soldiers
Apparently they had nothing to do with buffalo.
 

Sources: Dorothy Lawerence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Lawrence
https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/inspire/life/7-inspiring-women-who-shaped-britain?qt-latest_popular_featured_tabs=1
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/dorothy-lawrence
https://womeninthegreatwar.weebly.com/dorothy-lawrence.html
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=plAUpqkO&id=F60DFAEFBE28F37815079C78B90C3C7145461257&thid=OIP.plAUpqkOCNp3ml_ahSw4BQHaE7&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wiltshireatwar.org.uk%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2015%2f06%2fDorothy-Lawrence1.jpg&exph=4
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/battle-of-the-somme
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2537793/She-fought-Somme-disguised-Tommy-did-Dorothy-die-unloved-unlauded-lunatic-asylum-Incredible-story-British-woman-fight-trenches.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caAW6e3d7C0
http://primaryfacts.com/5461/dorothy-lawrence-facts-and-information/
https://spartacus-educational.com/FWWlawrenceD.htm
https://chrissyhamlin.blogspot.com/2018/01/dorothy-lawrence-journalist-sapper-at.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wartime_cross-dressers
http://www.wiltshireatwar.org.uk/story/sapper-dorothy-lawrence-a-forgotten-wiltshire-heroine/
https://www.stylist.co.uk/visible-women/dorothy-lawrence-female-war-correspondents-facts-quotes-ww1-sapper-life-forgotten-women-issue-409/198448
https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/absent-friends/9-the-disappearance-of-dorothy-lawrence-copyright-museum-of-london-sm/
http://www.theheroinecollective.com/dorothy-lawrence/
 

Sources: Cathy Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Williams
https://newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/The-Only-Known-Female-Buffalo-Soldier-Cathay-Williams
https://www.blackpast.org/aaw/vignette_aahw/williams-cathay-1850/
https://www.buffalosoldier.net/CathayWilliamsFemaleBuffaloSoldierWithDocuments.htm
https://mic.com/interactives/black-monuments/cathay-williams
https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/texts/hidden-figures-of-womens-history-cathay-williams
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/ballad-cathay-williams-william-cathay
https://amazingwomeninhistory.com/cathay-williams/
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/cathay-williams/
https://www.nps.gov/people/cwilliams.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wartime_cross-dressers


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LESSER-KNOWN WOMEN IN HISTORY: Phillis Wheatley 1753-1784

3/22/2019

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Not everyone – man or woman – with noteworthy accomplishments gets credit for those achievements, however remarkable they may be. Therefore, I’ve chosen to blog each week in March about lesser-known women who have made a mark on history.

PHILLIS WHEATLEY (1753-1784)

Phillis Wheatley was America's first black woman to be published, and the second woman to publish poetry. [Anne Bradstreet was the first.]

For most of her life she was a slave but still became a respected author and one of the best known poets in pre-19th century America. Also a loyal patriot, she was living proof for abolitionists that blacks could be both artistic and intellectual. “A person so favored by the Muses,” wrote George Washington to her in a February 28, 1776 letter, “and to whom Nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations.”


A PERSON FAVORED BY THE MUSES
Phillis was born in West Africa (probably present day Gambia or Senegal) and sold into slavery at the age of about seven. Rather than being sent to either the West Indies or Southern colonies for hard labor in the fields, she ended up with slaves sent to Boston because of age and/or frailty.

She was purchased at the Boston docks by the family of John Wheatley, who was either a prominent merchant or tailor (or both), for a pittance because the captain of the slave ship thought the girl was ill and about to die. The family named her Phillis, after the ship that brought her from Africa.


It didn’t take long for the Wheatley family to discover what a prodigy she was. John Wheatley, a progressive thinker, recognized her unique talent and supported Phyllis's education. She was released from some of her household duties to study with the Wheatley’s 18-year-old daughter Mary and their son, Nathanial. Within a year and a half she was reading the Bible, Greek and Latin classics and British literature. She also received education in other subjects such as geography, mathematics, and astronomy.

By the age of twelve, she was writing poetry about hope, freedom and morality, which her owner John Wheatley showed off to many of his friends in high places. He also allowed her to focus on her education instead of housework.

Phillis sent her first poem to the University of Cambridge-New England, Entitled “On Messers Hussey and Coffin.” In 1767, the poem was published in the Newport Rhode Island newspaper Mercury, stirring up a lot of discussion and establishing her as the first African-American to be published.


Publication of her poem “An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine George Whitefield” in pamphlet form in 1770 by Russell and Boyles, Boston, reached Boston, Newport, and Philadelphia, and appeared alongside the funeral sermon for Whitefield in London. The poem, written in heroic couplets, describes Whitefield as bringing the voice and knowledge of God and Jesus to the Americas. 
Even at the age of seventeen, the poet’s spiritual language incorporates themes of inclusion and equality.
                                                                            
          "We hear no more the music of thy tongue;
                                                                                      Thy wonted auditories cease to throng."

▼ Photo source: www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/phillis-wheatley
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THE AMERICAN POPULACE LETS DOWN THEIR MOST FAMOUS POET
Her reputation not-with-standing, when Wheatley tried to publish her book of poetry, people questioned that an African slave could write poetry, and she had to defend her authorship in court in 1772. She won the case, and John Wheatley convinced some of Boston’s most respected men, including the governor and John Hancock, to review the work and vouch for the poems’ authenticity.

​Even with that, American publishers wouldn't publish her book of poetry. The next year, in 1773 (age 20), she traveled with Nathaniel Wheatley to London where chances of publication were better. She was introduced to high society, and they were quite enthusiastic about her work.

Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon
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▼Photo Source: en.wikiquote.org/Selina_Hastings

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Selina Hasting, the Countess of Huntingdon, who had known George Whitefield, supported Phillis's poetry, and Wheatley's first book of poems was published in London in 1773, dedicated to the Countess and containing the forward signed by 18 distinguished men including, Governor Thomas Hutchison, Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver, and future signers of the Declaration of Independence John Hancock and Benjamin Rush. No small potatoes!  In London, her book was reprinted four times in the first year, and was available in the colonies a year later.  Book “Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral”
                                                                                                              ​
▼ Photo Source: www.osgf.org/blog/poetry-of-phillis-wheatley

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Despite the distinguished endorsements, it wasn’t printed in America until 1786, after the author’s death. It was popular enough that during the remainder of the 1700’s, there were an additional seven editions.

The engraved portrait of Phillis Wheatley, used as the frontispiece to her poems, Reflections on Various Subjects Religious and Moral (London, 1773), is attributed to the poet and visual artist Scipio Moorhead, a slave in Boston, Massachusetts, and a friend of Phillis Wheatley. One element of the identification of the portrait as Wheatley might have been a mention of the subject’s finger held to her cheek. This engraving has been copied many times.
Frontispiece to “Reflections on Various Subjects Religious and Moral”              Portrait of Phillis Wheatley, Wheatley Hall, Univ.of Mass, copy of drawing    Photo source: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/Wheatley                           believed to be by Scipio Moorhead - Photo source:  ▼
                                            ▼                                                       www.massachusetts.edu/remembering-wheatley-hall-namesake

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 Phillis's poems were about learning and virtue, patriotism, battles, and the greatness of America, but she was reluctant to write about slavery. One poem was about George Washington, then the leader of the Patriot Army, which she read to him in person.
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Although she had the freedom to write poetry, recited it in many places, and became well known, Wheatley was still a slave. All the money she earned went to the Wheatley estate. When John Wheatley died in 1778, five years before the state of Massachusetts outlawed slavery, his will provided for giving Phillis her freedom.

In 1778, Phillis Wheatley married John Peters, a grocer she had known for five years. Her friends disapproved of him, probably because he was ambitious and purportedly prided himself on his great business acumen. Apparently he was intelligent, personable, wrote and spoke fluently, but also tended to exaggerate his credentials, even calling himself Dr. Peters and saying he was a lawyer.                                                                                                                                                                   John Peters Portrait 
▼
                                                                                                                                                        Photo 
Source: google.com/search?biw=1360&bih/John Peters  
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After they married, Peters and his new wife moved to Wilmington, Massachusetts, but due to the economics after the war, it was difficult for blacks to compete for jobs. Phillis continued writing and still communicated with certain famous people, including George Washington, but circumstances worked against her. They sank into poverty and debt, and lived in poor conditions.
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Sources vary regarding their offspring. One indicated she lost two children. In 1784, John Peters landed in debtor’s prison and while he was still there, Phillis Wheatley died in childbirth at the age of 31. Her last surviving child died shortly afterward.
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IN PERSPECTIVE

Even in her day and status, this remarkable woman achieved high and popular acclaim. American author James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) described Phillis Wheatley as “one of the important characters in the making of American literature, without any allowances for her sex or antecedents.”

The author of https://wheatleysboston.org/ sums it up with the following:
    Phillis Wheatley’s “life as a freed woman became emblematic of the experiences of freed people of color in the early republic. Though she was able to marry a free black grocer, John Peters, she struggled to make a living as a poetess.
   In many ways, Phillis’s story is both unique and ordinary. Not many African slaves left written records of their experiences in the colonies, and even less had the opportunity to become published poets.
    Phillis story, however, reveals the inequality that African slaves faced in colonial America. Slavery was a widespread reality in the British colonies, from Massachusetts down to Georgia. This legal and economic system served to bolster the social and economic power of the colonies’ elites. In the case of Phillis Wheatley, slavery meant having access to a literary world that highlighted her talent but benefited her masters. This inequality became most apparent when she attempted and failed to publish her poetry as a freed woman. She had little recourse but to clean homes in order to survive.”
​

This woman should be an American icon, and I don’t believe she is even mentioned in history courses. Fortunately, she is not forgotten, only lesser-known to the American public than she should be..

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Boston Women’s Memorial
Photo source: https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/2017/02/16/african-america-history-month-sculpture-in-our-parks/

The statue of Phillis Wheatley is one of three women subjects of the Boston Women’s Memorial on Commonwealth Avenue Mall. As described in the dedication program from 2003, “These three women share a strong sense of Boston identity, a place in national history, a passion for social justice and the ability to inspire and impact people.”   https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/2017/02/16/african-america-history-month-sculpture-in-our-parks/
 ▲Photo source: friendsofthepublicgarden.org/2017/Phillis Wheatly   ▲                    ▲ Photo source: www.gamecareerguide.com/features/
“Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand, That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, "Their color is a diabolic die." Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.” __ Phillis Wheatley

"In every human Beast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom;
It is impatient of Oppr
ession, and pants for Deliverance." __ Phillis Wheatley 
​

​Sources:

http://www.artfixdaily.com/blogs/post/873-phillis-wheatley-or-dido-elizabeth-belle
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley#tab-poems
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/phillis-wheatley
https://npg.si.edu/blog/phillis-wheatley-her-life-poetry-and-legacy
https://www.biography.com/people/phillis-wheatley-9528784
http://www.pwacleveland.org/bio
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/phillis-wheatley
https://www.osgf.org/blog/making-a-new-america-the-poetry-of-phillis-wheatley
https://mmofraghana.org/uncategorized/sailing-on-a-name-phillis-wheatley-and-sarah-bonetta/
https://www.grossmont.edu/people/karl-sherlock/english-231/notes-exercises/phillis-wheatley.aspx
https://wheatleysboston.org/
https://blog.oup.com/2017/02/john-peters-phillis-wheatley/
https://edu.glogster.com/glog/phillis/26ipov87mnw?=glogpedia-source
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/phillis-wheatley-106.php
http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/poetry-and-fame/
https://twitter.com/pardlo/status/900186009366908929

Photos
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1360&bih=657&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=38iTXJ38DY3AsAXK86sw&q=John+Peters%2C+husbANd+of+phillis+Wheatley&oq=John+Peters%2C+husbANd+of+phillis+Wheatley&gs_l=img.12..35i39.6249.22013..24817...0.0..0.199.4250.11j29......1....1..gws-wi
https://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/816/results_from_game_design_.php?print=1
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LESSER-KNOWN WOMEN IN HISTORY: Hedy Lamarr

3/15/2019

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March is Woman’s History Month, a time dedicated to highlighting “the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society.” Therefore, I’ve chosen to blog each week in March about women who have made a mark on history.

HISTORY IS FICKLE
Since the beginning of history, women have contributed an unbelievable amount of knowledge, discovery, and talent in every field resulting in the changing of technology, law, social development, and attitudes. Unfortunately, history is fickle, often immortalizing inconsequential events and minimizing some major events to the point where they are left out of history books and school curriculum. Let’s shine a light on some of the women whose names you might not know--but who also helped shape the future of our nation.
​

Hedy Lamarr - publicity still for 'Heavenly Body' (1944). MGM
Photo source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr
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HEDY LAMARR
Most people of a given age recognize the name and photo of Hedy Lamarr, one of the most famous actresses among many other glamour girls who starred in films in the mid-twentieth century. Most people who recognize the name may also wonder why she’s featured as a lesser-known woman in history. She was a popular actress and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but that’s not exactly a mark on history.

But here she is. Let’s find out why.
​

BACKGROUND
Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Austria in 1914, daughter of a banker and a pianist. As a child she studied ballet and piano and attended a Swiss boarding school, but was always fascinated by films. In her teens she attended a well-known acting school in Berlin but dropped out to become production assistant for Max Reinhardt, a theater and film producer.

She had bit roles in several films [between two and four] until, at 18, she was cast as the lead in Gustav Machaty’s film Ecstasy which featured a number of nude scenes. She was disillusioned by the experience, but the film became wildly popular as well as controversial, and was banned in the United States. Her career was off and running. Instead, at barely 19, she married Fritz Mandl, an Austrian munitions manufacturer and Nazi supporter fifteen years her senior and, at his insistence, retired from the film business.

Lamarr accompanied Mandl to business meetings, where he conferred with scientists and other professionals involved in military technology and weapons. His company was engaged in researching weapon control systems and during these meeting there were discussions that foreshadowed World War II. These conferences were her introduction to the field of military weaponry and fed her latent talent in mathematics and applied science. Despite the lack of any formal training in math and science, she understood what she heard.

Fritz Mandl was very controlling, and Hedy soon realized her career in film was over if she staying in the marriage. After four years, her situation became intolerable. There are various stories of how she escaped, one being that she dressed as a maid, took all her jewelry, and fled to England. Her notoriety brought her in contact with Louis B. Mayer, who signed her reluctantly because of concerns over moral issues. He changed her name to Hedy Lamarr, and she made her American debut in the film Algiers in 1938.                                     Publicity Photo for Heavenly Body 1944 -
Public domain
​                                                                                                                          Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org/Hedy_Lamarr

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A twenty year career was launched during which she made at least twenty films. After World War II her popularity began to decline, and MGM did not renew her contract. Unfortunately for Hedy, she turned down the leads in both Gaslight (1940) and Casablanca (1942), both of which would have assured her continued status with the American public. She writes in her biography that this was one of the biggest mistakes of her life. She was married six times. Her last film was made in 1958.

THE MOTHER OF “SPREAD SPECTRUM” AND ‘FREQUENCY HOPPING”
The glamorous movie star is not the person we’re celebrating. In her downtime, when not acting, Hedy Lamar was an inventor. Her trailer was full scientific equipment, funded by her many friends including J.F. Kennedy and Howard Hughs. Her inventions include an improved traffic stoplight and a tablet that dissolved in water to create a carbonated drink -- unsuccessful because the drink, Lamarr said, tasted like Alka-Seltzer – and a communications system that is still on the cutting edge of modern telecommunications technology.

A communications system that everyone around the world uses every day -- the precursor to cell phones, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

Photo source: www.forbes.com/sites/shivaunefield/2018/

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When Hedy left her husband Markl, the technical discussions she witnessed had concluded that radio waves were better than wires for facilitating communications between a commander and a torpedo, but radio waves could be detected and jammed. That left an unsolvable problem for Hitler, for whom her husband was building weapons.

World War II broke out, and Lamarr had her own reasons to oppose it. She was a staunch supporter of the United States and its allies. Exactly when and how Lamarr got the idea for her “Secret Communications System”, is hard to determine, since there are several versions of the story. The important fact is that she realized transmitting radio signals along rapidly changing frequencies would make American radio-guided weapons undetectable. With the sequence of the frequencies known by the sender and receiver ahead of time, messages, if detected by the enemy, would be nonsense to them.

She approached George Anthiel, Hollywood pianist and composer, for help. Even thought asking composer for help sounds strange, in the 1920's Anthiel had been a front runner exploring mechanical music. He had composed the famous "Ballet Macanique" which called for mechanically synchronizing sixteen player pianos, xylophones and percussion. Together they developed a mechanism similar to player piano rolls to synchronize the changes between 88 frequencies. They submitted their patent on June 10, 1941, and it was granted on August 11, 1942.

Instead of marketing the idea, they turned it over to the US military as their contribution to the war effort. It was reviewed superficially by the US military and filed away as impractical. Hedy was told she could do more for the war effort by using her celebrity status to sell war bonds … which she did.
​

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Photo source: https://www.multicominc.com/training/technical-resources/hedy-lamarr-inventor-of-wfi/
According to MulticomInc, “Their work paved the way for today’s wireless communications and which, upon its invention in 1941, was deemed so vital to national defense that government officials would not allow publication of its details.” Nonetheless, the MulticomInc article also refers to Lamarr as making a “small contribution to wartime technology.”
​
Physics History indicates frequency hopping was not an entirely new concept. Nikola Tesla alluded to the idea in 1900 and 1903 patents. A similar patent for a “secrecy communications system” was granted in 1920, with additional patents granted in 1939 and 1940 to two German engineers. Evidence came to light in the 1980s that during World War II, the US Army Signal Corps worked on a communication system that used the spread spectrum concept as well.
​
​
Photo Source: www.ebay.com/itm/HEDY-LAMARR-US-PATENT
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At the time, Lamarr and Antheil couldn’t convince the US Navy who listened, but deemed the clockwork mechanism was too bulky and unreliable to use with a torpedo.

It wasn’t until 1957 that engineers at Sylvania Electronic Systems Division adopted the concept, using the recently invented transistor for an electronic system. In 1959 it idea was developed for controlling drones that would later be used in Viet Nam. Frequency hopping radio became a Navy standard by 1960.


TOO LITTLE TO LATE
Hedy Lamarr was honored as an actress in 1960 by her star on the Walk of Fame, but it wasn’t until 1998 that her invention was nationally acclaimed. She and George Anthiel were awarded the Electronic Frontier Foundation award, fifty years after they received their patent. [Antheil died in 1959]

​
▼ Hedy Lamarr’s star - Photo source:                           The Electronic Frontier Foundation Award        Gallery of Icons, National Inventors Hall of Frame
projects.latimes.com/hollywood/hedy-lamarr/         http://www.writeopinions.com/eff-pioneer-award
     www.glassdoor.co.uk/National-Inventors-Hall-of-Fame

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In 2014 both were inducted, posthumously, into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. They never got to see their names in the Gallery of Icons in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Due to the expiration of the patent decades before the modern wireless era and Lamarr’s unawareness of time limits for filing claims, neither she nor Antheil profited a penny from their endeavor although their invention is now worth billions of dollars.
​

Hedy Lamarr died, impoverished, in Florida in 2000. She spent her final years living on SAG and social security checks amounting to $300 per month.□


Sources:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hedy-lamarr-not-just-a-pr/
http://listverse.com/2018/09/08/10-incredible-women-forgotten-by-history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr
https://people.seas.harvard.edu/~jones/cscie129/nu_lectures/lecture7/hedy/lemarr.htm
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics/hop-skip-and-a-jump-remembering-hedy-lamar/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shivaunefield/2018/02/28/hedy-lamarr-the-incredible-mind-behind-secure-wi-fi-gps-bluetooth/#3126349e41b7
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001443/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shivaunefield/2018/02/28/hedy-lamarr-the-incredible-mind-behind-secure-wi-fi-gps-bluetooth/#4fe473f141b7
https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201106/physicshistory.cfm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgo2yij8YxU
http://www.women-inventors.com/Hedy-Lammar.asp

​https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Photos/National-Inventors-Hall-of-Fame-Office-Photos-IMG1066629.htm
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LESSER-KNOWN WOMEN IN HISTORY: Amelia Bloomer 1818-1894

3/8/2019

1 Comment

 
DON’T GET YOUR BLOOMERS IN A WAD
Amelia Jenks Bloomer was a noted Women’s Rights advocate, but that isn’t the only aspect of her life worthy of note.
​ 
She was born in 1818 in Homer, New York, to Ananias Jenks and Lucy (Webb) Jenks. She grew up in a family of modest means, attended a local school (Homer Academy on the Village Green). for a few years, became a devoted Episcopalian, and lived a somewhat unremarkable childhood. In her later teens she taught school for a short time. At seventeen, she decided to move in with her recently-wed sister, Elvira, in Waterloo, New York. A year later she took a position as live-in-governess for the Oren Chamberlain family in Seneca Fall, NY.
​

Photo source: www.pinterest.com/507710557976609614
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In 1840, at the age of twenty-two, she married Dexter Bloomer, a law student and owner of a newspaper, The Seneca Falls County Courier. Her husband not only encouraged her to write for his newspaper, but he even gave up drinking as part of the Temperance Movement.
​
At thirty, she attended the first women’s right convention held in Seneca Falls in 1848, although she did not participate. A few months later founded her own temperance newspaper, The Lily, for women by women because, some sources say, her husband’s paper didn’t address women’s issues adequately. She is considered the first woman to own, operate, and edit a publication for women.                                                                                    
Photo source: www.pinterest.com/507710557976609614

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​The Lily started out as a vehicle for the Seneca Falls Ladies Temperance Society, but in a few years had it expanded to a circulation of 4,000 readers and had a broad mix of contents ranging from cooking to social issues.

Amelia Bloomer, herself, is described as a small, slight, dark-haired woman with good features and a pleasant expression. Timid and retiring by nature, she was a sternly serious person, seemingly lacking in any sense of humor.


Okay. By now you know she was a Women’s Rights advocate, and the first woman to found and operate a women’s publication. So far, so good.

Photo sources:commons.wikimedia.org/AmeliaBloomer

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THE REBIRTH OF AN IDEA
The manner in which a name becomes attached to an idea or physical product it often not clear cut and can be misleading. Amelia Bloomer is no different. She did not invent the idea of women wearing pants or split skirts. That goes way back, and I’m not going there.

I found several versions of how Amelia got involved in the issue of bloomers, but Wikipedia had the clearest explanation I could find which was corroborated by other sources.

“In 1851, New England temperance activist Elizabeth Smith Miller adopted what she considered a more rational costume: loose trousers gathered at the ankles, like women’s trousers worn in the Middle East and Central Asia, topped by a short dress or skirt and vest.

Miller displayed her new clothing to Elizabeth Cady Stanton (women’s rights activist), her cousin, who found it sensible and becoming, and adopted it immediately. In this garb Stanton visited Bloomer, who began to wear the costume and promote it enthusiastically in her magazine. Articles on the clothing trend were picked up in The New York Tribune. More women wore the fashion which was promptly dubbed The Bloomer Costume or “Bloomers”.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Bloomer

                    The split skirt bicycle or horseback riding outfit                  Amelia in her Bloomer Outfit        News clipping of Elizabeth Cady Stanton wearing
                    Photo source: genealogylady.net/bifurcated-skirt/                   Hulton Archive/Getty Images                   the controversial bloomer costume
                                                                                                             
www.britannica.com/bio/Amelia-Bloomer         http://www.victoriana.com/bloomer-costume/

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The Lily actively promoted the idea of a change in women’s dress standards that would be more comfortable and less restrictive for regular activities. She believed women’s clothing should accommodate the individual wants and needs and promote health, comfort, and usefulness, making personal adornment a secondary factor. The style, dubbed as the Bloomer Costume, suited Amelia, and she designed outfits and enthusiastically promoted them.

​          
Photos source: http://www.victoriana.com/bloomer-costume/ ​                                     Photo Source: https://studylib.net/doc/5765980/amelia-bloomer
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Even though many women liked the idea and wore the outfit, over the next few years the design concept took so much criticism in the press and harassment on the streets, that the suffragettes and Women’s Rights advocates, including Bloomer, stopped wearing it. The following is a link to a cartoon typical of those published (probably by men) making fun of the style:  http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/women-smoking-and-wearing-bloomers-draw-stares-from-passers-news-photo/3164973
​

Amelia Bloomer didn’t come up with the idea, but her designs and promotion of the outfit in her magazine brought it to the attention of American women and the press, and I, for one, believe we owe her a debt of gratitude and recognition for popularizing the concept that women deserved to be more comfortable in their clothing.

THANKS FOR THE PANTS
By 1850 women’s fashions were relatively conservative compared to the overdone fashions seen in the Victorian era. Simple day dresses and bosom-flattening corsets were the order of the day. Amelia Bloomer wore such fashions.


This is what a woman went through to just get dressed in the morning. Don’t forget, not everyone had maids and servants, and many women had the same kinds of responsibilities as women do today such as washing clothes, caring for children, cooking dinner, and cleaning house. Doing all that in full skirts and corset couldn’t have been comfortable even in an everyday working dress.

Source of photos: photo source: sovereignhilledblog.com/gold-rush-undies-womens 
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◄1. Dressing consisted of donning various layers of apparel. First she put on leg coverings called pantalettes. After all, the legs needed to be covered should the skirt rise enough to expose the legs. On top of that went a light but long shirt called a chemise.

​► 2.  Over that went the tight corset stiffened with wood, ivory, bone or whale baleen to create an hourglass figure (even when one wasn’t there to start with). Often corsets were pulled so tight the woman had trouble breathing. The corsets were also responsible for back problems, curvature of the spine, and headaches.

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◄3.  That still wasn’t enough! Over that women wore petticoats to fill out their skirts until the “crinoline” or “caged petticoat" became the French fashion in the 1850s.
​

►4.  With a caged petticoat Instead of several cloth petticoats, the ampleness of the skirt resulted from a stiff frame with hoops made of cane, rope, spring steel and whale baleen sewn into a petticoat or over one or two petticoats. Try bending over in that if you want to show some leg and your behind. ​Over the hoop the woman would put on another couple of petticoats, and finally the dress with wide enough skirts to present a fire danger. Not joking. That was a real problem.

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No wonder Amelia Bloomer advocated for changes in women’s fashion.

It is not hard to intuit, however, where the idea came from (besides other cultures). Take another look at the first layers: pantalettes and chemise. Women in the 1850s, at some time or other, must have walked around the room in the first layer of undies and felt the difference. Here's all you have to do. Using fabric for outer garments for the chemise and pantalettes, belt the waist of the chemise (but not so tightly), fluff out the skirt and add a petticoat or two, and take in the ankles of the pantalettes (so they can’t push up on the leg) and -- Ta Da! You have the Bloomer outfit.
                                                                                                        ▼ Photo source:www.pinterest.com/383250405170995611                    ​
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The Basic concept is not that different from styles still popular in the 21st century, although some of the designer fashions would probably send Amelia Bloomer leaping out of her grave screaming … along with some of the rest of us.

Design by Suzy Menkes                                                                                                                                                    Design by Kirsten Sinclair - Photo source:         
Photo source:
www.vogue.fr/suzy-menkes/psychedelia                                                                           https://www.glamour.com/gallery/biggest-fashion-trends-2019
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Amelia Jenks Bloomer is recognized as an eminent figure in the US suffrage movement, a forward thinker and advocate of change – both political and sartorial – some decades before Women’s Rights movement gained its drive. She encouraged women to think for themselves, but her name will always be remembered in relation to introducing the American public to the idea of women’s trousers. □

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/people/amelia-bloomer-9216245
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/social-sciences-and-law/social-reformers/amelia-jenks-bloomer
https://www.accessible-archives.com/2012/10/new-historic-marker-honors-amelia-jenks-bloomers-childhood-home/
https://explorethearchive.com/15-important-women-in-historyZ
https://www.bing.com/search?q=amelia+bloomer+biography&form=EDGSPH&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&refig=ab28aab2972948e39aa3f6163aadb6ab&sp=1&qs=AS&pq=amelia+bloomer+&sc=8-15&cvid=ab28aab2972948e39aa3f6163aadb6ab&cc=US&setlang=en-US
https://www.biography.com/people/amelia-bloomer-9216245
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Bloomer
https://explorethearchive.com/biographies-of-famous-women
https://lynnwalsh.wordpress.com/tag/amelia-bloomer/
uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=35
sadiegen.blogspot.com/2013/07/highlights-in-fashion-history-amelia.html
https://www.afterellen.com/general-news/532195-amelia-bloomer-introduced-first-gender-nonconforming-fashion-1851
https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/woman-suffrage/bloomer-amelia/
https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/lily-liberty-amelia-bloomer-200
https://www.accessible-archives.com/2012/10/new-historic-marker-honors-amelia-jenks-bloomers-childhood-home/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/114912227976517537/?lp=true
http://www.victoriana.com/category/fashion/
https://genealogylady.net/2015/10/18/fashion-moments-bifurcated-skirt/
https://www.history.com/topics/womens-rights/seneca-falls-convention
https://www.history.com/topics/womens-rights/seneca-falls-convention
https://theimpactofthefeministmovement.weebly.com/seneca-falls-convention.html
https://studylib.net/doc/5765980/amelia-bloomer
http://www.katetattersall.com/early-victorian-undergarments-part-4-pantelettes-pantalettes/
 
 
 
 


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LESSER-KNOWN WOMEN IN HISTORY: Wu Zetian, The Only Female Emperor of China

3/1/2019

0 Comments

 
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HISTORY IS FICKLE
Since the beginning of history, women have contributed an unbelievable amount of knowledge, discovery, and talent in every field resulting in the changing of technology, law, social development, and attitudes. Unfortunately, history often immortalizes inconsequential events and minimizes some major events to the point where they are left out of history books and school curriculum.

Not everyone – man or woman – with noteworthy accomplishments gets credit for those achievements, however remarkable they may be. That’s too bad.

​The names and accomplishments of many women such as Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Helen Keller, are well recorded in history and studied by students. Taylor Pittman of the Huffington Post writes that “While the Harriet Tubmans and Amelia Earharts certainly deserve the legacies they've earned, it's important to shine a light on some other women whose names you might not know--but who also helped shape the future of our nation.”
Women may not always get the historical credit their male counterparts do, but as these women show, they were always there doing the work.


HISTORY NEEDS SOME SPACE
Because it’s not an exact science, History is capricious in other ways, as well. Nothing can be written, photographed, painted, or otherwise recorded without a point of view through the eyes of the creator. Even a sound recording can be incomplete. My point is that in the act of physically recording an event, regardless of how it happens, there is an attitude projected about the value of and the motivations for the occurrence.
​
Over time, the perceived outcome of any action can viewed in a positive, negative, or indifferent light, regardless of how people felt about it at the time, or which side of the story they favor.

Source: Facebook
me.me/i/think-women-weaker-sex

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Even though, throughout history, women have changed laws, broken new scientific ground, shattered gender barriers, and forged new attitudes, it wasn’t until 1987, when the national Women’s History Project petitioned Congress, did the predominantly male governing body of the United States publicly acknowledge women’s contributions in general. They passed Public Law 100-9 designating the month of March as Women’s History Month to highlight the contributions of women in history and contemporary society.

International Women’s History Month is celebrated in March by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In Canada these achievements are celebrated in October.

This action was a long time in coming, in my humble opinion, but since then many women have joined the ranks of the worldwide heroes whose names and stories are known to the general populous. Unfortunately, not all people get the credit they deserve for the contributions they make and are often overlooked by scholars of history and the public. To-day, there are many famous women whose names have become household words – they are even studied in school – so I intend to spend the month of March blogging about some of the women whose achievements have been overlooked by history and the school system.
Wu Zetian, Emperor of China-
Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

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WU ZETIAN (624-705)
Wu Zetian was the only female emperor in Chinese history and one of the most controversial monarchs … even considering contemporary rulers. She was known by several names and ruled effectively during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE). The Tang Dynasty at the time was a strong unified empire after four centuries of political discord and foreign interaction. This dynasty signified a turning point for women and was a period of time when, throughout China, their voices were heard despite the Confucianism teachings that women were unfit to rule.

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​While some historians consider Wu Zetian highly gifted and a brilliant strategist, others equate her to the Wicked Witch of the West, leaving death and destruction in her wake. All agree she used her brilliant mind and political skills to pull off Machiavellian maneuvers to achieve and sustain her power.

IN THE BEGINNING
Wu Zetian was born in Wenshui in 624, to a noble family. Her father was a prominent chancellor, and she was educated in politics, music, and history. Strong willed, she scorned girly things expected of a female and preferred to read and write, which were male activities. Instead, her father encouraged her and also allowed her to travel with her parents, giving her a wide view of political affairs.
​
At the age of 14 (possibly 13) she was taken to Tang palace to become one of Emperor Tai Tsung’s fifth–tier concubines. She was young and it took a while, but she rose through the ranks quickly to become the emperor’s mistress. He was impressed with her knowledge of history, her ability to read and write, and her equestrian skills.
During this time at the palace, she also met Crown Prince Kao Tsung, who later became Emperor Gaozong.


RISE TO POWER

Even though Wu Zetian was a favored concubine of the emperor, historians believe she was also sharing a bed with Prince Kao Tsung during the same time.

In 649, when she was 25, Emperor Tai Tsung died, presenting Wu Zetian with a dilemma. Upon the death of an emperor, his concubines were sent to a Buddhist Nunnery to live in chastity. I’m sure you can imagine Wu’s reaction. She didn’t like that idea for squat.


Whether she actually went and was brought back to the palace or managed to stay isn’t clear. Most of the sources claim she was at the nunnery for more than a year and then brought back by Kao Tsung, by then named Emperor Gaozong, who made her his favorite concubine.                                                                                 Emperor Gaozong 
                                                                                                                                                                                         Photo source:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaozong

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Another version indicates the emperor’s first wife, Lady Wang, was having problems with his first concubine and manipulated events to bring Wu Zetian back. The two of them together managed out oust the first concubine, but Wu Zetian was still under the empress.

By the time Wu had given birth to two sons and a daughter in 654, she decided it was time to get rid of the Empress. The stories are that while Emperor Gaozong was on a trip, she strangled her own daughter, accused the Empress of the murder, and stripped the woman of her title. Most historians disagree the child wasn’t murdered and believe she may have died of carbon monoxide poisoning from the lamps and poor ventilation. Either way, Lady Wang was gone and Wu Zetian was proclaimed empress in 655.
Image: auction.zhuokearts.com
Photo source: www.trendingpod.com/empress-wu-zetian/

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Immediately she took part in state affairs and in 660, when the Emperor was afflicted with an eye disease, she was ready to take over and ruled in his name until he died in 683. When her sons became emperor (one after the other), she still ruled on behalf of her emperor sons. In 690 she deposed the second son and declared herself emperor of a new Zhoun dynasty.

ROLE REVERSAL
Early records contained rumors of sex-scandals in Wu Zetian’s court, and after she became emperor, she took on four or five of lovers, including a monk whom she eventually had executed because of his greed an abuse of power, and two young brothers.

According to encyclopedia.com/women/, “If WuZetian is judged by the traditional females virtues of chastity and modesty, then she falls short of expectation. But if she is observed in the context of the sexuality of the male rules, then the number of her favorites is insignificant.”

Despite her rise to power through manipulations, murders, and support of the intellectual and religious establishments, history acknowledges she was a better ruler than her sons in both vision and statecraft. Toward the end of her reign she became paranoid and a little ditzy. Ultimately, at the age of 80, she was forced to abdicate in favor of her exiled son Zhongzong and his wife Wei. She was in very poor health anyway by this time and died a year later.
​
During her rule as dowager empress and emperor, a stable economy and low taxation enabled population and economic growth and a period of relative peace in her empire of 60 million people.

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​WU ZETIAN’S CONTRIBUTIONS
Let’s put our female emperor into perspective.

First, Wu Zetian challenged the traditional male dominance of power, state, sovereignty, monarchy, and political ideology. She succeeded in a male-ruled and power-focused society where women were deemed unfit to rule or have any voice at all in government, and rule was passed only from father to son. The challenge of the status quo alone was a huge step.

The fact that she not only functioned and survived as emperor is amazing. She proved a woman could have the strengths the culture attributed to only men, including political ambition, long-range vision, skillful diplomacy, power drive, decisive resolve, shrewd observation, talented organization, hard work, and firm cruelty.
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In other words, Wu Zetian’s reign showed everyone that the attributes needed in diplomacy and leadership were not restricted to men, and that the rules of succession were out of whack, at least in relation to her.

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Second, because of Wu Zetian was successful, when she ultimately fell from rule, the men who had suffered under her reign ensured that she was unfairly vilified in the official historical records as a dangerous precedent - a female ruler. Male authorship has portrayed her as a beautiful, calculating, brutal, cruel, and power-hungry woman.

The result of rewriting events is that Tang dynasty record-keeping gives precise details despite the fact that the events occurred 1,300 years ago. In Europe records are often limited to who was the ruler but not who were his advisers and what they did on particular days. After generations of historians and scholars working to separate the truth from the fiction, the general consensus is that she was iron-fisted and not afraid of acting as her male counterparts would have acted, but she was not quite the brutal monster she’s often made out to be in the “official” records and legends.

Now, let’s look at what she did do. In each case, different writers and historians have found a flip-side to her actions, painting them as motivated by sheer desire for power. Let’s see what you think. As Dowager Empress and Emperor Wu Zetian accomplished the following:

   ● Created new characters for the Chinese system of writing, still known today as Zetian Characters. These characters were supposed to replace between 10 and 30 of the older characters and were Wu's attempt to change the way her people thought and wrote. Although these characters were removed after her reign they still exist as a Chinese dialect in written form.
   ● Changed the composition of the ruling class by removing the entrenched aristocracy from influencing her court.
   ● Gradually modified the civil service examinations to recruit men of merit to serve in the government, taking the most vital step to transform aristocracy into a merit-worthy system.
   ● Allotted political clout to some women, but did so without challenging the Confucian tradition of excluding women from participating in the civil service examinations.
   ● Improved the public education system public, hired dedicated teachers, and reorganized the bureaucracy and teaching methods.
   ● Reformed the practice of agriculture by implementing a system of taxation that rewarded officials whose people produced the most crops and taxed their people the least.
   ● Ordered farming manuals to be written and distributed.
   ● Had the land surveyed for the first time.
   ● Built irrigation ditches to help grow crops.
   ● Redistributed the land so everyone had an equal share to farm, increasing production to an all-time high.
   ● Reformed military exams for commanders to show competency, to measure intelligence and decision making, and reformed selection process to include interviews rather than appointment based on family connections.
   ● Ordered successful campaigns against Korea, inspiring confidence in her military decisions. Her spy network and secret police stopped rebellions before they had a chance to start and the military campaigns she sent out enlarged and secured the borders of the country.
   ● Took back dynasty lands which had been invaded during the reign of Emperor Taizong and redistributed them so they were not all held by aristocrats.
   ● Re-opened the Silk Road, which was closed because of a plague in 682 CE.

Whatever else she was, Emperor Wu Zetian was a champion of women’s rights and of the lower classes. Her motives were to ensure her own authority, but her actions and politics had long range impacts and reinforced the legitimacy of women as active decision-making members in the ruling class.

Promoted by her policies, Chinese society in the Tang period transformed from one dominated by a military and political aristocracy to one governed by a scholarly bureaucracy drawn from the gentry.

□
Sources:
https://www.headstuff.org/culture/history/wu-zetian-female-emperor-china/
http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/people/history/1706/4652-1.htm
https://historicalmusingssite.wordpress.com/2017/02/22/wu-zetian-ruthless-autocrat-or-enlightened-despot/
https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/wu-zetian
https://tdfmm.wordpress.com/2018/05/05/wu-zetian/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian
totallyhistory.com/empress-wu-zetian/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wu-zetian-624-705
https://www.chinasage.info/wuzetian.htm
https://www.chinasimplified.com/2014/03/28/wu-zetian-chinas-female-emperor/
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Wu%20Zetian%20(624-705)&cbir=sbi&imageBin=&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=wu%20zetian%20(624-705)&sc=0-19&sk=&cvid=6D13797C5176447989931DF0CC4BEF6D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Gaozong_of_Tang
https://www.factinate.com/people/42-ruthless-facts-wu-zetian-empress-china/
https://www.factinate.com/people/42-ruthless-facts-wu-zetian-empress-china/
https://www.trendingpod.com/reviews/inspire/lessons-for-women-from-empress-wu-zetian/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-demonization-of-empress-wu-20743091/
https://www.ancient.eu/image/4649/china-during-wu-zetians-reign/

 
 

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    Author R. Ann Siracusa

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