Eggplant.place

18d

#OnThisDay, 25 Oct 1947, women in Malta vote for the first time. Almost 35,000 women go to the polls.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #VotesForWomen #MalteseHistory #Histodons

newspaper clipping about the election, reading:

Women Vote for First Time.
YESTERDAY'S POLLING IN MALTA ELECTIONS.
GREY skies and strong winds yesterday greeted the first day of polling on the reinstitution of responsible government in Malta, Nevertheless, early risers were waiting at the polling stations when these opened at 8 a.m. Women who are voting for the first time in Maltese history. rose to the occasion and, in some stations, even outnumbered
men, though in general men were more numerous.

1y

#OnThisDay, 8 Jun 1944, Violette Szabo returns to occupied France by parachute for her second posting with the British Special Operations Executive.

She is captured two days later, after a gun battle. She's tortured and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. She is killed in Jan 1945. Her daughter Tania received the George Cross on her behalf in 1947.

Violette Szabo's story was filmed as Carve Her Name With Pride (1958).

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WorldWar2 #Histodons

photo of Violette Szabo. She is a white woman with dark hair.

ALT

photo of Tania Szabo. She is a five-year old white girl in buckle shoes. A senior Army officer is leaning down to look at the George Cross pinned to her summer dress.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

8d

#OnThisDay, 3 Nov 1992, voters in Illinois, USA, make Carol Moseley Braun the first African-American woman to be a US Senator. She takes up office in 1993.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons

A campaign badge for Carol Moseley Braun, and a portrait photo of her. She is a Black woman with a classic 1990s blow-out hair do.

ALT

Edited 8d ago

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

7d

#OnThisDay, 5 Nov 1872, suffragists Susan B Anthony and 13 other women illegally vote in the US Presidential election.

Anthony is subsequently arrested and put on trial. She is found guilty, but refuses to pay the fine. The judge decides not to jail her.

Nine of the voters were initially reported as a "minor topic".

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons #VotesForWomen

1/2

MINOR TOPICS.
Miss SUSAN B. ANTHONY has had the honour of leading to the polls the advanced guard of the coming squadrons of female voters. The little
band of nine ladies whose ballots were received by the election inspectors at Rochester deserve a permanent place in history, We have heard before of solitary instances of the recognition of the female franchise; but this picket guard of nine is a tangible enough force to make people reflect on the future possibilities which it involves. The fact is not stated, but we may assume with tolerable certainty that the nine ladies at Rochester showed their capacity for an intelligent exercise of the franchise by voting for GRANT and DIX.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

#OnThisDay, 10 Aug 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is sworn in as an Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons

Ruth Bader Ginsberg being sworn in, with Bill Clinton behind her. She is short, and had yet to develop her signature giant collar style.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

#OnThisDay, 18 Aug 1920, women in the US gain the right to vote when the 19th amendment is ratified by Tennessee, the 36th state to ratify it.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #VotesForWomen #AmericanHistory #Histodons

Alice Paul standing on a balcony with a flag showing a star for each state that has ratified the amendment. A group of women stand below it. Everyone is white.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1d

#OnThisDay, 11 Nov 1865, Dr Mary Edwards Walker receives the Medal of Honor from US President Andrew Johnson for her services as a field surgeon in the American Civil War.

A lifelong "dress reformer", she wore trousers under short dresses and eventually switched to trousers and jackets. She was frequently arrested for her choice. "I don't wear men's clothes, I wear my own clothes," she said.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WomenInWar #AmericanHistory #Histodons

1/2

Dr Mary Edwards Walker in a dress in around 1863, wearing the medal. She is a white woman with dark hair tied back.

ALT

Dr Mary Edwards Walker in later life. She is a white woman with white hair wearing trousers, a frock coat and a topper. She still has the medal on the breast of her coat.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1d

#OnThisDay, 11 Nov 1906, British composer Ethel Smyth's opera 'The Wreckers' opens in Leipzig. Appalled by cuts made by the production, she removes all copies of the score from the orchestra pit to prevent further performances.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #VotesForWomen #BritishHistory #MusicHistory #Histodons

1/2

sketch of Ethel Smyth by John Singer Sargent (1901). She is a white woman with light hair in a bun, mostly hidden under a large tam o'shanter hat.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

#OnThisDay, 24 Aug 1896, an unknown woman cyclist has a beer at the bar in New Jersey - making headlines in the New York Times.

Chapeau!

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Cycling #AmericanHistory #Histodons

Newsclipping. Headline: She drank her ale at the bar. Subheading: Girl Cyclist in Rahway Amazed Loungers in Chamberlain's. Story then tells how the woman ordered and drank a beer straight from the bottle whilst standing at the bar, to the amazement of the men in there.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

#OnThisDay, 25 Aug 1932, Amelia Earhart successfully lands in Newark, New Jersey, to become the first woman to fly solo across the USA.

Earhart records a series of first flights by a woman, before disappearing during an attempt to fly around the world in 1937.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #WomenPilots #Histodons

ALT

Edited 1y ago

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

#OnThisDay, 24 Oct 1901, American Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first *person* to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

The cat did *not* do the stunt with her.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Histodons

Annie Edson Taylor being helped ashore along a plank, having survived the falls. She is a white woman in a blouse and skirts.

ALT

Annie Edson Taylor standing with the barrel "Queen of the Mist". She is a white woman in large skirts, and is only a few inches taller than the barrel. A small white cat is sitting on top of the barrel.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

#OnThisDay, 11 Oct 1922, Alaska P Davidson becomes the first woman to be an FBI Special Agent. She was employed to focus on the trafficking of women across state lines.

J Edgar Hoover requests her resignation, along with her colleagues Jessie Duckstein and Lenore Houston, in 1924. The FBI does not appoint another woman as a Special Agent until 1972.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons
1/2

photo of Alaska P Davidson. She is a white woman with dark hair in a bun.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

“Had she been a man she would have become Prime Minister.“

#OnThisDay, 21 Oct 1958, Stella Isaacs (Baroness Swanborough) becomes the first woman to take a seat in the UK House of Lords.

She campaigned tirelessly for the rights of refugee children.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #BritishHistory #histodons

Stella Isaacs in the uniform of the WVS she helped found. She is a white woman with light or silver hair and she's looking thrilled about something.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

#OnThisDay, 27 Oct 1967, the Abortion Act gains royal assent. It allows women in the UK – except for Northern Ireland - to legally have an abortion on a range of medical grounds but stops short of making abortion legal.

It came into effect in April 1968 everywhere except Northern Ireland: NI passed their own act in 2020.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #BritishHistory #Histodons

Six women holding up signs that together read "no return to back street abortion"

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

#OnThisDay, 28 Oct 1908, Muriel Matters, Violet Tillard and Helen Fox unfurl a banner and then chain themselves to the grille in the Ladies Gallery in the House of Commons, London, demanding votes for women.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #BritishHistory #Histodons
1/2

Dramatic newspaper illustration of Muriel Matters being taken away along with the trellis she had chained herself to. She is white, as are all the dudes in tailcoats trying to tell her off.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

129d

#OnThisDay, 5 July 1957, Althea Gibson becomes the first Black person to win a #Wimbledon Singles tennis trophy.

Blogpost by Moira from 2019:
https://illustratedwomeninhistory.com/althea-gibson/

Newsreel: https://youtu.be/2EJCqBsh2Dk?t=1m15s

Listen to her being interviewed here (dead bird link)
https://twitter.com/BBCArchive/status/1412427791396659204

#BlackHistory #TennisHistory #WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Histodons

Althea Gibson holding the rosewater bowl and a bouquet of flowers. She's looking thrilled.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

102d

#OnThisDay, 1 Aug 1786, Caroline Herschel discovers comet C/1786 P1, becoming one of the first women to find one (and have it named after her). Her brother was appointed court astronomer to King George III. When Caroline took a government salary for helping him she became the first woman to be paid for her astronomical work.

This week, 2025, Prof Michele Dougherty became the first woman to be Astronomer Royal.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WomenInSTEM #Histodons

engraved illustration of Catherine Herschel. She is an older white woman in a most excellent bonnet. She is giving the engraver the side eye.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

348d

#OnThisDay, 28 Nov 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovers the existence of pulsars.

Not included in the 1974 Nobel prize for the discovery, Bell received a £3m prize for her work in 2018. She's used it to set up a foundation to improve the diversity in STEM.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WomenInSTEM #Histodons

Jocelyn Bell Burnell in the 1960s, in front of a radio telescope. she is a white woman with dark hair, wearing a sensible duffle coat given how cold it must have been out there.

ALT

Jocelyn Bell Burnell in the 2010s. She is a white woman with dark grey hair.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

346d

“The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became.”

#OnThisDay, 1 Dec 1955, Rosa Parks does *not* give up her seat on the bus for a white passenger, and is arrested. Her refusal is a key moment in the American civil rights movement.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons
1/3

Mugshot of Rosa Parks after her arrest. She is a black woman with glasses.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

315d

It's ALIVE!

#OnThisDay, 1 Jan 1818, Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' was published anonymously. Her gothic novel was also one of the first science-fiction novels.

#ReadMoreWomen #LiteraryWomen
#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Histodons

painting of Mary Shelley by Rothwell. It shows a white woman with sloping shoulders, dark hair and gold glasses

ALT

Frontispiece of Frankenstein’s first edition without any author’s name on it.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

224d

#OnThisDay, 2 Apr 1917, Jeanette Rankin is sworn in, becoming the first woman to sit in the US Congress.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons

Jeanette Rankin standing in front of the dome of the US Capitol on a windy day. She is a white woman with dark hair.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

300d

#OnThisDay, 16 Jan 1970, Dilma Rousseff, a member of the Brazilian guerrilla movement against the military government, was arrested. She was labelled the “Joan of Arc” of the movement.

In 2011 she became the first woman to be president of Brazil.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Histodons

Black and white photo of Dilma Rousseff at her military court hearing. The judges in the background are hiding their faces with their hands.

ALT

Edited 299d ago

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

320d

#OnThisDay, 26 Dec 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie announced their discovery of radium.

In 1903, Marie, Pierre and Henri Becquerel received the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on radiation. Marie was the first woman to receive the award.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #WomensHistory #WomenInSTEM #NobelWomen #Histodons

1/2

posed photograph of Marie Curie in her lab holding a volumetric flask. She is a white woman with dark hair.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

287d

#OnThisDay, 29 Jan 1891, Liliʻuokalani is sworn in as Queen of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

She is the first, and only, regnant queen of the country and is deposed in a coup in 1893 that was supported by the US marines.

#RegnantWomen #WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Histodons

Liliʻuokalani in London in 1888 where she was an official envoy of the Hawaiian king at Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. She is a Hawaiian woman with dark hair, wearing a fashionably ornate day dress.

ALT

Edited 286d ago

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

286d

#OnThisDay, 30 Jan 1913, Ida B Wells forms the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago, Illinois, to give a voice to Black women who had been excluded by national suffrage organisations because of their race.

In March 1913, the club headed to Washington DC to take part in the national Women’s Suffrage Procession. They were told to march at the back, in a segregated section, so as not to upset white southern women.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons

1/2

Ida B Wells in the 1920s. She is a Black woman with greying hair.

ALT

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

womenshistory