Memoirs Of A Gaysha

knowledgeequalsblackpower:

womenwhokickass:

Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree): Why she kicks ass

• She is an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist, born into slavery in New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. 
• Her best-known extemporaneous speech on gender inequalities, Ain’t I a Woman?, was delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. During the Civil War, Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army; after the war, Truth tried unsuccessfully to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves.
• Late in 1826, Truth escaped to freedom with her infant daughter, Sophia. She had to leave her other children behind because they were not legally freed in the emancipation order until they had served as bound servants into their twenties. When Truth learned that her son Peter, then five years old, had been sold illegally by her previous enslaver to an owner in Alabama, she took the issue to court and, after months of legal proceedings, got back her son, who had been abused by his new enslaver.
• On June 1, 1843, Truth changed her name to Sojourner Truth and told her friends, “The Spirit calls me, and I must go.” She became a Methodist, and left to make her way traveling and preaching about the abolition of slavery. 
• In 1844, she joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Northampton, Massachusetts. Founded by abolitionists, the organization supported women’s rights and religious tolerance as well as pacifism. There were 210 members and they lived on 500 acres (2.0 km²), raising livestock, running a sawmill, a gristmill, and a silk factory.
• Truth started dictating her memoirs to her friend Olive Gilbert, and in 1850 William Lloyd Garrison privately published her book, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. That same year, she purchased a home in Northampton for $300, and spoke at the first National Women’s Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts.
• Over the next decade, Truth spoke before dozens, perhaps hundreds, of audiences. From 1851 to 1853, she worked with Marius Robinson, the editor of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Bugle, and traveled around that state speaking. 
• In 1856, she traveled to Battle Creek, Michigan, to speak to a group called the Friends of Human Progress. In 1858, someone interrupted a speech and accused her of being a man; Truth opened her blouse and revealed her breasts.

After Black men got the right to vote, all Truth’s former White women abolitionist friends became so extremely racist (What? Your gonna let niggers vote before a White woman!), and it really alienated her. It was sad to read, because it was those same women that were having her speak at events and helping her… and then suddenly, Black men got the right to vote and all hell broke loose.

Truth is one of those Black History Month regulars. People know of her, more than most Black historical figures, but because they know of her, they don’t actually take the time out to truly learn about her.

I found this to be a good book. Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol by Nell Irvin Painter.

(via loveyourchaos)

yourgrunklestan:

eccecorinna:

hotelsongs:

carecub | xekstrin | wrathofprawn:

for those not in the know, night witches were russian lady bombers who bombed the shit out of german lines in WW2. Thing is though, they had the oldest, noisiest, crappest planes in the entire world. The engines used to conk out halfway through their missions, so they had to climb out on the wings mid flight to restart the props. the planes were also so noisy that to stop germans from hearing them combing and starting up their anti aircraft guns, they’d climb up to a certain height, coast down to german positions, drop their bombs, restart their engines in midair, and get the fuck out of dodge.

their leader flew over 200 missions and was never captured.

how the fuck is this not taught in every single history class ever

pretty sure I’ve reblogged this before but it can happen again

it’s back omfg yes

(via stfuconservatives)

redbritain:

This is the emblem of the Armenian SSR. The mountain featured in the symbol is Mount Ararat, claimed by Armenia but within Turkey’s borders.
The Turkish government complained to the Soviets about this symbol, accusing them of irredentism. The Soviets pointed out that Turkey’s flag had a crescent moon and star on it, and asked if Turkey was claiming the universe.
Turkey dropped the issue. 

(via bistravoda)

nybg:

sciencechicks:

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a German naturalist and scientific illustrator who studied plants and insects. Her detailed observations and documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly make her a significant, but not well known, contributor to entomology.

Scholars at the time believed insects came from spontaneous generation. However, Maria studied what actually happened during the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies and illustrated the stages of their development and published books of her illustrations. In 1699, she traveled to Surinam, South America for two years to collect and sketch the local plants and animals. After her return, she sold specimens and published a book about the insects of Surinam. In 1715, Maria suffered a stroke, but continued to work even though she was partially paralyzed until her death in 1717.

Pleasant pollinators or not, the thought of insects spontaneously generating from the aether—or, as some early philosophers believed, from decaying biosludge—must have kept people up at night before thinkers like Merian came along.

We promise our bugs won’t spring fully formed from nothingness. The Mexico-bound Monarchs are guaranteed to have followed the prescribed path of pupation, and our honeybees have to raise their young from eggs like any other. See them in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden during “Pollinator Pals,” now through October 5. Alternatively, look for them fluttering almost anywhere in the NYBG where flowers are out in the open, like so many colorful buffets. —MN

(via rarelyinhistory)

Source:

gdfalksen:

One this day 92 years ago:
The 19th amendment is certified and women win the right to vote in the USA .

Happy Birthday

(via ne-daj-na-sebe)

HBICs of history » Jadwiga of Poland

Jadwiga (1373/4 – 1399) was monarch of Poland from 1384 to her death. Her official title was ‘king’ rather than ‘queen’, reflecting that she was a sovereign in her own right and not merely a royal consort. She was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, the daughter of King Louis I of Hungary and Elizabeth of Bosnia.She is known in Polish as Jadwiga, in English and German as Hedwig and in Latin as Hedvigis. Queens regnant being relatively uncommon in Europe at the time, Jadwiga was officially crowned a King. She is venerated by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Hedwig, where she is the patron saint of queens.

She admired the Byzantine liturgy and attempted to unite her people through the use of Slavonic rites. In Cracow cathedral she endowed sixteen priests to sustain the Divine Office almost continuously. She also dealt with the dangerous Teutonic Knights by skilful negotiation.

In 1399, expecting a child, she withdrew from public life. A daughter was born prematurely and she herself died four days later. She was buried in Wawel cathedral and Pope John Paul II canonized her in Cracow in 1997.

(via rarelyinhistory)

thedailydot:

Warsaw Uprising Museum unveils tribute video, “There is a city”

This is not Improv Everywhere. This is not a flash mob. This is a real thing that happens every single year in Warsaw, Poland.

Today marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, a pinnacle event in 1944 wherein the Polish resistance Home Army fought to liberate its country from Nazi reign.

But the Germans prevailed Oct. 2, killing nearly 200,000 civilians as they maintained control over the Polish capital.

Every Aug. 1 since, the people of Warsaw have taken a collective minute out of their day to pay homage to the fallen heroes that fought for freedom. For one minute, everybody in Warsaw stops in their path and raises a flag, or looks at a countryman, or simply reflects.

Last year’s 60 seconds were captured by the Warsaw Uprising Museum and converted into a gripping video that does as much to showcase Warsaw’s natural beauty as it does to spotlight the pride and respect that a nation can have for its history.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that the Polish resistance liberated the country from Nazi reign on Oct. 2. We regret the error and thank Tumblr user the-lady-midday for bringing it to our attention.

(via rarelyinhistory)

40 Of The Most Powerful Photographs Ever Taken

Some of these were hard to look at.

rosie-white:

Bad Romance: Women’s Suffrage Parody

Pretty entertaining. :)

Amazing!

(via )

feministdisney:

raialicious:

windatyourfeels:

feministdisney:

disneytrivia:

Pocahontas was harshly criticized by Chief Roy Crazy Horse as historically inaccurate and offensive for glossing over more negative treatment of Pocahontas and her tribe by the English. He claims that Roy Disney refused the tribe’s offers to help create a more culturally and historically accurate film.

You can read his entire statement on the subject, which includes the factual story of Matoka, or “Pocahontas” as she was nicknamed, here, on the official website of the Powhatan Renape Nation.

I recommend reading the above linked piece- it’s pretty short, but will give you a very clear understanding of the history/the accurate account v. the myth/Powhatan response to the movie.

It’s kind of sad that Roy didn’t accept the offer to create a more accurate film.  That would’ve really been interesting to see…

Also, this is a very good read.  I’d recommend it guys.

Definitely interesting.  The fact that the movie has nothing to do with what actually happened and is based off of Smith’s fib is sad and frustrating, but I don’t think there was a “bad Indian/good Indian” problem in the film.  It seemed pretty clear to me, even as a kid, that the tribe just wanted to protect themselves and their land.  However, it does make the white settlers look better than they were.  The only “bad” white person in the film is Ratcliffe, and well..idk.  I still enjoy the movie, but this account is eye-opening.

Sorry for the ramble, I’mma get back to reblogging random things

 I think (unless I’m misunderstanding the above) if you read up more on this subject the good native v. bad native (problematic) theme becomes more apparent- especially considering that the climax of the film shows the natives and the settlers behaving in the same “wrong” way (violence against the other group: “bad” native behavior) while Pocahontas (“good” native) and John Smith are united in stopping them.   The natives are only doing the “right thing” once they do what the “good native” is doing- not fight the setters.   But anyhow, links for the 2 reviews on this movies/more on this topic: here

Everyone should click on the above link for an eye-opening read.

(via )