Posts in African American
Marian Anderson, A Musical Icon | Episode 122
Marian Anderson, A Musical Icon | Episode 122

Marianne Anderson was considered one of the best musicians of her time. She performed across Europe, where she became a massive celebrity, and once the Third Reich began to gain steam, she returned to America to perform in her home country. She was also a Black woman singing opera during Jim Crow - which meant she had to fight twice as hard to earn half the respect of peers with a fraction of her talent. She had many triumphs throughout her life and her voice and legacy remain renowned and acclaimed to this day.

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African American, Public Figure, ArtistsGWBB PodcastMarian AndersonComment
Octavia Butler, Visionary Science Fiction Writer | Episode 121
Octavia Butler, Visionary Science Fiction Writer | Episode 121

Octavia Butler is one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, known more recently for practically predicting the presidency of Donald Trump, and yet she did not become a New York Times Bestseller until long after she died, in September 2020. Today, we're talking about the brilliance of her words and concepts and we hope that you, too, will finally discover the incredible legacy of Octavia Butler.

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African American, Artists, Public Figure, STEMGWBB PodcastOctavia ButlerComment
Mary Church Terrell, Civil Rights Wunderkind | Episode 114
Mary Church Terrell, Civil Rights Wunderkind | Episode 114

Mary Church Terrell was the child of former slaves and an activist all her life. She was one of the first Black women to earn a college degree in the U.S, she traveled the world, she was at one time the president of the NACW (National Association of Colored Women), and, in her 80's, inspired the supreme court case that would make Brown V. The Board of Education possible. She was always looking for opportunities to inspire Black and white people to action for civil rights, and was an important figure in the movement up until the moment of her death in 1953. Mary Church Terrell was a good witch and bad bitch whose work in her era made a lot of other activism possible today.

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Public Figure, African American, Fighters, Activist, FirstsGWBB PodcastMary Church TerrellComment
Marsha P. Johnson, The Saint of Gay Life | Episode 105
Marsha P. Johnson, The Saint of Gay Life | Episode 105

Marsha P. Johnson is a name we likely all know as the woman who threw the first shot glass at Stonewall, launching the Stonewall Riots and thus the Gay Liberation movement. But Marsha was much more: she was an activist, a performer, a Christian, a transgender woman, and so much more. Her history is as bold and vibrant as she was, and was ended too soon. We owe it to her to keep her whole, vibrant legacy alive.

CONTENT WARNING for violence against transgender people starting after 25 minutes.

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African American, LGBTQIA+, ActivistGWBB PodcastMarsha P JohnsonComment
Gladys Bentley, a Gender Nonconforming American Blues Icon | Episode 104
Gladys Bentley, a Gender Nonconforming American Blues Icon | Episode 104

Gladys Bentley was a badass, gender nonconforming musician who knocked audiences dead in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance and later toured across the country. While at the end of her life conservative American politics forced her to reinvent herself as a more conventional, cisgender performer, you likely will still recognize her for her stark-white suits, top hats, incredible voice, and progressive lyrics. She is one of the great American musicians and we're lucky to have this bad bitch as part of our musical legacy.

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African American, LGBTQIA+GWBB PodcastGladys BentleyComment
The Combahee River Collective and the Birth of Intersectional Feminism | Episode 103
The Combahee River Collective and the Birth of Intersectional Feminism | Episode 103

The Combahee River Collective revolutionized feminism as we know it - even though you've probably never heard of them. The concept behind intersectional feminism isn't new - Black activists and writers have been writing about compounded oppressions since the 19th century. But the Combahee River Collective was a coalition of Black feminists, many of whom were also lesbians, who fought hard to bring to light not only the idea that oppressions were interlocking, but also to elevate Black women and teach self-love to a generation that had been taught through systemic racism that they were not worth the same as their white peers.

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Activist, African American, LGBTQIA+GWBB PodcastCombahee River CollectiveComment
Dido Elizabeth Belle, From Slavery to Aristocracy in the 1700's | Episode 91
Dido Elizabeth Belle, From Slavery to Aristocracy in the 1700's | Episode 91

Dido Elizabeth Belle was the biracial daughter of a British naval officer and Maria Belle, a woman enslaved in the West Indies. She became a ward of her father's aristocratic family in 18th century England, the Earl and Countess of Mansfield, where she was treated as one of the family despite the fact that slavery was quite legal at the time, and therefore most people of color were regarded with racist attitudes and behaviors. She is the subject of a painting that launched much speculation, and is said to have been the inspiration for the Earl's decisions as a judge to vote in favor of several enslaved people going up against their "owners" in court. Dido Belle remains a bit of a mystery to us, but one thing is certain: European history is not nearly as white as we have been led to believe. So the next time some douche starts talking about "historical accuracy" when it comes to characters of color, you'll know exactly how to start dismantling that argument.

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African American, Public FigureGWBB PodcastDido Elizabeth BelleComment
Madam C.J. Walker, America's First Self-Made Black Millionaire | Episode 89
Madam C.J. Walker, America's First Self-Made Black Millionaire | Episode 89

Madam C.J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on a sharecropping in the post-Civil War South. She found her entrepreneurial calling when she met Annie Turbo Malone and tried her revolutionary hair products. From there, Sarah married the well-connected C.J. Walker and became Madam C.J. Walker, the name with under she marketed her own revolutionary hair products for African American women. And her products remain on shelves to this day!

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African American, Firsts, Public FigureGWBB PodcastMadam C.J. WalkerComment
Gladys West, the Baddest Mathematician You've Never Heard Of | Episode 88
Gladys West, the Baddest Mathematician You've Never Heard Of | Episode 88

You've probably never heard of Gladys West, but without her, GPS would not look the way it does today. This woman was born on a sharecropping farm and made the decision early on not to live the rest of her life there. She worked so hard in school that she earned one of two scholarships to Virginia State University, a historically Black university. Once there, she was so good at everything that she almost couldn't decide what to do! But she chose math, because it was the most challenging thing she could think of, and the rest is, well, history. 

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STEM, African AmericanGWBB PodcastGladys WestComment
The Godmother of Rock and Roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe | Episode 56
The Godmother of Rock and Roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe | Episode 56

When you think of the origins of Rock n'Roll, chances are names like Elvis Presley and Chuck Barry come to mind. But more than a decade before, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was pioneering the new sound and creating unique hits that went on to influence all of the male "inventors" and "godfathers" of Rock n' Roll. She was a Black, openly bisexual woman whose gospel background provided the foundation for what we now think of as Rock n' Roll. She was a good witch who paved the way for a new sound that changed music as we knew it.

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Herstory, Artists, African American, Firsts, Founding Femme's, Public FigureGWBB PodcastSister Rosetta TharpeComment
Mary Eliza Mahoney, The First African-American Nurse | Episode 50
Mary Eliza Mahoney, The First African-American Nurse | Episode 50

Mary Elizabeth Mahoney was the first Black female nurse in the United States and one of the first women to register to vote when women won the right to vote in Boston. She worked her ass off to help other Black women join the nursing profession and left a legacy that saw her inducted in the Women Hall of Fame. She was the very definition of a Good Witch.

INTRO - 13:12 | Hannah shares an article about a group of conservative Christians who believe Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s runs a 24-7 witch coven dedicated to cursing Donald Trump. Where do we sign up?

14:15 - 41:25 | Deanna presents our person of the week, Mary Eliza Mahoney.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez episode: https://gwbbpodcast.com/episodes/s01e19-alexandria-ocasio-cortez

Gisella Perl episode: https://gwbbpodcast.com/episodes/s01e05-gisella-perl

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African American, Saints and Saviors, FirstsGWBB PodcastMary Eliza MahoneyComment
Georgia Gilmore, The Backbone Of The Montgomery Bus Boycott | Episode 49
Georgia Gilmore, The Backbone Of The Montgomery Bus Boycott | Episode 49

Georgia Gilmore was a good witch with a bad bitch's heart. She was a badass cook who sued a bus driver who kicked her off the bus and, as a result, was fired from the white restaurant who employed her. At the urging of Dr. Martin Luther King, she opened a restaurant in her own home. Her restaurant became a meeting place for Dr. King and many other figures in the civil rights movement. She also was responsible for creating The Club from Nowhere, a network of women who sold meals they had cooked at local institutions, games and rallies, in order to raise money for the Montgomery Bus Boycott carpool. The Club From Nowhere raised a rough equivalent of 1200 bucks a week in today's currency, which helped keep the carpool alive for the 381 days the boycott was in effect. Warning! This episode WILL make you hungry.

INTRO - 11:44 | Deanna talks about the Malleus Maleficarum and dick tre

12:41 - 26:46 | Hannah shares the story of our person of the week, Georgia Gilmore.

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African American, Public Figure, Politics, Activist, Saints and SaviorsGWBB PodcastGeorgia GilmoreComment
Jane Bolin, The First African-American Female Judge | Episode 48
Jane Bolin, The First African-American Female Judge | Episode 48

Jane Bolin was a trailblazer in every sense of the word. The daughter of an attorney in Duchess County, New York, she had a lot to live up to. She did that an more - she became one of three Black students learning law at Yale, a school she was discouraged from attending despite her stellar academic record, and later became the first and only Black female judge in the country. She was an inspiration to many, and remained a staunch advocate for the young and the marginalized for the entirety of her career. She was one seriously Good Witch. 

INTRO - 9:55 | Hannah shares a twitter-sourced ghost/exorcism story that will chill your bones.

10:50 - 42:00 | Deanna shares the story of our person of the week, Jane Bolin.

Summer Heacock's scary ass ghost story: 

https://twitter.com/Fizzygrrl/status/1094085106828886016

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African American, Firsts, Public Figure, PoliticsGWBB PodcastJane BolinComment
The First African-American Aviatrix In The World | Episode 47
The First African-American Aviatrix In The World | Episode 47

Bessie Coleman was the first African-American in the world to earn an international civilian pilot's license. She had to go to France to do it, because no one in the US would teach her. When she came back to the states, she became a barnstormer - a pilot who performed death-defying stunts in the air. She traveled the country lecturing on aviation and performing shows, all with the goal of earning enough money to buy her own plane and open her own flight school. While Bessie didn't live long enough to fulfill her dream of opening a school, she inspired many people who worked hard to make that dream a reality. She is a legend, period, and one seriously good witch.

NTRO - 10:05 | Hannah tells the micro-story of Madame C.J. Walker’s mansion in upstate New York and how it is currently being renovated for something exciting!

11:35 - 42:00 | Hannah tells us the heart rending story of the first African-American aviatrix in the world, and the first African-American ever to hold a civilian pilot’s license.

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African American, Firsts, Public Figure, SportsGWBB PodcastBessie ColemanComment
Call Me Bond. Ellen Bond. | Episode 41
Call Me Bond. Ellen Bond. | Episode 41

Elizabeth Van Lew was a Union-sympathizing Quaker living in Virginia during the Civil War. Mary Bowser was a free woman posing as a slave in order to spy on the Confederates and, most notably, Jefferson Davis himself. These bad bitches got up to all sorts of crazy shit - ultimately earning Mary a posthumous place in the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame!

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Espionage, Activist, African American, RevolutionariesGWBB PodcastEllen Bond and Crazy BetComment
La Grande Diva Magnifique | Episode 20
La Grande Diva Magnifique | Episode 20

Josephine Baker displayed resistance in multiple movements and multiple decades – despite being American born, she fell in love with and moved to France, where she became a war hero for her work as a French spy during World War 2. Later, she was a huge part of the civil rights movement in America, despite the many challenges she faced there. In addition, she was a raging bisexual. In short, she was one bad bitch.

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Public Figure, Artists, Espionage, African American, Activist, LGBTQIA+GWBB PodcastJosephine BakerComment