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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Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, The Activist Princess of India | Episode 102

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was an Indian Activist who worked alongside Mahatma Gandhi and used her privileged status and upbringing as a princess to shine a light on the atrocities of British colonial rule and helped usher India into a new era of government independent from Britain, revolutionizing the country's health as India's first Minister of Health. She was tireless, ambitious, and utterly invested in making life better for everyone, not just the upper class. She was a true Good Witch.

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Chien-Shiung Wu, First Lady of Physics | Episode 101

Chien-Shiung Wu was a groundbreaking Chinese American physicist who made several remarkable contributions to the study of physics during the span of her career and was the only woman in a top scientific role within the top-secret Manhattan Project. She did work integral to a study that later won the Nobel Prize - though she, in typical misogynistic fashion, was not honored alongside her male partners. Still, she continued to make huge strides for physics and women in STEM until her death, and is still celebrated as one of the great minds of physics.

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Legendary Cult Film Star and All Around Badass, Tura Satana | Episode 83

If you don't know the name Tura Satana, then sit down and listen, because she was a lot of things over the course of her life - survivor of a Japanese internment camp, leader of a 1950's girl gang, a badass martial artist, a burlesque dancer who once received a proposal from Elvis, and a cult B movie film icon. But above all, Tura marched to the beat of her own drum. doing exactly what she wanted at the time and nothing less. We're so excited to be talking about her for #AAPI, but honestly, we'd be talking about her no matter what. Tura Satana was a true bad bitch.

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Vicki Manalo Draves, The First Female Asian American Olympic Champion | Episode 100

For AAPI History Month we're talking about 1948 Olympic athlete Vicki Manalo Draves, who was the first American woman to win gold medals in both the 10 meter platform and three meter springboard events. Despite the prejudice and racism she experienced as the daughter of aFilipino father and British mother, Vicki powered through, trained her butt off, and became a badass record-breaking Olympic champion.

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Anne Sullivan, the Miracle Worker | Episode 99

We all know the story of Helen Keller, but do you know about the woman who finally taught her to read and write? Her name was Anne Sullivan and she was a remarkable woman who was determined to go to school despite being blind and poor. She convinced the Perkins School for the Blind to accept her as a student, became valedictorian, and soon found herself the lifelong teacher and companion of Helen Keller, with whom she lived until she died.

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Julia Child, America's Favorite Chef | Episode 98

Julia Child is best known as a television personality, a cooking teacher, and an all around charming personality. Few people know that she was also a staunch progressive who fought hard for women's rights and worked for the clandestine OSS (Office of Strategic Services) during World War II. She lived a fascinating life and had immense fun sharing her wealth of cooking knowledge with the world.

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The Theme Park Legacy of Leota Toombs | Episode 97

If you've ever heard the word "Imagineer" and wondered where it came from, look no further than Leota Toombs, one of the original Disney Imagineers for Disney Land and Disney World. She was a visionary creator, responsible for some of Disney's most beloved (even today!) attractions - ever heard of Pirates of the Caribbean? Leota was one of the first Disney park pioneers, paving the way for all the imagineers that came after her.

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Khutulun, the Wrestler Princess of Mongolia | Episode 96

It's April Fools Day, but we're not fooling around with this week's episode. We've all heard of Ghengis Khan and his Golden Horde, but have you heard of his great-great granddaughter, Khutulun Khan? She was a master of horse riding, a skilled archer, a battle tactician, a war general, and an undefeated wrestler, whose opponents were primarily men. Her amazing accomplishments are still celebrated by Mongolian wrestlers today!

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Susan La Flesche, First Native American Woman to Earn a Medical Degree | Episode 95

Warning! If you're not interested in historical content relevant to our current coronavirus outbreak, then maybe pass this one by. But if you're curious to hear about where the term "Typhoid Mary" originates, this is the episode for you. Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who got work as a cook in the kitchens of affluent American families in the late 1800's. At the time, typhoid fever was an illness caused by salmonella bacteria that affected primarily the poor - people living in unhygienic slums and close quarters. Mary became one of the first known asymptomatic carriers of a disease, who spread the disease everywhere she went, blissfully unaware of the danger of her presence.

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Typhoid Mary, the First Super Spreader | Episode 94

Warning! If you're not interested in historical content relevant to our current coronavirus outbreak, then maybe pass this one by. But if you're curious to hear about where the term "Typhoid Mary" originates, this is the episode for you. Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who got work as a cook in the kitchens of affluent American families in the late 1800's. At the time, typhoid fever was an illness caused by salmonella bacteria that affected primarily the poor - people living in unhygienic slums and close quarters. Mary became one of the first known asymptomatic carriers of a disease, who spread the disease everywhere she went, blissfully unaware of the danger of her presence.

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Dorothy Arzner, The First Female Member of the Director's Guild | Episode 93

Dorothy Arzner was a silent and sound film director in the late 20's and 30's, and has more directing credits than most female directors to this day. She was the first female member of the Directors Guild of America, she was the first person, man or woman, to have a credit as "Editor" in a film, she invented the boom microphone, and to top it off, and the list goes on. To make her legacy even more incredible, she was also an incredibly well-dressed butch lesbian woman. Dorothy Arzner paved the way for many of today's filmmakers, man and woman alike.

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Mae West, Hollywood's Hottest Sex Symbol of the 1930's | Episode 92

If you've never heard of Mae West, then listen to this podcast and then go watch one of her films, stat! She's an actress and writer like no one else of her time, bringing an innuendo-laden sexuality to all of her roles before the Hays Code could nip that in the bud. She was known for the pushing the envelope her entire life until the day she died. She believed in a healthy sex life, being swathed in diamonds, and wearing seven inch heels. So grab a bottle of champagne and settle in - you're gonna be dying to watch all of her films by the time this is done!

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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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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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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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The Legacy of Women and Prohibition | Episode 87

Did you know that, for a long time, women have been viewed as the over-zealous architects of the failed Prohibition movement? Associated primarily with the Women's Christian Temperance Union, anti-Prohibition politicians and historians long put the onus of Prohibition on pissed-off women looking for any way to control men they could find. The realities are far more complicated - and today we're talking about the who, the why, and the how! From temperance activist Carrie A. Nation to the Assistant Attorney General, Mabel Walker Willebrandt, and socialite and anti-Prohibition activist, Pauline Sabin, we're deep-diving into the Prohibition movement and all its good witches and bad bitches!

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The Not So Little Life of Louisa May Alcott | Episode 86

If you grew up reading and rereading Little Women, chances are you know all about the tomboyish Jo March and the March family. You probably don't know that Little Women is based in some part on author Louisa May Alcott's life, or that her life is almost as interesting, if not more so, than the March sisters. She grew up in a Transcendentalist commune, hid slaves escaping along the Underground Railroad, lived with mercury poisoning after a stint as a nurse, and became a bestselling author in her time. Her story is truly incredible, with twists and turns worthy of any bestselling novel.

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Mother's Night and the Mother of Thieves, Fredricka "Marm" Mandelbaum | Episode 85

When you hear the words "organized crime" you probably think of the Italian Mob or the Russian Mafia, gangs with intricate networks of murderous and bank robbing men with thick New York accents and a gun hidden in their belt. You think of the Godfather or John Gotti or Al Capone. You've probably never once thought of the woman who came before them all - Fredericka "Marm" Mandelbaum, the mother of organized crime in America, whose criminal network spanned the country and even ran a school for burgeoning criminals, thus ensuring she would always have women and children at her beck and call to handle her criminal business. Marm was arguably the most successful organized criminal you've never heard of.

Producer’s note: This episode is numbered 85 in keeping with our numbering from the 2 episodes we’ve lost (83 and 84), should those be recovered or re-recorded, they will be numbered based on their original placement in our podcast’s order.

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