We are Barbie Girls (not really) in a Barbie world (sure, why not?); life in plastic, it’s fantastic! So say the paraphrased lyrics of Aqua’s 1997 hit, Barbie Girl, but how did Barbie’s world get created and who is the mastermind behind it? (more…)
Archive for 2018
Episode 115: Belle Starr and Calamity Jane
Posted 27 November 2018 by The History ChicksTagged As: American History, Belle Starr, Calamity Jane, Women of the Wild West | Categories: Episode, Podcasts | Leave a Comment
Everyone has a lesson to teach us, even the hard living, hard drinking, crime breaking ones who bucked convention and survived in a dangerous time and place. These two women of the American wild west fall on a side of the life-choices spectrum that we don’t usually talk about, but it’s time that we did. We thought it was time to tell the stories of two women with fabulous, well-known nicknames that mask who they really were. (Lady Gaga and Madonna are amazing but come back in 120 years and we’ll talk.) (more…)
Episode 114: Anne Frank
Posted 9 November 2018 by The History ChicksTagged As: Anne Frank, Female Diarist, Holocaust, Women of WWII | Categories: Episode, Podcasts | Leave a Comment
Anne Frank’s life was only 15 years long, but her legacy? It’s going to outlast us all.
Annelies Marie Frank was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany, second child to Otto and Edith who were both from well-to-do, German Jewish families. Otto was a decorated officer in the German army, well traveled, spent a couple years in the United States and went back to Germany to work at his family’s bank and throat lozenge company. Edith graduated from a Protestant girl’s school, and worked for her family’s business. (more…)
Episode 113: Jane Addams Part 2
Posted 14 October 2018 by The History ChicksTagged As: Jane Addams, Peace Movement, Progressives, Settlement Movement, Social Reform | Categories: Episode, Podcasts | Leave a Comment
When we left Jane in part one, she and her friend Ellen Gates Starr had just opened Hull House. The Settlement movement in the US was about to take off, and in Chicago the community was embracing the work being done by Jane, Ellen and the many women like them that came to share their time and talents by settling in the impoverished, immigrant community and working together with neighbors to provide social services. (more…)
Episode 112: Jane Addams Part 1
Posted 23 September 2018 by The History ChicksTagged As: Jane Addams, Settlement Movement, Social Reformers | Categories: Episode, Podcasts | Leave a Comment
Library of Congress
Jane Addams is called the “Mother of Social Work”; which is impressive enough, but really doesn’t cover her whole story. You know what else won’t cover her whole story? One episode. Jane’s life was so packed that we decided to break it into two parts to cover it thoroughly. (If you’re looking for the media recommendations, they’ll be on the shownotes for Part Two.) (more…)
Episode 110: Georgia O’Keeffe
Posted 12 August 2018 by The History ChicksTagged As: American Artists, American Modernism, Female Artists, Georgia O'Keefe | Categories: Episode, Podcasts | Leave a Comment
The line between Georgia O’Keeffe’s childhood in Wisconsin to her death nearly 100 years later is as jagged, complex, colorful, unique, ever- changing and interesting as the vistas outside her final New Mexico homes.
Episode 109: Grace O’Malley
Posted 21 July 2018 by The History ChicksTagged As: female pirates, Grace O'Malley, Gráinne Ní Mháille, Granuaile, Irish History, Seafaring women | Categories: Episode, Podcasts | Leave a Comment
Gráinne Ui Mháille, Grainne, Granuaile, Gráinne Mhaol, Grace, That Irish Pirate Queen From the 16th Century…whatever you call her, her life and legacy as a strong, independent, bold, fearless (and yes, criminal) woman doesn’t change.
Statue at Westport House, Co Mayo, Ireland
Episode 108: The Statue of Liberty
Posted 30 June 2018 by The History ChicksTagged As: colossus art, Frederick Bartholdi, Immigration History, The Statue of Liberty, USA | Categories: Episode, Podcasts | Leave a Comment
She’s neither alive nor dead; she exists but has never taken a breath; her innards are as hard as steel, but just the sight of her has brought men to grateful, hopeful tears. The Statue of Liberty is a she, which makes her fair game for one of our conversations.
Episode 107: Mary Pickford
Posted 11 June 2018 by The History ChicksTagged As: Early Hollywood, Mary Pickford, Silent Film, Women in Business | Categories: Episode, Podcasts | Leave a Comment
Mary Pickford was an actress, writer, director, producer, studio head and entrepreneur…but she’s often remembered as “that pretty girl with the curls in silent movies.”
Excuse us? Oh no, that just won’t do.
Library of Congress
