Dovey Johnson Roundtree grew up in the Jim Crow era South and carried her grandmother’s philosophy of “find a way or make one” as her armor into every challenge she faced. She became one of the first Black women in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps during World War II, then earned her law degree at Howard and built dual careers as a civil‑rights attorney and as a minister in the AME church. In 1955, she helped win a landmark bus‑desegregation case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was a quiet but powerful blow to the concept of “separate but equal.” She spent decades fighting for justice in Washington, D.C., and lived to 104, leaving behind a legacy of unshakable purpose and inspiration for future generations.
With Mary Bethune 1943 in Iowa, via Library of CongressEarly 1950s, via Smithsonian
Dovey talking about dealing with a segregated legal system:
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Dovey’s memoir with Katie McCabeMemoir Junior editionBiography, middle grade by Tanya BoldenDovey and Katie McCabe, children’s bookBy Juan WilliamsFor insider info on the Towpath Murder
Like true crime podcasts? There is a series with journalist Solidad O’Brien called Murder on the Towpath that covers that case Dovey argued (and won).
If you haven’t yet listened to our 2023 coverage of the life of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, now might be a good time to fix that! We covered her in two parts: Episode 223 and Episode 224!
The Visionary Project has a series of interviews with Dovey from 2010 (as well as with other African American leaders from the 20th century.)
There was a series in the 90s that starred Cicely Tyson who let Dovey inspire her character:
There is a movie, we can’t give it a review because neither of us saw it, but we do know that Dovey’s story needs a big-budget, high-production-value film.
End music: Baby Get Up by Louna Used with permission from Epidemic Sound
Martha Gellhorn was one of the most influential war correspondents of the 20th century. Over the course of a 60-year career, she reported from nearly every major global conflict – the Spanish Civil War, World War II, Vietnam, and more. In her work, she focused a compassionate eye on the lives of ordinary people caught up in turmoil beyond their control, and this made her coverage uniquely powerful. Her personal bravery, determination, and skill as a writer made her a legend.
One wrote of her experiences during the American Revolutionary era, and the other is helping tell that story as co-director of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution documentary on PBS, starting November 16, 2025.
Catherine de Medici lived in a century defined by the contributions of remarkable women, and she distinguished herself as one of the most remarkable of them all.
One of the first things Catherine did was take Chateau de Chenounceau back from her husband’s long-time mistress, Diane de Poitiers.
In this second part of Catherine’s story, we follow Queen Mother Catherine beginning as a close advisor to her son, King Francis II. No longer an apprentice or observer in the art of intrigue, when Francis died about a year and a half later, she was named the only regent to her young son, King Charles IX. How was that possible in a court full of men greedy for power? She was sharp, strategic, and brave in ways that defied cultural expectations. She would be this way for the rest of her life with one primary goal: to be the custodian of her family’s legacy on the throne of France against all opponents.
We left Miep right after she decided, with zero hesitation, that she would do whatever was necessary to keep the people in the attic safe as they hid from the Nazi persecution of the Jewish population.
For the next several years Miep would risk her life daily to fulfill that promise, and her Miep’s story is quite documented. One of the most important things she did was to collect from the annex and keep safe the writing collection of a 15-year-old Anne Frank until after the war. We know how she, Jan, and the other four helpers–Bep Voskuijl, Victor Kugler, Johan Klieman, and Johan Voskuijl– kept the Frank and Van Pel’s families, and Fritz Pfeffer safe for two years in the attic. In the slightly wider world, we know how the Nazi government captured, transported to concentration camps in other countries, tortured, and slaughtered millions of mostly Jewish people but also resisters, Black, Roma, and gay people… including all the former inhabitants of the secret annex with the lone exception of Otto Frank.
The time that Miep spent caring for those in hiding was not pleasant in Amsterdam, there was severe food shortages and more and more control by the Nazi military until, in 1945, the war ended and the rebuilding began. Otto Frank returned to Amsterda and moved in with Miep and Jan for the next seven years. He edited, published, defended, protected, and made sure that his daughter Anne’s legacy, her diary, was read and understood by as many people as possible throughout the world so that atrocities like this may never happen again.
Miep did what she could to support him until he passed away in 1980, then she took up his work until her death at 100 in 2010.
When Otto Frank, Anne Franks father, received the news that Anne and Margot had died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, helper Miep Gies was with him in the office. In this video, she explains how she gave Otto Frank the diaries of Anne Frank. She had saved these papers from the moment the people in hiding were arrested. #annefrank#miepgies#ottofrank#diary#legacy#woii#after
Miep said this of her work during the war: “My story is a story of very ordinary people during extraordinary times, times the like of which I hope with all my heart will never come again. It is for all of us ordinary people, all over the world, to see to it that they do not.”
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Perhaps more than any other subject, this is not an exhaustive list of materials on Miep, Anne, the Holocaust, WWII…it’s simply the ones that we used and can recommend.
Books!
Miep’s memoirWho betrayed the family? By Rosemary Sullivan (also in audiobook narrated by Julia Whelen) One of three versions, this is the most recent, the Definitive VersionFrom Bep’s perspective by her son, Joop Van Wijk-VoskuijlBy Angela WoodBy Carol Ann LeeBy Corrie Ten BoomBy Tim BradyBy Nina Siegal
Kids books:
By Meeg Pincus, Illustrated by Jordi SolanoBy Barbara Lowell, illustrated by Valentina Toro
There were many investigations aimed at revealing the person who betrayed those hiding in the attic, the first one was only a year after the war ended. Here’s an article on one from Anne Frank House website.
Moving Pictures!
1995 documentary based on Miep’s memoirfrom 1988 starring Mary SteenburgenThe most recent adaptation of Miep’s memoir, currently on Disney+ (It’s very good)
We wrap up our coverage of this brave, trailblazing woman who defied convention, governmental oppression, violence, and financial hurdles (to name a few) to begin the Greenbelt Movement which not only planted 40 million trees and counting, but helped empower women around the world work for bettering themselves and their own communities from the ground up!
Her funeral with glimpses of her unique coffin, her children, and some archival footage of Wangari herself.
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Her memoirby Wangari Maathaiby Wangari MaathaiBy Namulundah Florence
So many kids’ books!!
by Eucabeth OdiamboPart of the Rebel Girls seriesBy Gwendolyn Hooks, Margaux Carpentierby Jeannete Winterby Maureen McQuerry and Robin Rosenthal
And off-topic but discussed (IYKYN) :
By Libba BrayBy Gwendolyn Hooks and Colin Bootman
Web!
The Green Belt Movement is still very active, here is their website with lots of information about their mission. their work, and their history, and the Wangari Maathai Foundation has a lot of information as well.
The Greenbelt Movement is still active around the world, here is a very recent article about how they are still standing up to the government of Kenya: The Nation (e-paper)
Here is some information on Sagana State Lodge in Kenya where Princess Elizabeth learned she was Queen Elizabeth while Wangari was in school nearby: Sagana Lodge
The Bowery Boys New York City History podcast has several episodes that discuss parts of Central Park, this is a good one to start with: The early years of Central Park.
***We don’t usually add things to our shownotes that we didn’t talk about on the show, but a lovely friend of the show, ELizabeth, shared the One Tree Planted organization with us which is part of the Trillion Tree program that we did talk about. Check them out and help plant trees all over the world!
