Jone's Women's History Blog January 2008 Archive

Weaving and decorating cloth, carpets and other fabric has traditionally been women's work in many cultures, ancient and modern. Embroidery, weaving and other textile arts have become today's women's art. ... Read More

Among Oprah Winfrey's many achievements was producing and starring in a film adaptation of Toni Morrison's prize-winning, Beloved. Read more about "America's best friend" Oprah Winfrey, the first African ... Read More

Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden were arch-rivals in the cosmetics business (their relationship didn't improve when Arden's ex-husband went to work for Rubinstein). Both were successful business entrepreneurs and ... Read More

One of the best-known names in dance, Anna Pavlova is especially remembered for her portrayal of a swan in The Dying Swan and Swan Lake. A delicate Russian ballerina, Anna ... Read More

Roe v. Wade is the historic Supreme Court decision overturning a Texas interpretation of abortion law and making abortion legal in the United States. Here are the basic facts ... Read More

Fannie Lou Hamer, who never knew she, as an African American, could register to vote, and never tried until 1963, became a leader in the voting rights and civil rights ... Read More

She is the first author and poet in the world we know by name. A daughter of the great Akkadian king, Sargon, she helped solidify his power by raising ... Read More

In the Middle Ages, men ruled -- except when women did. Here are a few of the medieval women who ruled -- in their own right in a few cases, ... Read More

Her reputation -- from ancient times -- has been that of a murdering, scheming woman. Mother of Alexander the Great, she definitely had an impact on history -- and ... Read More

A dozen women who wielded power and influence in the ancient world -- as rulers in their own right or indirectly as consorts. A couple of them are more ... Read More

In 1893, Lucy Stone reflected on the progress of woman over the previous 50 years -- progress that Stone herself had been part of. I find it interesting to ... Read More

The publication of Fannie Farmer's 1896 cookbook, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, was an event in cooking history and in making domestic life a bit easier for family cooks, most ... Read More

Anaïs Nin studied psychoanalysis with Otto Rank and found it difficult to get her erotic stories published, but found her real success with the publications of her diaries, each with ... Read More

The New York Times Magazine recently ran a turning-of-the-year feature on interesting people who died in 2007. I found one of them especially fascinating and touching: that of Madeleine ... Read More

She sewed the first American flag -- maybe. But she was also an example of an American woman in revolutionary America, a widow and single mother making her way in ... Read More