Was Christine Jorgensen the Caitlyn Jenner of the 1950s?
“What is femininity anyway?” Jenner writes in her new book, The Secrets of My Life. Perhaps the famous trans woman Christine Jorgensen knew.
How World’s Fairs Helped Train Southern Suffragists
There’s no cultural touchstone quite like an exhibition or fair—think the Great Exhibition of 1851, which introduced the ...
“A refusal by subjects to obey”: Gene Sharp’s Theory of Nonviolence
Gene Sharp, repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, has been called the "Machiavelli of nonviolence" and the "Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare."
Women Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement
Women leaders of the Civil Rights movement worked under the triple constraints of gender, race, and class. Their contribution hasn't gotten its due.
The Curious Character Who First Called For a General Strike
The idea of a general strike is to shut down all but essential services in a city, region, or nation. America has had its share. A Briton invented the idea.
Identity Politics and Popular Movements
Issues tied to gender have often been part of broad-based popular movements, like the Zetetic movement in early nineteenth-century England.
How Women’s Studies Erased Black Women
The founders of Women’s Studies were overwhelmingly white, and focused on the experiences of white, heterosexual women.
The Important Civil Rights Activist You’ve Never Heard Of
Like other African-Americans, Jeremiah B. Sanderson was intrigued by the new state of California—a free state that promised economic and social opportunity.
The Turn-of-the-Century Lesbians Who Founded The Field of Home Ec
Flora Rose and Martha Van Rensselaer lived in an open and acknowledged lesbian relationship. They also helped found the field of home economics.
Rosa Parks and the Power of Oneness
Rosa Parks shook the world of Jim Crow by refusing to give up her seat to a white man on her way home from work.