Who Were the Ladies of Llangollen?
Top hat connoisseurs, friends of princesses and poets, tchotchke models, dog lovers, cottage keepers...lesbians?
Hollywood Cast Laurette Luez as a One-Size-Fits-All “Exotic”
Like many actresses of her day, Laurette Luez was expected to be a beautiful siren in skimpy clothing who could be from almost anywhere—just not here.
Why Modern Women Got All Colonial in the 1920s
Flappers stole the headlines for their hemlines and wild ways. But were some of them stitching samplers in the meantime?
How “Female Fiends” Challenged Victorian Ideals
At a time when questions about women's rights in marriage roiled society, women readers took to the pages of cheap books about husband-murdering wives.
Why Black Women Joined the Communist Party
During the Great Depression, Communists took to the streets to fight racism, poverty, and injustice. Among them were Black women.
How Training Bras Constructed American Girlhood
In the twentieth century, advertisements for a new type of garment for preteen girls sought to define the femininity they sold.
How Film Noir Tried to Scare Women out of Working
In the period immediately following World War II, the femme fatale embodied a host of male anxieties about gender roles.
Doris Day Changed Us Forever
What did women coming of age in the 1950s think of Doris Day in Calamity Jane? Does her filmography have the same meaning now?
The “Doctress” Was In: Rebecca Lee Crumpler
The first Black woman physician served communities in the South after the Civil War but was buried in an anonymous grave. That will likely change.
The World’s Fair That Ignored More Than Half the World
The spectacle of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was unrivaled in its time. But it hardly represented the "world" of women and African-Americans.