mimorena:

Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. After her medical education and a brief general practice, Jemison served in the Peace Corps from 1985 to 1987. She resigned from NASA in 1993 to form a company researching the application of technology to daily life. She has appeared on television several times, including as an actor in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is a dancer, and holds 9 honorary doctorates in science, engineering, letters, and the humanities.

(via watermeloncholy)

Anna Julia Cooper’s Bio

READ. She is a BAMF black woman who didn’t give a shit what it was supposed to mean to be black or to be a woman back in the day.

Also it makes me depressed when I read her poignant criticisms of black and women’s movements aaaaaaand we still have the same problems today.

(via inourbloodinoursouls)

She is one of the most badass people in US history. 

(via feministhistorian)

(via thesavagesalad)

vintagesmith:

Chinese Aviatrix Receives Gift Of New Plane From Colonel Roscoe Turner, Washington, D.C., 1939 

Here’s what you need to know: Hilda Yen was awesome. Born into a highly influential Chinese family, she earned degrees from both Smith College AND Yale. Yen was spoken of in the same breath with the likes of her contemporary, Amelia Earhart. She took her flying skill to China to instruct others on how to fly. In the picture above, she accepts a gift of an airplane, on behalf of the “Friends Of New China,” from American military officer, Colonel Roscoe Turner.

A month later the plane nearly killed her when she crashed into a field, but she bounced back, advocating for China the rest of her life.

(via wildunicornherd)

honeyspider:

WOMEN OF HISTORY | TRIEU THI TRINH (225–248) (Kathy Uyen)

Triệu Thị Trinh was a Vietnamese warrior who managed for some time to successfully resist the Kingdom of Wu during their occupation of Vietnam. She is quoted as saying ‘I’d like to ride storms, kill sharks in the open sea, drive out the aggressors, reconquer the country, undo the ties of serfdom, and never bend my back to be the concubine of whatever man.’

In Vietnam she remains a celebrated heroine and many streets are named after her in the main cities.

(via asianhistory)

asianhistory:

Also Sondok and originally known as princess Deokman.

Her father was the king of the Silla kingdom, which had emerged in the south about 250 and 350 AD, and by the end of the 7th century would manage to unify the whole peninsula. Having no sons, he chose as his heir his daughter Sondok, which was no great surprise for a number of reasons. One was that women in this period had a certain degree of influence already as advisers, queen dowagers, and regents. Throughout the kingdom, women were heads of families since matrilineal lines of descent existed alongside patrilineal lines. The Confucian model, which placed women in a subordinate position within the family, was not to have a major impact in Korea until the fifteenth century. During the Silla kingdom, women’s status remained relatively high.

There were other reasons, too, that led the king to favor Sondok. Early in her life she had displayed an unusually quick mind. One anecdote tells of the time the king received a box of peony seeds from China accompanied by a painting of what the flowers looked like. Looking at the picture, seven year old Sondok remarked that while the flower was pretty it was too bad that it did not smell. “If it did, there would be butterflies and bees around the flower in the painting.” Her observation about the peonies lack of smell proved correct, one illustration among many of her intelligence, and thus ability to rule.

In 634, Sondok became the sole ruler of Silla, and ruled until 647. She was the first of three females rulers of the kingdom, and was immediately secceeded by her cousin Chindok, who ruled until 654.

Sondok’s reign was a violent one; rebellions and fighting in the neighboring kingdom of Paekche filled her days. Yet, in her fourteen years as queen of Korea, her wit was to her advantage. She kept the kingdom together and extended its ties to China, sending scholars to learn from that august kingdom. Like China’s Empress Wu Zetian, she was drawn to Buddhism and presided over the completion of Buddhist temples. She built the “Tower of the Moon and Stars,” considered the first observatory in the Far East. The tower still stands in the old Silla capital city of Kyongju, South Korea.

Sondok’s respect as a ruler may have been reinforced by the ancient tradition of female shamanism, which was prominent in Korea, and among some peoples still is. Up until Sondok’s time, the word shaman was assumed to apply to women. Shamans had great power as recognized intermediaries between gods and humans. Some presided over national ceremonies, but most were a kind of family priestess, whose role usually was inherited. Through spirit possession, shamans performed healings and exorcisms, revealed causes of family strife and advised on their resolution, picked auspicious days for weddings or burials, conducted rituals to guarantee continual prosperity, and healed those who were broken in body or soul. As foretellers of the future, shamans had enormous power. Histories tell us that Sondok was revered for her ability to anticipate advents. Might it have been this more than any other attribute that led to her popularity as a ruler? If so, it is a prime example of a way time honored female tasks have helped women assume leadership roles.

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Resources
A main resource is: Yung-Chung Kim, Women of Korea - A History from Ancient Times to 1945, Seoul: EWHA Women’s University Press, 1997.

Via Women in World History

Anyone interested in a humorous reaction (condensed liveblog) to the children’s book - The Royal Diary of Queen Sondok?

selucha:

Hola cancionistas! Back after a short break with an AWESOME new song. I spent my time wisely, digging through all the wonderful material at PERRERAC, a site I highly recommend visiting if you ever decide to venture into nueva cancion further than I can go with this blog. They have hundreds of albums available for free download, a service I have taken full advantage of. :-)

The best song that I’ve come across these past few days is by a group called Cutumay Camones, called “Dale Compañero” (Go Forward, Comrade). Cutumay Camones was a folk ensemble allied with the Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberacion Nacional (FMLN), a guerrilla army that fought a civil war against the repressive Salvadoran government during the 1980s. They were named after a town in the western part of the country in which an early battle of the war was fought.

Like Cutumay Camones, most Latin American folk music was associated with the FMLN and its guerrilla radio station, Radio Venceremos.

This song has fairly typical lyrics, denouncing United States’ intervention in the country and calling for the victory of revolutionary forces. The United States had been providing the Salvadoran government with funding and arms during the course of the conflict, and its support was pivotal in prolonging the war until its deadlock and eventual peace accord in 1992.

I couldn’t find the original lyrics online so I transcribed them by ear, but I think the translation is correct given a little poetic license. Enjoy!

SPANISH:

Dale, dale compañero que en la lucha no se espera
Dale, dale que la patria de ojos grandes se desvela
Dale, dale compañero multipliquemos esta guerra
Dale, dale decidido va a romper estas cadenas

Que sepan los yanquis que nadie se ahueva
Niños y viejitos y hasta las abuelas
Pelearan toditos, sea como sea
Lo que importa es darle el yanqui a la mierda

Dale, dale compañero que ahora es tiempo de victoria
Dale, dale con dos puños pa’ que pierdan la memoria
Dale, dale compañero que hoy se te necesita
Dale, levantando el uño, venceremos la injusticia

CORO

Dale, dale compañero que tu voz sea la bandera
Dale, juntemos las manos para hacer la patria nueva
Dale, dale compañero luchemos por la victoria
Dale, por la paz del pueblo para hacer otra historia

CORO

ENGLISH:

Go, go comrade, our fight has no time to wait
Go, go because our homeland is opening its eyes
Go, go comrade let’s expand this war
Go, we can break these chains if we are determined

Let the yankees know that here nobody surrenders!
Young and old and even the grandmothers,
they will all fight, whatever happens happens
What matters is to send the yankees to hell!

Go, go comrade because now is the hour of victory
Go, give them two fists so they lose their memory
Go, go comrade because today you are needed
Go, by lifting the yoke we will vanquish injustice

CHORUS

Go, go comrade let your voice be our flag
Go, let’s join hands to create the new homeland
Go, go comrade let’s fight for our victory
Go, win peace for the people to build our future

CHORUS

Seriously, I can’t recommend this blog highly enough. Wonderful, beautiful, powerful, and highly informative stuff, all around.