“Have ye come far?”
“Only from America.”

#OnThisDay, 21 May 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman - and only the second person - to fly solo and without stops across the Atlantic.

She lands unexpectedly in Ireland. There’s some wonderful images of her here: joecampbellart.com/2015/03/12/…

Watch newsreel of her taking off here: youtube.com/watch?v=y-itPeJOyz…

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AviationHistory @histodons #Histodons

“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.”

#OnThisDay, 19 May 1952, Lillian Hellman writes to the House of UnAmerican Activities refusing to testify against others.

In the 1940s, Hellman had been twice nominated for an Academy Award for her screenplays. As a result of refusing to testify about others to HUAC, she was blacklisted by Hollywood.

#HollywoodHistory #AmericanHistory #WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Histodons

Cubans are using AI image generators to imagine U.S. intervention in their country.

The results look straight out of the 1890s.

A historian of Cuba explains: theconversation.com/ai-generat…
#Histodons @histodons

theconversation.com/ai-generat…

AI-generated fantasies of US intervention reveal how desperation has narrowed Cuba’s political horizons

Cubans are using AI image generators to imagine US intervention in their country. The results look straight out of the 1890s.

^{The Conversation}

#OnThisDay, 17 May 1988, Dr Patricia Bath was awarded the first of her three patents on the methods and equipment for laser cataract removal.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WomenInMedicine #AmericanHistory #BlackHistory #Histodons

#OnThisDay, 16 May 1975, Japanese climber Junko Tabei reaches the summit of Everest. She is the first woman to make it to the peak of the world's highest mountain.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Histodons

#OnThisDay, 14 May 1943, Vera Leigh returns to France to work as a courier for the British Special Operations Executive.

A fashion designer, Leigh had fled France in 1942 after running escape lines for Allied airmen.

After her return, Leigh carried documents and equipment such as guns and explosives around her network's area. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1944, she was executed at Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WorldWar2 #Histodons

A Victorian woman painted 350 fungi, germinated spores decades before formal science caught up, and got dismissed by Kew Gardens as delusional. She giggled, went home, and drew a rabbit in a blue jacket. Beatrix Potter: spurned mycologist.

oddlet.com/p/572539f6

#Histodons #HistSci #SciComm #History #SmallStories

#OnThisDay, 11 May 1978, Margaret Brewer becomes the first woman to reach the rank of General in the US Marines.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons

#OnThisDay, 9 May 1922, the International Astronomical Union formally adopts Annie Jump Cannon's stellar classification system. The principles in it still underpin modern classification.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Astronomy #WomenInSTEM #AmericanHistory #Histodons

The American Revolution is usually told as a story of freedom and independence.

But for many loyalists who stayed loyal to Britain, it meant losing their homes, property and even the right to return home.

One Philadelphia merchant spent nearly 50 years in exile after being labeled a traitor:

theconversation.com/the-americ…

#Histodons @histodons
theconversation.com/the-americ…

The American Revolution’s triumphant story of democracy and freedom overlooks loyalists who paid a steep price for allegiance to Britain

Matthias Aspden was a wealthy Philadelphia businessman who remained faithful to Britain. As a result, he lost his home, property and sense of belonging, and died in exile.

^{The Conversation}

#OnThisDay, 8 May 1946, Estonian teens Aili Jürgenson and Ageeda Paavel blew up a Soviet war memorial in response to Soviet destruction of Estonian war memorials. They served eight years in the gulag as punishment.

In 1988 they were awarded the Estonian Order of the Cross of the Eagle to recognise their fight.

We only have a photo of Aili Jürgenson.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #EuropeanHistory #Histodons

Many Protestant leaders once supported birth control as part of “responsible parenthood” and strengthening the nuclear family.

theconversation.com/protestant…
#Histodons @histodons
theconversation.com/protestant…

Protestant leaders once championed birth control – not to liberate women, but as part of ‘responsible parenthood’

As birth control became increasingly accepted, some supporters’ views were based in religious beliefs about what motherhood should look like.

^{The Conversation}

Abolitionist Harriet Tubman coordinated at least 19 slave rescue missions back to Maryland's Eastern Shore, with her final escape before the Civil War involving a couple and three children traveling through Philadelphia to safety.
theconversation.com/how-harrie…
#Histodons @histodons

theconversation.com/how-harrie…

How Harriet Tubman and Philadelphia abolitionists coordinated dangerous journeys to freedom

A bronze statue of Tubman is set to be installed outside Philadelphia’s City Hall in late 2026.

^{The Conversation}

#OnThisDay, 5 May 1938, Dorothy Anderson presents her medical research identifying cystic fibrosis at a meeting of the American Pediatric Association.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WomenInMedicine #CysticFibrosis #Histodons

Returning Native American remains and sacred items isn’t just about objects.

It’s about respect and doing what’s right.

theconversation.com/universiti…

As universities work to give them back, it’s part of a bigger effort to reckon with the past.
#Histodons @histodons
theconversation.com/universiti…

Universities returning Native American remains and artifacts isn’t just about physical objects – it’s about dignity and justice

Congress passed a law in 1990 mandating the return of all Native American items that federally funded institutions took without consent. Progress since then has been slow.

^{The Conversation}

#OnThisDay, 1 May 1944, South African Phyllis Latour parachutes into occupied France to be a radio operator for the British Special Operations Executive.

She's never captured.

She died in 2023, in New Zealand.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WorldWar2 #Histodons
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A twelve-year-old redesigned safety for the New England cotton industry. A man stole her work; she buried him in court with blueprints and witnesses over sixteen days. She held 27 patents, co-founded an all-women car company at 74, and died worth $275.05. Margaret Knight, the ghost of American invention.

oddlet.com/p/41f163b8

#Histodons #HistSci #SciComm #History #SmallStories

Very early #OnThisDay, 30 April 1944, New Zealander Nancy Wake parachutes into occupied France to be a courier for the Special Operations Executive. The British SOE supported French Resistance to Nazi occupation.

Couriers like Wake would take messages and materials such as explosives, guns or grenades around the patch their network covered.

Nick-named 'the white mouse' by the Gestapo, she's never captured. She died in 2011.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WorldWar2 #Histodons

#OnThisDay, 27 Apr 1992, Betty Boothroyd was elected Speaker of the UK House of Commons. She was the first - and to date only - woman to hold the role.

A working class woman, Betty had been a dancer before working for JFK and becoming an MP. She went on to sit in the House of Lords.

Watch: buff.ly/38djBcP

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #BritishHistory #Histodons

40 years after Chernobyl disaster, East Germany’s secret police files show how Communist officials downplayed the crisis — prioritizing cover-up over public safety.

The documents reveal a coordinated misinformation campaign as radiation spread across Europe.

theconversation.com/chernobyl-…
#Histodons @histodons