Google doodle of Mexican-American civil rights activist, María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández.
Once again, Google is honoring the life and work of a pioneering civil rights icon. This time it is Mexican-American civil rights activist, María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández. Latigo de Hernández worked to connect the domestic with the political or public sphere in Texas politics and was a tireless advocate for workers and women, In 1938 she organized on behalf of striking pecan workers. Among her many accomplishments, she was the first Mexican-American woman to have a radio show and was a tireless advocate for educational equality.
Google doodle honoring puertorriquená Helen Rodríguez Trías’ 89th birthday!
The impact of women of color on science, technology, and medicine is a history only partially explored. It is so good to see Google honoring the work of this pioneering public health official. For more information check out this Time Magazine story on Trías. Or, check out her brief biography on the website, Changing the Face of Medicine which focuses on women pioneers in the field. Trías’ work was part of a growing field of reproductive healthcare for women that emerged in the 1970s.
Women’s history is also art history. Read about this fabulous Polish artist whose style epitomized Art Deco in the early twentieth century. CNN offers a quick overview of her life and art work.
Google doodle in honor of Tamara de Lempicka
The FDA approves “the Pill”
On this day in Women’s History: The birth control pill was introduced changing the course of Women’s History in the US and around the world. PBS has a terrific documentary about the history of the pill.
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is coming fall I will teach HST 353 American In/Justice: The Prison as a Social History of the US. American In/Justice grows out of my larger manuscript project on the Indiana Girls School, 1900-1930. The course examines the carceral history of the US with a focus on the period from Reconstruction to the present. One important element of the class will be using Indiana as a case study and site. We will make use of the state’s abundant records as well as some of the many reality tv shows focusing on hoosier inmates as source materials.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Indiana was a pioneer in prison ‘reform’ efforts led initially by Quaker women, including Rhodda Coffin. By the early 20th century, religious reform was increasingly supplanted by those trained in medicine and social science. In 1907 the state became the first to forcibly sterilize male inmates as punishment and security against future crimes. The state’s history of eugenics will be an important context for the class.
The class will also make use of the nation’s fascination with and production of prison popular culture products such as musical cultures, poetry, etc.
Update May 4, 2018: I have started a blog for the course American In/Justice. It is in its infancy and won’t really be up and running until the fall. Suggestions for links, materials, events, etc. will be greatly appreciated.
Please join us Friday, April 13 for the 30th annual Undergraduate Research Conference. Panel and presentation information can be found here I will microblog the event via twitter, @vivtweets. Nothing compares to being present, however. –Deno
This week the campus will be over run with bright students from around the region and beyond presenting their original research. Check out the program. You can keep up with the URC via, twitter at @TheButlerURC and the hashtag, [forthcoming.] I will tweet out the sessions I am moderating based on their program number. Stay tuned!
Today’s Google doodle is in honor of the pioneering suffragist, feminist, and labor rights activist, Alice Paul (1885-1977). Paul was instrumental in getting the 19th amendment passed. Radicalized by her sojourn in England she helped to galvanize the movement in the US in the 1910s. “There will never be a new world order until women are a part of it.” She was right.
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