Edith Kanaka'ole (also affectionately called “Aunty Edith”), a native Hawaiian composer, chanter and dancer, was a champion for the preservation of native Hawaiian culture and arts. Kanaka'ole lead the highly celebrated dance school, Hālau o Kekuhi, where her legacy as a Kumu Hula, or chief practitioner of traditional Hawaiian dance and culture, took flight.  

Kanaka'ole was born Edith Ke'kuhikuhiipu'uoneonaali'iokohala Kenao on October 30th, 1913 in Honomu, Hawai'i. Honomu is located on the Big Island, which is one of the eight Hawaiian Islands. Her parents John Kanaeleolualaka`ikenao (born in 1870) and Mary Kekuewa Ahiena (born in 1880) were also born on the Big Island, though the two grew up on two different sides of it. Eventually meeting halfway, the two married and had twelve children total (Public Broadcasting System, 1991). When asked about the number of siblings she had, Kanaka'ole could hardly recall if she was the ninth or tenth child in the Kenao family (Public Broadcasting System, 1991). Her childhood in Honomu was quite active. She spent many days at the beach or the river catching fish with her family and dining on them together (Public Broadcasting System, 1991). 

Kanaka'ole's future as Hawai'i's most prominent Kumu Hula had roots in her early life. Her interests in both Hula and music were clear from a young age and driven by her parent’s endeavors. Her mother, Mary, taught Hula which is a type of Native Hawaiian dance that often tells a story. Hula performances vary in style, with some being accompanied by chants and/or music of all different tempos. Whether more ancient or modern in style, Hula is meant to connect dancers to “Hawaiian ancestral knowledge,” (Go Hawaii, n.d.). Kanaka'ole's father, John, was a musician who both sang and played a variety of instruments. Some of John’s specialties included the harp, violin, and guitar (Public Broadcasting System, 1991). 

Kanaka'ole’s parents' expertise in areas of traditional dance and music was important due to the events happening during their early adulthood. There was an increase in Western imperialist efforts in Hawai'i in the late 1800s. From Hawai'i’s last king, King David Kalākaua, signing treaties with the United States to an influx of white landowners and businessmen, Native Hawaiian culture suffered greatly (National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). Discriminatory policies were ushered in and “many aspects of traditional culture [became] prohibited, including teaching the Hawaiian language and performing the native Hula dance.” (National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). Hawai’i’s last monarch, Queen Lili'uokalani, attempted to preserve sacred lands and traditional cultural practices but her efforts were prevented by non-native businessmen. United States imperialism continued to threaten and attempt to erase the cultural livelihood of Native Hawaiians well into the 1900s. 

Growing up in an environment that aimed to preserve and celebrate Native Hawaiian culture was certainly a large part of Kanaka'ole’s eventual expertise in music, chanting and Hula. While she did not finish intermediate school, when asked about her schooling she joked that she stopped at "seventh grade and a half" (Honolulu’s Star-Bulletin, 1979). It is interesting to reflect on the fact that, despite not finishing school herself, Kanaka'ole would ultimately become a beloved educator both in public school and university settings. Taking the time to study the areas that truly brought her joy (such as the Native Hawaiian language, culture, and Hula) throughout her teen years and early adulthood were what set her on her path to mastery and becoming a cultural icon.

With her talents budding before the age of the Hawaiian Renaissance (a period marked from the early 1960s to the late 1970s), a commitment to Hula provided ongoing opportunities for Kanaka'ole to engage deeply with Hawaiian culture and history (Lewis 1984, p. 168). This renaissance highlighted a resurgence of public expression of Native Hawaiian identity and spiritual practice. Kanaka'ole would come to be a prominent figure in this movement. Though she first learned the art of Hula through her mother as a child, she continued training under notable Kumu Hula Akoni Mika (Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, n.d.). Learning Hula and connecting so deeply with her culture through this art was life-changing for Kanaka'ole. She was empowered to become an outspoken champion for the recognition of Indigenous Hawaiian culture and experiences - particularly in the face of cultural discrimination. Embodying Hawaiian values of unity and love through her kindness and uncanny ability to touch the hearts of many, she then became regarded as an authority figure by her community. It was also during this time that Kanaka'ole met and married her husband Luka Kanaka'ole in January of 1933. The couple had six children together.

Outside of Hula, Kanaka'ole had many other areas of expertise. She was a talented composer who created various Hawaiian chants - traditionally called oli - and songs, many of which are featured on the albums she recorded. Bringing her two talents together, she often choreographed Hula dances to accompany her musical creations. Kanaka'ole cherished this craft and believed oli to be at the core of Hawaiian history, culture and identity (Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, n.d.). She became recognized for her performances and performed often. In 1950, she toured the mainland United States, Canada, and various countries in Asia (United States Mint, 2022). Shortly thereafter, Kanaka'ole’s mother passed away. In honor of her mother, Kanaka'ole created a school that specialized in teaching the art of Hula. Formed at the beginning of the Hawaiian Renaissance, she was able to use all of her years of training to teach those who wished to engage with Hula. She named her school Hālau o Kekuhi. In Native Hawaiian, these schools are referred to as “hālau” and “kekuhi” references a colorful fish called a flying gurnard. Kanaka'ole trained two of her six children at Hālau o Kekuhi. Both her children and many students learned the art of Kanka'ole’s distinct style of Hula, where dancers conduct ”dynamic movements in a very low bent-knee stance,” though it is still considered traditional – just with Kanaka'ole’s own unique twist (Kaeppler 2006, p. 308). 

Though her community already highly regarded her cultural contributions, Kanaka'ole continued her efforts for the preservation of Hawaiian culture in the face of continued cultural discrimination. While Hawai'i’s official statehood in 1959 ushered in more legislative rights (the ability to be represented in Congress and the right to elect their own governor, for example), assimilatory policies did not disappear (National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). One prominent example was continued battles between Native Hawaiians and the government over lands that held spiritual significance. Overall, Hawaiians were undergoing significant attacks on their cultural livelihood. Kanaka'ole became even more impassioned by the hardships her community was facing. She set out to share her cultural knowledge with Hawaiian youth, particularly through her work as a professor at the Hawai'i Community College from 1971 to 1979 and the University of Hawai'i at Hilo from 1973 to 1979. Her courses and seminars were on a variety of topics - Hawaiian chants and myths, genealogy, Polynesian history, land ownership, and ethnobotany (United States Mint, 2022). 

As Kanaka'ole sought to keep Hawaiian customs alive as the pressure of assimilation loomed, she wanted to reach wider audiences. She helped to create a Hawaiian language program for a public school in Hilo, Hawai'i called the Keaukaha School. There’s no doubt she was the one for the task, as Hawaiian was often featured extensively in her music (Tatar, 1982).  The number of Hawaiian language speakers continued to decrease after Hawai'i statehood and the state legislature banned the speaking of Hawaiian in schools (Tagarelli, 2020). If students were found speaking the language, they were subject to punishments. These bans only further lowered the amount of Native Hawaiian speakers at the time. Even so, Kanaka'ole’s efforts to reinvigorate the language worked; as of 2020, over twenty language immersion schools exist (Tagarelli 2020). The number of speakers has increased thanks to these schools, though UNESCO still considers the language critically endangered (Alexandre and Moseley, 2010).

Another of Kanaka'ole’s prominent endeavors was her assistance with the Imua Project, which would eventually be renamed the Hawaiian Studies Kupuna Program for Hawaiian public schools (Hawaii Tribune Herald, 2013). Elders, or kupuna, assisted in teaching youth about Hawaiian history, identity and culture in all Hawaiian public schools. Program founder Kwai Wah Lee sought out Kanaka'ole to interview elders who might be interested in participating in the program (Hawaii Tribune Herald 2013). Kanaka'ole showed up for her community, aiding locals in providing better opportunities for youth in any way she could.

Later in life, the then Governor of Hawai'i, George Ariyoshi, awarded Kanaka'ole with the 1979 Distinction of Cultural Leadership award in recognition of her commitment to her community (Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, n.d). The award focused on those who have contributed greatly to three areas of focus: Hawaiian culture, arts and humanities (United States Mint 2022). This award is the highest honor granted by the state of Hawai'i, and Kanaka'ole was undoubtedly strong contender given her life’s work. She went on to win several other awards all in recognition to her devotion to preserving traditional Hawaiian culture.  

Kanaka'ole was diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the age of 65 on October 3rd, 1979. Her second and final album entitled “Hiipoi I Ka Aiina Aloha” or “Cherish the Beloved Land” was released posthumously (Tatar, 1982, p. 337). In 1979, the album won “Best Traditional Album” in the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards – an award show developed by a team of Hawaiian recording artists - by public vote (Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts, 2021). The success of the second album marked a series of wins for Kanaka’ole. Her first album, “Haakui Pele I Hawai'i” or "Pele Prevails in Hawai'i," had also won the “Best Traditional Album” award the year prior (Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, n.d.).

Many within her community and beyond spoke highly of Kanaka'ole just after her passing. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin remarked that she was “[one] of the Big Island's most cherished educators” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1979). The University of Hawai'i at Hilo also named a building after Kanaka’ole. With regards to Hula and Halau o Kekuhi, Kanaka'ole’s daughters Pualani Kanaka’ole Kanahele and Nālani Kanaka’ole each took on the role of Kumu Hula as their mother’s successors. Her daughter, Pualani, eventually passed on the role to two of her children. Only one still serves as a Kumu Hula with Halau o Kekuhi to date, with Nālani Kanaka'ole and Pualani’s daughter, Huihui Kanahele-Mossman, as the school’s current leaders (Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation, n.d.). They continue to work tirelessly to highlight Hula as a medium of dance that is worthy of being held in as high regard as other classical forms of dance, such as ballet and modern dance (Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation, n.d.).

Presently, Kanaka'ole is one of five women to be honored in 2023 by the U.S. Mint’s four-year long American Women Quarters program. The chant Kanaka'ole composed entitled “E hō mai ka ʻike” is the inscription on the back of her commemorative coin. This phrase translates to “granting the wisdom,” which is both indicative of Kanaka'ole’s wealth of knowledge and her dedication to imparting her wisdom in the name of uplifting Native Hawaiian narratives and traditions (United States Mint, 2022). Other organizations such as the non-profit Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation continue to honor her legacy by keeping Native Hawaiian culture alive and even undertaking humanitarian initiatives, such as providing scholarships for Native Hawaiian youth seeking higher education. 

There is much to learn from Kanaka'ole’s vast experiences and inspiring life. Her love for Hula, chants and keeping Native Hawaiian traditions alive and well stemmed from a deep pride in her culture and the possibility of a better future. She was steadfast in her beliefs. In the face of intense cultural discrimination, she was a force to be reckoned with - all in the name of love of her people. As Kanaka'ole herself remarked, “We’re all part of one family…We all work together to solve problems.  …When we find time to contribute, returns come back to us tenfold.”  

AUTHOR: MLA – Dawson, Shay. "Edith Kanaka'ole." National Women's History Museum. National Women's History Museum, 2023. Date accessed.  

 Chicago- Dawson, Shay. “Edith Kanaka'ole." National Women's History Museum. 2023. 

 

By Maxine Gordon    Harvard Radcliffe Institute

Quartette: Stories from the Lives of Four Women Jazz Musicians—Maxine Sullivan, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, and Shirley Scott

Maxine Gordon is an independent scholar with a lifetime career working with jazz musicians. She is an oral historian and archivist in the fields of jazz and African American cultural history whose book Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon (University of California Press, 2018) fulfills the promise she made to her late husband, the jazz saxophonist and Academy Award–nominated actor Dexter Gordon, to complete his biography. Gordon is currently working on her next book, “Quartette: Four Women in Jazz, Stories from the Lives of Maxine Sullivan, Velma Middleton, Melba Liston, and Shirley Scott.” The book will be presented in a context that is described as “jazz geography,” using a close look at the element of place as a factor in the artists’ lives. Gordon will pursue archival research, searching all interviews in order to incorporate the artists’ voices in the work. Find out more at https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/peo.... For information about Harvard Radcliffe Institute and its many public programs, visit https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RadcliffeIns... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radcliffe.i... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/radc... Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RadInstitute  

 

 ELIZABETH BECKER TELLS THE STORY OF THE WOMEN JOURNALISTS OF VIETNAM

by Robin Lindley

 

It’s not unusual now to see or hear or read reports from women correspondents who cover the news in combat zones and other perilous situations. They bring home the harsh and chaotic reality of fighting from war-torn places like Ukraine, Syria, the Middle East, and beyond. This new generation of reporters includes distinguished newswomen such as Clarissa Ward, Christiane Amanpour, Jane Ferguson, the late Marie Colvin, Holly Williams, and photojournalist Lynsey Addario.

But women reporters just a few decades ago during the bloody American military conflicts in Vietnam and Cambodia were scarce at best and were often undermined, mocked, belittled, and even sabotaged. Only the most intrepid and resolute persevered to share the news and reshape public understanding of the cruelty and complexity of this foreign policy debacle. But these extraordinary women broke down barriers and created a new path for future generations of female reporters on the frontlines who courageously and routinely cover the terrible consequences of war.

A trailblazing war correspondent in her own right, celebrated journalist and author Elizabeth Becker pays homage to a trio of women reporters who covered the Vietnam War in her recent book You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War (Public Affairs). The book focuses on the lives of the daring French photojournalist Catherine Leroy, American intellectual and author Frances FitzGerald, and iconoclastic Australian war reporter Kate Webb. Each arrived in Vietnam without significant experience in reporting or international affairs, and each navigated the masculine world of war and loss and each suffered and sacrificed to bring their unique perspectives on the chaotic conflict to the world. They brought new approaches to covering war and its horrific human toll on combatants and civilians alike.

The book also provides a new view of the war as it blends the individual stories of these stalwart women within the historical context of the war. Ms. Becker adds her insights as a fellow reporter and veteran of the Southeast Asian wars. The riveting narrative is based on her meticulous research that included study of voluminous military and other official records as well as her special access to the personal letters, diaries, photographs, and other documents from the three heroines of the book as well as their colleagues and others.

In addition to stellar reviews, You Don’t Belong Here won Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize for the best book on politics, policy and journalism as well as the Sperber Prize for the best biography/memoir of a journalist. And Foreign Affairs named it the Best Military Book of the year.

Ms. Becker’s groundbreaking reporting from Cambodia during its war and the Khmer Rouge revolution is legendary. She covered the American bombing of Cambodia, the vicious combat there, and the genocidal violence of the Khmer Rouge revolution. She was the only western reporter to interview Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, and she escaped an assassination attempt by the Khmer Rouge.

When the War was Over, Ms. Becker’s acclaimed book on Cambodia, won the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. That book was based on her first-hand war reporting and extensive subsequent research including her historic interviews with Pol Pot and other senior Khmer leaders. Her exhaustive six-year investigation of the historical and political roots of one of the 20th Century’s worst genocides remains in print more than three decades since its first publication and is relied on by historians and others for its exhaustive and definitive research.  The New York Times called her Cambodia book “a work of the first importance;” the Financial Times said “Becker writes history as history should be written;” and the Washington Post praised it as “an impressive feat of scholarship and reporting: intelligent, measured, resourceful.”

The prosecution for the for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia recognized Ms. Becker’s unique expertise and called her as an expert witness in the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide. She testified about her experience and knowledge of Khmer Rouge atrocities and other war crimes before the tribunal in 2016, and the two defendants were convicted.

Ms. Becker began her illustrious career as a war correspondent for the Washington Post in Cambodia in 1973. She subsequently became the Senior Foreign Editor of National Public Radio, and later worked as a New York Times correspondent covering national security, foreign policy, agriculture and international economics. She has reported from Asia, Africa, South America and Europe while based in Phnom Penh, Paris and Washington.

Her honors for her journalism include an Overseas Press Club Award for her Cambodia coverage, the DuPont Columbia Award for her work as executive director for coverage of Rwanda’s genocide and South Africa, and the North American Agricultural Journalism Association Award. She also was a member of the Times staff that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for public service in covering 9/11.

Ms. Becker graduated from the University of Washington in South Asian studies, and was a fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of Oxfam America Advocacy Fund and the Harpswell Foundation.

 

READ MORE… "You Don't Belong Here": Elizabeth Becker Tells the Story of the Women Journalists of Vietnam | History News Network

Mar 12, 2023    History News Network

Caroline Ann Trow Lohman, better known as Madame Restell        by   Alan J. Singer

 

By a 6-3 vote in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (1973) and eliminated a woman’s constitutional right to decide whether she wanted to terminate a pregnancy. Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion, justified the decision in part by arguing that “an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest days of the common law until 1973.”

 

Alito’s historical argument was just wrong. Early termination of a pregnancy prior to “quickening” when a fetus’ movement could be felt by a pregnant woman, sometime between the fourth to sixth month, was both legal and common in the early years of the United States. The first state laws governing abortion date to the 1820s and 1830s and specifically addressed the use of “poison” to terminate a pregnancy after quickening. The first New York State law that criminalized abortion was enacted in 1827. It declared pre-quickening abortion a misdemeanor and post-quickening abortion a felony.

 

The distinction between terminating a pregnancy prior to quickening and after remained until the 1860s when male doctors and professional organizations like the American Medical Association, founded in 1847, moved to eliminate competition in caring for women from female health workers who practiced traditional folk medicine.

 

A major battleground in the 19th century war over abortion was New York City where Caroline Ann Trow Lohman, also known as Madame Restell, used traditional medicinal potions to help women who wanted to limit their family size or terminate an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy.

 

Restell was born in England in 1812 and moved to New York in 1831 with her husband and a child. When her husband died, she married Charles Lohman, a local printer, who published pamphlets on contraception and population control, and encouraged his wife to set up her traditional medical practice at 146 Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan.  Starting with a notice in the New York Sun in March 1839, she began to widely advertise her services in the city’s daily newspapers. She offered folk remedies such as oil of tansy made from a plant and used since the European Middle Ages to terminate pregnancies and spirits of turpentine distilled from pine resin. If these remedies were unsuccessful, Restell provided surgical abortions on a sliding scale based on social class.  As her clientele expanded, Madame Restell added other services. She operated a boardinghouse where women who chose not to terminate a pregnancy could deliver in anonymity, and she arranged for adoptions. 

 

Classified advertisements, New York Herald and New York Sun, December 1841

TO MARRIED WOMEN. — Is it not but too well known that the families of the married often increase beyond what the happiness of those who give them birth would dictate? . . . Is it moral for parents to increase their families, regardless of consequences to themselves, or the well being of their offspring, when a simple, easy, healthy, and certain remedy is within our control? The advertiser, feeling the importance of this subject, and estimating the vast benefit resulting to thousands by the adoption of means prescribed by her, has opened an office, where married females can obtain the desired information.

 

From 1839 to 1877, Restell was arrested at least five times, and she spent months in jail. In 1840, Madame Restell was arrested when the husband of a 21-year old woman named Maria Purdy, who had died from tuberculosis, accused her of poisoning his wife when she sought help to end an unwanted pregnancy. The woman had insisted that she was only three months pregnant, well within the legal period for terminating the pregnancy. Restell was charged with “administering to Purdy certain noxious medicine… … procuring her a miscarriage by the use of instruments, the same not being necessary to preserve her life.” In the local press, opponents of abortion accused Restell of being a “monster in human shape.” They charged her with “one of the most hellish acts ever perpetrated in a Christian land,” threatening marriage and motherhood, promoting immoral behavior and adultery, and encouraging prostitution. In her defense, Restell placed an ad in the New York Herald offering $100 to anyone who could prove that her medicinal potions were harmful. 

 

The campaign against Restell was led by George Washington Dixon, publisher of the Polyanthos and Fire Department Album newspaper. At her initial trial, Restell was found guilty but the verdict was thrown out on appeal because Maria Purdy’s deathbed confession that she had aborted a fetus was ruled inadmissible. Restell was retried, but without Purdy’s statement, she was found not guilty. After her acquittal, Restell expanded her mail-order operation and opened new offices in Boston and Philadelphia. At this time, Restell was probably the inspiration for Edgar Allan Poe’s 1842 story, “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt.”

 

In 1845, the New York State legislature changed the law. It made any assistance in terminating a pregnancy at any time illegal and punishable by a year in prison. Under the new law, women who sought abortions could be sentenced to pay a $1,000 fine and three to twelve months in jail. In 1846, Dixon instigated a riot outside Restell’s Manhattan house where rioters chanted “Hanging’s too good for her!” and “This house is built on babies’ skulls.”

 

In 1847, Restell was arrested again when Maria Bodine, a woman she had assisted with an abortion, had post-operative complications and a physician reported Restell to the police. Bodine testified against Restell at the trial; she was found guilty of “misdemeanor procurement,” and sentenced to a year in jail. After her release, Restell promised not to perform any further surgical abortions but continued to supply women with folk medicines that would terminate an early stage pregnancy. At this point, Restell had become a prosperous local celebrity. She lived an ostentatious life style, moved into a mansion on 52nd Street and 5th Avenue, applied for and received U.S. citizenship, and the mayor of New York City officiated at her daughter’s wedding.

 

Yet despite her celebrity, Madame Restell was subject to continual legal harassment. In February 1854, she was charged with a felony for illegally terminating a pregnancy and in July 1862 she was accused of arranging adoptions and being an abortionist. The 1854 case was sensationally covered on page 1 of the New York Times on February 14. A twenty-two year old young woman named Cordelia Grant charged her lover, George Shackford, with having abused her since she was sixteen. During that time Shackford alternated between identifying her publicly as either his wife or ward and he was now threatening to desert her. Grant claimed that she had become pregnant, “enciente” (sic), five times and that Shackford forced her to have an abortion each time. The “notorious RESTELL” was accused of performing three of the abortions at “No. 162 Chambers street.” On one occasion the baby may have been born alive and discarded. Restell’s husband, Charles Lohman, was named in the indictment as conducting the business end of the arrangement with Shackford. Charges against the defendants were dismissed on March 22, 1854 after Grant, who had testified under oath on February 22, fled the jurisdiction of the New York Courts under mysterious circumstances.

 

The 1862 case involved a woman who accused Mary Lohman alias Madam Restell of abducting her baby and demanded that the child be returned to her. Restell testified that she was a “midwife and female physician” who made arrangements for adoption of the infant at the request of the woman and that the woman “freely and voluntarily surrendered up” the infant. Eight months later the woman had Restell arrested, accusing her of abducting the child. The charges against Restell were dismissed when it became clear that the plaintiff had made several contradictory statements.

 

In 1872, New York revised its anti-abortion law and the penalty for performing an abortion was increased to between four and 20 years in prison. In 1878, Restell, now in her sixties, was targeted by Anthony Comstock, the founder of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. An 1873 federal law made it illegal to sell or advertise obscene material in mail including “any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion.” The penalty for breaking the law was six months to five years in prison and a fine of $2,000.

As part of a sting operation, Comstock purchased pills from Restell claiming they were for his wife. He had Restell arrested and in a follow-up search of her 5th Avenue office, Comstock uncovered pamphlets about birth control and instructions on how to terminate a pregnancy. Restell charged that Comstock was supported by a male medical profession that wanted to eliminate her as a competitor so the doctors could enrich themselves at the expense of women and announced that she would expose them if she were brought to trial. But there was no trial. On April 1, 1878, Restell’s naked body was discovered in her bathtub. Her throat was slit and her death was ruled a suicide by the coroner.

 

On April 2, 1878, The New York Times reported on page 1:

 

The notorious Mme. Restell is dead. Having for nearly forty years been before the public as a woman who was growing rich by the practice of a nefarious business; having once served an imprisonment for criminal malpractice; having ostentatiously flaunted her wealth before the community and made an attractive part of the finest avenue in the City odious by her constant presence, she yesterday, driven to desperation at last by public opinion she had so long defied, came to a violent end by cutting her throat from ear to ear. The news startled the whole City. At first the announcement was looked upon as a hoax, but when it became known that her death had been officially communicated to the court in which she was about to be tried on an indictment found recently, doubt was removed, and the ghastly story of the suicide became the talk of everybody.

 

Caroline Ann Trow Lohman, also known as Madame Restell, defied 19th century male authority to provide women of all social classes with the ability to decide if they wanted to bear and raise a child. She did this by employing traditional folk remedies to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. She brought on media condemnation and ridicule because she refused to practice in the shadows despite legal harassment. She believed in a woman’s right to choose, and she chose to end her own life rather than going to prison for defending reproductive freedom. Ironically, her death led to rumors that it was staged and that she was still helping women terminate pregnancies.

 

In his Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito conveniently ignored women like Madame Restell and the early history of abortion rights in the United States. Not a surprise.

AUTHOR: Alan Singer is a historian and professor in the Hofstra University Department of Teaching, Learning and Technology. He is the author of New York’s Grand Emancipation Jubilee: Essays on Slavery, Resistance, Abolition, Teaching, and Historical Memory (SUNY Press, 2018).

March 5, 2023   History News Network 

Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) soared across the sky as the first African American, and the first Native American woman pilot. Known for performing flying tricks, Coleman’s nicknames were; “Brave Bessie,” “Queen Bess,” and “The Only Race Aviatrix in the World.” Her goal was to encourage women and African Americans to reach their dreams. Unfortunately, her career ended with a tragic plane crash, but her life continues to inspire people around the world.

Born in Atlanta, Texas on January 26, 1892, Bessie Coleman had twelve brothers and sisters. Her mother, Susan Coleman, was an African American maid, and her father George Coleman was a sharecroppper of mixed Native American and African American descent. In 1901, her father decided to move back to Oklahoma to try to escape discrimination. Bessie’s mother decided not to go with him. Instead, the rest of the family stayed in Waxahachie, Texas. Bessie grew up helping her mother pick cotton and wash laundry to earn extra money. By the time she was eighteen, she saved enough money to attend the Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma. She dropped out of college after only one semester because she could not afford to attend.

At age 23, Coleman went to live with her brothers in Chicago. She went to the Burnham School of Beauty Culture in 1915 and became a manicurist in a local barbershop. Meanwhile, her brothers served in the military during World War I and came home with stories from their time in France. Her brother John teased her because French women were allowed to learn how to fly airplanes and Bessie could not. This made Bessie want to become a pilot. She applied to many flight schools across the country, but no school would take her because she was both African American and a woman. Famous African American newspaper publisher, Robert Abbott told her to move to France where she could learn how to fly. She began taking French classes at night because her application to flight schools needed to be written in French.

Finally, Coleman was accepted at the Caudron Brothers' School of Aviation in Le Crotoy, France. She received her international pilot’s license on June 15, 1921 from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Coleman’s dream was to own a plane and to open her own flight school. She gave speeches and showed films of her air tricks in churches, theaters, and schools to earn money. She refused to speak anywhere that was segregated or discriminated against African Americans. In 1922, she performed the first public flight by an African American woman. She was famous for doing “loop-the-loops” and making the shape of an “8” in an airplane. People were fascinated by her performances and she became more popular both in the United States and in Europe. She toured the country giving flight lessons, performing in flight shows, and she encouraged African Americans and women to learn how to fly.

Only two years into her flight career, Coleman survived her first major airplane accident. In February of 1923, her airplane engine suddenly stopped working and she crashed. She was badly hurt in the accident and suffered a broken leg, a few cracked ribs, and cuts on her face. Thankfully, Coleman was able to fully heal from her injuries. This accident did not stop her from flying. She went back to performing dangerous air tricks in 1925. Her hard work helped her to save up enough money to purchase her own plane, a Jenny – JN-4 with an OX-5 engine. Soon she returned to her hometown in Texas to perform for a large crowd. Because Texas was still segregated, the managers planned to create two separate entrances for African Americans and white people to get into the stadium. Coleman refused to perform unless there was only one gate for everyone to use. After many meetings, the managers agreed to have one gate, but people would still have to sit in segregated sections of the stadium. She agreed to perform and became famous for standing up for her beliefs.

On April 30, 1926, Bessie Coleman took a test flight with a mechanic named William Wills. Wills was piloting the plane, as Coleman sat in the passenger seat. At about 3,000 feet in the air, a loose wrench got stuck in the engine of the aircraft. Wills was no longer able to control the steering wheel and the plane flipped over. Unfortunately, Coleman was not wearing a seatbelt. Airplanes at the time did not have a roof or any protection. Coleman immediately fell out of the open plane and died. Wills crashed the aircraft a few feet away from Coleman’s body and also died. Her death was heartbreaking for thousands of people. Famous activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett performed the funeral service to honor Coleman in Chicago. In 1931, the Challenger Pilots’ Association of Chicago started a tradition of flying over Coleman’s grave every year. By 1977, African American women pilots formed the Bessie Coleman Aviators Club. In 1995, the “Bessie Coleman Stamp” was made to remember all of her accomplishments.

By Kerri Lee Alexander, NWHM Fellow | 2018

APA: Alexander, K.L. (2018). Bessie Coleman. Retrieved from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/bessie-coleman

Chicago: Alexander, Kerri Lee. "Bessie Coleman." National Women's History Museum. 2018. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/bessie-coleman.

MLA: Alexander, Kerri Lee. "Bessie Coleman." National Women's History Museum. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/bessie-coleman. Accessed [date]. 

Works Cited

• "Coleman, Bessie." National Aviation Hall of Fame. 2006. Accessed September 18, 2018.
• "Fly Girls: Bessie Coleman." PBS. 1999. Accessed September 18, 2018.
• Onkst, David H. "Women in History: Bessie Coleman." Natural Resources Conservation Service. Accessed September 18, 2018.
• Rudd, Thelma. "Bessie Coleman. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow." The Official Website of Bessie Coleman. 2018. Accessed September 18, 2018.