Shows / Her Half of History
Her Half of History
Women's history doesn't have be boring or depressing. I tell the stories of extraordinary women in history, including queens, slaves, spies, scientists, artists, wives, mothers, and more. But most women didn't leave us enough material for a biography, so I also tell you what it was like to be an ordinary woman, including what they wore, how they did housework, how they worked, and how they played.
In short, what were the women doing all that time while men were writing the standard history…
Episodes
Her Half of HistoryPaula Modersohn-Becker, an Expressionist Painter (ep. 10.12)
If Paula Modersohn-Becker had lived as long as Picasso, you might know her name as well as you know his. That is the claim of multiple art historians who…
Her Half of HistoryHilma af Klint, an Abstract Painter (ep. 10.11)
In the early years of the 20th century, an obscure woman in Sweden invented abstract art to reflect her spiritualist views in which the physical world we know…
Her Half of HistoryMary Cassatt, an Impressionist Painter (ep. 10.10)
Mary Cassatt was born in the US, but spent most of her life in France, where she became known as a prominent member of the Impressionist movement. She was…
Her Half of HistoryUemura Shōen, a Japanese Painter (ep. 10.9)
Uemura Shōen painted bijin-ga, a traditional Japanese style of art which featured beautiful women. She had her first international success at the age of 15 and…
- Her Half of History
Amalia Küssner, Portrait Painter (by Kathleen Langone from People Hidden in History) (ep. 10.8)
Today I welcome guest podcaster, Kathleen Langone from the People Hidden in History podcast. Kathleen talks about one of her own distant relations: Amalia…
- Her Half of History
Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French Portrait Painter (ep. 10.7)
Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun was a genius at portrait painter. She rose from obscurity to being Marie Antoinette's official painter, which was great right up until…
Her Half of HistoryMaria Sibylla Merian, Painter and Scientist (ep. 10.6)
In a world where words like "entomologist" and "ecologist" had not yet been coined, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) managed to be both. She was trained as a…
Her Half of HistoryLi Yin, a Chinese Painter (ep. 10.5)
Art flourished in Ming dynasty China. Scolar-officials (and their wives and concubines) pursued the painting of birds, flowers, and landscapes as a sign of…
- Her Half of History
Judith Leyster, a Dutch Master Painter (ep. 10.4)
In the Dutch Golden Age, Judith Leyster was a Master Painter who ran her own workshop and created some of the greatest masterpieces of the age. Then she died…
- Her Half of History
Artemisia Gentileschi, a Baroque Painter (ep. 10.3)
Artemisia Gentileschi was a woman who would not be kept down. She created some of the greatest masterpieces of her time and some would say that she was the…
Her Half of HistorySofonisba Anguissola, a Renaissance Painter (ep. 10.2)
Sofonisba Anguissola was the first of the female Italian Renaissance painters. She studied with Michelangelo, worked as court painter for Spanish royalty, and…
- Her Half of History
Female Painters in the Premodern World (ep. 10.1)
Paint doesn't last as long as some other art forms, so premodern painters of any gender are tricky to find. Nevertheless, there is scattered evidence of women…
- Her Half of History
A Wife by Any Other Naming Convention (ep. 9.9)
The majority of women in western countries change their surnames when they get married, but for most of human history that would have been a totally foreign…
Her Half of HistoryThe Mormon Polygamous Wife (ep. 9.8)
From the 21st century it is hard to grasp just how big an issue polygamy was in 19th century America. From this distance, slavery was the big moral issue. But…
- Her Half of History
The African-American Bride (ep. 9.7)
In August 1619, a Dutch man-of-war came to Virginia shores with about twenty Africans. The Virginia colony was starved for labor. The sailors were starved for…
- Her Half of History
The Solemnization of Matrimony (from the Book of Common Prayer) (ep. 9.6)
Instead of telling you a story about what we can gather from historical documents, I am just going to actually read you a historical document. If that’s not…
Her Half of HistoryTo Be Your Lawfully Wedded Wife (ep. 9.5)
There are as many different wedding ceremonies in world history as there are cultures, religions, and possibly brides. Technically, a couple may not really…
- Her Half of History
What Did the Bride Wear? (ep. 9.4)
The most noticeable thing about a modern wedding is often the bride's dress. And; yet in history, the bride's dress is rarely described. Nevertheless, here's a…
Her Half of HistoryHave You the Ring? (ep. 9.3)
Rings have been associated with marriage since Roman times, but they didn't necessarily look like the modern ones. This episode tracks the history of the ring…
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How Big Is Your Dowry? (rebroadcast) (ep. 9.2)
If you are a Jane Austen fan, you will know that being beautiful, witty, good natured, and accomplished is good, but having a dowry is better. Austen's…
Her Half of HistoryWill You Marry Me? (and other proposals) (ep. 9.1)
If you are a member of modern Western society, then you likely have a definite idea of the traditional marriage proposal, even if you yourself have chosen to…
Her Half of HistoryTwo Queens and Your Christmas Tree
The Christmas tree began as a German tradition. And it might still be just a charming local custom, if not for two English queens who elevated it to a global…
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Ethel Rosenberg: Supposedly a Spy (ep. 8.12)
Ethel Rosenberg was executed by electric chair for sending the secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. America felt justified in view of the impending…
Her Half of HistoryNoor Inayat Khan: A Spy for Britain (ep. 8.11)
Not all the British spies fit the prototype. Noor Inayat Khan had an Indian father, an American mother, a Russian birthplace, and a French education. She was a…
Her Half of HistoryLise de Baissac: A Spy in France (ep. 8.10)
Lise de Baissac fled France when the Nazis marched in. But in Britain she went to genuine spy school, and then she parachuted back into France, where she…
Her Half of HistoryZheng Pingru: A Spy for China (ep. 8.9)
Zheng Pingru is a Chinese heroine of World War II. Her story was tragically brief, and even today raises questions about the difficult role of women in war and…
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Mata Hari: A World War I Spy (ep. 8.8)
Mata Hari fit society's profile of a female spy so perfectly: beautiful, seductive, and duplicitous. That's why the Germans, and the British, and the French…
Her Half of HistoryElizabeth Van Lew: A Union Spy (part 2) (ep. 8.7)
Last week we got Elizabeth to the point of working directly for the Union army from inside Richmond. This week, she and the other Unionists aid a great prison…
- Her Half of History
Elizabeth Van Lew: A Union Spy (part 1) (ep. 8.6)
We have now arrived at the woman who inspired this whole series on spies! Because Elizabeth Van Lew is one of my absolute favorites, and her story is so good…
- Her Half of History
Harriet Tubman: Freedom's Spy (rebroadcast) (ep. 8.5)
I first covered Harriet Tubman last year in my series A Slave, But Now I'm Free, but some women are just too multi-talented to be slotted into only one series…
- Her Half of History
Policarpa Salavarrieta: A Spy for Colombia (ep. 8.4)
Policarpa Salavarrieta is a heroine and martyr of Colombian independence. Good sources are scarce, but here's what we know and a bit about her legacy. This…
Her Half of HistoryAgent 355: Washington's Mostly Mythical Spy (ep. 8.3)
The Culper Spy Ring operated in British-held New York and funneled intel to General George Washington. Agent 355, the only woman among them, will probably…
Her Half of HistoryAphra Behn: A Royalist Spy (ep. 8.2)
Aphra Behn is most famous as the first woman to support herself as a writer in English, but before she launched her literary career, she had a more secretive…
Her Half of HistorySpies in the Pre-Modern World (ep. 8.1)
Espionage has been called the world's second oldest profession, and women were in the thick of it from the very beginning. Unfortunately, a spy's default mode…
Her Half of HistoryThe 20th Century Housewife and Beyond (ep. 7.11)
Industrialization had already transformed the housewife's life, and it was not about to stop. Gas, electricity, running water, cars, ready-made clothes…
Her Half of HistoryIndustrialization Hits the Housewife (ep. 7.10)
Industrialization came in with a bang, and the housewife's life would never be the same again, but unfortunately, that does not mean her life got any easier…
Her Half of HistoryThe Pre-Industrial Housewife (ep. 7.9)
Housewives are practically invisible in the historical record, so the general impression is that not much changed for them between the dawn of civilization and…
Her Half of HistorySome Like It Cold: A History of Your Fridge (ep. 7.8)
Heating things up has been under humanity's control for millennia. But keeping things cool is a modern miracle, and this episode shows how housewives did (or…
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Some Like It Hot: A History of Cooking (ep. 7.7)
It is ridiculous to try to cover the history of cooking in one episode, but it would be equally ridiculous to ignore it in a series on housewives and…
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Waste Not: A History of Your Trash (ep. 7.6)
Some household chores are more or less a thing of the past, but taking out the trash is a task that has grown over time. It's also transformed beyond all…
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To Market, To Market: A History of Shopping (ep. 7.5)
How many shopping trips does it take to keep the household running? And is it a man's job or a woman's? And what was it like when you got to the shop? Some of…
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Next to Godliness: A History of Housecleaning (ep. 7.4)
Women have done an enormous amount of cleaning over the millennia, but precious few bothered to write down what that meant. The daily grind of housewives is…
Her Half of HistoryLet There Be Light: A History of Flipping the Switch (ep. 7.3)
Keeping out the night was a substantial, and sometimes insurmountable task for housewives of the past. This episode talks about the hazy origins of artificial…
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Stitch in Time: A History of Clothing the Family (ep. 7.2)
The drama of housewifery continues with the most time-consuming task there is: spinning, weaving, and sewing. There are four major natural fibers, and they are…
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Wash on Monday: A History of Your Laundry (ep 7.1)
Laundry has been on the household chore list ever since people first learned to spin plant and animal fibers into fabric. This episode traces its history from…
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Wrapping Up the Ground-Breaking Novelists (ep 6.12)
Since I began this series with a discussion of how we got to the point where women could write novels at all, I thought it would be fitting to wind it down…
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Zora Neale Hurston Celebrates Her Heritage (ep 6.11)
African-American women wrote novels in the 19th century, but Zora Neale Hurston brought the art to a whole new level in the 20th. Visit the website…
Her Half of HistoryAgatha Christie, the Queen of Crime (Part 2) (ep 6.10)
Agatha's mysterious disappearance is solved (sort of) and she goes on to become the bestselling novelist in history. Plus, a bit about why she is still so…
Her Half of HistoryAgatha Christie, the Queen of Crime (Part 1) (ep 6.9)
Agatha Christie is the bestselling novelist of all time. This episode takes her from an idyllic childhood, through multiple proposals, into a world war, out…
Her Half of HistorySelma Lagerlöf Wins the Nobel (ep 6.8)
The Nobel Prize in Literature has been given 118 times. Selma Lagerlöf was the first woman to win it. Listen to hear the story of the prize and the woman…
Her Half of HistoryFrances Hodgson Burnett Fights for Copyright (ep 6.7)
Back in the day, authors lost control of their work the instant it was published (and sometimes before). Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret Garden…
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Harriet Beecher Stowe Starts a War (ep 6.6)
Not many novels get more attention in History class than they do in English class, but Uncle Tom's Cabin is the exception. This episode tells the story of…
Her Half of HistoryMary Shelley and the Monster (ep 6.5)
Frankenstein is an instantly recognizable icon. This week I tell you the story of the woman behind the monster. Mary Shelley achieved only moderate success in…
Her Half of HistoryJane Austen's History of England (ep 6.4)
The teenage Jane Austen sometimes got tired of her textbooks. But instead of whining about it, she parodied them. In this episode I bring you a brief…
Her Half of HistoryJane Austen and the Real Woman (ep 6.3)
Jane Austen wrote only a handful of novels, but they are so well-loved that 200 years on she still has an enormous number of readers, fan-fiction writers, and…
Her Half of HistoryMurasaki Shikibu and the World's First (Great) Novel (ep 6.2)
The Tale of Genji is often listed as the world's first novel. Is it a novel? Is it the first? That's highly contentious, but whatever you decide, Lady Murasaki…
Her Half of HistoryWomen and the Written Word (ep 6.1)
This new series covers ground-breaking novelists, but today I focus on how writing got to the point where anyone could write a novel. The story covers…
- Her Half of History
The Historical Mary: A Girl from Galilee (ep 5.2)
Mary's life is not well documented, but we know more about what life was generally like for Jewish peasant girls at the time, so listen in to hear about…
- Her Half of History
The Historical Mary: Setting the Scene (ep 5.1)
Whether you are religious or not, Mary's story is an important part of world heritage. She is obviously the great female figure throughout Christianity, but…
Her Half of HistoryHarriet Tubman: Slave to Liberator (ep 4.10)
This woman is a superhero. She escaped herself and then put herself in danger many times to help others do the same. During the Civil War, she served as a…