Did Zazil-Ha know that her rebellious love affair would save not just her kingdom, but the entire Yucatec Maya for a generation? Together with her shipwrecked Spanish husband, Zazil-Ha built a life beyond anything the 16th-century world could imagine. Preparing her people for a Spanish invasion, she created a future for the Maya that was radically new. And in the process, she became the brave, strong mother of the mestizo race. Katie interviews Gabriel Cemé, …
Maria Branwell Brontë most famously exists as an absence — the mother whose biggest, or only, influence resides in her “not being there there” during the lives of her famous daughters Charlotte, Emily and Anne. For 200 years scholars believed there wasn’t enough material for a biography of Maria. But author Sharon Wright believed there had to be more to find, if only she “went looking properly.” And what she found is truly remarkable. Join …
What’sHerName presents our very first Mother’s Day Special! Come “meet the ancestors” as six What’sHerName listeners introduce some truly remarkable women from their own family history! From Ukraine to Japan, Uzbekistan to Mexico, we’re traveling around the world, and through 275 years, to discover these amazing ancestors in this special double episode. Our guests are What’sHerName listeners Irit Namatinya, Susan Stone, Lisa Williamson, Adrienne, Sachiko Burton, and Michelle Thorley. Rosalia and her daughter Sophia survived …
What would you sacrifice for a chance to chase your dream? Two hundred years ago in Ireland, penniless Margaret Bulkley shed her identity to live a big, bold, loud life as army surgeon James Barry, and took that secret (almost) to the grave. And by keeping his secret, Barry helped — even saved — suffering people across the world. Hear this incredible story recorded on location at the Old Operating Theater Museum and Herb Garret …
Anita Garibaldi is celebrated as a national heroine in three countries and on two continents. Yet the true stories of her remarkable, almost unbelievable life have seldom been told, and her legacy has been claimed, and used, by generations of men since her death in 1849. Hear the astonishing life of the “mother of Italy,” Brazilian gaucho revolutionary Anita Garibaldi. Our guest is Diana Giovinazzo, author of the forthcoming novel The Woman in Red. Diana …
Dive into the stinky filth of everyday Viking life as Katie presents Olivia with a mystery. It’s not so much a Whodunnit as a WhoWASit: the skeleton of a woman found in a shallow grave on the banks of York’s River Foss. What can her bones, and all the other delightfully disgusting bits of evidence from Viking York, tell us about the mysterious Coppergate Woman? Katie is on location at the Jorvik Viking Center in …
If you’ve heard anything at all about the Ancient Macedonian Queen Olympias, it’s probably that she’s the mother of Alexander the Great. If you’ve heard anything else about her, it’s probably about her, uh…fondness…for snakes. But there’s so much more to this remarkable woman than just sons and snake cults! Join us for the story of Olympias, a woman of remarkable courage, brilliance, loyalty, innovation, and confidence as we travel back in time with guest …
Long ago, in the far north of Lapland, a young woman learned the secrets of sorcery from two warlocks. At least that’s what the Icelandic sagas say. The woman would become Gunnhild, infamous Viking sorcerer whose dark magic served her lifelong pursuit of vengeance and power. Viking burials have been found that contain all the trappings of magic, so we know that the Vikings believed her immense power was real. But Gunnhild never got her …
When Harriet Jacobs’ enslaver threatened to sell her children away to the plantation unless she accepted his sexual abuse, she decided the only way to keep them safe was to run. But with no resources and no way to get north, where could she go instead? The answer is an astonishing one. Jacobs’ story is one of the most dramatic and remarkable ‘slave narratives’ in United States history, yet for over 100 years, everyone believed …
In the moment when Mary Pattison locked eyes with dashing American solider John Irwin across the ballroom at the St. Patrick’s Day Ball in 1784, her destiny was set. Married by the end of the gala and on a ship to the brand new nation of the USA two weeks later, she would set up the first “Rope Walk,” rope manufacturer in the small frontier town of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her foresight, skill and ambition would …
