For my last blog post I have decided to write about Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of the famous author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was incredibly prominent in her own right but was often overshadowed by her husband. Zelda was not only an author, she was also a trained dancer, artist, and muse to her husband, playing a role in some of his most famous works. In this blog post I will further discuss Zelda’s tragic life, as well as her influence on F. Scott Fitzgerald and in turn some of the most cherished works of American literature which shaped society’s perception of the American dream.
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Zelda was raised with privilege in Alabama, where her father was a prominent judge in the court system. In her youth, she challenged gender norms with the way she drank and smoked with the young men in her town, and she developed a very audacious spirit – something F. Scott was attracted to when he met her in 1918 in a similar setting. Zelda was raised in a home where social standing was a very prominent factor in determining who you interacted with, so when F. Scott expressed his feelings to her and proposed in 1919 she initially rejected him. During this time period Zelda entertained many other suitors, which made F. Scott very insecure and which later became motif in his later novels. The idea of pining after an elusive, flirtatious woman was a prominent theme he centered many stories around, including The Great Gatsby. She did not say yes until his book This Side of Paradise was published by a prominent publishing company, Scribner’s. He was finally at an acceptable social standing, so she was able to accept his marriage proposal.
Zelda was a very skilled writer in her own right, and claims to have written many passages of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels herself, which probes the question of whether or not she was a collaborator of his. This may have contributed to some tension in their already problematic relationship. She was very talented in the same field, but possibly due to their tensions and issues, some of her work was taken for F. Scott to use as his own.
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Their marriage was problematic to say the least. It was marred by alcoholism, infidelity, and jealousy, and continued to be toxic throughout their lives until both of their tragic deaths. Zelda was put into a mental facility because she had become increasingly unstable, and during her stay a fire occurred that ended up killing her and other patients. Her life was a very tragic one, with characteristics of the excess present during the 1920s and also the darker side that typically was not shown during this time period, but was hidden underneath the glitz and glamour.
Although Zelda was not influential in the sense that she enacted policy change or the course of major historical events, she was influential in the sense that she influenced the arts in the United States. Because of her relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald, she inspired and helped him create his crucial works of literature that have in turn changed the view of American society. Works such as The Great Gatsby would not have been created, or would not have had the same theme, if Zelda and F. Scott did not have their intriguing and tumultuous relationship. Through her lifestyle, which was relatively characteristic of the 1920s due to the excess and drinking culture, she influenced major works of art and the people who shaped the modern idea of America, even though she herself was suffering intensely with the mental illness that eventually led to her death.
During the American Revolution, most people think of the brave men who rose up, formed various militias, and took down the British in a surprising turn of world history. People do not usually think about the brave women that stayed behind. Many of these women took on their husbands’ professions to keep the economy going strong, and they also had to simultaneously maintain the appearance of their homes and raise their children in a society where the majority of the men were gone. The less politically heated women contributed to the war effort in different ways, like by sewing uniforms for the Continental Army and working in small businesses. Other women physically joined their husbands at the military camps so they would not have to be away from them, therefore moving away from the major towns and to the military centers. These were all different aspects of life for women during the Revolutionary War, but one major one has yet to be discussed: the women physically fighting in the war and taking the fight into their own hands.
https://ladiesindefiance.com/2012/02/
Some women, however, took matters into their own hands and went out and fought for the cause themselves. One prime example of this valiant behavior was shown through the actions of Prudence Cummings Wright. Prudence was a thirty five year old mother of six, who, when the war began, joined with other townswomen to defend their town in Massachusetts while the men were out fighting in the war and nearby skirmishes. These women proudly defended their town and managed to capture multiple Tory spies who were attempting to infiltrate and spread secret coded messages. They dressed up in their husbands’ clothing, armed themselves with muskets, pitchforks, and whatever else they could find to defend themselves, and stood at Jewett’s bridge to defend their town and stop the spread of news that would hurt their revolutionary cause. Prudence was elected to be the leader of these women, and a book written shortly after the event illustrates how determined they were to do their part. The book, History of the Town of Groton, was the earliest version (1848) of the accounts of the event, and in this book the author wrote, “and having elected Mrs. Wright their commander, resolutely determined, that no foe to freedom, foreign or domestic, should pass that bridge. For rumors were rife, that the regulars were approaching, and frightful stories of slaughter flew rapidly from place to place and from house to house.” This account, even though it was written significantly later than the time the event occurred, truly show how determined these women were to defend both their town and themselves, along with the vast number of women who participated in this aspect of the war.
http://historyofmassachusetts.org/prudence-cummings-wright-leonard-whitings-guard/
Prudence Cummings Wright represents many women during the Revolutionary War. People do not usually think about the fact that this was a very similar situation to when the men left for World War II, or really any other war, and the women had to step in and take up different roles. Just as they did during the other, more globalized wars, the women took up the working positions of their husbands in some cases, and also took up arms themselves. This was more common than I initially thought, given that I had typically heard of a smaller number of women disguising themselves as men and fighting in secret. Through women like Prudence Cummings Wright, more women became involved in defending themselves, their towns, and their future during the Revolutionary War, and they set a precedent for the many wars to come.
When thinking about which woman to discuss in this blog post, I immediately thought about my Medieval Britain course I am currently taking and the many interesting women who are mentioned. During this course we learn a fair bit about the psychotic figures of medieval history, ranging from the initial inhabitants, the Viking invaders and future rulers, and the noble class itself (which was wrought with betrayal and scandal). My professor frequently says, after telling a particularly gruesome story, “who needs reality TV when you have the ruling class in medieval Britain?” I’m inclined to agree, and when thinking about the craziness that went down, I immediately thought of Emma of Normandy.
Emma of Normandy was a very intriguing woman in medieval history, given both her personality but also her eccentric upbringing. She was the daughter of Richard I of Normandy, and her great grandfather was the Viking founder of Normandy, Rollo. Her mother, however, was a Dane named Gunnor, and because of this diverse background she grew up with almost two separate identities – both the Norman and the Viking.
When she was about 12 in 1002 AD, she sailed off to England to marry the current ruler, Aethelred, who was relatively unpopular with his people given the continuous Viking threats. Aethelred was about twenty years her elder, but this was relatively typical during this time period due to the fact that most marriages in the upper class were made to form political alliances. In this case, because Normandy was considered to be Viking territory, Aethelred wanted to obtain an alliance in order to break the connection between the Vikings and Normandy. If the Vikings got a solid hold on Normandy, it would be a very immediate and dangerous threat to the British people. Emma was used almost as a pawn, because her role in the situation was to act as a peacekeeper between England and the Normans. A marriage alliance would cement a friendship and bring peace to a hostile environment, all through the use of Emma and Aethelred.
Emma, however, ended up making the situation worse given the fact that she was an outsider who was associated with the Vikings. The British people were unhappy and Aethelred’s popularity dwindled even more. Emma ended up having three children with Aethelred, 
Edward (who became Edward the Confessor), Alfred, and Goda, in order to fulfill the need for heirs to the throne. During this time period there was a lot of instability in the government, both internally and externally given the Viking threat, and after Saint Brice’s Day (where Aethelred sought to get revenge on the Danes by killing anyone of Danish blood in Britain), the Danes thought it was the perfect opportunity to attack. Sven Forkbeard, leader of the Danes, and his son, Cnut, sailed with their armies to Britain to raid and seek revenge. When Emma saw Cnut, she fell in love with him and left her family with Aethelred to start a new one with the Dane. She exiled her old family to Normandy, and in turn remained the queen of Britain with the Danish influence of her new husband.
Emma of Normandy is truly a very interesting female figure in medieval history, given her ability to greatly influence the government through her actions and through her background. She ended up siding with the Vikings, which is interesting given the fact that she was a Viking by heritage. She also wielded incredible power through her ability to form alliances through marriage, even if the alliance formed was not the one initially planned. Instead of 
successfully allying Britain and Normandy, she went further and got to the root of the issue by forming an allegiance between Britain and Denmark itself. She produced successfully offspring, but also cemented the idea that women could rule on their own and have an influence in government beyond their husbands. Overall, Britain was heavily influenced by the actions of Emma of Normandy, and through her strategic actions and alliances, she put Britain in a relatively successful position for the turbulent years to come.
Photo Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cnut_the_Great
Rollo, Viking Count of Normandy
It is a well-known fact that women were not widely accepted fighting in the field during wars and battles, and that is still true today even though many actions are being taken to change it. Because of this, many women throughout history have taken drastic measures to support 
a cause that they care about, and this was very prominent during the Civil War in the United States. Men of all ages were gathering to fight for the Union or the Confederacy, and the women were expected to just sit and watch as the violence unfolded. This, however, was not actually the case. Many women found alternative methods of supporting their cause, whether through disguising themselves and physically fighting in battle, but more commonly through spying. Spying and espionage were incredibly influential and changed the outcome of many battles during the War, and many of the spies themselves were women.
The next woman I will be focusing on in this blog series is one of these influential spies, Rose O’Neal Greenhow. What made many of the spies successful was the fact that many were socialites or had connections to men that were prominent military officials. The women were always on the outskirts of social gatherings where the men discussed military strategy, and they were able to obtain crucial information and send it to either the Union or Confederacy. Rose O’Neal Greenhow was an elite woman living in Washington DC. She was widowed, she was a popular hostess, and she was widely loved by the social elite in the city. Little did they know, she was a southern sympathizer who had organized an elaborate spy ring in the Union’s capitol. During the war, she was well-known for having parties where she obtained information from Union troops and military leaders, and then passed this information along to the Confederacy, giving her the nickname “Wild Rose.”
One of the most famous instances of her spying was during the Battle of Bull
Run. She was able to pass a secret ten word message to General Pierre G.T. Beauregard that eventually won him the battle, and this was just the first of her many battle winning secret messages. She was also able to successfully pass along a message that led to the Confederate victory at the Battle of Manassas. She was so crucial to this victory that Jefferson Davis credited the battle victory to her. Two famous battles, two crucial victories, aided by an upper class widow that believed in her cause.
She was eventually discovered and forced into home confinement, but was eventually taken to a prison because she was still able to pass messages. She was still successful in getting 
information while in prison, and was able to smuggle messages in unexpected fashions, like in small packages in women’s fancy hairstyles and in small hidden compartments in shoe heels. The Union realized that she was still successfully helping the Confederacy, and was most likely tired of dealing with her, so she was exiled to the Confederate states and was warmly received by Jefferson Davis. She was soon sent to Europe to tour around and spread the ideals of the Confederate cause, where she got a lot of sympathy from the European upper class. After her time spent in secrecy, she was able to gain recognition from the Confederacy and have a successful career supporting a cause she cared deeply about. She later wrote about her life and published the stories, which including many points where she explained and justified why she did what she did. One profound example of this is in her quote,
“I had a right to my own political opinions. I am a Southern woman, born with Revolutionary blood in my veins. Freedom of speech and of thought were my birthright, guaranteed, signed and sealed by the blood of our fathers.”
Rose O’Neal Greenhow was an incredibly influential woman during the American Civil War. She worked in secret and gained recognition for her incredibly successful spying and espionage, making her one of the less well-known but still prominent figures during the War.
Photo Sources
http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/greenhow/
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Rose_O’Neal_Greenhow.jpg/220px-Rose_O’Neal_Greenhow.jpg
https://www.wdl.org/en/item/2706/
When looking at famous historical figures, it’s very common to immediately think of crucial male figures like Julius Caesar, Napoleon III, George Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr., the list goes on. There are many figures that are ignored throughout history, however, and these are typically women. The people in power are the ones who write history, and given historical context and social standards, women are often ignored when different events are documented. As a history major, I have become significantly more aware of this reality, and that is why I will be focusing on different female figures throughout history that are both crucial and, quite frankly, badass, throughout my blog.
Sitting in my history class about medieval Britain, my attention was drawn to a portion of our lecture that focused on the way different chieftains cooperated with the Romans around 50 AD. We learned about the way Prasutagus, the ruler of the Iceni people, agreed to leave the land he controlled to the Roman Empire, his wife, and his children once he passed away. What actually happened, however, was the Roman Empire took the land and abused his wife, Boudicca, and her children. This led to the strongest rebellion against rule that the Roman Empire experienced during their time in Britain, and was led by Boudicca.
The fact that this was the strongest rebellion that the Roman Empire encountered highlights two ideas. The first is that the Roman Empire was not expecting Britain to be as advanced when they invaded, and the second is that Boudicca felt truly wronged and manipulated by the Roman invaders, prompting her uprising. When the Romans invaded, they were expecting a primitive people in Britain and looked down upon the Celts because they 
practiced body art, which was typically associated with primal cultures. Body art, in the form of tattoos and paint, was typically used to intimidate opponents during battle and display social rank. Even though the Romans thought their culture was primitive, they were much more advanced than they initially let on. They domesticated livestock, had advanced societal structures with social hierarchy, and had an impressive military structure, which was definitely not something the Romans expected. This underestimation of the Celts was a crucial part of the reason the Roman Empire struggled with the uprising, but another factor was that Boudicca was determined to rebel once she was abused by the Romans. Boudicca rallied the Iceni people, which were then joined by other tribes in the region, defeated the Roman Ninth Legion, and also took the Roman Britain capital at the time, Colchester. The Romans were unprepared and did not have enough troops, given the fact that they relied on physical structures like walls to deter invasion instead of manpower, so this uprising led by Boudicca was relatively successful. It was successful in the beginning, until Boudicca was defeated by the Roman army and committed suicide in order to avoid capture.
Boudicca was a very important historical figure, but sadly, her influence in the history of Britain is often overlooked. She was a woman who was wronged, and she followed her beliefs and rose up against the entire Roman Empire when that was uncommon for anybody to do, let alone a woman. I chose to begin my blog posts writing about her because not only was she a prominent female figure who defied the standards of her time period, but she is also a very early example of this occurring. All throughout history female contributions have been overlooked, and Boudicca from 50 AD is a prime example of a badass female figure we should all care about.
