March marks an especially important month for us here at HerCampus, Women’s History Month. This month represents an opportunity to reflect on women’s admirable accomplishments of the past, present and future. A chance to appreciate, learn about and from the women who paved the way for us today. The women in this shortlist range from activists to physicists who have not necessarily received the historical recognition they and their achievements deserved. Next week, with International Women’s Day, this list may introduce you to some inspiring women to celebrate the occasion.
Alice Guy-Blaché (1873-1968)
Starting off the list is French filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché, who is perhaps one of the most influential women within the film industry though she is criminally unacknowledged. Alice was a pioneer of cinema as we know it today and was the first woman ever to direct a film. It’s widely believed that between 1896 and 1906, she was the only female film director in the world. One of her films, ‘La Fée aux Choux’, which translates to ‘The Cabbage Fairy’, was around a minute long and considered the world’s first narrative film. As well as being the first female filmmaker, Alice was a great innovator in the practice of filmmaking, and she was one of the first to experiment with special effects such as double exposure and the use of audio recordings. One of her films, ‘A Fool and His Money’ in 1912, was the first, or at least one of the very first, to feature an entire cast of black actors.
Alice was greatly concerned during her life that her legacy and work within the industry was absent from history and continued to keep records of her achievements. Sadly, though some recognise Alice Guy-Blaché’s legacy, the credit for many of her innovations such as the first feature film and the use of cinematic techniques such as close up shots have been attributed to male American director DW Griffiths. While Griffiths used this technique in his own artistic manner, much of his supposed innovations had been invented by Alice years before. She was an advocate for women within the filmmaking industry and even suggested that women may have been better suited to directing roles than men. As well as a revolutionary filmmaker, she was the co-founder and artistic director of Solax Studios in New York. Alice directed over 1000 films between 1896 and 1920, with only around 150 accessible to this day.
Gladys Bentley (1907-1960)
Though she is not as widely recognised as many other great American musicians, Gladys Bentley was a revolutionary blues singer. The latter was best known for her unapologetic attitude towards gender and sexuality. Gladys typically wore traditionally male clothing, defied gender normative behaviour and was openly sexually attracted to women. Gladys was an incredibly talented piano player, singer and entertainer, and she was renowned for her comical and risqué performances in jazz clubs. She performed in a parodying manner, mocking the popular music of the time and contrasting the more esteemed culture with a ‘low class’, vulgar humour. She openly flirted with women in the audience and was unapologetic about her sexual desire towards the opposite sex.
Controversially, in the 1950s, Gladys began dressing in more feminine clothing, trained to become a church minister and married a man named Charles Roberts. In an interview with Ebony magazine, she expressed that she had ‘cured’ her homosexuality through female hormones and surgery. Her marriage to Roberts only lasted for five months, however. There have been several debates following her death, considering whether Gladys may have been transgender based on this information. People wondered whether she hid her true sexuality for the sake of reviving her career or was influenced by her religious beliefs and the homophobic, heteronormative culture at the time. Though she later publicly denounced her past personality, we cannot deny the impact of her approach to gender expression and sexuality. She was a pioneer for unapologetic queer or traditional gender non-conforming women.
Victoria Cruz (1945-Present)
Victoria Cruz is an incredible activist who has dedicated her life to supporting members of the LGBTQIA+ community who have been victims of violence and sexual assault, working primarily with the Anti-Violence Project. Her own experiences with workplace abuse and sexual assault influenced her aspiration to help others who have suffered in a similar manner.
Victoria Cruz is a proud trans woman, born in Puerto Rico in the 40s to a large family. She spent her teenage years in downtown Manhattan, New York, where she found a doctor who assisted her transition with hormone adjustments and eventually had gender reassignment surgery. She performed as a dancer and stripper in clubs in the city, though she had previously gone to school for theatre.
During the historic Stonewall riots, Victoria was present while the LGBTQ+ community fought for their right to be safe from discrimination, beginning the official international gay rights movement. She additionally was a part of the first Gay Pride March in 1970. Victoria featured briefly in a 2017 Netflix documentary, ‘The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson’, speaking about Johnson’s legacy and the investigative work she undertook following her death. As a survivor of the raging hostility towards the LGBTQ+ community at the time, particularly towards trans women of colour, Cruz continues to advocate for change to protect the trans community from violence and discrimination.
Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997)
A prime example of a woman who many believe did not receive the proper recognition she deserved is Chien-Shiung Wu. Chien-Shiung was a Chinese American physicist responsible for a great deal of modern scientific advancements, such as working with the Manhattan Project on the gaseous diffusion of uranium and working on the development of the physics field throughout the war. Chien-Shiung’s most recognised achievement was a collaborative effort with theoretical physicists Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang on the law of conservation of parity. Chien-Shiung’s contribution was extremely significant, providing the physical experimentation that proved the law to be invalid and the findings of this was highly commended.
Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957 for this landmark discovery, yet despite her essential contribution, Chien-Shiung was not. Her work was only recognised 21 years later where she received the Wolf Prize. Many believe that Chien-Shiung equally deserved the recognition of the Nobel prize that her male colleagues received, and there has been much discussion regarding whether she was snubbed because she was a woman. Though, it may have been overlooked dependent on the publication date of her work.
Chien-Shiung continued her work in physics until 1981, retiring at the age of 68, and was individually nominated for the Nobel prize at least seven times during her career. Whilst she never officially received the award, it is the opinion of many in the world of physics that her valuable work within her field certainly was worthy of the honour. She has even been referred to as ‘The First Lady of Physics’ and ‘The Queen of Nuclear Research’.
Olive Morris (1952-1979)
Community leader and activist Olive Morris has only recently begun to receive some of the recognition that she deserves due to the increased awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement in mid-2020. Olive was born in Jamaica in 1952, emigrating to London as part of the Windrush generation at the age of 9. After a traumatic, violent experience with a group of police officers at the age of 17, Olive began to join local organisations such as the British Black Panther Movement and later co-founded the Brixton Black Women’s Group. The Brixton Black Women’s Group’s primary purpose was to explore women’s experience in the Black Panther Party critically. As an activist, Olive was passionate about feminism, civil rights and racial equality. Olive continued to focus on her activism even when she travelled to Manchester for university, co-founding more organisations such as the Manchester Black Women’s Co-operative and the Black Women’s Mutual Aid Group. Olive was a founding member of the Organisation of Woman of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD), which, aside from the Brixton Black Women’s Group, was the first organisation for BIPOC women in the United Kingdom. Though Olive died tragically young, she is a significantly influential, important figure in black British history and women’s history.
Of course, this list is not extensive by any means, and there are masses of women who deserve just as much recognition. Still, the women celebrated here represent a variety of inspiring and revolutionary figures who have all had some unique part in influencing the world we live in today.