February 21, 2022

40. Real-Life Xenas: Warrior Women Across the World

February 21, 2022/ History Is Gay

Happy 2022 and welcome to another episode of History is Gay! This time, we’re picking up where we left off with Meghan Rose and S.C. Lucier in our discussion of Amazons and real-life warrior women in history! It’s not just the Greco-Roman world that marveled at fierce, strong female fighters, but all over the world! This episode, we’re visiting Benin, Africa to learn about the real-life dora milaje of Black Panther fame, the gender-bending Dahomey Amazons; badass female samurai defending their homesteads in Japan, and Viking shieldmaidens and mythical Valkyries– who may have been a third gender? Strap-in for a whirlwind worldwide tour of gender transgression and badass real-life Xenas we want to see all the movies about!

But first, let me introduce to your fantabulous guest hosts for this episode, Lucier&Rose!

S.C. Lucier

S.C. “Luci” Lucier is an SDC director, writer and librettist. A former member of SCDF Observership Class emerging directors, Lucier is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College’s Theatre Directing program and recently completed a master’s in Theatre/Museology History at The Graduate Center (NYC). Director: HELD: A Musical Fantasy (Fringe 2016, NYMF 2018). Associate Director: Kerrigan-Lowdermilk’s The Bad Years, the new immersive house party musical. Director: multiple Shakespeare at Hip to Hip Theatre Company, Midsummer 2019. Regular collaborator at Jennifer Jancuska’s (Hamilton) The Bringabout, designed at Joyce Theater for Richard Move’s The Show (Achilles Heels) in which Debbie Harry performed, designed at Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theatre, toured on the production team of Martha Graham Dance Company, stage-managed Cape Dance Festival (MA), performed at Baryshnikov Arts Center on roller skates, among others. Lucier captains the championship Gotham Roller Derby team, archives Sally Silver’s choreographic work for NYPL, and is the first staff member of American LGBTQ+ Museum (NYC).

Meghan Rose

Meghan Rose is a composer and musician. She is classically trained in piano, taught herself guitar at 16, joined a ska band in college at University of Wisconsin-Madison and has hopped from band to band and genre to genre ever since. Currently she plays bass in NYC bands Monte and LoveHoney, and in various shows around the city, sometimes even impersonating Courtney Love, Janis Joplin, and Lindsey Buckingham. She has acted as a vocal instructor, bass teacher, and band coach for both the Madison and NYC chapters of Girls Rock Camp. Rose was a music director for the Bartell Theater (Madison) for 6 years, and won awards for best music direction for Xanadu and Bare: A Pop Opera. Written scores include Z-Town: The Zombie Musical (Fringe 2012), an original rock musical called Alice based on Alice in Wonderland (Bartell), Held: A Musical Fantasy (Fringe 2016, NYMF 2018).

You can learn more about S.C. Lucier, Meghan Rose, and Xena: Warrior Musical - The Lost Scroll:

www.xenawarriormusical.com
@XenatheMusical Twitter
@XenaWarrior Musical Instagram
@XenaWarriorMusical Facebook
@XenaWarriorMusical Youtube

You can purchase and download the entire concept album for Xena: Warrior Musical on Bandcamp!

Amazon-Like Women in Africa: the mino/agojie, also known as the Dahomey Amazons!

This fierce military regiment of women warriors of the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin), originating in the early 19th century, were truly formidable opponents and carry their own impressive stories and legends passed down to current-day Beninese locals!

Illustration of *mino* women by Chris Hellier

Group of veteran Amazons at a summit meeting held in Abomey, the capital of Dahomey, in 1908

Seh-Dong-Hong-Beh, a *mino* leader holding the decapitated head of an enemy, illustrated by one of the missionary visitors who wrote 18th and 19th century accounts, Frederick Forbes, in 1851.

Magazine cover depicting the last king of independent Dahomey, Behanzin, flanked by *mino* attendants and bodyguards.

A group of Amazons on their trip to Paris, assumed in the late 1800s.

Unknown *mino* warrior, photographed near the end of the kingdom.

King Gezo, who expanded the female corps from around 600 women to as many as 6,000

Illustration from one of the missionary accounts, depicting a parade of *mino* after battle displays, severed heads of their enemies displayed on the tops of the walls.

As mentioned in our Pop-Culture Tie-In, Lupita Nyong’o visited Benin in 2019 for a BBC documentary called Warrior Women, in which she went into the entire history of the Dahomey Amazons! It is available online on BBC4’s website, and if you don’t live there, you can use a VPN to check out the full documentary, it’s absolutely worth it! But we have a wonderful clip here for you:

And here’s another video on the Dahomey Amazons that has some great information:

Let’s hop over to Japan and take a look at female samurai warriors, the onna-bugeisha and onna-musha!

The image of the samurai that has been taken hold in history and pop-culture is an extremely masculine one, but there were several female warriors in the bushi throughout Japan’s history that were just as significant as the men, with the specific role as defensive fighters (or if you were an onna-musha, going off to fight and joining the samurai)!

An *onna-musha* named Ishi-jo wielding a *naginata*, a curved pole-arm sword made specifically for women which allowed them to fight nimbly and take advantage of distance combat. Illustrated by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1848.

The first *onna-bugeisha*, the legendary Empress Jingū, depicted when she set forth in Silla (modern-day Korea. Painted by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1880. Credit: Waseda University Theatre Museum

Empress Jingū is also the first woman in Japanese history (legend or otherwise) to be featured on a banknote!

Tomoe Gozen, one of the most well-known and respected *onna-musha,* and considered Japan’s first general. She decapitated an enemy by wrenching his head against the pommel of her saddle! Painted by Kangetsu Shitomi. Collection of Tokyo National Museum

Another *onna-musha* and contemporary of Tomoe Gozen, Hangaku Gozen. Painted by Yoshitoshi. Credit: US Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

And then here we have some pictures of Nakano Takeko, and we couldn’t resist showcasing this quote from one report during the siege of Aizu:

With her tied-back hair, trousers, and steely eyes, [she] radiated an intense 'male spirit' and engaged the enemy troops, killing five or six with her naginata.”

A recreated photo of Nakano Takeko, *onna-musha* of the Aizu Domain, who fought and died in the Boshin War in 1868. She led a group of female warriors called the *joshitai*, or Girls’ Army, during a renaissance and essentially last-stand of the *onna-bugeisha*!

A photograph of an unknown *onna-musha*, often misidentified or attributed to Nakano Takeko. This woman is likely an actress, but she still looks SUPER cool!

Statue of Nakano Takeko at Hōkai-ji shrine in Aizubange, Fukushima. Today, many *naginata* schools are even named for her.

And finally, were there real life Lagerthas out there in the Norselands? We’ve got some Viking women warrior graves and historical artifacts that say so!

Strong female warriors have shown up for centuries in Norse and Scandinavian Viking sagas, depicting fierce shield maidens and mythical Valkyries who fly on horses and escort fallen men to the halls of Valhalla. And recent discoveries of warrior graves throughout Sweden and other northern European territories are showing that they may have been less myth than originally thought!

An image stone from Sweden shows a female figure bearing drinking horns to a rider on an eight-legged horse (what up, Loki), very well depicting a mythical Valkyrie.

Another picture stone from Stenkyrka Parish (Lillbjärs III), depicting a valkyrie guiding a fallen warrior to Valhalla.

Mythical valkyries Hildr, Þrúðr and Hlökk bearing ale in Valhalla (1895) by Lorenz Frølich

The Norse Sagas and histories, like the Saxo Grammaticus and Gesto Danorum, tell the story of several shieldmaidens like Hervor, depicted here as she retrieves Tyrfing, the magical sword of her dead father, on the island of Angantyr. Painted by Christian Gottliebe Kratzenstein

Silver figure of a woman with a drinking horn, found in Birka, Sweden

Various Viking-age jewelry depicting valkyries!

Figurine found in the village of Hårby, on the island of Funen in Denmark. Thought to be dated around 800 BCE and the Viking age, and this one is unique in that it’s one of the few found that are 3 dimensional! She is thought to depict, obviously, a valkyrie, but other possibilities are a shield maiden or the Norse goddess Freya.

Illustration of the infamous Birka, Sweden viking warrior grave, labeled BJ 581 by Hjalmar Stolpe in 1889. In it, you can see this warrior was buried with not one, but two horses, multiple weapons, and even a gamjng set, indicating that she was an officer! Originally thought to be a male grave, osteological and DNA evidence from 2014 and 2017, respectively, confirmed the skeleton was female!

Weapons found in the BJ 581 Birka, Sweden gravesite.

If you want to learn more about all the various warrior women from this episode, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Books and Print Articles:

“The Valkyrie’s Gender: Old Norse Shield-Maidens and Valkyries as a Third Gender” by Kathleen M. Self, Feminist Formations, Spring 2014, Vol. 26, No. 1
“Ladies with Axes and Spears” by Santa Jansone, Medieval Warfare, 2014, Vol. 4, No. 2, Theme - Queens and Valkyries - Women as warriors (2014, pp. 9-12
“The ‘Amazons’ of Dahomey” by Robin Law, Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde, 1993, Bd. 39 (1993), pp. 245-260

Online Articles/Resources:

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

December 31, 2021

39. The Amazons: Stoner Horse Girl Warriors of Antiquity

December 31, 2021/ History Is Gay

In this episode, we introduced everyone to all the details we could fit about the badass warrior women of antiquity, the Amazons! In this first part of a two-part episode examining warrior women throughout history, we dove full-tilt into the myths, legends, and misconceptions about the all-female militant society that struck fear into the hearts of ancient Greek men – powerful women, GASP! Where did these stories come from? How queer were they? And were they real, or just figments of mythology? Listen to the episode for those answers, and come back here for more bonus material!

But first, let me introduce to your fantabulous guest hosts for this episode, Lucier&Rose!

S.C. Lucier

Meghan Rose

You can learn more about S.C. Lucier, Meghan Rose, and Xena: Warrior Musical - The Lost Scroll:

www.xenawarriormusical.com
@XenatheMusical Twitter
@XenaWarrior Musical Instagram
@XenaWarriorMusical Facebook
@XenaWarriorMusical Youtube

You can purchase and download the entire concept album for Xena: Warrior Musical on Bandcamp!

A Closer Look at Amazons in ancient Greek art, literature, and myth!

Stories of Amazons show up in multiple places in Greek literature, including the histories of Herodotus, Homer’s The Iliad, and myths around Heracles, the founding of Athens, and more. Check out some excerpts below.

Herodotus, Book IV: Chapter 100:

The history of the Sauromatae is as I will now show. When the Greeks warred with the Amazons (whom the Scythians call Oiorpata, a name signifying in our tongue killers of men, for in Scythian a man is oior, and to kill is pata) after their victory on the Thermodon they sailed away carrying in three ships as many Amazons as they had been able to take alive; and out at sea the Amazons set upon the crews and threw them overboard. But they knew nothing of ships, nor how to use rudder or sail or oar; and the men being thrown overboard they were borne at the mercy of waves and winds, till they came to the Cliffs by the Maeetian lake; this place is in the country of the free Scythians. There the Amazons landed, and set forth on their journey to the inhabited country. But at the beginning of their journey they found a place where horses were reared; and carrying these horses away they raided the Scythian lands on horseback.

Chapter 114:

Now the men could not learn the women's language, but the women mastered the speech of the men; and when they understood each other, the men said to the Amazons, "We have parents and possessions; now therefore let us no longer live as we do, but return to the multitude of our people and consort with them; and we will still have you, and no others, for our wives." To this the women replied, "Nay, we could not dwell with your women; for we and they have not the same customs. We shoot with the bow and throw the javelin and ride, but the crafts of women we have never learned; and your women do none of the things whereof we speak, but abide in their waggons working at women's crafts, and never go abroad a‑hunting or for aught else. We and they therefore could never agree. Nay, if you desire to keep us for wives and to have the name of just men, go to your parents and let them give you the allotted share of their possessions, and after that let us go and dwell by ourselves. The young men agreed and did this.

From Homer’s The Iliad:

In ancient time, when Otreus fill'd the throne,
When godlike Mygdon led their troops of horse,
And I, to join them, raised the Trojan force:
Against the manlike Amazons we stood,
And Sangar's stream ran purple with their blood.
But far inferior those, in martial grace,
And strength of numbers, to this Grecian race.

From the Pseudo-Apollodorus Library of Greek Mythology, describing the ninth labor of Heracles and Hippolyte:

[2.5.9] The ninth labour he enjoined on Hercules was to bring the belt of Hippolyte. She was queen of the Amazons, who dwelt about the river Thermodon, a people great in war; for they cultivated the manly virtues, and if ever they gave birth to children through intercourse with the other sex, they reared the females; and they pinched off the right breasts that they might not be trammelled by them in throwing the javelin, but they kept the left breasts, that they might suckle. Now Hippolyte had the belt of Ares in token of her superiority to all the rest…Having put in at the harbor of Themiscyra, he received a visit from Hippolyte, who inquired why he was come, and promised to give him the belt. But Hera in the likeness of an Amazon went up and down the multitude saying that the strangers who had arrived were carrying off the queen. So the Amazons in arms charged on horseback down on the ship. But when Hercules saw them in arms, he suspected treachery, and killing Hippolyte stripped her of her belt. And after fighting the rest he sailed away and touched at Troy.

And here, mentioning Penthesilea:

[E.5.1] Penthesilia, daughter of Otrere and Ares, accidentally killed Hippolyte and was purified by Priam. In battle she slew many, and amongst them Machaon, and was afterwards herself killed by Achilles, who fell in love with the Amazon after her death and slew Thersites for jeering at him.

[E.5.2] Hippolyte was the mother of Hippolytus; she also goes by the names of Glauce and Melanippe. For when the marriage of Phaedra was being celebrated, Hippolyte appeared in arms with her Amazons, and said that she would slay the guests of Theseus. So a battle took place, and she was killed, whether involuntarily by her ally Penthesilia, or by Theseus, or because his men, seeing the threatening attitude of the Amazons, hastily closed the doors and so intercepted and slew her.

And Antiope:

[E.1.16] Theseus joined Hercules in his expedition against the Amazons and carried off Antiope, or, as some say, Melanippe; but Simonides calls her Hippolyte. Wherefore the Amazons marched against Athens, and having taken up a position about the Areopagus19 they were vanquished by the Athenians under Theseus. And though he had a son Hippolytus by the Amazon,

[E.1.17] Theseus afterwards received from Deucalion in marriage Phaedra, daughter of Minos; and when her marriage was being celebrated, the Amazon that had before been married to him appeared in arms with her Amazons, and threatened to kill the assembled guests. But they hastily closed the doors and killed her. However, some say that she was slain in battle by Theseus.

And lastly, the tale of Atalanta in the Apollodorus:

[3.9.2] And Iasus had a daughter Atalanta by Clymene, daughter of Minyas. This Atalanta was exposed by her father, because he desired male children; and a she bear came often and gave her suck, till hunters found her and brought her up among themselves. Grown to womanhood, Atalanta kept herself a virgin, and hunting in the wilderness she remained always under arms. The centaurs Rhoecus and Hylaeus tried to force her, but were shot down and killed by her. She went moreover with the chiefs to hunt the Calydonian boar, and at the games held in honor of Pelias she wrestled with Peleus and won. Afterwards she discovered her parents, but when her father would have persuaded her to wed, she went away to a place that might serve as a racecourse, and, having planted a stake three cubits high in the middle of it, she caused her wooers to race before her from there, and ran herself in arms; and if the wooer was caught up, his due was death on the spot, and if he was not caught up, his due was marriage. When many had already perished, Melanion came to run for love of her, bringing golden apples from Aphrodite, and being pursued he threw them down, and she, picking up the dropped fruit, was beaten in the race. So Melanion married her. And once on a time it is said that out hunting they entered into the precinct of Zeus, and there taking their fill of love were changed into lions. But Hesiod and some others have said that Atalanta was not a daughter of Iasus, but of Schoeneus; and Euripides says that she was a daughter of Maenalus, and that her husband was not Melanion but Hippomenes And by Melanion, or Ares, Atalanta had a son Parthenopaeus, who went to the war against Thebes.

Check out some of the depictions of mythical Amazons we have on ancient Greek vases:

An ancient Greek Attic white-ground alabastron, depicting an Amazon wearing pants, wielding a bow. Image credit: British Museum

Atalanta wrestling Peleus. Chalcidian black-figure hydria, ca 6th century BCE. Staatliche Antikensammlung collection, Berlin, Germany.

Check out the geometric patterns and hat on the figure on the right, depicting an Amazon warrior!

Amazonomachy on a vase ca. 420 BCE— check out the similar patterns as above!.

Amazons battling the Athenians, Theseus in the center. It may be Hippolyte or Antiope on the horse. Terracotta red-figure volute-krater, ca 450 BCE, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Amazonomachy frieze on the mausoleum at Halicarnassus.

Heracles battling the Amazons, Hippolyte wearing Ares’ war belt in the center — Attic black-figure neck amphora, ca. 510-500 BCE.

Another vase depicting Heracles battling the Amazons and killing Hippolyte.

And here’s a different version of the myth depicted on a vase— this time Hippolyte freely offering Heracles the war belt. Red-figure bell krater, Campania, Italy, ca. 4th-5th century BCE. Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester.

Achilles killing Penthesilea on an amphora

Look at the contrast between the vases depicting Amazons and this one, showing the more demure, domestic life of Greek women.

Enough with the myths, show me the real deal! A Closer Look at Scythian Warrior Women:

The areas we’re dealing with when talking about Amazons generally consists of the lands surrounding the Black Sea, where various nomadic tribes lived— including the Thracians, Scythians, and Sarmatians:

Artist D V Pozdnjakov’s impression of a Scythian woman warrior on horseback.

Drawings of Scythian tattoos, illustrated by Elena Schumakova, from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethography, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Tattoos of the 13 year old “Ice Princess” Ukok mummy, discovered by Natalya Polosmak on the Ukok Plateau in Siberia.

A 2500 year-old Iranic Scythian woman mummy, showing the stag tattoo on her arm.

Some Scythian tattoo designs seen on a mummy found in 2017 - State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Scythian woman wearing a ceremonial headdress. Institute of Russian Archaeology, Academy of Sciences

Golden Scythian warrior from the Issyk kurgan. Image credit: Derzsi Elekes Andor

Preserved Scythian women’s boots, leather, cloth, tin and gold, excavated from the Pazyryk kurgan area, ca. 300-290 BCE.

Two Scythian warrior women’s graves excavated at a cemetery called Devitsa V in Siberia, which contains 19 burial mounds. Look at the bowed position of the bottom graves’ legs, as if she were riding a horse! Institute of Archaeology RAS.

Mythical Amazon queen Penthesilea being presented with a love-gift of a rabbit by Thracian huntress Theraichme, one of the few pieces of visual evidence we have of possible wlw relationships between Amazons. white-ground alabastron, Pasaides Painter, ca. 525-500 BCE

Small metal plaques depicting Scythians drinking, most likely fermented mares’ milk — State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2017.

Amazon terracotta figures, ca. 300-280 BCE. South Italian Canosan

Detail from a Karagodeuashkh kurgan headdress, showing the Scythian goddess Tabiti surrounded by priestesses and androgynous enarei shamans (shown on the right).

Cannabis burning equipment found in a Scythian grave.

Some gold vessels found in another grave — the Scythians really knew how to make fancy blinged-out bongs!

Check out author of The Amazons: Lives & Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World, Adrienne Mayor, presenting a TED Talk!

And another talk by Adrienne Mayor, for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology!

If you want to learn more about Amazons and Scythian warriors, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Books and Print Articles:

The Amazons: Lives & Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor
“Amazons: Warrior Women of the Ancient World”, National Geographic History, January 2020 issue
The Library of Greek Mythology by Apollodorus, translated by Robin Hard

Online Articles/Resources:

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

March 22, 2021

35. Claim to Flame: Edmonia "Wildfire" Lewis and her Harem Scarem

March 22, 2021/ History Is Gay

In this episode of History is Gay Leigh and guest host Amanda Helton discuss Mary Edmonia “Wildfire” Lewis, the first internationally recognized African American and indigenous artist in the United States. Join us while we ponder how exactly a literal 2-ton sculpture goes missing, discuss the merits of 1800s lesbian ndrama, and did you know that blister beetles have been used as aphrodisiacs for centuries? Yeah... neither did we….

Our wonderful returning guest host for this episode is our fantastic friend and Amanda Helton!

You can find more from Amanda on Instagram at @oryxbesia and at www.amandahelton.com!

Amanda Helton is a museum professional working in Silicon Valley, focusing on digital strategy and museum technology. She is originally from Sevier County, Tennessee (birthplace of Dolly Parton), and HAS MET HER a few times! Amanda holds a Masters Degree in Art History (with a concentration in Museum Training) from the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is passionate about connecting the history of art and technology to the present day. Amanda is a sunscreen evangelist, friend to every dog, and co-runs a Xena re-watch group with Leigh!

You can also hear Amanda in our episode on Michelangelo!

A Closer Look at Edmonia Lewis and the White Marmorean Flock

Portraits of Edmonia

Perhaps the most well-known Edmonia portrait, by Henry Rocher, c 1870

Some of Edmonia Lewis’ most prolific works:

Edmonia Lewis, The Death of Cleopatra, carved 1876, marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Historical Society of Forest Park, Illinois, 1994.17 — Edmonia Lewis, *The Death of Cleopatra*, carved 1876, marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Historical Society of Forest Park, Illinois, 1994.17

The Death of Cleopatra detail. Notice the somewhat anguished look on the subject’s face, and the tension in the body at the moment of death depicted. — *The Death of Cleopatra* detail. Notice the somewhat anguished look on the subject’s face, and the tension in the body at the moment of death depicted.

*"Forever Free,"* Edmonia Lewis, marble, 1867. The Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Bust of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, leader of the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Edmonia sold 100 plaster copies of this bust during a Soldier’s Relief Fair in Boston, which financed her move to I… — Bust of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, leader of the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Edmonia sold 100 plaster copies of this bust during a Soldier’s Relief Fair in Boston, which financed her move to Italy.

In 1870, Dr. Harriot K. Hunt, Boston’s first woman physician, commissioned Edmonia to create a statue of Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health and hygiene, to be erected on her family lot in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

She carved the above sculpture for her patron, Anna Quincy Waterston, in 1866, who was one of the first patrons to help raise funds for Edmonia to sculpt in Rome. Waterston wrote a poem after Edmonia in 1864, describing her skill:

Tis fitting that a daughter of the race
Whose chains are breaking should receive a gift
So rare as genius. Neither power nor place,
Fashion or wealth, pride, custom, caste nor hue
Can arrogantly claim what God doth lift
Above these chances, and bestows on few.

Edmonia Lewis, Old Arrow Maker, modeled 1866, carved 1872, marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins, 1983.95.179 — Edmonia Lewis, *Old Arrow Maker,* modeled 1866, carved 1872, marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins, 1983.95.179

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha was extremely popular during this time, and so here you can see Lewis’ depiction of the two main characters, Hiawatha and Minnehaha.

Later in life, once slavery was abolished in the United States, Edmonia turned much of her sculpture to religious subjects, appealing to Roman Catholic patrons in Italy. Guess who made a horny Moses after Michelangelo’s iconic sculpture. SO. GAY.

Legacy

For many years after her death, Edmonia Lewis’ life and work sunk into relative obscurity, but in recent years, since the 1980s, she has been brought back into the limelight, due to research from some dedicated scholars such as Marilyn Richardson, who had found Lewis’ unmarked gravesite:

And below, is what the gravesite looks like now, cleaned up and bestowed with a proper plaque, thanks to a 2017 GoFundMe campaign.

In February 2017 for Black History Month, Google even included her as a Google Doodle on the first day of the month!

The White Marmorean Flock, with whom Edmonia Flew!

First up, Charlotte Cushman, aka the Natalie Clifford Barney of 1800s Rome:

Charlotte Cushman, portrait by William Page 1853

Charlotte Cushman as Romeo, one of her most popular “breeches” roles— reviewers said she was more adept at playing a man onstage than she was playing a woman in real life.

Charlotte Cushman and flame, Matilda Hays, who would go on to have an affair with Harriet Hosmer!

And here we have Charlotte with yet another flame, another sculptor of the flock, Emma Stebbins (who she uh….cheated on Matilda Hays with so…whoops).

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, butch queen of our hearts:

Look at this dapper motherfucker! Engraving of Harriet Hosmer by Augustus Robin (1873)

If you want to learn more about Edmonia Lewis and the other folks covered in this episode, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles & Resources:

Books and Print Articles:

Buick, Kirsten. Child of the Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History’s Black and Indian Subject
Nelson, Charmaine A. The Color of Stone: Sculpting the Black Female Subject in Nineteenth-Century America. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
"Black Lesbian Bibliography." Off Our Backs 9, no. 6 (1979): 25.
GOLD, SUSANNA W. "THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA /THE BIRTH OF FREEDOM: EDMONIA LEWIS AT THE NEW WORLD'S FAIR." Biography 35, no. 2 (2012): 318-41.
A History of African American Artists: From 1792 to the Present
Bost, Suzanne. "Fluidity without Postmodernism: Michelle Cliff and the "Tragic Mulatta" Tradition." African American Review 32, no. 4 (1998): 673-89.
Buick, Kirsten P. "The Ideal Works of Edmonia Lewis: Invoking and Inverting Autobiography." American Art 9, no. 2 (1995): 5-19.
Blodgett, Geoffrey. "John Mercer Langston and the Case of Edmonia Lewis: Oberlin, 1862." The Journal of Negro History 53, no. 3 (1968): 201-18. Accessed December 15, 2020.
Darcy, Cornelius P. "Edmonia Lewis Arrives in Rome." Negro History Bulletin 40, no. 2 (1977): 688-89. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44176717.
Holland, Juanita Marie. "Mary Edmonia Lewis's "Minnehaha": Gender, Race, and the "Indian Maid"." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 69, no. 1/2 (1995): 26-35. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41504904.
"Lost and Found: The Strange Case of the Resurrection of Edmonia Lewis' "The Death of Cleopatra"." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 13 (1996): 32-33. Accessed December 15, 2020. doi:10.2307/2963152.
Buick, Kirsten Pai. "A QUESTION OF "LIKENESS": EDMONIA LEWIS'S "THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA"." Source: Notes in the History of Art 24, no. 4 (2005): 3-12. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23207945.
Woods, Naurice Frank. "An African Queen at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition 1876: Edmonia Lewis's "The Death of Cleopatra"." Meridians 9, no. 1 (2009): 62-82. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338768.
Harrison, Bonnie Claudia. "Diasporadas: Black Women and the Fine Art of Activism." Meridians 2, no. 2 (2002): 163-84. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338514.
Tolles, Thayer. "American Women Sculptors". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/scul/hd_scul.htm (August 2010)
Conner, Janis, and Joel Rosenkranz. Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works, 1893–1939. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989.
Hill, May Brawley. The Woman Sculptor: Malvina Hoffman and Her Contemporaries. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, 1984.
Rubinstein, Charlotte Streifer. American Women Sculptors: A History of Women Working in Three Dimensions. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990.
Tolles, Thayer, ed. American Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2 vols. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999–2001.
Thorp, Margaret Farrand. “The White, Marmorean Flock.” The New England Quarterly.
Vol. 32, No. 2 (Jun., 1959), pp. 147-169
Romare Bearden & Henderson, Harry. "A History of African-American Artists (From 1792 to the Present)", Pantheon Books (Random House), 1993. ISBN 0-394-57016-2, 704.0396 B368h 1993

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

March 17, 2020

28. Anne Lister Goes to TGIFemslash

March 17, 2020/ History Is Gay

Welcome to Gretchen and Leigh’s annual episode hosted live at TGIFemslash! This is the con where it all began, and what better way to celebrate our origins than with the ‘first modern lesbian’, Anne Lister! The protagonist of HBO’s Gentleman Jack, Anne Lister was a 19th century British gentewoman who wanted to live as the 19th century British gentlemen did, including loving and marrying women, which she wrote extensively about in her diaries, but in a secret code. So join us as we learn more about her life, her loves, and her diaries, and you can even play along with the games we hosted live at TGI!

If you would like to get involved in the Anne Lister Transcription Project, head over to their website!

This year, we decided to literally bring our subject to life. AKA, Leigh revived their Anne Lister/Gentleman Jack Halloween costume and we had some fun!

Leigh and Gretchen getting set up for their panel at TGIFemslash

A Closer Look at Anne Lister

Portrait of Anne Lister by John Horner (ca 1830).

portrait of Lister, probably by Mrs Turner of Halifax (1822).

One of Anne Lister’s many diaries in all it’s glory.

A close up page from Anne Lister’s Diary, dated May 28, 1817. (note the cross in the margin!)

Play along with us and try your hand at Who Wants to Be a 19th Century Lesbian!

19th century lesbian

If you want to learn more about the Anne Lister and her diaries, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Books

Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister by Anne Choma
I Know My Own Heart: The Diaries of Anne Lister 1791–1840 edited by Helena Whitbread
No Priest But Love: Excerpts from the Diaries of Anne Lister edited by Helena Whitbread
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister edited by Helena Whitbread
Presenting the Past: Anne Lister of Halifax, 1791–1840 by Jill Liddington
Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833–36 by Jill Liddington
Anne Lister's Secret Diary for 1817 by Patricia Hughs
The Secret Life of Miss Anne Lister and the Curious Tale of Miss Eliza Raine by Patricia Hughs
Miss Lister of Shibden Hall: Selected Letters (1800–1840) by Muriel Green
Gentleman Jack. A Biography of Anne Lister: Regency Landowner, Seducer and Secret Diarist by Angela Steidele
Intimate Friends: Women Who Loved Women, 1778–1928 by Martha Vicinus

Print and Online Articles

Oh god there are so many articles from right around when the tv series was getting attention, so we’ve selected a sampling. Just Google “Gentleman Jack” or “Anne Lister” and you’ll get dozens more.

Videos

The Secret Life of Anne Lister at Shibden Hall

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

December 03, 2019

26. A Royal Troublemaker in King Kristina of Sweden

December 03, 2019/ History Is Gay

What better way to start off the cold, wintery season than with a new episode of History Is Gay and a trip to, as Rene Descartes said, the land of rocks and ice and bears? For this episode, Leigh is joined by fantabulous guest host V Silverman to explore the fascinating history of King Kristina of Sweden. A probably nonbinary, most likely asexual, definitely biromantic monarch of 17th century Sweden, Kristina was known for their aesthetic tastes, insatiable hunger for knowledge, and absolutely atrocious spending habits. Follow our hosts as they track Kristina’s claiming of power, conversion to Catholicism, cavorting around Europe, and countercultural influence, with a few pit stops and power-grabs along the way.

Hey look, a guest host!

Meet V!

V is awesome. Friend of the pod, they are the fantastic artist behind our Geographic Queers gear designs, and joins us for the most delightfully genderqueer episode chock full of they/thems. V is also the co-host of the fantastic podcast Fuzzy Logic, an educational-ish, comedy-ish podcast where the hosts know very little about a whole lot. Listen, learn, and LOL! You can find more things from V at their website, or check them out on twitter @nikeagxy!

A Closer Look at King Kristina of Sweden

A rare portrait of a young Kristina, by Jacob Heinrich Elbfas, at 14 years old and uncharacteristically in a wig and feminine clothing.

A portrait of Kristina, by Sébastien Bourdon

Christina of Sweden by Sébastien Bourdon, 1653. This was Kristina’s favorite painting and hung in their bedroom to the end of their life. — *Christina of Sweden* by Sébastien Bourdon, 1653. This was Kristina’s favorite painting and hung in their bedroom to the end of their life.

The maidenly Belle, and Kristina’s intimate lady-in-waiting, Ebba Sparre.

Kristina and the Saumais playing a prank on poor Ebba Sparre, making her unwittingly read from a raunchy novel aloud. The GUFFAWS!

Kristina (on the left side of the right table), in an argument with Rene Descartes, in a romanticized painting by Nils Forsberg (1842-1934), after Pierre-Louis Dumesnil the Younger (1698-1781)

A portrait of Kristina in their later years, circa 1685.

And lastly, Kristina again in their elder years, rocking that badass androgynous style.

A Selection of Kristina’s Maxims:

“We should be more miserly with our time than with our money”

“It is more difficult to do evil than to do good”
“Custom makes us insensible to almost everything”
“We should never believe anything we have not dared to doubt”
“A prince must think of himself a slave crowned by the people”
“Happiness does not lie in the opinions of others”
“Life is too short for love”
“It requires more courage to marry than to go to war”
“Patience is the virtue of those that lack either courage or force”

If you want to learn more about Kristina of Sweden, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

Books and Print Articles:

Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric by Veronica Buckley
Queer, There and Everywhere by Sarah Prager
Surpassing the Love of Men by Lillian Faderman
Who’s Who in Gay & Lesbian History ed. Robert Aldrich & Garry Wotherspoon
“Two Portraits of a Queen: Calderón and the Enigmatic Christina of Sweden” by Deborah Compte, Hispanic Journal, Vol. 27, No. 1
“Christina of Sweden's Patronage of Bernini: The Mirror of Truth Revealed by Time” by Lilian H. Zirpolo, Woman’s Art Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1
Beneath the surface: the portraiture and visual rhetoric of Sweden's Queen Christina” by Nathan Alan Popp, University of Iowa

"Love like Matter is much Odder than we thought." -W.H. Auden

S.C. Lucier

Meghan Rose

Amazon-Like Women in Africa: the mino/agojie, also known as the Dahomey Amazons!

Let’s hop over to Japan and take a look at female samurai warriors, the onna-bugeisha and onna-musha!

And finally, were there real life Lagerthas out there in the Norselands? We’ve got some Viking women warrior graves and historical artifacts that say so!

If you want to learn more about all the various warrior women from this episode, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

S.C. Lucier

Meghan Rose

A Closer Look at Amazons in ancient Greek art, literature, and myth!

Stories of Amazons show up in multiple places in Greek literature, including the histories of Herodotus, Homer’s The Iliad, and myths around Heracles, the founding of Athens, and more. Check out some excerpts below.

Herodotus, Book IV: Chapter 100:

Chapter 114:

From Homer’s The Iliad:

From the Pseudo-Apollodorus Library of Greek Mythology, describing the ninth labor of Heracles and Hippolyte:

And here, mentioning Penthesilea:

And Antiope:

And lastly, the tale of Atalanta in the Apollodorus:

Check out some of the depictions of mythical Amazons we have on ancient Greek vases:

Enough with the myths, show me the real deal! A Closer Look at Scythian Warrior Women:

Check out author of The Amazons: Lives & Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World, Adrienne Mayor, presenting a TED Talk!

And another talk by Adrienne Mayor, for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology!

If you want to learn more about Amazons and Scythian warriors, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

A Closer Look at Edmonia Lewis and the White Marmorean Flock

Portraits of Edmonia

Some of Edmonia Lewis’ most prolific works:

Legacy

The White Marmorean Flock, with whom Edmonia Flew!

First up, Charlotte Cushman, aka the Natalie Clifford Barney of 1800s Rome:

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, butch queen of our hearts:

If you want to learn more about Edmonia Lewis and the other folks covered in this episode, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

A Closer Look at Anne Lister

If you want to learn more about the Anne Lister and her diaries, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

Hey look, a guest host!

A Closer Look at King Kristina of Sweden

A Selection of Kristina’s Maxims:

If you want to learn more about Kristina of Sweden, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

History is Gay