In mid-August 2020, Dolly Parton was in the news. This is not unusual, but the headlines were a bit bigger this time because, unlike her usual practice, Dolly had made a political statement. In a prominent interview for Billboard,[1] she…
Category: Blog and News
News items of interest to WHN Members
Born to Dance: Mary Hinkson and the Martha Graham Dance Company by Dr Victoria Phillips
“Race… It is an area of enormous sensitivity in this country. You know. Oh God, the things I listen to on public radio, I can’t believe it. But, you know, the part that’s unpleasant about that is: why do you…
Lips that Touch Liquor: Fighting for the Face of Female Temperance by Dr Gemma Outen
Lips that Touch Liquor: Fighting for the Face of Female Temperance, forthcoming with the Royal Historical Society / University of London Press (2021), will be the first full-length examination of the female temperance movement. Women played a significant part in…
Passing the Baton: Black Women Track Stars and American Identity by Dr. Cat M. Ariail
Over the course of two days in July of 1962, more than 150,000 people packed Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California for the fourth edition of the United States-Soviet Union dual track and field meet, an event organized to encourage…
Queen Mother Moore and Reparative Histories by Dr Hannah Ishmael
Whilst the events of this summer have thrown into sharp relief the effects of state sanctioned violence against Black communities, globally, it is important to recognise that alongside the campaigns to end racism there has also been activity that seeks…
Diane Abbott: A Potted Herstory of a Pioneer by Drs Robin Bunce and Samara Linton
In many ways, Diane Abbott is a pioneer. In 1987, she became the UK’s first black woman MP. This alone was a historic achievement and should entitle her to a place in any serious history of British politics. However, this…
Lilian Bader: one of the first Black British women in the Royal Air Force by Lucia Wallbank
In 1990, a group of African and Caribbean ex-service personnel appeared on an episode of the BBC television show ‘Hear-Say’. One woman explained why Britain’s Black citizens chose to take up arms in the Second World War. If Hitler had…
Putting menopause on the map by Caroline Vollans
Menopause, a key aspect of most women’s lives, is no longer off limits. Much is written about it, increasing airtime on radio and TV is allocated to it, websites are dedicated to it, and support groups are burgeoning. As October…
Archival Groundings: The life of Jessica Huntley by Dr Hannah Ishmael
Over the past few months, we have all had to adjust to a life lived online. For those of us who have been using archives for research we have also had to come to terms with exclusively using digitised material…