Erin Blakemore

Recent Articles

Buying Your Dad a Gift Is Why Father's Day Exists

Buying a necktie for your dad is a stereotypical way to celebrate Father's Day, but it's in keeping with the holiday's history

By Erin Blakemore

How the Daughter of a Slave Became the First African-American Woman to Earn a Bachelor’s Degree

She graduated from Oberlin 155 years ago

By Erin Blakemore

The Woman Who Helped Stop an Early Attempt on Abraham Lincoln's Life

Her name was Kate Warne

By Erin Blakemore

This Little-Known Abolitionist Dared to Speak in Public Against Slavery

Maria Stewart was one of her era’s most effective anti-slavery voices, breaking boundaries for women even as she advocated for an end to a brutal institution

By Erin Blakemore

How the First American Woman to Be a Political Journalist Got Her Start

In the 19th century, embittered and politicized by her struggle for property of her own, she began to build up her writing career

By Erin Blakemore

The Teenage Girl Who Circled the Globe in a Model T

Her name was Aloha Wanderwell, and she became famous as the most well-traveled girl in the world

By Erin Blakemore

The Surprising Story of America’s Most Famous Female Stagecoach Robber

Pearl Hart, who participated in a turn-of-the-century stagecoach robbery, turned her life of crime into national fame

By Erin Blakemore

The Songwriter Who Broke Barriers in the 1950s

At the time, women songwriters were almost unheard of

By Erin Blakemore

The Doctor Who Saved Countless Newborn Babies

Because she was a woman, she was discouraged from becoming a surgeon

By Erin Blakemore

This Woman May Have Helped Win the Union Win the Civil War

She served as an adviser to Abraham Lincoln

By Erin Blakemore

Here’s What People Once Said About How a Woman Would Never Be the Democratic Nominee

Shirley Chisholm ran in 1972, and exposed the degree to which many Americans believed a woman would never win a major-party nomination

By Erin Blakemore

The Woman Who Spied on Confederates In Jefferson Davis’ Own Home

Born a slave, Mary Richards Bowser returned to the South during the Civil War to spy on Confederate leaders

By Erin Blakemore

The Officer Who Opened the U.S. Navy for Asian-American Women

Cuddy recalled that a white male pilot once disobeyed her orders. “Down here,” she told him, “you will shoot when I tell you to shoot.”

By Erin Blakemore

How Boston Helped Invent the Modern Marathon

Today, marathons are a popular sporting event held all over the world—thanks, in large part, to Boston

By Erin Blakemore

How a Woman Won the Medal of Honor 150 Years Before She Could Serve in Combat

For Women's History Month, meet the first female recipient of that national honor

By Erin Blakemore

The Woman Who Schooled the Civil Rights Movement

Throughout her life, she fought for the right to teach

By Erin Blakemore

The Surprising Fear That Created the USO

The United Service Organizations was incorporated 75 years ago, on Feb. 4, 1941

By Erin Blakemore

This Forgotten Female Screenwriter Helped Give Hollywood Its Voice

Frances Marion was one of early Hollywood's most influential writers

By Erin Blakemore

These Iconic Figures of American History Were All Immigrants

Eight quintessentially American figures who started their lives somewhere else

By Erin Blakemore

The Real Women's Suffrage Milestone That Just Turned 100

Remembering the mammoth women’s suffrage parade of October 1915

By Erin Blakemore
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