This weeks Illustrated Women in History was submitted by Patti Mcjones. It is featured in the Illustrated Women in History zine #5 which is available here http://etsy.me/2nMhm6n I saw a series of photographs of Forough Farrokhzad – Iranian poet and film-maker – recently when her former lover Ebrahim Golestan spoke of how much he still …
Emily Dickinson was a prolific American poet who has been posthumously celebrated for her unusual use of form and syntax. Dickinson was born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her father wanted all of his children to be well-educated and Dickinson attended primary school in Amherst before continuing on to Amherst Academy which had recently opened …
Adrienne Rich was an American poet, essayist and feminist called “one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century.” She is credited with bringing “the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse.” Rich was born in 1929 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Arnold …
Alice Walker is an American novelist, story story writer, poet and civil rights activist. She is best known for her critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Walker was born in 1944 in Putnam County, Georgia. Walker lived under Jim Crow Laws, but her parents refused to …
Ntozake Shange is an American playwright and poet best known for the Obie Award-winning play for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. She is a self-proclaimed black feminist, and her work frequently addresses race and feminism. Shange was born Paulette L. Williams in 1948 in Trenton, New Jersey, where …
Gwendolyn Brooks was an American poet and teacher. She was the first black author to win a Pulitzer prize, the first black woman to become poetry consultant to the Library of Congress and the Poet Laureate of Illinois from 1968 until her death. Brooks was born in 1917 in Topeka, Kansas to David Anderson and …
Georgia Douglas Johnson was an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance and the first modern African-American female poet and playwright to gain widespread recognition. Johnson was born in 1877 in Atlanta, Georgia to parents of mixed ancestry including african and native american on her mother, Laura Jackson Camp’s side, and african-american and english heritage on …
Audre Lorde described herself as “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”. She was a pioneer of intersectional feminism and her work focused on confronting and addressing the injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Lorde was born in 1934 in New York City to West Indian parents. She grew up hearing her mother’s stories about the West …
Maya Angelou was an American award-winning author, poet, and civil rights activist. She is best known for her acclaimed memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and her numerous poetry and essay collections. Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She was briefly raised in St. Louis until her parents …
Patti Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist. She became a high influential part of the New York City punk rock scene after the release of her 1975 album Horses. Smith was a tomboy as a child, experiencing gender confusion because she did not fit in with the social expectations of femininity. She …