The History Chicks

Before there were suffragists to march and fight for the vote, there was Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Before she teamed up with another superhero for women’s rights, Elizabeth was a daughter, a sister, a wife, and a mother. Then, one warm summer day in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York she stood up, gave her first public speech and helped to start a movement.

In this episode we continue our chat about the many acts in the life of Josephine Baker. When the house lights went up we were biting our nails! Would her homeland love and appreciate her as much as the people of other continents? Could Josephine go home?

Warning - saucy subject material! Josephine Baker is often remembered simply as the woman who danced wearing nothing but a skirt of bananas in Paris during the 1920′s. But her life was far from simple. She was not only a dancer and singer, but also a spy, a civil rights activist and a mother. She reinvented her life by sheer will and wits so many times that it’s not surprising that there are as many variations to her tale as there were roles in her life.

Welcome to Season 4! We reveal our Guaranteed Content nominees.

This is Part 2 of our discussion of the last Romanov Tsarina and her family. Part 1 of our discussion ended with the very deadly coronation events of Nicholas II and Alexandra. Russia was heading into a dire economic crisis and Nicholas stated that he intended to continue his reign in the same manner of his father, Alexander III. Will the new Tsar and Tsarina turn the country around? Will Nicholas lead his country to recovery? Will Alexandra ever get away from the meddling eyes of her Mother-in-law? Will she produce that male heir that is so necessary to the future of the Romanov dynasty?

Every season we let you choose a winner in our Guaranteed Content Poll. We grant that request and bring Season Three to a close with your winner- The Romanov Sisters. But, we decided to give you more than you asked for and expanded on the topic to include the entire family. What an epic subject! The story of the Romanovs begins in 1613, and doesn't really end until 2007! This is Part 1 of a two-part episode.

Often listed as merely an asterisk in history, Lady Jane Grey did have a part in the tale of the Tudors and in the succession of the crown. A teeeny tiny part, but a part nonetheless. Her young life and limited time on the throne may have been short, but it was long on drama.

Before she became the first Queen Regnant of England, before she was labeled illegitimate, she was, quite simply, Princess Mary of England - the apple of her father's eye. But, ahh, nothing is simple for those Tudors. Nothing.

In honor of what would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday, we cover this most beloved of American icons. On television she boldly demonstrated the ease of preparing the foods that she loved. People have been learning to cook with her since her first cookbook was published in 1961, and her television show The French Chef hit the airwaves a couple of years later.

This minicast is a companion piece to Episode 28 - in which we take a chapter-by-chapter look at Lewis Carroll's books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, talking plot points, characters, and behind-the-story tales.

Once a season we step back from the factual historical world into the fictional historical world. This season, while stepping back, we fell into a rabbit hole of sorts and found ourselves becoming curiouser and curiouser about Alice. Alice in Wonderland, that is.

We couldn’t tell the story of Clara Bow entirely in G-rated terms, so younger ears should probably skip this one where we talk about the original It Girl. What is "It"? Looks, charm, talent, and something special that attracts a wide range of people. "It" is a mysterious quality usually likened to a form of sex appeal. Clara Bow had "It". Did she ever!

This episode was a surprise for us. We had planned on posting a minicast about Rosa Parks to tie in with the episode on Ida B. Wells. The women’s lives had several parallels and we wanted to highlight Rosa Park’s role in the civil rights movement. But, when we sat down to talk, the talk went longer than a typical minicast. So we made it into a full length episode.

Ida B. Wells- born a slave, educated in a post-Civil War south and left to care for her family at an early age. She grew to become a teacher, a writer, a crusader, a suffragist, a wife and mother. A woman of strength and character who dared to speak up and challenge those who desired to oppress others , even when her own safety was at risk. How could we not talk about a woman like this?

With this episode we continue our series on the Tudors. Henry, Henry, Henry… First Catherine of Aragon didn’t produce, so you divorced her. Then Anne Boleyn failed as well, so you took care of that nuisance. In this episode we talk about the last four of your wives, or as we like to call them, Mommy, Sister, Party and Lucky