Women
Puerto Rican Needleworkers in a Factory, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1942
This government photograph provides an important contrast to the popular culture images of poor southern whites. During the 1940s and 1950s, U.S. government agencies hired photographers to travel the main island of Puerto Rico to capture the conditions of working people.
Quilted bedcover of Elisabeth Chapman
This quilted bed cover was likely made for the marriage of John and Elisabeth Chapman on September 19, 1829.
The Love Letter by Jan Vermeer
Painted in the last phase of his career, Dutch artist Jan Vermeer’s The Love Letter is a work of oil on canvas that depict
"Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday (1939)
Based on a poem by Abel Meeropol published in January 1937, “Strange Fruit” was a song protesting the lynching of African America
Yamamoto Shunshō’s The Tale of Genji
Largely considered the first novel, The Tale of Genji was written by Murasaki Shikibu, a noblewoman and lady-in-waiting du
“Big Business Banishes the Flapper"
The “flapper” craze overtook the western world in the early 1920s and was spearheaded by young women intent on bucking cultural n
Kasai Velvet, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Despite its name, Kasai velvet, or velours du kasai, is not actually a velvet.
Tomoe Gozen
Tomoe Gozen was a Japanese female samurai that lived during the late twelfth century, or late Heian period, in Japan.
Analyzing Primary Sources on Women in World History
Traditionally, historical writing focused on elites and often rendered women invisible unless they were queens or empresses.
Picture of civil rights activist, Djida Tazdaït
One of the realizations of the 1983 March for Equality and Against Racism was the election to the new European Parliament the Lyon-based civil rights activist, Djida Tazdaït (1957- ). In 1989, she was elected as the first woman of North African descent to serve in that capacity until 1994.