#OnThisDay, 4 Jun 1972, civil rights activist Angela Davis is acquitted in a trial over her alleged involvement in the 1970 Marin County Civic Centre attack.
Davis had been prosecuted for three capital felonies, including conspiracy to murder, after guns she owned were used in the attack. The all-white jury cleared her of all charges.
100 years ago #OnThisDay, 3 Jun 1924, Alfonsina Strada crosses the finish line of the Giro d'Italia. She remains the only woman to have officially ridden in a Grand Tour.
At one point she had been disqualified on time grounds but was allowed to continue without the option of prizes. She finished ahead of the lantern rouge (the last cyclist to finish).
#OnThisDay, 28 May 1944, Sonia Butt parachutes into occupied France as an explosives expert for the British Special Operations Executive. She had turned 20 two weeks earlier.
She trained the maquis and coordinated sabotage operations. She was never captured.
#OnThisDay, 26 May 2010, Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the first woman to be sworn in as Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. She is currently the leader of the opposition.
In 2010 she also became the first woman to chair the Commonwealth of Nations.
#OnThisDay, 25 May 2018, Mia Mottley is sworn in as the Prime Minister of Barbados. She is the first woman to hold the role, and has since been re-elected.
Under her leadership, Barbados became a republic, 55 years after it declared independence from Britain.
A quick thread of posts that should have been live yesterday (24 May). It was very inconsiderate of a cold virus to strike me down before I'd scheduled them...
24 May 1883. Emily Warren Roebling crosses Brooklyn bridge in New York City on its opening. She'd been the first person to cross it in a carriage beforehand, carrying a rooster as a sign of victory.
Roebling oversaw construction from 1870, after her husband – the chief engineer - was injured.
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24 May 1976. At least 400 women walk out on strike at the Trica factory in London, demanding equal pay with their male colleagues. Around 100 men come out on strike in support of the women.
The strike lasts 21 weeks before the American owners of the factory agree to all demands.
#OnThisDay, 23 May 1988, four women storm the BBC news studio whilst the news is live on air, protesting the introduction of Section 28. Section 28 banned the “promotion of homosexuality” by local government in the UK, and was intended to stop LGBT+ campaigns for equal rights.
#OnThisDay, 23 May 1430, Jeanne d'Arc, fighting in the rearguard, is pulled from her horse and captured by the Burgundians at the siege of Compiègne. She is then sold as a prisoner to the British, who put her on trial for heresy.
#OnThisDay, 22 May 2003, Annika Sörenstam teed off at Fort Worth’s Colonial golf club. She became the third woman to play a PGA Tour golf tournament, and the first for over 50 years. One male player withdrew from the contest in protest at her inclusion.
@CarveHerName@histodons@7ikozu the singular courage to do this. 1932. makes my head spin. crash, or just have a very simple engine fault; you're dead. if i was amelia, i'd look pretty pleased with my accomplishment as well!
@CarveHerName@histodons
🥥 Amelia Earhart said of her solo Atlantic flight: “We all fly Atlantics in our own way. If someone does something against tradition, neighbourhood opinion and so called “common sense” that is an Atlantic…I flew the Atlantic because I wanted to…To want in one’s heart to do a thing, for its own sake; to enjoy doing it; to concentrate all one’s energies upon it – that is not only the surest guarantee of success. it is also being true to oneself.” 🥥 #AmeliaEarhart
@sarahijackson this is why sometimes we get a tad grumpy. All we’re doing is posting nuggets to stop people saying, as a school librarian once did to us, “there’s no women in history books because women didn’t do much”. And then we see the media, in our own lifetime, erase women from history.