WednesdaysWomen

The Women of Route 66

And Their Roles in Creating and Maintaining the Highway’s Kitschy-Americana Environment

Lillian Redman ran the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari New Mexico along the famed Route 66, a 2,448 mile highway of kitschy-Americana buildings that crossed eight states to connect Chicago to Los Angeles.

John Steinbeck dubbed it the Mother Road in his 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Grapes of Wrath. In 1946, singer Nat King Cole invited Americans to get their kicks on Route 66. And in 1972, the you could find the Eagles “standin’ on the corner in Winslow, Arizona.”

Frying Doughnuts and Dodging Bombs in World War 1

The Salvation Army’s Doughnut Girls Traveled with U.S. Troops

World War I Doughnut Girls distributing fresh baked treats to the troops — The Doughnut Girls traveled with the troops, frying and distributing doughnuts on the battlefield.

In 1917, the Salvation Army sent 250 female volunteers from its cities and towns to France to boost the morale of troops serving with the American Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, where they braved dangerous combat conditions to provide emotional support. They became known as the Doughnut Girls of World War I, their stories, for the most part, footnotes in America’s wartime history.

The Women Who Walked on Wings

Three of the High-Flying Daredevils of Early Aviation

Lillian Boyer performs at an aerial stunt show in the 1920s.

As early as 1911, aerial wing walking emerged when pilots had no choice but to venture out onto the wings of their planes to make repairs or technical in-flight adjustments.

Alice Ball – Scientist Who Pioneered a Leprosy Treatment

The Young Black Chemist Whose Work Was Stolen by a Male Colleague

Alice Augusta Ball developed an effective treatment for leprosy at the turn of the 20th century only to have her research stolen by a male colleague. Her work allowed thousands of quarantined individuals to recover sufficiently to leave isolation facilities and return to their homes. Her discovery involved oil from the seed of the chaulmoogra plant.

Alice Ball’s story is one reason I began writing about/honoring the remarkable women overlooked, forgotten, ignored, or simply erased from history. In what would become a prophetic statement, Ball once wrote in her high-school yearbook, “I work and work, and still it seems that I have done nothing.”

Sophie Blanchard – The Woman Who Defied the Sky

One of History’s Most Extraordinary Aerial Pioneers

From Napoleon’s favorite balloonist to the first woman killed in an aviation accident, Sophie Blanchard transformed ballooning into a profession and became one of history’s most extraordinary aerial pioneers.

Madame Sophie Blanchard (1778-1819) was a trailblazing French balloonist. While she wasn’t the first woman to take to the skies in a balloon, she was the first to pilot her own customized craft solo, the first to make ballooning a full-time career, and the first killed in an aviation accident.

Sylvia Earle: The Jersey Girl Known as “Her Deepness”

Deep Sea Diving Pioneer and One of the Most Respected
Marine Scientists of the Modern Era

Shown here swimming with a four-foot barracuda, Sylvia Earle, a highly-experiened SCUBA diver was also a pioneer of deep-diving submersibles used for scientific exploration of the oceans. (Images: NOAA)

Sylvia Earle’s a Jersey Girl. Born in Gibbstown in Gloucester County, New Jersey in 1935 she went on to become one of the most acclaimed marine biologists and oceanographers in history. Often referred to by her moniker “Her Deepness,” her career spanned over six decades, during which she set historic deep-sea diving records, advanced the design of submersible vehicles, and became the first female Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).