THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 17
cover story
Overlooked women through the ages
BY MAKENZIE WHITTLE • The Bulletin
W
omen have been shaping and changing the world since time immemorial, but their works have often gone unrecognized, covered up or otherwise
forgotten to the pages of history books. Reading this on a screen? You have a woman to thank for it. Reading it over a Wi-Fi connection? You have
a woman to thank for it. Fan of Bob Dylan or Johnny Cash? Thank a woman for her musical influence on them. Like Monopoly, sci-fi books,
chocolate chip cookies? Women are behind it all. Here are just a few women from history worth remembering.
Ada Lovelace (1815-52) — The
with two versions of play, one
English countess befriended an
where the wealth was distrib-
older mathematician named
uted to all players, and an-
Charles Babbage when she
other where the goal was
was 17, and the two worked
to create a monopoly and
closely together. Babbage
keep the wealth for your-
came up with the concept
self. A few decades later,
for a calculation machine
Parker Brothers bought
(computer) and asked
the rights to the game for
Lovelace to translate another
$500 and wrote Magie out
engineer’s thoughts on his
of the story. She was also a
idea into English. She added
feminist who held a patent
Ada Lovelace
her own notes, tripling the
for an invention that allowed
length and wrote on concepts
paper to flow more smoothly
of codes and theorizing ways for the machine
through a typewriter, wrote poetry and per-
to repeat a series of instructions. The ideas
formed on stage.
she laid out, are part of computer
Fatima al-Fihri (800-880) —
programming today, and as such
The Arabic woman is credited
she has been referred to as the
with founding the world’s
first computer programmer.
oldest university, Al-Qa-
Dolores Huerta (1930-
rawiyyin in Fez, Morocco.
present) — The activist
While little is known of
worked alongside Cesar
her early life, she and
Chavez in creating the
her family immigrated
United Farm Workers or-
from Tunisia and settled
ganization in 1962 and
in Fez. Her father became
directing the national Del-
a wealthy merchant and
ano grape strike in 1965 as
left his daughters a for-
a way to negotiate contracts
tune who used their inher-
Dolores Huerta
between the workers and the
itance to build mosques for
farms to improve the lives of those pick-
the increasing Muslim population. Fatima
ing the grapes. Her famous phrase “Si,
founded Al-Qarawiyyin eventually
se puede” still echoes today after
expanding it to be a center for
President Barack Obama used
study in science, mathemat-
it for his campaign slogan
ics, medicine and astron-
in 2008, “Yes, we can,” and
omy regardless of religion.
April 10 is Dolores Huerta
Hedy Lamarr (1914-
Day in California.
2000) — The Hollywood
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie
star was also an inventor.
(1866-1948) — The fem-
During World War II,
inist and anti-monopolist
she developed a concept
was politically far left and in
that became known as fre-
her 30s, she created a board
quency hopping where one
game that expressed these
torpedo guidance signal
Hedy Lamarr
strong political leanings, pat-
would bounce to different
enting The Landlord’s Game
frequencies and make it im-
in 1904. Originally, the game was more of a
possible for an enemy to locate and block.
teaching tool for her anti-monopolist ideas
Though the military at the time thought the
A campaign poster for Shirley Chisholm’s
presidential run in 1972.
idea and prototype developed by Lamarr
and her partner, George Antheil, wouldn’t
suit their needs (they would later go back to
it and not pay Antheil and Lamarr for their
ideas), the technology she developed would
be the catalyst to eventually create Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth and GPS technology we use today.
Martha Gellhorn (1908-98) — The novel-
ist and journalist was one of the first female
war correspondents and snuck aboard a hos-
pital ship to cover the D-Day landing at Nor-
mandy when women were banned from re-
porting from the front lines. When the battle
subsided, she even joined the medics with a
stretcher to help gather the wounded.
Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) — Not only
was Chisholm the first African American
woman to make it to the U.S. Congress, she
was also the first to run for president in a ma-
jor party. The Democrat ran in the 1972 elec-
tion and became the first woman to appear on
a presidential debate stage. She lost the overall
election but was quoted as running “in spite
of hopeless odds … to demonstrate the sheer
will and refusal to accept the status quo.”
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-73) — The
godmother of rock-and-roll served as an in-
spiration to the men who would take it to
the stratosphere of popularity. Tharpe mixed
traditional gospel tunes with a rhythm-and-
blues style on an electric guitar and thus be-
gan weaving the first threads of a music that
would forever change the game. The queer,
Black musician’s voice and artistry served
as a direct inspiration to Johnny Cash, Bob
Dylan, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Carl Per-
kins and many other contemporaries.
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0304, mwhittle@bendbulletin.com
Where Empowerment Replaces Fear & Knowledge Creates Options
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Sharon Preston