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[valkyries-things]

CATHERINE COLEMAN FLOWERS // ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCHER

“She is an American environmental health researcher, writer and the founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice. She was selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 2020. Her first book, Waste: One Woman's Fight Against America's Dirty Secret, explores the environmental justice movement in rural America. She is known for bringing attention to failing sewage treatment infrastructure in rural U.S communities, particularly in Lowndes County, Alabama.”

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CRATESIPOLIS // RULER OF SICYON & CORINTH

“She was the ruler of Sicyon and Corinth in 314-308 BC. She was highly distinguished for her beauty, talents, and energy. When her husband was assassinated at Sicyon, she assumed command of his forces, with whom her kindness had made her extremely popular. When the Sicyonians attacked the garrison, she quelled the sedition and crucified thirty of the rebels. Her victory held the town firmly in subjection under King Cassander. However, she had to leave Corinth after Ptolemy ordered her to.”

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TURHAN SULTAN // HASEKI SULTAN

“She was the first Haseki Sultan of the Ottoman Sultan Ibrahim (reign 1640–48) and Valide sultan as the mother of Mehmed IV (reign 1648–87). Turhan was prominent for the regency of her young son and her building patronage. She and Kösem Sultan are the only two women in Ottoman history to be regarded as official regents and had supreme control over the Ottoman Empire. As a result, Turhan became one of the prominent figures during the era known as Sultanate of Women.”

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ELISABETH VON THADDEN // EDUCATOR

“She was a German progressive educator and a resistance fighter against the Nazi regime as a member of the Solf Circle. She was sentenced to death for conspiring to commit high treason and undermining the fighting forces (Wehrkraftzersetzung). She was brought to Paris and later Berlin, which followed months of dreadful treatment and lengthy interrogations in various prisons and in the penal bunker at Ravensbruck concentration camp. She was beheaded at Plotzensee Prison in Berlin.”

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KATHERINE SIVA SAUBEL // SCHOLAR

“She was a Native American scholar, educator, tribal leader, author, and activist committed to preserving her Cahuilla history, culture and language. Her efforts focused on preserving the language of the Cahuilla. Saubel is acknowledged nationally and internationally as one of California's most respected Native American leaders. She received an honorary PhD in philosophy from La Sierra University, Riverside, California, and was awarded the Chancellor's Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the University of California at the University of California, Riverside.”

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LOUISE BUTCHER // RUNNER

“She is a Breast Cancer survivor who started running topless to bring awareness to the stigma over mastectomy scars. She gained popularity in 2023 when she did the virtual London Marathon (in a person record of 4:46). She said there were “double takes, shock and people saying ‘wow’ and clapping” and, as she got closer to home, “there was more support and people clapping”. She also ran the Barnstaple Marathon topless in October 2023.”

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MICAELA BASTIDAS // HEROINE

“She was a pioneering indigenous leader against Spanish rule in South America, and a martyr for Peruvian independence. With her husband Túpac Amaru II, she led a rebellion against the Spanish and like him, suffered martyrdom of execution by the Spaniards when the revolt failed. She was a full partner in her husband's enterprises before the revolt, and "an exceptionally able leader of the rebellion." She has been described as the "celebrated wife of José Gabriel Condorcanqui Momento Maren (Túpac Amaru II) who played a paramount role in the logistics of the rebel army in Cuzco in 1780 and 1781.”

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MARGARET CUNNISON // AVIATOR

“She was a Scottish aviator and the first Scottish woman flying instructor. She was one of the first women to join the Air Transport Auxiliary. Cunnison joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) with the other initial 7 women in 1940. She was the leading instructor at Hatfield Aerodrome responsible for evaluating and training the new pilots. She signed off on the American women pilots at Luton. As a result of her role, Cunnison mostly flew light aircraft. She left the ATA to get married in 1943 to Geoffrey Ebbage, an ophthalmic surgeon with the RAMC.”

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KAMORA FREELAND // PILOT

“She is a student who made headlines when she became the youngest pilot in the New York State, one of the youngest licensed Black pilots in the US and one of the youngest licensed aviators in US history. For her feat in flying, Kamora was granted a Proclamation of Achievement by Assemblyman Charles Fall and state Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton at the Capitol in Albany.”

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KUMANDER LIWAYWAY // HEROINE

“She was a commander for the Huk Rebellion. Both she and her brother were recruited by the Hukbalahap, a guerilla movement, saying she chose to join “rather than die without putting up resistance”. She quickly moved up through the ranks of the military receiving both combat training and Marxist education. Liwayway was known for dressing formally and wearing red lipstick in battle. Her reasoning was that she was fighting for the right to be herself. During the Battle of Kamansi, she and her squad refused to retreat and single handedly fought off the Japanese. Towards the end of the war, she tracked down the Japanese officer who killed her father and inflicted the same punishment on him he and done to her father.”

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MARY HARRIMAN RUMSEY // ACTIVIST

“She was an American social activist and government official. She was the founder of The Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements, later known as the Junior League of the City of New York of the Association of Junior Leagues International Inc, and served as Chair of the Consumer Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration. Mary was the daughter of railroad magnate E.H. Harriman and sister to W. Averell Harriman, former New York State Governor and United States Diplomat. In 2015 she was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.”

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FRANCES WISEBART JACOBS // PHILANTHROPIST

“She was a philanthropist and school teacher. She married Abraham Jacobs, the partner of her brother Jacob, and came west with him to Colorado where Wisebart and Jacobs had established businesses in Denver and Central City. In Denver, Frances Jacobs became a driving force for the city's charitable organizations and activities, with national exposure. Among the philanthropical organizations she founded, she is best remembered as a founder of the United Way and the Denver's Jewish Hospital Association.”

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GUSTA DAWIDSON DRAENGER // ACTIVIST

“She was a Polish Jewish activist in Kraków in the late 1930s and during the Nazi occupation in World War II. She wrote a detailed account of her activities while in Montelupich Prison in early 1943. Her husband Shimshon Draenger and she were executed by the Nazis in November 1943. Her memoirs were published first in Poland as Pamiętnik Justyny in 1946, then in Hebrew as יומנה של יוסטינה or Jōmānā šel Jusṭina (Justina's Diary) in 1974 and in English as Justyna's Narrative in 1996.”

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LADY OKAJI / OKAJI NO KATA // NOBLEWOMAN

“She was a Japanese noble lady and aristocrat who lived during the Sengoku period and at the beginning of Edo period. She was the founder of Eishō-ji temple in Kamakura and was also a concubine of Tokugawa Ieyasu. She was maybe from the Ōta clan.”

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MURIEL SIEBERT // BUSINESSWOMAN

“She was an American businesswoman who was the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, and the first woman to head one of the NYSE's member firms. She joined the 1,365 male members of the exchange on December 28, 1967. Siebert is sometimes known as the “first woman of finance,” despite being preceded in owning a brokerage by Victoria Woodhull.”

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DR. RUTH PATRICK // BOTANIST

“She was an American botanist and limnologist specializing in diatoms and freshwater ecology. She authored more than 200 scientific papers, developed ways to measure the health of freshwater ecosystems and established numerous research facilities.”

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DOROTHEA LANGE // PHOTOJOURNALIST

“She was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs influenced the development of documentary photography and humanized the consequences of the Great Depression.”

(on right is Lange’s most iconic photo depicting the Great Depression)