Although she may have been one of the toughest women ever to work in a convent, ‘Black Mary’ had earned the respect and devotion of most of the residents of the pioneer community of Cascade, Montana, before she died in 1914. In fact, Mary Fields was widely beloved. She was admired and respected throughout the region for holding her own and living her own way in a world where the odds were stacked against her. In a time when African Americans and women of any race enjoyed little freedom anywhere in the world, Mary Fields enjoyed more freedom than most white men.
Fields dressed in the comfortable clothes of a man, including a wool cap and boots, and she wore a revolver strapped around her waist under her apron. At 200 pounds, she was said to be a match for any two men in Montana Territory. She had a standing bet that she could knock a man out with one punch, and she never lost a dime to anyone foolish enough to take her up on that bet. By order of the mayor, she was the only woman of reputable character in Cascade allowed to drink in the local bar, and while she enjoyed the privilege, she never drank to excess. She was often spotted smoking cigars in public, and she liked to argue politics with anyone.
(Source: puerhshawarma)
Soldaderas were female soldiers who went into combat alongside men during the Mexican Revolution, which initially broke out in opposition to the conservative Díaz regime. The term comes from the Spanish word soldada which denotes a payment made to the person who provided for a soldier’s well being.[1]The majority of these women led ordinary lives, but took up arms during the war to fight for freedom. Among the soldaderas, Dolores Jiménez y Muro, Margarita Neri, and Hermila Galindo are often considered heroines in contemporary Mexico.
Today, the term La Adelita is used with pride among Mexican women. La Adelita was the title of a Corrido (folk ballad) about a soldadera named “Adelita”, and became one of the most beloved songs to come out of the Revolution.
“Soldaderas,” camp followers in the revolution, cooked, nursed, and provided sexual and emotional comfort. Some fought and were executed in the course of battle. The image of “la soldadera,” the woman fighting on behalf of the Mexican community, was praised as a national symbol of strength and resistance. Yet it was an ambivalent image: praised within the context of an often mythicized revolution, the “soldaderas” were criticized for their relative sexual freedom and independence. The term “soldadera” became double edged. When used to describe an individual women, it could be synonymous with “whore.” source reference -by Devra Weber Oral History and Mexicana Farmworkers
Nicaraguan guerrinna sister breast feeding her baby during the Contra War. Orlando Valenzuela’s photography captures the femininity of revolutionary Sandinista women so beautifully.
“I have learned that a woman can be a fighter, a freedom fighter, a political activist, and that she can fall in love and be loved. She can be married, have children, be a mother. Revolution must mean life also; every aspect of life.” Leila Khaled
vietcong-1968
It says: “Rapists, we will get you”.
(Source: artyucko)
Girls Rifle Team, University of Maryland c. 1925 (via Via)
(Source: fotokare)
Maoist Militia women in Rolpa District, Western Nepal
(Source: fotokare)
(Source: fotokare)
Hana Solo for May The Fourth Be With You
http://jothezette.blogspot.com | http://jothezette.tumblr.com/
official position obviously