Podcasts by What

THE GOOD WIFE Elizabeth Bray Allen from 2022-03-22T04:01:08

What makes a good wife? In 1700s Virginia, there was one clear path for colonial women: Marry. Have children. Preserve the family wealth. Fail at this, and you’ve failed at life. But what if the...

THE PHOTOJOURNALIST Catherine Leroy from 2022-03-08T05:07:47

When 21 year-old Catherine Leroy hopped on a plane in Paris, headed for Vietnam, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. Despite having no experience of either war or photography, Ler...

THE NATURALIST Maria Sibylla Merian from 2022-02-22T05:01:46

  Germany was still burning witches when Maria Sibylla Merian daringly filled her 17th-century home with spiders, moths, and all kinds of toxic plants. Bold choices saved her from accusations of...

THE MOTHER OF FORENSIC SCIENCE Frances Glessner Lee from 2022-02-08T18:24:36

Frances Glessner Lee was 52 years old when she discovered the mission that would become her legacy – to “convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth.” After five decades as a prom...

THE UNVEILED Huda Shaarawi from 2022-01-25T05:01:46

An Egyptian child bride awakens to the reality of life in a harem, and dreams of revolution. And that’s just the beginning! Huda Shaarawi led thousands of women in a movement to liberate themsel...

THE WARRIOR QUEEN Chand Bibi from 2022-01-12T00:22:31

Chand Bibi served as regent of two different Sultanates in the 16th century Deccan peninsula, and ruled over some of the most important – and tumultuous – years in the region’s history. Versions...

VERSAILLES CHRISTMASTIDE Mary Stuart Boyd from 2021-12-21T05:01:27

Mary Stuart Boyd spent Christmas 1900 in Versailles, not on a festive tour of the grand palace, but to stay with her 13-year-old son, quarantined there with scarlet fever. Her Versailles experie...

THE SCREENWRITER Frances Marion from 2021-12-07T22:54:35

Frances Marion was one of the most important, influential, and well-paid screenwriters in Hollywood. Her films moved audiences to tears and brought out the best in every actor for whom she ever ...

THE ORGANIZER Celia Sánchez from 2021-11-08T05:23:09

Celia Sánchez Manduley was probably the most important woman in the Cuban Revolution – yet outside of Cuba, almost nobody knows her name. The first woman to fire a shot in the revolution, and th...

THE FIRST ACCUSED Tituba from 2021-10-25T20:13:13

Some say Tituba was the easy target in 1692, as an enslaved woman of color. But surprise! She confessed to witchcraft, offering elaborate descriptions of a widespread Satanic conspiracy. Her tal...

THE PIRATE Ching Shih from 2021-10-11T05:33:41

She was the most powerful pirate in the history of the world – and you’ve probably never heard her name. How did this brilliant, ruthless, utterly unstoppable woman manage to dodge the Chinese, ...

BONUS EPISODE: Lost Women of England Tour 2021 from 2021-09-27T21:51:14

Come along with us on a virtual version of our September 2021 “Lost Women of England” Tour! Hear highlights from the trip, with context, commentary and other fun bonus content from Katie and Oli...

THE RANI OF JHANSI Lakshmibai from 2021-08-23T04:01:04

Rani (Queen) Lakshmibai of Jhansi never wanted to be a rebel. She did everything she could to stay on the right side of the law. But when the British East India Company finally pushed her too fa...

GONE TO THE ENEMY Eve from 2021-08-09T04:01:33

What if you got to witness the birth of the American Revolution personally? If you got to hear the founding fathers debating liberty, rights, and the pursuit of happiness around the dining table...

THE UNBOWED Wangari Maathai from 2021-07-26T04:36:09

Wangari Maathai was the first woman in Central Africa to earn a PhD, the first Black woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the mother of the Ecofeminist movement — and that’s just the beginning! Disco...

THE QUEEN OF THE COMSTOCK Eilley Bowers from 2021-07-12T04:07:48

You’ve heard of the Gold Rush. You’ve maybe even heard of the Comstock Lode. But have you heard of the penniless Scottish lass who headed west, and while running a boarding house, struck the ric...

THE EXILE Stefania Turkevych from 2021-06-28T04:01:26

Stefania Turkevych was one of Galicia’s most talented and prolific classical composers – and then the Russian Revolution turned her world upside down. When she fled the USSR to find a new home, ...

THE ROUND-THE-WORLD CYCLIST Annie Londonderry from 2021-05-03T04:01:47

In 1895, Annie Cohen embarked on a quest to become the first woman ever to cycle around the world. Did she make it? Yes! Were the newspapers engrossed in her story? Yes! Did she actually… um, cy...

THE MYSTIC Margery Kempe from 2021-04-19T04:02:44

When most medieval Englishwomen wouldn’t travel more than five miles from home in their lifetime, Margery Kempe left behind her abusive husband and fourteen children to walk from France to Jerus...

THE ROADBUILDER K’awiil from 2021-03-29T04:01:52

1400 years ago, traveling through the Maya rainforest was terrifying and deadly (think snakes, jaguars, and crocodiles). Now, new LiDAR scans have revealed a network of elevated ancient roads so...

THE MEDIUM Helen Duncan from 2021-03-15T04:01:52

Helen Duncan was the last person in the UK ever to be convicted of witchcraft… in the mid-20th-century! Her story is one of fraud, fakery and – just possibly – actual communications with the dea...

THE PAINTER Victorine Meurent from 2021-03-01T13:01:01

Chances are, every one of us has seen Victorine Meurent. Her delicate, red-headed form appears in at least thirty paintings by the famous Parisian masters of La Belle Époque. It was long assumed...

THE GUIDE Bibi Sahiba from 2021-02-15T07:01:50

In the late 18th century, Bibi Sahiba was one of the most important and influential people in the entire Afghan Empire. Honored as “the first and the most perfect” Sufi guide, Bibi Sahiba the Gr...

THE SUFFRAGIST SENATOR Martha Hughes Cannon from 2021-02-01T07:02:08

In 1896, Martha Hughes Cannon ran for state senate against her polygamist husband, and won! But becoming America’s first female state senator was only one chapter of Cannon’s story. A whirlwind ...

THE CAGED BIRD Florence Price from 2021-01-18T07:02:52

In an abandoned house in St. Anne, Illinois, an astonishing treasure trove of handwritten sheet music was discovered in 2009. That cache was the life’s work of composer Florence Price, the first...

THE ILLUSTRATOR Tasha Tudor–2020 Christmas Special from 2020-12-07T07:02:11

Tasha Tudor’s charming and warm-hearted illustrations of over 100 books, plus her nostalgic advent calendars and Christmas cards, earned her devoted fans around the world. But her way of life fa...

THE FULTON FLASH Helen Stephens from 2020-11-23T07:02:09

When Helen Stephens was fifteen years old, a track coach saw her playing pickup basketball and asked her to run a time trial in the school driveway.In that first-ever 50-yard dash, Stephens tied...

THE LITTLE WOMAN May Alcott Nieriker from 2020-11-09T07:05:21

May Alcott failed spectacularly countless times before becoming a great artist.  Immortalized by her sister as the vain, vivacious Amy in Little Women, the real youngest “March” sister, May, was...

THE CITIZEN SCIENTIST Jane Marcet from 2020-10-26T06:05:43

Jane Marcet wasn’t a chemist. She wasn’t a physicist or a biologist or an astronomer – but she probably made a bigger contribution to science than anyone else in the 19th century. So why do none...

THE SPIRIT Xtabay from 2020-10-12T13:17:56

Once upon a time in the Mayan Yucatan, a kind, beautiful lady was murdered and left at the base of a tree. But that was just the beginning! Join Katie on-location in Valladolid, Mexico, as her g...

THE MUCKRAKER Ida Tarbell from 2020-09-28T06:05

Before Ida Tarbell took on John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company, the idea of a journalist bringing down the largest monopoly in the US would have been laughable. But her relentless investi...

THE FLOWER IN THE WATER Zazil-ha from 2020-09-14T04:05:32

Did Zazil-Ha know that her rebellious love affair would save not just her kingdom, but the entire Yucatec Maya for a generation? Together with her shipwrecked Spanish husband, Zazil-Ha built a l...

THE RESISTANCE Truus and Freddie Oversteegen from 2020-08-31T06:05:18

Freddie and Truus Oversteegen were just 14 and 16 years old when the Nazis invaded their hometown of Haarlem. Determined to do their part, the sisters joined the Dutch Resistance and began bombi...

THE LAST QUEEN OF JUDEA Shelamzion from 2020-07-06T06:05:08

It’s often assumed that women are scarce in the Hebrew Bible because they simply weren’t allowed to be major players back then. But the life of Shelamzion (aka Salome Alexandra) proves that wron...

THE REBORN Jemima Wilkinson&Publick Universal Friend from 2020-06-22T06:05:06

Jemima Wilkinson, born in 1752, was a devout Quaker and skilled medical practitioner in colonial Rhode Island. When a typhus outbreak in 1776 left her feverish and near death, she experienced a ...

THE PEACEMAKER Queen Matilda from 2020-06-08T06:05:42

For a thousand years, March 14th has been celebrated as St. Matilda’s Day in Quedlinburg, Germany. She was celebrated as a Peacemaker in her time, and has been a unifying figure ever since. Disc...

THE ABSENCE Maria Branwell Brontë from 2020-05-25T06:05:50

Maria Branwell Brontë most famously exists as an absence — the mother whose biggest, or only, influence resides in her “not being there there” during the lives of her famous daughters Charlotte,...

THE STORYTELLER Mae Timbimboo Parry from 2020-05-11T06:05:26

Mae Timbimboo was just eight years old when she entered a US federal boarding school designed to “kill the Indian to save the child.” The government hoped Native children like Mae would “assimil...

THE ANCESTORS Mother’s Day Special from 2020-04-27T06:05:46

What’sHerName presents our very first Mother’s Day Special! Come “meet the ancestors” as six What’sHerName listeners introduce some truly remarkable women from their own family history! From Ukr...

THE SURGEON James Barry from 2020-04-13T06:05:17

What would you sacrifice for a chance to chase your dream? Two hundred years ago in Ireland, penniless Margaret Bulkley shed her identity to live a big, bold, loud life as army surgeon James Bar...

THE WOMAN IN RED Anita Garibaldi from 2020-03-30T06:05:22

Anita Garibaldi is celebrated as a national heroine in three countries and on two continents. Yet the true stories of her remarkable, almost unbelievable life have seldom been told, and her lega...

THE VIKING Coppergate Woman from 2020-02-24T07:05:29

Dive into the stinky filth of everyday Viking life as Katie presents Olivia with a mystery. It’s not so much a Whodunnit as a WhoWASit: the skeleton of a woman found in a shallow grave on the ba...

THE MOTHER Olympias from 2020-02-10T07:05:56

If you’ve heard anything at all about the Ancient Macedonian Queen Olympias, it’s probably that she’s the mother of Alexander the Great. If you’ve heard anything else about her, it’s probably ab...

THE SORCERER Gunnhild from 2020-01-27T07:05:32

Long ago, in the far north of Lapland, a young woman learned the secrets of sorcery from two warlocks. At least that’s what the Icelandic sagas say. The woman would become Gunnhild, infamous Vik...

THE FREE WOMAN Harriet Jacobs from 2020-01-13T05:05:20

When Harriet Jacobs’ enslaver threatened to sell her children away to the plantation unless she accepted his sexual abuse, she decided the only way to keep them safe was to run. But with no reso...

THE ROPEMAKER Mary Pattison Irwin from 2019-12-30T07:05:26

In the moment when Mary Pattison locked eyes with dashing American solider John Irwin across the ballroom at the St. Patrick’s Day Ball in 1784, her destiny was set. Married by the end of the ga...

WHITE HOUSE HOLIDAY Mary Donelson Wilcox: 2019 Christmas Special from 2019-12-16T07:05:40

Late in life, Mary Donelson Wilcox recalled a magical childhood Christmas she spent at the White House with her elderly uncle, President Andrew Jackson. Her captivating memoirs paint a picture o...

THE WOMAN IN THE CHALK Cranborne Woman from 2019-12-02T07:05:43

Evidence of human life in the Stone Age is incredibly rare, so when Martin Green uncovered a Neolithic burial site on his Dorset farm, the whole world took notice. The skeletons inside were asto...

THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST Sybil Stockdale from 2019-11-18T07:05:32

In 1965, Sybil Stockdale was a mild-mannered Navy wife in Southern California. But after her husband’s plane was shot down over Vietnam, she would become one of the most important and effective ...

THE WITCH Mother Shipton from 2019-10-07T04:05:34

It was a dark and stormy night, many centuries ago. In a cave on the edge of a haunted wood, a monstrous baby was born, and instead of crying, she cackled! No one would have expected the baby to...

THE PHARAOH Tawosret from 2019-09-23T04:05:51

Her story might be one of ambition and regicide, or one of a woman manipulated by an evil puppetmaster. Or it might be both! Travel with us back in time three thousand years, where our guest, Eg...

THE PAPER DAUGHTER How Jiu from 2019-09-09T06:05:31

How Jiu was never supposed to go to America. But in an incredible twist of fate during China’s Civil War in 1928, she set sail for San Francisco, never to return to her family again. Only 18 yea...

THE EMPEROR Wu Zhao (Wu Zetian) from 2019-08-26T06:05:20

Over 2000 years of history, China had exactly one female emperor. Wu Zhao (also known as Wu Zetian) rose from fifth-ranked concubine (a glorified maid) to supreme ruler, effectively governing Ch...

THE ADMIRAL Bouboulina from 2019-08-12T06:05:30

The first flag of the Greek Revolution was raised by Laskarina Bouboulina on the mast of her ship, The Agamemnon, in 1821. Commanding a fleet of ships from her island of Spetses, she blockaded t...

THE FARMER Cherokee America Rogers from 2019-07-29T06:05:52

Margaret Verble ‘found’ Cherokee America Rogers in a cemetery while visiting her grandfather’s grave. This “jaw-dropping” name sparked a journey into her own family history, the neglected storie...

THE ORACLE Pythia from 2019-07-15T06:05:27

Ancient kings and rulers from across the world traveled to the remote mountain town Delphi, Greece, to visit a nameless elderly peasant woman. They made the trek because she alone could see the ...

THE PSYCHOANALYST Sabina Spielrein from 2019-07-01T06:05:19

Sabina Spielrein was one of the first female psychoanalysts, “invented” child psychology, and innovated some of the most famous concepts now attributed to Jung and Freud.So why don’t we know her...

THE POET Hester Pulter from 2019-05-06T06:05:03

In 1996, a graduate student working in a library in England discovered the manuscript of a novel and 120 poems by completely unknown 17th century woman writer. Hester Pulter had been hiding in p...

THE GIRL OF IRON Mary Peterson Ipsen from 2019-04-22T06:05:07

The story of America’s transcontinental railroad is a masculine saga. But today we present the story of Union Pacific’s most unlikely employee: a 12-year-old Mormon girl. Mary Peterson Ipsen was...

THE TRANSLATOR Malintzin from 2019-04-08T06:10:37

Malintzin has been one of Mexico’s greatest villains for 500 years. A native of Veracruz, she translated for Hernan Cortes, the conquistador who destroyed the Aztec Empire. But she did more than...

THE WHITE ROSE Sophie Scholl from 2019-03-25T04:05:57

In Nazi Germany, resistance was not just forbidden, it was deadly. But in 1942, a group of young college students went from enthusiastic supporters of the Third Reich to some of its most vocal o...

THE WARRIOR Zenobia from 2019-03-11T06:05:17

In 3rd century Palmyra (modern-day Syria), the bold and brilliant queen Zenobia defied the Roman Empire and launched a wildly successful campaign of expansion, eventually ruling Arabia, Egypt, a...

THE OPTIMIST Émilie du Châtelet from 2019-02-25T07:05:44

Do we live in the best of all possible worlds? Émilie du Châtelet thought so, and set out to prove it with empirical evidence three hundred years ago. Raised at the lavish court of Louis XIV, sh...

THE MUSE Carolyn Cassady from 2019-02-11T08:50:48

Carolyn Cassady was an artist, costume designer, writer, and critical influence on the members of the Beat Generation. Her marriage to Neal Cassady and her friendships with Jack Kerouac and othe...

THE SCULPTOR Edmonia Lewis from 2019-01-28T07:05:54

What if you had a vision for your life, but absolutely everyone around you told you it was impossible? Edmonia Lewis lived a life so improbable, that if we didn’t have the actual evidence that s...

THE FLY GIRL Ruth Nichols from 2019-01-14T05:05:37

Ruth Rowland Nichols was a pioneer of early aviation, the only woman yet to hold simultaneous world records for speed, altitude, and distance, the first woman to attempt a solo flight across the...

THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 2018 Ursula Bloom from 2018-12-17T07:05:35

Ursula Bloom wrote over 560 books, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most prolific female writer. Born in 1892, Ursula spent her early years in Shropshire,...

THE AERONAUT Sophie Blanchard from 2018-12-03T07:22:45

On land, Sophie Blanchard was a timid, anxious woman who could hardly stand the noise and commotion of 18th century Paris. But after her first flight in a hot-air balloon, she was hooked, and wo...

THE EMPRESS Nur Jahan from 2018-11-19T07:05:34

Nur Jahan was the only Empress in the history of the Mughal Empire. Reigning as an equal with her husband Jahangir, she was the only woman to issue executive orders, mint coins, or lead an army ...

THE AMBULANCE DRIVER Maud Fitch from 2018-11-05T07:05:48

November 11, 2018 is the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I.  To mark this day, we bring you the story of one fearless woman and her ambulance.  Maud Fitch, a cowgirl from the desert be...

WITCHES&MEDIUMS&GHOSTS, OH MY! The Halloween Special from 2018-10-22T12:09:20

Our very first Halloween Special brings back four of our most popular guests with four new stories of hauntings, mysterious deaths, witch hunts, and seances to bring you many spooky returns of t...

THE REVOLUTIONARY Mae Mallory from 2018-10-08T06:05:19

Mae Mallory was a radical civil rights activist, Black Power movement leader, school desegregation organizer and strong proponent of Black armed self-defense. Her passionate dedication to “solvi...

THE TRUE LOVE Dorothy Osborne from 2018-09-24T06:05:37

In this episode, a 17th-century tale of true love and extreme patience. Dorothy Osborne and William Temple fell deeply in love, but her family forbade the match. For years, while Dorothy’s creep...

THE SINGLE LADY Marjorie Hillis from 2018-09-10T06:05:09

Marjorie Hillis’ surprise bestseller Live Alone and Like It was a sensation when it was published in 1936. Determined to shift the narrative around singleness and encourage women to make active ...

THE MARTYRS Perpetua and Felicitas from 2018-08-27T06:05:58

When your heart tells you to do one thing, and your parents tell you to do another, what do you do? 22-year-old Perpetua faced this dilemma 1,800 years ago in ancient Carthage. She faced a grisl...

THE LADY NOVELIST Constance Fenimore Woolson from 2018-08-13T06:05:30

Constance Fenimore Woolson was one of the most popular writers of the 19th century. Her friendship with fellow writer Henry James would last decades, and her life would carry her from the East c...

THE ASTRONOMER Caroline Herschel from 2018-07-30T06:05:01

Hundreds of years ago, Caroline Herschel lived a real-life Cinderella story. Except instead of marrying a handsome prince, she became a world-renowned astronomer! Her brutal childhood was one of...

THE COMPOSER Alma Mahler from 2018-07-16T06:05:48

Alma Schindler Mahler was a brilliant composer, pianist, and “influencer” who has largely been remembered only for the men with whom she had relationships. Her musical compositions are finally b...

THE BAKER Sally Lunn from 2018-07-02T06:05:10

Sally Lunn was born in France, but moved to Bath, England in 1680 to escape religious persecution. She brought with her a special skill: baking delicious brioche-style bread. Developing her own ...

THE JOURNALIST Claudia Jones from 2018-06-18T18:56:46

Claudia Jones (born Claudia Cumberbatch) was a journalist, Black Nationalist and prominent member of the American Communist Party. Emigrating from Trinidad to NYC at eight years old, she was an ...

THE SAXON Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim from 2018-06-04T06:05:37

Living in Saxony 1100 years ago, in a culture much like the Vikings, Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim probably witnessed violence against women all the time. Violence was a part of society, and she ret...

THE FAIR LABOR LAWYER Bessie Margolin from 2018-04-23T06:05:42

Bessie Margolin grew up in the New Orleans Jewish Orphan’s Home, was one of the first women to graduate from Tulane Law School and earned her PhD in Law from Yale University in 1932. Her groundb...

THE MAID OF MONTEREY Maria Ruiz de Burton from 2018-04-16T06:05:12

Maria Ruiz de Burton was a writer, entrepreneur and businesswoman, and the first Mexican-American woman to publish a novel in English. Born in 1832 in Baja California, Mexico to a prominent Span...

THE REVOLUTIONARY ACTRESS Sahib Gizzatullina from 2018-04-09T06:05:45

  A classic story of a young woman defying her parents to follow her heart, but with a fascinating Russian twist! Sahib Gizzatullina lived for the stage, introducing Russian audiences to theater...

THE SISTERS Jane and Anna Maria Porter from 2018-04-02T12:37:15

Sisters Jane and Anna Maria Porter were wildly popular writers–among the most widely-read writers in Regency England. (Yes, more popular than Jane Austen!) Their novels were on every British boo...

THE SAGE Gargi Vachaknavi from 2018-03-26T14:04:16

Are public debates like the feuds we see on Twitter and Facebook a product of modern society? Gargi Vachaknavi has long been remembered in India for her brilliant performance in a public debate ...

THE RADICAL Lola Ridge from 2018-03-19T15:39:19

Rose Emily Ridge was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1973. After spending her childhood in Australia and New Zealand, she fled an abusive husband for California in 1907. Arriving in America, she prom...

THE VISIONARY Hildegard of Bingen from 2018-03-12T12:52:54

Nine hundred years ago, the young Hildegard of Bingen was given by her parents to the Catholic Church. She was literally “walled up” in a tiny convent, completely cut off from the outside world....

THE DISAPPEARING WOMAN Adelaide Herrmann from 2018-03-05T23:00:54

Adelaide Herrmann ruled the stage for fifty years as one the brightest stars of the Golden Age of Magic. After the death of her husband, renowned magician Herrmann the Great, Adelaide took cente...

THE MUSICIAN Mary Lou Williams from 2018-02-05T20:47:03

Mary Lou Williams was one of the most innovative, creative, groundbreaking musicians in the history of jazz. She was a brilliant and prolific composer and uniquely gifted pianist whose influence...

THE PHILOSOPHER Margaret Cavendish from 2018-01-29T13:40:55

Four hundred years ago, Margaret Cavendish dared to contemplate the biggest philosophical questions of her day. Brilliant and bold, she wrote 21 books despite being dismissed or mocked by the al...

THE UNSINKABLE Margaret“Molly”Brown from 2018-01-22T12:05:17

  Margaret Brown (who was renamed Molly after her death by the playwright Meredith Wilson) is often cited as the quintessential American rags-to-riches story. Born to poor Irish immigrants in Mi...

THE PRINCESS Te Puea Herangi from 2018-01-15T17:17:18

Te Puea Herangi was one of the most important and influential Maori leaders of the 20th century. Born into the family of the Maori King, she was a tireless activist for her people. Her work to a...

THE BOOK MISSIONARY Mary Lemist Titcomb from 2018-01-08T14:10:41

Mary Lemist Titcomb was a pioneering librarian at the turn of the 20th century, when public libraries were first appearing in America. Believing strongly in the power of books, especially for ch...

THE SINNER Pearl DeVere from 2018-01-01T14:56:17

    Pearl DeVere was one of the most famous and successful madams in the history of the American West. From a suitably mysterious background, Pearl built a thriving business that became one of t...

THE SAINT Margaret Clitherow from 2018-01-01T14:48:33

    Margaret Clitherow’s life–and death–were shaped by the religious upheavals of the Protestant Reformation in Elizabethan (16th century) England. A devoted Catholic in a time and place where C...

What’sHerName Women’s History Podcast #2 from 2017-12-15T03:36:18

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What’sHerName Women’s History Podcast Trailer #1 from 2017-12-01T23:15:06

What’sHerName Women’s History Podcast launches ONE MONTH FROM TODAY! On January 1st, join us and explore the lives of fascinating women who history has forgotten. Until now!        

The po...