On this day, 23 March 1953, singer, songwriter and former Black Panther Yvette Marie Stevens, better known as Chaka Khan, was born in Chicago.
Her stepmother was a civil rights activist, who encouraged Khan to speak up. By the age of 14 she had joined the revolutionary Black Panther Party. A friend of Chicago Panther leader Fred Hampton, she dropped out of high school, spoke at rallies and worked in the organisation’s free breakfast for children program.
Khan was later given a gun which she held in her room, but she later told Guardian journalist Alexis Petridis: “every moment I had that gun it changed me. I felt physically sick. I threw it away into Botany’s Pond by Chicago University, then I felt better. That finished me with the Panthers.”
Khan went on to considerable success in bands and as a solo artist.
We have numerous books available by and about former Panthers here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/black-panthershttps://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1678870515631425/?type=3
Description: In May of 1882, three kids saw a 30ft black & white snake with legs in Crosswick, Ohio. It then grabbed a boy and dragged him into the woods, until he was saved by hunters. A hunting posse was formed, and destroyed its tree home. The creature had not been seen since.
Can’t believe Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice in the 2000s
And in 2015 Emily Brontë released literary clsssic Wuthering Heights
Thank God someone paved the way for them…
if you think jk was the first woman author, you don’t actually care about women authors.
Mary Shelley didnt fuck on her parents graves for this level of disrespect
Murasaki Shikibu didn’t invent the novel for this.
Christine de Pizan did not sit down at her desk and write The Book of the City of Ladies, advocating for women’s education and finding value in women of all social classes and backgrounds, in 1405 for this.
🎶SHAHARIZADE HAD A THOUSAND TALES🎶
This……….isn’t even true in 20th century fantasy or childrens books? Pierce, Lackey, Applegate, McCaffrey, Bradley, Butler, whomst?
Casual reminder that
a woman was the first known author/poet in 2300BC - Enheduanna
the first novel in recorded history was written by a woman in 1010AD - Murasaki Shikibu
the earliest example of science fiction was written by a woman in 1666 - Margaret Cavendish
horror science fiction was popularised by a teenage girl in 1818 - Mary Shelley
a Scotswoman expanded childrens’ stories from moralising tales into anarchic adventures in the mid 1800s, well before it became popular in the early 20th century - Catherine Sinclair
the masked/costumed hero archetype that inspired Batman and Zorro was created by a woman in 1905 - Baroness Emma Orczy
And while she is problematic as all get out, we all know who is to blame for popularising Boarding School fiction (which is a huge inspiration of She Who Must Not Be Named) from the 1930s onwards - Enid Blyton
And do I even need to mention what a badass pioneer Ursula Le Guin was for women author in the fantasy/sci-fi genre?
Not to mention Agatha Christie is literally second only to Shakespeare in terms of works sold – 4 billion compared to JKR’s paltry 500 million
SAPPHO
Enheduanna didn’t carve her poetry as the first known poet in 23rd century BC for this disrespect
EXCUSE ME BUT URSULA K GODDAM LE GUIN WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SOME FUCKING WORDS WITH YOU!!!!
“Don’t let anything deter you: other people’s misbehavior, your own misperceptions, what people will say, or the feelings of the body that covers you.” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
