Victoria Van Orden Martínez

A Bit of History • 5th April 2024

A History of Messy, Chaotic Stories

For my Ph.D. dissertation in history (defended January 2024), I wrote about how people whose stories are too messy for some historians documented stories that most people refuse to hear because they are too chaotic. Surprisingly, it is a history of stories many of us can relate to.

A Bit of History blog • 17th February 2024

Helen Keller on Fake News and Social Blindness

Helen Keller is not only an essential historical figure, but she is also still highly relevant today. The previously untold story of how, more than a century ago, “fake news” was deployed to discredit Keller and distract from her eloquent and persuasive support of Socialism, speaks as much about the present as the past.

A Bit of History • 10th August 2023

The Slow Death of the “Princess Qajar” Meme and How to (Maybe) Kill It Once and for All

While many, if not most, memes are harmless fun, others foster misogynistic stereotypes, willfully distort and obscure history, and spark abusive behavior on social media. Six years ago, I came across one of these and decided to uncover the real history behind the photo, never expecting the effect it would have.

A Bit of History • 25th March 2019

The Mother of the Green Book Ignored by History

While the Green Book has become something of a buzzword lately thanks to Hollywood, the “mother” of the essential guide for African Americans navigating Jim Crow America has been overlooked and all but lost to history.

A Bit of History • 3rd February 2019

The New Tropes of Women’s History are as Damaging as the Old

When writers broadly categorize and “market” women in history using terms like rebels, bad-asses, shady ladies, rejected princesses, etc., they are – unconsciously or otherwise – perpetuating the tradition of distorting women and their role in history.

A Bit of History • 21st December 2018

Christmas, Written by Women

From a former slave to two Nobel laureates, a selection of women writers in modern history and their often-overlooked narratives of Christmas.

A Bit of History • 7th November 2018

Faces of Diversity in American First-Wave Feminism

Six little-known women from around the world – starting with a Russian-Jewish immigrant and ending with a French former chambermaid – who contributed to first-wave feminism in the United States.

A Bit of History • 15th October 2018

When the Cult of Celebrity Devours Meaningful History

Katharine Houghton Hepburn helped American women secure the vote and reproductive freedom. Her daughter was a four-time Oscar winner. Chances are, you know about the actress, but not the activist.

A Bit of History • 27th September 2018

LaGuardia’s Sister, Eichmann’s Prisoner, Ravensbrück’s “Mother”

A major New York City airport is named in honor of her brother, but Gemma La Guardia Gluck’s story of surviving Ravensbrück concentration camp as the political prisoner of Adolf Eichmann unjustly exists in the shadows of history.

A Bit of History • 17th August 2018

H.G. Wells’ Feminism and the Women Who Deconstructed It

English author H.G. Wells envisioned a future of alien invasion and time travel. He dabbled in dystopian nightmares and conjured up mad scientists and invisible men. And, to the disgust of two of his feminist lovers, he imagined a utopia where “women are to be as free as men.”

A Bit of History • 21st June 2018

Marauchie Van Orden: Soldier of the American Revolution

Women played significant and important roles in the American Revolution. Many broke traditional gender roles and suffered as much as the men they served beside. Marauchie Van Orden’s bravery at the Battles of Saratoga in 1777 earned her the rank of soldier and the respect of George Washington.

A Bit of History • 21st May 2018

The Unusual Union That Led to the World’s First Feminist Government

Sweden’s history provides insight into how it has quietly established itself as one of the most gender equal countries in the world, while the United States continues to loudly squabble over legislation guaranteeing equal legal rights regardless of gender.

A Bit of History • 16th April 2018

Forget About Jack, You Don’t Know Matilda (but you should)

Matilda Joslyn Gage, who wrote about how cumulative advantage (a principle not named until a century later) erased women and their achievements from history, was herself erased from history because of cumulative advantage. The reason why You Don’t Know Matilda involves the Bible and science.

A Bit of History • 8th March 2018

On International Women’s Day, Women in History Who Pressed for Progress

As the World Economic Forum suggests gender parity is 200 years away, a look at how researching and writing about women from the past 600 years give me purpose and motivation, and constantly remind me that another 200 years is far too long.

A Bit of History • 26th February 2018

Define Her as Scandalous to Obscure Her Substance

What the treatment of two of history’s original “nasty women,” Mary Hays and Mary Darby Robinson, can tell us about how society has long consigned outspoken women to infamy or obliteration. (Second in series)

A Bit of History • 12th February 2018

Condemn Her Actions to Silence Her Words

How the dangerously powerful words of two of history’s original “nasty women,” Olympe de Gouges and Mary Wollstonecraft, were silenced, suppressed, and nearly lost to history. (First in series)

A Bit of History • 25th January 2018

A President’s Son-in-Law, Nepotism and Treason

When the son-in-law of POTUS 2 John Adams used the valuable government position he had gained through nepotism to help a Venezuelan friend start a revolution against Spain, he threatened a precarious peace between America and Spain, and endangered the lives of unsuspecting American citizens. Two centuries later, it’s a salient reminder of how nepotism and politics can be a disastrous combination.

A Bit of History • 8th January 2018

The Surprising 17th Century Origins of Radical Feminism

Almost 350 years after it was written, the feminist philosophy of François Poullain de la Barre still resonates on subjects like gender, prejudice, intersectionality, and the role of men in women’s fight for equality.

A Bit of History • 12th December 2017

“Princess Qajar” and the Problem with Junk History Memes

Junk history is embodied perfectly in a recent viral meme that portrays a nineteenth-century Persian princess with facial hair alongside the claim that 13 men killed themselves over their unrequited love for her. While it fails miserably at historical accuracy, the meme succeeds at demonstrating how easily viral clickbait obscures and overshadows rich and meaningful stories from the past.

A Bit of History • 27th November 2017

Gilded Age New York’s “King of Diamonds”

In an episode that predated the Watergate break-in by 100 years, thieves broke into the New York City Comptroller’s office on September 10, 1871, and stole records that threatened to end the corrupt reign of Boss Tweed over the Tammany Hall political machine. Fittingly, the thieves used a symbol of the Tweed Ring – a diamond – to cut a hole in the glass office door. This is the story of Boss Tweed and the diamonds of Tammany Hall.

A Bit of History • 13th November 2017

The Scandinavian Salvation of Mary Wollstonecraft

In 1795, English writer Mary Wollstonecraft, internationally known for her defense of women’s rights, went on a journey to Scandinavia that helped her pull herself from the depths of despair and produce one of her finest works.

A Bit of History • 24th October 2017

Countess Emilia Plater and the Perpetual Anomaly of the Woman Warrior

Joan of Arc, Countess Emilia Plater, Wonder Woman: Singular women placed on a pedestal, carefully arranged and served on a silver platter of inimitable exceptionalism, meant to be admired for their sacrifice, but not duplicated. These are the flawed foundations of the stories of “heroic” women that have helped insure that the concept of the women warrior remains an anomaly more akin to a fictional superhero than an accepted reality.

A Bit of History • 9th October 2017

A Beacon in Historical Darkness: The Medal Worn on the Grave

Tucked away in the church cemetery of a southern Swedish village is the gravestone of a civil servant who died in 1902. It would go unnoticed as the average grave of an ordinary man were it not for one remarkable feature: the shining silver medal embedded and encased in glass within the gravestone. All but forgotten and facing the scrap heap, the gravestone symbolizes the overlooked beauty and value of everyday history.

A Bit of History • 27th September 2017

Beyond Inspiring: History’s Female PhD Pioneers

While the stories of history’s first female doctors of philosophy are inspiring, they also highlight the galling realities of women’s centuries-long struggle to obtain equal educational opportunities and professional and intellectual respect. Seen as a whole, they have the power to light a fire beneath armchair inspiration and provoke similarly bold and progressive action.