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10 Female Revolutionaries ThatYou Probably Didn't Learn About InHistory class (/articles/10-female-revolutionaries-that-you-probably-didnt-learn-about-in-history-class/)

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By Kathleen Harris (/author/kathleen-harris/) / whizzpast.com (http://www.whizzpast.com/10-intriguing-female-revolutionaries-never-history-class/)

We all know male revolutionaries like Che Guevara, but history often tends to glossover the contributions of female revolutionaries that have sacrificed their time, efforts,and lives to work towards burgeoning systems and ideologies. Despite misconceptions,there are tons of women that have participated in revolutions throughout history, withmany of them playing crucial roles. They may come from different points on the politicalspectrum, with some armed with weapons and some armed with nothing but a pen, butall fought hard for something that they believed in.

Let’s take a look at 10 of these female revolutionaries from all over the world that youprobably won’t ever see plastered across a college student’s T-shirt.

Nadezhda Krupskaya

Many people know Nadezhda Krupskaya simply as Vladimir Lenin’s wife, butNadezhda was a Bolshevik revolutionary and politician in her own right. She washeavily involved in a variety of political activities, including serving as the Soviet Union’sDeputy Minister of Education from 1929 until her death in 1939, and a number ofeducational pursuits. Prior to the revolution, she served as secretary of the Iskra group,managing continent-wide correspondence, much of which had to be decoded. After therevolution, she dedicated her life to improving education opportunities for workers andpeasants, for example by striving to make libraries available to everyone.

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Constance Markievicz

Constance Markievicz (née Gore-Booth) was an Anglo-Irish Countess, Sinn Féin andFianna Fáil politician, revolutionary nationalist, suffragette and socialist. Sheparticipated in many Irish independence efforts, including the Easter Rising of 1916, inwhich she had a leadership role. During the Rising, she wounded a British sniperbefore being forced to retreat and surrender. After, she was the only woman out of 70 tobe put into solitary confinement. She was sentenced to death, but was pardoned basedon her gender. Interestingly, the prosecuting counsel claimed that she begged “I amonly a woman, you cannot shoot a woman”, while court records show she said “I dowish your lot had the decency to shoot me”. Constance was one of the first women inthe world to hold a cabinet position (Minister for Labour of the Irish Republic, 1919–1922), and she was also the first woman elected to the British House of Commons(December 1918)—a position which she rejected due to the Sinn Féin abstentionistpolicy.

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Petra Herrera

During the Mexican Revolution, female soldiers known as soldaderaswent into combatalong with the men although they often faced abuse. One of the most well-known ofthe soldaderas was Petra Herrera, who disguised her gender and went by the name“Pedro Herrera”. As Pedro, she established her reputation by demonstrating exemplaryleadership (and blowing up bridges) and was able to reveal her gender in time. Sheparticipated in the second battle of Torreón on May 30, 1914 along with about 400 otherwomen, even being named by some as being deserving of full credit for the battle.Unfortunately, Pancho Villa was likely unwilling to give credit to a woman and did notpromote her to General. In response, Petra left Villa’s forces and formed her own all-woman brigade.

Nwanyeruwa

Nwanyeruwa, an Igbo woman in Nigeria, sparked a short war that is often called thefirst major challenge to British authority in West Africa during the colonial period. OnNovember 18, 1929, an argument between Nwanyeruwa and a census man namedMark Emereuwa broke out after he told her to “count her goats, sheep and people.”Understanding this to mean she would be taxed (traditionally, women were not chargedtaxes), she discussed the situation with the other women and protests, deemed theWomen’s War, began to occur over the course of two months. About 25,000 women allover the region were involved, protesting both the looming tax changes and the

unrestricted power of the Warrant Chiefs. In the end, women’s position were greatlyimproved, with the British dropping their tax plans, as well as the forced resignation ofmany Warrant Chiefs.

Lakshmi Sehgal

Lakshmi Sahgal, colloquially known as “Captain Lakshmi”, was a revolutionary of theIndian independence movement, an officer of the Indian National Army, and later, theMinister of Women’s Affairs in the Azad Hind government. In the 40s, she commandedthe Rani of Jhansi Regiment, an all-women regiment that aimed to overthrow BritishRaj in colonial India. The regiment was one of the very few all-female combat regimentsof WWII on any side, and was named after another renowned female revolutionary inIndian history, Rani Lakshmibai, who was one of the leading figures of the IndianRebellion of 1857.

Sophie Scholl

German revolutionary Sophie Scholl was a founding member of the non-violent anti-Nazi resistance group The White Rose, which advocated for active resistance toHitler’s regime through an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign. In February of1943, she and other members were arrested for handing out leaflets at the University of

Munich and sentenced to death by guillotine. Copies of the leaflet, retitled TheManifesto of the Students of Munich, were smuggled out of the country and millionswere air-dropped over Germany by Allied forces later that year.

Blanca Canales

Blanca Canales was a Puerto Rican Nationalist who helped organize the Daughters ofFreedom, the women’s branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was one ofthe few women in history to have led a revolt against the United States, known as theJayuya Uprising. In 1948, a severely restricting bill known as the Gag Bill, or Law 53,was introduced that made it a crime to print, publish, sell, or exhibit any materialintended to paralyze or destroy the insular government. In response, the Nationalistsstarting planning armed revolution. On October 30, 1950, Blanca and others took uparms which she had stored in her home and marched into the town of Jayuya, takingover the police station, burning down the post office, cutting the telephone wires, andraising the Puerto Rican flag in defiance of the Gag Law. As a result, the US Presidentdeclared martial law and ordered Army and Air Force attacks on the town. TheNationalists held on for awhile, but were arrested and sentenced to life in prison after 3days. Much of Jayuya was destroyed, and the incident was not fairly covered by USmedia, with the US President even saying it was “an incident between Puerto Ricans.”

Celia Sanchez

Most people know Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, but fewer people have heard ofCelia Sanchez, the woman at the heart of the Cuban Revolution who has even beenrumored to be the main decision-maker. After the March 10, 1952 coup, Celia joinedthe struggle against the Batista government. She was a founder of the 26th of JulyMovement, leader of combat squads throughout the revolution, controlled groupresources, and even made the arrangements for theGranma landing, which transported82 fighters from Mexico to Cuba in order to overthrow Batista. After the revolution, Celiaremained with Castro until her death.

Kathleen Neal Cleaver

Kathleen Neal Cleaver was a member of the Black Panther Party and the first femalemember of the Party’s decision-making body. She served as spokesperson and presssecretary and organized the national campaign to free the Party’s minister of defense,Huey Newton, who had been jailed. She and other women, such as Angela Davis,made up around 2/3 of the Party at one point, despite the notion that the BPP wasoverwhelmingly masculine.

Asmaa Mahfouz

Asmaa Mahfouz is a modern-day revolutionary who is credited with sparking theJanuary 2011 uprising in Egypt through a video blog post encouraging others to join herin protest in Tahrir Square. She is considered one of the leaders of the EgyptianRevolution and is a prominent member of Egypt’s Coalition of the Youth of theRevolution.

Added Sep 5th, 2014 by Andrew Butler (/andrewbutler/)

374,234 views

These 10 women are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to female revolutionaries.Let us know in the comments who we’ve left out and what you think about the actionsof those included on our list!

If you enjoyed this, read more at whizzpast.com >> (http://www.whizzpast.com)

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