Knoxville - Events Feed

Frida Kahlo's borthday

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:50:16 -0400

Start: 07/06/2008 - 05:00

End: 07/06/2008 - 05:59

“I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” Artist Frida Kahlo was born on this day in 1907.

Artemisia Gentileschi's borthday

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:51:06 -0400

Start: 07/08/2008 - 05:00

End: 07/08/2008 - 05:59

Today is the 415th birthday of Artemisia Gentileschi, an Early Italian Baroque painter, who is now considered to be one of the most talented painters (besides Caravaggio) of the era. She was the first female painter to become a member of the Academy of Art and Design in Florence, and one of the first females to paint religious and historical themes in a time when these things were considered beyond a woman’s reach.

Ann Radcliffe's borthday

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:52:12 -0400

Start: 07/09/2008 - 05:00

End: 07/09/2008 - 05:59

Author Ann Radcliffe was born today in 1764. Considered the pioneer of the gothic novel, her stories of heroic young girls exploring mysterious and dangerous locales became very popular and influenced the work of writers like Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott. Read Austen’s Northanger Abbey for examples of imitation and parody of her work.

Aphra Behn's borthday

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:54:49 -0400

Start: 07/10/2008 - 05:00

End: 07/10/2008 - 05:59

Aphra Behn was born on this day in 1640. She was one of the first women to earn a living as a writer. Behn’s work was revolutionary, discussing race and female sexuality—something not touched upon by the predatory Libertine male writers of her time. Virginia Woolfe said of her, “All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn...for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”

Simone Veil's borthday

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:56:40 -0400

Start: 07/13/2008 - 05:00

End: 07/13/2008 - 05:59

Simone Veil, France’s former Minister of Health, was born on this day in 1927. Veil was a Holocaust survivor (she, her mother and sister were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau) who went on to build a good life and political career, despite losing her father, brother and mother during the Holocaust. She pushed the notable laws of making access to contraceptives easier (1974) and legalizing abortion (1975) and went on to become President of the European Parliament (1979-1982) and still continues to be socially and politically active.

Maggie L. Walker's birthday

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:59:20 -0400

Start: 07/15/2008 - 05:00

End: 07/15/2008 - 05:59

Maggie L. Walker, the first female founder/president of a bank in the US, was born on this day in 1887 to a former slave and an abolitionist. She worked her entire life trying to make life better for African Americans and women—the founding of her bank was due to her idea that people should pool their money together to help each other. Her bank, St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, still exists today as the Consolidated Bank and Trust Company in Richmond, VA.

Ida B. Wells' birthday

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:00:22 -0400

Start: 07/16/2008 - 05:00

End: 07/16/2008 - 05:59

On this day in 1862 Ida B. Wells was born. Wells fought for equality of women and African Americans—especially the equality of African American women in the suffragist movement. 71 years before Rosa Parks, Wells refused to give up her seat on a train, and when they made her move, she sued the railway company. She won her case in the local court but lost when the railroad took it to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Her refusal to stand in the back of suffragist parades garnered her more media attention for her causes.

Seneca Falls Convention anniversary

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:01:21 -0400

Start: 07/19/2008 - 05:00

End: 07/19/2008 - 05:59

Today is the 160th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention—the first women’s rights convention in the United States.

Amelia Earhart Day

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:02:12 -0400

Start: 07/24/2008 - 05:00

End: 07/24/2008 - 05:59

Amelia Earhart Day honors the birthday of the woman who took aviation and feminism to new heights.