05-28 TABLE of CONTENTS: Prominent Women from Mongolia DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS QUOTE by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Prominent Women from Mongolia "Unfortunately, exact dates are few and far between, and often not even correct, (Asian herstory being sadly under reported in the wester world), but here are a few prominent women from Mongolia's past:       "Chagur: A Kereit Turk, wife of Chinggis Qan's oldest son, Jochi. Mother of the founder of the Golden Horde, Batu. Along with her sister, Sorqaqtani (wife of Chinggis Khan's youngest son, Tolui) she manipulated Mongol politics for thirty years. These two women are generally considered responsible for the death of at least two Mongol leaders, Guyuk Qan (1248) and Tolui (1232), by poison. The second was actually an attempt to poison the reigning Qan, Ogodei. Sorqaqtani was the mother of one of the most famous Mongol Qans, Qubilai.       "Torogene: Regent over the Mongol Empire after the death of her husband, Ogodei Qan (1242). She was responsible for all political decisions, the succession itself, and the state funeral of Ogodei Qan, according to contemporary Mongol tradition. Manipulated the succession in favor of her son, Guyuk.       "Ogal Gaimish: Regent over the Mongol Empire after the death of her husband, Guyuk Qan (1248). Managed to rule the Mongols for approximately two years until she was overthrown by Mongke (1250/1). In addition to being regent, she was considered an extremely powerful shaman."             -- Information sent WOAH by L. I. Rapkin while he was studying for his masters degree in Mongolian history and religion at the Indiana University Department of Central Eurasian Studies. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | 05-28 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS B. 05-28-1855, Abby Leach, U.S. teacher whose profound knowledge of Greek impressed Harvard professors enough to open their doors a crack in 1879 for women through what they called the Harvard Annex. It would become Radcliffe College. B. 05-28-1858, Lizzie Black Kander - U.S. philanthropist. Thousands of immigrants and poor in the Milwaukee area received a help because of this remarkable woman.       Starting with organizations that distributed food and clothing to needy immigrants, she helped form and headed the city's first settlement house (1900-1918).       As a 1901 fund-raiser, she supervised the printing of a cookbook. She expanded it and used the profits for charity. Still in print many years after Lizzie's death in 1940, The Settlement Cook Book, Treasured Recipes of Seven Decades, sold more than a million copies in 23 editions. B. 05-28-1876, Katharine Blunt, fourth president (1930-1946) of the prestigious Connecticut College. KB was the first woman in her family to attend college.       She was a major force in establishing home economics as a discipline and was full professor and chair of the board of the University of Chicago's department of home economics. Her professional research was in nutrition with particular emphasis on metabolism in various forms.       She emphasized the need for college women to become leaders in public service and political life. B. 05-28-1934 - Five identical girls are born to Oliva Dionne in a small, rural area of Ontario, Canada. The children would become a world-wide rage.       All five survived into adulthood, Cecile, Annette, Yvonne, Emilie and Marie.       Their father, Elzire, signed to have them exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair only hours after they were born without permission from their mother. The Ontario provincial government intervened on behest of the doctor who delivered them. The government took custody of the children in what has been described more as a political move than a humanitarian one, and yet, at the time, it was a popular decision because of the family's poverty and the father's willingness to exploit the children in unsafe ways.       The doctor became a wealthy man acting as their caretaker as he, as the government's representative, housed them in a modern home (across the road from the Dionne home) and showed them to the public from the porch. He and the government used their names and celebrity status in various ways to make millions. Hardly anyone around these children acted in their interest.       It took until 1997 for the surviving sisters to win monetary awards from the Canadian government for its exploitation of them. Their mother was not allowed any more intimacy with them than a tourist and she had no legal rights to claim them under the church dominated laws of the time in that area. Event: 05-28-1939: Helen Hadassah Levinthal, becomes the first Jewish woman to receive a degree from a Jewish college of theology. She received a Master of Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Institute of Religion. | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE | QUOTES DU JOUR STANTON, ELIZABETH CADY:      "The more complete the despotism, the more smoothly all things move on the surface."             -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton | PRIOR DATE |        | HOME |       | WOA INDEX |       | NEXT DATE |   | RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE |