Uncovering

Recently I wrapped up a two-month-long collection in my Design Practices class. We had chosen a topic at the beginning of the semester and oriented all our projects around it. The projects included a flip book and a final container for the collection.

To begin, our professor had us brainstorm for two topics by collecting ten items for each. The items could include physical objects, text, or photographs. I chose the topics: incredible women and the cultural influence of rock and roll. I gravitated toward the first topic because of my passion for feminism and the increased representation of women. While growing up I noticed that oftentimes women’s accomplishments are undermined, underrepresented, and under taught. I felt curious about the second topic due to my love for music and interest in its global impact. I find music as an ignitor for the human spirit and a connector among humans across the globe. People find comfort, connection, and passion from music. Music can push forward political agendas or symbolize experiences and emotions.

While I found an interest in both, I found my heart in the first topic, uncovering the stories of incredible women. I felt as if the topic of music’s impact has been widely discussed while these women’s stories still go unheard. If I felt passionate about uncovering them, then I should!

The Advanced Humanities Research class I took during my Senior year of high school helped further spark my passion for this topic. For the class, each student chose an individual topic they would research and write a paper about. I researched and wrote about the causes of mass incarceration in The United States. One of my classmates chose the “great men” who influenced and created The United States government. The classmate who chose this topic identified as a liberal white straight man who identified himself as a feminist. While his topic wasn’t outright sexist, I felt as if it promoted a patriarchal agenda. While there is nothing wrong with researching influential historical male figures, he had failed to add a component noting the role any women played or the problematic nature of only “great men” having influenced and created The United States government. When I asked him about that, he seemed blind to how his topic perpetuated the patriarchy and failed to acknowledge its flaws. This topic, along with books and curriculums congested with the detailed histories of “great men” but failing to mention important, influential women, deepened my drive to uncover and share these women’s stories.

After selecting our final topics, we had to collect 300 items revolving around it. In doing so I discovered a variety of interesting women I had never heard of before. Including Martha Gellhorn, Trotula of Salerno, and Chien-Shiung Wu. Gellhorn was a war correspondent whose work contributed to world history. Her work includes photographs, articles, and novels. She reported from all over the world and covered wars such as the Arab-Israeli War, the Vietnam War, and the Invasion of Panama. While she has certainly been recognized and celebrated, her story and name still go unknown to many and is often overshadowed by her association with Ernest Hemingway. Despite her impressive career, some articles claimed that her fame was earned due to her short-lived marriage to Ernest Hemingway. Even articles that revolved around her accomplishments still focused on their relationship and included his name in the title. For instance, one was titled, “The Extraordinary Life of Martha Gellhorn, the Woman Ernest Hemingway Tried to Erase.” While Hemingway is a part of her story, it's just another example of a woman being identified by the men they are with or not with, which in the end distracts from their accomplishments and individuality.

Trotula of Salerno and Chien-Shiung Wu are both examples of women whose credit has been taken by men. Trotula of Salerno was an Italian doctor in the eleventh century who wrote specifically about women’s health. She is known to be the world’s first gynecologist. Trotula’s work influenced women’s health for centuries and her writings are known to be the building blocks of women's health. She wrote Trotula Major on Gynecology, the only book at the time written to educate male doctors about female health. The book included information about topics such as menstruation and childbirth. However, her authorship and existence have been doubted by historians and medical professionals. Many have been skeptical that a woman could’ve produced such important accurate findings. Many believed a man wrote these findings and male physicians began to put their names over her work.

Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese American physicist known for her significant scientific contributions and her work on the Manhattan project. Some of her contributions include helping develop the process for separating uranium metals into U-234 and U-238 and making the first confirmation of Enrico Fermi’s theory of beta decay. After her success in confirming the theory, Wu helped theoretical physicists Tsung Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang prove their theory that the law of conservation of parity doesn’t hold true during beta decay. Through her experiments, she proved that identical nuclear particles do not always act the same. This discovery led to Lee and Yang receiving the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics, but Wu received no credit. While Wu won awards and honors throughout her life, she never received the credit she deserved.

Gellhorn, Trotula, and Wu are just three examples of incredible women I discovered during my research. There are countless other women whose stories go untold.

After we finalized our 300-item collection, we had to create a flip book representing our topics. With an overwhelming amount of women to focus on, I decided to narrow my focus to women, such as Trotula and Wu, whose credit has been taken by men. With my flip book, I wanted to emphasize how these women’s stories have been hidden but now are being uncovered and brought to light. I did so by creating a collage of the women and slowly fading out their images with each flip of the book. Eventually the page went blank and no images remained, showing how their accomplishments had been erased. Then as you kept flipping their names appeared one by one until they all filled the page, representing their stories being uncovered. I titled it “Uncover.”

Cover of my flip book: "Uncover."

To wrap up our projects, we had to create a final container representing our collection’s overarching statement. Mine was: My underlying themes revolve around bringing to light the unheard accomplishments and achievements of women around the world. I was drawn to this subject because I’ve always cared about social issues such as gender inequality. I believe educating people on history is an essential way to combat inequality. Therefore, through my project, I want to educate people on these women’s stories and show how women have been historically doubted and stripped of their accomplishments because of their gender.

To showcase this in a final container I created a ballot envelope with a ballot booklet inside. Each page of the booklet highlighted a different woman who has been stripped of her accomplishments. On the page, I shared her name, her image, and her story.

I decided to use a voting ballot because I wanted to use a nontypical container that emphasized my topic. Women weren’t able to vote in The United States until 1920 and black women's right to vote wasn't secured until 1965. Before then, their voices had been suppressed similarly to how these women's stories have been. Now women have the right to vote and more attention is being brought to their accomplishments. The ballots represent hope for change and giving women a voice. I titled this project, “Voting for Representation.”

Image of my final project: "Voting for Representation."

Through this collection, I learned a variety of stories about incredible women from around the world and across generations. Despite all odds, women have still achieved remarkable things and have pushed through barriers. I hope hearing about these women reminds women that they are capable and inspires all to share these stories. The fight against injustice never ends and we must never stop. We must keep uncovering the truth, speaking up, and working towards justice one step at a time.