Radical Women Tote Bags
Ongoing Hand-Painted Bags of Unapologetic Radical Women.
"I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I always knew the woman I wanted to be."
~ Diane Von Furstenberg ~
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| Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval 1917 – 1967. Chilean composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist, and visual artist. Her reinvention of Chilean folk music extended beyond Chile, influencing folk music throughout Latin America. As a visual artist, Violeta was the first Latin American artist to have a solo show at Louvre Musée in April 1964. She exhibited her arpilleras, oil paintings, embroideries, and wire sculptures. The following year, in 1965, the publisher François Maspero, Paris, published her book Poésie Populaire des Andes. In Geneva, Swiss television aired a documentary about her work," Violeta Parra, Chilean Embroiderer." However, her work as a visual artist was not fully appreciated and known in her country until many decades later, when in 2000, her embroideries were exhibited in the Museum of Bellas Artes, Chile.
"Don't cry when the sun is gone because the tears won't let you see the stars."
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| In 1939, Billie Holiday sang a song on a New York City stage. It turned out that that night and that song would change her life forever. The song was 'Strange Fruit, a cry of sorrow against lynching by imagining black bodies hanging from trees. The government wasted no time, and soon after, Billie started to experience retaliation, specifically, from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics led by Harry Anslinger, a radical white supremacist, even for those times. Harry knew Billie used heroin, so he ordered a raid of Billie's home. Once the federal agents arrived at her home, she told them, "You don't have to do that. I'll strip. All I want to say is— will you search for me and let me go? All that policewoman is going to do is look up my pussy." Then, she took her clothes off and pissed in front of them. Her husband, manager, and sometimes pimp beat her up so badly that they had to tape up her ribs before going onstage. Finally, one day, she told him to get lost. "I'm going to do her up so goddam bad she going to remember as long as she lives.", said her ex and then traveled to D.C. to see Harry plan his revenge. The trial read, "The United States of America versus Billie Holiday,'" and in her memoir, she wrote, "and that's just the way it felt." She asked for treatment instead of prison to get off the drugs. "Please, I want the cure," she said to the judge. She spent one year at the West Virginia prison, and during her time behind bars, she did not sing. Once she was released, she lost her cabaret performer's license because her performance could attempt against the public's morals, resulting in being forbidden from singing anywhere alcohol was served, including all the jazz clubs in the country. To finish her off, Harry enlisted his most brutal agent, who famously said after he got the "job" done, "She flaunted her way of living, with her fancy coats and fancy automobiles and her jewelry and gowns. She was the big lady wherever she went." Unlike all the other singers of the time, Billie Holiday refused to stop singing "Strange Fruit" despite the retaliation. By the time Billie was forty-four years old, she suddenly collapsed in her apartment. She was taken to the hospital, and Harry made his final move; he arrested her in her hospital bed. She had some serious medical issues, but as she began to recover, someone ordered her to stop the methadone, so she began to deteriorate. Billie told a friend: "They're going to kill me. They're going to kill me in there. Don't let them." Meanwhile, protesters gathered outside the hospital with signs reading "Let Lady Live." So she died on that hospital bed with police officers at the door and fifteen fifty-dollar bills strapped to her leg to give to the nurses caring for her. It was all she had left. |
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| Anita Faye Hill, 1956. North American attorney and academic, university professor of social policy, law, and women's studies. In 1991, Anita endured retaliation on her character and credibility after she came forward with allegations of sexual harassment by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. |
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| Comandante Ramona, 1959 –2006). Tzotzil Indigenous woman, a Zapatista activist in Chiapas, Mexico. Comandanta Ramona was part of the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation), a revolutionary indigenous organization. Finally, in 1994, the Zapatistas had enough and organized a rebellion that stunned Mexico, gaining support from people worldwide. She was one of seven female commanders, but Comandanta Ramona is one the best-known female Zapatistas. Even after her death, she represents indigenous and impoverished women's relentless struggle for equality and dignity. She collaborated in writing the Revolutionary Women's Law, which included reproductive health facilities, access to technology and education, small business support, independent decision-making, and not being physically, mentally, and emotionally abused. Comandanta Ramona is one the most iconic indigenous women of our time, who, with unapologetic force, voiced the struggles of indigenous women living in a male-dominated globalized world, which threatens indigenous people's autonomy.
"Our hope is that one day our situation will change, that we women will be treated with respect, justice, and democracy."
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Zora Neale Hurston, 1891-1960. Novelist and folklorist. In 1925, she became one of Harlem's literary renaissance leaders. She was awarded a Fellowship to travel to Haiti and conduct research on conjure in 1937. Hurston could not sell her fiction, but in 1954, she was assigned by the Pittsburgh Courier to cover the murder trial of Ruby McCollum, the prosperous black wife of the local lottery racketeer. The latter had killed a racist white doctor. Before writing novels, Zora trained as a cultural anthropologist and returned to her hometown Eatonville, Florida, to interview people of African descent and document their heritage. This collection of folklore called" Mules and Men" was never published until 2009. "I love myself when I am laughing. . . and then again when I am looking mean and impressive." |
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| Angela Davis, 1944. Political activist, author, and academic. She was the leader of the Community Party USA during the 1960s. She was also highly involved with the Black Panthers during the civil rights movement. In 1970 she was prosecuted for conspiracy to murder but later acquitted of this charge. That same year, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover listed Davis on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List.
"Freedom is a constant struggle."
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| Camille Claudel, 1864 – 1943. French sculptor and graphic artist. She was the elder sister of the poet and diplomat Paul Claudel. After her father died, who was the one in the family who supported her career, her brother ultimately decided to leave her confined to an asylum to avoid the embarrassment of Camille's career choice and her behavior after the stormy love affair with the sculptor Auguste Rodin. As a result, she spent almost 30 years in a mental institution and was never allowed to sculpt again. Her brother never visited, and she remains buried in a communal grave at the asylum where she died.
""I claim freedom with great cries."
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Maya Angelou, 1928–2014. She is of the most important contemporary poet and writers. In addition, she succeeded in theatre, acting, writing novels and. Maya also actively participated in the Civil Rights movement. Despite her turbulent childhood, she was able to rise and write about her life experiences with deep feelings, which is reflected in her book "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings "(1969). This book made her one of the first African-American women to reach the bestsellers list, and it was also nominated for the National Book Award. Her grace and impactful writings showed us that "The honorary duty of a human being is to love."
"I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being."
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| Simone De Beauvoir, 1908 - 1986. French writer, intellectual, political activist, existentialist philosopher, social theorist, and feminist. She had a critical influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory. In fact, she is considered the precursor of the second wave of feminism with her book "The Second Sex." Despite all her professional achievements, Simone once stated that her relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre was her most outstanding achievement.
"I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom."
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| Adeline Virginia Woolf, 1882 – 1941. She is considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century and a pioneer in the use of consciousness as a narrative voice. She was born in the U.K. into an affluent and blended household, including his sister, modernist painter Vanessa Bell. At that time, the boys in the family were sent to the university. Meanwhile, the girls were home-schooled in classic literature. From 1897–1901 she attended the Ladies' Department of Kings College London. She studied classics and history and learned about the "New Woman" and the women's rights movement there. Encouraged by her father, Virginia began writing professionally in 1900. On March 28, 1941, Woolf drowned herself by filling her overcoat pockets with stones and walking into the River Ouse near her home. Her body was not found until April 18. Her husband buried her cremated remains beneath an elm tree in the garden of Monk's House.
"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman."
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Edith Piaf, 1915 — 1963, France. Singer and actress whose songs reflected the tragedies of her own burdensome Life. Her mother, a frustrated singer, abandoned her at birth, and she was raised by her grandmother in a brothel. Late in Life, she accompanied her father, a circus acrobat, while he performed. She began to sing in the streets of Paris and associate with petty criminals. In 1932, Édith gave birth to a daughter, but she died two years later from meningitis. In 1935, she was discovered by a cabaret owner, who gave her her first nightclub job. He gave her the mane of "la môme Piaf (little sparrow), referring to her diminutive size. She fell in love with the middleweight boxer Marcel Cerdan, who died in a plane crash on his way to meet her. All the unfortunate events of her life were expressed through the dramatic style of her voice, which moved audiences with her passionate interpretations, even those who didn't speak French. In her later life, Edith had several serious car accidents that affected her health, but also due to alcohol and drug abuse. In January 1962, Edith met then 26 years old Théophanis Lamboukas. He became her second husband, and the duo will perform her last big hit, 'A quoi ça sert l'amour?'. She died at the age of 47 from liver cancer. Her death was mourned across France, and thousands lined the funeral procession route.
"I want to make people cry even when they don't understand my words." |
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Audre Lorde, 1934 – 1992. American writer, poet, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist. Her poetry is best known for its emotional expression, including deep sentiments about civil and social injustices and her exploration of black female identity.
"I am deliberate and afraid of nothing." |
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1933. Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Before she was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993, she was an accomplished attorney. She won 5 of six Supreme Court cases related to gender inequality. However, when she graduated from law school in 1959, no law firm hired her in New York City, forcing her to become a law professor. One of the classes she taught was gender inequality and the law. RGB is the second female confirmed to the court and one of four female justices to be established. Before justice Sotomayor joined the court, she was the only female justice on the Supreme Court. During that time, she became notable for her dissents, which have become part of-of pop culture. RGB has become a feminist icon in the legal fight for women's rights. "You can't have it all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all over my lifespan, but in a given period, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it."
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Julia de Burgos, 1914 – 1953. Puerto Rican poet and civil rights activist for women and Afro-Caribbean writers, who served as Secretary-General of the Daughters of Freedom, the women's branch of the Nationalist Party. In the early 1930s, Julia was already an accomplished and acclaimed writer, traveling around the island on book tours and giving readings. Her poems were inspired by her deep sense of nationalism and social struggle; but, most notably, by her anti-imperialist and anti-colonial feminist ideas. She participated actively in both movements. In January 1940, she left the island with no plans to return; "I want to be universal," she wrote. After living in Cuba for a couple of years, she arrived in New York City, where Julia struggled to earn a living as a writer due to racial, ethnic, and linguistic discrimination. On July 6, 1953, two police officers found her unconscious on a sidewalk in the Spanish Harlem section of Manhattan. Julia later died of pneumonia at a hospital at the age of 39. Since no one claimed her body and had no identification, the city gave her pauper's burial. Once her family could locate her body, Julia was brought back to her motherland and given a hero's burial at the Municipal Cemetery of Carolina in Puerto Rico. A monument was later built at her burial site. Her final collection of poems, "El Mar y Tu" (The Sea and You), was posthumously published in 1954.
"I am Life. I am strength. I am a woman." |
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Yayoi Kusama, 1929. Japanese contemporary artist. She is best known for her sculptures and installations, but Yayoi also practices painting, performance, film, fashion, and poetry. Her art is the channel to her obsessive neurosis, which interestingly made her a counter-culture artist since the 1960s. In the 1950s, while living in Japan with her conservative family, she wrote a letter to Georgia O'Keeffe asking for artistic advice. Yayoi was desperate to leave Japan and escape its rigid social norms. Her obsession with polka dots has hunted her all her Life and eventually led her in the 1970s to check herself into a mental hospital in Japan, where she resides up to this day; every day, she leaves the hospital to go to her studio. She poetically wrote her extraordinary Life in her autobiography "Infinity Net."
"No matter how I may suffer from my art, I will have no regrets. This is how I have lived my life, and this is the way I shall go on living". |
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Clarice Lispector, 1920 – 1977. Internationally acclaimed Brazilian writer. Born in Western Ukraine, she moved to Brazil as an infant with her family following the First World War. While in law school in Rio, she began publishing her first journalistic work and short stories. By age 23, she had published her first novel. Near to the Wild Heart was written as an interior monologue, considered revolutionary in Brazil then. Following her marriage to a Brazilian diplomat in 1944, she spent the next decade and a half in Europe and the United States. When Clarice returned to Rio in 1959, she began producing her most famous works: Family Ties, The Passion According to G.H., and her masterpiece, Água Viva. Due to an accident in 1966, she spent the last decade of her Life in frequent pain but steadily writing and publishing novels and stories until she died in 1977.
"And even sadness was also something for the rich, those who could afford it, and those who didn't have anything better to do. So sadness was a luxury."
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Maxine Waters, 1938. Politician and member of the Democratic Party. She is unapologetic and outspoken, which has made her the target of racist comments from right wings spokesmen. On July 2017, she got national attention during a heated exchange between her and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. She became frustrated when Mnuchin appeared to be skirting her question and using her time. As a result, she repeatedly demanded: "reclaiming my time" as Mnuchin tried to speak over her.
"I am a strong Black Woman and cannot be intimidated; I cannot be undermined."
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Simone De Beauvoir, 1908 - 1986. French writer, intellectual, political activist, existentialist philosopher, social theorist, and feminist. She had a critical influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory. In fact, she is considered the precursor of the second wave of feminism with her book "The Second Sex." Despite all her professional achievements, Simone once stated that her relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre was her most outstanding achievement.
"I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth - and the truth rewarded me." |
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Angela Davis, 1944. Political activist, author, and academic. She was the leader of the Community Party USA during the 1960s. She was also highly involved with the Black Panthers during the civil rights movement. In 1970 she was prosecuted for conspiracy to murder but later acquitted of this charge. That same year, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover listed Davis on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List.
"Freedom is a constant struggle." |
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Carrie Frances Fisher, 1956 –2016. American actress, writer, and humorist, who openly spoke about her mental health struggles. She is best known for playing Princess Leia in Star Wars films. A character who embodied leadership and was a fearless warrior became an inspiration for girls during the 1980s when strong female role models were scarce.
"If my life wasn't funny, it would be true, and that's unacceptable." |
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Gabriela Mistral, 1889 - 1957. Chilean poet, educator, humanist, and diplomat. She was the first Latin American author to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945. Yet, despite her international success, Gabriela in Chile was never adequately recognized in Life due to her homosexuality and humble origins.
"Let the earth look at me, and bless me, for now, I and fecund and sacred, like palms and furrows." |
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Frida Kahlo, 1907 - 1954. Mexican painter best known for her autobiographical self-portraits. Her turbulent love relationship with Diego Rivera and delicate health inspired her work and love letters. She was an active member of the communist party until her death.
"I am my own muse because I am the subject that I know best." |
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Hillary Rodham Clinton, 1947. Politician, attorney, and author. While she was the First Lady of Arkansas, she famously responded to a reporter who challenged her ambitions, "I guess I could have stayed home and baked cookies, but I decided to pursue a career instead." Later, when she became the First Lady of the United States, she again made controversy in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, when she declared that "human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights." Despite the pressure to tone her speech down, she did not back down and called out human rights violations around the globe without directly naming China. In 2016, Hillary made history again and became the first female presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.
"To all little girls watching right now, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance in the world." |
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Doria Shafik, 1908 - 1975. Feminist writer and activist who played a crucial role in the campaign for women's rights and suffrage in Egypt. On February 19, 1951, Doria led nearly 1,500 women to storm the Egyptian parliament to demand their rights. After a series of strikes conducted by Doria in 1957, the government suppressed her publications, banned her name from the press, and placed her under house arrest in her apartment for several years, forcing her to spend the rest of her life in seclusion. She committed suicide in 1975.
"A nation cannot be liberated internally or externally while its women are enchained." |
