Birth Locations – Page 86 – The Exasperated Historian

436) Lucie Aubrac

436: Lucie Aubrac

World War II Schoolteacher and Member of the French Resistance

Born: 29 June 1912, Châtenay-sur-Seine, France

Died: 14 March 2007, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France

In 1938, Lucie was awarded the highest degree one can earn in France, the agrégation in history, before becoming a schoolteacher.

Her husband’s original last name (and her married name) was Samuel which they changed after his parents were deported and died in a concentration camp. The Samuels made the decision to become the Aubracs in the hopes of hiding their Jewish heritage.

Lucie was awarded the Legion of Honor for her wartime activities, which included two separate instances where she rescued her husband. The first, at the beginning of the war, took place after Lucie rescued Raymond after he was captured with the fall of France. Lucie smuggled Raymond a drug which made him develop a fever, and a disguise to escape a hospital. Her actions ensured he was not sent to a POW camp, or worse. The second occurred in 1943; this time Lucie saved her husband and other resistance members from the Gestapo (while pregnant with her second child), by convincing the Germans she was a peasant woman pregnant and unmarried. France, at the time at least, provided an outlet for couples to quickly marry, and therefore legitimize their offspring, if the father was due to be killed soon. Using this to their advantage, Lucie and Raymond had a fake wedding ceremony, and during the transfer back to the prison, Lucie and other resistance members busted their comrades out and led them to freedom.

Lucie and her husband were also both members of the Communist Party, joining before the war in the hopes of fighting back fascism. She became the first woman to sit in the French Parliamentary Assembly thanks to Charles De Gaulle announcing women would be given the vote after the war was won. Lucie joined the Parliamentary Assembly as a Resistance Representative of the Free French Government in 1944, however she did not continue her government position after the war ended, returning to her teaching position instead.

In later life she and her husband sued a book publisher and won their libel case after the publisher released Gestapo Leader Klaus Barbie’s baseless accusations that Lucie’s husband had become an informer after being arrested in 1943.

In 1997, a film was released about Lucie, entitled Lucie Aubrac.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

World War II Love Stories by Gill Paul

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucie-Aubrac

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/16/guardianobituaries.france

https://www.history.com/news/lucie-aubrac-the-history-teacher-who-outwitted-the-gestapo

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37325397/lucie-aubrac

435) Maxine Dale

This photo of Maxine comes from my family's personal photo albums.

435: Maxine Dale

World War II Veteran, Machinist, and More

Born: 25 May 1920, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Died: 15 December 1999, Houston, Texas, United States of America

Born Name: Ora Maxine Gill

Maxine served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II as a courier.

Before her enlistment she worked as a machinist for Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh.

After the war and getting hitched, she started attending Penn State to study agriculture. Maxine was a mother, aunt, sister, and grandmother, and my great-aunt through my paternal grandfather.

Maxine also wrote several poems in her younger years, with the signature being her initials: OMG.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Personal Poems by Ora Maxine Gill

Sources:

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Gill-2654&public=1

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/90428542/maxine-ora-dale

434) Anna D Allen

This photograph is included in my family's photo albums

434: Anna D Allen

World War II Veteran and Teacher

Born: 12 September 1913, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Died: 1 July 2000, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States of America

Anna served as a WAVES during World War II (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services) and worked as a schoolteacher in Pennsylvania and New York before retiring to Florida.

She married twice but never had any children. Anna was my great aunt, my paternal grandfather’s oldest surviving sister. Though I never met her, her story continues to inspire me every day.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

A Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania (1900-2000) by Richard T Hughes

Sources:

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Gill-2656&public=1

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188000160/anna-dorothy-allen

433) Captain Mildred H McAfee Horton

433: Capt. Mildred H McAfee Horton

WAVES Director (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services)

Born: 12 May 1900, Parkville, Missouri, United States of America

Died: 2 September 1994, Berlin, New Hampshire, United States of America

Mildred was appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942.

For her service to her country, Mildred was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Before her appointment she served as the President of Wellesley College. She was evidently so competent in that role it would take three women to divide up and do the tasks Mildred had been doing single-handedly.

She was the United States Navy’s First Female Line Officer, beginning her career as a Lieutenant Commander before becoming a Captain.

The WAVES would eventually employ over 80,000 female recruits.

Mildred returned to civilian life in 1946, going back to her old position as President of Wellesley. She would continue to fight for navy women to have the same pay and benefits as men long after war’s end.

After leaving Wellesley in 1949, Mildred would stay busy, working on the boards of RCA and NBC. She was also President of the American Association of Colleges and Vice President of the National Council of Churches.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/m/mcafee-mildred-h-horton.html

https://www.military.com/navy/capt-mildred-mcafee-horton.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/04/obituaries/mildred-mcafee-horton-dies-first-head-of-waves-was-94.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/114825901/mildred-helen-horton

432) Althea Gibson

"What Jackie Robinson did for baseball by being in the Brooklyn Dodgers’s starting lineup at first base on April 15, 1947, Althea Gibson did for tennis when she made her historic debut, defeating Barbara Knapp, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round." -International Tennis Hall of Fame

432: Althea Gibson

Groundbreaking Tennis and Golf Player

Born: 25 August 1927, Silver, South Carolina, United States of America

Died: 28 September 2003, East Orange, New Jersey, United States of America

In 1956, Althea became the first African American person to win a Grand Slam Title, effectively abolishing the color barrier in tennis. Just six years earlier, in 1950, she became the first person of African Origin to compete at the US Nationals (in tennis).

She was also the first African American to win the Wimbledon Title and the French and US Open Titles, which was also groundbreaking for people of color at the time. And she did it more than once, winning Wimbledon and the US Nationals in both 1956 and 1958.

Althea even became the first African American to enter the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour.

If that isn’t enough, Althea was also the first African American to make the cover of both Time Magazine and Sports Illustrated.

In 1958, she published her autobiography entitled, I Always Wanted to be Somebody.

In later life she served as the Commissioner of Athletics for the state of New Jersey and was entered into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971. She also coached up and comers into the tennis world after retiring from the sport herself.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

The Book of Awesome Women: Boundary Breakers, Freedom Fighters, Sheroes, and Female Firsts by Becca Anderson

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History Edited By Bonnie G Smith

Sources:

https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/althea-gibson

https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00014035.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7919058/althea-gibson

431) Charlotte Cooper Sterry

431: Charlotte Cooper Sterry

Professional Tennis Player

Born: 22 September 1870, Ealing, London, United Kingdom

Died: 10 October 1966, Helensburgh, United Kingdom

Charlotte won five Wimbledon Titles and became an Olympic Athlete in 1900.

She was the first female tennis champion in the Olympics and also the first female solo champion period. Although she received the first-place title for the Summer Olympic Games in 1900, she is not technically a recipient of a gold medal, as medals were not awarded until 1904 (however on her official Olympics profile it ranks her as a two-time gold medalist).

Charlotte played in ankle length tennis dresses which was the “appropriate attire” for her time period.

She won her last Wimbledon title at the age of 37—making her the oldest female champion in history. She is also one of four women who became Wimbledon title holders after becoming mothers.

At the age of 26 she lost her hearing and went completely deaf, but she didn’t let that stop her. In fact, four of her five Wimbledon titles were won after she lost her hearing.

Sources:

https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/charlotte-cooper-sterry

https://www.olympic.org/charlotte-cooper

Entries Born in Latvia

These are the entries born in the country of Latvia.

Entries:

Annie K Londonderry, The First Woman to Bicycle Her Way Around the World

430) Annie K Londonderry

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel. It gives woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. It makes her feel as if she were independent. The moment she takes her seat she knows she can’t get into harm unless she gets off her bicycle, and away she goes, the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood,” -Susan B Anthony

430: Annie K Londonderry

The First Woman to Bicycle Around the World

Born: c.1870, Latvia

Died: 11 November 1947

Original Name: Anna (or Annie) Cohen Kopchovsky

Annie was a Jewish Latvian immigrant to the United States. She rode her way around the globe in 1894 and 1895, after moving to Boston. The first bicycle she rode weighed around forty-two pounds, and for the first few months of the journey she wore a skirt.

Annie left behind her husband and three young children to complete the journey and even told a journalist “I didn’t want to spend my life at home with a baby under my apron every year).” She was only twenty-three or so at the time.

Annie attached banners and advertisements to her bicycle as she rode to raise money.

Once she got home to the United States she lied—a lot—about the journeys she supposedly had through Asia—all part of her own self-promotion. She even lied while on the road; frequently forgetting to mention that she was married or a mother. Her story appeared in the New York Sunday World in October 1895—written under her new pen name—Nellie Bly Jr.

After her triumphant return, Annie had another child with her husband, and worked various odd jobs and owned several businesses.

It should be noted that while she certainly circumnavigated the globe with a bicycle at her side, she most likely didn’t actually ride it the whole way and traveled through large swaths of the Middle East and Asia via steamship. It is, however, known that she rode across the continental United States, and should be given the title of first woman to do so.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Who Knew? Women in History by Sarah Herman

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/obituaries/annie-londonderry-overlooked.html

https://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/10-facts-annie-londonderry

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93531905/anna-kopchovsky

429) Michele Roberts

429: Michele Roberts

Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association

Born: 1956, Possibly New York, United States of America

Michele is the first woman to hold that position and the first woman to head a major professional sport union in North America.

She was an attorney before taking the job.

Michele was reelected to her post in 2018 after first attaining it in 2014.

In 2019, comments Michele made at a sports panel angered some fans and players of the Women’s National Basketball Association. When asked about the large pay gap between the female players and the male players, Michele noted the difference stems from the fact that less people pay attention and spend money on watching the Women’s Games. This conversation is similar to the fight women soccer (that’s football to you international readers) face in the United States as well.

Sources:

https://nbpa.com/leadership

https://theundefeated.com/features/the-undefeated-interview-michele-roberts/

https://www.nba.com/article/2018/07/10/michele-roberts-re-elected-executive-director-nbpa

https://highposthoops.com/2019/09/27/comments-from-nbpa-executive-director-michele-roberts-upset-wnba-players/

Entries Born in Burundi

These are the entries born in the country of Burundi, whether it be the modern day borders or the Belgian colonies or earlier.

Entries:

Augusta Chiwy, Volunteer Nurse During the Battle of the Bulge
Lydia Nsekere, Member of the International Olympics Committee & The FIFA Executive Council