Birth Locations – Page 89 – The Exasperated Historian

409) Karen Horney

409: Karen Horney

Psychoanalyst Whose Theories Questioned Some Freudian Views

Born: 16 September 1885, Blankenese, Hamburg, Germany

Died: 4 December 1952, New York City, New York, United States of America

Karen’s theories against Freudian views focused particularly on sexuality (see: penis envy).

It is said that she decided to be an intellectual at the age of nine after comments from her father led her to believe if she couldn’t be pretty then she better be smart. Karen would continue to battle throughout her life, first encountering depression at the age of nine. At the age of thirteen she decided she would be a doctor.

Karen was one of the first women to enter a German University, starting medical school in 1906. She married in 1909, and while the marriage wasn’t exuberantly happy, Karen did have three daughters with her husband in the ensuing years.

Karen turned to the field of psychoanalysis after having a daughter and losing both parents within the span of one year.

In 1932 she and her daughters moved to Chicago and were able to escape the rise of the Nazis in Germany. Two years later she relocated to New York City. Her outspoken critique against Freud managed to force Karen to resign from the New York Psychoanalytic Institute in 1941. She went on to found the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, and co-founded and co-edited the American Journal of Psychoanalysis.

Karen was the first woman to present a paper on feminine psychology at an international conference. One of the arguments she made against Freud and his famed “Penis Envy” idea was that the reverse was true, and that men innately suffered from “Womb Envy,” or the inability to carry and bear children.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky

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

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

Sources:

http://www.feministvoices.com/karen-horney/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Karen-Horney

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/507/karen-horney

408) Leonore Goldschmidt

408: Leonore Goldschmidt

Berlin Schoolteacher

Born: 16 November 1897, Gosda, Germany

Died: 7 March 1983, London, United Kingdom

Leonore taught Jewish children in the heart of Berlin during the Nazi occupation. Luckily for the world, documentation, photographs, and footage survive of the school, some of which came from Julien Bryan, the photographer who dared to smuggle images of every day life in Berlin back to the United States.

The school operated in Berlin from 1935 to 1939 and then continued in England until 1941 when it was shut down because of the war.

Smithsonian created a documentary about her called “The Teacher Who Defied Hitler”. I have posted a three minute clip of the program in this article.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

http://leonoregoldschmidt.com/

https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/the-teacher-who-defied-hitler/0/3380909

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198697934/leonore-goldschmidt

407) Wang Zhenyi

407: Wang Zhenyi

Astronomer and Author

Born: 1768, Anhui Province, China

Died: 1797, China

Zhenyi was famous in her own time, during the Qing Dynasty, which broke feudal customs, especially the sources that state she taught male students.

She contributed to the fields of astronomy, medicine, and poetry, all taught to her by her father and grandparents, but also mastered martial arts and archery.

Zhenyi was well versed in trigonometry and wrote on evidence describing how equinoxes work and occur. She managed to write at least twelve books during her short life.

In 2004, Zhenyi was honored with a crater on Venus named in her honor.

Badges Earned:

Located In My Personal Library:

Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky

Sources:

https://massivesci.com/articles/wang-zhenyi-poetry-venus-math/

https://www.girlmuseum.org/trailblazers-age-of-girls-wang-zhenyi/

https://scientificwomen.net/women/zhenyi-wang-98

406) Maria Sibylla Merian

"Indians, who are not well treated in their servitude by the Dutch, use [the peacock's flower seeds] to abort their children so that they will not become slaves like them."

406: Maria Sibylla Merian

Entomologist, Naturalist, and Scientific Illustrator

Born: 2 April 1647, Holy Roman Empire (Present-day Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

Died: 13 January 1717, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Maria is known for her illustrations of insects and plants.

Her work led to the advancement of entomology as a scientific field.

As a child, Maria helped her stepfather collect samples for his own still-life paintings. This work led to her capturing her own caterpillar collection, which she used to study the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly.

She had two daughters with her husband, who was a student of Maria’s stepfather. After spending some years apart, Maria and her husband were legally divorced and separated in 1691.

Afterward, Maria would publish arguably her most important work; a book of scientific illustrations of the natural plants and insects in Suriname. Hers was one of the first illustrated works on the natural history of Suriname.

One of her daughters would go on to be the first woman employed by the Russian Academy of Sciences (Dorothea Maria). Her other daughter would also become a celebrated artist in her own right.

While working in Suriname, Maria not only studied the local insects, but also the treatment of the slaves held in bondage there. Her observations led to the quote listed in this article.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Uppity Women Speak Their Minds by Vicki Leon

Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Sibylla-Merian

https://nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/maria-sibylla-merian

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7280297/maria-sibylla-merian

405) Angelique Cottin

405: Angelique Cottin

Girl Who Showed Frequent Poltergeist-Like Activity in the Beginning of 1846

Birth Date: c.1832, Outside Montagne, Normandy, France

Death Date: Unknown

What is known is Angelique’s family used her abilities to make money because they were very poor, but to this day no one can prove or disprove the things that happened to this girl.

It started with the table where Angelique was trying to work on silks shaking whenever she approached it. From there objects began flying around the room whenever she entered them. Some sources claimed she could manipulate magnets and tell where the north pole was by touching a compass.

The manifestations nearly always happened between seven and nine PM, and only after she had eaten something. The left side of Angelique’s body was nearly always warmer than the right. As soon as the powers would start up, Angelique would become so frightened she would try to run away.

However, after ten weeks of these experiences, they abruptly stopped, but undeterred, Angelique continued to travel and showcase objects flying away from her, causing many to believe, back then and today, that the entire thing was a hoax the whole time.

Sources:

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/cottin-angelique-ca-1846

https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/10/the-bizarre-case-of-the-electric-poltergeist-girl/

404) Margaret Keane

404: Margaret Keane

Artist Known For Her Paintings Whose Subjects Have Big Eyes

Born: 15 September 1927, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America

Died: 26 June 2022, Napa, California, United States of America

Original Name: Peggy Hawkins

Her paintings first gained attention in the 1950’s when Margaret was working in San Francisco.

Up until 1970, Margaret’s former husband Walter took credit for her work. It wasn’t until Margaret took him to court that she was able to prove she was the real artist behind the iconic canvases; after over a decade of slaving away for him. The courts also awarded Margaret four million dollars, of which she never saw a penny seeing as her ex had drunk away all the money.

Margaret continued to paint almost every day up until the time of her death. She converted to being a Jehovah's Witness after she and her husband separated.

Among the famous people she’s been commissioned to paint are: Adlai Stevenson, Liberace, John Jr and Carolyn Kennedy, and various other sports stars.

A Hollywood movie was created about her story starring Amy Adams and had that same name Big Eyes. I’ve linked the trailer in this article. According to The Guardian (article linked below) Margaret says the movie is very accurate to what really happened.

Sources:

https://www.keane-eyes.com/about-margaret/

http://www.artnet.com/artists/margaret-keane/

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/26/art-fraud-margaret-walter-keane-tim-burton-biopic

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/margaret-keane-obituary-2139184

403) Barbi Benton

403: Barbi Benton

Model, Actress, and Singer

Born: 28 January 1950, New York City, New York, United States of America

Born Name: Barbara Lynn Klein

Barbi is known for appearing in Playboy and for acting in four seasons of Hee Haw. Her other acting credits include Fantasy Island and The Love Boat.

She previously had a relationship with Hugh Hefner, beginning when she was eighteen and he was forty-two.

She also recorded several studio albums in the 1970’s.

Barbi is married with two children. These days, she works as an interior decorator.

Sources:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0072902/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

https://www.worldation.com/stories/staying-power-story-barbi-benton/

402) Barbra Streisand

402: Barbra Streisand

Entertainer, Singer, Actress, and Filmmaker

Born: 24 April 1942, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America

Original Name: Barbara Joan Streisand

Her career has spanned six decades.

According to her website’s biography, Barbra is the only artist ever to receive an Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Directors Guild of America Award, Golden Globe, National Medal of Arts Award, Peabody Awards and France’s Légion d’Honneur as well as the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

She is also the first female film director to win the Kennedy Center Honors.

Barbra was even awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

If that all isn’t impressive enough, Barbra is also the only artist to ever achieve a number one album on the Billboard Charts for six consecutive decades. She even holds the record for the longest span of number one albums in history at over fifty-two years.

And in 1983, Barbra became the first woman to direct, star in, write, and produce a major motion picture: Yentl.

Point is, you should know who she is, and she’s done many many many firsts in her career.

Oh, and she clones her dogs, because you know, rich people do stuff like that.

Her personal life hasn’t all been sunshine and roses. When Barbra was fifteen months old, her father died from complications of an epileptic seizure. Her mother took Barbra and her brother to live with her parents, and made ends meet, barely, by working as a secretary in the New York Public School system. Her mother remarried in 1949, and Barbra’s half-sister was born in 1951.

Barbra has described her childhood as painful. She found no help from her mother, who thought her too unattractive to work in show business. Barbra also described her stepfather as verbally abusive.

However, she didn’t let those hardships stop her, and after graduating high school at the age of sixteen, Barbra jumped into show business, she’s never looked back.

Barbra was married for eight years and has a son with her former husband. She was married for the second time in 1998, to fellow actor James Brolin.

One of my favorite roles Barbra has ever appeared in was that of Rozalin Focker, the sassy sex therapist, in Meet the Fockers, but she has also appeared in the aforementioned Yentl as well as one of the many versions of A Star Is Born.

I've linked the trailer to Meet the Fockers in this article. You can rent the movie on YouTube.

Badges Earned:

Located In My Personal Library:

The Rough Guide to Film Musicals by David Parkinson

Sources:

https://barbrastreisand.com/biography/

https://www.biography.com/musician/barbra-streisand

401) Elizabeth Cowell

401: Elizabeth Cowell

First Female Television Announcer

Born: 1912, Most Likely the United Kingdom

Died: 1998, Most Likely the United Kingdom

Elizabeth was also a radio broadcaster.

Her television appearance in August 1936 predated when television services actually began broadcasting in the United Kingdom in November that same year.

Elizabeth appeared on a broadcast for the RadiOlympia Exhibition. She co-announced with Jasmine Bligh, making Jasmine the second female television announcer, and Leslie Mitchell, the first man.

She also worked as a producer for several BBC television programs.

After a seven-year hiatus, Elizabeth returned to the BBC in 1946; her career with them interrupted by the Second World War. Though she did not return as a full-time announcer, she did serve as a narrator for a BBC Documentary that year. *

Elizabeth was married at the time to a Scottish laird. *

Please note, the final two facts (highlighted with an asterisk) are provided courtesy of a poorly sourced Wikipedia article, so if you wish to use them in a factual setting please search for a second source to back them up!

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/august/elizabeth-cowell-first-female-tv-announcer

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1680809/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cowell

400) Lisa Marie Presley

400: Lisa Marie Presley

Singer-songwriter

Born: 1 February 1968, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America

Died: 12 January 2023, West Hills, California, United States of America

Lisa was also the only child (and therefore sole heir) to her father Elvis Presley’s estate. Her mother is Priscilla Presley. Lisa was raised at her father’s elaborate and iconic estate, Graceland, until the age of four when her parents divorced.

Lisa’s childhood wasn’t easy, and she dropped out of school while still in junior high after she began to use illicit drugs. At the age of seventeen, she was sent to rehab. While there, she met her first husband Danny Keough, with whom she had two children.

She was also married to Michael Jackson and then Nicolas Cage for a short while (as of 2019 she had been married four times and had four kids). Lisa married Michael twenty days after her divorce to Danny was finalized and was only married to Nicholas for 108 days. Her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood, and she remained married for ten years. They share fraternal twin girls together.

Lisa had also been connected to the church of Scientology.

In January of 2023, Lisa passed away suddenly at the age of fifty-four. One of her children, her son Benjamin, had died before her.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Killing the Legends: The Lethal Danger of Celebrity by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

Sources:

https://lisamariepresley.com/about/biography

https://www.biography.com/personality/lisa-marie-presley

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/248320288/lisa-marie-presley