Don't Let the Man Keep You Down

 Just about the only thing that isn't hot about this picture is the product placement. Have to say I love a woman in uniform, even if it's military. The sentiment is dated, but the fashion may be forever.

              Willa Beatrice Brown was the first African-American woman to hold a commercial pilot's license in the US. As a social worker in Gary, IN and Chicago, she felt like she wasn't doing enough to help her community. So she learned how to fly. That would have been bold even if she was a man! She then went on to start a flight school and promote equality in both civilian and military aviation.

And with aviator goggles too! Simply to fly for.

Education These Days

Part of a well-rounded education, training in marksmanship helps girls at Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, California develop into responsible women. Don't take shit from no man, fascist or otherwise.

                                                                       August 1942

Big Hair Always Wins

 This unnamed belle was a Danish freedom fighter, pictured here in 1945 outside the Carlsberg Brewery. Spotted neckerchief? Check. Big hair? You know it! And those heavy, buckled boots tell you she wasn't playing around.

Tokyo Rose

  Tokyo Rose was a radio personality in Japan during the war. The name was applied to several women, but most commonly to Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who was stranded while visiting Japan in 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. She was first pressured by the Japanese government to renounced her citizenship and refused, even though she was thereafter denied a ration card. She was eventually persuaded by an Australian POW to host a radio show on the condition that she say nothing against the United States. And she never did. After steadfast integrity while alone in an enemy country, she was rewarded for her loyalty by the US government in 1949 when she was convicted of treason and spent ten years in prison. This bad belle deserves recognition.

I love, love that little smile.

 Being manhandled by a douchebag white male US marshall. I love the big shoulders and half-length slacks.