As Cheddar celebrates phenomenal women during the month of March, we're taking a second to highlight a few trailblazers who have helped shape the world we live in. These women have had a significant impact on the arts in America.
Maud Stevens Wagner
Born in 1877 in Lyon County, Kansas, Maud Stevens Wagner is widely known as the first woman tattoo artist in the U.S. Wagner joined several traveling circuses and met her husband, Gus Wagner along the ride.
After being enamored by his full-body tattoos, she convinced Gus to teach her how to set ink to skin. She eventually became a master at the hand poke technique and was said to be one of the last known American tattoo artists to continue the art without a tattoo gun.
Together, the Wagners are credited with bringing tattooing to middle America from its origins on the urban coasts.
Zitkala-Ša
Zitkala-Ša was born in 1876, a member of the Yankton Dakota Sioux tribe. After being forcibly taken from the Yankton reservation in South Dakota to be taught in American schools, she learned white America had essentially no real knowledge about indigenous people and she set out to set the record straight.
She began writing personal stories and collected stories from other tribes, sending them to the nation’s most prominent magazines. As an author, Zitkala-Ša's first book fought against Native American stereotypes. Her commitment to telling Native stories continued when she co-authored the first American Indian opera, the Sun Dance Opera.
In 1926, Zitkala-Ša and her husband founded the National Council of American Indians, which she ran until her death in 1938.
Augusta Savage
A key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Augusta Savage got her early start in the arts after realizing the soil in her hometown of Green Cove Springs, Florida, was full of red clay. Savage began sculpting toys for her sibling, catapulting her into local success.
A teacher paid Savage to teach her classmates how to sculpt, and she would eventually enter the West Palm Beach fair. There she secured a $25 prize for her sculptures and then it was off to New York to study the arts.
Savage also spent time studying in France before returning to Harlem where she continued her career as a renowned sculptor.
Pura Belpré
The Puerto Rican-born writer took an interest in the written word after relocating to New York City in 1920. After leaving a job in the garment industry for a position in a Harlem library — the first Puerto Rican hired by the New York City public library — Belpré’s love for books and storytelling became even more clear.
Belpré's bilingual skills made inroads into the growing Puerto Rican population in New York on behalf of the library system, and she would go on to author Pérez and Martina in 1932, one of the first English-language books by a Puerto Rican author written in English. She would earn further renown for collecting the first-ever English-language anthology of Puerto Rican folktales.
Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong was the first Chinese-American actress to be cast in American films, but as the first, she was often typecast in supporting roles that depicted Asian women as either passive or sexually aggressive. Furthermore, due to laws against interracial marriage and intimacy at the time, she would never be the romantic lead, being unable to kiss a white co-star on-screen. She took a stand and demanded more out of her career.
Wong would eventually leave for Europe to seek better roles and she became an international star. Eventually, she would become the first Asian American woman lead actress in a U.S. television series when she starred in The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong and received one of the inaugural stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Video produced by Megan Pratz, Aly Ellis, and Bella Santos. Article written by Lawrence Banton.
This the one in a series of videos highlighting women of history. Check out more on Facebook and Twitter.
E-commerce platform for construction and building materials RenoRun has raised $142 million in a Series B round, which the company says is the fourth largest Series B round in Canadian history. RenoRun’s platform offers same-day delivery of construction materials to job sites in Canada and the United States. The company aims to revolutionize the construction industry by maximizing productivity and efficiency. RenoRun co-founder and CEO Eamonn O’Rourke joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Like so many other cities, Miami experienced a tourism boom over the summer after vaccines were distributed. But, the Omicron variant has thrown the travel industry for a loop. David Whitaker, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, joined Cheddar to discuss the city as a tourist destination, and how it has handled headwinds from the pandemic.
Rockstar Energy, a subsidiary of Pepsico, unveiled its new beverage brand, Rockstar Unplugged, changing up the energy drink formula with hemp seed oil as an ingredient. PepsiCo Energy CMO Fabiola Torres joined Cheddar News to talk about how the product promotes “good vibes” and allows consumers to unwind and discuss partnering with "MTV Unplugged" for a concert series. "We couldn't find a better partnership that MTV," she said. "MTV Unplugged has been such an iconic proposition … and we believe that we're the right partners because the insight of our proposition for Rockstar Unplugged comes from music.
Eight months after the National Football League announced $1 million in research into cannabinoids, the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee has awarded the funding to two teams of medical researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Regina. The NFL says the studies will investigate the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussion in elite football players, respectively. Cheddar correspondent Chloe Ailello spoke with Jeff Miller, the executive vice president of communications, public affairs, and policy for the NFL, about the studies, as well as the recent lawsuit filed against the NFL by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. "Maybe we can learn things from other alternative pain approaches that are going to benefit our player population and then sports medicine as a whole," Miller said.
Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, NJ and Ayana Morris, co-director of the documentary 'Why Is We Americans?,' join Cheddar News to discuss the new documentary highlighting the impact of the Baraka family.
Former New York City mayor and lawyer to Donald Trump Rudy Giuliani made his singing debut on a taping of Fox’s The Masked Singer. However, Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke, two judges on the competition show, reportedly left in protest when Giuliani was unmasked upon being eliminated.
All Hands celebrates Black History Month by highlighting achievements in inclusivity and paying homage to those who have fought for equal rights. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) joins Cheddar News to discuss voter suppression; Damali Peterman, CEO of Breakthrough ADR, elaborates on the biggest barriers for Black professionals; Andre Perry, senior fellow of Brookings Institution, dives into student loans and the racial wealth divide; and lastly, BET CEO Scott Mills discusses the company's initiatives for 2022.
Hinge users who have children can opt-in to a $100 stipend up to $25,000 for childcare. Logan Ury, the director of relationship science for the online dating platform, noted the issue as an obstacle for single parents who want to go out on dates. "We have heard that singles with children have a hard time going on dates for one of the reasons being that it's just hard to find childcare and it's hard to be able to afford it," she said. Ury also said that the hot topic among Hinge's users is mental health and the prioritizing of mental health.
Dolly Parton, Eminem, Lionel Richie, and Carly Simon are just a few of the nominees announced for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2022 induction. Results of the voting will be released in May, however, the ceremony date has yet to be announced.
