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What'sHerName

What'sHerName

Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle

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2 Creators

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2 Creators

What’sHerName puts the women back into world history. Hosts (and sisters) Olivia Meikle and Dr. Katie Nelson are professors by day, podcasters by night. Weaving interviews with experts into vivid, nuanced biographies, What'sHerName tells the stories of fascinating women you’ve never heard of (but should have). Fascinating and funny, thought-provoking and insightful. New episodes biweekly Mondays.
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Top 10 What'sHerName Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best What'sHerName episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to What'sHerName for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite What'sHerName episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

What'sHerName - THE CAGED BIRD Florence Price
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01/18/21 • 51 min

In an abandoned house in Illinois, an astonishing treasure trove of handwritten sheet music was discovered in 2009. That cache was the life’s work of composer Florence Price, the first African-American woman to have her work performed by major orchestras. But Price’s story is so much bigger – and so much wilder! – than even that headline-grabbing discovery could show. Her astonishing contributions to classical music are finally getting the attention – and the praise – they deserve.

Our guests are Dr. Guthrie Ramsey and Dr. Karen Walwyn, with music by Chineke! Orchestra, Dr. Ollie Watts Davis, Dr. Casey Robards, The Women’s Philharmonic, and Karen Walwyn.

A complete transcript of this episode can be found here.

Guest Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. is a music historian, pianist, composer, and the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. He’s the author of Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop, and The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History and the Challenge of Bebop and recently edited and wrote a foreword for Rae Linda Brown’s The Heart of A Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price. As a producer, label head, and bandleader, he’s released five recording projects, including A Spiritual Vibe, vol. 1 and has performed at The Blue Note, The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Harlem Stage. He recently scored the 2019 prize-winning documentary Making Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South and his documentary Amazing: The Tests and Triumph of Bud Powell was a selection of the BlackStar Film Festival. He co-curated the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s 2009 exhibition Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment and was a consultant and narrator in the 2020 Emmy Award winning HBO documentary Apollo: The Soul of American Culture.

Guest Karen Walwyn, Concert Pianist, Composer and an Albany Recording Artist, is the first female African American pianist/ composer to receive the Steinway Artist Award. As a Composer, she received the Global Award: Gold Medal -Award of Excellence for her recording of her composition entitled Reflections on 9/11, which was first premiered in full at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. As a Mellon Faculty Fellow at the John Hope Franklin Institute, Duke University, Walwyn composed her debut choral work entitled Of Dance & Struggle: A Musical Tribute on the Life of Nelson Mandela. She is Area Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Howard University, and has performed throughout the contiguous United States, Hawaii, West Indies and the Virgin Islands.

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5 Listeners

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What'sHerName - THE EXILE Stefania Turkevych
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06/28/21 • 35 min

Stefania Turkevych was one of Galicia’s most talented and prolific classical composers – and then the Russian Revolution turned her world upside down. When she fled the USSR to find a new home, through Italy, Ireland, and to her final home in England, her work was lauded all across the continent.

But fame is fickle when nobody speaks your language! Discover this forgotten star – Ukraine’s first female classical composer – with our guest Dr. Erica Glenn.

Erica Glenn is a current Fulbright Scholar and Director of Choral Activities at Brigham Young University – Hawaii. Previously, she worked at Arizona State University, conducting the Women’s Chorus, teaching Beginning Conducting (Teaching Excellence Award), and serving as chorus master for operas. She also co-founded the Arizona Women’s Collaborative and Phoenix Singing. Glenn holds a BM/MM in Music Composition and an Ed.M. in The Arts in Education (Harvard). She is the 2020 recipient of an American Councils Grant, a Knowledge Mobilization Award, a Creative Constellation Grant, and Melikian Center funding for her research into Stefania Turkevych, Ukraine’s first female composer. Glenn recently presented at the Ukrainian Institute of America and the Longy New Music Festival, and she has led interest sessions at ACDA and AATSEEL. Her original opera Dreamweaver won the International VocalWorks Competition, and her musical The Weaver of Raveloe was performed at both the NY Musical Theatre Festival and the American Repertory Theatre.

All music for this episode was composed by Stefania Turkevych and is used by kind permission of Erica Glenn.

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What'sHerName - THE QUEEN OF HAITI Marie-Louise Christophe
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09/13/23 • 51 min

Say you join a revolution in the name of liberty and equality. Then someone hands you a crown. Could you do more good, with that power? Or will everything fall apart? Come with us to Haiti and across Europe in the twisty-turny tale of THE QUEEN OF HAITI, Marie-Louise Christophe.

Katie's guest is Vanessa Riley, author of Queen of Exiles.

To learn more about the sound recordings by anthropologist Alan Lomax, check out CulturalEquity.org, and the American Folklife Center. We featured "Valtz Creole" by Musique Creole Group, and a number of voodoo ceremony recordings.

Additional music was composed by ELPHNT, Kevin Macleod, Jimena Contreras, Quincas Moreira, Sir Cubworth, Aaron Kenny, Brian Bolger, Beethoven and Mendelssohn.

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What'sHerName - THE FIRST ACCUSED Tituba
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10/25/21 • 48 min

Some say Tituba was the easy target in 1692, as an enslaved woman of color. But surprise! She confessed to witchcraft, offering elaborate descriptions of a widespread Satanic conspiracy. Her tales launched Salem, Massachusetts into an unparalleled witch mania. No one was safe...except Tituba herself. How did she start it all, and how did she escape? Join Katie on location in Salem, Massachusetts for this year’s Halloween special.

Our guest, army vet, playwright, and military historian David Tullis guides off-the-beaten-track tours of Salem and works as a historical pewtersmith.

Music featured in this episode by Aaron Kenny, Esther Abrami, Kevin MacLeod, and Elena Naumova, used by permission.

Want to help us “make history”? Become a Patron or Donate here!

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What'sHerName - THE WOMAN KING Hatshepsut
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05/26/23 • 59 min

The Pharaoh Hatshepsut is probably the most successful woman king Egypt ever had - so why doesn't anyone know how to say her name? Discover this enigmatic, fascinating woman with returning guest and fan-favorite Egyptologist Kara Cooney.

Music featured in this episode used by kind permission of Michael Levy, Remon Sakr, Kevin MacLeod and Quincas Moreira.

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What'sHerName - THE WILD CHILD Alice Roosevelt
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12/02/23 • 61 min

When Alice Roosevelt's dad became President of the United States, her family became the center of attention for the entire country (and the world) - and that was just how she liked it. Whether smoking on the White House roof, racing her bright red motorcar through the streets of Washington DC, or wearing her snake Emily Spinach as jewelry while attending Congressional Balls - Alice scandalized her parents and delighted the nation. But that was just the beginning.

Olivia interviews Shelley Fraser Mickle, author of the new book White House Wild Child: How Alice Roosevelt Broke All the Rules and Won the Heart of America.

Music for this episode provided by Amanda Setlik Wilson, Aaron Kenny, The New Hot 5, Peak Duo, Victor Dance Orchestra, Esther Abrami, The Melody Weavers and the US Marine Corps Band.

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3 Listeners

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What'sHerName - THE POISONER Goeie Mie
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10/17/22 • 40 min

The most prolific poisoner of all time couldn’t possibly have been a woman. Right??! Goeie Mie, “Good Maria,” was such a selfless and kindly nurse that desperate folks in 19th-century Leiden called her when they were sick, knowing she’d come even if they couldn’t pay. But they got worse, and worse, and usually died in misery.

Goeie Mie had life insurance on all of them.

Travel on location to Leiden, The Netherlands with Katie in this spooky Halloween Special!

Guest Josine Heijnen holds an MA in humanities and studies history & theology – naturally she would end up having her own distillery, right? Maneuvering through the financial world right after graduating, she started distilling Goeie Mie Gin, named after Maria Swanenburg ‘the Leiden Poisoner.’ She expanded the business and now spreads these unbelievable-but-true stories in liquid form throughout Europe. (And more to come: do you know the greatest spy of all time, Mata Hari? Or ever tasted something called Radithor?)

Music featured in this episode by Esther Abrami, Aaron Kenny, Román Cano, Kevin MacLeod, and Camille Saint-Saens.

Want to help us “make history”? Become a Patron or Donate here!

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What'sHerName - THE BLOOD COUNTESS Elizabeth Báthory
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10/12/23 • 55 min

Countess Elizabeth Báthory was a monster - a sadistic, murderous, vampire-witch who, in her castle in Hungary in the early 1600s, tortured and murdered over 600 young girls, then bathed in the blood of her victims.

Or did she? Was she truly the supreme supernatural evil of 500 years of legend? Or was she an innocent victim of witch-hunt hysteria and political scheming?

Or was she something else entirely?

Dig into the mysteries of this gruesome, complicated tale with our guest, legal historian Kimberly Craft, in our 2023 Halloween Special.

Music featured in this episode was provided by Kevin Macleod, Doug Maxwell, Esther Abrami, Aaron Kenny, Brian Bolger, Jimena Contreras, Quincas Moreira, Twin Musicom, Myuu and John Patitucci.

Want to help us “make history”? Become a Patron or Donate here!

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What'sHerName - THE BRIDGE Brigid of Kildare
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11/14/22 • 56 min

Illustration of St Brigid by Kathleen Verschoyle
used by permission of the Portland Public Library, Portland Maine.

St. Brigid tended an eternal flame in Kildare, Ireland, while caring for people, animals, and the earth. And though she lived 1500 years ago, her story is seeing a huge resurgence in the 21st century.

Come on location with Katie to the Solas Bhride Centre in Kildare to meet Brigidine nun, Sister Rita Minehan. We promise a balm for your weary soul!

Here’s a great tutorial video on how to create your own Saint Brigid’s cross.

You can donate to the Solas Bhride Center here.


all photos by Katie Nelson unless otherwise indicated



Rita Minehan is a Brigidine Sister and a native of Co. Tipperary, Ireland. A secondary school teacher and psychotherapist by profession, she was a founding member of APT (Act to Prevent Human Trafficking), working to raise awareness about human trafficking. She has worked with women affected by prostitution and human trafficking in a variety of capacities, and has been involved with Afri (Action from Ireland)’s St. Brigid’s Peace Campaign and Justice and Peace Conference for nearly 30 years. As a founding member member of the Solas Bhríde Centre team, she has been involved in the creation of several initiatives, including its pilgrimage programme. A second edition of her book, Rekindling the Flame: A Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of St Brigid of Kildare will be published in December 2022.


Music featured in this episode included:

“Karitas” by Maria Jonas

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” by Fiddlesticks

“Love is Little” by

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What'sHerName - THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST Sybil Stockdale
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11/18/19 • 41 min

In 1965, Sybil Stockdale was a mild-mannered Navy wife in Southern California. But after her husband’s plane was shot down over Vietnam, she would become one of the most important and effective activists in American history. Her organization, The National League of Families, fought for nearly a decade to bring home nearly one thousand POWs who were being held by North Vietnam in conditions of extreme deprivation and torture. Throwing out their military handbooks’ useless advice on shrimp forks and hairstyles, these remarkable women used the powerful new medium of television to leverage their own position, became covert operatives who gathered more information on the POW camps than the entire U.S. military, and eventually defied the Government itself to bring their husbands home.

Our guest is historian and curator Heath Hardage Lee, author of the new book League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took On the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home and Winnie Davis: Daughter of the Lost Cause. Heath was the 2017 Robert J. Dole Curatorial Fellow, and her exhibition entitled The League of Wives: Vietnam POW MIA Advocates & Allies about Vietnam POW MIA wives premiered at the Dole Institute of Politics in May of 2017. Reese Witherspoon and her production company have optioned The League of Wives for a feature film. Heath will be an executive producer and historical consultant for the project.

Music featured in this episode included Jeff Cuno, Josh Lippi and the Overtimers, The US Naval Academy Band, Jeremy Dittus, Dan Lebowitz, Sir Cubworth and Everett Almond.

Want to help us “make history”? Become a Patron or Donate here!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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FAQ

How many episodes does What'sHerName have?

What'sHerName currently has 150 episodes available.

What topics does What'sHerName cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture, History, Documentary and Podcasts.

What is the most popular episode on What'sHerName?

The episode title 'THE CAGED BIRD Florence Price' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on What'sHerName?

The average episode length on What'sHerName is 47 minutes.

How often are episodes of What'sHerName released?

Episodes of What'sHerName are typically released every 14 days.

When was the first episode of What'sHerName?

The first episode of What'sHerName was released on Dec 1, 2017.

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Shandra

@overflowingpod

Mar 4

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Love this show, women's history all year long

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Coyal Harrison III

@visitvegasplaces

Sep 15

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Matthew

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Jan 27

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