When Women Walked

Before she was 30, Ching Shih commanded a fleet of tens of thousands of pirates and ships, defying the Qing dynasty, Britain, and Portugal—and walked away undefeated. In this episode of When Women Walked, we explore how a former sex worker rose to become one of history's most powerful pirate leaders, the strict code of conduct she enforced on her fleet, and how she ultimately negotiated her wa...

They were enslaved, outnumbered, and written off by the world — and they won anyway. This episode tells the story of the Haitian Revolution, one of the most successful slave revolts in history, and the fierce, defiant people who helped burn empires to the ground and birth a nation. But freedom came with a price — literally. Learn how France and the United States weaponized debt and isolation to pu...

Before computers existed, one woman imagined what they could become. In this episode of  When Women Walked , we explore the remarkable life of Ada Lovelace, a nineteenth-century mathematician who saw the future of computing long before the modern computer was built. But her greatest achievement may have been her vision. Ada understood that computing machines could transform the world long before s...

In 1944, as the Holocaust consumed Europe, a 23-year-old Jewish poet volunteered for a mission many believed was impossible. Hannah Senesh left her home in Palestine, trained with the British military, and parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe in an effort to aid resistance fighters and help rescue Hungarian Jews before they were deported to Auschwitz. But her legacy lives not only in her courage,...

Rome believed Britain was conquered. By the first century CE, Roman legions controlled much of the island. Cities were built, taxes were collected, and imperial authority seemed unshakable. But in the year 60 CE, Rome made a brutal mistake... They humiliated the Queen of the Iceni people. Leading to rebellion.

Long before Ireland was filled with stone churches and monasteries, stories were told of a woman whose power felt almost otherworldly. Brigid of Kildare lived in the fifth century, at the crossroads of Celtic tradition and early Christianity, and her life became legend. She fed the poor, challenged kings, founded one of Ireland’s most influential monasteries, and created spaces where women could l...

In 2002, Susana Trimarco’s daughter, Marita Verón, disappeared in Argentina—kidnapped by a human trafficking network that preyed on young women. What followed was not just a mother’s search, but the beginning of a movement. Refusing to accept silence or corruption, Trimarco went undercover in brothels, confronted traffickers, and exposed a trafficking system that authorities had long ignored. In t...

Before there were marches, there were classrooms. Before microphones, there were pencils. In this episode of  When Women Walked , we explore the life and legacy of Septima Clark—the educator who helped build the intellectual foundation of the Civil Rights Movement. Through the Citizenship Schools developed at the Highlander Folk School, Clark taught thousands of Black Americans to read, write, and...

Before the medals. Before the endorsements. Before the prime-time coverage — there were women who ran anyway. In this episode of  When Women Walked , we enter the Olympic arena through the women who refused to wait their turn. From pioneers who were barred from entire events to athletes who shattered racial, political, and cultural barriers, this is the story of women who did more than compete — t...

Henrietta Lacks changed modern medicine, but she was never asked. In this episode of  When Women Walked , I tell the story of the woman behind HeLa — the mother, the daughter, the Black woman whose cells helped develop the polio vaccine, advanced cancer research, contributed to HIV treatment, and were used in COVID research. We hold both truths: scientific breakthrough and medical exploitation. He...

Claudette Colvin and the cost of being first.

We are taught that  Rosa Parks  was tired. That her refusal on a Montgomery bus was spontaneous. Quiet. Accidental. In this episode of  When Women Walked , historian and educator Madison Givens slows the story down and returns Rosa Parks to herself—not as a symbol, but as a lifelong organizer, investigator, and dissenter. Drawing on  The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks , this episode traces the...

When Women Walked  is a history podcast about movement—literal and political—and the women who used it to challenge power, demand justice, and reshape the world. This introductory episode lays the foundation for the series: why walking matters as a historical act, how women’s movement has been remembered and erased, and what it means to take women’s bodies in motion seriously as political interven...