by Stephanie Dray | Jul 14, 2021 | For Readers, Frances Perkins
I’ll keep this updated as I stumble over more. “The accusation that I am a woman is incontrovertible.” “I came to Washington to work for God, FDR, and the millions of forgotten, plain common workingmen.” “But with the slow menace of...
by Stephanie Dray | Jul 13, 2021 | Adrienne Lafayette, Heroines, My Works, The Women of Chateau Lafayette
This week marks a sad anniversary of the so-called Champs de Mars Massacre in Paris France, on July 17, 1791. The country was ostensibly a constitutional monarchy, but the king and the royal family had just fled Paris, only to be recognized on the road, and returned...
by Stephanie Dray | Jun 14, 2021 | Beatrice Chanler, My Works, The Women of Chateau Lafayette
On June 19, 1946 Beatrice Chanler passed away. She was traveling by train with French diplomat Alexis Leger, also known as Nobel prize winning poet Saint-John Perse. The two had spent summers together at her home in Islesboro, Maine since his exile from France after...
by Stephanie Dray | May 17, 2021 | Frances Perkins, Works in Progress
I love writing about unsung historical women, and my next subject will be Frances Perkins, the Founding Mother of 20th century America. FDR’s right hand woman, the first female cabinet secretary, and the woman whose lonely fight to save Jewish refugees from the...
by Stephanie Dray | Apr 24, 2021 | Adrienne Lafayette, America's First Daughter, Bloopers, The Women of Chateau Lafayette
Here’s one for the blooper file. As I understand it, the chocolate we know it today was not invented until 1847. Until then, chocolate was known and enjoyed as a drink. So why, then, do edible chocolates appear at the end of the 18th century in both...
by Stephanie Dray | Mar 30, 2021 | Adrienne Lafayette, Food, Fun Stuff, The Women of Chateau Lafayette
My fabulously talented friend Max Miller and I were talking about his popular food show, “Tasting History” when I suggested that he do an episode featuring some food from Lafayette’s day. I provided him with a wedding menu that was posted to the wall...
