Welcome back to Queens Podcast! With election day just around the corner we thought that the episode right before should be someone American and scandalous. So, of course we thought of Victoria Woodhull– the first woman to run for president in the United States!
But! We did not take into account how actually bananas her childhood and early adulthood was, so we didn’t even get to the politics! But don’t worry. The early part of her life is plenty exciting. Before she was 30 our girl was a preacher, a clairvoyant, a child star on the Spiritualism market, the breadwinner in a family of like 100, a child bride, a cigar girl, an actress, a maybe sex worker, a mother of two, aaaaaand a divorcee (…maybe bigamist?).
Yeah… and we have not even gotten to the “interesting” portion of her life.
Also, settle a debate. When you think cigar girl, what do you think? We think this, but we have a feeling that is NOT what Vicky was up to:
As we learn more about life in the Civil War-era of America, you might be surprised to know that this time was STILL a shitty time to be a woman with no rights as a daughter and then no rights as a wife. What a fun pattern we’re starting to see…
This discussion was made merrier by a rummy, fruity drink called The President Cocktail. While we used rum for this drink, we believe it would also be just as nice with vodka and even nicer if drank on the beach.
But for real. Vicky’s life brought her all over the world and is intertwined with so many fascinating people. We literally cannot wait to tell you about her whole life and hear your thoughts on her.
Here are some great sources we used to learn all about Vicky’s (quite inconsistently documented) life!
- This book was fantastic and a really easy/interesting read. This has been the main source thus far:
- The History Chicks have an excellent episode on Vicky.
- Woodhull Rising is an incredible site dedicated to Victoria Woodhull and offers a directory more or less, in case you need help remembering who is who in this crazy family.
- Nicole Evelina‘s page has some great and detailed articles on her life. I specifically found her articles on Canning the most helpful.
This episode was sponsored by BetterHelp.com Get 10% off your first month here!
Intro music by J Sparks Featuring Beyond Belief.
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