This year, juniors Antonia Mille and Aliyah Chowdhary-Fitton founded the Feminist Reformers Throughout History Club to celebrate the underappreciated female activists, innovators, and thinkers throughout history.
Every other Thursday at lunch, students gather to discuss topics in women’s history that aren’t covered in M-A’s standard curriculum. Chowdhary-Fitton shared, “Last year, for my group’s National History Day project, we studied the women’s march at Versailles. We tried to find some basic information in our textbook, but this huge historical moment was reduced to just one sentence. I wanted to create a club that highlighted achievements like these that haven’t been talked about enough.”
The club also studies the history of feminism as a whole. Mille said, “For our lesson on the four waves of feminism, we talked about how the definition of feminism has changed over the years.”
Chowdhary-Fitton added that the club has studied the four waves of feminism, Black feminism, female innovators, and prominent female figures like the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut.
Junior Dominic Auer joined the club due to his interest in feminist issues and their impact on women at M-A. He said, “My favorite lesson was one on female leaders in history. We learned about Cleopatra, and it was interesting to see how she exercised her power in a male-dominated society.”
Stop by the Feminist Reformers Throughout History Club at lunch in C-15, join @MAfemhist on Remind, or follow @MAfeminists.rth on Instagram to expand your historical perspective.
