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The washerwomen in Atlanta, Georgia, were so low on the ladder, they hung on the bottom rung by a clothespin. They knew they deserved to climb higher. In the summer of 1881, a few of them threw out the wash-water, leveraged the little clout they had, and brought the powers-that-be in the City of Atlanta to their knees, or more accurately, their dirty drawers.  Woman African American woman washing laundry outdoors in a yard in or near Richmond County, Ga., in late 19th century. Only 15-20 years before, these Black women were enslaved by the very people who now employed them to do their wash. Though a constitutional amendment guaranteed their freedom, the white families in Atlanta still had the Black women trapped.
Don't be surprised if you haven't heard of Elizabeth Sudmeier, a spy craft pioneer who crashed through the glass ceiling of the American Central Intelligence Agency. Her CIA case files remained classified until just ten years ago, which means we also did not know about the odds she faced, the battles she fought and the determination it took for a woman to succeed in one of the manliest professions in the world. Like many women in the 1940s and 50s, Elizabeth began her career as a typist, but she went on to become the first woman American CIA secret agent. During the Cold War, on assignment in the Middle East, Elizabeth procured volumes of details about Soviet Military hardware that turned out to be invaluable to US defense. Women CIA agents were offered little respect in the 1950s, as I told you in this story First Active Duty CIA Officer to Die was a Woman. And They Lied About It. Still, Elizabeth Sudmeier performed her assignments with dedication and excellence becoming the first CIA woman to recruit and handle foreign assets. One side note, an unnamed woman of the Sioux Nation no doubt contributed to Elisabeth's success, as her nanny, she practically raised the girl throughout her early years.  Elizabeth Sudmeier prior to her service in the CIA. Picture an American woman melting into the scene outside a cafe in Baghdad, waiting for a clandestine meeting. She's spent the last six months persuading a particular man to work with her. The stakes are high for America and for the both of them. If they're caught, they will likely pay with their lives. The year is 1954 and the US and USSR maintain a tense standoff with arsenals of nuclear and conventional weapons. When the man shows up, it's only for a moment, long enough to hand this female spy an envelope. She has just stolen Soviet secrets. Elizabeth holds blueprints for the Soviet MiG-19 jet fighter. Over time, through this source, Elizabeth also gained details of the MiG-21 fighter, the SA2 missile, and dozens of volumes of technical manuals relating to Soviet military systems and equipment. This type of information proved extremely valuable to the US in understanding the capabilities of Soviet weapons. Elizabeth set up seemingly accidental encounters with her source at coffee houses, cafes or a movie theater. As they met briefly, he handed off materials that she carried to a secure location for copying. Then Elizabeth returned the documents to the informant later that night. When Elizabeth went to work in the Middle East, CIA officials didn't plan on female agents courting relationships with foreign assets and managing them. Named a "Reports Officer," she was expected to stay in her lane and do tamer work. According to one CIA review in 1960 “there is a general feeling that the preparation of reports is a tedious and incidental chore, to be avoided like the plague by any promising and ambitious young man who wants to get ahead in operations.” But she proved herself, and thus other women, could successfully run operations under the intense pressure in the world of counterintelligence. She also did so under the aggressive scrutiny of her male bosses. After her work in Baghdad securing important Soviet secrets, Elizabeth's station chief nominated her for the Intelligence Medal of Merit, which prompted controversy over whether a female who was not listed as an operations officer could win distinction for an operational act. Colleagues argued on her behalf and eventually in 1962, Elizabeth received the medal.  Elizabeth Sudmeier receiving her second medal of honor from the CIA. A CIA officer who knew Elizabeth in the 1950s recalled how she paved the way for women in the CIA: “She was a real pistol…. The fact that she accomplished so much is incredible given the general antagonism of NE officers to women functioning as ops officers." Despite of her accomplishments, superiors in the CIA did not promote Elizabeth, passing over her for eight years. An officer who knew her said, "I can tell you outright that hers was a monumental struggle as NE Division was dead set against the idea and concept of a female ops officer.” This was after she had accomplished the job! Elizabeth was born in 1912, in the small railroad town of Timber Lake, South Dakota, near the Sioux Nation. She was raised by a Sioux nanny for much of her childhood and became fluent in the Sioux language, which her father also spoke.  Elizabeth in the arms of her Sioux nanny, 1912. After high school, Elizabeth studied English Literature at The College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, earning a B.A. in 1933. She returned to South Dakota and taught high school English a few years, then got a secretarial job at St. Paul, MN bank. During World War II she joined the US Army Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, where she was assigned to recruiting.  Elizabeth Sudmeier in a Women’s Army Corps recruiting advertisement, 1944. In March 1947, Elizabeth joined the CIA’s predecessor, the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), as a shorthand stenographer in the Office of Reports and Estimates. When the CIA replaced the CIG four months later, Elizabeth became one of the Agency’s charter members
In October 1951 she transferred to the clandestine service, serving in the Middle East and South Asia for almost nine years. Elizabeth took mandatory retirement on May 12, 1972, at age sixty, dying 1989 at 76. Not even her family knew her covert duties and files relating to her work remained classified until February 2014. However, in 2013, nearly 25 years after he death, Elizabeth received the CIA Trailblazer Award given to “CIA officers whose leadership, achievements, and dedication to mission had a significant impact on the agency’s history and legacy.” Sources https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-women-who-helped-to-build-the-cia-11663992062 https://x.com/CIA/status/1113554329833758720 https://www.stkate.edu/newswire/news/elizabeth-sudmeier-cia-trailblazer https://www.elespanol.com/social/20190408/verdadera-viuda-negra-cia-rescata-fundadora-olvidada/388711686_0.html https://web.archive.org/web/20150905093741/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2015-featured-story-archive/elizabeth-sudmeier-story.html I love the Olympic Games! This year I've only been able to watch a curated selection of events, and the stories of the athletes are amazing as always, their challenges, the competition, the excellence in sport and, of course, the medals. So much to inspire us! This summer in Paris, as has been true in other host cities in the past, there's a dark side to the sparkling events. French authorities cleared out homeless encampments for months prior to the opening ceremonies, busing "undesirable people" out of the city center to the fringes of Paris. Authorities have been sharply criticized as thousands of migrants, squatters, sex workers and families down on their luck have ended up with no shelter. A spokesman for the regional government denied the accusations pre-games "social cleansing" and said the government has relocated migrants from the city for years. “We are taking care of them. We don’t really understand the criticism because we are very much determined to offer places for these people." Hear the stories and see photos from Associated Press here . Or here from ABC News. (5-minute read) Our modern games owe their grand themes, magnificent Olympic stadiums and even cost-overruns to the precedent set by Adolf Hitler's in 1936. The Berlin games were the first ever broadcast on television, and the first to feature the Olympic torch relay from Greece to the site of the games. Nazis planned the torch-lighting and other pageantry in an all-out effort to host an Olympics that would out-shine all previous games. Hitler's grandiose plans for Germany world domination included taking over the Olympics forever. In his desire to show the world the superiority of the Aryan race, he "cleaned-up" Berlin.  Police arrested nearly one-thousand Roma and Sinti people, interning them in a camp on the edge of the city near Berlin's sewage fields. The Gypsies were later deported to Auschwitz. Few stood up to Nazi propaganda portraying Germany as a tolerant and hospitable nation. The only country to boycott the 1936 games was the Soviet Union. But three young Jewish girls gave up their dreams to follow their consciences.  Austrian champion swimmers Judith Deutsch, Ruth Langer and Lucie Goldner, 1936. Judith Deutsch, (left in photo) Austria's top swimmer in the mid-1930s, knew of the persecution of Jews in Germany and she experienced antisemitism in her home country. She and two other Austrian swimmers, Ruth Langer (middle in photo) and Lucie Goldner (right) trained at the Jewish swim club Hakoah in Vienna, Austria because they were barred from public pools, where signs read No entry for dogs and Jews. Ruth Lager grew up in Vienna and took up swimming at age 11, hoping to excel at something her brother did not. At age 14, she broke the Austrian records for the 100-meter and 400-meter freestyles and won the Austrian championships at those distances. Judith dominated Austrian swimming 1934-36. She was national champion in the 100-meter freestyle, 200-meter freestyle, and 400-meter freestyle, setting twelve national records in one year. In 1935, she won the country's highest athletic award Outstanding Austrian Athlete. The three swimmers were selected for the Austrian Olympic Team, due to compete in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany. The games sparked international debate about whether attending the Olympics endorsed Germany's white nationalistic policies and militaristic ambitions. As the Berlin Olympics approached in 1936, Americans, too, debated whether to attend. The US Olympic Committee President, Avery Bundage traveled to Germany to investigate claims of Nazi discrimination against Jews. He reported such claims were exaggerated “and the unhindered continuance of the Olympic movement were more important than the German-Jewish situation.” Lord Melchett of Britain, president of the World Federation of Jewish Sports Clubs recommended Jewish athletes not participate. Not an obvious choice at the time, only a few athletes, Jewish or not, joined the boycott. Judith, Lucie and Ruth took a stand, saying, ''We do not boycott Olympia, but Berlin." In an interview with Reuters, Ruth said, "It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But being Jewish, it was unthinkable to compete in the Games in Nazi Germany, where my people were being persecuted.  Ruth Langer originally held eight Austrian national swimming records. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) Austrian authorities swiftly retaliated, banning the three swimmers from all national and international competition ''due to severe damage of Austrian sports'' and ''gross disrespect for the Olympic spirit.'' In addition, officials erased them from the Austrian record books. Two years later, Germany annexed Austria and singled out Austrian Jews for even worse discrimination. Viennese athletes forced Ruth to clean the SS and SA barracks. Still a teenager, Ruth decided to enter a swim meet in Italy. Dying her brown hair blonde, she carried a forged baptismal certificate as proof she was Roman Catholic. The next year she escaped from Italy to England where, in 1939, she won the British long-distance swimming championship in the Thames. The other two women also escaped the Holocaust. Lucie Goldner, the Austrian backstroke champion, used her swimming connections to flee to London. After WWII, she eventually moved to Australia, where she continued swimming for another Jewish swim club. Judith emigrated to Palestine and became the Israeli national champion. She represented Hebrew University at the 1939 World University Games, winning a silver medal.  Judith Deutsch Haspel, Israeli national champion swimmer. In 1995, when the Austrian government apologized and reinstated the champions’ records, all three women declined to travel to the ceremony. Judith wrote: "I am happy to accept your apologies and the withdrawal of sanctions against me...And in no way do I regret having done what I did sixty years ago." Decades later, before the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Ruth told Reuters: ''Whenever the Games come up again, I get a heartache. It's something that stays with you for the rest of your life.'' Sources
https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/olympics/?content=jewish_athletes_more https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1140536 https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-paris-migrant-camp-3ef2a08d8da1085148ed409dcb44d6f6 https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/migrants-homeless-people-cleared-paris-olympics-112279127 https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/06/sports/ruth-langer-lawrence-77-who-boycotted-36-olympics.html https://lilith.org/articles/swimmers-against-the-tide/ https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/olympics/?content=jewish_athletes_more https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/olympics/?content=aftermath&lang=en Judi Bari made national headlines 30 years ago with her passionate protests against the clearcutting of California's old growth redwoods. She helped organize Redwood Summer, a three-month-long, non-violent protest against logging in Humboldt County. Then just weeks before the kick-off event, a homemade bomb exploded under the driver's seat of Judi's car.  Judi Bari organized nonviolent protests against destructive corporate logging of the redwood forests. Photo courtesy of Greg King Local Oakland, CA, police officers tracked her to the hospital where they arrested the seriously injured woman, labeled her a terrorist and arrested her on arrested on suspicion of transporting illegal explosives. They accused Judi of planting the bomb that nearly killed her.
Two months later, they dropped the charges due to lack of evidence. But why has no one ever been charged in the crime? I was thrilled to take part in a wonderful event! Pulitzer Prize finalist Luis Alberto Uurea came through Spokane, WA, on tour publicizing his newest book Good Night, Irene. Very soon after starting to read this novel, I wished that I had written it, or rather, written a nonfiction book about the Donut Dollies of World War II. These women served coffee, donuts and a slice of home to soldiers on the front lines of battle.  I could not have written this book because Luis Alberto Uurea based it on the true-life experiences of his mother, Phyllis Irene McLaughlin, who traveled across Europe with Patton's army. It's a great adventure story of women's strength, friendship and sacrifice.
The fictional account follows closely the actual service route traveled by Phyllis and her |
I'm fascinated to discover little-known history, stories of people and events that provide a new perspective on why and how things happened, new voices that haven't been heard, insight into how the past brought us here today, and how it might guide us to a better future.
I also post here about my books and feature other authors and their books on compelling and important historical topics. Occasionally, I share what makes me happy, pictures of my garden, recipes I've made, events I've attended, people I've met. I'm always happy to hear from readers in the blog comments, by email or social media. Archives
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