Extraordinary Ordinary Women

Mildred Johnson, a pilot, started a successful air-delivery service in the middle of the Great Depression. Ada “Bricktop” Smith countered the anti-Black racism of the 1920s by moving to Paris to work as a performer and, later, a nightclub owner, and she still found time to teach Harlem’s latest dance to the Prince of Wales. Late at night Maria de Ramirez Kramer listened to out-of-town radio stations for up-and-coming dance bands that she brought to New York City to play at her hotels. These stories and more from researcher Mary Goljenboom, who will present a selection of some of the most interesting and illuminating from her archive of the history of businesswomen and female entrepreneurs, as well as discuss her sources and methods for this often tricky research.

Mary Goljenboom has been a Waukegan resident for more than 40 years, and involved with the Waukegan Historical Society for most of that time, as both a volunteer and former board member. She now volunteers with WHS’s Historic Marker Program. Drawing from a career as a photo-researcher at publishers and museums, she also writes a bimonthly newsletter called The Registry, about the stories of historic female managers and entrepreneurs.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Waukegan Historical Society