Kamini Roy (12 October 1864 – 27 September 1933) was a leading Bengali poet, social worker and feminist in British India. She was the first woman honours graduate in British India.
Born on 12 October 1864 in the village of Basanda, then in Bakergunj district of Bengal Presidency and now in Barisal District of Bangladesh, Roy joined Bethune School in 1883. One of the first girls to attend school in British India, she earned a bachelor of arts degree with Sanskrit honours from Bethune College of the University of Calcutta in 1886 and started teaching there in the same year. Kadambini Ganguly, one of the first two women honors graduates ever in the country, was three years senior to her in the same institution
Kamini hailed from an elite Bengali Baidya family. Her father, Chandi Charan Sen, a judge and a writer, was a leading member of the Brahmo Samaj. She learnt from his collection of books and used his library extensively. She was a mathematical prodigy but later her interest switched to Sanskrit. Nisith Chandra Sen, her brother, was a renowned barrister in the Calcutta High Court, and later the Mayor of Calcutta while sister Jamini was the house physician of the then Nepal Royal family. In 1894 she married Kedarnath Roy.
After graduating with honours distinction from Bethune college in 1886, she received a teaching position from the same college. She took part in the Ilbert Bill agitation. It was during this period which would be productive for her, as she wrote during this time. She quit teaching after 1894. Herein she published for five years. Shortly, she would marry Kedarnath Roy at the age of 30, which was against the norm during that time. It was highly unusual for women to get married in their thirties in colonial Bengal
She had two children with Kedarnath, after which she retired from her writing profession. When asked why she had stopped writing she reportedly said, “My children are my living poems. Kamini returned to writing poetry after the death of her husband in 1909 and her eldest son.
In her later life, she lived at Hazaribagh for some years. In that small town, she often had discussions on literary and other topics with such scholars as Mahesh Chandra Ghosh and Dhirendranath Choudhury. She died on 27 September 1933 while staying in Hazaribagh.
Born on 12 October 1864 in the village of Basanda, then in Bakergunj district of Bengal Presidency and now in Barisal District of Bangladesh, Roy joined Bethune School in 1883. One of the first girls to attend school in British India, she earned a bachelor of arts degree with Sanskrit honours from Bethune College of the University of Calcutta in 1886 and started teaching there in the same year. Kadambini Ganguly, one of the first two women honors graduates ever in the country, was three years senior to her in the same institution
Kamini hailed from an elite Bengali Baidya family. Her father, Chandi Charan Sen, a judge and a writer, was a leading member of the Brahmo Samaj. She learnt from his collection of books and used his library extensively. She was a mathematical prodigy but later her interest switched to Sanskrit. Nisith Chandra Sen, her brother, was a renowned barrister in the Calcutta High Court, and later the Mayor of Calcutta while sister Jamini was the house physician of the then Nepal Royal family. In 1894 she married Kedarnath Roy.
Her writing is simple and elegant. She published her first collection of verses Alo Chhaya in 1889, and two more books after that but then took a break from writing for several years following her marriage and motherhood. She was a feminist at an age when merely getting educated was a taboo for a woman. She picked up the cue for feminism from a fellow student of Bethune School, Abala Bose. Speaking to a girls' school in Calcutta, Roy said that, as Bharati Ray later paraphrased it, "the aim of women's education was to contribute to their all-round development and fulfillment of their potential".
In a Bengali essay titled The Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge she wrote,
In 1921, she was one of the leaders, along with Kumudini Mitra (Basu) and Mrinalini Sen, of the Bangiya Nari Samaj, an organization formed to fight for woman's suffrage. The Bengal Legislative Council granted limited suffrage to women in 1925, allowing Bengali women to exercise their right for the first time in the 1926 Indian general election. She was a member of the Female Labour Investigation CommissionAfter graduating with honours distinction from Bethune college in 1886, she received a teaching position from the same college. She took part in the Ilbert Bill agitation. It was during this period which would be productive for her, as she wrote during this time. She quit teaching after 1894. Herein she published for five years. Shortly, she would marry Kedarnath Roy at the age of 30, which was against the norm during that time. It was highly unusual for women to get married in their thirties in colonial Bengal
She had two children with Kedarnath, after which she retired from her writing profession. When asked why she had stopped writing she reportedly said, “My children are my living poems. Kamini returned to writing poetry after the death of her husband in 1909 and her eldest son.
In her later life, she lived at Hazaribagh for some years. In that small town, she often had discussions on literary and other topics with such scholars as Mahesh Chandra Ghosh and Dhirendranath Choudhury. She died on 27 September 1933 while staying in Hazaribagh.
Among her notable literary contributions were:
- Mahasweta, Pundorik
- Pouraniki
- Dwip O Dhup
- Jibon Pathey
- Nirmalya
- Malya O Nirmalya
- Ashok Sangeet
- Gunjan (Children's book)
- Balika Sikkhar Adarsha (Essays)
Today's Google Doodle celebrates the 155th birth anniversary of the first woman to graduate with honors in the history of India, who went on to advocate for the rights of all women -- Kamini Roy. She was a Bengali poet, educator, and activist.
Born on October 12 in 1864 in the Bakerganj district of British India-now part of Bangladesh- Ms Roy grew up in a prominent family. Her brother was elected Mayor of Calcutta, and her sister was a physician for Nepal's Royal Family. Though interested in mathematics, Kamini Roy began writing poetry at an early age.
In 1886, she graduated with a degree in Sanskrit from Bethune College, earning her BA with honors. In college, she met another student, Abala Bose, who went on to be known for her social work in women's education and alleviating the condition of widows. Her friendship with Abala Bose would inspire her interest in advocating for women's rights.
According to Google, after graduation, Kamini Roy became a teacher at Bethune and published Alo O Chhaya, the first of her many books of poems, in 1889. By forming organizations to champion causes she believed in, she helped advance feminism on the Indian subcontinent.
"Why should a woman be confined to home and denied her rightful place in society?" the poet once wrote.
She also worked to help Bengali women win the right to vote in 1926. For her literary accomplishments, Kamini Roy was awarded the Jagattarini medal by Calcutta University in 1929.
Kamini Roy died in 1933.
Hedy Lamarr
If you’re a classic film buff (and that includes the references made in Blazing Saddles), you may know who Hedy Lamarr is, because in the 1930s and 1940s, she starred in some well known movies including Boom Town with Clark Gable and Samson and Delilah with Victor Mature. Supposedly, she was the first choice of a producer to play Ilsa Lund in Casablanca, but the part ultimately went to Ingrid Bergman.
While she’s almost certainly the most famous person on our list, Lamarr didn’t change the world because she starred in some old movies, though. Instead it was her hobby that changed the world. In her spare time, Lamarr liked to work on inventions.
In 1942, Lamarr was at the height of her acting career, but she wanted to help in the war effort. Specifically, she wanted to help the Allies come up with a communications system that couldn’t be intercepted by enemies. So she and her friend, composer George Antheil, patented an idea for something they called the “Secret Communications System.” It was a system that would change radio frequencies in a per-programmed method. If someone was listening, they would only hear snippets before it changed to a different frequency.
Ultimately, the military didn’t end up using the system. But decades later, Lamarr and Antheil’s patent became really important because it was a cheap and effective way to create security in new emerging technologies like military communication, cellular phones, and WiFi.
As for Lamarr, her film career cooled down in the 1950s and her last movie was released in 1958. She became reclusive in her later life and passed away on January 19, 2000. She was 86.
Edward Bernays
First of all, no, that’s not Edward Bernays pictured above. But it’s some of his work, and it’s a big part of how he changed the world (for better or worse), as we’re about to tell you. Bernays was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1891, but his family moved to New York City when he was just one. When he was a young boy, he would travel to the Alps in the summer to spend time with his uncle, Sigmund Freud.
As an adult, Bernays opened a public relations office, and his uncle sent him a copy of A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. After reading it, Bernays realized that he could use psychoanalysis to persuade people to buy and do things without them even knowing that he was influencing them. To test his hypothesis, he tried to get women to smoke. In 1929, it was taboo for women to smoke because it made them look sexually promiscuous.
Bernays knew if women could smoke, his client, Lucky Strike cigarettes, would make a lot of money. So Bernays consulted with Dr. A.A. Brill, who was the top psychoanalyst in New York. Brill said that cigarettes were symbolic of male power.
Bernays came up with a campaign where he called Lucky Strike cigarettes “Torches of Freedom.” He then got a list of debutantes from Vogue magazine and told them that if they smoked cigarettes in a very public place, like Fifth Avenue, that they would be helping women’s rights. They were told to gather for the “protest” at the Easter Parade on April 1, 1929, and the press was alerted that the women would be gathering to smoke.
The press came out in droves and the story of women lighting up cigarettes made news both nationally and internationally. While it did very little for women’s rights, it did help Bernays and the tobacco industry.
The Beechnut Packing Company also hired Bernays because they were having a problem selling one of their products – bacon. Yes, that’s right: there was a time in America when bacon wasn’t popular.
To get people to eat more bacon, Bernays surveyed physicians and asked them what would be better: a light breakfast or a hearty breakfast. They overwhelmingly responded that a hearty breakfast was better, so Bernays created a marketing campaign that doctors recommend a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast; ultimately giving birth to the All-American breakfast.
Those are just two very specific ways Bernays changed the world, but his application of psychoanalysis to public relations has had a ripple effect on both advertising and propaganda that is still felt today.
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