Overlooked No More: Margaret Getchell, Visionary Force at Macy’s
As the store’s first female executive, she helped turn it into what it is today, paving the way for other women to hold senior positions in retail.
By
Overlooked
Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.
Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.
Highlights
Credit Overlooked No More: Go-won-go Mohawk, Trailblazing Indigenous Actress
In the 1880s, the only roles for Indigenous performers were laden with negative stereotypes. So Mohawk decided to write her own narratives.
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CreditNational Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution Overlooked No More: Margaret E. Knight, Innovator of the Flat-Bottomed Paper Bag
She came up with a method of automation so that workers would not have to make the bags by hand. Then she fought for credit for her work.
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CreditBoston Sunday Post, via Newspaper Archive Overlooked No More: Mariama Bâ, Voice of African Feminism
She became a literary star in Senegal with novels that addressed women’s issues as the country, newly free from French colonial rule, was discovering its identity.
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CreditJörg Schmitt/picture alliance, via Getty Images
Overlooked No More: Ellen Armstrong, ‘Marvelous, Mystifying’ Magician of Mirth
Carrying on a family tradition, she brought her singular act, full of illusion and humor, to Black audiences in the segregated South and on up to Philadelphia.
By
Creditvia Michael Claxton Collection Overlooked No More: Gwendolyn B. Bennett, Harlem Renaissance Star Plagued by Misfortune
She was a talented young poet and artist who was central to a fledgling cultural movement, but her life was shrouded by one tragedy after another.
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CreditSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library Overlooked No More: Mabel Addis, Who Pioneered Storytelling in Video Gaming
She was a teacher when she participated in an educational experiment with IBM. As a result, she became the first female video game designer.
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CreditR.W. Burghardt/IBM, via Devin Monnens Overlooked No More: Renee Carroll, ‘World’s Most Famous Hatcheck Girl’
From the cloakroom at Sardi’s, she made her own mark on Broadway, hobnobbing with celebrity clients while safekeeping fedoras, bowlers, derbies and more.
By
Credit Remarkable People We Overlooked in Our Obituaries
The poet Sylvia Plath and the novelist Charlotte Brontë. Ida B. Wells, the anti-lynching activist. These extraordinary people — and so many others — did not have obituaries in The New York Times. Until now.
By Amisha Padnani and
CreditClockwise from top left: Chicago History Museum/Getty Images; National Portrait Gallery, London; Roz Kelly/Michael Ochs Archives, via Getty Images; Lacks Family/The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, via Associated Press; Paul Fearn/Alamy; James Burke/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
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From the Archives: The Last Word
More in From the Archives: The Last Word ›Sandra Day O’Connor’s Last Times Interview
The New York Times sat down with Sandra Day O’Connor in 2008 to discuss her groundbreaking life and work as the first woman on the Supreme Court. She spoke with us with the understanding the interview would be published only after her death.
By Erik OlsenTim WeinerPATRICK FLYNN and
CreditGeorge Tames/The New York Times The Last Word: Angela Lansbury
The New York Times sat down with Angela Lansbury in 2010 to discuss her life and accomplishments on the stage and screen. She spoke with us with the understanding the interview would be published only after her death.
By Mervyn Rothstein and
CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times In a never-before-seen interview, E.O. Wilson sat down with The New York Times in 2008 to talk about his lifelong quest to explore and to protect the planet’s biodiversity.
By Erik OlsenJames Gorman and
CreditKayana Szymczak for The New York Times The Last Word: Stephen Sondheim
In a never-before-seen interview, Stephen Sondheim sat down with The New York Times in June 2008 to talk about his life, career and accomplishments.
By Matthew OrrMervyn Rothstein and
Credit The Last Word: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
For more than 50 years, the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti kept the bohemian and beat spirit alive at his City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. In 2007, he spoke to The Times about his life and legacy.
By Sean Patrick FarrellRobin Stein and
CreditBrian Flaherty for The New York Times
Overlooked No More: Willy de Bruyn, Cycling Champion Who Broke Gender Boundaries
A premiere cyclist in women’s competitions, he helped pave the way for future athletes when he announced that he wanted to live the rest of his life as a man.
By Michael Waters
Overlooked No More: Ursula Parrott, Best-Selling Author and Voice for the Modern Woman
Her writing, from the late 1920s to the late ’40s, about sex, marriage, divorce, child rearing and work-life balance still resonates.
By Marsha Gordon
Overlooked No More: Otto Lucas, ‘God in the Hat World’
His designs made it onto the covers of fashion magazines and onto the heads of celebrities like Greta Garbo. His business closed after he died in a plane crash.
By Jillian Rayfield
Overlooked No More: Lorenza Böttner, Transgender Artist Who Found Beauty in Disability
Böttner, whose specialty was self-portraiture, celebrated her armless body in paintings she created with her mouth and feet while dancing in public.
By Cassidy George
Overlooked No More: Hansa Mehta, Who Fought for Women’s Equality in India and Beyond
For Mehta, women’s rights were human rights, and in all her endeavors she took women’s participation in public and political realms to new heights.
By Radha Vatsal
Overlooked No More: Bill Hosokawa, Journalist Who Chronicled Japanese American History
He fought prejudice and incarceration during World War II to lead a successful career, becoming one of the first editors of color at a metropolitan newspaper.
By Jonathan van Harmelen and Greg Robinson
Overlooked No More: Min Matheson, Labor Leader Who Faced Down Mobsters
As director of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, she fought for better working wages and conditions while wresting control from the mob.
By Steven Greenhouse
Overlooked No More: Lizzie Magie, the Unknown Inventor Behind Monopoly
Magie’s creation, The Landlord’s Game, inspired the spinoff we know today. But credit for the idea long went to someone else.
By Gavin Edwards
Overlooked No More: Henrietta Leavitt, Who Unraveled Mysteries of the Stars
The portrait that emerged from her discovery, called Leavitt’s Law, showed that the universe was hundreds of times bigger than astronomers had imagined.
By Kirk Johnson
Overlooked No More: Yvonne Barr, Who Helped Discover a Cancer-Causing Virus
A virologist, she worked with the pathologist Anthony Epstein, who died last month, in finding for the first time that a virus that could cause cancer. It’s known as the Epstein-Barr virus.
By Delthia Ricks
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