There is a saying: “Behind every great man there’s a great woman.” The Indiana Historical Society’s (IHS) “Women Behaving Badly” event aims to prove women do not need to stand behind men to achieve greatness. Despite coming from different times and contexts, every woman featured shares a sense of rebelliousness that left a mark on history.
“What we really want to talk about is women that went outside of social norms, those renegades and rebels that took a stand for things they believed in and really made a change for Indiana and made it a better place to live,” IHS staff member Callie McCune said.
During the event attendees will enjoy thematic food and drink while “meeting” five historic women from Indiana. Each actress will recite a five-minute monologue before interacting with the audience and answering questions.
Attendees can meet Vivian Carter, a Black radio host and record executive. After hosting the radio show, “Living with Vivian,” Carter founded Vee-Jay Records, the first widely successful African-American record label, with her future husband. The two were instrumental in discovering the Beatles and bringing them to America before Capital Records sued them for the rights to the band’s music.
“The Beatles were the best and worst thing that ever happened to them,” Kara Chinn, intern and researcher at IHS, said.
“Women Behaving Badly” also features Roselyn Richardson, wife of civil rights activist Henry Richardson. The Richardsons were some of the first African-Americans to break Indianapolis’ unwritten rule that Black people did not live in white neighborhoods. Richardson fooled white real estate agents by pretending to check out houses on behalf of another family. Later, when the Richardsons wanted to send their children to the local all-white school, Richardson advocated for desegregating Indianapolis schools.
“Although her husband was a very prominent figure in the city, she did so much on her own that was not as well known,” Chinn said. “She did a lot of things to fight for racial equality that wasn’t intentional. She was just trying to do better things for her family.”
Rhoda Coffin, a Quaker who pioneered prison reform, also is featured. Coffin created a women’s prison, headed the first female prison board and pushed reformation as the goal of incarceration by offering skill training and religious lessons. However, Coffin was not without controversy due to employees’ treatment of prisoners. For example, the prison doctor was accused of conducting surgical experiments on inmates.
“As we did research on Rhoda and really found this sort of complicated story, we grappled with how do we tell that and make sure we’re telling both sides of that,” McCune said.
Anna Barnett, the actresses playing Coffin, said “Women Behaving Badly” performances are interdisciplinary. Performers must know acting, history and whatever field their subject specialized in to answer questions.
“It’s remarkable how many people ask the same type of questions,” Barnett said. “We’ll always get questions that really throw us, but nine times out of 10 people are going to ask the same type of question, and it’s my job to help lead the conversation.”
IHS staff members look forward to both educating and inspiring people.
“There is something really empowering about knowing the women that paved the way for us and something that’s inspiring about it,” McCune said. “I want to do things that people are as jazzed about what I did as we are about Roselyn Richardson.”
Contact staff writer Ben Lashar at 317-762-7848. Follow him on Twitter @BenjaminLashar.
Where: The Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Historical Society, 50 W. Ohio St.
When: 7-9:30 p.m. March 21
Cost: $16 for IHS members, $20 for those who register in advance and $25 at the door.
Registration: Visit www.indianahistory.org, or call 317-232-1882.
