Morro Bay author Vicki Leon explores the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. | Photo: Stan Thompson.
For centuries, women were expected to behave, mind their manners and keep their mouths shut. Yet that fact didnt stop them from speaking out, Morro Bay author Vicki Leon said.
They talked a lot, she said, and their words were preserved on paper, papyrus and clay tablets.
Leon shares the wit and wisdom of 170 historical heroines in her new book, Uppity Women Speak Their Minds. Published by MJF Books in 2015, its the latest in her Uppity Women series of popular history books dedicated to celebrating rebellious belles, daring dames and headstrong heroines through the ages.
Shell speak about her experiences as an author, researcher and traveler on March 30 at the Morro Bay Library.
Leon, 73, first got interested in womens history in 1973 while taking a western civilization class at Sacramento City College. Invited to spend a semester studying the ancient world, Leon told her professor, I'd really like to learn more about women in ancient Greece. I don't want it to be about mythological women, and I don't want it to be about literary women. I want it to be about flesh-and-blood women.
My professor ruefully shook my head, saying, I dont think youre going to find much of anything, Vicki, she recalled, which made her even more determined to show him up and prove something to all those authors who dismissed or ignored long-ago women.
I said, Well, will you let me try?
So began the lengthy process of ferreting out facts about real-life leading ladies, which Leon compared to searching for thousands of little needles in a huge, huge haystack.
Vicki Leon profiles more than 200 heroines, hussies, and harpies in her book Uppity Women of the Renaissance.
Finally, while digging through Harvard University Presss Loeb Classical Library, she found references to two sets of ancient athletes: Spartan royal Cynisca, a champion chariot racer and horse breeder who triumphed at two Olympic games in the fourth century B.C., and Hedea, Tryphosa and Dionysia, a trio of sisters from Asia Minor who ran, raced war chariots and competed in music competitions across the Roman Empire in the first century A.D.
These discoveries were mind-blowing for me, still a student struggling to learn how to be a successful historical detective, and writing, still fighting to find her voice -- and her audience, Leon recalled. Rather than take an overly serious, overtly scholarly approach, she resolved to write about these fantastic gals with irreverence, even humor, with more of the unblinking, bulldog spirit they displayed.
The first book in the series, Uppity Women of Ancient Greece, was published in 1989, followed by Uppity Women of Ancient Times in 1995.
Leon has showcased the lives of women during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, colonial times and the Victorian era in successive Uppity Women books, and contributed a few titles to the Outrageous Women series for younger readers. (Shes also delved into the curious customs of the past in books such as The Joy of Sexus: Lust, Love & Longing in the Ancient World and How to Mellify a Corpse: And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition.)
I've spent many years of my life writing about what women did and what they accomplished, but not nearly as much time writing about what they thought and what they said, and what they might have said had they been able to say it, Leon acknowledged.
Uppity Women Speak Their Minds gives voice to multiple generations of fierce females.
From girls to grannies, queens to slaves, all shared key qualities that made them worth knowing, and worth hearing about as trailblazers and role models, Leon writes in the introduction to the book. No matter their status, these women spoke their minds, often at great personal cost.
Leons subjects range from the well-known -- think Catherine the Great, Sacagawea and Sojourner Truth -- to the relatively obscure. Few readers may recognize the name of Lady Trieu, a young freedom fighter from third century Vietnam, but its impossible not to be moved by her defiant words: I want to ride the tempest, tame the waves, kill the sharks. I will not resign myself to the usual lot of women who bow their heads and become housewives. Or concubines.
Or consider this powerful statement by abolitionist and political activist Jessie Benton Fr mont, wife of 19th-century military officer, explorer and politician John C. Fr mont: I am like a deeply built ship -- I drive best under a strong wind.
The compact, pocket-sized volume is divided into seven sections, including Brains and Brass, Risk-takers and Roamers and Warriors for a Rainbow of Rights. Each quote comes with biographical details and anecdotes that, Leon explained, lend context and flavor to the womens words.
Leon said the historical figures featured in Uppity Women Speak Their Minds have plenty in common with modern women. They're flexible. They're vital. They have senses of humor. They have clear senses of self-worth, she said.
In celebration of Womens History Month, Leon recently chatted with Artbound about Uppity Women Speak Out.
--
--
What is an uppity woman ? How would you define that term?
All these women had certain qualities in common. They didn't buy into what others said that women should do... They were women who took stock of what they were born with and they just knew how to leverage the pluses they were born with.
They knew how to roll with the punches; they were very flexible women. They must have had quite a bit of vitality because they often outlived one or two husbands... They clearly had senses of humor in order to have made sense of their worlds and just not given up.
They had lively, inquiring minds. And they had just a whole lot of guts.
Who do you c
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
21/10/2025
Broadcast Booms with 20% Uptick vs. August, Achieving Largest Monthly
Increase ...
21/10/2025
During September, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.5%, a marginal shift of -0.5 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YU...
21/10/2025
RENNES, France BBright and GlobalM have conducted a technical trial validating Ultra HD interoperability across the entire contribution chain in the cloud, achi...
21/10/2025
Kokusai Denki Electric America will mark the U.S. debut of a new 4K camera at the 2025 NAB New York, Oct. 22-23. Now available, the Z-HD6500-S1 UHD/HD productio...
21/10/2025
Triveni Digital, a trusted leader in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 service delivery, data broadcasting, and quality assurance solutions, will showcase its entire NEXTGEN TV ...
21/10/2025
Radio Azzurra FM, longest-running radio station in the province of Novara, northwest Italy, has invested in an DHD SX2 audio routing and mixing console for inte...
21/10/2025
Globecast, the leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, has announced the appointment of G Morgan as Executive Vice President of...
21/10/2025
Visual Data announces the appointment of Maz Al-Jumaili as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Localization, to advance client engagement, strategic partnerships, ...
Morro Bay author Vicki Leon explores the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. | Photo: Stan Thompson. 
