tIme March 16–23, 20201920s1927 ▷
Queen Soraya Tarzi
Progressive royal
The daughter of a liberal Afghan intellectual, Queen Soraya
Tarzi was fond of breaking with tradition. As the first
Queen Consort of Afghanistan and wife of King Amanullah
Khan, she became one of the most powerful figures in the
Middle East in the 1920s, and was known throughout the
world for her progressive ideas. Tarzi and Khan worked
closely together; in 1926 he declared, “I am your King, but
the Minister of Education is my wife, your Queen.”
In the face of opposition, the couple campaigned against
polygamy and the veil, and practiced what they preached;
Tarzi was known for tearing off her veil in public and in-
stead wearing wide-brimmed hats with an attached veil. A
fierce believer in women’s rights and education, she opened
the country’s first school for girls, and along with her
mother founded the country’s first women’s magazine in
1927, called Ershad-I-Niswan, or “Guidance for Women.”
Saying that independence “belongs to all of us,” Tarzi
forcefully called for women to “take their part” in nation
building. A second wave of reform in Afghanistan in the
1970s would echo Tarzi’s ideas from 50 years before, with
a rise in women’s education and representation in political
life, and the raising of the marriage age. —Suyin Haynes
◁ 1926
Aimee Semple McPherson
A ministry for the masses
Thousands flocked to her memorial service. Millions lis-
tened in shock as it was reported: “Sister” Aimee Semple
McPherson, the nation’s most famous evangelist of the era,
it seemed, was dead.
A Pentecostal preacher with a knack for publicity,
McPherson gained national fame for traveling the U.S. in
a car painted with Jesus Is comIng soon—get ready,
delivering passionate sermons and faith-healing demonstra-
tions. Thanks to the new medium of radio, she preached in
people’s homes too. By 1926, she had founded a Bible college
and established what would become one of the first mega-
churches, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
in Los Angeles, which has branches around the world today.
Her sermons regularly drew crowds of as many as 30,000.
A month after her reported death in May 1926,
McPherson reappeared, claiming she’d been abducted. News
of her “resurrection” created media madness. Whether the
alleged kidnapping was a publicity stunt is up for debate.
What isn’t is that she blazed a trail for other religious figures.
Her groundbreaking mix of cutting-edge media and old-
time religion set the stage for televangelism and religious
celebrity in the decades to come. —Erin Blakemore(^32) MCPHERSON: BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES; TARZI: RYKOFF COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES