Nurkhon Yuldashkhojayeva

Nurkhon Yuldashkhojayeva
Nurxon Yoʻldoshxoʻjayeva
Нурхон Йўлдошхўжаева
Born1913
Margilan, Russian Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan)
Died1 July 1929 (aged 16)
Margilan, Uzbek SSR, USSR
Cause of deathStabbed in an honor killing
MonumentsStatue dedicated in 1960s but removed shortly after Uzbekistan gained independence
Occupation(s)Dancer, actress
Known forRemoving veil in public

Nurkhon Yuldashkhojayeva (Uzbek: Nurxon Yoʻldoshxoʻjayeva, Нурхон Йўлдошхўжаева; c.1913– 1 July 1929) was one of the first Uzbek women actresses and one of the first Uzbek woman to dance onstage without a paranja. A rising star in Uzbek theater, her career was cut short in 1929 by an honor killing, she became a symbol of women’s liberation and resistance to feudalism.