Centennial overview of a decision by state. And the current female leaders on the future of the 19th amendment. Thats followed by look at the decade leading up to the passage of the womens vote. Later, a look at lesserknown suffrage leaders. Up next, Hillary Clinton and library of Congress Talk about the fight for women to vote. This is the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. The womans efforts continue commission hosted this conversation. Good afternoon, and welcome. My name is dr. Colleen shokin, im the vice chair of the womens Suffrage Centennial commission. On behalf of the commission and twitter, we are thrilled to bring you women to fight for the vote, celebrating 100 years of the 19th amendment, a conversation with awardwinning historian elaine weiss, and former secretary of state hillary rotem clinton. Moderated by librarian of congress doctor karla hagan. August 26th 2020 marks 100th unit anniversary of the 19th amendment and womens right to vote. In honor of this milestone, american Democracy Congress has designated august as National Womens suffrage month. The womens Suffrage Centennial commission is coordinating National Womens suffrage month, on behalf of congress and the american people. If this history interests you, visit the commission at womens vote 100 that order to learn more and to engage. For now, lets enjoy this conversation between these three billion women as we separate the centennial of womens suffrage and pay tribute to the legacy of the trail blazing suffragists who pave the way for our right to vote. Hello colleen, thanks for that thoughtful introduction. I am librarian of congress, carla hayden and i join you from the suffrage exhibit, shall not be denied. Welcome to womens fight for the vote, celebrating 100 years of the 19th amendment. A conversation with historian elaine weiss and former secretary of state hillary rotem clinton. What a joy it is to be here with these two women discussing this history and the centennial year. Id like to start with a brief interaction. Elaine weiss who is joining me today for this conversation at the library of congress is an Award Winning journalist, writer and historian as well as the author of the womens our, the great fight to win the vote, which tells the story of tennessees role as the 36 and final state to ratify the 19th amendment. And its also just been put out into a Young Readers addition. Also joining us today is secretary hillary rotten clinton. Secretary clinton has a long career in Public Service and i have her 1996 book, it takes a village. That really makes sure that we all consider young people. She was also making history in 2016 as the first woman to earn a major parties nomination for president. She has been a long champion of womens suffrage history and is working as an executive producer on the Television Adaptation of the womens our. So secretary clinton and elaine, lets get started. So to start us off, heres a question for both of you. This was the longest movement in history, so why isnt the story of womens suffrage more widely torn . Secretary clinton . Thanks so much, carla. Im delighted to be here with you and elaine to talk about this. I think your question goes to the heart of the challenges we have faced, which is suffrage history was considered at best and add on to real american history. It was not given the respect and in the academy, it was not the subject of curriculum development. I remember very little in my Public School years of learning about anything having to do with the Suffrage Movement other than eventually women were given, as they would say, the right to vote. So i think that this 100th anniversary, what youve done with the exhibit at the library, the commissioners work, obviously. Great scholarship, like elaines book is filling a vacuum. Because we did not know enough about the history and how it links with the continuing struggle in america to form a more Perfect Union and try, despite all of the setbacks and obstacles, to keep moving toward true equality for everyone. And, elaine, was it difficult with the research because, as the secretary said, it was not a part of i know it was not part of my experience in school at all. Its absolutely true that it has not been taught very deeply in our curricula. But theres always been wonderful scholarship. And it just has not filtered down to why i decided to write the book, there is wonderful primary documents, there is the collection and the library of congress and the Tennessee State archives, there is wonderful, rich documentation of the seven decade movement, and yet it has not filtered down to public awareness, so that is one of the things i wanted to do. I wanted to take those primary documents that tell the story so richly and the scholarly work that has been done and sent the size that and tell a story that would intrigue a modern razor. There are so many themes that we are still grappling with today, so i am very hopeful that there have been wonderful new suffrage books, im surrounded by wonderful new additions that tell the story from different angles. I think thats one of the special things about the centennial is that it is fostering this interest in public scholarship and Popular Culture of looking at this Important Movement and learning the lessons it can teach. As secretary clinton, he served as first lady, a senator, secretary of state and womens Suffrage Movement, didnt have anything to inform your journey, informing what you wore . Yes, indeed. When you come to grips with how hard it was for women to first get included in the constitution and how much more difficult it was to enforce that right, especially for black women, native american women who were left out because of the way the amendment was ignored, and how it was part of the continuing efforts in our country to deny black people and other minorities the right to vote. So i really see what elaine just said as an important point. What happened 100 years ago is still relevant today. I certainly, as first lady and senator, secretary of state and as a democratic nominee thought often about the women who started the Suffrage Movement, women like Sojourner Truth, like Elizabeth Katie stanton, like susan bee anthony. These women did not leave to see the result of all their labor. Sometimes you have to understand that you are in the relay race of history. You are handing off the baton that you have taken from someone else, and i think there is an enormous amount of energy right now at this moment in our history to write wrongs, to bring about a reckoning with racism, sexism, a lot of the challenges that unfortunately we still live with, and that was very present in my mind during the last years. And the early suffragists inspired and encouraged me. Did you feel that as you stood there . Did you knew you are carrying on a legacy . It has been a long time since we got the, vote a long time since any the two Major Political parties had even considered a woman the Vice President ial ticket and then obviously being nominated, i felt like i was standing in that great river of history. I felt so privilege to be there at that moment, to try to link our past, present and future, and that is why i get so much encouragement and im optimistic about this time because young people seem so energized and so committed to doing better and bring everyone in to the american experiment. I was incredibly conscience of it and remain so today because the work continues. It is by no means done. Thats why youre book for Young Readers and making that available to the ten, 11yearolds and what is so powerful is that you give them the history, and then you give them a call to action. You tell them what . Activism its not just a particular time in your life. I think i wanted to show through the story of this and decades long movement, which took on its own momentum through three generations of women. And then had to go on for another 40 years for black women, and almost as long for asian women and native american women. Sometimes these seeds are planted very young. I tell the story of several of the leading suffragists who became conscience of injustice when their children, their young girls and they see their mothers not able to vote, or they see that their fathers who are judges cannot protect women because the laws are written in a way that they had a very few legal rights in the 19th century. I wanted to show the passion for social justice, for any number of passions that young people can recognize because they had a very keen sense of what is just and not, so i think its very important to realize that you can feel that and then gather the tools and the knowledge to, as an adult, or even as a very young adult begin to bring that passion into the world and began creating change. The Suffrage Movement involved protests and demonstrations and also a very sophisticated political strategy. I think it was very important that young people realize that its going to take all of that. Youre going to bring that powerful story to the screen and Television Series by Stephen Spielbergs production company. And, secretary, you are the executive producer. Elaine, how did you feel when you got that call . It was a dream of a lifetime kind of moment. A very special moment. Of course, for me it, with the idea that Hillary Clinton had read my book. That was the most powerful part of it. And then how deeply she understood the power of the story and wanting to make this story available to the largest audience. We agreed, we need to tell the story because its meaningful not just in our history but how we go forward and how we learn from this experience of having to fight for half of the nation to get the vote. The idea of partnering together on this and thats when the most spectacular experiences, young people will be interested in wonderful rollercoaster for us, were not familiar with hollywood and we are learning. Would you agree . Id agree 100 . Carla, i had never done that before. I read a lot of books that had inspired me and ive written letters to authors to thank them for bringing the book alive, but i finished elaines book, womens our and, i was stunned by the beauty of her writing and storytelling, and what a compelling, dramatic story it was, that final effort to get the final state needed to ratify the amendment. I have to confess, i vaguely knew that tennessee was the last state and i had come across the ending of the story where the young legislators changes its vote because of a no he get from his mother, but i had no idea that the real suite of this historic moment in america. So i did call her, and i said you really have to bring this to a larger audience and make sure especially that young people and young women understand that this was hanging by a thread. All of these powerful interests, the alcohol industry, a lot of the attitudes about womens place being in the home, the women who were against it. Theres so much of the status still swirling around in our politics, so i was thrilled when spielberg and his team said they were interested. As elaine said, its a challenge. And even more so because of the pandemic, making a historical work like the womens our which has so much drama already, but making it accessible to this generation. Im really in all of elaines patients. She has done a great guide and understands the significance of this story. Part of that trauma, and i as a woman of color, i just have to give this quote, win the National Museum of African American history and culture opened and the dedication, president george w. Bush said a great nation does not hide its history, it faces its laws and correct them. And that story of race and prejudice and the Suffrage Movement is very compelling. Secretary clinton, can you share your thoughts on that . You mention its to good in the bad in the movement. I think we are coming to understand that every human being as strengths and weaknesses. It has real moments of greatness and sadly, moments of departure of that, flaws go with the process of being a human being, especially one in the public stage. We take very seriously the challenges within the Suffrage Movement. Starting after the civil war because, as you know so well, suffrage and abolition were married. The grim key sisters were preaching for abolition of slavery, but also speaking on behalf of womens rights. Sojourner truth, and so many of the pioneers coming out of the declaration of sentiments in 1848, they were joined by that george douglas. So there was a real marriage of effort and belief, conviction, commitment between the abolitionists and the Suffrage Movement. After the civil war, when the constitution was amended to give blackmon the right to vote, that began a rupture between the two movements. I have tried to understand it from the perspective of everyone involved. And i do understand. Some of the challenges that i think both black and white women tried to deal with. They were sometimes successful and coming together, and recommitting themselves to the struggle, but even until the very end when the pressure was on congress to pass the amendment, you see the calculations of analysis paul, or a carry chapman, or two white suffragists and two black suffragists trying to figure out how do we deal with both sex and race . How do we deal with the prejudices that affect both women and black people, particularly black women . Its a very important part of the story of suffrage and the very important lesson to people in the president , certainly young people Going Forward. You cannot sacrifice any part of your value system. You have to stay firm. Your against racism and against sexism. You want to move everyone forward. Id love to hear elaine talk about that, because she captures the tension in the womens hour and how black suffragists in nashville and tennessee joined forces. I think in a very realistic, pragmatic way with the white suffragists but they knew that their full rights were not being recognized. Elaine, you captured it. We see this happen all the time. We are seeing it today. The powers at the pick to disenfranchised groups against one another and say only one of you can come through as a suffer just. Only one if you can be enfranchised. Only one of you are going to get the legislation that you need to protect yourself. And we see this happen over and over again and the Suffrage Movement. Again, learning the lessons of what went wrong, of the attitudes that hindered universal the idea of universal suffrage of all citizens having the right to vote, i think it is as important of telling the story of why the suffragists ticks seated. And i bring of this alliance of black suffragists and white suffragists, working together for ratification because they are working and every city and town in america, understanding how important the vote was and understanding that in the south, the jim crow laws were going to impede their ability to exercise the 19th amendment. The great disappointment is that the suffragists do not insist that the 19th amendment be enforced and congress refuses to enforce it Going Forward after 1920. It is left to racist legislators and the seven states. This idea that you can have constitutional law, but if its not enforced, if the public will is not Strong Enough to force politicians, then legislation, even congressional even constitutional amendments are not as meaningful or as powerful as they should be. That is a really important lesson for today. And its also a lesson that, leaving aside your colleagues, your sisters who we know are going to have trouble exercising this right and you fought for and one, its going to weaken american democracy because you are not taking that next vital step. Thats important for me to remember today as we are in the congress and even in our city municipal government bodies, trying to right some wrongs. Trying to make a more equal and more Perfect Union. We have to remember that as secretary clinton but so, well you cannot leave your ideals behind for political expediency. That said, there are forces that will make you make of those moral compromises. Its very important but very difficult. Theres hope in looking at history, probably something that made you say i want to make sure this gets to a broader audience because look at the history, it takes everyone. Is that part of what you felt . Absolutely. Carla, the library of congress is a repository of history. You preside over, in effect, the real core of peoples memories, their struggles, their efforts and its such an important job that you had, at the library, and you are taking it out of the library. Similarly, i think we have to take history, not only into our schools, but into the media. Into social media. Into the streets where people have to see as clearly as possible what came before so that they can learn those lessons. You know, elaine just said something i think is so important, and i alluded to it earlier. The relay race of history where you go as far as you can and then you hand off the baton to keep going, you are in this river. Lets say were having a relay race in a river. Every so often, the river backs up on you, or the people running the locks and dams tell you, sorry, only a few of you can get through. You have to wait your time. Its a tough compromise. On the one hand, you want to claim the progress that youve made, pass off the baton to keep going. On the other hand, those compromises just arent fair. So i find this effort that elaine did with the womens our, and a lot of the work that are coming out around suffrage try to fill up the historical record so that we learn more about the black suffragists. We