A convention to consider the rights of women was helpin held. The Committee Found grievances against the government of men to be the same number that american men have had against king george. Yearsk George Washington to rectify grievances by war, but 72 years to establish womens rights by law. Amassmeantsss mean were needed. Womens suffrage is a long story of hard work crowned by victory. Host Colleen Shogan is the vice chair of the womens Suffrage Centennial womens Suffrage Centennial commission. She is also the vice chair of the White House Historical association, joining us here in washington and. Thank you so much for being with us. Guest thank you, and good morning. Host lets talk about the significance of this week, august 16, 1920, and the key role it played in the 19th amendment. Guest yes, in august of 1920, 30 five states had ratified the 19th but the 36th state was elusive. There w according to the constitution, three fourths number of states had to ratify to make the 19th amendment part of the constitution. Really the last battle came down to tennessee here and there was not another obvious state that could ratify the 19 amendment. If women were going to have the right to vote in the 1920 election, it came down to tennessee. And one keysee vote. This is the headline from the washington post. A mothers letter, a sons choice. The letter was written by the byrne. Of harry who was he . Guest the youngest legislator in the Tennessee State house. He represented east tennessee. His district was not particularly supportive of the 19th amendment. Ae governor had called special session for tennessee to considerately 90 the amendment. Consider the 19th amendment. Believed theyers did not have the votes to pass the 19th amendment in the Tennessee State house. They were shocked when harry burn, who had been voting against them for all the other procedural votes, changed his aye vote, which pushed it over the top. They do not know he had received a letter from his mother that morning delivered at the Tennessee State house floor that asked harry to vote for womens suffrage and to be a good boy and listen to the leader of the Suffrage Movement in nashville. Urn decided to listen to his mother. He was a supportive of womens suffrage, but before, his constituents were not. He said later on he will listen to his mother and voted for womens suffrage, which is what put the vote over the top and gave the suffragists the win. Who was Carrie Chapman catt . Guest one of the most import figures in womens suffrage history. She was growing up in rural iowa. She was the daughter of foreigners. 1872 president ial election, and her mother and father were both politically engaged. The day of the election came. Her father got ready to go into town to vote along with some of the farmworkers, who worked on the farm for their father. Why hernot understand mother was not getting ready to go into town to vote. She asked, arent you going to town with dad to vote . Everybody laughed and said, you not be silly. Women do not vote. That is probably the moment, when she was 13 years old, that catt became an suffragist. She started her career in iowa. She was married and moved to the northeast and became involved with the National American womens Suffrage Association. She became the protege of susan b anthony. Susan b. Anthony knew she probably would not live to see women voting across the United States. Anthony decided she need to recruit women who would take her place, and carrie cha p b. N catt was the woman Susan Anthony recruited. She played a pivotal role several times in womens Suffrage Movement, certainly as a strategist and in nashville, tennessee. Host those demonstrations came to washington, d. C. We have pictures from outside the white house. What role did Woodrow Wilson play in this . Wilson, when he came to the white house in 1913, was not a supporter of womens suffrage. He tried to avoid the issue as much as possible. As time went on, he did grow and change his opinion when he realized it would hurt him. It would hurt the Democratic Party for a long time in the future if he did not change his opinion. Aliceffragists, led by or the first United States citizens to protest in front of the white house. They started in 1917. At first, Woodrow Wilson was lukewarm at their presence. He might tip his hat at them or politely not at them when he would exit the north gate of the white house, but things changed when the United States entered world war i. After the United States was involved in the war effort and the suffragists are made outside the white house protesting, Woodrow Wilson grew angry. Time, heain point in ordered they be removed. The d. C. Police started arresting women outside the white house. Up, approximately 158 women were arrested outside the white house for the two years in which they protested and served prison time in the d. C. Jail or occoquan workouts south work house south of washington, d. C. Host what was the charge . Guest obstructing traffic. They were standing in front of the sidewalk. It was a false charge. They were acting on the orders of the administration to remove the women from the area outside the white house. They were not breaking any laws. They were exercising free speech. Just because they cannot vote at the time did not mean they were not citizens and did not have the right to free speech. Host as we look at this movement that really began in 1910, 1912,arly demonstrations reaching a fever pitch in 1915 in new york city, what was the argument against giving women the right to vote . Guest there were numerous arguments. There was opposition from many men, as you might imagine, but there was also a number of antisuffrage womens organizations as well. What it was was that a lot of men and women viewed womens role as being head of the family, being involved in civic organizations but private civic organizations. They do not view women as having a role in the public sphere. Many women opposed to suffrage thought if women did have the right to vote and moved into the public sphere that they would lose their power and authority within the private sphere and family. Want to giveid not up that status. It is hard for us to understand, but 100 years ago there was not really the conception that women could play a role in both eres, that women could be have powerful positions in government but also play a role in the family and private sphere. That was not viewed as being an alternative for the women in the antiSuffrage Movement. They thought of it as either or. Host Colleen Shogan is the Senior Vice President of the our phone lines are open and we are dividing the phone lines regionally. 202 7488000 for those of you in the eastern half of the country. If you are in mountain or pacific time zones, 202 7488001. Suffragists versus suffragettes. There is a difference. Guest it is one of the first things you learn when you start to study the womens Suffrage Movement appearance suffragettes is a Suffrage Movement. Suffragette is a british term. A british journalist wrote a negative article about the british women who were advocating for the right to vote. He came up with the term teffragette, adding that et to the end of it to make them sound small and diminutive. That is really a way in which to say the efforts are to be minimized of these particular individuals. What the women advocating for the right to vote in britain did was they espoused that term. They took it on they made it their own. They made it their own, powerful term. Alice paul, who was an american living in Great Britain at the time and became part of the british womens Suffrage Movement, really did not like the term suffragette. She thought it did make women seem to menu to and not as powerful diminutive and not as powerful as they should be. Alice paul left Great Britain and returned to the United States and became a leader in womens Suffrage Movements in the United States. She said it would only ever be suffragist and never suffragette. When she created her own publication for the National Womens party, it was called the suffragist. When we talk about american women who advocated for the right to vote, we use the term suffragist. We talk about british women who advocated for the right to vote, the correct term suffragette. 36th tennessee becomes the state to ratify the 19th amendment to the constitution. What happened next . Guest women did vote in the 1920 election. They voted probably the turnout we can estimate between 33 and 36 . Womens turnout increased over time. By 1980, the proportion of women voting in the United States menassed the proportion of voting in the United States. The editorial cartoons with the caption skys the limit. In 2020, an africanamerican woman on a major party ticket, the third time there has been a woman on the ticket since 1984. Guest it is all in a continuum of history. That is why i like that cartoon. It shows women moving up the ladder. We have seen a historic nomination with Vice President candidate kamala harris. She stands on the shoulders of many women who came before, not only the suffragists, but many black women who advocated for the right to vote even after 1920, up until 1965. And of course all the women who have served as members of congress and have run for president as well. Guest host carol is first up from oregon. I really enjoyed this conversation. I am a daughter of the revolution, and we talk about these things will we have our meeting. The subject you just happened to mention was the African Women. There was one thing i would like to see pointed out my the fact that, when African Women wanted to join the other womens group they actually said, well, you might hurt us a little bit. They still went on and got that right to vote. If we could hear more about that, that would be great. Thank you for bringing this up. This is great. Host thanks for the call. Guest africanamerican women unfortunately were often shut out of leadership positions in the two major womens suffrage organizations in the United States, the National Womens party run by alice paul, the National American womens severed association run by Carrie Chapman catt. They spoke. They were members, but they were not powerful within these organizations and institutions. That did not mean they stopped advocating for the right of all women to vote. They formed their own club, their own organizations and were heavily involved. Evenafricanamerican women protested in front of the white house. Alice paul would call upon them to do so. Host from louisville, kentucky. I wanted to reveal a story to you. I knew a lady3, named lucy stevens. Suffragist, if i am saying that right. I found myself homeless back onn, and i used to see her the street every morning walking to the Neighborhood Grocery store. She would carry groceries. I said, how are you this morning . She would be so spry and talk just the way you are talking on tv now. She was very alert, very intelligent. She was a cotillion lady. She was a little lady, about pounds, and she was a sweetheart. I wanted to relate that to you. She talked about her times when she was a young woman and when she was in that movement. I was blessed just to know her. She was a wonderful person. I wanted to reveal that to you. Host any reaction . Guest this is part of the reason why we have the centennial celebration celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, to recall the stories of these women. There may be a little bit of a mythology with the womens Suffrage Movement. If it is taught at all in American History, it might be Something Like women advocated for the right to vote, they politely held signs, they donned their parasols. Before you know it, they were granted the right to vote. That is not really the accurate history that we are trying to tell at the womens Suffrage Centennial commission or the White House Historical association. These women had to fight hard for the right to vote. The movement lasted 72 years, from 1848 to 1920. There were a lot of bumps along the way. There were a lot of men in power who told them no, and they figured out a way. They would go back, restrategize, and come back at it again. It is a tremendous point in American History that we can all learn from. Did it reach that crescendo from 1912 until the summer of 1920 . Guest there were a number of reasons. Other countries are starting to grant women the right to vote, so there was a world red worldwide pressure. In that particular era, world war i ended up helping women in the United States because women participated in the war effort as nurses and took over jobs from men who were deployed in europe. It was hard for Woodrow Wilson forothers to advocate democracy abroad and then realize they were disenfranchising over 20 million americans at home. The hypocrisy of that rhetoric became apparent. In fact, Woodrow Wilson had to admit there is no way we cannot acknowledge women should have the right full rights as citizens given how they have participated as leaders in this war effort. Had threerow wilson daughters from his first wife. Did they put pressure on him to support the 19th amendment . Guest there is not too much evidence for that, though one of his daughters was supportive of the Suffrage Movement and did appear at several womens suffrage conventions. There is not much of a record whether she petitioned Woodrow Wilson or asked her father to support the movement. One woman that was not supportive was Woodrow Wilsons second wife. She was an antisuffragist. She did not think women should have the right to vote. She was not supportive of the 19th amendment. She would definitely not have been in favor for Woodrow Wilson. Host the president at the time was in poor health, having suffered a stroke. Time, carrie catt had to go to him during helpication to enlist his with other democratic governors around the United States so they would call their legislatures the ratification could move forward across the United States. Edithd to work through wilson to do that. Woodrow wilson head stated he was in favor of the amendment. From florida, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have a question about the first women to break ground as far as congress and the u. S. Governor. The first woman elected to congress happened in 1916, before the 90 the amendment was ratified. Are you saying all men voted for her . The first woman governor i believe was in wyoming. Host lets talk about jeanette rankin. She was elected before women had the right to vote. She was an only served one term in the house. Then she came back to the United States congress after she had lost the bid to become senator. Jeanette rankin did serve an Important Role when she was in the house. They made her the chair of committee that we consider the nine to the amendment, even though she was only a freshman member of congress at the time. She did throw her support behind the amendment so women across the United States would have the right to vote. Jan, you are next. I have a story to tell about my grandmother, who was born in 1869. She was 50 years old. Ratified. Mendment was my mother was talking to her. She was from north carolina, as was my grandfather. She was baptist. He was republican. She was democrat. My mother asked out right on election day, why are you going down to vote . You are only canceling each other out. She said, because i waited too long to get the right to vote and i am going to exercise it. From my grandmother. Host thanks for sharing the story with us. Guest that is a terrific story and this is a good occasion to share those stories from others, from grandmothers, from greatgrandmothers if youre able to do that. When i was looking at my grandmothers birthday, i had just learned about the 19th amendment in school. I realized she was born before women had the right to vote. Even as a little girl, that befuddled me. What would it be like to be born into a society that you did not have the right to vote . From arlene is next lexington park, maryland. Caller i have a question as to andnative american women when their involvement was the 90 the amendment. Was there any . There was. I am not an expert in that particular history, but there was native american involvement , and manyht to vote historians have started to write more about native american womens involvement in the right to vote. Historically, native american women did have the right to vote with in their communities, so they are some of the earliest examples of women being politically active and being involved in their communities and having a say in what their communities decide to do and how they operate. Guest you talk host you talked about Carrie Chapman catt, but what about shoot sue shelton . Guest are you talking about sue white . She was the National Womens Party Representative in tennessee. For that final battle, alice paul was the head of the National Womens party, but alice paul did not come down to tennessee for that final battle. , two reasonseason first, the National Womens party was struggling for money and donations at the time. For alice paul stayed in washington, d. C. And wanted to raise money and get more donations so she could support the efforts in tennessee. She felt like she could play a role at the fundraiser. The other reason was sue white had been born in tennessee and had roots in tennessee. What alice paul concluded was it would be better to have Tennessee Women advocating and interfacing with legislators in tennessee rather than outsiders. Even Carrie Chapman catt, very involved in nashville, stayed in her hotel room. She did not interface directly with legislators deciding how to vote on the 90 the amendment. She had her supporters from the National American womens Suffrage Association who had tennessee ties doing that for her. We talked about Elizabeth Standen and susan b. Anthony, who were pioneers in this and what role do they play . Andt susan b. Anthony Elizabeth Cady stanton and other earlier supporters of the womens Suffrage Movement were not alive when this happened. They had died earlier in the 20th century, so the womens Suffrage Movement really is an example of three generations of the movement. The movement of susan b. Anthony and lucretia montt, lisbeth cady truth, andjourner then the next generation, which would be Carrie Chapman catt and others involved at that point in time. Is therd generation alice paul generation, ida b wells, who are a little younger. Three generations of activism and women to get the 19th amendment over the hurdle to make it part of the constitution. We have a photograph of lucy burns in Fairfax County and virginia. She was house there again for basically disrupting society. Guest correct. She was the american suffragist who spent the most time incarcerated, the most time in prison than any other american suffragist. She was jailed on six occasions, but her sentences were long, so she served more time in prison than anyone else. That is a great photograph. It was likely a staged photograph. These women were resourceful. They would have someone sympathetic to their cause take their picture when they were in prison, whether in the g d. C. Jail or workouts. They would have that photograph taken to the outside and published in newspapers to draw more support and sympathy for their cause. They were masters of political spectacle, of imagery. They knew that was an effective way to garner public support across the United States. Maryland,ilver spring thank you for waiting. I know you spoke earlier in regards to africanamerican alongside even though they didnt even though they could bring harm to the demonstration. I wonder if youre familiar with a book by martha jones, a president ial professor at johns called University Birthright citizens. The roles about africanamerican played in the i have notvement and heard you speak about harlequin brown. She wrote a book called homespun heroes in 1926. Also, our africanamerican women going to be represented in the celebration . Martha joness book vanguard, i cannot recommend it enough. Martha is the expert on black women in the suffragette ofement and in the history american politics in general. Andcommend that book anything else she writes. Absolutely. One of the things for the commission, whenever we were first organizing and talking and planning for the centennial celebration, one of the things we wanted to do was to tell the full story of the womens Suffrage Movement. That is an inclusive history, which would include the stories of africanamerican women, need of, chinese women, other women involved in the movement who typically or in previous commemorations were not fully given their due. The truth is you cannot understand the history of the womens Suffrage Movement because it is an american story. You cannot understand it without understanding the Important Role that race played at various times in the movement. It is impossible. Roleu are not taking the of race seriously and including that in the analysis or history, you are not telling the full story of the american womens Suffrage Movement. Initiative, of our and i would say that, if you go to our website, we have a terrific series. You will see all kinds of information and profiles of various women who played roles in the womens Suffrage Movement, including the role of black women. Start ofs marks the two weeks of backtoback political conventions. The Republican Convention held in chicago, nominating warren g. Harding. The democrats met in july of 1920. They nominated Franklin D Roosevelt as Vice President. Out in thesue play Party Convention . Guest it did. At the Republican Convention, there was a lot of photographs and images of the National Womens party, including alice paul herself going to the convention and protesting outside the convention. You might ask, why were they protesting at the Republican Convention . Republicans were more supportive of womens suffrage earlier than the Democratic Party. The reason was they were marching toward trying to find 36th state to ratify. States that were potential ratification possibilities, but they were both headed by republican governors. That was vermont and connecticut. What they did was go to Republican Conventions and protest outside to try to get Warren Harding to strong arm or convince those two republican governors to take up womens suffrage in the state legislature and call a special session. They thought, correctly, that if a special session was called that state legislators would go for the amendment. They wanted to make sure suffrage was included in the party platform. Havingre successful in suffrage included in the party platform. They were not successful in convincing Warren Harding to put pressure on those governors to have them take up the suffrage debate in the state legislatures. They also went to the Democratic Convention in san francisco, and the main goal was to make sure the 19th amendment and support for womens suffrage was included in the platform. They were successful there. Ratified tennessee not the 19th amendment, what would have happened next . The two possible next states in line were the northeastern states. That is probably where it would have gone, but it would never have happened with enough time to have women vote in the 1920 election. Most likely, that would not have happened until 1921. It might have been favorable. You think it wouldve been favorable after tennessee voted to become the 36 state. Those other states did fall in ratified subsequently, but it would never happen for women to have the vote by the 1920 election. This happened 100 years ago this week. Caller good morning, america. ,ith all due respect, colleen American Indians did not become recognized as citizens of their own country. In 1924. The women could not have been in the suffrage marching. Free the native women were , and they held the standard as well as the men. They could do the job. Be we became under the u. S. Government when i am sorry, i get these senior moments. We lost our freedom. Today, our native women and girls are still being raped and killed, and u. S. Government cannot cover up. How about that . Thank you. Guest the caller is correct about 1924. That is that is an important larger point about the 19th amendment. The 19th amendment we often use verbiage that it gave women the right to vote or enfranchised women. It did not. What it did was prevent the United States or the states from creating laws or barriers that , thatd to gender or sex would prevent citizens from voting. Gender was no longer a reason why the vote could be denied, but there were other reasons for why the vote could be denied, as the caller outlined. That is why the 19th amendment unfortunately did not result in all women having the right to vote in 1920. Host this is a photograph from france. The French Movement was well underway. How did the u. S. Compare with other countries in europe or elsewhere . The first country to give women the right to vote is new zealand. Australia follows soon after that. The first european country to enfranchised women is finland. It is followed by a number of other countries, norway, the other lens. Great britain gives women the right to vote in 1918, but only in a limited sense. Age, so it isn by not until 1928 that all women are able to vote in Great Britain. Germany and russia enfranchised women before the United States, canada in 1917. He United States in 1920 subsequently, france in the 1940s, italy in the 1940s. The United States, when you look at the list of the countries and dates in which they enfranchised women, United States is about middle of the pack. They were not the leader, but will they were not the last country to enfranchised women. Host thank you for waiting. Good morning. Colleen,hanks so much, for what you are doing. I have a story of my great grandmother, who happens to be a socialite from canada city, missouri. One of the things you might is what happens to people who were upperclass that were involved in this womens suffrage union. My great grandma married an alcoholic. As a result, she joined a womens christian temperance union. Was part of a throwback from world war i when the guys came home and world drunkards. Were all drunkards. That got the women really inspired to go forward with their suffrage process. It got people outraged. My greate things grandmother did later in her life was to write cowboy novels. The reason why that was is we were cousins to a guy named jesse wilson james. We were third cousins and they were on a train. Shereatgrandmothers mom, was in the 70s. That was in the 1870s im talking about. They were robbed by jesse james on the train. When jesse james came, he said, arent you my cousin . Kieran he gave the money back she said, yes. He gave the money back. There were a lot of things going on in the society at that time. I think the impact of suffrage ingredientsation of that came about where women had been disenfranchised over a long time. Even the salem witch trials were nothing more than urban renewal where they found women at risk because their husbands died and left them with a lot of money and people wanted to take that money. Host you have to write a book. Talk about some connections. It is even worse because i have not mentioned we are related to rutherford b hayes. E are second, third cousins also to Woodrow Wilson. Incestuous part of this process is there were a lot of socialites involved. My greatgrandmother came from canada. That is what started for her. Host six degrees of separation. Caller one more thing i might years, she her later was writing cowboy novels. I will tell you how women get disenfranchised. When she first started writing cowboy novels about her life, she would send it in with her name on it and no one would publish a woman author. She changed her name to her name to get sons the publisher to publish the cowboy novels. Host now you have to write the book. We will feature it on book tv. Thank you. Guest the first point is about class. There were women who were working class industrial workers, teachers who became part of a movement. Also wealthier women who became involved in the movement. Some became funders to the movement. We have the belmont paul house named after the founder for the National Womens party. Some of the women did not just write checks. They stood outside. They were protesters. This is what draws a lot of Woodrow Wilsons attention. When some of these women are being arrested are more prominent in society and their husbands are friends with Woodrow Wilson and they come into the white house and complained to wilson, saying why is my wife in jail or in prison 22 miles south of washington, d. C. In a workhouse, that starts attentionsons because of the spouses coming to complain to wilson about the treatment. There were also workingclass women, women who worked in education, who would travel across United States to come particularly for alice paul and participate in the pickets. Theother question was about womens Suffrage Movement. The caller is correct with that. Movementsat least two. Earlier was the abolition movement. Many of the early suffragists gained their organization, political skills, how to give a speech, righty speech, how to write an article for a newspaper, all through the abolition movement. Later on was also the temperance wasment and union, which the major organization. The two heads of the major sympathetic tore the movement, but they try to keep it separate from the womens Suffrage Movement because they did not want to offend others that were not supportive of temperance. They wanted to make sure they had the widest tent possible. Host this is one of the many photographs we have been showing kieran this is from 1913 as women from Foreign Countries in washington, d. C. Push for womens right to vote. These parades demonstrations, and what was the reaction by the general public . Guest that is the famous paris that took place on march 3, 1913. Socialhe first major protest in washington, d. C. , the first parade of its time, the first march on the capital that takes place. Parade, alice paul, who is the organizer along with lucy burns, they do not know how many people would show up. Historians disagree about the number of people in the crowd, but was probably between 150000 and 200,000 people. Or as thegot rowdy day went on. Saloons thatlot of lined the parade route on pennsylvania avenue. Then you go in and out of the saloons and get a drink and come back. At the end, most of the men were intoxicated. They rushed out onto the parade route. There was a lot of physical abuse upon the women. The d. C. Police were not helpful to the suffragists who were marching, and the secretary of war at the time was watching the parade. He had to call out the calvary to come in and break up the mob that had existed so the women could continue down pennsylvania avenue and finish the treasury department, which was the end point of the parade. These took place major cities. You might say, why was alice paul so interested in having a whene, especially Something Like this could happen in 1913, which seems like a disaster . They had brought great attention to the cause. Alice pauls strategy was, the more i can create a spectacle, the more i can be in the news about womens suffrage, more people will learn about the fact that women do not have the vote all across the United States and the more people that will become some pathetic to the cause. She was a master at expanding the scope of the conflict. Mensthere was also the league for womens suffrage. What was the mission . Guest it was a myth to say this was men versus women in this movement. There were many men along the supportive of womens suffrage, who organized along with the women. We do not see them in a lot of the photographs. Alice paul wanted to have the actual members of her party photograph in front of the white house and show them in various situations in which they were advocating for the right to vote. There were many men along the way who were supportive of Elizabeth Cady stanton, her husband. Husbandhapman catts essentially bankrolled her participation in the movement because he was able to support travelssupport her related to womens suffrage. Host michael is next, new york. Caller good morning. It is so fitting, this topic you guys are talking about with womens rights and everything going on in the world. As we reflect back, we look back into the Abolitionist Movement and how instrumental women were. It ties right into the next Movement Come out to the Suffrage Movement, where Harriet Tubman was this abolitionist that helped free slaves. Now we have to look at women as being instrumental in this process of getting rights to vote. Hads fitting today you guys this on and the way things are going with the post office and rights to vote. It is so important to exercise our right, and women saw that. I love history. I love to see this stuff. It reminds us where we came from. Locally, every time i drive through the town, it is a sight to see. A museum up there and everything. I do not know if you have ever been there. Guest i was scheduled to go to seneca falls this summer. We had a big celebration planned for seneca falls as part of their Convention Day celebration every july. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we were unable to make that trip. However, the commission has decided in lieu of what we had planned in july we had been working with a sculptor. We are going to be adding a series of monuments at seneca falls commemorating diverse women in the movement. Those plans are underway, and we hope to have the statues erected next year. Host you mentioned edith wilson, who was the second wife of Woodrow Wilson after the death of his first wife, opposed to womens right to vote. Was there an organized effort by her or other women that did not want to see women have the right to vote . Guest absolutely. Inth wilson was not involved the nt Suffrage Movement. She was personally antisuffrage and made her opinions known to Woodrow Wilson and others in the white house. There was organized antisuffrage, organizations and clubs, just as there were womens suffrage organizations to promote the 19th amendment. There were organizations that had been constructed to stop the 19th amendment. You see this clearly in tennessee, in nashville at this final fight in august of 1920. All of the organizations descend upon nashville, prosuffrage organizations and antisuffrage organizations. Also, we have not talked about this yet, but there were corporate influences. Were special Interest Groups opposed womens suffrage. The manufacturing industry, the railroad industry, and the liquor industry. They played an Important Role in that fight in nashville. They descended upon hermitage andl, set up shop, essentially engaged in aggressive lobbying of all the Tennessee State legislators. Host in case you are interested in todays new york times, this editorial in the milestone and the myth. I was the curator at the Woodrow Wilson museum in washington, d. C. In 1995 for a celebration of the 75th anniversary. I lead a team of three of our other guides and volunteers. I would like to mention a couple things, if you will indulge me. First, there is a gigantic wealth of artifacts and documents across the country for all 50 states for researchers that are researching this or with the boon in ancestry come out looking up what your family might have done. Along the things we borrowed cartoons from what was then the Belmont House in washington, the home of the National Womens party. There were songs there was a wonderful song based on a 1920s dear,hat went, what can the matter be . Women are wanting the vote. Women who would pick it wilson would use his own words against him as they burned his words in kettles and cauldrons on the sidewalk outside the fence at washington i lafayette park. At lafayette park. I would like to mention the clothing that still exists. You see pictures of women handing out various newspapers. I would like to encourage every woman of age to vote this year. When you do study this history, women were jailed. They were given a little jail door pin if they had gone to jail. They were forcefed. Some of those women could never eat well again for the rest of their life, alice paul included, because of the scars and damage from that. It is a hard one battle in this country, one that i hold close to my heart and vote every year, encourage everyone to do so. When wilson did turn the tide, that was part of his speech to congress. When we big laugh started this and started going to archives and identified where we were from. We would have women from archives or women experts turned to us, and they would almost in a whisper go, you do know he was the bad guy, dont you . We will get a kick out of that because we were trying to show the record. He did turn the tide and it was his speech in congress that helps the effort. Host some of that is on display at the wilson house, and we have a photograph of it here in washington, d. C. Where he lived after the presidency. Thanks for the call for maryland. Guest i agree with everything that was set. We certainly have a terrific repository related to the womens Suffrage Movement. My former employer, the library of congress, probably has the most robust collection of womens suffrage manuscripts, prints, and photographs because the librarian of congress at the time was friends with the suffragists and commence them to donate their materials convinced them to donate their materials to the library of congress. The National Archive has a strong record given its role in in history of voting and American History. In the Smithsonian Museum did a lovely exhibit using portraiture to document many women suffragists. Those materials are online. Even though we cannot visit those museums and archives, we can visit them digitally. Host your website, this is what it looks like. We can also include video and aboutical information what happened in august 1920. John is next in texas. Caller i was hoping you could speak about it. 100 years on, it is difficult to understand the point of view of the women antisuffragettes. Can you talk about their fears or reasonings . Host thank you. Simply women at that time who were opposed to the right to vote, there were a couple reasons. Were afraidsimply of giving up their stature within the family and private sphere. They viewed the men in their lives, their husbands, their fathers, their brothers, they thought they could represent ,hem adequately at the polls that politics was a dirty business, that it was not something women who were viewed in the notion of republican motherhood and they were viewed as pure and synced if id. If women entered into that public sanctified. It women entered into the public sphere of politics, they would become dirty like the men. Many women enjoyed that elevated status of purity that was promoted at that time. Even teddy roosevelt, who was a 1912 untilntel 1912 he was hesitant. He said, it would make sense for women to vote, but why would they want to enter this sphere of politics which would damage the reputation . Mothers toe are as their children and the nation. They really should not be advocating for the public sphere and right to vote. In the last battle in tennessee, a lot of women who were opposed to suffrage in tennessee were opposed to women voting because they did not want black women to have the right to vote. They thought the 19th amendment would be a march toward the enfranchisement of more africanamerican women voting in tennessee and also voting elsewhere in the south because the 19th amendment would apply issue wide. It would not simply apply to tennessee. There was great concern about the role of race in that last battle. Host john from virginia. Caller good morning. Curious. Ittle after the civil war, black men all had the right to vote, supposedly, even though democrats did their best to keep them from voting. When women got the right to vote, how did they separate the black women . Why would they not have the right to vote the same as all women since the black men already had the right to vote . Host interesting point. Guest they were subject to the same state laws or local laws that black men were subject to. So the common method in which they would prevent voting on the basis of race was either literacy tests or poll taxes, which were applied throughout the south and in some places in the northeast, at least with literacy tests. The other method used, particularly in the south, was the rise of the ku klux klan. Andhern segregationists weiser premises would use the extralegal method of intimidation to prevent black women and black men from voting. Host put this anniversary into perspective. What was the significance of women getting the right to vote in 1920, and where are we today . Significance of women voting across the United States in 1920 was astronomical. The turnout was somewhere between 33 at 36 . Even that is extraordinary of how many more millions of americans at that point in time were voting in 1920 that had voted in the previous election. The 19th amendment did represent the largest single enfranchisement of american citizens in our nations history. As we look to 2020, women now outvote men proportionally in numbers in the aggregate and also as a percentage. There is an interesting statistic as well. From what we have seen in the past couple elections, africanamerican women vote in higher percentages and proportions than white men in this country. Doubleu think about the disadvantage that africanamerican women have had both because of their gender or sex and because of the race, i think that is really extraordinary statistic to reflect a thing about. Host based on your research, windows women cast their ballots in 1920, did they face pressure at the ballot box . Guest women largely voted republican in 1920, but the 1920 election was a landslide for harding. That was really no surprise. There is a lot of writing that says women simply voted the same way as their husbands or as their fathers. Unfortunately, since there was no exit polling in 1920, there is no way for us to actually know whether that was the case. Host the story of women earning the right to vote 100 years ago. Colleen shogan is the vice chair of the womens Suffrage Centennial commission. She also serves as Senior Vice President of the White House Historical association. Thank you for being with us here
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