Program possible. And i am particularly thankful to laura for making this program possible. I have about 45 minutes of stories and information i am excited to share with you. I feel, and i hope you will pose any question you might have. I dont always have the answers but i will give it my best shot. The cover you are looking at there on your screen is the cover of my most recent book, peace on our terms. It is fundamentally tied to the history of world war i which makes this collaboration so important to me. My book is a snapshot of a singular moment in history. Almost exactly 100 years ago. As the world finally began exiting from the devastation of the First World War and was able to begin the dreaming and planning for the peace and the new world that would come afterwards. At this moment, i show in my book that women from farreaching and incredibly diverse parts of the world began stepping onto the global stage and asserting an agenda of womens rights and gender equality that, at the core, demanded the right for women to help shape this new world order and transform it into something so fundamentally different than what had given way to world war i. My book is a story of women from north america, europe, asia, and the middle east. It is a story of white, wealthy women and also sometimes desperately poor, workingclass women. Its a story of women who were married to tremendously supportive husbands and also women who engaged in lifelong singlesex relationships. It is a story of white women and women of color, a story of christians, muslims, jews, hindus, and women who professed no religion at all. It is a story of women from powerful, global empires as well as subjugated and powerless colonies. I argue that, at the end of world war i, in 1919, these pioneering female activists transformed womens rights into a global rallying cry, and it is a rallying cry that continues to reverberate around the world right up to the present day. Here in the u. S. , many of us are very focused on this moment, 100 years ago, because it marks an important anniversary in our own national history, which is the passage and ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution, which granted women the right to vote. And that kinda of begs the question, if these two things happened at roughly the same time, women gained the right to vote in the United States and global feminists began to speak out and establish womens rights as a global agenda, were these two things related . Where they intersected . They intersected . And the answer, to put it right up front, is absolutely yes. And so, while my book is not specifically a book about American History, the stories recorded in it, i think, have a very Important Message about American History and the 19th amendment, which is that this long battle that women fought for economic, social, and Political Rights in this country are embedded in a Global Movement that was designed to secure the equality and humanity of half of the population of this earth. In particular, my book and my talk tonight will emphasize the fact that american women owe the passage of the 19th amendment, at least in a small part, to foreign women. To their International Sisters who brought pressure on americans, and particularly on the american president , Woodrow Wilson, to live up to his own rhetoric of democracy. And the other thing, the equally important thing that my book explains is why some american women, at this moment in 1919 to 1920, just as the movement for suffrage was reaching its climate and it looked as though it was finally going to pass the senate and move on to the states for ratification. At this critical moment, why is it that quite a few dedicated american suffragists chose to leave the United States and go to advocate for womens rights abroad instead of here at home . This was particularly true of women that found themselves somewhat on the margin of the american Suffrage Movement. It includes pacifist women, workingclass labor women, labor suffragists, as well as a fairly large group of africanamerican suffragists. For my talk today, i want to zero in on the global history of the 19th amendment. In the process, introduce some of the pioneering womens rights activists, who are featured in my book and made this post world war i period such a watershed for womens rights, both here in america and around the world. Because i am a historian, i always have to trace back in time. We will start our story in 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War. At that point in time, there were very few women anywhere in the world who enjoyed the right to vote at the federal level, at the National Level. And in fact, there were only four countries and the world that had granted women the right to vote by 1914. The first country to break that threshold was new zealand. Women fought tenaciously for the as you can see, this photo on the screen, women fought tenaciously for the right to vote in new zealand in the light 19th century. And in 1893, they won that right and interestingly and importantly, it was a right that was not qualified by wealth or education level, and it also enfranchised white women and indigenous maori women at the same time. That was the first country. Country to establish women rights womens rights at the National Level. Shortly after, australia granted white women the right to vote. Also prior to world war i, the finland and norway had a right to vote at the National Level established. But that was about it. Suffrage movements had been growing steadily in the years leading up to world war i. That is most famously true in Great Britain and the United States, where suffragists were gaining headlines and attention for increasingly militant tactics, including heckling speakers and staging marches out in public, demanding womens rights to vote. This was in no way uniquely an anglophone phenomenon. In fact, by the early 20th century, women in asia are beginning to establish certainly individual suffragists were beginning to speak out and movements were beginning to form as well. In china, for example, women were very involved in the revolutionary movement that overthrew the Chang Dynasty in 1911. Taking up arms, smuggling bombs in order to make that happen. In 1912, when the first vision all parliament met in china to establish with the new constitution would be, women were not invited but they, nonetheless, broke their way smashed meeting hall, the windows to get the mens attention, and had to be forcibly removed. They refused to quiet down. Also in the early 20th century in the british empire, women from india were also beginning to call for both home rule in india, but also for women to share in the political responsibilities in india. And that would continue to mount. And during world war i, in 1917, indian suffrages put forward their first formal request for the franchise during world war i. It was also true in Continental Europe that women Suffrage Movements had been growing exponentially. And this photograph is taken in paris. You might recognize the background scenery there. Somewhat movingly, this photo was taken in july, 1914, just several weeks before world war i broke out, and this was the first major public demonstration that french suffragists staged in demanding the vote. And i want to point out, in particular on this screen, the woman in the front row in the middle who was wearing a white blouse and a fantastically feathered hat on her head. That woman went by the name marguerite de wittschlumberger. She was the head of the largest french suffragists organization in france. Outside of world war i. She will play a role in a moment, so i wanted you to recognize her face. When world war i broke out in 1914, Suffrage Movements, not everywhere, but by and large, halted their activism in order that women might turn their attention to the war work that their nations were calling upon them to complete. From 1914 through 1918, women in the warring nations stepped into all kinds of social, economic, and even political roles that had been considered rightfully mens spheres up to that point. Up until then. The pictures on the screen represent a few of the types of Economic Activities women engaged in that was vital to supporting the war efforts. Left of the screen, you can see two british ambulance drivers who shuttled wounded shoulders from the front line to some of andimmediate hospitals triage stations. Women were also vital farmers. They took over family farms, but also large commercial farms as well. That picture at the center of the screen is a french postcard from world war i, celebrating these female farmworkers. You can see also on the top row, women who began working in missions factories and, by the thousands. And also women that volunteered to serve as nurses, many for the red cross providing vital medical aid. What all of these women shared in common was that the work they were doing was considered to be absolutely of vital and of fundamental importance to the nation. They were told that what they were doing was not just important to their family, it was important to their country. That gave them a new sense of confidence and citizenship. The United States did not initially join world war i. Woodrow wilson had campaigned on the promise that he had kept america out of the war and would continue to do so. But in april, 1917, nonetheless, wilson went before the American Congress and requested a declaration of war on the germany, thes, austrian army, and the ottoman empire. And he did so insisting that american boys should put their lives on the line because the world must be kept safe for democracy. Now, american suffragists had to decide how to react to this declaration of war. In fact, they split. On the one hand, the militant wing of the american suffrage alice call inby the National Womens party, continued to prioritize their campaigns, saying there is no reason to put it to the side, and all the more reason to amp up pressure. On the lower right hand of the screen, you see one of the many of theho stood outside white house, incense sting house, insisting wilson should not be preaching democracy to the rest of the world while denying democracy at home. These were some of the women that famously served hard time in prison for their refusal to back down. The majority of suffragists, however, followed the lead of the National American womens Suffrage Association and its president , who is the woman all in white with the American Flag on her sleeve, she thought that it would behoove suffragists to throw their support behind the war. And show true through their dedication and patriotism that women were ready for the full responsibilities of citizenship. Historians have been arguing for years which of these two groups, the militants or moderates, were more responsible for finally convincing Woodrow Wilson to support suffrage after a lifetime of opposing it, and also turning the majority of the public and male politicians to supporting the 19th amendment. What my book shows is that another force was at work, in addition to these two, that pushed Woodrow Wilson and others as well to finally endorse a federal amendment. And this force was foreign women. Women from abroad who took Woodrow Wilson at his word when he said this was going to be a war fought for democracy, and indicated to him that american would never be seen as a democracy abroad, unless democracy was established at home. We need to understand that when Woodrow Wilson spoke publicly during world war i, he was never just addressing an american public. His words and speeches were carried all over the world, and in fact, the United States created its first modern propaganda wing, a committee of the committee of public information, specifically to to make sure Woodrow Wilsons words made headlines. Headlines all across the globe. They made front pages of newspapers as we can see from this french newspaper on the screen. Other historians have noted that, in places that wilson could scarcely imagine, his words were taken as a sign of support for liberation and anticolonialism. In places as far away as egypt and colonial vietnam and china, nationalists listened to what he said listened to him when he said that this war must create conditions of National Determination and democracy. What my research showed was that women were paying just as much attention as the male nationalists, and they were strategizing and acting to make sure that wilson was going to follow up on his words with tangible action. In this effort, still in the midst of world war i, marguerite de wittschlumberger, the french suffragist i pointed out earlier earlier, was the first to see that wilson might prove to be the key to establishing womens rights to vote, not just in the United States but all over the world. In 1917, she began sending out letters in the midst of the war to other women from other allied nations in europe, australia, write a letter to wilson and let write a letter to wilson and let and north america, saying, lets us get him to commit, go public with the idea that womens rights are interrole intro. Roll integral on the screen, you are seeing a portion of a draft of the letter. It says to wilson that the women from the allied countries have a wish. We want president wilson in one of his upcoming messages to declare the principal of womens suffrage to be a fundamental pillar of future national law. We want you to go public and not and say, not just in america, that womens suffrage needs to be a part of democracy. They got the letter together by early 1819. It took a while to get it into wilsons hands. Finally, in the spring of 1918, Carrie Chapman catt gave the letter to Woodrow Wilson and much to his shock, he immediately responded. The response he sent off to the suffragists in europe but he also gave permission for it to be published. On the left of your screen, you can see the New York Times article covering wilsons response. He said to french women, i have read your message with the deepest interest, and i welcome the opportunity to say that i agree, without reservation, that the full and sincere democratic reconstruction of the world, for which we are striving and for which we are determined to bring about at any cost, would not be completely or adequately attained until women are admitted to the suffrage. Man, amazing those women had him now, publicly, on front pages of newspapers saying i support womens suffrage as a fundamental pillar of the new Suffrage Movement. There was an extra reason to be excited for foreign women. Highlightedaragraph at the bottom where it says, as for america, it is my hope that the senate of the United States will give an unmistakable answer to this question, taxing the suffrage to the constitution. This was not the very first time that Woodrow Wilson had publicly endorsed federal amendment, but one of the first, and there was pressure coming from abroad was part of what was on his mind as he finally made that decision. In france and in europe, women were elated as well. They sent it out to all of the press agencies and got it in the newspapers as well. And so, wilson was now on record saying he supported womens suffrage as a pillar of this new democratic world order. European, allied suffragists now had this as a tool in their tool chest, and were ready to bring it out, as soon as the war was over. Chapter one of my book chronicles the lobbying campaign that womens rights activists waged in paris during the paris peace conference, the negotiation that came at the end of world war i with all of the allied governments but with Woodrow Wilson in particular throughout these long months of negotiating. French and european feminists were at the epicenter of this push. We are back to marguerite de wittschlumberger who was so was still active, scheming, and planning. This is a letter she sent to wilson on january 18, 1919, the opening day of the paris peace conference. She got him right at the beginning. She reminded him of his promises that he had made publicly during the war, and writing on behalf of french feminists feminists, saying we beg you to use your immense influence. Worlder with other powers. They asked him again to publicly express his sympathy for the more than half of humanity represented by women who, in so many countries, had been condemned to an unjust and cruel silence by the denial of the vote. They did not just want a pledge from wilson. They wanted tangible action. This letter informed him of one thing, and asked him for another. It informed him that french feminists were a conference of suffragists in paris to make sure they were listened to during this peace process, and she also asked Woodrow Wilson if they could meet with him facetoface, at his earliest convenience. Wilson, as you can imagine, was a pretty busy man at the beginning of the paris peace conference. He had dozens and dozens of people knocking on his door, asking for his time and attention. He could have easily dismissed this and brushed it off, but he did not. He gave them an appointment. Sure enough, less then two weeks later, on january 27, he met privately with a number of french suffragists who insisted womens rights should not be forgotten in the plans for peace. Wilsons response to them that day was incredibly encouraging and he said it would seem impossible