Amended Humanities New York

When the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, a large number of Native American women still could not vote. The U.S. government did not recognize them as citizens. And if having U.S. citizenship required them to renounce tribal sovereignty, many Native women didn’t want it. But early-twentieth-century writer, composer, and activist Zitkála-Šá was determined to fight for both.
In this episode, host Laura Free speaks with digital artist Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota) whose art is inspired by Dakota imagery and history, and by Zitkála-Šá’s legacy. Dr. Cathleen Cahill, author of Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement, returns to help tell the story of Zitkála-Šá’s struggle for a “layered” U.S. citizenship that included the acknowledgment of Native American sovereignty.
This final episode of the Amended series demonstrates once again how those who have been marginalized within U.S. democracy have worked, and continue to work, to hold the nation accountable for its promise of liberty and equality for all. 

For a transcript and more about this series, visit amendedpodcast.com. Visit the Amended store to get an Amended podcast mug, shirt, bag, phone case, and more. 

Our Team
Laura Free, Host & Writer
Reva Goldberg, Producer, Editor & Co-Writer
Scarlett Rebman, Project Director & Episode Co-Writer
Vanessa Manko 
Sara Ogger 
Michael Washburn

Episode 6 Guests and Collaborators: Dr. Cathleen Cahill and digital artist Marlena Myles 
Consulting Engineer: Logan Romjue 
Art by Simonair Yoho
Music: “Cinnamon” by Tufawon, Sun Dance Opera clips from a documentary by Palisander Verlag, Michael-John Hancock, Emily Sprague, Pictures of the Floating World (CC), Yusuke Tsutsumi (CC), Meydän (CC), and Live Footage.
Sound library: Freesound.org

The work of Susan Rose Dominguez, Karen Hansen, and Tadeusz Lewandowski helped us immensely in framing our story. 

Amended is produced with major funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and with support from Baird Foundation, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Phil Lewis & Catherine Porter, and C. Evan Stewart. 

Copyright Humanities New York 2021
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In the summer of 1964, about a thousand young Americans, black and white, came together in Mississippi to place themselves in the path of white supremacist power and violence. They issued a bold pro-democracy challenge to the nation and the Democratic Party. 

This week Amended host Laura Free introduces “Freedom Summer,” a special episode from a podcast called Scene on Radio, one of the sources of inspiration for Amended. Season 4 of Scene on Radio was called “The Land that Never Was.” It looks at the nation’s history from its beginnings to the present to understand the deep-rooted challenges that American democracy has never solved. “Freedom Summer” highlights an important chapter in the struggle for equal voting rights. 

Visit amendedpodcast.com for a transcript of the episode. Subscribe to Scene on Radio wherever you get your podcasts.  

“Freedom Summer” Credits:

Produced by John Biewen, with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with John Lewis, Bob Moses, Unita Blackwell, Hollis Watkins, Dorie Ladner, and many others. The series editor is Loretta Williams. Freedom song recordings courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways. Other music by Algiers, John Erik Kaada, Eric Neveux, and Lucas Biewen. Music consulting and production help from Joe Augustine of Narrative Music. This episode was adapted from the 1994 documentary Oh Freedom Over Me, produced by John Biewen with consulting producer Kate Cavett. It was a Minnesota Public Radio production from American Public Media. Scene on Radio is a project of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. 

Original air date: April 1, 2020

The Amended Team:
Production Company: Humanities New York
Laura Free, Host & Writer
Reva Goldberg, Producer, Editor & Co-Writer
Scarlett Rebman, Project Director
Vanessa Manko
Sara Ogger 
Michael Washburn

Art by Simonair Yoho

For this bonus episode of Amended:
Music: Live Footage and Pictures of The Floating World
Amended is produced with major funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and with support from Baird Foundation, Susan Strauss, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Phil Lewis & Catherine Porter, and C. Evan Stewart.
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This bonus episode takes listeners behind-the-scenes of Amended. “Amended in Action” is a radio series hosted by Michael Riecke that expands on the themes of Amended and amplifies contemporary women’s voices. Michael’s a reporter for WRVO and assistant professor of broadcasting and mass communication at SUNY Oswego. For a recent broadcast, Michael interviewed Laura Free, Amended host and writer, and Reva Goldberg, producer, editor and co-writer, about what it’s like to make the podcast.

Visit amendedpodcast.com for more information about the series. 

“Amended in Action” Credits:
“Amended in Action” is produced and hosted by Michael Riecke. It was originally broadcast on WRVO Public Media with Amended Episode 2. Music by Fesliyan Studios.

The Amended Team:
Production Company: Humanities New York
Laura Free, Host & Writer
Reva Goldberg, Producer, Editor & Co-Writer
Scarlett Rebman, Project Director
Vanessa Manko
Sara Ogger 
Michael Washburn

Art by Simonair Yoho

For this bonus episode of Amended:
Music: Live Footage

Amended is produced with major funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and with support from Baird Foundation, Susan Strauss, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Phil Lewis & Catherine Porter, and C. Evan Stewart.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1912, Mabel Lee, a teenaged immigrant from China, led a New York City suffrage parade on horseback. Ineligible for U.S. citizenship due to anti-Chinese immigration policy, Mabel nonetheless spoke out for American women’s political equality. She envisioned a world where all women had the right to vote—and she wanted white suffragists to pay attention to the discrimination and racism faced by Chinese American women. 

In this episode, producer Reva Goldberg travels to Chinatown to meet with Reverend Bayer Lee, who honors Mabel’s legacy as the pastor of the church community that Mabel and her parents dedicated themselves to building. Host Laura Free speaks with Dr. Cathleen Cahill, author of Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement, to learn about Mabel’s political goals for women and for China. In the end, it’s clear that Mabel Lee forged a bold life according to her values.

For a transcript and more about this series, visit amendedpodcast.com. Visit the Amended store to get an Amended podcast mug, shirt, bag, phone case, and more. 

Our Team
Laura Free, Host & Writer
Reva Goldberg, Producer, Editor & Co-Writer
Scarlett Rebman, Project Director 
Nicholas MacDonald
Joseph Murphy
Sara Ogger 
Michael Washburn

Episode 5 Guests and Collaborators: Dr. Cathleen Cahill and Dr. Bayer Lee
Consulting Engineer: Logan Romjue 
Art by Simonair Yoho
Music by Michael-John Hancock, Emily Sprague, Pictures of the Floating World (CC), Yusuke Tsutsumi (CC), Meydän (CC), and Live Footage.

The work of Mary Chapman, Louise Edwards, Grace Li, and Timothy Tseng helped us immensely in framing our story. Special thanks to Connie Shemo, who consulted on this episode. 

Amended is produced with major funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and with support from Baird Foundation, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Phil Lewis & Catherine Porter, and C. Evan Stewart. 

Copyright Humanities New York 2021
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 25, 1911, a fire swept through the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, claiming the lives of 146 workers. Most of the victims were young immigrant women from Eastern and Southern Europe. In the wake of the fire, a group of women labor activists fought to ensure that the tragedy led to concrete change. 

In this episode, host Laura Free speaks with Dr. Annelise Orleck, author of Common Sense and a Little Fire, to learn about the women who agitated for better working conditions before and after the Triangle Fire. Rose Schneiderman, Pauline Newman, and Clara Lemlich had a shared vision for a more equitable society. Together, they organized unions, led strikes, and fought for labor legislation, combating sexist and classist attitudes every step of the way. To exercise their full political power, they needed to make an impact not just on the picket lines but also at the ballot box. They needed the right to vote.

For a transcript and more about this series, visit amendedpodcast.com. Visit the Amended store to get an Amended podcast mug, shirt, bag, phone case, and more. 

Our Team
Laura Free, Host & Writer
Reva Goldberg, Producer, Editor & Co-Writer
Scarlett Rebman, Project Director & Episode 4 Co-Writer
Nicholas MacDonald
Joseph Murphy
Sara Ogger 
Michael Washburn

Episode 4 Guest and Collaborator: Dr. Annelise Orleck
Consulting Engineer: Logan Romjue 
Art by Simonair Yoho
Music by Michael-John Hancock, Live Footage, Emily Sprague, Pictures of the Floating World (CC), Yusuke Tsutsumi (CC) and Meydän (CC).
Archival footage courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives, WNYC, and the Kheel Center at Cornell University.
Special thanks to Janette Gayle, Susan Goodier, and Karen Pastorello whose scholarship helped frame the episode, and also to Davor Mondom, who consulted on this episode.

Amended is produced with major funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and with support from Baird Foundation, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Phil Lewis & Catherine Porter, and C. Evan Stewart. We received special support for this episode from Susan Strauss and Karen Gantz. 

Copyright Humanities New York 2020
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Suffragists fought hard for the vote. They also knew that gaining access to the ballot was not the end of the struggle for political representation. This week Amended host Laura Free introduces a special episode from Civics 101, a podcast about how democracy works, to help us understand what a vote really means. The United States is a representative democracy. The idea is that we’re a government by the people (we vote officials into office) and for the people (the officials in office are supposed to represent our interests). But Civics 101 hosts Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice learn that it’s not so straightforward around here. Our guides to American voting are Nazita Lajevardi, author of Outsides at Home, Kim Wehle, author of What You Need to Know About Voting and Why, and Andrea Hailey, CEO of vote.org. 

Visit amendedpodcast.com for a transcript of this episode and additional resources. Listen to Civic Action: Voting, Part 2 here (or wherever you get your podcasts). 

Civics 101 Credits:
This episode of Civics 101 was produced by Hannah McCarthy with Nick Capodice. The staff includes Jackie Fulton and Felix Poon. Erica Janik is the Executive Producer. Maureen McMurray is the Head of Content Development. Music in this episode by Silicon Transmitter, Patrick Patrikios, Jesse Gallagher, Astron and The Mini Vandals. Voting and educational resources available at civics101podcast.org. Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is a production of NHPR, New Hampshire Public Radio.

The Amended Team:
Production Company: Humanities New York
Laura Free, Host & Writer
Reva Goldberg, Producer, Editor & Co-Writer
Scarlett Rebman, Project Director
Kordell K. Hammond
Nicholas MacDonald
Joseph Murphy
Sara Ogger 
Antonio Pontón-Núñez
Michael Washburn

Art by Simonair Yoho

For this bonus episode of Amended:
Audio Editor and Mixer: Logan Romjue 
Music: Michael-John Hancock, Live Footage and Emily Sprague


Amended is produced with major funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and with support from Baird Foundation, Susan Strauss, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Phil Lewis & Catherine Porter, and C. Evan Stewart.

Copyright Humanities New York 2020
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices