Prologued Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

On the Season 1 Finale of Prologued, we look back and what we have learned over the last seven weeks and forward to what this means for the future of women in American politics. 

Season 1 Host:
Sarah Paxton

Today's esteemed guests:

Dr. Lilia Fernandez, Rutgers University
Dr. Joan Flores-Villalobos, the University of Southern California
Dr. Kimberly Hamlin, Miami University
Dr. Susan Hartmann, The Ohio State University
Dr. Daniel Rivers, The Ohio State University
Dr. Michele Swers, Georgetown University
Mayor Nan Whaley, Dayton, Ohio

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Website: Origins.Osu.edu
Email: Origins@osu.edu

After 6 weeks of analyzing women's voting and activism, we finally turn to the final frontier: Public Office. From School Boards to the Presidential ticket, join us as we trace the bumpy road of women running for elected office. 

Today's esteemed guests:

Dr. Susan Hartmann, The Ohio State University
Dr. Michele Swers, Georgetown University
Mayor Nan Whaley, Dayton, Ohio

Background Reading & Digging Deeper
(citations also available at origins.osu.edu)

Watch Senator Kamala Harris's 2017 Women's March on Washington on CSPAN!

Rudin, Ken "Geraldine Ferraro Broke A Barrier For Women, But Roadblocks Remain" NPR. Mar. 26, 2011.

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Email: Origins@osu.edu

During the 1970s, a counter-movement arose that challenged the feminists push for the Equal Rights Amendment. Today, we turn to Phyllis Schlafly and her fellow conservative women who saw what feminists' considered sexist discrimination as privileges that they had earned and refused to relinquish. 

Today's esteemed guests:
Dr. Susan Hartmann, The Ohio State University
Dr. Michele Swers, Georgetown University

Background Reading & Digging Deeper
(citations also available at origins.osu.edu)

Check out the Smithsonian's coverage of the ERA on their website!

Stacie Taranto "'Defending ʺWomen Who Stand by the Sink': Suburban Homemakers and Anti-ERA Activism in New York State." In Making Suburbia: New Histories of Everyday America, edited by Archer John, Sandul Paul J. P., and Solomonson Katherine (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015).

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Email: Origins@osu.edu

The fading of former suffragist activism during the interwar period did not spell the end of the fight for women's rights, especially as so many women remained unable to exercise their citizenship.

In this episode, we turn to the next era of women's activism, the Women's Movement of the 1960s and 70s. In the wake of World War II, the revived women's rights movement followed a similar path to their suffragist predecessors: born from the Civil Rights Movement, these new activists boasted a more expansive vision of women's rights, including advocating for workplace justice and pushing for reproductive freedom.

Today, we discuss the era that saw the emergence of activists like Betty Friedan, Frances Beal, Gloria Steinem, and Shirley Chisholm, but also the deep divisions among women's rights activists based on strategy, ideology, and the limitations of white feminism.

Today's esteemed guests:
Dr. Lilia Fernandez, Rutgers University
Dr. Susan Hartmann, The Ohio State University

Background Reading & Digging Deeper (citations also available at origins.osu.edu)

You can see, and learn more about, the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title VII on the National Archives website!

Did you know that The New York Times has an archive? There you can see how they discussed the women's movement, including this article on the clash between Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem regarding supporting female candidates over friendly male incumbents: Deirdre Comody, "Feminists Scored by Betty Friedan" The New York Times, July 19, 1972.

You can read Representative Shirley Chisholm's 1970 statement in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment in the Iowa State University archive on Women's Political Commentary's website!

You can learn more from our guest, Dr. Susan Hartmann, extensive writing on the women's movement, including "Closing Gaps in Civil Rights and Women's Rights: Black Women and Feminism." In The Other Feminists: Activists in the Liberal Establishment, 176-206. Yale University Press, 1998.

Geoffrey R. Stone "The Road to Roe." Litigation 43, no. 1 (2016)

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Website: Origins.Osu.edu
Email: Origins@osu.edu

With the August 18, 1920 ratification, women's suffrage was now the law of the land. Theoretically all women should have been able to vote and that massive organizing power that brought the 19th Amendment to fruition to further "women's issues." Today, we talk about the post 19th Amendment reality that many women in the US were still barred from voting and that what is, and is not, a "women's issue" varied radically, dooming the mythic women's voting bloc from the start. 

Today's esteemed guests:
Dr. Susan Hartmann, The Ohio State University
Dr. Lilia Fernandez, Rutgers University
Dr. Daniel Rivers, The Ohio State University

Background Reading & Digging Deeper
(citations also available at origins.osu.edu)

Learn more about suffragists of color, like Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, at the Library of Congress's website!

The VCU Social Welfare History Project is a wealth of information. Visit them to learn more about women like Mary Anderson, who you heard about in this episode!

Paul Kleppner, "Were Women to Blame? Female Suffrage and Voter Turnout," The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 12, no. 4 (Spring, 1982)

Liette Gidlow, "Delegitimizing Democracy: "Civic Slackers," the Cultural Turn, and the Possibilities of Politics" The Journal of American History 89, no. 3 = (Dec., 2002)

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As the suffrage movement entered he 20th century, it gained momentum as a flood of states passed their own suffrage amendments and World War I loomed. However, not all women were supportive of the pending 19th Amendment. Today, we discuss the heyday of the suffrage movement and the women who opposed their own enfranchisement. 

Today's esteemed guests:
Dr. Kimberly Hamlin, Miami University, Oxford
Dr. Joan Flores-Villalobos, the University of Southern California (formerly of The Ohio State University) 

Background Reading & Digging Deeper
(citations also available at origins.osu.edu)

You can see the progress of the suffrage movements state-by-state plan at the National Constitution Center's webpage!

Learn more about Pauline Newman and Rose Schneiderman at the Jewish Women's Archive's webpage!

See Josephine Jewell Dodge's thoughts on woman's suffrage at Claremont College!

Armantine M. Smith, The History of the Woman's Suffrage Movement in Louisiana, 62 La. L. Rev. (2002)

Susan Goodier, No Votes for Women: The New York State Anti-Suffrage Movement. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, April 2013.

We're also indebted to the extensive work of Elna C. Green. 

Connect with us!
Twitter: @ProloguedPod & @OriginsOSU
Instagram: @OriginsOSU
Facebook: @OriginsOSU
Website: Origins.Osu.edu
Email: Origins@osu.edu