Podcast appearances and mentions of Seneca Falls Convention

Part 1 Sisters by Jean H. Baker by Jean H. Baker Summary"Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists" by Jean H. Baker is a comprehensive historical narrative that explores the contributions and struggles of women involved in the American suffrage movement. Here's a summary of the key themes and content: Overview:The book provides a vivid account of the suffragist movement in the United States, examining how sisterhood and collaboration among women were integral to the fight for voting rights. Baker emphasizes the personal stories of prominent suffragists and their interconnected lives, showcasing a diverse group of women united by a common goal. Key Themes:Sisterhood and Solidarity: The book highlights the relationships and collaborations among suffragists, demonstrating how they supported one another amidst societal and political challenges. The term "sisters" serves as a metaphor for the alliance formed between women from different backgrounds in pursuit of social justice.Diversity of Voices: Baker acknowledges the diverse backgrounds of women in the suffrage movement, including race, class, and regional differences. This inclusivity is vital in understanding the movement's complexity and the myriad challenges faced by suffragists.Historical Context: The author situates the suffrage movement within the broader context of American history, linking it to other social reform movements, including abolitionism and labor rights. This intersectionality showcases the multi-faceted nature of women's rights advocacy.Tactics and Strategies: The book examines the various tactics employed by suffragists, from peaceful protests and lobbying to more radical actions, revealing the strategic planning and determination that characterized the movement.Challenges and Opposition: Baker does not shy away from detailing the resistance suffragists faced, including societal norms, political pushback, and internal divisions within the movement itself. These obstacles highlight the determination and resilience of women fighting for their rights. Notable Figures:The narrative engages with several key figures in the suffrage movement, including:Susan B. Anthony: A leading figure who advocated for women's rights and organized many of the early campaigns.Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A prominent activist and writer, she helped organize the Seneca Falls Convention and worked closely with Anthony.Alice Paul: Known for her more militant tactics, she pushed the suffrage agenda into the national spotlight. Conclusion:In "Sisters," Jean H. Baker not only tells the story of the suffrage movement but also captures the spirit of perseverance and cooperation that defined it. The book serves as an essential resource for understanding how women fought against immense odds to secure their right to vote and shape the future of American democracy.Part 2 Sisters by Jean H. Baker AuthorJean H. Baker is a prominent American historian known for her contributions to women's history and American history, particularly focused on the Civil War era and the role of women in it. She is a professor of history at Goucher College in Maryland and has authored several notable works. Book DetailsTitle: Sisters (Published in 1995)Focus: The book examines the lives and contributions of women during the Civil War, exploring the social, political, and cultural impact they had during this tumultuous period in American history. Other Works by Jean H. BakerMary Todd Lincoln: A Biography (1987) This book presents a detailed biography of Mary Todd Lincoln, providing insight into her life as the wife of President Abraham Lincoln.Politics of Women's History (1990) A collection of essays that explore the development of women's history as a field of study.Sister Suffragette: The

Women have been fighting for equality for centuries—so why are we still battling for basic rights? In this episode, Tracy dives into the hard truth about systemic patriarchy, the barriers that keep women from true equity, and why the fight is far from over. From the Seneca Falls Convention to today's stalled Equal Rights Amendment, we break down what's really standing in the way of progress.   The system thrives on division, but real change happens when we come together. If you're tired of playing by the old rules, this conversation will challenge you to rethink power, privilege, and what it takes to create lasting change.   Key Takeaways: Why the system is designed to keep women in a fight they shouldn't have to wage The overlooked history of women's rights and what's still at stake How pay gaps, representation, and autonomy are deliberately controlled Why unity—not division—is the key to shifting the system The actions you can take to push for real change "The fight for equality was never about asking for permission—it's about taking back what should have never been denied." ~ Tracy Crossley

Due to illness, emotional devastation, and a 2-year-old's birthday party, the ladies were not able to record a new episode this week. But because you can't NOT have your weekly hit of herstory, we're releasing our first-ever Herstory Happenings on the Seneca Falls Convention! Learn about the first women's rights convention in the United States and see what happens when women get together to fuck some shit up! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the last two weeks, we've been reading through the Declaration of Sentiments from the Seneca Falls Convention, looking for that “about equality” vibe feminists keep telling us we should be getting from their work. So far, the document has only been a puerile, whiny, vitriolic mockery of the Declaration of Independence. We've trudged through similarly toxic writing by feminists and been told it's not representative of their movement, but if the manifesto of the suffragettes isn't representative, what is? Tonight, we'll continue our examination and maybe start looking into the anti-suffragette movement as well. No True Feminism™ detected so far. We're still not holding our breath.

We're told feminism has always been about equality. We've looked at the early actions and some of the early writing of feminists which showed otherwise, but what about the direct statements of the suffragettes at the Seneca Falls Convention? Tonight, we're going to examine the Declaration of Sentiments and see.

Last week, we learned a bit about the the Seneca Falls Convention and began reading through the declaration of sentiments written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, looking for that “about equality” vibe feminists keep telling us we should be getting from their work. So far, it's been a puerile, whiny, vitriolic mockery of the Declaration of Independence. We've trudged through similarly toxic writing by feminists and been told it's not representative of their movement, but if the manifesto of the suffragettes isn't representative, what is? Tonight, we'll continue our examination. We hope we'll find some True Feminism™ in this document, but we're not holding our breath.

This is the first episode in our series on women's rights as part of our Civil Discourse and American Legacy Project. Dr. Lisa Tetrault, associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, explains the significance of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. Center for Civic Education

In this era of scientific breakthroughs, particularly with the emergence of artificial intelligence, one would reasonably expect parallel gains in women's rights and other human rights. However, as I turn to YouTube each day and tune into the news, I'm greeted by the spectacle of a MAGA clown of a former president, grumbling and blustering during breaks in his criminal trial. Amidst his rants, I can't help but notice how the rhetoric of his supporters often undermines the progress of women's rights, casting shadows of regression over what should be an era of advancement. Amidst these complexities, there arises a pressing question: Will technology rise to the occasion and protect women's rights, or will it succumb to the encroachment of MAGA-influenced policies? With the rise of digital platforms and data analytics, there is a growing concern that technology companies could play a role in monitoring and policing women's reproductive choices. Algorithms and data-driven systems could potentially be used to track individuals' online activities, flagging those seeking information or support related to abortion services. This raises significant ethical and privacy concerns, as it could infringe upon women's autonomy and privacy rights. In this article, I delve into the reasons why technological innovation has not necessarily advanced women's rights, by drawing comparisons between MAGA World policies in the United States and traditional practices in some Muslim communities. Through this personal analysis, I aim to uncover how distinctly different cultural and political landscapes shape the discourse on gender equality. This exploration not only highlights the stark contrasts but also the surprising parallels that explain the persistent challenges and slow progress in the realm of women's rights. Historical Context The women's rights movement in the United States has a rich history that dates back to the 19th century, marked by pivotal moments such as the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 and the enactment of the 19th Amendment in the 1920s, which secured women the right to vote. Over the decades, the movement has broadened its scope to include issues like reproductive rights, equal pay, and gender equality across various domains of life. Similarly, in Muslim-majority countries, the quest for women's rights has also seen considerable progress, deeply influenced by both Islamic teachings and local cultural traditions. Efforts in these regions have primarily focused on enhancing legal rights, educational opportunities, and political participation for women, often within the larger fabric of social and political reform. The approach to women's rights within the Republican Party in the United States has seen significant evolution. Early figures in the party, such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, were instrumental in the women's suffrage movement. However, the party's stance on women's rights has shifted over time, reflecting changes in political ideologies and social movements. In traditional Muslim societies, the evolution of women's rights reflects a dynamic balance between Islamic principles and cultural practices. While some Muslim-majority countries have achieved notable advances in areas like education and employment for women, challenges persist, particularly in legal rights and achieving full gender equality. These developments underscore the complex and evolving nature of women's rights, influenced by a confluence of historical, cultural, and political factors. MAGA Impact: Women's Rights Revisited Under the banner of the Trump lead MAGA movement, the former US Republican Party has outlined a series of policies and positions impacting women's rights. These policies span a range of issues including abortion, healthcare, employment, and education, often underpinned by a strong emphasis on traditional family values and individual freedoms. In healthcare, MAGAs have pushed for measures that restrict access to abortion...

In 1848, about 300 activists met in Seneca Falls, New York, for the first convention in the United States devoted to women's rights. They discussed Elizabeth Cady Stanton's proposed Declaration of Sentiments, which mirrored the language of the Declaration of Independence. Center for Civic Education

Episode 132 - It's been a long many years since the tectonic times of the Seneca Falls Convention; the societal fracture left at its feminist epicenter has widened into a canyon-sized divide between the sexes.  The tremors of nearly 200 years of feminism have been felt by nearly every corner of our society.   Its harmful effects are found in culture, education, economics, sexuality.  Even Christian institutions have been far from immune.  That's including the institution of marriage.Ben calls up his inner Anchorman for this magnum opus of an episode, while Chad chases the storm stirred up therein as co-host.  The two batten down the hatches for a headlong dive into the whipping winds of a "Her-ricane".  How would one accurately define Feminism as a cultural phenomenon from the Manhood Restored perspective?  What are some ways in which feminism has found its way into Christian households and Christian Marriages?  How can men and women begin to reverse its negative effects, and could the solution have anything to do with the A-Word?  SHOW NOTES:Seneca Fall document (read for yourself):  The Seneca Falls Declaration 1848 < 1826-1850 < Documents < American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond (rug.nl)Mike Winger Women in Ministry IntroMike Winger Men as Head of HouseholdJohn Michael Clark- The Family CaptainMichael FosterThe Cherishing Nurture of a Godly FeminineBook Recommendation (written by a former feminist):  The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us: Gress, Carrie: 9781684514182: Amazon.com: Books

In this extended episode of 60-Second Civics, Dr. Lisa Tetrault, associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, explains in more detail topics of women's rights from the previous five episodes. Dr. Tetrault covers the Seneca Falls Convention, the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments, the role of Frederick Douglass, and the Equal Rights Amendment, among other topics. This is the sixth episode in our 60-Second Civics series on women's rights as part of the Center for Civic Education's Civil Discourse: An American Legacy Project. Center for Civic Education

This is the first episode in our series on women's rights as part of our Civil Discourse and American Legacy Project. Dr. Lisa Tetrault, associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, explains the significance of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. Center for Civic Education

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In this extended episode of 60-Second Civics, Dr. Lisa Tetrault, associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, explains in more detail topics of women's rights from the previous five episodes. Dr. Tetrault covers the Seneca Falls Convention, the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments, the role of Frederick Douglass, and the Equal Rights Amendment, among other topics. This is the sixth episode in our 60-Second Civics series on women's rights as part of the Center for Civic Education's Civil Discourse: An American Legacy Project. Center for Civic Education

This is the first episode in our series on women's rights as part of our Civil Discourse and American Legacy Project. Dr. Lisa Tetrault, associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, explains the significance of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. Center for Civic Education

Maggie Fox finally finds her calling at the Seneca Falls Convention. This episode contains Adult Language.  ~~~ All 9 episodes will be available for free, but QCODE+ subscribers get early, uninterrupted access to new episodes. Learn more at https://qcodemedia.com/qcodeplus. ~~~ Produced by Criminal Content and distributed by QCODE. Starring Carey Mulligan, Phoebe Tonkin, Mckenna Grace, and Christina Brucato. Directed by Shawn Christensen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Chris is talking about the history of the Women's Suffrage Movement in the USA. Starting in the mid 1800s, America is growing but the Declaration of Independence still holds true to "All Men are created equal". Women came together for the first time in New York to discuss their rights and that was remembered as the Seneca Falls Convention. Enter the Women's Suffrage movement. Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. We have women like, Susan B Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt fighting for women's rights. SHOUT OUT National Woman Suffrage Association! They came together to fight for the 19th Amendment and thanks to the industrial revolution, prohibition and many protests, they got the right to vote in 1920! Listen and share your favorite part of today's Christories!!!  #ChrisDistefano #Podcast #Comedy UNCUT WILD CONTENT GO HERE

After being banned from the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London because of their gender, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton translated their outrage into organizing the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. Learn more about this convention in today's episode! Center for Civic Education

"Sojourner truth American Evangelist and Social Reformer Sojourner truth, Legal Name Isabella Van Wagenerer, (Born C. 1797, Sulster Country, New York, U.S.—Deed November 26, 1883, African American Evangelists and Reformer Who applied her religionist and" "--START AD- #TheMummichogblogOfMalta Amazon Top and Flash Deals(Affiliate Link - You will support our translations if you purchase through the following link) - https://amzn.to/3CqsdJH Compare all the top travel sites in just one search to find the best hotel deals at HotelsCombined - awarded world's best hotel price comparison site. (Affiliate Link - You will support our translations if you purchase through the following link) - https://www.hotelscombined.com/?a_aid=20558 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."""" #Jesus #Catholic. Smooth Radio Malta is Malta's number one digital radio station, playing Your Relaxing Favourites - Smooth provides a ‘clutter free' mix, appealing to a core 35-59 audience offering soft adult contemporary classics. We operate a playlist of popular tracks which is updated on a regular basis. https://smooth.com.mt/listen/ Follow on Telegram: https://t.me/themummichogblogdotcom END AD---" "women's rights movements. Isabella was the daughter of slaves and spent her childhood as an abused chattel of several masters. Her first language was Dutch. Between 1810 and 1827 she bore at least five children to a fellow slave named Thomas. Just before New York state abolished slavery in 1827, she found refuge with Isaac Van Wagener, who set her free. With the help of Quaker friends, she waged a court battle in which she recovered her small son, who had been sold illegally into slavery in the South. About 1829 she went to New York City with her two youngest children, supporting herself through domestic employment. Suffragettes with signs in London, possibly 1912 (based on Monday, Nov. 25). Woman suffrage movement, women's suffrage movement, suffragists, women's rights, feminism. BRITANNICA QUIZ Quick Quiz: Women In The Voting Booth You may know everything about the Seneca Falls Convention and the 19th Amendment. But do you know these lesser-known facts about the women's suffrage movement? Press “start” on this quick quiz to find out. Since childhood Isabella had had visions and heard voices, which she attributed to God. In New York City she became associated with Elijah Pierson, a zealous missionary. Working and preaching in the streets, she joined his Retrenchment Society and eventually his household. In 1843 she left New York City and took the name Sojourner Truth, which she used from then on. Obeying a supernatural call to “travel up and down the land,” she sang, preached, and debated at camp meetings, in churches, and on village streets, exhorting her listeners to accept the biblical message of God's goodness and the brotherhood of man. In the same year, she was introduced to abolitionism at a utopian community in Northampton, Massachusetts, and thereafter spoke in behalf of the movement throughout the state. In 1850 she traveled throughout the Midwest, where her reputation for personal magnetism preceded her and drew heavy crowds. She supported herself by selling copies of her book, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, which she had dictated to Olive Gilbert. Encountering the women's rights movement in the early 1850s, and encouraged by other women leaders, notably Lucretia Mott, she continued to appear before suffrage gatherings for the rest of her life. Explore the life of Sojourner Truth Explore the life of Sojourner TruthSee all videos for this article In the 1850s Sojourner Truth settled in Battle Creek, Michigan. At the beginning of the American Civil War, she gathered supplies for black volunteer regiments and in 1864 went to Washington, D.C., where she helped integrate streetcars and was received at the White House by President Abraham Lincoln. The same year, she accepte

"The suffrage movement Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony These debates and discussions culminated in the first women's rights convention, held in July 1848 in the small town of Seneca Falls, New York. It was a spur-of-t" "--START AD- #TheMummichogblogOfMalta Amazon Top and Flash Deals(Affiliate Link - You will support our translations if you purchase through the following link) - https://amzn.to/3CqsdJH Compare all the top travel sites in just one search to find the best hotel deals at HotelsCombined - awarded world's best hotel price comparison site. (Affiliate Link - You will support our translations if you purchase through the following link) - https://www.hotelscombined.com/?a_aid=20558 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."""" #Jesus #Catholic. Smooth Radio Malta is Malta's number one digital radio station, playing Your Relaxing Favourites - Smooth provides a ‘clutter free' mix, appealing to a core 35-59 audience offering soft adult contemporary classics. We operate a playlist of popular tracks which is updated on a regular basis. https://smooth.com.mt/listen/ Follow on Telegram: https://t.me/themummichogblogdotcom END AD---" "he-moment idea that sprang up during a social gathering of Lucretia Mott, a Quaker preacher and veteran social activist, Martha Wright (Mott's sister), Mary Ann McClintock, Jane Hunt, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the wife of an abolitionist and the only non-Quaker in the group. The convention was planned with five days' notice, publicized only by a small unsigned advertisement in a local newspaper. Stanton drew up the “Declaration of Sentiments” that guided the Seneca Falls Convention. Using the Declaration of Independence as her guide to proclaim that “all men and women [had been] created equal,” she drafted 11 resolutions, including the most radical demand—the right to the vote. With Frederick Douglass, a former slave, arguing eloquently on their behalf, all 11 resolutions passed, and Mott even won approval of a final declaration “for the overthrowing of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman equal participation with men in the various trades, professions and commerce.” Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth Yet by emphasizing education and political rights that were the privileges of the upper classes, the embryonic feminist movement had little connection with ordinary women cleaning houses in Liverpool or picking cotton in Georgia. The single nonwhite woman's voice heard at this time—that of Sojourner Truth, a former slave—symbolized the distance between the ordinary and the elite. Her famous “Ain't I a Woman” speech was delivered in 1851 before the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, but Truth did not dedicate her life to women's rights. Instead, she promoted abolitionism and a land-distribution program for other former slaves. In the speech, Truth remarked, “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman?” Although Seneca Falls was followed by women's rights conventions in other states, the interest spurred by those first moments of organizing quickly faded. Concern in the United States turned to the pending Civil War, while in Europe the reformism of the 1840s gave way to the repression of the late 1850s. When the feminist movement rebounded, it became focused on a single issue, women's suffrage, a goal that would dominate international feminism for almost 70 years. Susan B. Anthony Susan B. Anthony After the American Civil War, feminists assumed that women's suffrage would be included in the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited disfranchisement on the basis of race. Yet leading abolitionists refuse

On this week's 51%, we stop by a panel commemorating the 174th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, and take a look at the status of women's rights. We also speak with Amanda Hunter, executive director of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, about how things are shaping up for women running in this fall's midterm elections. Guest: Amanda Hunter, executive director of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation You can watch the full "New York Women Then & Now" panel here. 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It's produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue.

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Part one of my trip to Rochester, including a pit stop in Scranton to see sites from The Office and dine at Alfredo's Pizza Cafe, eating a spiedie, accidentally taking an entire two week course of antibiotics in a day, and a stop at the site of the Seneca Falls Convention, which I for some reason remembered from AP American History 25 years ago. Click here to listen to the latest episode of Papa's Basement in your browser. Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Stitcher YouTube Follow this episode's cast on Twitter and Instagram: Mollie Heckerling - Twitter - @MollieSchmollie, Instagram - @MollieHeckerling John Papageorgiou - Twitter - @PapasBasement, Instagram - @PapasBasement

On this episode, Devin and Lauren visit New York's oldest continuously operating courthouse, located in the City of Johnstown in Fulton County. Built in 1772 by Sir William Johnson, the Fulton County Courthouse has seen the transition from British colonial rule to the establishment of the United States, and 250 years of legal history. Among the important judges to hold court at the courthouse include Daniel Cady, the father of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was heavily influenced by legal cases which demonstrated how few rights women had in the 19th Century. On September 8, 2022, the courthouse will officially celebrate its 250th birthday, with the New York State Court of Appeals conducting its business there for the first time. Marker of Focus: Suffrage Pioneer, Johnstown, Fulton County Guests: Hon. J. Gerard McAuliffe, Jr., Fulton County Family Court judge; Hon. Albert M. Rosenblatt, retired New York State Court of Appeals judge; Samantha Hall-Saladino, Fulton County historian; Noel Levee, City of Johnstown historian A New York Minute In History is a production of the New York State Museum, WAMC, and Archivist Media, with support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This episode was produced by Jesse King. Our theme is "Begrudge" by Darby. Further Reading: Historic Courthouses of the State of New York, Julia Carlson Rosenblatt and Albert M. Rosenblatt (2006). Fulton County Courthouse, The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York. The Letters of Daniel Cady Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life, Lori D. Ginzberg (2010). Building a Revolutionary State: The Legal Transformation of New York, 1776-1783, Howard Pashman, Esq. (2018). Follow Along Devin: Welcome to A New York Minute in History. I'm Devin Lander, the New York state historian. Lauren: And I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. On this episode, we're going to focus on a William G. Pomeroy marker located in the city of Johnstown, in Fulton County. The marker sits on the lawn of the Fulton County Courthouse, located on the corner of West Main Street and North William Street, and it reads: “Suffrage Pioneer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1815-1902. Her father practiced law here in early 19th Century, inspiring her fight for women's rights. William G. Pomeroy Foundation, 2017.” I'm guessing most of our listeners have heard of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and know about the incredibly important role she played in the women's suffrage movement. But they may not be familiar with her life prior to the famous Seneca Falls Convention which took place in 1848, and produced the Declaration of Sentiments, a document which listed freedoms and rights that women should be entitled to, including the right to vote. In Elizabeth's early life, she grew up in Johnstown, New York, where her father Daniel Cady practiced law. It was her exposure to his law practice, and the firsthand experiences Elizabeth had in his law office and in the courthouse, that showed her how poorly women were treated in the eyes of the law in the early 19th Century. Now, that's a huge claim to fame for any courthouse. But for this particular courthouse, its association with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her father Daniel is only one piece of the puzzle in the big picture story it has to tell. Devin: That's right, and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation marker is only one of the markers that exists in front of the Fulton County Cou

On this week's 51%, we recognize Women's History Month. We learn about Sarah Smiley, a controversial Quaker minister who dared to preach to women — and men — in the 19th Century, and Nancy Brown of the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites provides a more local lens on the women's suffrage movement. We also stop by the New York State Museum to learn about a new initiative to expand its collection on women's sports. Guests: Samantha Bosshart, executive director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation; Nancy Brown, National Collaborative for Women's History Sites; Ashley Hopkins-Benton, New York State Museum 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It's produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. Follow Along You're listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women's issues and experiences. Thanks for joining us, I'm Jesse King. All month long, we've recognized Women's History Month by taking the time to learn about prominent American women, past and present. At the end of each episode, we visited exhibits at the New York State Capitol and spoke with the National Women's Hall of Fame. This week, I wanted to take a more local approach — mostly because, as a transplant in Central New York, I'm forever catching up on my Capital Region history, but also to serve as a reminder about the wealth of history that's right in our local communities. We're also flipping the script this week — rather than ending with a “woman you should know,” let's start with one. At the end of last year, the city council of Saratoga Springs, New York, unanimously voted to designate a small cottage on Excelsior Avenue a local landmark. The Smiley-Brackett Cottage, as it's called, is thought to be a prime example of the Gothic Revival style of architecture popularized by Andrew Jackson Downing in the 19th Century — but it's also noteworthy for those who lived there. The house was owned by and built for Sarah Smiley, a popular, yet controversial Quaker minister.  "She really had this significant impact, I think, on women and public speaking," says Samantha Bosshart, executive director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. The Foundation led the effort to acquire the local landmark designation. Smiley was born the daughter of a well-known Quaker family in Maine in 1830 (her father and brothers would go on to build the popular Mohonk Mountain House resort in the Catskills, which still operates today). She initially sought to become a teacher, but after the Civil War, Bosshart says Smiley went South to “relieve human suffering.”  "She traveled to Virginia and to North Carolina, aiding Quakers in organizing schools and libraries," Bosshart notes. "She helped to start a school for 1,000 free Black adults and children in Richmond, Virginia — but that's not really what made her well-known. She later spoke to what they called 'mixed audiences,' and when we say 'mixed audiences,' we're talking about men and women. Women did not speak in front of a congregation, that just wasn't happening." In 1872, popular minister Theodore Cuyler invited Smiley to preach before a mixed congregation at the Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn — making her the first woman to speak from a Presbyterian pulpit. "This caused a ruckus," says Bosshart. "This made Harper's Weekly news, and she was said to 'teach and to extort, or to lead in prayer in public and promiscuous assemblies...[it's] clearly forbidden to women in the Holy Oracles.' But what we learned, or what I learned after that, was that she was so well-received amongst her audiences that she was asked to speak across the country and abroad." Soon, Bosshart says Smiley was speaking in churches from Cincinnati, to London, to Cube. She was adamant that women could study the scriptures themselves, without the help of men. She started a home Bible study program for women, and would go on to write five books on the subject — some of which are still published today. Bosshart says Smiley's Gothic-Revival cottage was built the same year of her notorious appearance in Brooklyn. She's not sure why Smiley chose to settle in Saratoga Springs, but it appears she knew exactly what she wanted in terms of a home.  "Andrew Jackson Downing, he published his Cottage Residence in 1842, and The Architecture of Country Houses in 1850. Alexander Jackson Davis designed and drew the illustrations featured — her house looks nearly identical to one of those cottages. Perhaps because it was the gothic style that is reminiscent of churches, perhaps [she was] being influenced by seeing these rural cottages, and she wanted it to be in keeping with that," Bosshart adds. "She would come to Saratoga to study. In an article in 1874 in The Saratogian, it said, 'She speaks twice almost every day in the week. She only spends six months of the year in preaching, the remainder of the year, during the summer months, in diligent study in her cottage in Saratoga.' So I think, perhaps, it was where she had peace and quiet." Following Smiley's death in 1917, the cottage was left to The Society for the Home Study of Holy Scripture and Church History, the group she had founded to promote religious study by mail. It was ultimately bought by another famous name who owned the property until 1968: Charles W. Brackett. Brackett was a popular author, New Yorker drama critic, and screenwriter of films including Sunset Boulevard, The Lost Weekend, and 1953's Titanic. In 1958, he received an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Bosshart says the cottage ultimately fell into disrepair following Brackett's death. The building is privately owned, so she notes there's nothing the Foundation or city can explicitly do to restore it at this time, but she remains hopeful that they can work with the owner down the line. In the meantime, the Foundation is celebrating the local landmark designation, which requires a review for any demolition or new construction in the future.  "I think it's important that we continue to recognize all the people that contribute to the stories of our communities. Having an opportunity to be a part of ensuring that Sarah Smiley's story is told and preserved is rewarding," says Bosshart. Saratoga Springs, as it turns out, saw many aspects of women's history. When we talk about the Women's Suffrage Movement, we tend to start with the Seneca Falls Convention and Declaration of Sentiments in 1848 — but as our next guest will tell us, there's a lot of local history to the movement, including in Saratoga Springs. Nancy Brown is a board member of the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites, and chairperson of the National Votes for Women Trail, a database of more than 2,000 sites significant to women's suffrage across the U.S. She says the goal was to highlight the nationwide, grassroots commitment that was needed to gain women the vote, and honor the ongoing struggle for voting rights across the U.S.  How did you get involved in the National Votes for Women Trail? I think that my interest in women suffered comes from the fact that I'm a native of Johnstown, New York, and that is home to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, where not only she was born, but inspired. So I think that has always made me very interested in women's suffrage. I was a board member on the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites, and this became a project that was originally, actually, a funded project that was proposed by Hillary Clinton – to have a Votes for Women Trail. And it was passed, the legislation was passed, but there were never any funds appropriated for it. So I remember being on a phone call, years ago now, and we were bemoaning the fact that there was no money to tell the story of women's suffrage – how half of our democracy became enfranchised, which is a pretty huge story. And we got thinking that really, suffragists we're all volunteer operations. So that's how the National Votes for Women Trail got started: a number of volunteers stepped up and we ended up creating a national network. And our goal was to have 2,020 sites on a database, a mobile friendly, searchable database by 2020 – which we exceeded, and we're now at 2,300 sites, it at nvwt.org. And along the way, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation in Syracuse, New York, recognized the importance of the project and offered to fund historic markers for places of specific significance around the country. And they are doing that for over 200 markers. So it was through that project that I kind of stumbled across the wonderful suffrage history in Saratoga. So what role did Saratoga play in the women's suffrage movement? Well, I will tell you how I stumbled across it, to be honest with you. One of the most important and influential associations was the New York State Women's Suffrage Association. And when I was doing a little research on where it started, I realized that it started at a meeting in Saratoga in July of 1869. Matilda Joslyn Gage, who was famous suffragist from Syracuse, actually had called a meeting to form a state women's suffrage association, and it was held at Congress Hall, which is where the corner of Congress Park and Spring Street is in Saratoga. And it was chaired by Susan B. Anthony. And the result of it was the formation of the New York Women's Suffrage Association. Why that's so important is this will become the association that helps women win the right to vote in New York state, which happened in 1917. They lost the bid for voting in 1915, but were able to get it in 1917. And why that's so important is we were the 12th state in the nation to pass women's suffrage – but the other states were in the West, and we were the first state in the east to pass this. And Carrie Chapman Catt, the famous suffragist, called this the Gettysburg of the woman's suffrage association. So come to find out that started right in Saratoga. And when I looked back a little further, I found that that was not the first women's rights convention in Saratoga. Well, we know that the very first one was in Seneca Falls in 1848, that sort of began the idea of having women's rights conventions. And after that there was one in Rochester, but in 1854, actually – the suffragists were such strategic thinkers that there were some other associations meeting in Saratoga, and they decided to go to Nikolas Hall, which was on the corner of Phila and Broadway. And they had a meeting with Susan B. Anthony, and it was very well regarded, very well attended. It was before there was a race track, but still, it was very popular place to go for people who had money and influence, and they knew that that's what the suffrage movement needed, was money and influence. And they had another meeting again in 1855, because it went so well. Then they have the meeting in 1869, in Saratoga, that forms the New York State Women's Suffrage Association, which becomes so influential. And then what I think is so incredibly interesting is the last meeting of the New York State Women's Suffrage Association was held there in 1917. And that was the last one before the vote, and then fortunately, the vote was passed and women got the vote within our state. And that's a really interesting meeting. That is sort of a culmination of all the work that the Association had done throughout its history, and they had really won over all the legislators. They had worked during World War I, doing all kinds of anything that was asked of them. They had worked with the state military census, they had organized Red Cross chapters, they had sold bonds, they had organized food canning clubs, and every political party decided that they were going to support them. And it was quite a meeting. Even Woodrow Wilson wrote a letter and said, “I look forward to seeing the results of the meeting in Saratoga.” And it started out with a car parade, an automobile parade from Buffalo across the state to Saratoga. So that was August 1917. And hundreds of cars were coming down Broadway. And that's when about one in four people owned a car, so that must have really been quite a sight. And again, famous people like Woodrow Wilson wrote a letter, Samuel Gompers wrote a letter of support. Katrina Trask sent a letter saying that she supported suffrage and wanted to make a donation that would have been worth about $5,000 in today's money. So it was really quite an interesting place. I think what's especially interesting about it is it was a turning point, literally in the suffrage movement nationally. And Saratoga is known as the turning point of the Revolution, right? We all know that the American Revolution, and that enfranchised white men, essentially. But it was really a turning point in what many people have called the “bloodless revolution,” which was the 72-year-fight for women's suffrage over which no blood was shed, and voting rights were gained. So I think that its importance is very significant. You mentioned you're from Johnstown, and that's where Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born. And you also said it's where she was inspired. Can you go into what you mean by that for me? I sure can. Elizabeth was one of the children born to Judge [Cady] and his wife, and unfortunately, only one of their sons made it to adulthood. Eleazer. And when he came home from Union College, he passed away at the age of 20. And Elizabeth remembers in her autobiography, that, as her father, who saw this as the successor to his law practice, was sitting by the coffin, he was just despondent. She went, and she sat on his lap, and he said, “Oh, Elizabeth, if you've only been a boy.” And apparently after that, she talked to her neighbor, who was the Reverend Simon Hoosick, and asked if he thought boys are better than girls. And he said, “No, of course not.” And she vowed at that point in time that she was going to become as good as any boy. And she became a very good horse woman. And she went to the Johnstown Academy, and was in all the accelerated classes that very few girls were in. And there was a coveted Greek prize, that she won along with another gentleman at one point, and the story goes that she took that Greek prize, which was very coveted, and she ran it down the street, and she went to her father's law office and said, “There, I won the Greek prize.” And he said, “Elizabeth, if you'd only been a boy.” And because her father was a lawyer, and we believe that his law office was adjacent to their home, she spent time there and she learned about the law. And she learned how the law didn't favor women. And there's the story of a woman who came to see the judge, because she had no property rights, and her husband passed away, and her son and his wife were kicking her out of her house, and she had no rights to stay there. And Elizabeth heard this story and vowed to cut all the laws out of his logbooks. And he said, “Elizabeth, you would have to go and talk to the legislature to change a law,” never really realizing that she really would end up doing that one day, and she would help change the property law in New York state. So she really was inspired by the events of her youth that took place in Johnstown. You mentioned when you were describing the conventions that there's parades of cars and famous figures and big donations being made for the effort. Do you see it as a movement that, at the time in Saratoga, was particularly driven by the upper classes, or was there a movement for the everyday folks who wanted this too? I think that when we think about it, and we look at the suffrage movement in New York state, for example, there were women like Rose Schneiderman, who worked so hard for workers' rights as well as for suffrage, knowing that that would help the workers gain a voice in their destiny. But I also think women who had more money had more time to devote to this. And there were certainly women who were immigrants who were very interested in this and worked in suffrage, but they had so much on their plates just to survive and just to get educated and just to keep their families together. But there also were Black women who worked so hard to win the vote when the suffrage movement was not always kind to women of color. So there were really women of every class who worked terribly hard, and devoted themselves to a cause that they didn't even know if they were ever going to see. So I'm so impressed by that as well. And fortunately, I will say that the National Votes for Women Trail has worked hard to try and unearth as many stories as we could for those underrepresented women who aren't known as well as the upper class white women, who we tend to know their names. I was going to ask, as we're looking towards preserving sites that have to do with women's history, what are some things that we should keep in mind? And what are the obstacles that are we're running into nowadays to create more monuments to women in the U.S.? Well, the obstacles in terms of preserving sites are they weren't preserved, unfortunately. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's original house, for example, was moved, and a new one that she lived in was built out of stone, because there have been a number of fires in Johnstown. And it was taken down in 1963. And nobody thought a thing about it, actually. And she was a woman of means, so her family had some money. And that's why we on the National Votes for Women Trail are willing to mark sites, because so many homes, nobody preserved the history of them at all. And especially those that women of color [lived in], they're particularly hard to find. Before those names get lost, it's really our responsibility to do our best to shine a light on the information that we can find in for those few remaining places. Like fortunately, Katherine Starbucks' home is still there. So that's why it's so important to recognize it. Because so many of these homes in locations really are not. It's just, you know, ideally that that people really take some time and do their research. They can go on the National Votes for Women Trail and submit sites in their community, if they find information. We then have somebody who reviews them before they're released to populate the map. But we I just think, fortunately, with the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment, there was more interested in women's history. And I think people are more interested in finding out who was in their communities that help them get the rights that they enjoy today. And we also need to be mindful of, you know, all women couldn't vote in 1920, Black Women's still had a long way to go to fight their way through Jim Crow laws before they could vote. And, you know, Native American women weren't even US citizens yet, not for another four years and women of Asian descent. Not until even after that they were not citizens yet, so they didn't get the vote. And as we know, unfortunately, today, voting rights are still being compromised in a variety of places. So I think that is equally important to commemorating their sites, I suppose is commemorating their struggle for the for the right to vote. Well, lastly, in looking at the local impact on women's suffrage movement, what has been your main takeaway? I think the main takeaways – I didn't know any of that history existed there, either. But in every county in New York state, there was an active women's suffrage association. That's how they were able to eventually get the New York state legislature to pass the amendment to the law so that they could vote. But so I think what I have learned is how widespread it was, how many people had to be involved to get this movement over the finish line, if you will. Also, there was a significant anti-suffrage movement that I wasn't aware of before I started doing research. And there were women as well as men who didn't think women voting was a good idea. They thought that they didn't need to vote to make their voice heard. If you dial it all the way back to that first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton said in her Declaration of Sentiments that she felt that women needed the right to vote, almost no one agreed with her then. They said, “Oh, that's too much. You know, we can't go quite that far.” But it was Frederick Douglass who stood up and said, “No, she's right. Without the right to vote…that's the right by which all other rights are gained.” It really was such a Herculean effort. There are so many people that we don't know about, that we should be so grateful for. I think there's so much research to do and so many people we need to try and remember their names and try and find out about them so that their efforts won't be lost. Nancy Brown is the chairperson of the National Votes for Women Trail. You can view the trail and learn more about a site near you on the website for the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites. The William G. Pomeroy Foundation has a map for all of its historic markers at wgpfoundation.org.  Lastly, on the topic of preserving women's history, the New York State Museum in Albany has launched a new effort to expand and diversify its collections — specifically, its sports collections. It's all ahead of the 50th anniversary of Title IX this June — Title IX, of course, is the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. It applies to all aspects of education, but one of its most visual impacts was in sports, requiring schools to equally support girls' and boys' teams. The museum is trying to balance out its own recollection of sports history by recognizing juggernauts like the WNBA's New York Liberty, or special events like the all-female Aurora Games, which launched in Albany in 2019.  I spoke with the museum's senior historian and curator for social history, Ashley Hopkins-Benton, to learn more.  "At the New York State Museum, our entire history curatorial department has been working on really evaluating our collections, and what strengths we have, and also what stories we're missing," says Hopkins-Benton. "And diversity, of course, is always something that we're trying to get more into the collections. But a couple of years ago, in 2017, when we were working on the Votes for Women exhibit about the centennial of women's suffrage in New York state, we realized women's history collections were really lacking. And then shortly after that, Steve Loughman, who is our sports curator, also was realizing that sports were really lacking, which is crazy when you think about New York and all of the great sports teams and sports stories that we have. So simultaneously, we were both working on these things. And because of the upcoming anniversary of the passage of Title IX, it became very apparent that women's sports were a particular collection that was lacking." So what kinds of items are you looking for in this collection? Well, let me start with what we have, because it's very small. It's all out on the table in front of us right now, we really have two collections that speak to women's sports as they relate to New York state. So one is a collection of material from the New York Liberty basketball team, the WNBA team. And this came in from a woman named Pam Elam, who is a feminist and a women's history scholar, and was really interested in collecting women's history and LGBTQ history as it pertained to culture and politics and sports and everything. So this came in before we even knew that women's sports was something that was missing from our collections, and it includes tickets and calendars and bios of the players. So it's a really great snapshot of the league. And these all came from around 10 years of the league being in existence. So that was the first thing that we had. And then a couple years ago, when Albany hosted the Aurora games, a couple of us all went out to different events and collected pins and basketballs and shirts and other materials from that. So that was a great opportunity as well. So we have two examples, more on the professional sports side of things. But we would love to collect more amateur sports, girls playing in high school, women in college, and those stories. I'm definitely looking for stories of trailblazers, women who were the first to play their sports. New York has so many great stories of girls who play on their high school football team, or I spoke to a woman earlier who was the first girl in her high school to earn a letter by playing on the men's golf team back in the ‘60s. So I am also looking to speak to women. I'd like to do some oral histories of women who were involved in sports at various times in history. Cool. Now, if someone has something that they think might be a good addition to the collection, what is the process of giving that to the museum? Well, reaching out to the museum and to me in particular, and then I bring it to our collections committee, and we discuss it as a group – how it fits into the collection, if it's something that we can responsibly take care of, and if it's something that has research and exhibition value in the future. If you think you may have something you'd like to contribute to the collection, you can find more information at the museum's website. You can also email Ashley Hopkins-Benton at ashley.hopkins-benton@nysed.gov. Title IX turns 50 on June 23. 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It's produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue.

On this week's 51%, we recognize Women's History Month. We learn about Sarah Smiley, a controversial Quaker minister who dared to preach to women — and men — in the 19th Century, and Nancy Brown of the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites provides a more local lens on the women's suffrage movement. We also stop by the New York State Museum to learn about a new initiative to expand its collection on women's sports. Guests: Samantha Bosshart, executive director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation; Nancy Brown, National Collaborative for Women's History Sites; Ashley Hopkins-Benton, New York State Museum 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It's produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. Follow Along You're listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women's issues and experiences. Thanks for joining us, I'm Jesse King. All month long, we've recognized Women's History Month by taking the time to learn about prominent American women, past and present. At the end of each episode, we visited exhibits at the New York State Capitol and spoke with the National Women's Hall of Fame. This week, I wanted to take a more local approach — mostly because, as a transplant in Central New York, I'm forever catching up on my Capital Region history, but also to serve as a reminder about the wealth of history that's right in our local communities. We're also flipping the script this week — rather than ending with a “woman you should know,” let's start with one. At the end of last year, the city council of Saratoga Springs, New York, unanimously voted to designate a small cottage on Excelsior Avenue a local landmark. The Smiley-Brackett Cottage, as it's called, is thought to be a prime example of the Gothic Revival style of architecture popularized by Andrew Jackson Downing in the 19th Century — but it's also noteworthy for those who lived there. The house was owned by and built for Sarah Smiley, a popular, yet controversial Quaker minister.  "She really had this significant impact, I think, on women and public speaking," says Samantha Bosshart, executive director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. The Foundation led the effort to acquire the local landmark designation. Smiley was born the daughter of a well-known Quaker family in Maine in 1830 (her father and brothers would go on to build the popular Mohonk Mountain House resort in the Catskills, which still operates today). She initially sought to become a teacher, but after the Civil War, Bosshart says Smiley went South to “relieve human suffering.”  "She traveled to Virginia and to North Carolina, aiding Quakers in organizing schools and libraries," Bosshart notes. "She helped to start a school for 1,000 free Black adults and children in Richmond, Virginia — but that's not really what made her well-known. She later spoke to what they called 'mixed audiences,' and when we say 'mixed audiences,' we're talking about men and women. Women did not speak in front of a congregation, that just wasn't happening." In 1872, popular minister Theodore Cuyler invited Smiley to preach before a mixed congregation at the Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn — making her the first woman to speak from a Presbyterian pulpit. "This caused a ruckus," says Bosshart. "This made Harper's Weekly news, and she was said to 'teach and to extort, or to lead in prayer in public and promiscuous assemblies...[it's] clearly forbidden to women in the Holy Oracles.' But what we learned, or what I learned after that, was that she was so well-received amongst her audiences that she was asked to speak across the country and abroad." Soon, Bosshart says Smiley was speaking in churches from Cincinnati, to London, to Cube. She was adamant that women could study the scriptures themselves, without the help of men. She started a home Bible study program for women, and would go on to write five books on the subject — some of which are still published today. Bosshart says Smiley's Gothic-Revival cottage was built the same year of her notorious appearance in Brooklyn. She's not sure why Smiley chose to settle in Saratoga Springs, but it appears she knew exactly what she wanted in terms of a home.  "Andrew Jackson Downing, he published his Cottage Residence in 1842, and The Architecture of Country Houses in 1850. Alexander Jackson Davis designed and drew the illustrations featured — her house looks nearly identical to one of those cottages. Perhaps because it was the gothic style that is reminiscent of churches, perhaps [she was] being influenced by seeing these rural cottages, and she wanted it to be in keeping with that," Bosshart adds. "She would come to Saratoga to study. In an article in 1874 in The Saratogian, it said, 'She speaks twice almost every day in the week. She only spends six months of the year in preaching, the remainder of the year, during the summer months, in diligent study in her cottage in Saratoga.' So I think, perhaps, it was where she had peace and quiet." Following Smiley's death in 1917, the cottage was left to The Society for the Home Study of Holy Scripture and Church History, the group she had founded to promote religious study by mail. It was ultimately bought by another famous name who owned the property until 1968: Charles W. Brackett. Brackett was a popular author, New Yorker drama critic, and screenwriter of films including Sunset Boulevard, The Lost Weekend, and 1953's Titanic. In 1958, he received an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Bosshart says the cottage ultimately fell into disrepair following Brackett's death. The building is privately owned, so she notes there's nothing the Foundation or city can explicitly do to restore it at this time, but she remains hopeful that they can work with the owner down the line. In the meantime, the Foundation is celebrating the local landmark designation, which requires a review for any demolition or new construction in the future.  "I think it's important that we continue to recognize all the people that contribute to the stories of our communities. Having an opportunity to be a part of ensuring that Sarah Smiley's story is told and preserved is rewarding," says Bosshart. Saratoga Springs, as it turns out, saw many aspects of women's history. When we talk about the Women's Suffrage Movement, we tend to start with the Seneca Falls Convention and Declaration of Sentiments in 1848 — but as our next guest will tell us, there's a lot of local history to the movement, including in Saratoga Springs. Nancy Brown is a board member of the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites, and chairperson of the National Votes for Women Trail, a database of more than 2,000 sites significant to women's suffrage across the U.S. She says the goal was to highlight the nationwide, grassroots commitment that was needed to gain women the vote, and honor the ongoing struggle for voting rights across the U.S.  How did you get involved in the National Votes for Women Trail? I think that my interest in women suffered comes from the fact that I'm a native of Johnstown, New York, and that is home to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, where not only she was born, but inspired. So I think that has always made me very interested in women's suffrage. I was a board member on the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites, and this became a project that was originally, actually, a funded project that was proposed by Hillary Clinton – to have a Votes for Women Trail. And it was passed, the legislation was passed, but there were never any funds appropriated for it. So I remember being on a phone call, years ago now, and we were bemoaning the fact that there was no money to tell the story of women's suffrage – how half of our democracy became enfranchised, which is a pretty huge story. And we got thinking that really, suffragists we're all volunteer operations. So that's how the National Votes for Women Trail got started: a number of volunteers stepped up and we ended up creating a national network. And our goal was to have 2,020 sites on a database, a mobile friendly, searchable database by 2020 – which we exceeded, and we're now at 2,300 sites, it at nvwt.org. And along the way, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation in Syracuse, New York, recognized the importance of the project and offered to fund historic markers for places of specific significance around the country. And they are doing that for over 200 markers. So it was through that project that I kind of stumbled across the wonderful suffrage history in Saratoga. So what role did Saratoga play in the women's suffrage movement? Well, I will tell you how I stumbled across it, to be honest with you. One of the most important and influential associations was the New York State Women's Suffrage Association. And when I was doing a little research on where it started, I realized that it started at a meeting in Saratoga in July of 1869. Matilda Joslyn Gage, who was famous suffragist from Syracuse, actually had called a meeting to form a state women's suffrage association, and it was held at Congress Hall, which is where the corner of Congress Park and Spring Street is in Saratoga. And it was chaired by Susan B. Anthony. And the result of it was the formation of the New York Women's Suffrage Association. Why that's so important is this will become the association that helps women win the right to vote in New York state, which happened in 1917. They lost the bid for voting in 1915, but were able to get it in 1917. And why that's so important is we were the 12th state in the nation to pass women's suffrage – but the other states were in the West, and we were the first state in the east to pass this. And Carrie Chapman Catt, the famous suffragist, called this the Gettysburg of the woman's suffrage association. So come to find out that started right in Saratoga. And when I looked back a little further, I found that that was not the first women's rights convention in Saratoga. Well, we know that the very first one was in Seneca Falls in 1848, that sort of began the idea of having women's rights conventions. And after that there was one in Rochester, but in 1854, actually – the suffragists were such strategic thinkers that there were some other associations meeting in Saratoga, and they decided to go to Nikolas Hall, which was on the corner of Phila and Broadway. And they had a meeting with Susan B. Anthony, and it was very well regarded, very well attended. It was before there was a race track, but still, it was very popular place to go for people who had money and influence, and they knew that that's what the suffrage movement needed, was money and influence. And they had another meeting again in 1855, because it went so well. Then they have the meeting in 1869, in Saratoga, that forms the New York State Women's Suffrage Association, which becomes so influential. And then what I think is so incredibly interesting is the last meeting of the New York State Women's Suffrage Association was held there in 1917. And that was the last one before the vote, and then fortunately, the vote was passed and women got the vote within our state. And that's a really interesting meeting. That is sort of a culmination of all the work that the Association had done throughout its history, and they had really won over all the legislators. They had worked during World War I, doing all kinds of anything that was asked of them. They had worked with the state military census, they had organized Red Cross chapters, they had sold bonds, they had organized food canning clubs, and every political party decided that they were going to support them. And it was quite a meeting. Even Woodrow Wilson wrote a letter and said, “I look forward to seeing the results of the meeting in Saratoga.” And it started out with a car parade, an automobile parade from Buffalo across the state to Saratoga. So that was August 1917. And hundreds of cars were coming down Broadway. And that's when about one in four people owned a car, so that must have really been quite a sight. And again, famous people like Woodrow Wilson wrote a letter, Samuel Gompers wrote a letter of support. Katrina Trask sent a letter saying that she supported suffrage and wanted to make a donation that would have been worth about $5,000 in today's money. So it was really quite an interesting place. I think what's especially interesting about it is it was a turning point, literally in the suffrage movement nationally. And Saratoga is known as the turning point of the Revolution, right? We all know that the American Revolution, and that enfranchised white men, essentially. But it was really a turning point in what many people have called the “bloodless revolution,” which was the 72-year-fight for women's suffrage over which no blood was shed, and voting rights were gained. So I think that its importance is very significant. You mentioned you're from Johnstown, and that's where Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born. And you also said it's where she was inspired. Can you go into what you mean by that for me? I sure can. Elizabeth was one of the children born to Judge [Cady] and his wife, and unfortunately, only one of their sons made it to adulthood. Eleazer. And when he came home from Union College, he passed away at the age of 20. And Elizabeth remembers in her autobiography, that, as her father, who saw this as the successor to his law practice, was sitting by the coffin, he was just despondent. She went, and she sat on his lap, and he said, “Oh, Elizabeth, if you've only been a boy.” And apparently after that, she talked to her neighbor, who was the Reverend Simon Hoosick, and asked if he thought boys are better than girls. And he said, “No, of course not.” And she vowed at that point in time that she was going to become as good as any boy. And she became a very good horse woman. And she went to the Johnstown Academy, and was in all the accelerated classes that very few girls were in. And there was a coveted Greek prize, that she won along with another gentleman at one point, and the story goes that she took that Greek prize, which was very coveted, and she ran it down the street, and she went to her father's law office and said, “There, I won the Greek prize.” And he said, “Elizabeth, if you'd only been a boy.” And because her father was a lawyer, and we believe that his law office was adjacent to their home, she spent time there and she learned about the law. And she learned how the law didn't favor women. And there's the story of a woman who came to see the judge, because she had no property rights, and her husband passed away, and her son and his wife were kicking her out of her house, and she had no rights to stay there. And Elizabeth heard this story and vowed to cut all the laws out of his logbooks. And he said, “Elizabeth, you would have to go and talk to the legislature to change a law,” never really realizing that she really would end up doing that one day, and she would help change the property law in New York state. So she really was inspired by the events of her youth that took place in Johnstown. You mentioned when you were describing the conventions that there's parades of cars and famous figures and big donations being made for the effort. Do you see it as a movement that, at the time in Saratoga, was particularly driven by the upper classes, or was there a movement for the everyday folks who wanted this too? I think that when we think about it, and we look at the suffrage movement in New York state, for example, there were women like Rose Schneiderman, who worked so hard for workers' rights as well as for suffrage, knowing that that would help the workers gain a voice in their destiny. But I also think women who had more money had more time to devote to this. And there were certainly women who were immigrants who were very interested in this and worked in suffrage, but they had so much on their plates just to survive and just to get educated and just to keep their families together. But there also were Black women who worked so hard to win the vote when the suffrage movement was not always kind to women of color. So there were really women of every class who worked terribly hard, and devoted themselves to a cause that they didn't even know if they were ever going to see. So I'm so impressed by that as well. And fortunately, I will say that the National Votes for Women Trail has worked hard to try and unearth as many stories as we could for those underrepresented women who aren't known as well as the upper class white women, who we tend to know their names. I was going to ask, as we're looking towards preserving sites that have to do with women's history, what are some things that we should keep in mind? And what are the obstacles that are we're running into nowadays to create more monuments to women in the U.S.? Well, the obstacles in terms of preserving sites are they weren't preserved, unfortunately. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's original house, for example, was moved, and a new one that she lived in was built out of stone, because there have been a number of fires in Johnstown. And it was taken down in 1963. And nobody thought a thing about it, actually. And she was a woman of means, so her family had some money. And that's why we on the National Votes for Women Trail are willing to mark sites, because so many homes, nobody preserved the history of them at all. And especially those that women of color [lived in], they're particularly hard to find. Before those names get lost, it's really our responsibility to do our best to shine a light on the information that we can find in for those few remaining places. Like fortunately, Katherine Starbucks' home is still there. So that's why it's so important to recognize it. Because so many of these homes in locations really are not. It's just, you know, ideally that that people really take some time and do their research. They can go on the National Votes for Women Trail and submit sites in their community, if they find information. We then have somebody who reviews them before they're released to populate the map. But we I just think, fortunately, with the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment, there was more interested in women's history. And I think people are more interested in finding out who was in their communities that help them get the rights that they enjoy today. And we also need to be mindful of, you know, all women couldn't vote in 1920, Black Women's still had a long way to go to fight their way through Jim Crow laws before they could vote. And, you know, Native American women weren't even US citizens yet, not for another four years and women of Asian descent. Not until even after that they were not citizens yet, so they didn't get the vote. And as we know, unfortunately, today, voting rights are still being compromised in a variety of places. So I think that is equally important to commemorating their sites, I suppose is commemorating their struggle for the for the right to vote. Well, lastly, in looking at the local impact on women's suffrage movement, what has been your main takeaway? I think the main takeaways – I didn't know any of that history existed there, either. But in every county in New York state, there was an active women's suffrage association. That's how they were able to eventually get the New York state legislature to pass the amendment to the law so that they could vote. But so I think what I have learned is how widespread it was, how many people had to be involved to get this movement over the finish line, if you will. Also, there was a significant anti-suffrage movement that I wasn't aware of before I started doing research. And there were women as well as men who didn't think women voting was a good idea. They thought that they didn't need to vote to make their voice heard. If you dial it all the way back to that first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton said in her Declaration of Sentiments that she felt that women needed the right to vote, almost no one agreed with her then. They said, “Oh, that's too much. You know, we can't go quite that far.” But it was Frederick Douglass who stood up and said, “No, she's right. Without the right to vote…that's the right by which all other rights are gained.” It really was such a Herculean effort. There are so many people that we don't know about, that we should be so grateful for. I think there's so much research to do and so many people we need to try and remember their names and try and find out about them so that their efforts won't be lost. Nancy Brown is the chairperson of the National Votes for Women Trail. You can view the trail and learn more about a site near you on the website for the National Collaborative for Women's History Sites. The William G. Pomeroy Foundation has a map for all of its historic markers at wgpfoundation.org.  Lastly, on the topic of preserving women's history, the New York State Museum in Albany has launched a new effort to expand and diversify its collections — specifically, its sports collections. It's all ahead of the 50th anniversary of Title IX this June — Title IX, of course, is the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. It applies to all aspects of education, but one of its most visual impacts was in sports, requiring schools to equally support girls' and boys' teams. The museum is trying to balance out its own recollection of sports history by recognizing juggernauts like the WNBA's New York Liberty, or special events like the all-female Aurora Games, which launched in Albany in 2019.  I spoke with the museum's senior historian and curator for social history, Ashley Hopkins-Benton, to learn more.  "At the New York State Museum, our entire history curatorial department has been working on really evaluating our collections, and what strengths we have, and also what stories we're missing," says Hopkins-Benton. "And diversity, of course, is always something that we're trying to get more into the collections. But a couple of years ago, in 2017, when we were working on the Votes for Women exhibit about the centennial of women's suffrage in New York state, we realized women's history collections were really lacking. And then shortly after that, Steve Loughman, who is our sports curator, also was realizing that sports were really lacking, which is crazy when you think about New York and all of the great sports teams and sports stories that we have. So simultaneously, we were both working on these things. And because of the upcoming anniversary of the passage of Title IX, it became very apparent that women's sports were a particular collection that was lacking." So what kinds of items are you looking for in this collection? Well, let me start with what we have, because it's very small. It's all out on the table in front of us right now, we really have two collections that speak to women's sports as they relate to New York state. So one is a collection of material from the New York Liberty basketball team, the WNBA team. And this came in from a woman named Pam Elam, who is a feminist and a women's history scholar, and was really interested in collecting women's history and LGBTQ history as it pertained to culture and politics and sports and everything. So this came in before we even knew that women's sports was something that was missing from our collections, and it includes tickets and calendars and bios of the players. So it's a really great snapshot of the league. And these all came from around 10 years of the league being in existence. So that was the first thing that we had. And then a couple years ago, when Albany hosted the Aurora games, a couple of us all went out to different events and collected pins and basketballs and shirts and other materials from that. So that was a great opportunity as well. So we have two examples, more on the professional sports side of things. But we would love to collect more amateur sports, girls playing in high school, women in college, and those stories. I'm definitely looking for stories of trailblazers, women who were the first to play their sports. New York has so many great stories of girls who play on their high school football team, or I spoke to a woman earlier who was the first girl in her high school to earn a letter by playing on the men's golf team back in the ‘60s. So I am also looking to speak to women. I'd like to do some oral histories of women who were involved in sports at various times in history. Cool. Now, if someone has something that they think might be a good addition to the collection, what is the process of giving that to the museum? Well, reaching out to the museum and to me in particular, and then I bring it to our collections committee, and we discuss it as a group – how it fits into the collection, if it's something that we can responsibly take care of, and if it's something that has research and exhibition value in the future. If you think you may have something you'd like to contribute to the collection, you can find more information at the museum's website. You can also email Ashley Hopkins-Benton at ashley.hopkins-benton@nysed.gov. Title IX turns 50 on June 23. 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It's produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue.

In 1848, about 300 activists met in Seneca Falls, New York, for the first convention in the United States devoted to women's rights. They discussed Elizabeth Cady Stanton's proposed Declaration of Sentiments, which mirrored the language of the Declaration of Independence. Center for Civic Education

Lucretia Mott was one of the most well-known, active, and influential women's rights and anti-slavery activists in nineteenth-century America. She was a persuasive speaker at a time when public speaking by women was frowned upon. Not allowed to actively participate in the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 because of their gender, Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton resolved to organize the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention in the nation. Center for Civic Education

If there's one book you need to pick up now, it's “The Child in the Electric Chair”. It tells the true story of George Junius Stinney, Jr., a 14 year old black boy who was convicted – and sent to the electric chair – for the murder of two young white girls in a 1944 South Carolina town. The story exposes the preposterous legal system in the Jim Crow south, race relations then, and leads the reader to question the real meaning of equal justice under the law. The book, which took nearly a dozen years to research and write, was the undertaking of the very thoughtful Historian, Eli Faber. When he realized he wouldn't be able to complete it due to advanced pancreatic cancer, he asked his dear friend and colleague, fellow Historian Carol Berkin, to complete the book and see it through publication. And that she did. Sadly, Eli Faber passed away before seeing the work go to print. On this episode, Carol Berkin, Presidential Professor of History, Emerita, of Baruch College & The Graduate Center, CUNY, discusses the book and all of its complexities. As our guest on episode 124, we start the conversation by having her revisit her one way ticket destination to the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention. Carol Berkin is just one of the engaging individuals featured on The One Way Ticket Show, where Host Steven Shalowitz explores with his guests where they would go if given a one way ticket, no coming back. Their destinations may be in the past, present, future, real, imaginary or a state of mind. Steven's guests have included: Nobel Peace Prize Winner, President Jose Ramos-Horta; Legendary Talk Show Host, Dick Cavett; Law Professor, Alan Dershowitz; Fashion Expert, Tim Gunn; Broadcast Legend, Charles Osgood; International Rescue Committee President & CEO, David Miliband; Former Senator, Joe Lieberman; Playwright, David Henry Hwang; Journalist-Humorist-Actor, Mo Rocca; SkyBridge Capital Founder & Co-Managing Partner, Anthony Scaramucci; Abercrombie & Kent Founder, Geoffrey Kent; Travel Expert, Pauline Frommer, as well as leading photographers, artists, chefs, writers, intellectuals and more.

The original Declaration of Sentiments, the document outlining the rights that American women should be entitled to as citizens, emerged from the Seneca Falls Convention in New York in July 1848. Then in 2020, a group of women and girls in the Western, Central and the Finger Lakes regions of New York got together “to use pens and voices” to write a new declaration for the 21st century, which they shared for the first time at the 2021 Convention Days in Seneca Falls, NY in mid-July. Join us for this NWP Radio show where we hear from the young authors of the now complete 2020 Youth Declaration of Sentiments, understand their journeys as writers and collaborators, and listen to their hopes and dreams for their 21st century document.

The original Declaration of Sentiments, the document outlining the rights that American women should be entitled to as citizens, emerged from the Seneca Falls Convention in New York in July 1848. Then in 2020, a group of women and girls in the Western, Central and the Finger Lakes regions of New York got together “to use pens and voices” to write a new declaration for the 21st century, which they shared for the first time at the 2021 Convention Days in Seneca Falls, NY in mid-July. Join us for this NWP Radio show where we hear from the authors of the now complete 2020 Youth Declaration of Sentiments, understand their journeys as writers and collaborators, and listen to their hopes and dreams for their 21st century document. For more information: https://yds2020.weebly.com/

In this episode of Let's Get Civical, Lizzie and Arden explore the infamous Seneca Falls Convention! Join them as they discuss who the major players were, their Declaration of Sentiments, and how it impacted Her-story as we know it!  Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @letsgetcivical, @lizzie_the_rock_stewart, and @ardenjulianna. Or visit us at letsgetcivical.com for all the exciting updates!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/seneca-falls-convention-beginsSupport the show on Patreon

Amy: Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy! I'm Amy McPhie Allebest. Today we will be talking about the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe vs. Wade. This is such a complicated and delicate topic, and there is so much to discuss, we decided to break up the conversation into two parts. So today will be Part 1 and next time we will resume with Part 2.  In preparation, my reading partner read a bit about the case, and then we read the actual case, which we found online on Google Scholar. Neither of us had ever read the original text before, and we both found it to be so much more readable and accessible than we expected - we felt like we could feel the judges wrestling with every angle of the issue, taking it very seriously and so wanting to do the right thing. It was really worth reading, and I'm very excited to discuss it. But before we dig into this essential text and talk about its implications for women, I'd like to introduce my reading partner, Lindsay McPhie Hickok. Hi, Lindsay! Lindsay: Hi, Amy! Amy:   Lindsay is my sister, actually the third sister to be a guest on the podcast, so I feel like I should introduce the McPhies! There are five kids in our family - I'm the oldest, then Lindsay, who is here today, then comes our only brother, Scott, and his wife Rachel whom we consider to be a sister too, then comes Courtney, who did the episodes on the Seneca Falls Convention speeches and Margaret Sanger's “The Morality of Birth Control,” and then Whitney is the youngest, and Whitney did the episode right before this one, on Title IX. We are all extremely close and the best of friends, and I adore and admire them all for different reasons. Scott frequently makes me laugh so hard that I cry, Rachel seems to have all the craziest things happen to her and she is the absolute best storyteller, also often making us laugh so hard we cry, Courtney is a trailblazer in our family by being the first of the siblings to get a master's degree, and I admire Whitney for her incredible resilience. And Lindsay, one thing I love about you is the passion with which you care for women and babies in your job as a labor and delivery nurse. I wish every laboring woman had a coach and defender and nurturer as fiercely loving and empowering as you are.  So Linz, could you tell us about who you are, where you're from, and what kinds of life experiences and points of view you bring to today's conversation? Lindsay: Sure! As Amy said, I am the second child in our family. We grew up in Colorado, and I live in Utah now, with my husband and three children. I like to hike and bike and garden and basically do anything outdoors.  I graduated from BYU with a nursing degree, and besides a short stint in same day surgery, I have spent my whole career in labor and delivery. Many of my most intense life experiences come from either the delivery room, or from my faith.  I was raised in a very devout Christian home. My parents raised me in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that faith has played a huge part in who I am and in how I view the world.  I was taught from the time I was born that God cared about the choices that I made, and that all life was sacred and beautiful. Not only was I raised to believe that life was holy, but I get to see the magic of life every time I go to work. I am a labor and delivery nurse, and for thirteen years I have walked with women as they have labored and birthed their little babies. I love seeing the strength of women. I have seen incredible heroines in the delivery room, and it takes my breath away every single time. In addition to my Mormon roots, I also have Scottish roots and that feels very much a part of who I am. One of my core values is freedom of choice - think William Wallace yelling “freedom!” or, if that is too distant a past, imagine Mormon pioneers walking barefoot across icy plains, suffering sickness and grief, all to have a place where they could worship God...

Amy: Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy! I'm Amy McPhie Allebest. Did you know that it used to be illegal for married couples to use birth control? Did you know that the Supreme Court only overturned states' laws prohibiting birth control 55 years ago? I did not know that until I did some research in preparation for today's texts. We will be discussing Margaret Sanger's 1918 essay “The Morality of Birth Control” and her 1934 essay “The Case for Birth Control.” I want to begin by emphasizing that this project highlights essential texts that describe the construct of patriarchy and the critiques that have challenged it throughout history. During each episode we include a biography of the author of the text we're discussing, but that is only to give background and context to the important piece of writing that the person produced. There are other podcasts out there whose purpose is to tell the stories of amazing women - “History Chicks,”  “Encyclopedia Womannica,” and “What's Her Name” are all excellent podcasts that are biography-centric. Our project here at “Breaking Down Patriarchy” is about important documents on a historical timeline, and in some ways the author of a certain text might not necessarily be exemplary. I say this because the author of this week's texts is a controversial figure. Margaret Sanger was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse working in the WWI era and 1920's. She popularized the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Her essays, “Morality and Birth Control” and “The Case for Birth Control” were critically important in challenging patriarchal norms, and they are found on almost every Women's History reading list. But Sanger was also involved in the eugenics movement, and rubbed shoulders with some very racist people. Some have accused Sanger herself of racist views, and some organizations have disavowed her. We at Breaking Down Patriarchy disavow and condemn racism in every form. Full stop. Today, as in every episode, we will simply be examining a text and its significance on our historical timeline as we strive to understand patriarchy and its critiques. But before we continue the discussion, I want to introduce my reading partner, Courtney McPhie! Hi, Courtney, and welcome back to Breaking Down Patriarchy! Courtney: Hi, Amy!  Amy: Courtney is not afraid of complicated narratives - you were my reading partner when we discussed the Seneca Falls Convention and we talked about the racist invectives of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. You tackle texts with such intelligence and compassion and you don't shy away from a challenge. Courtney Intro: If you didn't hear our episode on Seneca Falls, Courtney is a high school English teacher outside DC, where she fights for equity and representation in the classroom. Another highlight about Courtney is she loves podcasts! Her favorite is NPR's Code Switch. She has loved participating in the podcast because her undergrad offerings of women's studies courses was extremely limited, so she feels like she is getting the solid education in feminist lit she always wanted. Me too, Courtney! That's the goal - to finally understand how things evolved for women the way they did. And this topic was yet another one that I had absolutely no knowledge of. If you had asked me when women were first allowed to use birth control (and just to point out - it was a group of men deciding whether women should or shouldn't be allowed to use birth control - that's why this is a patriarchal issue), I wouldn't have known. My point of reference recently has been “Call the Midwife,” which I highly recommend watching.  So anyway… let's learn a bit about the author of  “Morality and Birth Control,” and “The Case for Birth Control,” Margaret Sanger. Can you introduce her to us, Courtney?

Allebest: Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy! I'm Amy McPhie Allebest. Today's text is the speech, “The Fundamental Principle of a Republic” by Anna Howard Shaw, given in New York in 1915. Shaw argues that the fundamental principle of a republic is that its citizens get to participate in civic life, and that in denying women the right to vote, America falls short of its democratic values. As listeners might recall from our episode on the Seneca Falls Convention, the women's suffrage movement had officially begun in 1848, which means that at the point that this speech was given, women had been fighting for the right to vote for 67 years!! Can you imagine how frustrating??  Why was it taking so long? What arguments were being made against women's suffrage, that were convincing American men and American women that women should not have the right to vote? Anna Howard Shaw's oration addresses exactly those anti-suffrage arguments. This speech is included on many lists of the 50 best speeches of the entire 20th Century, and sure enough when I read it I was blown away… not only by its power, but also by its humor! Anna Howard Shaw was funny! But before we get to the speech, I want to introduce my reading partner, Amy Osmond Cook. Amy and I were neighbors and running buddies several years ago in Southern California, and we crammed years' worth of deep discussion into the year that we lived in the same neighborhood. Also, fun fact: as you may have guessed from her maiden name, Amy is the niece of Donny and Marie Osmond. She's way too humble to name-drop like that, so I'm going to do it for her. :) And we discovered after meeting that we know tons of the same people, including discovering after we had been friends for months, that my cousin is married to her sister! Amy, I absolutely adored you from the first moment I met you and I am so grateful that you agreed to do this project with me! Thanks so much for being here. Cook: Amy, the feeling is just so mutual.  Allebest: So before we start, could you tell us a little about yourself? Where you grew up and what made you the person you are today. Cook: Bio Ancestors from Born and raised in Family of origin Religion Education: undergrad PhD dissertation Career Current family Hobbies/favorite things Allebest: Thanks so much! And the other question I like to ask is what interested you in Breaking Down Patriarchy.  Cook: Interest in the project Allebest: Thanks, Amy. Ok, so in preparation for discussing this text, we need to set the stage a bit by explaining the women's suffrage movement and Anna Howard Shaw. Allebest and Cook take turns: Allebest: As a way of orienting us, here are a few highlights from a Women's Suffrage Timeline, as found on the website of  The National Women's History Museum. We'll take turns reading some important dates just so we have an understanding of what happened when.  1850 Worcester, Massachusetts, is the site of the first National Women's Rights Convention. Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucy Stone and Sojourner Truth are in attendance. A strong alliance is formed between the Women's Rights Movement and the Abolitionist Movement (and actually, as we learned in other episodes, those two movements were allied from the very beginning - the women's movement grew directly out of the Abolition movement) 1861-1865 During the Civil War, efforts for the suffrage movement come to a halt. Women put their energies toward the war effort. 1866 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the American Equal Rights Association, an organization dedicated to the goal of suffrage for all, regardless of gender or race. 1868 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Parker Pillsbury publish the first edition of The Revolution.  This periodical carries the motto “Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less!” Senator S.C. Pomeroy of Kansas introduces...

In 1848, about 300 activists met in Seneca Falls, New York, for the first convention in the United States devoted to women's rights. They discussed Elizabeth Cady Stanton's proposed Declaration of Sentiments, which mirrored the language of the Declaration of Independence. Center for Civic Education

Happy Women's History Month! When the history of feminism in America is told, it is usually remembered as a White womens' struggle beginning at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and ending with the 19th amendment in 1920. What this history misses is the separate struggle Black women faced at the intersection of race and sex. That history is the subject of this episode and Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All written by my guest Dr. Martha S. Jones (another super cool guest that you can learn more about http://marthasjones.com/ (here)). There were no Black women at Seneca Falls, but earlier that same year, Black women were at the AME church's general conference petitioning for the right to preaching licenses. Yet, our conversation goes back farther to Jarena Lee, a Black woman whose preaching career began in the early 1800s. It was this sexism within their own communities and the racism they faced from White suffragists that drove them to form their own movement. After the Civil War, they formed national clubs to fight against lynching and for the vote. And that struggle continued after the 19th amendment because Black women faced the same restrictions and violence that already kept Black men from the polls in many states. It took 45 more years of political, legal, and civil rights struggle to get to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Along the way, Black women were lawyers, strategists, federal appointees, and (where possible) voters. Three Black women even feature prominently in the photo of the Voting Rights Act being signed (see http://www.lbjlibrary.net/assets/lbj_tools/photolab/photos/1/medium/a1030-19a_med.jpg (here)). We conclude with a look at what Black women are doing in politics right now both in and around government. Black women fought for equality, dignity, and political power in a long struggle full of women whose names are known by too few. These are some of their stories. Further Reading: [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.] Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha Jones (https://amzn.to/3qFd5iI (https://amzn.to/3qFd5iI)) Music Credit PeaceLoveSoul by Jeris (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/35859 Ft: KungFu (KungFuFrijters)

Lucretia Mott was one of the most well-known, active, and influential women's rights and anti-slavery activists in nineteenth-century America. She was a persuasive speaker at a time when public speaking by women was frowned upon. Not allowed to actively participate in the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 because of their gender, Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton resolved to organize the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention in the nation. Center for Civic Education

Intro - Amy:  Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy, I'm Amy McPhie Allebest. Today we are going to discuss some iconic texts in Women's History. The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention was the first Women's Rights convention in American history, and the speeches delivered there have been touchstones for Women's Rights movements all over the world, ever since. The convention is considered the kick-off of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, even though it would be 72 years before the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, which guaranteed women the right to vote, and it would be 117 more years before the Voting Rights Act was passed, in 1965, which protected Black men and women's right to vote. This was a slow and painful process, and amidst some of the inspiring language of the Seneca Falls convention speeches you can already see some big problems that would keep thwarting the effort toward voting justice for all Americans. But we'll get to that later. Frst, I'm going to introduce my reading partner, Courtney McPhie. Hi, Courtney! Courtney: Hi, Amy! Amy: If you follow Courtney McPhie's lineage, you will find yourself in Scotland, where a fierce and stubborn streak planted early roots for a family tree. Growing up in Colorado, Courtney experienced a typical awakening to social justice in high school, but took until college to call herself a feminist. A voracious reader and podcast-listener, Courtney lives in Northern Virginia, in the DC Metro area. She completed her graduate studies at George Mason University and holds a masters degree in education, which she uses as a high school English teacher in Fairfax County, one of the largest districts in the country. She works largely with English Language Learners, mostly asylum-seekers who have come from Central America in the last three years. Courtney lives with her husband and three cute kids in a Colonial house on a hill.  What interests Courtney in the project The chance to briefly own a microphone (haha) Amy: Ok, let's dive in! First, let's talk about the organizers and speakers at the convention - Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Courtney, can you start by telling us about Lucretia Mott? Courtney: Born January 3, 1793, Lucretia Coffin was raised in a Quaker family in Boston. She was sent to a Quaker school, where she became even more adamant in her belief that all are born equal. When she finished school she stayed on as a teacher, then became a Quaker preacher where she became a staunch abolitionist and women's rights activist. By 1811, Mott was living in Philadelphia where she married her father's business partner, James Mott.  Mott was passionate about her work as an abolitionist, something that was supported by her husband. She started the Philadelphia Femail Anti-Slavery Society in 1833 after working with William Lloyd Garrison, an abolitionist and women's rights activist who encouraged women to be involved in the movements. He encouraged Mott and all women to write and speak out about these issues, which caused Mott to be ridiculed for her acting in ways that were unbecoming of women. However, she did not let this stop her.  Mott soon became frustrated that, as a woman, she was not allowed to participate in many of the abolitionist groups and conventions. It was at this time she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with their respective husbands, at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England.    The two women became allies when the male delegates attending the convention voted that women should be denied participation in the proceedings, even if they, like Mott, had been nominated to serve as official delegates of their respective abolitionist societies. After considerable debate, the women were required to sit in a roped-off section hidden from the view of the men in attendance. They were soon joined by the prominent abolitionist,...

Josh pours the tea, Mariah’s on her apprentice shit, Ang is a shadow in the night, and Ike feels the Full Moon side effects. We’re back at you with another classic Quack, led by our very own Dookie Boi. We talk mass network shutdowns, MySpace, the Seneca Falls Convention, healing spaces, and prisoner rights for podcasting. ******* Have a question? Wanna share your fired stories? Wanna just say hi? Email us or give us a call! Email: soigotfiredpodcast@gmail.com Website: soigotfired.com Facebook: @soigotfired IG: @soigotfired Twitter: @_soigotfired Phone: (424) 256-6189 Gang: @marriahbob @joshyxboi @1k3muzik @theangeliquee Illustration by Rodrigo Carneiro Twitter & IG: @drigoooooo Original music by @1k3muzik

Cassandra Peltier joins Tim to tell the story of the legacy left by Susan B. Anthony in the form of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed the right to vote for women.  America is celebrating 100 years since the 1920 passage of that amendment. Cassandra is the Executive Director of the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum in Adams, Massachusetts. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Suffrage_two_auphonic.mp3 Millions of Americans will cast a ballot to vote this November, continuing a tradition that began with the nation’s founding when the new democratic republic decided that its leaders would serve in defined terms, and in order to take office, would need to be elected. But if you were around for that first election, you might have noticed that women did not have the opportunity to vote. While women did have the chance to vote and some did in subsequent elections, it wasn’t until 1920, 100 years ago this year, that women were guaranteed the constitutional right to vote. That right is protected in the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The 19th Amendment guarantees American women citizens the right to vote. In today’s episode, we talk with Cassandra Peltier, the Executive Director of the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, to learn the story of the long and arduous road that led to the passage of that amendment, and the woman who led the charge – Susan B. Anthony. Even though she didn’t live to see the amendment come into law, it is the legacy she’s best known for. Who was Susan B. Anthony? Susan B. Anthony She lived from 1820 to 1906 and died at the age of 86, 13 years before the 19th Amendment was passed into law. She had a Quaker upbringing, was educated as a teacher in Philadelphia and taught in various schools from 1835 to 1860. She was a pioneer in the women’s suffrage movement and served as President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which she co-founded with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Her biggest accomplishment was the 19th Amendment, known as the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment.” What was Women’s Suffrage? A key event in the emergence of the suffrage movement was the Seneca Falls Convention 1848 where Elizabeth Cady Stanton lived. She hosted the event, attended by more than 300 people, mostly women. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 after the Civil War. They created and produced The Revolution, a weekly newspaper that advocated for women’s rights under the American Equal Rights Association.  Its masthead read: “Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” In 1872, she voted in the presidential election illegally. She was arrested and tried unsuccessfully to fight the charges. She was fined $100.  She never paid the fine. How did the 19th Amendment come about? Susan B. Anthony on a visit to Adams in 1897 with fellow suffragists. Source: Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum The passage of the 19th Amendment was the result of decades of activism, which began in the mid-1800s. Women and their supporters protested and marched to seek change. In 1878, the amendment was first introduced in the U.S. Congress. But it wouldn’t be passed by both the Congress and Senate, and then ratified by enough states to make it law for another 42 years. On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment.  About two weeks later, the Senate passed it. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. That’s when the amendment was adopted. Links Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum Susan B. Anthony, Biography.com The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution About Women's Suffrage, History.com Declaration of Sentiments About this Episode's Guest Cassandra Peltier Cassandra Peltier is the Executive Director of the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum in Adams, Massachusetts.

Cassandra Peltier joins Tim to tell the story of the legacy left by Susan B. Anthony in the form of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed the right to vote for women.  America is celebrating 100 years since the 1920 passage of that amendment. Cassandra is the Executive Director of the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum in Adams, Massachusetts. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Suffrage_two_auphonic.mp3 Millions of Americans will cast a ballot to vote this November, continuing a tradition that began with the nation's founding when the new democratic republic decided that its leaders would serve in defined terms, and in order to take office, would need to be elected. But if you were around for that first election, you might have noticed that women did not have the opportunity to vote. While women did have the chance to vote and some did in subsequent elections, it wasn't until 1920, 100 years ago this year, that women were guaranteed the constitutional right to vote. That right is protected in the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The 19th Amendment guarantees American women citizens the right to vote. In today's episode, we talk with Cassandra Peltier, the Executive Director of the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, to learn the story of the long and arduous road that led to the passage of that amendment, and the woman who led the charge – Susan B. Anthony. Even though she didn't live to see the amendment come into law, it is the legacy she's best known for. Who was Susan B. Anthony? Susan B. Anthony She lived from 1820 to 1906 and died at the age of 86, 13 years before the 19th Amendment was passed into law. She had a Quaker upbringing, was educated as a teacher in Philadelphia and taught in various schools from 1835 to 1860. She was a pioneer in the women's suffrage movement and served as President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which she co-founded with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Her biggest accomplishment was the 19th Amendment, known as the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment.” What was Women's Suffrage? A key event in the emergence of the suffrage movement was the Seneca Falls Convention 1848 where Elizabeth Cady Stanton lived. She hosted the event, attended by more than 300 people, mostly women. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 after the Civil War. They created and produced The Revolution, a weekly newspaper that advocated for women's rights under the American Equal Rights Association.  Its masthead read: “Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” In 1872, she voted in the presidential election illegally. She was arrested and tried unsuccessfully to fight the charges. She was fined $100.  She never paid the fine. How did the 19th Amendment come about? Susan B. Anthony on a visit to Adams in 1897 with fellow suffragists. Source: Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum The passage of the 19th Amendment was the result of decades of activism, which began in the mid-1800s. Women and their supporters protested and marched to seek change. In 1878, the amendment was first introduced in the U.S. Congress. But it wouldn't be passed by both the Congress and Senate, and then ratified by enough states to make it law for another 42 years. On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment.  About two weeks later, the Senate passed it. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. That's when the amendment was adopted. Links Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum Susan B. Anthony, Biography.com The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution About Women's Suffrage, History.com Declaration of Sentiments About this Episode's Guest Cassandra Peltier Cassandra Peltier is the Executive Director of the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum in Adams, Massachusetts.

On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, thus giving women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a suffrage movement that was launched in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York, which was also attended by leading abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass. An effort to secure women's suffrage failed at the US Supreme Court, leading to the movement to win the vote by a constitutional amendment. Enactment of women's suffrage in 1920 was historic, but it did not end discrimination against African American women, who continued to be denied the vote due to Jim Crow racial discrimination laws until passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Marlboro College Professor Emerita Meg Mott discusses the suffrage movement, the racial divisions within it, enduring discrimination faced by African American and LGBTQ women, and parallels to modern efforts at voter suppression. Guest: Meg Mott, Professor of Politics Emerita, Marlboro College  

On the anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, journalist Erin Geiger Smith discusses the history of the women’s suffrage event as well as her new book, Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America . It’s part of our ongoing series “Keep It 100.”

On this day in 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention began. Learn its goal to read and sign the Declaration of Sentiments and listen to how it was meant to deliberately be a sort of revision for the Declaration of Independence. Today is July 19, 2020. This is the Librarian's Almanac. Feel free to check out more from the Librarian's Almanac on their website: http://www.librariansalmanac.com/ I'd also love to hear from you directly. Feel free to send me an email at librarians.almanac@gmail.com

Another History Highlights for today, July 19 drawn from the Library of Congress. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/historyhighlights/message

The first women’s rights convention in the United States began in Seneca Falls, New ...

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The Seneca Falls Convention convened in New York on this day in 1848. / On this day in 1919, race riots began in Washington, D.C., during the period of increased anti-Black violence known as Red Summer. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

Women in the United States began fighting for the right to vote in 1848, and by 1910 they had achieved a few hard-won victories. But success nationwide seemed out of reach. Then Alice Paul arrived on the scene with a playbook of radical protest strategies and an indomitable will. She focused in on one target: the president, Woodrow Wilson. How far would Paul and her fellow suffragists have to go to get Wilson's support? Dora Lewis was the member of prominent Philadelphia family. She was dedicated fighter for the right of women to vote. In 1919, Lewis participated in the Watchfires protests, in which suffragists burned the speeches of Woodrow Wilson to reject his hypocricy of speaking about democracy and justice without protecting them for women at home. The woman suffrage movement in the United States is usually said to have begun at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. The Convention, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and several friends and colleagues, produced a Declaration of Sentiments that called for women to "secure for themselves their right to the elective franchise." Elizabeth Cady Stanton (left) and Susan B. Anthony (right) met in 1851 and become close friends and dedicated fighters for votes for women. The "New Woman" of the turn of the 19th century was educated, independent, and career-minded. These women were more demanding than previous generations and less concerned about upsetting gender norms. I joked in this episode about New Women and their bicycles, but this was actually an enormous breakthrough for women. For the first time, women had freedom of movement that opened up a world that been narrowly restricted for previous generations. Alice Paul was charismatic, magnetic, and impossible to refuse. She was willing to work herself into the hospital and expected the same level of effort from her friends. (She is also, in this photo, wearing an awesome hat.) Alice Paul spent the years between 1907 and 1909 in the United Kingdom, where she joined the radical suffragette movement. She learned the power of protest in England, as well as the power of her own will. In 1909, Paul went on a hunger strike in prison and was force fed. This was a horrifying, traumatic experience--a fact that the suffragettes didn't hesitate to leverage in their promotional material. Paul's first major action back in the United States was the Woman Suffrage Procession of 1913. Scheduled the day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, it achieved maximum publicity for the cause. This image was used as the cover of the official procession program. This photo shows the start of the procession, with attorney Inez Mulholland on horseback. Paul and other organizers intended to segregate African-American marchers to the end of the parade, but Ida B. Wells-Barnett had no intention of being segregated. She joined the Illinois delegation halfway along the route. Massive crowds viewed the parade. Without adequate police monitoring, the crowd got out of control, spilled into the street, and began harassing the marchers. In 1917, the Silent Sentinels began protesting daily at the White House. They carried banners demanding the president take action on women's right to vote. For several months, the protests were peaceful. But Paul began cranking up the tension in the summer, and D.C. police began arresting and detaining the protesters. Eventually, suffragists were sentenced to time at Occoquan Workhouse a grim, remote facility. Here several suffragists, including Dora Lewis, pose in their prison uniforms. Suffragist prisoners began protests in prison, refusing to wear uniforms or do assigned work. Some, including Alice Paul, went on hunger strikes. Prison guards reacted with increasing violence. Here one of the suffragists has to be helped to a car after a harrowing stay at Occoquan. At the same time the members of the NWP were protesting daily at the White House, members of the rival organization NAWSA were conducting a massive campaign for suffrage in New York. They won the vote for 2 million women and reinforced the nationwide conviction that the time had come for a federal amendment. The New York campaign was one of the most inclusive in suffrage history. NAWSA partnered with both the Wage Earner's Suffrage League and the New York City Colored Woman Suffrage Club. African-American suffrage clubs were popular in northern states; this image is of such a group. (I was unable to figure out exactly where these women were from.) After the House of Representatives passed the federal woman suffrage amendment in 1918, the NWP and NAWSA set aside their differences and worked together to lobby Senators for votes for women. They developed an early form of a database in an index card system that tracked each Senator's friends, memberships, and donors. They also logged notes of each meeting with a Senator, as you can see in this card. When the amendment failed to pass the Senate in 1918, the NWP began its Watchfires protests burning the president's speeches and even an effigy of the man himself. Crowds inevitably gathered, as seen in this photos, and often the women were arrested. In the summer of 1919, Wilson finally took decisive action, and the House and Senate passed the woman suffrage amendment. The fight moved to the states for ratification. Eventually it all came down to Tennessee the vote of one man, Harry Burn. This is a photo of the letter from Burn's mother that was delivered to him the morning of the vote that made him decide to vote "aye" for suffrage, knowing his constituency would not approve. Women across the country celebrated the passage of the 19th Amendment. NAWSA evolved into the League of Women Voters and devoted itself to the education of new voters. It continues in this role today. Alice Paul kept the National Woman's Party in operation and began advocating for the Equal Rights Amendment to remove all legal descrimination against woman. Here she is seen in 1969 with one of the original banners from the suffrage fight.

72 years. That's how long it took for women to win the right to vote, after suffragists first rallied at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention. The battle was long, heart-felt, and sometimes bitter -- with a surprising split over race issues after the Civil War ended. The 19th Amendment was finally ratified on August 18, 1920, in the wake of the Spanish Flu Pandemic. 100 years later, the war for equality is still being fought -- making the history explored in this podcast more important than ever. Ellen DuBois, author of Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote, joins reporter Victoria Flexner to answer this question: How did getting the vote in 1920 change women's ability to wield power in America?

On Ep. 006, Beth and Theresa discuss 1st wave feminism, the history (including the infamous Seneca Falls Convention), the people and our misconceptions about the intentions of the movement. Was the 1st wave really just about giving women the right to vote? Is there any similarity between the 1st and 3rd waves of feminism? Why does all this matter? 

Emma looks at the Women's Rights movement and increasing slave rebellions in the 1800s for your APUSH exam. She looks at the Seneca Falls Convention for a conference on women's rights and the work of Sarah and Angelina Grimké in uniting the fight for women's rights with the rights of slaves. She also looks at the momentous Louisiana Slave Revolt as well as Nat Turner's Rebellion, and the outcomes of both. Ideal for preparing you for your AP US History exam. Click here for the full course, or visit this link: http://bit.ly/2O1gaJx

Rick and Luke examine how The Declaration of the Seneca Falls Convention changed the course of events to bring the principles of liberty to all Americans.

Rick and Luke examine how The Declaration of the Seneca Falls Convention changed the course of events to bring the principles of liberty to all Americans.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. The women's suffrage movement was not a new thing then, it was being fought for be courageous, pioneering ladies for over 70 years before the 1920 ratification.Susan Zimet, anti-hunger advocate and author of the book Roses and Radicals: The Epic Story of How American Women Won the Right to Vote, talks with host Chris Cordani about the earliest days of the suffrage movement before the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, the work of women like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone into the final authorization of the 19th amendment. For more information on Susan Zimet, her book and her humanitarian work, visit her website: https://www.susanzimet.com/ Find Roses and Radicals on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Roses-Radicals-Story-American-Women-ebook/dp/B072J77M24/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1511208574&sr=1-1Find Roses and Radicals on Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/roses-and-radicals-susan-zimet/1126438150?ean=9780451477545#/ Zimet discusses how female activists were beaten and tortured in the 19th century for little more than trying to win the right to choose legislators and leaders as well as how the movement played a role in the prohibition of the 1920s as women gained more political power though their new voting rights. http://www.bookspectrum.com #19thammendment #womenssuffrage #books #history

She writes Emmy-winning television comedy, bestselling children’s books, plays, and sentences for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Is there nothing Jill Twiss can’t do?Musical theater actress and stand-up comic Jill Twiss dreamed of writing for television but did not know how to break in to the world of late-night comedy shows. The stars aligned when a few supportive women called some chits on her behalf, and lo, she landed a spot in the writing room of the Emmy-award winning show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Her work on Last Week Tonight has earned her multiple Emmys, WGA and Peabody Awards, and led to a series of bestselling children’s books as well as the opportunity to write humorous “Can I have that word in a sentence, please?” hints for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This week, Jill and Jess talk about how Jill got her start in television, her love of Vice President Mike Pence’s pet rabbit Marlon Bundo, how her children’s books came to be, their shared need for pressing deadlines, and Jill’s play-in-progress about the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.Episode links and a transcript follow—but first, you know we dropped the Top Five Ways to Find the Right Agent to pitch into everyone’s inbox last Monday. What will our supporters find there this Monday? It’s SO FRESH WE DON’T EVEN KNOW. But if you become a supporter, you will. Support the podcast you love AND get weekly #WriterTopFives with actionable advice you can use for just $7 a month. As always, this episode (and every episode) will appear for all subscribers in your usual podcast listening places, totally free as the #AmWriting Podcast has always been. This shownotes email is free, too, so please—forward it to a friend, and if you haven’t already, join our email list and be on top of it with the shownotes and a transcript every time there’s a new episode. Want to share this one? Click here to share on Facebook, and here for an editable tweet. LINKS FROM THE PODCAST#AmReading (Watching, Listening)Jess: Good Luck with That by Kristan HigginsJill: The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America by Isaac Butler and Dan KoisOur guest for this episode is Jill Twiss.Last Week Tonight with John OliverA Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo The Someone NewEveryone Gets a SayThe Marlon Bundo episode of Last Week Tonight (full episode): Just the excerpt about A Day in The Life of Marlon Bundo with a clip of the animated all-star cast audiobook: This episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the book coaching program that helps you get your work DONE. Visit https://www.authoraccelerator.com/amwritingfor details, special offers and Jennie Nash’s Inside-Outline template.Find more about Jess here, Sarina here and about KJ here.If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship.The image in our podcast illustration is by Kate DeCarvalho. The music in our podcast is by Max Cohen.Transcript (We use an AI service for transcription, and while we do clean it up a bit, some errors are the price of admission here. We hope it’s still helpful.)KJ:                                        00:01                    Hello fellow writers. The beginning of the year is a great time to think about what you really want from your writing life and if one of the things that's filled you with joy in the past is time spent encouraging, editing, and helping another writer you might want to consider becoming a book coach yourself. Our sponsor, Author Accelerator provides book coaching to authors like me, but also needs and trains book coaches. And they'll be hosting a free book coaching summit in January for anyone who wants to learn more. If that's got your ears perked up, head to authoraccelerator.com/summit. Is it recording?Jess:                                     00:39                    Now it's recording.KJ:                                        00:40                    Yay.Jess:                                     00:40                    Go ahead.KJ:                                        00:41                    This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone and try to remember what I was supposed to be doing.Jess:                                     00:45                    Alright, let's start over.KJ:                                        00:47                    Awkward pause and I'm going to rustle some papers.Jess:                                     00:50                    Okay.KJ:                                        00:50                    Now one, two, three.Jess:                                     00:58                    Hey, I'm Jess Lahey and this is #AmWriting. Our podcast about writing all the things, the podcast about sitting down, getting the work done and often that work looks like pitches, looks like queries, looks like invoicing so that you can get paid for all that stuff. But really this is just the podcast about the nuts and bolts of being a writer.Sarina:                                 01:22                    I'm Sarina Bowen, when I do my writing it's about fiction and novels. I'm the author of 30-odd romance novels and my new one is called Heartland.Jess:                                     01:32                    And I'm Jess, again. And my work of writing is about mostly nonfiction and I'm in the process of writing a new book and in the process of editing it. But my first book is the Gift of Failure, How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed. And we are missing KJ again today. She is still hockey tournament-ing. And we are going to have an interview today with someone really, really cool. But I wanted to catch you at the beginning of this, Sarina to tell you that you and our guest today have something in common.Sarina:                                 02:01                    We do, what?Jess:                                     02:03                    So a couple of years ago you sent us a text, KJ and myself, a text about the fact that someone had gotten a tattoo in your honor. And are we still at a couple of people, two people who have tattoos of your books?Sarina:                                 02:18                    I know of three...Jess:                                     02:19                    Three people. And what do they have on their bodies?Sarina:                                 02:22                    Well, the first one had the cover of Him.Jess:                                     02:27                    Okay. Him being one of the books that you have written.Sarina:                                 02:31                    Right. And then another one has a quote from The Year We Fell Down.Jess:                                     02:35                    Oh, that's cool. A quote, I love that.Sarina:                                 02:38                    And hers is in French because she helped me proofread the French edition. And then I have a lovely friend, Claudia, who has a tattoo of The True North titles.Jess:                                     02:49                    That's just so permanent. It's so permanent. I mean, number one, you gotta be a super fan to get a tattoo of. Well the other thing is you said that one of them has The True North novels, which means this is a tattoo that will expand over time, maybe.Sarina:                                 03:05                    Well, perhaps...Jess:                                     03:11                    What if you end up writing like 70 books in this series? It'll be like all the way up her arm or his arm.Sarina:                                 03:16                    Yeah, but I'll be dead from writing all those. So you know, we have bigger problems...But, so tell me about our guest.Jess:                                     03:24                    So our guest today is Jill Twiss and she is a writer on the show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. And she found someone who has a tattoo of a rabbit on them and that rabbit's name is Marlon Bundo. Do you know who Marlon Bundo is?Sarina:                                 03:41                    He's the bunny in her book.Jess:                                     03:43                    The bunny in her book. And we'll talk to her a little bit about that tattoo and what it was like to find out that she has landed a place of permanence on someone's body, which just to me, blows my mind. I can't even picture. It's just amazing.Sarina:                                 03:57                    You know what blows my mind?Jess:                                     03:58                    What's that?Sarina:                                 03:59                    If your first book in Amazon is a picture book with like 8 million reviews and went viral, like I'm so excited for this.Jess:                                     04:09                    I know, this is going to be great also because as you will find out when you listen to this interview, it's her first writing job.Sarina:                                 04:16                    That's amazing. Okay, I'm ready to have my mind blown.Jess:                                     04:20                    Alright, so with no further ado, here is my interview with Jill Twiss. I am here today with Jill Twiss. She is a senior writer at Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. She has a crazy, amazing story. She has Emmies, she has WGA awards, she has Peabody awards. There are some other things she does that I am so excited to talk about. I'm not going to burst the the surprise right off the bat. But Jill, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.Jill:                                       04:52                    Thank you so much for having me. I'm such a huge fan of your podcast and I'm so excited to be here.Jess:                                     04:58                    What was really funny was when I first asked you to be on the podcast, you were on Twitter, I was on Twitter, and we were following each other and I messaged you about being on the podcast and you were so excited. You're like, I'm a fan. And I'm like, I'm a fan. So we got to fan girl a little bit. It was very, very exciting.Jill:                                       05:14                    Well, I'm new-ish to book world. And so this podcast was sort of as I was thrown into it, how I learned about what I was supposed to be doing.Jess:                                     05:26                    Well, and you come at it from a really unconventional angle, which is part of what I want to talk about today. Speaking of books - so you have now two books. One is about to come out. But you have a book out that some of our audience may have heard of, which is called A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, which is a children's book. And I wanna talk a little bit about how that book came to be. But I'm also going to link to a wonderful article that you wrote for Glamour about why you wrote this children's book since it seems in contrast with what you do day to day, which is to write for a late night audience. Which is a story that I love. Could you tell us a little bit about how Marlon Bundo came to be? Because he is a cool, cool character. Oh, and by the way, before I keep going, you tweeted recently that you saw someone with Marlon Bundo tattooed on them. How did that happen? How did you come across that?Jill:                                       06:28                    Okay, well, it was at my gym. I just happened to be there and I go to sort of a very fun, weird gym where we all know each other pretty well. And so we do a name game at the beginning of every class. And this woman heard me say, my name was Jill and she said, 'Are you Jill Twiss?' And then she held up her arm and she had a full Marlon Bundo tattoo. And she said she'd gotten them with her cousin. It was the craziest thing. I can't imagine ever even getting a tattoo of my own books, much less someone else's, but it could not be a bigger honor.Jess:                                     07:06                    Well, and I mentioned in the introduction to Sarina because she knows of three people that have tattoos of her books on them and one is a line from one of her books and two of them are just pictures of the books. And that blows my mind. That's a level of permanence and fandom that I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine. So tell us a little bit about this book, Marlon Bundo. Who in the heck is Marlon Bundo?Jill:                                       07:33                    Sure. Okay. So as you said at the beginning, I am a writer at Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. And I have been a writer there since the show started. So I am a pretty, you know, dark, angry, comedy writer kind of person.Jess:                                     07:51                    And I just realized that with you saying that, that I started in absolutely the wrong place. I don't have KJ here to kick me under the table to say, 'No, no, no. You're starting in the wrong place.' Which she does so brilliantly. Because am I correct - I heard somewhere that this is your first writing job, the Last Week Tonight. Is that correct?Jill:                                       08:11                    It was my first professional writing job, yes. I had done stand up comedy,Jess:                                     08:17                    I'm sorry, but we have to talk about how that happens because the idea that your very first job, professional writing gig out of the gate is with a late night television show. I guess we kind of have to start there before we can even talk about how Marlon Bundo came to be.Jill:                                       08:32                    Sure, it's a lovely story about women helping women, actually.Jess:                                     08:40                    Oh, we like those stories a lot.Jill:                                       08:42                    I don't want to mislead you, it wasn't an accident. I was very much trying to get a late night writing job. I had done standup comedy. I'd loved the comedy part, but the standing up in front of people made me sort of sick to my stomach all the time. And part of me was like, if you're not happier when people clap, maybe you're a writer, maybe this isn't for you. And I started to try to find writing jobs. And as everyone listening I'm sure knows, it's really hard. And the TV late night world is just really hard to break into because it's really hard to find out how those jobs are out there. And crazily I got an email one day from a woman named Nell Scovell, who I now know was the co-writer of Lean In. She wrote for The Simpsons. She wrote for David Letterman. I had never met her, or at the time heard of her, and she said, 'Have you ever wanted to write for late night?' And I said, 'Yeah, that's all I want. Who are you? What are you talking about?' And she said, 'I've been reading your Twitter. I think you'd be great at it. She said, you know, she had been a woman writing comedy for decades and sort of thought that was enough. You know that she was the woman in the writer's room, wasn't she doing enough for women? And she realized things weren't getting any better. So she wanted to start to find women. So in any case she said, I can't get you a job but I can get your packet read, I can get someone to read your stuff. So, literally within four months I had this job.Jess:                                     10:23                    You do realize that you're inadvertently ratifying David Sedaris's advice that he gave on our show (which is to never, well, and I'm sure you weren't like in a position of just sitting in your apartment waiting for opportunities to come to you) but his advice on our show was to never ask anything of anyone and just wait and be ready when the opportunities come to you.Jill:                                       10:47                    Well, if I go back one more step. I actually did ask something of someone because my job (I was a musical theater actress and I was a standardized test tutor) and I tutored a real smart kid whose mom worked for David Letterman. And when he did really well on the SAT I asked his mom if she would meet with me and if I could write a packet, and I ended up asking someone who I didn't really know to read over that packet. She was a writer for Conan and it turns out five years later Nell had gone to her and said, 'Do you know anybody that should be writing for TV?' And she said, 'I read this packet years ago. She should be writing for late night.' So I did ask for a little help in someone just reading something and giving advice. And she couldn't help me at the time, but when she could, she did.Jess:                                     11:42                    That is so cool. And you've used the word packet a couple of times, and that's a word I don't think we've ever heard on our show before. So I'm sure there are people out there saying, 'Oh my gosh, what's a packet? I don't have one. I need it. What is it?' .Jill:                                       11:55                    Fair. In the late night world, and that's, you know, shows like The Daily Show or Jimmy Fallon show, all the Jimmy's shows, Jimmy Kimmel's show. Instead of doing what you do I think in narrative television, which is you write a spec script of like a whole show, they want packets and every show wants a different packet. So you might write a whole bunch of monologue jokes that happen at the beginning of Stephen Colbert's show. For a show like ours, you're going to write something similar to what is going to air on the show and they give you that assignment. So you have to find out about the packet. At the time I did it, we didn't have a show, so it was a lot looser. It was a little bit like, guess what John Oliver might do on a show that doesn't exist yet. I think specifically they asked to write a domestic and an international story. For something like The Daily Show, you would write maybe something similar to what happens in like a seven minute increment. They might tell you exactly what they want, they might not. Every late night show has a different packet, but you generally have to write it specifically for that show.Jess:                                     13:09                    So there's no just like writing some vague generalized packet and hoping that it lands right.Jill:                                       13:15                    No, although weirdly I would recommend that, just because there's no way to practice this but to do it. And so I had written packets for shows that I never, ever got to submit that were just me trying to figure out, you know, how do you do this? How do you write a packet for this show? I had seen (it sounds crazy now) but I used to read like every article about writing for late night and someone had said, 'You know, well, at this late night show, they write monologue jokes. They show up at 9:00 AM and then they write till noon.' And I was like, great, three hours, I can write monologue jokes for three hours every day. So that's what I did. You know, I just tried to find like, let's pretend I have this job and figure out how to do it until finally, and it took a long time, someone gave me the opportunity to show what I'd been working on all that time.Jess:                                     14:08                    Is there a magic format for a packet? Like there are certain tells for hacks. Like you know, if I try to send in a spec script in just the wrong format or in a way that doesn't adhere to the look of the standard spec script, someone's going to ding it right away cause they're going to say, 'Oh, this person doesn't have the slightest idea what they're doing.' Or, we had a children's book author come on and she said one dead giveaway of people who don't know what they're doing with children's books is that they send in the wrong format, or an odd number of pages, or they say, and here's the illustrator I need to have in order to write this book.Jill:                                       14:52                    I did all of those wrong things, by the way. Literally, all the things you just said I'm pretty sure I did, but whatever.Jess:                                     14:58                    So is there a magic format for a packet? Is there a program out there that you have to have that adheres to this magic format?Jill:                                       15:07                    Weirdly, no, like late night I think is the Wild West of everything. Every show is different. I can't tell you they're going to be great about telling you what they want, but I think some of the best shows will give you samples of what their scripts look like and you can do your best to copy them. The closest I can give you is that you have to put it in the language of the show. You know, the packet you write for John Oliver is not going to be the same packet you write for Trevor Noah. Even if you're writing on exactly the same topic. So the big thing that they're looking for is, 'Yeah, are you putting some of yourself in there because we're hiring you because of you, but also are you in the voice of the show? We're not interested in you changing the whole format of the show. I think some people like to come in and be like, you know, I have a new idea. Like what if Jimmy Fallon was in space the whole time? And it's like, well, you're not showing us that you can write the show that we have. This is really you showing you could start today and fit in with the show that's already there.Jess:                                     16:16                    I was a political speech writer for a while and part of the fun (for me anyway), was the challenge of writing in someone else's voice completely and not letting my voice dominate. So that's a really interesting balance. And are there times when you write scripts and then the person who for example, John Oliver, will put his own particular read on it so you don't have to be too worried about writing it exactly the same way he would say it?Jill:                                       16:41                    Oh yeah. I think of course he's going to put everything in his own words. I will say, because some of us have been there since the beginning, I've absolutely adapted to John's voice, but I think in some weird ways he's adapted to our voices, too. There are jokes he tells because I love them or because you know, someone else loves that voice and he (I think) has just a lot of skill at doing lots of different kinds of jokes. So I for sure have adopted his speech patterns, but I think he has in some ways altered his speech patterns for all of us, too.Jess:                                     17:20                    That's fascinating. Alright, so back to Marlon Bundo. So you're writing on a television show, which isn't the normal pattern of things that the next thing on your plate, affiliated with the show is a children's book. Will you tell us how that came to be?Jill:                                       17:37                    Sure, yes. We are not a children's show. We say a lot of words that you wouldn't say on children's shows.Jess:                                     17:45                    But you do have a lot of very cute, mascot looking creatures that come on the show.Jill:                                       17:54                    It's true, we do love that. So it happened that I was and am obsessed with a very real bunny named Marlon Bundo. Who is, if you don't know, the Vice President, Mike Pence's actual pet.Jess:                                     18:10                    Now is he still around? Bunnies don't have the longest lifespan. Is the real Marlon Bundo still around?Jill:                                       18:15                    To my knowledge, the real Marlon Bundo is still around. I don't want to start any conspiracy theories here. I believe that there is still a Marlon Bundo living.Jess:                                     18:29                    I will put it in the show notes if I find otherwise.Jill:                                       18:32                    Right. Yeah. Don't blame it on me. And Marlon Bundo had an Instagram and I loved this bunny. It's a very cute bunny. I am not, perhaps, the biggest fan of Mike Pence and some of his policies. And one day I saw an announcement that they were releasing a book about Marlon Bundo. And for some reason I got like weirdly territorial, as though I had any ownership of this bunny, which I obviously do not. And I was like, 'No, I want to write the book about Marlin Bundo.' So I pitched it, I just wrote an email that said no, we should write a book about Marlon Bundo. That, you know Mike Pence himself does not have the kindest record perhaps with same sex marriage. And so we decided to make Marlin Bundo a gay bunny.Jess:                                     19:27                    So you pitched it to the show, not necessarily to a literary agent first?Jill:                                       19:31                    Oh, not at all. No, that was in no way involved.Jess:                                     19:35                    Did you have a literary agent at that point?Jill:                                       19:37                    Nope, I did not. I also didn't have a TV agent, for whatever that's worth. No, I just pitched it to the show as like we should put out a book, which, you know, I pitch a thousand things to the show and most of them don't happen. But they said, 'Okay, yeah, let's do it.' And we had a quick meeting just to decide if it should be an actual children's book or if it should be one of those like parody books that's really for adults, but looks like a children's book. And I think we just decided why not? Like, why not write a kind book for kids about a thing that really matters to us.Jess:                                     20:20                    Now the writer in me and the person who now understands publishing timelines is freaking out. Because if you have just seen that a press release or some sort of release on the Twitter feed about the fact that they're going to come out with this book about Marlon Bundo, how on earth do you get a children's book out in time to have it still be relevant to the release of the other book? Because that was part of the deal when it was announced is that it was a competing book with the real Marlon Bundo's book. So how do you make those timelines work? Publishing moves slow, Jill.Jill:                                       20:55                    The great news is I didn't have to do any of it. I wrote the book, actually I didn't even... I went back to my office and we didn't even assign a book at that point. We were just kind of like pondering some ideas and I said, 'You know what, I'm just going to write something that way it'll be easier for them to be like, Oh no, not that. Now that we see that, we'll say, not that, we want something more like this.'Jess:                                     21:26                    You have a comfort with rejection of ideas that will be so refreshing to so many of our listeners because still - there's a pitch I put out there like two weeks ago and I haven't heard back and I am just feeling all sorts of rejection and yet now I can have Jill Twiss's 'almost everything I say gets rejected at some stage of the game' You're my new voice in my head. I love it.Jill:                                       21:52                    I mean, all of us probably write I would guess 30 to 50 jokes for every joke that goes on the show. So that's just the norm for sure. So I wrote this - just a thing just to be like, 'Hey, I don't know what about this?' And they said, 'Oh yeah, that. We'll just publish that.' So, it turned out to be like a day-long process. We changed literally a couple of words, had someone help us with things that you're talking about now. Like this is the number of pages or whatever. And I now realize that the publisher, Chronicle, was probably flipping out. But, not my problem. I didn't know. I had no idea. We found, again, what I now know is an extremely fast illustrator. We just picked the best person we found. Who was E.G. Keller, who is fantastic.Jess:                                     22:55                    I have to say, the illustrations are absolutely fantastic. I love the illustrations.Jill:                                       22:59                    When you were saying earlier you can't ever come in demanding an illustrator, that's exactly what I did for my next book. I didn't demand anything. That's not at all true. But after this (we're skipping ahead), I did get a literary agent, and she did sell us together. So my next two books are also with the same illustrator.Jess:                                     23:20                    And your next two books, including the one that is going to be coming out soon, which is called The Someone New...Jill:                                       23:26                    Oh, that one's out.Jess:                                     23:27                    Oh, that one's out now. Okay.Jill:                                       23:28                    That one was out last June so you can buy that one right now.Jess:                                     23:31                    Okay. So the two books you're talking about are in addition to the Marlon Bundo book and The Someone New?Jill:                                       23:37                    No, sorry, I'm saying this weird. So Marlon Bundo exists in the world of the show. My first book, that is entirely outside the show, was The Someone New and that is about welcoming someone new to your life, or your country, or your whatever.Jess:                                     23:57                    It is delightful, and beautiful, and sweet. I got a little choked up reading The Someone New. Well, mainly, I mean the town that I live in (I'm right near Burlington, Vermont) has been a sanctuary city. You know, there are lots of someone news in Burlington. Every single time I'm out and about in Burlington I run into people who are new to town and it had a really important place for me in terms of thinking about what it must be like to try to be new somewhere. And I love the book. I absolutely loved The Someone New.Jill:                                       24:36                    Thank you so much. I went to 11 schools in 12 years, so I was always the someone new. So when it came down to, Hey, you can actually write anything now, generally when I write for the show, I have very specific parameters. So when it came down to I had a literary agent, I could write a children's book on anything I wanted. What I wanted to write about are the things that really mattered to me right now, which is welcoming someone new to our country, but also just - kids are faced with new things every day. And new things are scary. You know, you don't know when you're a kid. And I really wanted to help that new kid in school...Jess:                                     25:23                    Which gets back to your Glamour article, you talk in that article about the fact that it can be really, really difficult to reach people who are adults, who can be really entrenched in their thinking, and really entrenched in their views. Whereas with kids, there seems to be more of an openness and (that's not easier to write to) but it's a welcome and it's the reason that I've been a teacher for so long is it is so wonderful to be able to reach someone when before they've become completely entrenched in their views one way or the other and have a conversation about things that are difficult.Jill:                                       25:59                    Yeah, I think that whatever side of the political spectrum you're on, one thing that we're all experiencing is just finding out that adults are tough sometimes. They're frustrating. It's hard to watch things happen and realize that people are just so set in their ways and they don't want to hear always what's true. They want to hear what they want to hear. And kids, everything's new, you know, and they are perfectly willing to learn a new fact, take it in, change their mind if it changes what's previously there. There's just such a wonderful openness and I have so much hope for the next generation and I need that hope right now.Jess:                                     26:48                    Yeah. There was a moment when I was teaching at my very first teaching gig, I was teaching middle school kids and there was a kid who came from a really, really remote rural town. You know, he came into my classroom and from the first day he would say things that I could tell were not his words. He was parroting things that he'd heard from other adults. And it was really interesting cause he was putting things out there to see what our reaction would be. And it led to some really, really interesting conversations and moments when he realized, 'Oh, I do believe that thing I said', or 'No, I don't believe that thing I said, but I'm just putting it out there because I've never had the opportunity to get feedback on the thoughts that I hear from the adults around me. So it's just really cool to be able to get inside of a kid's head and see how their thought process is when they're forming their identity, and their views, and their beliefs, and their ethics. It's really cool.Jill:                                       27:47                    I've really fallen in love with the book world, first of all. But the children's book world and just like the chance to go and read books to kids and sing songs with kids. I don't have kids, so this is new to me. Everything I've learned in the children's book world has been a shock as far as like what age kids read what kind of books, like all of that stuff. I'm learning at sort of double speed as I go through this. But it is just delightful to get to work with kids and see them and you get nice emails instead of mean emails, you get nice pictures of children and dogs with your books instead of like me and emails of people threatening to you know, hurt you.Jess:                                     28:33                    Well, and speaking of kids you do something that I just had never even thought of as a task. You write sentences for the Scripps Spelling Bee. How did that come about? And how is that a gig that you become aware of and get?Jill:                                       28:52                    Yeah. Well first of all, I'm obsessed with the spelling bee. I have been for years. So it was very much on our radar. And again, I would pitch it as a story for the show and we did do it on the show once as just a short, funny story in the show. Right around then, I hit this stage of my life that I would I highly recommend, which is just ask for things you want. I don't know. Maybe they'll say yes. I've never done that before. But we did that story about the spelling bee and then I went to our executive producer and I said, 'Do we have a contact there? Can I ask them if I can write for them?' And she was like, 'Why would you want to do that?' And I was like, 'Fine, not your problem. It's fine. And I literally just emailed the spelling bee, told them what I do and that I had worked on the piece for the show and I said, 'I know you must have comedy writers write sentences. Like, I've seen the sentences that show up there, can I be one of them?' And they said, 'Yes'. That was really that easy, which I know is not how life works. And I know I had many years of opportunities not coming like that. So, now that I have a little clout and a little something, I'm just asking for all the weird things that I want. My next goal, I'm just going to put this out in the world, I want to write for the Tony awards. So if you know anyone, if you could make it happen, let me know.Jess:                                     30:20                    Very cool. So wait, they give you the word and then you write the sentence to go with the word that helps? So when the kid says, 'Could you give me that word in a sentence?' you're writing that sentence?Jill:                                       30:31                    Yes. Not all of the sentences. They have like really great experts writing sort of I'll say 'not funny sentences'. But, yes. So they do that to make sure everything is grammatically exactly what it needs to be. It's really important. It's so much more important that the sentences be correct than that they be funny. But they have comedy writers that go through maybe a month before the B and write a certain number of comedy sentences for it. And then this year for the first time, I actually got to go to the spelling bee. And as it was on the air, we were up there writing sentences for words that were coming up because they could switch the order of the words, for anyone that saw it this year, everything went crazy because there were eight champions and so everything was sort of getting decided on the fly. So we write sentences there, too.Jess:                                     31:31                    Wow. I actually had read somewhere, I think it might've been at the Tony awards one year, that they were writing - it was the year that Neil Patrick Harris rapped at the end and they were writing the rap during the show as winners were announced. First of all, Neil Patrick Harris, all hail Neil Patrick Harris and his ability to learn that stuff and perform it with like 10 minutes to spare. But the television world always to me, you know, Shonda Rhimes talks about writing for television as laying tracks while you're on the train that's going to... Sorry, Shonda, I'm sure I said that terribly, but it has always petrified me because of the speed at which things need to happen. So I'm always amazed when I hear things like the script story, where you're actually under pressure writing stuff while the show is happening.Jill:                                       32:20                    I was nervous because our show is once a week. And I have a lot of people, I have a lot of oversight on Last Week Tonight. But I actually found it incredibly calming. There's something really nice about not being able to read over what you've done. I'm writing a play right now and it could not be more stressful because I just have infinite time to revise and do and if it's up to me I will just revise for the rest of my life and no one will ever read anything I've written. So there's something really calming about being there and being under time pressure and being like, well it's out there. It worked or it didn't work. Who knows?Jess:                             &

July 19 was the anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, the nation’s first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. This episode explores what happened at the historic convention, and how its legacy shaped the Constitution through the fight for women’s suffrage and the 19th Amendment and, later, landmark gender equality and reproductive rights cases, including Roe v. Wade. Gender law and women's rights scholars Erika Bachiochi of the Ethics & Public Policy Center and Tracy A. Thomas of the University of Akron School of Law join host Jeffrey Rosen. Questions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

July 19 was the anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, the nation’s first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. This episode explores what happened at the historic convention, and how its legacy shaped the Constitution through the fight for women’s suffrage and the 19th Amendment and, later, landmark gender equality and reproductive rights cases, including Roe v. Wade. Gender law and women's rights scholars Erika Bachiochi of the Ethics & Public Policy Center and Tracy A. Thomas of the University of Akron School of Law join host Jeffrey Rosen. Questions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/seneca-falls-convention-beginsSupport the show on Patreon

We mourn the death of former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, and celebrate the anniversary of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention which led to woman's suffrage. Freethinkers of color are encouraged to "come out of the closet." After hearing some of Dan Barker's early Christian songs that he wrote for children, we talk with Marian Wiggins, former Senior Editor for Gospel Light, a publisher of Christian Sunday School and Vacation Bible School curricula, who used to work with Dan and who has also left the faith and is now a freethinker.

In honor of the anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution, June 21, and the upcoming Independence Day holiday on July 4 – today’s episode celebrates the influence of the Declaration of Independence on the Constitution and constitutional movements throughout history. We explore how the Declaration influenced the drafting of the Constitution itself; the abolitionist movement and Abraham Lincoln’s conception of a new birth of freedom after the Civil War; the Seneca Falls Convention and the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Progressive movement and the New Deal;,Dr. King and the Civil Rights revolution; through to the modern conservative originalist movement as well as progressivism today. Host Jeffrey Rosen is joined by Danielle Allen – James Bryan Conant University Professor at Harvard and author of the book 'Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality' – and Ken Kersch – professor of political science at Boston College and author of 'Conservatives and the Constitution: Imagining Constitutional Restoration in the Heyday of American Liberalism'. Questions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

In honor of the anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution, June 21, and the upcoming Independence Day holiday on July 4 – today’s episode celebrates the influence of the Declaration of Independence on the Constitution and constitutional movements throughout history. We explore how the Declaration influenced the drafting of the Constitution itself; the abolitionist movement and Abraham Lincoln’s conception of a new birth of freedom after the Civil War; the Seneca Falls Convention and the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Progressive movement and the New Deal;,Dr. King and the Civil Rights revolution; through to the modern conservative originalist movement as well as progressivism today. Host Jeffrey Rosen is joined by Danielle Allen – James Bryan Conant University Professor at Harvard and author of the book 'Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality' – and Ken Kersch – professor of political science at Boston College and author of 'Conservatives and the Constitution: Imagining Constitutional Restoration in the Heyday of American Liberalism'. Questions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

“In the history of the world, the doctrine of Reform had never such scope as at the present hour.” “Resolved, That woman is man’s equal.” This is the story of social reform. Europe is swept up in calls for reform and greater democracy. France is having another revolution! Those same thoughts are sweeping through the United States, leading to calls for better treatment in prisons, public education, and temperance (cutting back on the alcohol). In this atmosphere of reform, one woman has a particularly radical idea: women's suffrage. Even her colleagues--other women--are hesitant to support her; they fear being mocked! But that won’t stop Elizabeth Cady Stanton from pushing her bold idea at a convention she’s organized in Seneca Falls, New York.

Modeled after the Declaration of Independence and signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men, The Declaration of Sentiments came out of the first women's rights convention held in the United States. Spoken by Allison Powell, Janette Danielson, Sydney Tannenbaum and Kim Coscia, these are their words. / Intro and Ad Music provided by BenSound.com / Logo Art by Lauren Cierzan / Join the Conversation! thebitcheryofhistory.com / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Max: @QuirkyTitle Allison: @AHPowell91 / The Team: Janette Danielson (@Neddie94) Sydney Tannenbaum (@sydneyxmastree) Jess Lee (@jessmlee) Kim Coscia (@kimberlygrace48)

The second episode of A New York Minute In History explores the Women's Rights Movement from the Seneca Falls Convention in Central New York in 1848 to equality matters being debated today. We explore the Movement's progress through the lineage of Coline Jenkins, the great-great granddaughter of suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Jenkins, a women's rights […]

In 2018, we are celebrating several significant moments in suffrage history. 110 years ago, the first female member of parliament was elected in Finland, which was also the first country to introduce women’s suffrage. 170 years ago, the Seneca Falls Convention - the first-ever women’s rights convention - was held in the United States, and would lead to the introduction of the first legislation for suffrage in Congress only twenty years later. And finally, on February 6, 2018, we celebrated 100 years since British women (at least, those over the age of 30) gained the right to vote. These are all significant moments in history, but oftentimes, suffrage history focuses solely on the adult women who fought for our right to vote. But what about young girls? Did they play a role? In this podcast, we’ll explore the stories of three young girls - Clara Lemlich, Dora Thewlis, and Bessie Watson - who were active in the suffrage movements. We’ll also look at some interesting thoughts about girls --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/girlspeak/support

The Seneca Falls Convention convened in New York on this day in 1848. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

Elizabeth Cady Stanton ) was an American suffragist, social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the first organized women's rights and women's suffrage movements in the United States. Stanton was president of the National Woman Suffrage Association from 1892 until 1900. Before Stanton narrowed her political focus almost exclusively to women's rights, she was an active abolitionist with her husband Henry Brewster Stanton (co-founder of the Republican Party) and cousin Gerrit Smith. Unlike many of those involved in the women's rights movement, Stanton addressed various issues pertaining to women beyond voting rights. Her concerns included women's parental and custody rights, property rights, employment and income rights, divorce, the economic health of the family, and birth control. She was also an outspoken supporter of the 19th-century temperance movement. After the American Civil War, Stanton's commitment to female suffrage caused a schism in the women's rights movement when she, together with Susan B. Anthony, declined to support passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. She opposed giving added legal protection and voting rights to African American men while women, black and white, were denied those same rights. Her position on this issue, together with her thoughts on organized Christianity and women's issues beyond voting rights, led to the formation of two separate women's rights organizations that were finally rejoined, with Stanton as president of the joint organization, about twenty years after her break from the original women's suffrage movement. Stanton died in 1902, having written both The Woman's Bible and her autobiography Eighty Years and More, and many other articles and pamphlets about female suffrage and women's rights. Information sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton Body sourced from https://youtu.be/FCl2BmbqCRM Beginning excerpt from https://youtu.be/Ash_Ff_ZVdw Public Access America PublicAccessPod Productions Footage downloaded and edited by Jason at PublicAccessPod producer of Public Access America Podcast Link Review us Stitcher: http://goo.gl/XpKHWB Review us iTunes: https://goo.gl/soc7KG Subscribe GooglePlay: https://goo.gl/gPEDbf YouTube https://goo.gl/xrKbJb YouTube

April's Documents in Detail webinar was about Elizabeth Cady Stanton's address to the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. Stanton's use of John Locke, her view that women deserved the vote on moral grounds, and how greater involvement by women in society would improve society were all discussed, as well as the impact of her words alongside those of other women's rights leaders. Both scholars noted Stanton's blunt style and her tendency to say things how she saw them, including when expressing reservations about Catholics and the error she believed the 15th Amendment to be, since it gave the right to vote to African-Americans and not women. Access our podcast feed here, or our iTunes podcast here. View the permanent program page, including the YouTube archive here.   The post Documents in Detail: Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Address Delivered at Seneca Falls appeared first on Teaching American History.

We’ll celebrate the 166th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention called by agnostic Elizabeth Cady Stanton, then talk with newsmaker and freethought activist Dan Courtney, a Lifetime FFRF Member, who just became the first atheist to give an invocation in Greece, N.Y. — site of the governmental prayer dispute at the center of this spring’s Supreme Court ruling.

On this week's 51%, we take a tour of the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. Executive Director Jennifer Gabriel previews the hall's latest class, and shares her goals for the museum's expansion. Guests: Jennifer Gabriel, Executive Director of the National Women's Hall of Fame; Natalie Rudd, Learning & Engagement Manager 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. The show is hosted by Jesse King, its executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and its theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. Follow Along You're listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women's issues and experiences. Thanks for tuning in, I'm Jesse King. This week, we're taking a field trip to Seneca Falls, New York. Now, Seneca Falls is an important location for women's history, being the site of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, where activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Martha Wright signed the “Declaration of Sentiments” calling for equal rights for women.  There are a lot of places we could visit in Seneca Falls and talk about, but today we're stopping at the National Women's Hall of Fame. It's been a part of the area for decades, but after years of renovations it now occupies the historic Seneca Knitting Mill on Canal Street, in plain view of the recreated Wesleyan Chapel, where the Seneca Falls Convention took place.  So after saddling up the company vehicle and making my way west to Seneca County, I found my way to the wool mill, a large stone structure nestled by the Seneca-Cayuga Canal. I'm immediately greeted by Executive Director Jennifer Gabriel and Learning & Engagement Manager Natalie Rudd, who are kind enough to hold open the door as I lug in my recording equipment. Gabriel was selected to be the museum's new executive director after a six-month, national search in July. She says she's spent the past two decades working in non-profit organizations in New York, Colorado, and California - particularly in fundraising - and that might come in handy for the National Women's Hall of Fame, as it grows into its new space and navigates the coronavirus pandemic. I got the change to sit down with Gabriel, and started by asking about the Hall's history, and her vision for its future. How has the museum gotten to where it is today? What are your goals as executive director? So the National Women's Hall of Fame is over 50 years old, we're the first and oldest organization and museum dedicated to telling the stories of great American women. The whole organization began in the late ‘60s, when a woman named Shirley Hartley learned about the Hall of Great Americans, which was housed at New York University. And she was really troubled to learn that only a small portion of the people that were honored there were women. And being from Seneca Falls and working in Seneca Falls, she really felt strongly that this was the place that needed to house an organization dedicated specifically to celebrating women. And so she came back to Seneca Falls, gathered her friends and some associates and colleagues, and created what she called “The Founders Tea,” which was a homage to the tea that Elizabeth Cady Stanton first organized with Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott, and all of the people that we associate with the women's rights movement. So Shirley Hartley did a similar tea, and that was the impetus for the founding of the National Women's Hall of Fame. So a year later in 1969, we were incorporated as a nonprofit organization. And we've been right here in Seneca Falls ever since. Sometime in the late ‘70s, the organization moved from the basement of one of the local colleges to a small storefront on Fall Street in downtown Seneca Falls, and that's where we lived and thrived for 41 years. Eventually, we got to the point where we had outgrown that space, and so, in 2007, the organization embarked on a major campaign to purchase and renovate the building that we're in right now. So is this the Seneca Knitting Mill, which has been around since 1844, and was a producer of wool yarn and wool goods for its entire 155-year history. And one of the things I find really fascinating about this, is that the history of the building that we're in now, the Seneca Knitting Mill, and the history of the National Women's Hall of Fame, and the women's rights movement, are really, deeply intertwined. Some of the owners of the of the Seneca Knitting Mill in 1848, when the first women's rights convention was happening, were actually signers on the Declaration of Sentiments. The business itself was really committed to supporting women's rights and equity issues from the very beginning. We purchased the building in 2007, and began an extensive campaign to renovate the building. And actually, what you see today is a stone structure with a brick smokestack - it's incredibly beautiful, right on the shores of the Seneca-Cayuga canal. And at the time that we purchased it, it had really fallen into disrepair. The Seneca Knitting Mill went out of business in 1999, so it had been largely neglected. It needed a new roof, new windows. And so the organization embarked on this initiative to make this our new home. We were able to move into this building in August of 2020. So it's just been just over a year since we've been here. To get back to your question about where the organization is going and what's on the horizon. It's really threefold. So the first is to complete the Seneca Knitting Mill project, and to have four floors of exhibits and event space and spaces that are designed to create interactive educational experiences for people of all ages, all genders, you know, from all across the country. The second is to ensure that our induction ceremony, which happens every two years, is the premier event that celebrates great American women and their achievements. And then the third piece is to launch a series of programs that inspire people across the nation and bring us together to have important conversations about, you know, all of the issues that women face, and continuing to use our inductees and their stories as a way to showcase how far we've come and what the dynamics are now, being a woman in the United States, and where we're going in the future. So we're incredibly fortunate we have 293 inductees in total in the National Women's Hall of Fame. About a third of them are still alive, and actively engaged in the organization, and want to see us grow and thrive and to share their stories with the nation. So we'll be utilizing our relationships with them for panel discussions, events post-COVID. We hope to actually have in person events across the country and really build up that national profile. And I always think about it as you know, the little girl who lives in Wyoming - I want her to experience the National Women's Hall of Fame in the same way that I was able to experience it as an eighth grader right here in in the Finger Lakes. So that's the overall trajectory. So you've got 293 inductees in the Hall of Fame. How does the induction process work? And what's the status of the Hall of Fame during the pandemic? The National Women's Hall of Fame accepts nominations for inductees from the public, it really is a public-driven effort. And so anyone can make a nomination through our website. The requirements to be inducted into the Hall of Fame are that you are an American citizen, either by birth or by naturalization, and that you have contributed something that has national significance and enduring value. So anyone that falls into those criteria can be nominated for the National Women's Hall of Fame. Then we have a whole judging process, and go through a pretty intensive research and conversation process, and then eventually select the classes that we are able to induct into the Hall of Fame. Right now we do induction every two years. And this year's class, which is nine extraordinary women, we had hoped to induct this coming Saturday, on October 2, and obviously with COVID, and the Delta variant spiking, we were having a lot of conversations towards the end of the summer [about postponing]. And you know, we had upwards of 1,000 people traveling from all across the United States to come here to Seneca Falls to celebrate these women. And overall, it was the right decision for the health of our community and the health of our nation to postpone the event. And so the new day is September 23-25, 2022. And what this additional runway has allowed us to do, as we approach that new date, is to really celebrate this class of inductees in a way that we have not been able to do in the past, and hopefully set the tone for how all future inductions are able to take place, where we really can spend some dedicated time unpacking and telling the stories of the great American women that we are honoring, building that energy and excitement, introducing more people to the themes and to the stories that they tell. And then to really have a great celebration, you know, at the actual induction ceremony. Let's talk about some of these women, then. Who is in the latest class? So the 2022 induction ceremony will be honoring the achievements of Octavia Butler, Judy Chicago, Rebecca Halstead, Mia Hamm, Joy Harjo, Emily Howland, Katherine Johnson, Indra Nooyi, and Michelle Obama. So it's a pretty incredible class of women whose achievements ranged from the arts, to politics, to science, to the military. It's a really exceptional class of women. Obviously, I think most people are familiar with names like Michelle Obama and Mia Hamm, but tell me about some of the inductees people might not be as familiar with. So Octavia Butler became the first science fiction writer, and one of the first black women, to receive a MacArthur Genius fellowship grant. She's the author of many, many books that have inspired people ranging from Amanda Gorman, LeVar Burton, to Viola Davis. She was a very quiet author and somebody who did not love the limelight, so she used her words and her books to really inspire action and to tell important stories that needed to be told. Judy Chicago is an incredible artist, and in 1974, she created her most well-known work which is called “The Dinner Party,” which was she produced with hundreds of volunteers. The idea of the installation was to provide a symbolic history of women in western civilization by actually creating a dinner party plate set for each of these women that would be around a dinner party table. The piece is now permanently installed on the Brooklyn Museum, I highly recommend that people go and take a look at it, because it's really incredible, and it was very provocative for its time. Now she does all kinds of art all across the country, all kinds of teaching, and is able to really highlight how art actually plays a huge role in our world. Becky Halstead is amazing. She's from here in the Finger Lakes, she grew up in Candor, which is right outside of Ithaca, and went on to serve in the military. She'd became the first female in U.S. history to command in combat at the strategic level. She's done a lot of work since retiring from the military in terms of leadership, and talking about sort of the perception of women in the military versus the reality, and really lifting women who serve our country in a really substantial way. And through her teachings, she actually expands beyond the military, and works to inspire all of us, regardless of the sectors. We're very excited that she's going to be a part of the National Women's Hall of Fame. Joy Harjo is a multi-disciplinary artist. She's a poet, a musician, a playwright, a painter, an author. She's done a lot of work and various pieces of art. And she draws on First Nations storytelling - the pieces of work that she has done really allow those indigenous voices to come out in ways that they have not been able to in the past. Katherine Johnson! So Katherine Johnson's story, which most people know from the movie, Hidden Figures, really highlights how often women's stories and women's achievements have been overlooked, especially in STEM fields, although actually across all disciplines. And unfortunately, Katherine passed away in 2020, but her daughters have been very involved with us. And they are looking forward to working to continue telling the story of their mom, and also lifting up all women who feel like they have been overlooked in some way, shape, or form. And what's so fascinating about these women that we induct into the National Women's Hall of Fame, is even the people that tend to be more well-known, like Michelle Obama, or Mia Hamm, there's aspects of their stories that still aren't told. And so that's one of the things that we really tried to do is highlight not just these women and their achievements, but also some of the things that may be lesser known about their work in the world. So it sounds like this has been a big year for the museum. You moved into a new building in the middle of a pandemic, the induction ceremony was also postponed by the pandemic. How are you faring during COVID? Because for a lot of museums, this has been a pretty difficult time. Yeah, that's a great question. It's really been an interesting trajectory. So [there have been] lots of things that we don't like about COVID, lots of ways in which the pandemic has really stifled growth and progress. In other ways, though, it's opened us up to new technologies and new ways of connecting to one another. And although we've all got some level of Zoom fatigue, I think we've learned in a really powerful way, that we can still connect to one another through a digital platform. You know, the organization itself moved in the height of the pandemic last August, into this new building, we've had to go through a lot of different phases of reservation systems and you know, limiting the number of people in the gallery at any given time. Those restrictions remain to this day. But at the same time, it allowed us to really go national in a new and intriguing way. Natalie was brought in to actually create programming, and to do the organization's first virtual induction ceremony. So last year, after George Floyd's death, and the national conversation that ignited around the way that especially Black men and women in this country have often been overlooked, the organization made the decision to host a virtual induction series, which we will plan to do every year or two to really highlight the accomplishments of an overlooked group of women. Last year's virtual induction, which was our first one ever, focused on Black women who are no longer with us, and whose stories deserve to be told. Flowing from that was a series of programs that we call “The Forum.” That's a national effort to ignite conversations with our inductees, with other experts in the field, and really to advance some of these conversations that need to be had around gender and equality and equity, and really being able to, you know, dive deeply into some of the topics that we don't normally get to talk about. So it's been really exciting. And we've been doing OK. Tourism has picked up throughout the summer, we've been seeing more and more visitors. Leaf peeping season is coming. So that's always a very busy time in Seneca Falls. And you know, in terms of fundraising, being able to celebrate our inductees and create these programs that are going to inspire people across the nation is very attractive to a lot of corporate partners and business partners and individual donors. And so we're having a lot of conversations with people about what philanthropy can do and how we can really use it to not just sustain operations, but really grow them over time. Lastly, why do you feel it's important to have a museum dedicated to women and women's history? Oh, gosh. I mean, I can't speak enough to how important it is. I think we all want to be able to see ourselves in history, and we all want to know our place in history. And you know, the women's rights movement began in 1848, it's not that old. It's only maybe five generations of women that have come since that time. We've as a nation, really deserve to prioritize the accomplishments of 51 percent of our entire nation. One of the really troubling facts that I learned a couple of weeks ago is that, of all of the statues and monuments across the nation, only 8 percent are dedicated to telling the stories of American women. And that's a really troubling fact that, you know, in most places, if you walk around and look at public art, you're not going to see the face of a woman in that. And so having an organization like the National Women's Hall of Fame is truly important for not just little kids, who will grow up never knowing a time when a woman couldn't be vice president or governor of the state of New York, but also to inspire all generations, and all people, that we have made significant contributions. We are a viable part of this country, and our ideas and our stories matter. And so that is what we seek to inspire people to understand when they walk through our doors and to leave with a better appreciation. Maybe learning about a woman that they never knew about before, or just feeling the inspiration that, ‘Yes, there's a community here that does believe and support in women and women's history, and you know, the enduring value of the accomplishments that women make.' As Gabriel said, the National Women's Hall of Fame occupies just the first floor of the Seneca Knitting Mill, with the upper three floors still largely unfinished. Walking through the front door, you're greeted by a number of exhibits on its inductees, the women's rights movement, and even the Seneca Knitting Mill itself. Learning and Engagement Manager Natalie Rudd says the plan is to eventually expand those exhibits into the upper floors, and possibly even offer event space down the line.  We'll go upstairs in a minute, but first, we ought to check out the Hall itself. In the past, Rudd says each inductee would have their own plaque and portrait along the museum's walls - but with so many inductees, they don't currently have the wall space to do that. Instead, inductees' names are listed on long scrolls, hung in a circle at the center of the floor. Alongside the scrolls are iPads connected to the website, where Rudd says anyone can access detailed bios for each of the inductees.  "So what I always do with my guests, when we have guests come and visit, I always tell them, 'You're gonna see a lot of names that you recognize. You're gonna see Gloria Steinem, Lucille Ball, Maya Angelou, people who you've definitely heard of. But you're gonna see a lot of names that you probably don't recognize,'" says Rudd. "And I tell everybody to find one name that sticks out, or maybe that worked in a field that you work in - so if you worked in STEM, go and find Ruth Patrick, a 2009 inductee. [The scroll says] 'Ruth Patrick, STEM & Health, Education & Activism.' You can go and then read her bio, and then learn a little bit about her, because I can guarantee not many people have heard of her." Ruth Patrick, as we learned through her bio, was a limnologist, meaning she focused on "the scientific study of the life and phenomena of freshwater bodies." "Some of our inductees, when you Google them, if you were to just Google them, sometimes we are one of the only [organizations] that pops up as having information on them," says Rudd. "Which is sad - we want everybody to know about them - but it also really shows us that we're doing our job, because otherwise a lot of these stories might get lost in history, and we would have never heard about them, or their successes might be attributed to somebody else." After we look at a few more names, Rudd leads me to the upper floors. The first floor is technically the only one currently open to the public, but Rudd says she still loves taking the occasional visitor up the spiral staircase - because while the upper floors are still unfinished, they demonstrate just how far the building has come over the past 10-plus years. Rudd says the old roof was caving in, and as a result, the exterior walls began to buckle and bend outward. For years, she says the building was known by locals for the big blue tarp wrapped around its top floor, because the roof couldn't actually be replaced until the exterior walls were pulled straight, millimeter by millimeter, day by day.  The interior still features most of the original flooring and exposed beams. There's graffiti from the building's vacant years, but Rudd says a lot of the signatures along the walls are those of former employees of the wool mill. Rudd says the museum is working on installing an elevator to make the building more accessible, but for the most part, they want to preserve the memory of those workers. "So that's one of the reasons why we actually chose this building to be our new home. The history not only aligned with the region so well - the Seneca Knitting Mill had a lot of different names as a company throughout its years, but it really stood as a place of industry, it employed generations of Seneca Falls-area folks, and the history really aligns with the women's rights movement, with those original trustees having signed the Declaration of Sentiments," says Rudd. "They were also abolitionists. So, one of the reasons this was a wool knitting mill, as opposed to a cotton knitting mill, was because, not only did we have a lot of sheep farmers in the area, but the owners were abolitionists, and they didn't want to support the cotton industry because of its links to enslavement and the slave trade." On the main floor, visitors can find the names of some of the mill's employees side-by-side with inductees. Rudd says, when the mill closed in 1999, many employees signed what she calls the "Goodbye Pillar" on their last day. As the museum worked to renovate the building, Rudd says they found the pillar in the basement, and were ecstatic to include it next to their exhibits. The National Women's Hall of Fame is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except Wednesday, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, visitors are strongly encouraged to get timed tickets ahead of time (the museum may be able to take walk-ins, but capacity limits are in effect). The next class will be inducted on September 23-25, 2022. For more information, you can check out the Hall's website here.