Sent radio and listen to washington journal daily and eastern, important congressional hearings another month. The duty to washington today for a report of the stories of the race listen to shes been anytime, tell your smart cspan radio heartland cable. Would. An honor to moderate the sale commemoration of the womens Suffrage Centennial 2020. Good pleasure and commission created by congress and organize activities of the centennial year our commission had to deal through the pandemic. In march of 2020, the commission and stuff had to push forth programs and activities. A conscious shift in the commission to legacy and what i mean historical markers, such as, monuments or installations and permanencyts beyond 2020. I truly think this strategic will unofficial the longterm commission providing Additional Support and virginia in case. She more suffrage bad and im sure we will talk about this today. It was created to assess of the history of womens studies sure you know. We help supportrt the historic markers across the country related h to woman suffrage ande have lobbied including a lobby by myself executive director to the president of the United States so we could build a monument will commemorating he thinks womens suffrage. That was an interesting story will look like. Another thing worth mentioning, skydivers to execute several amazing and set a world record. The ratification in the 100th Anniversary National archives and smithsonian concerning the history of suffrage. It was constructed across the unitedra states and they were on womens suffrage and voting the Commission Level two states and localities and other locations to help commemorate the anniversary. Now i would like to turn it to our panelist today are leaders in various activities. Lets start with the offer of interpreting the legacy of womens suffrage at museums and Historic Places can you tell us about your book and why it is important to think critically about the story of womens suffrage at exams and other historical locations . What did we learn from the centennial and how will it affect future interpretations . Thank you so much and thank you to the National Archives for inviting me tonight. I look forward to what will certainly be a wonderful conversation with my colleagues. The book is interesting. It started as an idea when i was executive director of the Belmont House museum in washington d. C. For those of you who know the museum it was the fifth and final headquarters for the national womans party, the Permanent Organization for suffrage. In 2016, the womens Equality National monument. As the director of the firm 2008 until 2017 so a good nine year span where i was able to learn more about the suffrage, invite people in, certainly many came through so talk about suffrage. One thing i heard most often was one, how come i never learned this in school . That came from most of the adults and second, look around and see the photos they would say, where they all white . Where are the women of color i can honestly say, who are not doing a very good job at sharing the full story so one of the most important pieces that will contribute to the legacy of the continue is it unexpected for any reason so we have made a lot of progress. As the title and first, it is for museum practitioners and those at historic sites. It is for those who are interested in history and learning more about the previous celebrations. There is a lot of difference between 1920 and 1945. Here we arega 2021 talking about changes between 1995 which is the 75th and 2020 for the centennial so its an interesting look back but i advocate for a few things and versus expounding on the timeline. The organizations start with 1848 in the Womens Convention in the 19th amendment. I and many other people advocate extending that timeline. It is a lengthy timeline about the historic moment for American History and how they relate to woman suffrage in the history we are looking at so i started in 1787 and went all the way through to 2021 with the election of kamala harris. In making sure youre talking and many women of color and women like Mary Churchill there simply too many groups to mention the other case and the whole story and systemic racism that allows movement to be controversial, i will say so it isor not what it is not about saying this person is bad or actions were bad because they never did anything wrong, its really about having conversations and learning more about context in which these actors we go back and research, is talking about what was said culture and social life like . How did they form their opinions and what they think about and how did they impact the Suffrage Movement . And some say it is complicated, we dont need to get into that and i have heard that from visitors and as lot of people. As long as humans are complicated, history is going to be obligated so it doesnt serve any actual purpose to continue saying things like she was a product of her time during that era wasnt true get we can dig deeper and talk about why and the systems policies andut communities in place that really did impact women of color much more than the white women so ill leave it up. Thank you for telling me about it, American Association state and local history available on those websites as well as amazon. Served on the womens Suffrage Commission which is also the executive director. Can you talk about how you think this centennial previously highlighted, Untold Stories about women of color, how are different organizations able to do that can you evaluate what was done well and what could be done better e . Good to see you again over the last few days, it was not an easy discussion to be honest and frank. They curtailed a lot of what was amplify how complicated the history of suffering has been. Think about commission to commemorate the 100th anniversary. I honestly felt it fell through the wall and the smithsonian did an incredible job politics out of it and the purpose of having documented case and what to do and what the facts were. Amplifying the history women of color and they were dismissed throughout the womans movement. This was fully participated with in this movement in 1913. To live in this space all the time as a leader and 20 miles in 1849 after the establishment. Frankly, let me say i felt the commission should have done a much better job amplifying woman elected to congress in 2018, that was a w real moment to have 100 plus women in office. It is not a political concern, we didnt amplify that in a way that encouraged this at all levels. In the leadership it is so complicated you need to amplify and the relationship between Frederick Douglass, it is really complicated. And it was to deal with the and calls people of color, its a negative and thought Frederick Douglass was the one who shes new and told her what was wrong with that. Many of the people in my community for all the work to did. They were very good friends in spite of that. They learn about that because they were lost in the home for a period of time and he did her eulogy. So it was an enduring relationship but there was one that was tone deaf to the original sin of racism and where it fits that is something that has to be on that. To participate in womens groups, youve got to believe. The monument officers by our commission of the essential part there is no statute of women. It would be a statute of women and was originally at the last moment and decided that was enough. And it was a certainty and they have the upkeep of the statute they have the names of all the other suffragists they had at the time. Now we have women in this central area. For me, when i heard there were no statute of women, at least that is one thing when i got right so i found out they were going to go ahead with it because of the land built, it used to be the only place it was legal for people of african descent to own property in the city. Theres still a lot of concern about that. Still issues about the land being taken away. There were all kinds of problems. The only place it was legal was the own property make way with this design. The good the bad and the ugly. Yes, we should lift up everything that has been done in the past 100 years but i really honestly and truly feel that theres so much more work to do so that suffrage or the act of inclusion and in franchising all people to get to the ballot box knowing that every vote matters is so important i want to take up a lot of time. In september a very good friend of mine doctor larson is coming out with a book walk with me which is a biography of talks about her struggles but i recommend that. And then not in this form but in a form that has to be, Sojourner Truth named her name as, at the altar of the Mother Church of the African Methodist Church from isabel to Sojourner Truth. Harriet tubman visited many societies that she chose the church as where she would have her membership. In which she participated fully. And Frederick Douglass gained his preaching credentials at the Baptist Church of massachusetts but its not coincidental that these people who participate truly in the Suffrage Movement chose what is known historically as the Freedom Church and that the ame church which out of bondage social justice agenda i think there needs to be some concentration on that but more particularly for recently i was at a meeting where most of the delegates for the meeting were women and there were three women vying for office and the remaining half a dozen also vying for office. And there were two positions available no women were elected and so also the issue women still not been comfortable voting for the limiter i think that needs to be more fully explored by they work that comes next as for the Harriet Tubman hoe and National Park, we use our ceremony in 2022 amplify womens suffrage, to let our members know that people thought very hard to have the vote and why it was important for them to a faint attempt to spit fully. In previous times nancy, the league of women voters used to be there to give out information to help begin the educational process here so i know im taking a lot of time but i just feel as an africanamerican woman, i am just so not satisfied in what we do to commemorate the first 100 years, and it really truly help that we get engaged in determining what we want the next 100 years to look like, to tell the whole story. And t lastly, there was some mea that was done by year ago today with the former president , went all the commissioners were therefore his signingt into law, the proclamation of recognizing the 100th anniversary. But it was really hard for me quite frankly as a woman of color to be there. And as a long, i am a longtime champion of fair housing and anything in the Affordable Housing space, et cetera, to hear the dog whistle if people of color moved to suburbs thats going to upset white america. And things that were said by our highest elected officials, it seemed to undo a lot of the work that were trying to do to really forge understandings between people, and inun the media, every network, every cable channel, i heard from people who knew me from prek that i had not talked to since then who saw the image of me standing there. So i think we will have to have better control of media as relates to how we amplify women in thewe next 100 years. And i will stop now. Karen, thank you for those reflections. I dontho know if we had a chane to actually talk since that day a year ago when we were together in thehi white house. That was an extraordinary media event by the white house to promote a particular message. We were certainly as a commission going for appropriately to commemorate the centennial, but we found ourselves in the midst of a media event that was not of our own doing. I want to corroborate your account of that day, and i certainly recall the discomfort by a number of people, including myself as someone in a nonpartisan position, to be put in that type of situation, unfortunately. I want to talk a little bit more and i want to get to rebecca of course and shannon. But karen, sounds like one of the things that you were very concerned about was there was a discussion of the role of race in the Suffrage Movement but perhaps it was not as, trying to say, it was not as indepth as what should be. In other words, we didnt engage with it at the level in which would have caused accurate reflection in your mind is that a safe thing to say . I agree withou you. We did, it was an uncomfortable time to discuss it was a little bit uncomfortable, but for the purposes of education i think we all felt we had to do something. And colleen, i thank you for your work in particular, and for the video of the National Park service that we share with all of us. But i felt that as a commission we did not use our own platform to really say loudly that we understood that that was a barrier. I mean, i represent Harriet Tubmans legacy issues of property owner, and how difficult it was for her to have to make the decision to advance the rights for women to get the votes, knowing that it wouldnt include her in spite of her being a property owner. She saw doing something be on her own initial benefits would propel her to go into those lecture halls and speak to audiences that included amy entered many africanamerican men who had the right to vote taken away from them, as women were being franchised, black men were being disenfranchised. I think we just did not really explore that to the extent that we should have. And where we are now, you know. I just think more work needs to be done. Right there i think thats a good transition to rebecca and then shannon, because rebecca has written a book the suffragist playbook introduces somethinget that we could learn and we can learn from Harriet Tubman and her example in leadership thats really what rebecca tried to do in her book with lucy rob about some of those lessons from the Suffrage Movement. So given what karen said, rebecca, can you share with us what can young people both boys and girls learn from the Suffrage Movement do they have to really m understand the full story of the movement in order to really take lessons from it . Thank you, colleen. Went lucid and i set out to write yet another suffrage book we specifically want it to be useful and a practical handbook for become an h activist yoursef as a young person in the lessons you come in from the Suffrage Movement. So l not only does whitewashing this history make it bad history, but also if youre going to kind of turn that corner from history being interesting in history being relevant, then you absolutely need to know the full story because you need to do better, and you also i think they do understand that heroes are flawed and they are real human beings and silverton there wasnt racism,pr pretending that susan b. Anthony was always wonderfully welcoming to Frederick Douglass or that mary church carol was ignored when she was the only black woman at conferences is not understanding what we can learn from history. G to hear maybe we skimmed the surface and said yes there was racism was a problem they were black women thereto and did not engage with these issues. To me, to some degree this is a broader problem within history. Because for so long histories been told we hear about great men doing great things. That is exclusionary for so many reasons. Mainly because only white men have the ability to hold the only have the wealth and whatever else. Also not how change happens. Starting up with Suffrage Movement happened. The 72 years that was not one person lets learn more about harper, that is all important, still adding to lets learn about a few Extraordinary People instead of understanding these movements or long and slow and hard and collaborative. Head wins and losses along the way require the input and creativity of a huge variety of humans including men. It is a convenient way to tell stories i get it as a way to engage people in history. If one of the reasons you need to learn history is to learn from it and to do better and be inspired by so you can also change the world i one 100 help every young person believes they can change the world because they actually can. Then you need to learn they did it before you but you dont have be a once in a generation genius. Still make an enormous difference. So not only is it bad boring history its boring. It really could leave out anybody who might think i can do that too. Great. I want to ask shannon, you run that Juliette Gordon wrote birthplace in savannah, correct . The founder of the girl scouts. Rebecca brought up here and karen, this is a very long history standing over generations and generations but we know the women are both white black women who started the movement, many did not important live to see the actual passage of the 19th amendment or at women voting after the 19th amendment into the 1960s. Women of color. So how do you teach this type of history . How did you engage that type of history with girl scouts . How did you present that complexity to them and how did they respond . Tell us a little bit about that. Thank you calling thanks to the archives for inviting me here and including girl scouts in the conversation. See the juliette lord and go birthplace the home of the founder of the girl scouts. One of the things that just the ones focused on history. They donate 7000 patches to girls who earned this patch thats pretty generous. For the purpose of making the world a better place. The goal of girl scouts is to develop leaders pretty want them to think about how they can be active citizens. Girl scouts was found in 1912 how the to be Good Community partners how to be of service to their neighbors. It really plays into the legacy that suffrage is getting at that the toolkit is getting at particular. The need to see themselves in history for the toolkit does focus on a number of people even though i do agree with their rebecca work better off we went down to the hall of fames but it is nice to identify if you leaders but does that with white women, black women but also indigenous and chineseamerican women are highlighted to really help girls in our community to think about no matter where you are and what youre facing at that moment you can certainly be the change of the future. We think its very important to not just teach the history but teach the tools. We are teaching girls to contact officials may beat for office monday. To exercise and take advantage of all of the opportunities you are given. To the touch on your comments and i note the desire as the commission was to get as much as possible this history, the history of the Suffrage Movement and hopefully a comprehensive authoritative history to get into the mainstream. Not that theres anything wrong with womens history but womens history focused and make sure it shared and thats amongst adults, thats amongst kids, students, girl scouts, boy scouts, how would we rate ourselves when we look back, how well did we get this history into the main stream and that centennial year . What can we be done differently to do that better . This is now open to the entire group we have page, rebecca, karen, shannon everyone can engage with this question for sure. I can quickly say we reach 50000 get girls with this toolkit which i think is incredible. We also at 58 million girl scout alum. Im not aware of any we put out. To engage in only her current girl scouts but to reach other girl scouts as well. Karen . What is the blueprint for the next 100 years . Put that blueprint together in a way that engages everyone, let everyone know the difference for the role they play in getting girls and boys of all eligible adults. There is something for everyone if we really want to amplify the kernel of why these women came together. Everyone should be able to pull something out of that from 1848 and say okay, what can i participate in now that will help make a difference . I dont think weve really done that. The next 100 years where are we now, were to be want to be . How do we engage with men . How do we learn . These are really important, the whole notion of suffrage is important how do we engage with everybody, how do we grapple with the fact that how to make sure suffrage. I totally agree with karen one of the keys to tipping it out of womens history is thinking about the suffrage history is social justice history social change is not solely women fighting for women. They won, they affected this massive lasting permanent change to american democracy without resorting to bloodshed. They were really good at what they did. Starting from a position of absolute no power. So whatever it does is on your agenda you can do a lot worse. From their tenacity, from their mistakes for sure, i promise you if you need him to Lafayette Square right now theres someone standing there with a picket sign. Feel free to remind them the suffrage just did it first. It is not just remember women are important any agenda they have absolutely it will be better at their activism if they know this history. I would agree, i would agree. Let me say karen i so appreciate your comments and your reflections on the centennial year. On how communities become quite it better than we did 1995 absolutely. 2025 or 2045 hopefully will look a lot different than 2020. Hopefully we will be able to make even more progress. I think shannon talked about the 15000 girls the toolkit has reached, that is unbelievable. Just like rebecca said, you are training mike you are educating and training a whole another generation of kids to learn from the history. To be excited from the history, to see themselves in the history and take it to the next step which is as a girl i would want to say what can i do to impact the history myself . Its kind of taken that very next step. They were a couple of things one in particular no one has mentioned so far, that National Collaborative for womens history site sponsored a National Vote for equipment trail. That was cosponsored i know by the commission, the palm of my foundation in that as well. I was meant to look at it before. Theres obsolete hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of new markers that have gone across the country with the understanding these are noting local women for local history. Its not just the top layers its not just our fault its not Kerri Chapman is not Susan B Anthony doing their part and now they are recognized across the country. Got a wonderful interactive website for anyone who takes a look at it. I look at it say we are already further then we were, much further than we were in 1995 for that celebration. Not given into absolutely karens point we have a long way to go. And yet having looked at all of the celebrations, this one will have a Lasting Legacy and a lasting impact. I am excited to see were girls take it from here. That is my final question for the panel, exactly how you finish that answer there, page. If we had to assess, we look backwards a little bit for the past year end that is fair. Given a rigorous assessment for the centennial commemoration celebration. Lets look into the future think about that. What activities to the hundred and 50th anniversaries commemoration what advice would you give them the things we talked about the good the bad and ugly are all included. I think a treating is just one step in a very, very long ladder right were set women have full citizenship because if you tell a contemporary actavis is going to take 72 years to get your thing done and you have to have a constitutional amendment to do that that ignores all the steps along the way. So all of the things that happened between seneca falls the rights for married Women Holding property, divorce reform, child labor reform, being having access to higher education. Women having access to higher education. All of the steps that have happened since then. We need to see this as a continuum. And understand there is always more to do. Also look back i agree with everything rebecca has said i honestly come to this discussion feeling like youre trying to feel the issue of women and suffrage specifically, this was very painful for me. I cannot participate theres a whole slew of people out there that feel very vulnerable and at risk now because their rights are being very much so threatened in terms of their ability to participate. The historian part of me understands that the last time he was on the Edmund Pettis bridge i cant do that. I cannot participate unless we are going to have a massive mobilization a full rights for people. This is critically important. I think how fragile our democracy is. Weve all had to deal with that for the last several months. People who went through something i didnt go through. They want to go back to those days again which makes the whole notion of womens suffrage a subset of a larger conversation of incredible need for the mobilization of all freedom loving People Freedom of goodwill to understand our democracy needs our full participation. I wholeheartedly agree with all of these comments. I think rebecca, really expanding it and make sure everyone understands the depth thats incredibly important. Into your point, the reason up at the expanded chronology as they wanted people to have and blacken white right in front of them i wanted them to have dates to see when various people in various communities receive the right to vote and when it was taken away. Then possibly when it was taken back. I wanted them to track that because suffrage is critically incredibly important. But like you said its only a small piece of the story. We talk about becoming actavis we talk about becoming american are fighting for democracy we need to as you said, really make sure we understand our history to understand what still left to be done and then the most generation involved in that and keep it moving forward. That would be a tremendous legacy of the 100th anniversary. What havent we done yet . And start working on it. I think that would be wonderful. Shannon. Of course i cant disagree with any of that for the next 100 years i would love to see us treat this as more of a workshop than a celebration. There are certainly to celebrate. Theres plenty to learn and plenty of issues for us to continue to tackle with those lessons and tools we have learned. I would certainly say the most important way is to ensure every adult citizen in the country has the right to vote. Its freely able to vote without unreasonable barriers. But, i can also end my comment of a note of hope for everybody. Because idyllic girls every day. I can say the girls coming up today care deeply. They are enthusiastic, they get it. They want to make their communities a better place and they are looking for the tools, the voices and the empowerment to do that. We are certainly there to help them with that. I encourage everybody else is listening to this think of the girls in your life and how you can empower them. It beats the books these wonderful families have written. What can we do to give them the tools they need . Shannon, if someone wants access to the suffrage toolkit that the girl scouts provide companies that stillll availabl . It is Still Available and will put the link in the chat. Terrific. Of course pages of book, rebeccas book and all the work karen has been doing with the Harriet Tubman site, this is a really a collective conglomeration of women who are really striving to make that legacy happen. So i appreciate your time this evening and also like to thank nancy tate forou organizing this conversation pulling everybody together and getting us organized on the stage to have this conversation. Of course the National Archives for hosting it and my friend deborah, the archivist for hosting us so were able to really look back and reflect critically not just patting ourselves on the back, looking back with a critical eye in figuring out really the best way to move forward. I appreciate that conversation that we had this evening. So thank you very much. If you are enjoying American History tv then signed up for our newsletter using the qr code on the screen to receive weekly schedule of upcoming programs like lectures in history, the presidency and more. Signed up for the American History tv newsletter today and we should watch American History tv every saturday or anytime online at cspan. Org history. Weekends on cspan2 are an intellectual feast. 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