Of Congress Carla Hayden. August, 2020, mark stop 100 anniversary of the 19th amendment and womens right to vote. In honor of this milestone of american democracy, congress has designated august as National Womens suffrage month. The womens Suffrage Centennial commission is coordinating National Womens suffrage month on behalf of congress and the barking people and if this history interests you, please in visit the commission at women but 100. Org to learn more and to engage. For now, lets enjoy this conversation between these three brilliant men as we celebrate the centennial of womens suffrage and pate tribute to the legacy of the trailblazing suffragists who paved the way for our right to vote. Hello, colleen, thank you for that thoughtful introduction. I am librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and i join you from the librarys exhibit, shall not be denied. Welcome to womens fight for the road celebrating 100 years of the 19th amendment, a conversation with historian elaine weiss and former secretary of state Hillary Rodham clinton. What a joy it is to be here with these two women discussing this history in the centennial year. I would like to start with brief introductions. Elaine wife weiss is joining me and she is an awardwinning journalist, writer and historian as well as the author of the womens hour, the great fight to win the vote, which tells the they of tennessees role as 36th and final state to ratify the 19th amendment and it has also just been put into a Young Readers addition. Also joining us today is secretary Hillary Rodham clinton. Secretary clinton has a long career in public service. I have her 1996 book, it takes a village. Sure we allmakes consider young people. She was also making history in 2016 as the first woman to earn a major partys nomination for president. She has long been a champion of womens suffrage history and is working with elaine as an executive producer on the Television Adaptation of the womens hour. Secretary clinton and elaine, lets get started. This is as off, question for both of you. Womens fight for the vote was the longest political and social movement in american history. Story ofsnt the womens suffrage more widely taught or known . Secretary clinton . Sec. Clinton thanks so much, carla. Im delighted to be here with you and elaine to talk about this. And i think your question goes to the heart of the challenges we have faced, which is suffrage history was considered at best an add on to real american history. [laughter] it was not given the respect in the academy, it was not the subject of curriculum development. I remember very little in my Public School years of learning about anything having to do with the Suffrage Movement other than eventually women were given, as they would say, the right to vote. So i think this 100th anniversary, what youve done with the exhibit at the library, the commissions work, obviously. Great scholarship, like elaines book is filling a vacuum. Because we did not know enough about the history and how it links with the continuing struggle in america to form a more perfect union. And try, despite all of the setbacks and obstacles, to keep moving toward true equality for everyone. Dr. Hayden and, elaine, was it difficult with the research because, as the secretary said, it was not a part of i know it was not part of my experience in school at all. Elaine its absolutely true that it has not been taught very deeply in our curricula. But there has always been wonderful scholarship. And it just has not filtered down, which is why i decided to write the book. There is wonderful primary documents, there is the collection and the library of congress and the Tennessee State archives, there is wonderful, rich documentation of the seven decade movement, and yet it has not filtered down to public awareness. So that is one of the things i wanted to do. I wanted to take those primary documents that tell the story so richly, and the scholarly work that has been done and sent the asynthesize that into modern reader. There are so many themes that we are still grappling with today, so i am very hopeful that there have been wonderful new suffrage books. My book is surrounded by wonderful new additions that tell the story from different angles. I think thats one of the special things about the centennial is that it is fostering this interest in public scholarship and popular culture, of looking at this Important Movement and learning the lessons it can teach. Dr. Hayden secretary clinton, he served as first lady, a senator, secretary of state and womens Suffrage Movement, didnt have anything to inform your journey . What you wore was duly noted. [laughter] yes, indeed. When you come to grips with how hard it was for women to first get included in the constitution and how much more difficult it was to enforce that right, especially for black women, native american women, who were left out because of the way the amendment was ignored. And how it was part of the continuing efforts in our country to deny black people and other minorities the right to vote. So i really see what elaine just said as an important point. What happened 100 years ago, is still relevant today. I certainly, as first lady and senator, secretary of state, and as a democratic nominee in 2016, thought often about the women who started the Suffrage Movement, women like Sojourner Truth, like Elizabeth Katie cady stanton, like Susan B Anthony. These women did not leave to see the result of all their labor. Thed not live to see result of all their labor. Sometimes you have to understand that you are in the relay race of history. You are handing off the baton that you have taken from someone else, and i think there is an enormous amount of energy right now at this moment in our history to write wrongs, to bring about a reckoning with racism, sexism, a lot of the challenges that unfortunately we still live with, and that was very present in my mind during the last years. And the early suffragists inspired and encouraged me. Dr. Hayden did you feel that as you stood there . You knew you are carrying on a legacy . Secy clinton i did. Very much, carla. I felt it had been a long time until we got the boat. It had been a really long time, since any of the two Major Political parties had even considered a woman the Vice President ial ticket and then obviously being nominated, i felt like i was standing in that great river of history. I felt so privileged to be there at that moment, honored to play that role. To try to link our past, present and future, and that is why i get so much encouragement and i am truly optimistic about this time because young people seem so energized and so committed to trying to do better. And to really create more opportunity to bring everyone in to the american experiment. So, i was incredibly conscious of it and remain so today because the work continues. It is by no means done. [laughter] dr. Hayden and that is why, elaine, your book for Young Readers, making that available to 1011yearolds. And what is so powerful is that you give them the history, and you show them and then you give them a call to action. A 10yearold can pick up your book and you tell them what . Elaine activism its not just a particular time in your life. I think i wanted to show through through the story of this decades long movement, which took on its own momentum through three generations of women. And of course, then had to go on for another 40 years for black , women, and almost as long for asian women and native american women. And i wanted to show that sometimes these seeds are planted very young. So i tell the story of several of the leading suffragists who conscious of injustice when they are children. When they are young girls. And they see their mothers not able to vote, or they see that their fathers who are judges cannot protect women because the laws are written in a way that they had very few legal rights in the 19th century. So i wanted to show the passion for social justice, for any number of passions that young people can recognize. Because they had a very keen sense of what is just and what is not. So i think its very important to realize that you can feel that and then gather the tools and the knowledge to, as an adult, or even as a very young adult, begin to bring that passion into the world and began and begin creating change. The Suffrage Movement involved protests and demonstrations and also a very sophisticated political strategy. And i think it is important that young people realize that its going to take all of that. Dr. Hayden you are going to bring that powerful story, elaine and secretary to the , screen and Television Series by Stephen Spielbergs production company. And partners. And, secretary, you are the executive producer. So, elaine i have to ask you this. What did you feel as an author, when you got that call . Elaine it was a dream of a lifetime kind of moment. A very special moment. Of course, for me it was the idea that Hillary Clinton had read my book. I think that was the most powerful part of it. And then, how deeply she understood the power of the story. And wanting to make this story available to the largest audience. We agreed. We need to tell this story. Because it is meaningful not just in our history but how we go forward. And how we learn from this experience of having to fight for half of the nation to get the vote. And so the idea of partnering been oner on this has of the most spectacular experiences. We are working hard to adapt this into something that young people will be interested in watching. It has been a great wonderful roller coaster experience for us. We are not familiar with the ways of hollywood and we are learning. Would you agree . Secy clinton i would agree 100 . Carla, i had never done that before. I read a lot of books that had inspired me and ive written letters to authors to thank them for bringing the book alive, but i finished elaines book, the womens hour. And i was stunned by the beauty of her writing and storytelling, and what a compelling, dramatic story it was, that final effort to get the final state needed to ratify the amendment. I have to confess, i vaguely knew that tennessee was the last state and i had come across the ending of the story where the young legislator changes his vote because of a note he gets from his mother. But i had no idea that the real suite of this historic moment in america. So i did call her, and i said you really have to bring this to a larger audience and make sure especially that young people and young women understand that this was hanging by a thread. All of these powerful interests, the alcohol industry, a lot of the attitudes about womens place being in the home, the women who were against it. Theres so much of the status there is so much of this that is still swirling around in our politics. So i was thrilled when spielberg and his team said they were interested. As elaine said, its a and, challenge. And even more so because of the the pandemic. Making a historical work like hour, whichur has so much drama already. But making it accessible to this generation. Im grateful for elaines patience. She has done a great deal and understands the significance of this story. Dr. Hayden part of that trauma, and i as a woman of color, i just have to give this quote, when the National Museum of African American history and culture opened and the dedication, president george w. Bush said a great nation does not hide its history. It faces its flaws and corrects them. And that story of race and prejudice in the Suffrage Movement is very compelling. Secretary clinton, can you share your thoughts on that . You mentioned it earlier. It is the good and the bad in this movement. Secy clinton i think we are coming to understand that every human being as strengths and weaknesses. Has has real moments of greatness and sadly, moments of departure from that. Flaws go with the process of being a human being, especially one on the public stage. Seriously they challenges that were within the Suffrage Movement. Warstarting after the civil , because originally, carl as you know well, suffrage and abolition were married together. Wererimke sisters preaching for abolition of slavery but also speaking on behalf of womens rights. Sojourner truth, and so many of the pioneers, Susan B Anthony , coming outtanton of the declaration of sentiments in 1848, they were joined by frederick douglass. So there was a real marriage of effort and belief, conviction, commitment between the abolitionists and the Suffrage Movement. After the civil war, when the constitution was amended to give black men the right to vote, that began a rupture between the two movements. And i have tried to understand it from the perspective of everyone involved. And i do understand. Some of the challenges that i think both black and white women tried to deal with. They were sometimes successful in coming together, and recommitting themselves to the struggle, but even until the very end when the pressure was on congress to pass the amendment. And woodrow wilson. Of see the calculations alice paul, carrie chapman, ida b wells or Mary Church Terrel two white suffragists and , two black suffragists trying to figure out how do we deal with both sex and race . How do we deal with the prejudices that affect both women and black people, and particularly black women . Its a very important part of the story of suffrage and the very important lesson to people in the present, certainly young people Going Forward. You cannot sacrifice any part of your value system. You have to stay firm. You are against racism and you are against sexism. You want to move everybody forward. Id love to hear elaine talk about that, because she captures the tension in the womens hour and how black suffragists in nashville and tennessee joined forces. I think in a very realistic, pragmatic way, with the white suffragists. But they knew that their full rights were not being recognized. At that time. Dr. Hayden elaine, you captured it. Elaine absolutely. We see this happen all the time. We are seeing it today. Pick toe powers that be pit twonchised disenfranchised groups against one another and say only one of , you can come through as a gates of heaven only one if you , can be enfranchised. Only one of you are going to get the legislation that you need to protect yourself. And we see this happen over and over again in the Suffrage Movement. Again, learning the lessons of what went wrong, of the attitudes that hindered universal the idea of universal suffrage of all citizens having the right to vote. I think it is as important of telling the story of why the suffragists succeeded. And i try to do that. I also bring up this alliance that happened in nashville of black suffragists and white suffragists, working together for ratification because they are working and every city and town in america, understanding how important the vote was and understanding that in the south, the jim crow laws were going to impede their ability to exercise the 19th amendment. And the great disappointment is that the suffragists do not insist that the 19th amendment be enforced. And congress refuses to enforce it Going Forward after 1920. And it is left to racist legislators who propagate that jim crowe laws in southern states. So this idea that you can have constitutional law, but if its not enforced if the public will , is not Strong Enough to force politicians to follow through on legislation, even constitutional amendments are not as meaningful or as powerful as they should be. So that is a really important , lesson for today. And its also a lesson that, leaving aside your colleagues, your sisters, who we know are going to have trouble exercising this right you have just acquired, you have just fought for and won, in the 19th amendment, is going to weaken american democracy because you are not taking that next vital step. That is an important thing for we areemember today as the congress, state legislatures and even in our city municipal government bodies, trying to right some wrongs. Trying to make a more equal and more perfect union. We have to remember that as secretary clinton puts a well you cannot leave your ideals , behind for political expediency. That said, there are forces that will try to make you make those moral compromises. And standing up for that is very important but very difficult. Secretary clinton, the way elaine just put it, there is hope looking in history. Probably something that made you say i want to make sure this gets to a broader audience because look at the history, it takes everyone. So is that part of what you , felt . Secy clinton absolutely. Carla, the library of congress is a repository of history. You preside over, in effect, the real core of peoples memories, their struggles, their efforts and it is such an important job that you have at the library. And you are taking it out of the library. Similarly, i think we have to take history, not only into our schools, but into the media. Into social media. Into the streets, where people have to see as clearly as possible, what came before so that they can learn those lessons. You know, elaine just said something i think is so important, and i alluded to it earlier. The relay race of history where you go as far as you can and then you hand off the baton to keep going, you are in this river. Lets say were having a relay race in a river. Every so often, the river backs up on you, or the people running the locks and dams tell you, sorry, only a few of you can get through. You have to wait your time. Wait your turn. It is a tough compromise. On the one hand, you want to push as far as you can claim the , progress that youve ma