Transcripts For CSPAN3 Global History Of The 19th Amendment

Transcripts For CSPAN3 Global History Of The 19th Amendment 20240711

Collaborate with the National World war i museum. And im particularly thankful to lora for reaching out to me and making this weekend possible. I have about 45, 50 minutes of stories and information that im excited to share with you and i do very much hope that you will pose whatever questions you have. I dont always have the answers but i will certainly give it my best shot. So the cover that youre looking at there on the screen is the cover of my most recent book. Peace on our terms. And it is fundamentally tied to the history of world war i which makes this collaboration so important to me. My book is a snap shot of a singular moment in history. Almost exactlily 100 years ago, as the world finally began exiting from the devastation of the first world war. And was able to begin both dreaming and planning for the peace and the new world that would come afterwards. At this moment, i show in my book that women from farreaching and incredibly diverse parts of the world began stepping on to the global stage and asserting an agenda of womens rights and gender equality. And at the core, demanding the right for women to be able to help shape this new world order. And transform it into what gave way to world war i. My book is a story of women from north america, from europe, from asia, and from the middle east. It is a story of white, wealthy women, and also, sometimes desperately poor working class women. It is a story of women married to tremendously supportive husbands and also women who engaged in lifelong single sex relationships. It is a story of white women and we will of color, a story of christians, muslims, jews, women who profess no religion at all. A story of women from powerful global empires, as well as subjugated and powerless colonies. I argue that at the end of world war i, in 1919, these pioneering female activists transformed womens rights into a global rallying cry. And it is a rallying cry that continues to reverberate around the world right up to the present day. Now, here in the United States, we are very focused. Many of us are very focused on this moment 100 years ago because it marks an important anniversary in our own National History which is the passage and the ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution which granted women the right to vote. And that kind of begs the question, if these two things happened at roughly the same time, women gain the right to vote in the United States and global feminists he began to speak out and establish rights as a global agenda, were these two things related . Were they intersected . And the answer to put it right up front is absolutely yes. And so while my book is not specifically a story of American History, the stories recorded in it have a very Important Message about American History and about the 19th amendment which is that this long battle that women fought for economics, social, and Political Rights in this country are embedded in a Global Movement that was designed to secure the equality and humanity of half the population of this earth. So in particular, my book and my talk tonight are going to emphasize the fact that american women owe the passage of the 19th amendment. At least in small part to foreign women. To their International Sisters who brought pressure on americans and particularly, on the american president , Woodrow Wilson, to live up to his own rhetoric of democracy. And then the other thing, the equally important thing my book explains is why some american women at this moment in 1919 to 1920, just as the movement for suffrage was reaching its climax, it looked like it would finally move on to the states for ratification. At this critical moment, why is that it quite a few dedicated american suffragists chose to leave the United States and go advocate for womens rights abroad instead of here at home . And this was particularly true of women who had often found themselves somewhat on the margins of the american womens Suffrage Movement. It includes pacifist women, it includes working class labor women, labor suffragists, and it includes a fairly large number of africanamerican suffragists. So for my talk today, i want to zero in on this global history of the 19th amendment. In the process, introduce you to some of the pioneering women, we wills rights activists featured in my book and who made this post world war i period such a water shed for womens rights. Both here in america and also around the world. So because im an historian, i always have to trace back in time. Well start our story in 1914. Just before the outbreak of the first world war. And at that point in time there were very few women anywhere in the world who enjoyed the right to vote at the federal level. At the national level. In fact, there were only four countries in the world that had granted women the right to vote by 1914. The first country to break that threshold was new zealand, as you can see this photo on the screen. Women fought tenaciously for the right to vote in new zealand in the late 19th century. In 1893, they won that right. And very interestingly and importantly, it was a right that was not qualified by wealth or education level had, and it also enfranchised white women and indigenous maori women at the same time. So that was the first country to establish womens right to vote at the national level. Shortly there after, australia granted white women the right to vote. And then also, prior to world war i, both finland and norway had established the right to vote at the national level. But that was about it. Now, Suffrage Movements have been growing steadily in the years leading up to world war i. Thats most famously true in Great Britain and the United States where suffragists were gaining headlines and attention for increasingly militant tactics, including heckling speakers, and staging marches out in public, demanding womens right to vote. But this was in no way uniquely an anglican phenomenon. Show women in asia were beginning to establish, certainly individual suffragists were beginning to speak out and movements were beginning to form as well. In china, for example, women were very involved in the re looksary movement overthrew the ching dynasty. In 1911, taking up arms and smuggling bombs in order to make happen. In 1912, when the First Provisional Parliament met in china to try to establish what the new constitution would be, they would break their way into the meeting hall. They smashed some windows to get the mens attention and had to be forcibly removed. They refused to quiet down. Also, in the early 20th century in the british empire, women from india were also beginning to call both for home rule in india but also for women to share in the political responsibilities in india. That would continue to mount. In fact, during world war i, the suffragists would put forth requests during world war i. It was also true in Continental Europe that women Suffrage Movements had been growing exponentially. This photograph was taken in paris. You might recognize the background scenery there. Somewhat movingly, this photograph was taken in july, 1914. So just several weeks before world war i broke out. And this was the first major public demonstration that french suffragists staged in demanding the vote. And i want to point out in particular on the screen, the woman in the front row in the middle who is wearing a white blouse and a fantastically feathered hat on her head. That woman is known by the name marguerite. She was the head of the largest french suffragist organization in france at the outset of world war i. Shell play a role in the story im going to tell in a moment. So i wanted you to recognize her face. Well, when world war i broke out in 1914, Suffrage Movements, not everywhere but by and large halted or they halted their activism in order that women might turn their attention to the war work that their nations were calling upon them to complete. And from 1914 through 1918, women in the warring nations stepped into all kinds of social, economic, and even political roles that had been considered rightfully mens sphere until then. The pictures on the screen represent a few of the types of Economic Activity that women engaged in that was vital to supporting the war effort. In the upper left, you can see two british ambulance drivers who shuttled women soldiers to the front lines to some of the immediate hospitals. And triage stations. Women were also vital as farmers. They took over family farms but also large commercial farms as well. And that picture at the center of the screen is a french post card from world war i celebrating these female farm workers in france. You can see also on the top row, women who began working in munitions factories, and by the tens of thousands. In engineering and chemicals and then finally at the bottom, we will also by the tens of thousands who volunteered to serve as nurses. Many of them for the red cross providing vital medical aid. What they shared in common was that the work that they were doing was considered to be absolutely of vital and fundamental importance to the nation. They were told that what they were doing was not just important to their families. It was important to their countries. And that gave them a new sense of confidence and citizenship. Now, the United States did not initially join world war i. In fact, Woodrow Wilson had campaigned on the promise that he had kept america out of the war and would continue to do so. In 1917, wilson went before the American Congress and requested a declaration of war on the central powers, which is to say germany, austria, hungary, and the ottoman empire, and he did so insisting that american boys should put their lives on the line because the world must be kept safe for democracy. Now, american suffragists had to decide how to respond to this declaration of war. And in fact they split. On the one hand, the militant wing of the American Suffrage Movement led by alice paul and the National Womens party continued to prioritize their campaign for the vote. They said there is no reason for us to put it to the side. And all the more reason to amp up pressure. So on the lower right hand side of the screen, you see one of the many women who stood sentinel outside the white house, insisting that wilson should not be preaching democracy to the rest of the world while denying democracy at home. And these were some of the women who famously served hard time in prison for their refusal to back down. The majority of suffragists, however, followed the lead of the National American Suffrage Association, and the president Carrie Chapman cat, the women all in white with the American Flag on her sleeve. She thought that it would bee who have suffragists to throw their support behind the wall and show through their dedication and patriotism that women were ready for the full responsibilities of citizenship. Now, historians have been arguing for years which of these twoe groups, the militants or the moderates, were more responsible for finally convincing Woodrow Wilson to support suffrage after a lifetime of opposing it, and also turning the majority of public and male politicians to supporting the 19th amendment. What my book shows is that another force was at work in addition to these two that pushed Woodrow Wilson and undoubtedly others as well to finally endorse a federal amendment. This force was foreign women. Women from abroad who took Woodrow Wilson at his word when he said this was going to be a war fought for democracy. And indicated to him that america would never be seen as a democracy abroad unless democracy was established here at home. Now we need to understand when Woodrow Wilson spoke publicly during world war i evgs never just addressing an american public. His words and his speeches were carried all over the world. And in fact, the United States created its first modern propaganda wing, the committee of public information, specifically to make sure that Woodrow Wilsons words made headlines all across the globe. They made front pages of newspapers, as we can see from this french paper on the screen. Now other historians have noted in places that wilson could scarcely imagine, his words were taken as a sign of support for liberation and for anticolonialism. In places as far away as egypt and colonial vietnam and china. Nationalists listened to him when he said this world war must create the conditions of a national selfdetermination and democracy. What my Research Shows is that women were paying just as much attention as these male nationalists were. And more than that, they were strategizing and acting in order to make sure that wilson was going to follow up on his words with tangible action. Now, in this effort, still in the midst of world war i, marguerite, the french suffragist i pointed out to you jerel, was the first to see that wilson might prove to be the key to establishing womens right to vote. Not just here in the United States but all over the world. And so in 1917, she began sending out letters in the midst of the war to other women from other allied nations, europe, north america, australia, saying lets write a her to wilson. And lets get him to commit. Lets get him to go public with this idea that womens rights integral to the peace. So on this screen youre seeing a portion of the draft of the letter. The underlined part, underlined in the original, says to wilson that the women from the allied countries have a wish. We want president wilson in one of his upcoming messages to pro claim the message of womens suffrage to be a fundamental pillar of future international law. We want you to go public. We want to you say not jut in america but all over the world, womens suffrage needs to be part of the creation of democracy. They got the letter together by early 1918. It took while to get into wilsons hands, having to do with the complications of the American Suffrage Movement which i can explain if youre interested. Finally in the spring of 1918, Carrie Chapman cat gave this letter to Woodrow Wilson and much to her shock, he immediately responded. This response he sent off to the suffragists in europe. He also gave permission for it to be published. On the left of your screen, you can see the New York Times article covering wilsons response. So he said to french women, you can read i know what me. I have read your message with the deepest interest and i welcome the opportunity to say that i agree without reservation that the full and sincere democratic reconstruction of the world for which we are striving and which we are determined on bring about at any cost, will not have been completely or adequately attained until women are admitted to the suffrage. Man amazing those women had him now publicly on front pages of newspapers saying, i support womens suffrage as a fundamental pillar of the new peace settlement. And then american women had extra reason to be excited. Because he added a will paragraph just for them thats highlighted at the bottom. He said as for america, it is my hope that the senate of the United States will give an unmistakable answer to this question, passing the suffrage amendment to our federal constitution before the end of the session. This was not the first time he publicly endorsed an amendment but it was one of the first. And this pressure from abroad was part of what was on his mind as he finally made the decision. Now, in france, europe, women were elated as well. They sent it to the press agencies and got this in the nu newspapers as well. So wilson was now on record, right . He was on record saying he supported womens suffrage as part of this democratic new world order. And European Allied sufficient ranch. Is now had this as tool in their tool chest and were ready to bring it out as soon as the war was over. Chapter one of my book chronicles the lobbying campaign that womens rights activists waged in paris during the paris peace conference, the negotiations that came at the end of world war i with all the allied governments but with Woodrow Wilson in particular throughout these long months of negotiating in french and european feminists were at the epicenter of this push. So were back to marguerite here, still active and scheming and planning. This is letter she sent to Woodrow Wilson on january 18, 1999. That was the opening day of the paris peace conference. Right at the beginning there. And she reminded him of his promise thats he had made publicly during the war and writing on of what of french feminists, she says there, we would beg of you to use your immense influence for introducing womens suffrage together with other world questions necessary on discuss at the peace conference. And they asked him to again publicly express his sympathy, as she wrote there, for the more than half of humanity represented by women who in so many countries had been condemned to an unjust and cruel silence by the denial of the vote. Now, they didnt just want a pledge from wilson. They wanted some tangible actions. This letter kind of informed him of one thing and asked him for another. It informed him that french feminists were conven

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