Women's suffrage : the 19th Amendment Anniversary Project

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to Sonoma County in the 90s with your host, Dana Rico and Gina Lash. Hello, I'm Dana d'Errico and welcome to Sonoma County in the nineties. Today, I have two guests who are founders of the 19th amendment anniversary project and they are going to join us and

tell us about women's history and the activities that they're putting on through the month of March. As you know, March is women's history month. So let's join our guests now and that is Rebecca Duan who is secretary for the 19th amendment anniversary project and Grace Eva

Howard, who is the founder of the 19th amendment anniversary project. It's nice to have you here. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for inviting us. Grace Eva. I'm going to start with you first. I love your outfit. That is absolutely great and I love the

banner that you have and the button 50 50 by 2020. Why don't you tell me a little bit about women's history and about your outfit that you're wearing today. Well, this is a typical outfit that was worn by many women in the 1900s and as you

may know in 1920 we won the right to vote. It was not easy. The and those women all wore such a banner as we have on our chest today and the whites signifies the purity and the the purple is for the uh loyalty and the yellow

is for the Sunrise and the sunflowers. Okay, I love the banner. It's so colorful. And just the votes for women. Thank you. I recently purchased 12 coffee mugs. Very heavy old fashioned and in a blue color, it says they should have done it in lavender. It

says votes for women. I love those mugs. I love those mugs, but I love your outfit and the lavender or purple, I guess officially purple. And I see Rebecca, you're wearing purple and its dignity and loyalty. Very nice. So what about your button? The yellow button?

This is a very important button for us. It was it represents the 50 50 representation of. Okay, so it says 50 50 by 2020 in purple. That's right. And what you're asking for is 50% representation by the year 2020. There we go. There we go. And

when when Rebecca talks about the declaration of sentiments, sentiments later, then we'll have a way to tie that in. Okay, so what do you have to tell us today about women's history? Well, it's very well known that lucretia Mott and Elizabeth cady Stanton worked very, very

hard for many, many years to get the vote. And Susan B Anthony she did. She did. She came along three years after lucretia Mott and uh Susan B Elizabeth Stanton. Thank you. I've recently been hospitalized and I have you're doing great. I'm forgetting some things. And

so thank you so much for helping me with that. You're doing absolutely wonderful. And I'm so interested to hear as our viewers are, what you have to tell us about the history. Well, when these two women joined with Susan B and they worked for years to

get the vote and of course they didn't see it, They didn't see it happen. And they they were they had all passed away before the vote. We got the vote in what year did we women get the vote, 1920 1920. So it's about 100 and 20

years a country or 100 21 years of country. And uh The us was 120 years. No more than that, 221 years. I've only had 77 years of being able to vote. Now, I noticed earlier Rebecca, you were going to hold up a picture of a lady

and this is Mary Wollstonecraft. Now, Mary Wollstonecraft actually started the women's rights movement. Everyone thinks that Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott did that. But actually, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote a book in 1792. It's that old that old. It's called the vindication of the rights of women.

Do you know when she was born was I was looking at that card before the show said 1720, Is that correct? 1759, Yeah. She didn't live very long. But that book was published in 1793. And Lucretia Mott was born in 1792. It is documented that she

read the book. Oh, okay. So Lacresha ideas of abolition were really, really, really began with her, really began with her because it was abolition and the rights of women. Of course the suffrage rights were intertwined. Was she an american born woman, lucretia Mott was But mary

Wollstonecraft was not, she was english. She was english. Okay, so can you tell us a little more about the background in the history? We had mary Stanton and Susan b Anthony who was on one of our coins. Mhm. Most recently, Elizabeth, cady Stanton and lucretia Mott

started the uh the the rights of women movement and they had a declaration of sentiments which were the declaration of of the of the rights of women and from and they geared it on the the the Bill of Rights, Maybe the Declaration of Independence Rebecca, Do

you want to tell us a little bit about that. Do you want to know? I want you to go, We highlighted this is a lengthy document. I'm not going to read it all, but we highlighted a few things. Of course they were demanding the right to

vote and the right to have their own property and so on. Some of those things have been achieved. However, let me read a few things in here that are still up for grabs. What she's saying is that we haven't quite gotten all the way there with

the sentiments we're still we're still suffragists and we're still fighting before we go into that. I want you to explain the difference between suffragists and suffragettes. I hear both and I'm not clear as to what that difference is. That's right. I went to a meeting the

other night and I was taking my daughter and her friend and the mom of the friend said, oh, I'm not going to a suffragette meeting. And there's always been a there has been in recent years a negative connotation to suffragette. These women were put down as

being sort of crazy cookie women. There was one in my family who was sort of swept under the rug that we should be proud of. And and so the suffragettes were in England and when we brought the movement over here, we were the suffragists and they

were very careful to make that distinction. And so the proper way to say it is suffragists and we are still here and we're and everyone who wants equality in this country is, I believe, a suffragist. So it's S. U. F. F E R G I S.

T or G E S S U F F R A G I S T. Is a suffragist and that's what american as an american. That's what we are, where suffragettes is an english term. That's right and that's what they used in England which is a derogatory.

Well, it became derogatory. It's just like anyone could become derogatory if people say it in a certain tone of voice. And it was also associated with the prohibition people and all that. And that's a whole story. A big story there. I realized there was a difference

there. But thank you. So the declaration of sediments, you had several things you were going to. Yeah, well she he's talking about he being mankind and so on. He has done this, he has done that. He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments and from those

she is permitted to follow she receives. But a scanty remuneration. Still, Social Security is a point education point Social Security wages etcetera. We're still working for that. So although we have the vote, we're still working for equality and some people don't quite get that. So it

seems obvious, but it's a good thing to say now that you're pointing it out in Social Security, the woman will get a portion of the husband's Social Security which is at a much lower rate and the retirement also much smaller portion. Okay, going on, I highlighted

another one, he has created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society are not only tolerated but deemed of little account in man in entering upon the great

work before us. We anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation and ridicule, but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to affect our object. We shall employ agents circulate tracks partition the state and national legislatures and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press on

our behalf. We hope this convention will be followed by a series of conventions embracing every part of the country. This was given at the original women's rights Convention in Seneca Falls in july 18 48 and this year is 100 and 50th anniversary of that. And there

will be celebrations all over the country and a lot of us will be going to Seneca Falls, what kind of celebrations are you going to be having to honor this parades, events, parties. What kind of parties where how can our viewers join in? Well, the the

National Women's History Project has a publication which is which will show up all of their, all of the events all over the country. And there are uh reenactments of the of the of the original women's rights convention. There are um many teachers materials. Absolutely. I see

that you've brought some really lovely posters for us today and behind you is the one who died for the freedom of women. That's a very lovely one. Can you tell us a lot These posters, Inez Milholland and she spoke and spoke and spoke in her efforts

to win the vote in 19 before 1920 and they she got the flu and was hospitalized and never came out. She actually died because she she had to be the one to lead the parade and she went all over the country doing that and she wore

herself out. Uh how sad. But later they had a an event which will probably be reenacted next year or this year where they had an event and they, because of her, they honored all of the women who were jailed with a particular pin, which was a

jail door. Oh, interesting. Okay. And what about this poster up here that we have? That's the, one of the, that's the 17th anniversary of women's suffrage. That's 75th anniversary. Oh, thank you so much. I'm not seeing right. And this celebrates the vote and to make the

future. And that's in 19 95. That was when our organization started. And that was when we first started having events and projects and parades and the national Women's history project organized three parades and we organized two more parades. And so we did five parades that year.

And uh there's one in santa rosa and one in baston Poland, one in Sonoma and one in Petaluma and one in Rohnert Park. And we did five in one year. Are there women artists predominantly that do these posters for you for these organizations? Yes, I'm embarrassed

that I can't tell you who they are. But they are women artists are women. Absolutely. I like this one in the back here? It says votes for women. That's very lovely. Unfinished business. Can you tell me about this? This was a particular exhibit at the Sanford.

Uh Excuse me. We need to pause right here. So hang on. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. Um, shared his grace on then. Thank you. Rum. Support those most in need call 1 808 990089. See how you can help Welcome back to Sonoma County in the

nineties. I'm dana D'Errico. And today we have the 19th amendment anniversary project here. So let's rejoin Grace Eva Howard, Founder and Rebecca Dwayne who is the secretary. Okay. Rebecca. I will get into the organization in just a minute. But I want to go back to Grace

Eva. And she was telling us about this unfinished business in a traveling show. This is a show that traveling to all of these places in Rebecca dewan and I went to the san Francisco main library to see it. It was mounted by the Huntington's library and

uh, they mhm. It's a lovely poster. Just lovely. The colors are lovely library. If anyone is interested in having this, it's fairly compact, how it folds up. But it's fascinating. Well, I think the women's history project in Windsor. I think they're on Bell Road. They're located

in Windsor. It's the national Women's history project? They have a catalog where you can purchase a lot of these things. Is it okay to give their phone number? Yes, it is. Okay to give their phone number. The National Women's History Project. Phone number is 838838 12,000.

Yes. That's great. Okay. Tell me a little bit about the organization Rebecca. Well, when It was the 75th anniversary of the right to vote for women, I barely knew anything about it myself, but I was in an organization of women that was researching violence and what

causes violence and some of the people in some organizations knew some people in some other organizations, but there was really not much tying us together. I was also a member of now, But I wasn't real active in that. And so, um, when they were thinking of

having a parade and get women together from different organizations to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the women's right to vote. And it was a one shot deal. We're gonna meet together and organize this parade. Well there we were at the library representatives from many different women's

organizations all around Sonoma County. How many women's organizations are there around Sonoma County? Well, I'm not sure how many there are, but in our coalition, there are 24. So 24 different organizations. And that number fluctuates as far as who wants to be active and you know,

but that's the number that I know about. So there we were in the library talking about it and we looked at each other and realized that this is a very powerful group. Here's all these women sitting around, here's all these organizations, we can do more than

this together. Yes, we can march in parades but our phone list our organizational skills and he, these are all the dude augers who actually show up to meetings that came to this library thing and we just saw this wonderful opportunity for a coalition. And so rather

than being jealous of who's in what club and who's in what organization we were going to work together. And since then we've done many, many different projects and people come and go depending on what they're interested in. But if anyone wants to do a project with

all the women's groups or many of the women's groups that are interested in empowering women in this county, they do it through us. Okay. We talk about the 19th amendment anniversary project and the vote. Are you tied in with the register of voters in any way?

Are they represented in your organization? Absolutely. We go out and register people to vote. It's one of our main activities. Do you um, promote mainly women or anyone to register to vote or anyone can register to vote when you register people. It's important that you don't

really turn people away, but you don't want to practice what you are trying to overcome. But I think when people see what we are, it's usually people who are sympathetic at least towards women who would come up to our table or wherever we are. So, uh,

we're out there the last time we had a voter registration event, the J. C. Um, student organization helped us, you know, joined in with us. There was a one shot deal on a coalition and we uh we organize, we've registered over 1000 people on that one,

that one that one drive. So what other projects in the community did you put together after you had this meeting with the 24 different groups? Well after that, there were parades, There were historical recreations of what? Historical recreations. Well, we did a play which was a

and we've already reiterated that it was a reiteration, it was a play that reiterated the uh, the declaration of sentiments that that whole the convention convention at Seneca Falls in 1848. And that sort of gave us the idea. Since then we've gone into classrooms and recreated

many different um scenes and and words from from and we've gone to kindergarten, we've gone to high school everything in between. And we tailor it depending on what people want. And it's kind of fun for me because I like clothes and costumes and I like to

dress up and it's an educational project that you put together your group. How many members do you have in the 19th amendment anniversary project who count. Well, since our members, our organizations, we we don't have individual people so much. We have a steering committee and it's

up to the individual organizations to do what they want with it. So it's not a typical organization in that way we encourage women to if they want to work with us having to do with school activities and and parades and film festival and so on to

contact us. However, if they're a member of now or if they want to get active to do anything to help women, then they are through that helping us and I should make sure that we get a chance to talk about our film festival, which is another

one of our activities. And last year we had this tremendously successful feminist film festival and It was in August which is the anniversary time of the 19th amendment signing. So of course we have a party then and we we just have a real good time in

our organization. We had fun films, educational films, things for different ages. And the way it worked was since we have no real funds, we're just a coalition coalition, the different organizations and other groups that are not members such as the Home Hospice Association, we invited anyone

who wants to show films that are good for women and good for girls to let us know and we'll help publicize it. So instead of of all these different organizations fighting with each other again, we we helped each other and we came together to show something

that's good for women and we really want to build on this and have more women directors, local women filmmakers and local large movie theaters, which never seemed to quite get the point last year. I think they never understood. You mean this is free. You mean that

we don't have to do anything and you'll just advertise us. Yes, they didn't understand that yet. So this year it was sort of more last minute then this next time will probably be able to, so what you're gonna do then you will have these films that

you will air or the, um, the film, the media, the shows, they organization airs what they want to air and as long as we approve of it and don't mind advertising it and so on. We will. So if you want to have your film aired, it

has to be a promotion of women's rights or uh, benefit for women of some benefit for women helping us in some way. I would hope so. Um, and that can take many different forms. We showed an old garbo movie that was sort of rare. We want

to bring out things that are not generally seen because that's one of the big problems is of course in media. Um, women are still, you know, helpless little bimbos by and large in movies and many different places, although we've come a long way things have actually

just gotten a little more subtle in some, in some forms so that we think we're empowered. But then there are still some subtle problems going on. And of course you could do a whole many shows about the problems and advertising and media and we have videos

that we show and presentations that we do about that subject as well. Well, I think that a lot of it has to start though with the parenting aspect. Do you cover any of that in your organization of parenting and the messages to send to your young

daughters and Children? Young sons also? Well, two of our films were prize winners from the A. U. W. And they addressed Girls in middle school and so yes, part of that was parenting. They address that area. Yes, I would think that that would be a have

a major impact of. One of the things that I always participated in is on I have two daughters on their 18th birthday and their birthday card, they got a voter's registration form and I said that is first and foremost and one of your Most valuable rights

fill it out now and off I nailed it and I still call them a couple of days before I say now don't forget to vote in our film festival. We had 18 different organizations and what they did, they decided what they wanted to show and where

they wanted to show it. So we ended up with 12 24 showings in 11 places in six days. Boy, you remembered all the members would not remember those numbers. That's great, you're doing great. So what other things are coming up through this year that you can

think of that our viewers would like to know. I see you have a lovely book there. What is this book about if you would hold that up for our viewers jailed for freedom, Mr President, what will you do for women's suffrage? Well, that was quite a

that was part of the right to vote. The one they were held up getting the vote because of President Wilson. And he kept saying, well we have to get democracy for Germany, we have to get democracy for europe. And and these women were they wanted democracy.

They wanted democracy for themselves. And they would they held up signs peaceably. Thank you for joining me. We're running out of time. Thank you for being here and we'll look forward to all those events coming up through the year. Thank you. I'm dana d'Errico and this

is Sonoma County in the nineties. I hope to see you next time