1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:14,462 --> 00:00:18,087 ♪♪ 4 00:00:18,190 --> 00:00:20,503 Karnath: We take many things for granted today 5 00:00:20,606 --> 00:00:24,576 without recognizing how many shoulders these were built upon. 6 00:00:28,683 --> 00:00:31,410 Lindsey: Life in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century 7 00:00:31,514 --> 00:00:33,999 is quite a complicated story. 8 00:00:34,103 --> 00:00:36,243 Rapid industrialization, 9 00:00:36,346 --> 00:00:38,693 urbanization, 10 00:00:38,797 --> 00:00:41,386 immigrant communities, 11 00:00:41,489 --> 00:00:44,492 new employment opportunities, 12 00:00:44,596 --> 00:00:47,288 educational opportunities, 13 00:00:47,392 --> 00:00:49,428 but also racial violence. 14 00:00:49,532 --> 00:00:52,776 Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow, 15 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,297 xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment. 16 00:00:56,401 --> 00:00:59,059 And so being able to have a voice politically 17 00:00:59,162 --> 00:01:02,407 became increasingly important. 18 00:01:02,510 --> 00:01:04,892 Women are organizing everywhere, 19 00:01:04,995 --> 00:01:07,205 committed to these different struggles -- 20 00:01:07,308 --> 00:01:11,485 voting rights, anti-lynching campaigns, 21 00:01:11,588 --> 00:01:13,970 racial uplift. 22 00:01:14,074 --> 00:01:18,147 Women demanded new space and pushed the boundaries 23 00:01:18,250 --> 00:01:20,563 of what being a lady means. 24 00:01:20,666 --> 00:01:27,294 ♪♪ 25 00:01:27,397 --> 00:01:34,059 ♪♪ 26 00:01:34,163 --> 00:01:36,268 Woman: ♪ They say I don't act right 27 00:01:36,372 --> 00:01:38,270 ♪ It's unladylike 28 00:01:38,374 --> 00:01:40,824 ♪ How I wanna live my life 29 00:01:40,928 --> 00:01:42,757 ♪♪ 30 00:01:44,242 --> 00:01:45,829 ♪♪ 31 00:01:45,933 --> 00:01:48,798 Kimberley: In 1895, there are women being arrested 32 00:01:48,901 --> 00:01:51,180 for wearing pants in public 33 00:01:51,283 --> 00:01:53,699 and actually being jailed for it. 34 00:01:53,803 --> 00:01:58,187 Unger: The notion that mothers should not work outside the home 35 00:01:58,290 --> 00:01:59,533 was omnipresent. 36 00:01:59,636 --> 00:02:01,362 The percentage of women working 37 00:02:01,466 --> 00:02:04,779 rises from 15% in 1870 38 00:02:04,883 --> 00:02:07,644 to about 24% in 1920. 39 00:02:07,748 --> 00:02:11,476 So it really tells you how much there was a taboo. 40 00:02:11,579 --> 00:02:13,133 González: Men were representatives 41 00:02:13,236 --> 00:02:15,825 of their families in the public square. 42 00:02:15,928 --> 00:02:19,035 They were the ones who had access to the vote. 43 00:02:19,139 --> 00:02:22,763 They were the ones that could run for office. 44 00:02:22,866 --> 00:02:24,661 Kimberley: People believed at the time 45 00:02:24,765 --> 00:02:28,251 that if women participate in education, 46 00:02:28,355 --> 00:02:30,736 all of their energy will be sucked out 47 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:32,635 of their reproductive system, 48 00:02:32,738 --> 00:02:38,296 which would eventually render the United States infertile. 49 00:02:38,399 --> 00:02:41,195 González: There were women who left the home, 50 00:02:41,299 --> 00:02:44,509 justifying their activities as reform 51 00:02:44,612 --> 00:02:46,476 that needed to happen in a society 52 00:02:46,580 --> 00:02:48,685 where the politicians were not paying attention 53 00:02:48,789 --> 00:02:52,931 to issues that women cared about. 54 00:02:53,034 --> 00:02:55,830 Margulies: 100 years ago, many women defied the odds 55 00:02:55,934 --> 00:02:56,900 to assume leadership 56 00:02:57,004 --> 00:02:58,212 without a roadmap -- 57 00:02:58,316 --> 00:03:00,973 to fight for suffrage, serve in government, 58 00:03:01,077 --> 00:03:03,735 and lead the struggle for civil rights. 59 00:03:03,838 --> 00:03:06,324 Among them, five courageous changemakers 60 00:03:06,427 --> 00:03:10,673 whose impact continues to shape U.S. society today. 61 00:03:10,776 --> 00:03:13,745 Unger: These women are facing an enormous amount of criticism, 62 00:03:13,848 --> 00:03:15,816 efforts to silence them, 63 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,922 tell them to go back to their rightful place. 64 00:03:19,026 --> 00:03:21,753 This is an era of firsts. 65 00:03:21,856 --> 00:03:24,825 It's really quite remarkable what they were able to achieve. 66 00:03:29,416 --> 00:03:31,003 Margulies: Few women in the 19th century 67 00:03:31,107 --> 00:03:33,799 had run for public office, let alone won. 68 00:03:33,903 --> 00:03:35,870 But some decided that getting elected 69 00:03:35,974 --> 00:03:38,218 was the best way to effect change, 70 00:03:38,321 --> 00:03:39,702 and Martha Hughes Cannon -- 71 00:03:39,805 --> 00:03:42,014 the country's first woman state senator -- 72 00:03:42,118 --> 00:03:43,499 was one of them. 73 00:03:43,602 --> 00:03:49,746 ♪♪ 74 00:03:49,850 --> 00:03:53,681 Martha "Mattie" Hughes was born in Wales in 1857, 75 00:03:53,785 --> 00:03:57,133 to a family that converted to the new religion of Mormonism. 76 00:03:59,894 --> 00:04:02,552 They emigrated to the U.S. when she was 2 years old, 77 00:04:02,656 --> 00:04:04,071 seeking religious freedom, 78 00:04:04,174 --> 00:04:07,212 and joined church settlements in the Rocky Mountains. 79 00:04:07,316 --> 00:04:09,007 Reeder: The second half of the 19th century 80 00:04:09,110 --> 00:04:12,907 was a really exciting time for Mormon women. 81 00:04:13,011 --> 00:04:14,426 Martha grew up in a time 82 00:04:14,530 --> 00:04:18,430 where suffrage had been given to Utah women in 1870, 83 00:04:18,534 --> 00:04:19,914 in local elections. 84 00:04:20,018 --> 00:04:24,333 They were the second territory that gave women suffrage. 85 00:04:24,436 --> 00:04:26,990 Wyoming was the first. 86 00:04:27,094 --> 00:04:30,546 The West gave women different experiences, in the sense 87 00:04:30,649 --> 00:04:32,617 that they are building their frontiers, 88 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:34,895 their settlements from scratch. 89 00:04:37,553 --> 00:04:39,451 Margulies: Starting at the age of 15, 90 00:04:39,555 --> 00:04:42,627 Hughes worked as a typesetter for The Woman's Exponent, 91 00:04:42,730 --> 00:04:44,318 a newspaper published by women 92 00:04:44,422 --> 00:04:47,010 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 93 00:04:47,114 --> 00:04:48,667 Reeder: When Mattie Hughes walked to work 94 00:04:48,771 --> 00:04:50,842 in the muddy streets of Salt Lake City, 95 00:04:50,945 --> 00:04:53,603 she would wear men's boots and tuck up her skirt 96 00:04:53,707 --> 00:04:56,399 so she didn't get muddy. 97 00:04:56,503 --> 00:04:58,056 Margulies: In the paper, Hughes read 98 00:04:58,159 --> 00:04:59,747 that the University of Michigan 99 00:04:59,851 --> 00:05:02,405 had opened its medical school to women. 100 00:05:02,509 --> 00:05:04,787 She resolved to become a doctor. 101 00:05:04,890 --> 00:05:07,168 Reeder: Mattie saw her baby sister die. 102 00:05:07,272 --> 00:05:10,033 She saw her father die three days after they arrived 103 00:05:10,137 --> 00:05:12,312 in Salt Lake City. 104 00:05:12,415 --> 00:05:16,039 And she saw in the early settlement of Utah, 105 00:05:16,143 --> 00:05:18,352 many women and children die. 106 00:05:18,456 --> 00:05:21,838 And I think this was a huge influence on her decision 107 00:05:21,942 --> 00:05:24,531 to become a doctor. 108 00:05:24,634 --> 00:05:27,257 Cannon: "Let us strive to become women of intellect 109 00:05:27,361 --> 00:05:29,294 and endeavor to do some little good 110 00:05:29,398 --> 00:05:32,677 while we live in this protracted gleam called life." 111 00:05:34,748 --> 00:05:37,475 Margulies: After studying chemistry at Deseret University, 112 00:05:37,578 --> 00:05:39,753 Hughes attended medical school in Michigan 113 00:05:39,856 --> 00:05:43,308 and a graduate program at the University of Pennsylvania. 114 00:05:43,412 --> 00:05:47,105 Reeder: She was the only female in a class of 75, 115 00:05:47,208 --> 00:05:49,003 and she was often asked to sit apart 116 00:05:49,107 --> 00:05:52,524 from her male counterparts, so as not to distract them. 117 00:05:52,628 --> 00:05:54,146 Margulies: Hughes returned to Salt Lake City 118 00:05:54,250 --> 00:05:56,977 with her medical degrees in 1882, 119 00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:59,669 and at age 25 opened a private practice 120 00:05:59,773 --> 00:06:01,982 out of her mother's home. 121 00:06:02,085 --> 00:06:03,984 Reeder: Women in Utah soon realized 122 00:06:04,087 --> 00:06:06,124 that they needed a space 123 00:06:06,227 --> 00:06:09,783 where they could practice medicine and care for women, 124 00:06:09,886 --> 00:06:12,406 and so they created the Deseret hospital, 125 00:06:12,510 --> 00:06:15,996 with female doctors and female nurses. 126 00:06:16,099 --> 00:06:21,208 In 1882, Martha Hughes became the head surgeon. 127 00:06:21,311 --> 00:06:23,244 She also practiced midwifery, 128 00:06:23,348 --> 00:06:26,316 and she had the fastest horse that she could find 129 00:06:26,420 --> 00:06:29,941 so that she could get to women who were in labor 130 00:06:30,044 --> 00:06:32,150 as quickly as she could. 131 00:06:32,253 --> 00:06:33,323 Cannon: "I would be one of the toughest 132 00:06:33,427 --> 00:06:36,154 and most rugged women in the Rocky Mountains." 133 00:06:38,743 --> 00:06:40,814 Margulies: Hughes fell in love with a prominent church leader 134 00:06:40,917 --> 00:06:42,678 serving on the board of the hospital, 135 00:06:42,781 --> 00:06:46,267 who already had three wives and 21 children. 136 00:06:46,371 --> 00:06:49,719 Reeder: Angus Cannon was 23 years older than she was, 137 00:06:49,823 --> 00:06:53,723 and she was married to him as his fourth wife. 138 00:06:53,827 --> 00:06:56,312 Mormon women, because they were polygamist, 139 00:06:56,416 --> 00:06:58,728 interestingly enough, they were able to let go 140 00:06:58,832 --> 00:07:00,489 of some of their domestic duties 141 00:07:00,592 --> 00:07:03,181 and allow their sister wives to do more 142 00:07:03,284 --> 00:07:07,772 public and civic and political things. 143 00:07:07,875 --> 00:07:09,946 Cannon: "A plural wife is not half as much a slave 144 00:07:10,050 --> 00:07:11,120 as a single wife. 145 00:07:11,223 --> 00:07:12,915 If her husband has four wives, 146 00:07:13,018 --> 00:07:17,609 she has three weeks of freedom every single month." 147 00:07:17,713 --> 00:07:20,094 Reeder: Only 30% of the population in Utah 148 00:07:20,198 --> 00:07:23,097 actually practiced polygamy, 149 00:07:23,201 --> 00:07:27,861 but plural marriage at this time was a tricky thing for Mormons. 150 00:07:27,964 --> 00:07:30,173 While they firmly proclaimed their right 151 00:07:30,277 --> 00:07:31,830 to religious freedom, 152 00:07:31,934 --> 00:07:37,974 federal legislation put serious repercussions on polygamy. 153 00:07:38,078 --> 00:07:41,150 Margulies: In 1882, the U.S. passed the Edmunds Act, 154 00:07:41,253 --> 00:07:45,810 which made polygamy a crime punishable by 5 years in prison. 155 00:07:45,913 --> 00:07:49,814 Reeder: As a result, when Mattie was married in 1884, 156 00:07:49,917 --> 00:07:51,678 she had to do so in secret. 157 00:07:51,781 --> 00:07:54,750 She couldn't even tell her parents. 158 00:07:54,853 --> 00:07:56,199 Margulies: As part of a federal crackdown 159 00:07:56,303 --> 00:07:57,925 against polygamous families, 160 00:07:58,029 --> 00:08:02,274 Angus Cannon was arrested and put on trial in 1885. 161 00:08:02,378 --> 00:08:04,898 Hughes was summoned to testify against him 162 00:08:05,001 --> 00:08:08,522 and other Mormon fathers whose children she had delivered. 163 00:08:08,626 --> 00:08:11,352 Cannon: "I am considered an important witness, 164 00:08:11,456 --> 00:08:13,216 and if it can be proven that these children 165 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:15,149 have actually come into the world, 166 00:08:15,253 --> 00:08:17,186 their fathers will be sent to jail." 167 00:08:19,222 --> 00:08:21,708 Reeder: She didn't want to testify against her husband. 168 00:08:21,811 --> 00:08:24,227 And the way to counter this was to go into hiding, 169 00:08:24,331 --> 00:08:28,266 or what was known as "the underground." 170 00:08:28,369 --> 00:08:31,096 Margulies: In 1886, Hughes fled with her first child, 171 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:33,789 under a false name -- Maria Munn -- 172 00:08:33,892 --> 00:08:36,101 while her husband served his prison sentence. 173 00:08:36,205 --> 00:08:37,447 [ Cell door clangs] 174 00:08:37,551 --> 00:08:39,864 She lived in hiding in England for two years 175 00:08:39,967 --> 00:08:42,763 among other Mormons in exile. 176 00:08:42,867 --> 00:08:45,283 Cannon: "You could never realize my present situation 177 00:08:45,386 --> 00:08:48,528 unless you were suddenly banished 7,000 miles, 178 00:08:48,631 --> 00:08:53,256 your identity lost, afraid to audibly whisper your own name. 179 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,535 My nervous system has received a shock 180 00:08:55,638 --> 00:08:59,228 that it will never entirely recover from, I fear." 181 00:08:59,331 --> 00:09:02,024 Reeder: She also learned through letters, 182 00:09:02,127 --> 00:09:04,267 always written in coded words, 183 00:09:04,371 --> 00:09:07,408 that her husband Angus had taken both a fifth wife 184 00:09:07,512 --> 00:09:09,721 and then later a sixth wife. 185 00:09:09,825 --> 00:09:13,587 She was very discouraged in her marriage. 186 00:09:13,691 --> 00:09:16,797 Cannon: "I grow heartily sick and disgusted with polygamy. 187 00:09:16,901 --> 00:09:20,180 I should have given the whole plural system a wide berth. 188 00:09:20,283 --> 00:09:23,079 If, after a marriage of nearly four years, 189 00:09:23,183 --> 00:09:26,186 a man can't provide a wife and child with a home, 190 00:09:26,289 --> 00:09:28,568 he isn't worth having." 191 00:09:28,671 --> 00:09:30,880 Margulies: Despite her ambivalence about polygamy, 192 00:09:30,984 --> 00:09:32,606 Hughes resumed her marriage to Cannon 193 00:09:32,710 --> 00:09:35,678 upon her return from England in 1888. 194 00:09:35,782 --> 00:09:37,542 But she briefly went into hiding again 195 00:09:37,646 --> 00:09:41,028 when their second child was born. 196 00:09:41,132 --> 00:09:43,272 In 1887, the federal government 197 00:09:43,375 --> 00:09:45,308 increased its pressure on the church 198 00:09:45,412 --> 00:09:48,346 by passing more anti-polygamy legislation. 199 00:09:48,449 --> 00:09:51,211 Reeder: This act actually removed suffrage 200 00:09:51,314 --> 00:09:53,351 from all women living in Utah, 201 00:09:53,454 --> 00:09:55,664 whether they were plural wives or not, 202 00:09:55,767 --> 00:09:58,908 and put serious repercussions on all those 203 00:09:59,012 --> 00:10:01,773 who were practicing polygamy. 204 00:10:01,877 --> 00:10:03,775 Margulies: In order to protect its own survival 205 00:10:03,879 --> 00:10:06,744 and help the Utah Territory achieve statehood, 206 00:10:06,847 --> 00:10:09,747 the church officially repudiated polygamy. 207 00:10:09,850 --> 00:10:13,958 The Manifesto of 1890 prohibited new plural marriages, 208 00:10:14,061 --> 00:10:18,100 but allowed existing polygamists to live more openly. 209 00:10:18,203 --> 00:10:19,860 Hughes came out of hiding 210 00:10:19,964 --> 00:10:23,208 and dedicated herself to social reform. 211 00:10:23,312 --> 00:10:26,280 Reeder: Suffrage still had not been given back to Utah women. 212 00:10:26,384 --> 00:10:29,145 So Mattie Hughes became actively involved 213 00:10:29,249 --> 00:10:31,803 in the Utah Women's Suffrage Association. 214 00:10:31,907 --> 00:10:34,219 Cannon: "One of the principal reasons why women should vote 215 00:10:34,323 --> 00:10:38,465 is that all men and women are created free and equal. 216 00:10:38,568 --> 00:10:40,605 All persons should have the legal right 217 00:10:40,709 --> 00:10:44,609 to be the equal of every other." 218 00:10:44,713 --> 00:10:49,407 Margulies: In 1896, Utah became the 45th state of the Union. 219 00:10:49,510 --> 00:10:51,512 Its constitution banned polygamy 220 00:10:51,616 --> 00:10:55,102 and reinstated women's right to vote. 221 00:10:55,206 --> 00:10:56,552 Hughes campaigned for a seat 222 00:10:56,656 --> 00:10:59,624 in Utah's first elected legislature. 223 00:10:59,728 --> 00:11:01,384 In a strange twist of fate, 224 00:11:01,488 --> 00:11:04,249 she was pitted against her husband on the ballot. 225 00:11:04,353 --> 00:11:06,942 Reeder: Mattie Hughes Cannon was running as a Democrat. 226 00:11:07,045 --> 00:11:08,495 Her husband, interestingly enough, 227 00:11:08,598 --> 00:11:11,015 was running as a Republican. 228 00:11:11,118 --> 00:11:14,501 Democrats won the most votes, which means 229 00:11:14,604 --> 00:11:18,747 that Martha Hughes Cannon defeated her husband. 230 00:11:18,850 --> 00:11:20,058 Cannon: "It has proved to the world 231 00:11:20,162 --> 00:11:22,958 that woman is not a helpmate by the fireside, 232 00:11:23,061 --> 00:11:25,167 but she can, when allowed to do so, 233 00:11:25,270 --> 00:11:28,584 become most powerful in the affairs of the government." 234 00:11:28,688 --> 00:11:32,277 Margulies: On November 3, 1896, Martha Hughes Cannon 235 00:11:32,381 --> 00:11:35,625 became the country's first female state senator. 236 00:11:35,729 --> 00:11:37,144 Right after taking office, 237 00:11:37,248 --> 00:11:40,803 she established Utah's first Board of Health. 238 00:11:40,907 --> 00:11:44,462 Reeder: She acted to protect the health of women, 239 00:11:44,565 --> 00:11:47,568 which was very progressive at that time. 240 00:11:47,672 --> 00:11:50,157 She worked to improve sanitary conditions, 241 00:11:50,261 --> 00:11:53,643 including clean water and clean air. 242 00:11:53,747 --> 00:11:58,269 She wanted to improve the health conditions of schools, 243 00:11:58,372 --> 00:12:01,479 and she worked to certify doctors. 244 00:12:01,582 --> 00:12:02,825 Martha established 245 00:12:02,929 --> 00:12:05,345 the State School for the Deaf and Blind, 246 00:12:05,448 --> 00:12:07,278 for people with disabilities. 247 00:12:07,381 --> 00:12:10,108 She introduced bills to the state legislature 248 00:12:10,212 --> 00:12:13,525 that continue to influence Utah today. 249 00:12:13,629 --> 00:12:15,976 Cannon: "Women will purify politics. 250 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:17,633 Women are better than men 251 00:12:17,737 --> 00:12:20,360 and will do the world of politics good." 252 00:12:20,463 --> 00:12:23,673 Reeder: Just as Martha's political career was rising, 253 00:12:23,777 --> 00:12:26,469 she became pregnant with her third child. 254 00:12:26,573 --> 00:12:29,334 For a state that had banned polygamy, 255 00:12:29,438 --> 00:12:32,510 this ended her political career. 256 00:12:32,613 --> 00:12:34,305 Margulies: Angus Cannon, who still maintained 257 00:12:34,408 --> 00:12:39,206 illegal polygamous marriages with six women, was arrested. 258 00:12:39,310 --> 00:12:40,725 Hughes retired from politics 259 00:12:40,829 --> 00:12:43,141 soon after their third child was born. 260 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,767 Cannon: "Life is made up of profit and loss, 261 00:12:47,870 --> 00:12:50,045 and loss seems to be the prevailing element 262 00:12:50,148 --> 00:12:52,012 in my career at present." 263 00:12:52,116 --> 00:12:53,151 ♪♪ 264 00:12:53,255 --> 00:12:54,635 Margulies: She moved to California 265 00:12:54,739 --> 00:12:58,087 to raise her children and work again as a doctor. 266 00:12:58,191 --> 00:13:01,194 She died of cancer in Los Angeles in 1932, 267 00:13:01,297 --> 00:13:03,023 at the age of 75. 268 00:13:03,127 --> 00:13:05,819 Reeder: Mattie was a woman of grit, 269 00:13:05,923 --> 00:13:10,065 who recognized the need to speak up and to speak loudly, 270 00:13:10,168 --> 00:13:12,930 to protect the things that she cared about. 271 00:13:13,033 --> 00:13:16,243 She inspires women to run for office, 272 00:13:16,347 --> 00:13:18,418 she inspires women to vote, 273 00:13:18,521 --> 00:13:21,041 and she reminds us that there was a price to pay 274 00:13:21,145 --> 00:13:24,044 for all of those things. 275 00:13:24,148 --> 00:13:25,874 Margulies: A statue of Martha Hughes Cannon 276 00:13:25,977 --> 00:13:30,223 has been standing at the Utah State Capitol since 1996, 277 00:13:30,326 --> 00:13:32,466 and plans are under way to install one 278 00:13:32,570 --> 00:13:34,675 in Washington, D.C. 279 00:13:34,779 --> 00:13:36,436 Cannon: "I am willing and not afraid 280 00:13:36,539 --> 00:13:38,990 to tread the paths of my destiny, 281 00:13:39,094 --> 00:13:42,373 whether they be rugged or whether they be smooth. 282 00:13:42,476 --> 00:13:44,133 I have no regrets." 283 00:13:48,103 --> 00:13:49,345 Margulies: Mexican American women 284 00:13:49,449 --> 00:13:50,968 from the turn of the 20th century 285 00:13:51,071 --> 00:13:53,833 were early advocates of women's rights, too. 286 00:13:53,936 --> 00:13:55,317 But they had to fight racism, 287 00:13:55,420 --> 00:13:57,043 as well as anti-immigrant sentiments, 288 00:13:57,146 --> 00:14:00,460 in their struggle for equality. 289 00:14:00,563 --> 00:14:02,324 González: Immigrant women were working 290 00:14:02,427 --> 00:14:04,705 to improve conditions for la raza. 291 00:14:04,809 --> 00:14:06,638 By la raza, I mean 292 00:14:06,742 --> 00:14:11,264 both Mexican American and Mexican immigrant people. 293 00:14:11,367 --> 00:14:12,610 Margulies: Prominent among them 294 00:14:12,713 --> 00:14:14,336 was journalist and civil rights leader 295 00:14:14,439 --> 00:14:16,096 Jovita Idar. 296 00:14:19,893 --> 00:14:23,138 [ Horn blows ] 297 00:14:23,241 --> 00:14:26,417 Margulies: Jovita Idar was born in Laredo in 1885, 298 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:30,593 40 years after Texas became a state. 299 00:14:30,697 --> 00:14:34,735 González: This territory that becomes the U.S. Southwest 300 00:14:34,839 --> 00:14:38,118 was actually part of Mexico. 301 00:14:38,222 --> 00:14:41,570 You have the U.S.-Mexico war in the 1840s, 302 00:14:41,673 --> 00:14:46,161 which Mexico loses, and they have to give up 303 00:14:46,264 --> 00:14:49,164 about half of their sovereign territory 304 00:14:49,267 --> 00:14:51,062 to the United States -- 305 00:14:51,166 --> 00:14:54,410 territory we now know as Texas, New Mexico, 306 00:14:54,514 --> 00:15:00,658 Arizona, California, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. 307 00:15:00,761 --> 00:15:03,833 So Texas, or "Tejas," 308 00:15:03,937 --> 00:15:07,182 was part of that Spanish Mexican world. 309 00:15:07,285 --> 00:15:10,012 But regardless of how long Mexican American families 310 00:15:10,116 --> 00:15:11,980 had been in the United States, 311 00:15:12,083 --> 00:15:15,086 they were often seen as foreigners in their own land. 312 00:15:15,190 --> 00:15:19,953 ♪♪ 313 00:15:20,057 --> 00:15:21,403 Margulies: One of eight children, 314 00:15:21,506 --> 00:15:24,026 Idar grew up in an educated middle-class family 315 00:15:24,130 --> 00:15:26,684 with a strong sense of social justice. 316 00:15:26,787 --> 00:15:29,135 González: Her father was egalitarian 317 00:15:29,238 --> 00:15:30,826 in terms of women's rights. 318 00:15:30,930 --> 00:15:32,621 He believed that women had a right 319 00:15:32,724 --> 00:15:34,381 to have a political voice, 320 00:15:34,485 --> 00:15:36,970 and he was very proud of Jovita Idar, 321 00:15:37,074 --> 00:15:38,627 proud of all of her knowledge, 322 00:15:38,730 --> 00:15:42,562 all of her education and her daring. 323 00:15:42,665 --> 00:15:44,840 Margulies: After attending Protestant schools, 324 00:15:44,944 --> 00:15:48,050 Idar became a teacher in 1903. 325 00:15:48,154 --> 00:15:51,088 González: Ethnic Mexican children had no choice 326 00:15:51,191 --> 00:15:52,917 but to attend these schools 327 00:15:53,021 --> 00:15:56,334 that were second-rate in every way. 328 00:15:56,438 --> 00:15:58,716 The buildings were falling apart. 329 00:15:58,819 --> 00:16:01,167 They didn't have school supplies. 330 00:16:01,270 --> 00:16:03,514 And the history that they were learning 331 00:16:03,617 --> 00:16:05,965 taught them Mexicans were the bad guys 332 00:16:06,068 --> 00:16:08,829 and Davy Crockett and other Anglo-Americans 333 00:16:08,933 --> 00:16:10,521 were the good guys. 334 00:16:10,624 --> 00:16:13,144 Jovita Idar quickly grew frustrated 335 00:16:13,248 --> 00:16:15,353 with the lack of resources and support. 336 00:16:15,457 --> 00:16:19,012 Idar: "Mexican children in Texas need an education. 337 00:16:19,116 --> 00:16:20,876 But if they are taught the biography 338 00:16:20,980 --> 00:16:23,189 of Washington but not Hidalgo, 339 00:16:23,292 --> 00:16:26,192 the exploits of Lincoln but not Juárez, 340 00:16:26,295 --> 00:16:28,953 that child will be indifferent to his heritage." 341 00:16:32,301 --> 00:16:34,510 González: And that's when she decided to join 342 00:16:34,614 --> 00:16:36,961 her father and her siblings 343 00:16:37,065 --> 00:16:40,861 in human and civil rights activism through journalism. 344 00:16:40,965 --> 00:16:46,177 ♪♪ 345 00:16:46,281 --> 00:16:48,593 Margulies: Idar became a reporter for the family's weekly 346 00:16:48,697 --> 00:16:51,872 Spanish-language newspaper, La Crónica. 347 00:16:51,976 --> 00:16:54,392 González: As muckraking journalists, 348 00:16:54,496 --> 00:16:58,500 they took on racism, they took on white supremacy, 349 00:16:58,603 --> 00:17:03,608 political corruption, economic malpractice. 350 00:17:03,712 --> 00:17:05,817 She used a pseudonym 351 00:17:05,921 --> 00:17:09,614 in order to not be criticized for participating 352 00:17:09,718 --> 00:17:14,033 in what was considered to be unladylike critiques 353 00:17:14,136 --> 00:17:18,589 of the political culture in Texas at the time. 354 00:17:18,692 --> 00:17:22,834 She wrote about women's rights, education, 355 00:17:22,938 --> 00:17:26,873 working to end Jaime Crow or Juan Crow, 356 00:17:26,976 --> 00:17:30,911 which is the Mexican American equivalent of Jim Crow. 357 00:17:33,535 --> 00:17:37,090 Lindsey: Jim Crow is the segregation of society 358 00:17:37,194 --> 00:17:38,505 based on race, 359 00:17:38,609 --> 00:17:40,990 of public accommodations, of education, 360 00:17:41,094 --> 00:17:44,235 of institutions important to public life. 361 00:17:44,339 --> 00:17:47,687 Schools, water fountains, bathrooms, 362 00:17:47,790 --> 00:17:50,034 restaurants, et cetera, at that time 363 00:17:50,138 --> 00:17:53,900 would have been marked "colored" and "white people." 364 00:17:54,003 --> 00:17:58,456 González: Signs that stated "No Mexicans or Dogs Allowed" 365 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:01,149 were everywhere. 366 00:18:01,252 --> 00:18:02,322 Margulies: In 1911, 367 00:18:02,426 --> 00:18:04,600 a 14-year-old Mexican American boy 368 00:18:04,704 --> 00:18:07,879 was brutally lynched in Thorndale, Texas. 369 00:18:07,983 --> 00:18:09,122 González: We have an understanding that 370 00:18:09,226 --> 00:18:11,469 a lot of African-American men and some women 371 00:18:11,573 --> 00:18:15,646 suffered this horrific form of death. 372 00:18:15,749 --> 00:18:17,786 Less known is the unfortunate reality 373 00:18:17,889 --> 00:18:22,135 that ethnic Mexican men were also lynched. 374 00:18:22,239 --> 00:18:25,173 Some people were burned alive, 375 00:18:25,276 --> 00:18:27,865 dragged across town -- 376 00:18:27,968 --> 00:18:31,144 really horrific ways of killing people 377 00:18:31,248 --> 00:18:32,594 and mutilating their bodies, 378 00:18:32,697 --> 00:18:34,906 to intimidate ethnic Mexican people 379 00:18:35,010 --> 00:18:39,946 so that they would not vote, so that they would not complain. 380 00:18:40,049 --> 00:18:42,500 Margulies: In response, Idar and her family organized 381 00:18:42,604 --> 00:18:44,088 a conference that kick-started 382 00:18:44,192 --> 00:18:48,230 the modern Mexican American civil rights movement. 383 00:18:48,334 --> 00:18:50,370 González: The First Mexicanist Congress, 384 00:18:50,474 --> 00:18:53,684 El Primer Congreso Mexicanista, lasted several days. 385 00:18:53,787 --> 00:18:56,135 And it was basically a human rights Congress 386 00:18:56,238 --> 00:18:58,309 that attracted leaders from the United States 387 00:18:58,413 --> 00:19:00,829 and Mexico who wanted an end 388 00:19:00,932 --> 00:19:03,625 to the discrimination and the lynchings. 389 00:19:03,728 --> 00:19:05,074 [ Flash bulb pops ] 390 00:19:08,388 --> 00:19:09,803 Margulies: Shortly after the Congress, 391 00:19:09,907 --> 00:19:12,151 Idar founded the League of Mexican Women 392 00:19:12,254 --> 00:19:14,325 and became its first president. 393 00:19:14,429 --> 00:19:17,811 The organization's main causes were women's suffrage 394 00:19:17,915 --> 00:19:22,609 and quality education for Tejano children. 395 00:19:22,713 --> 00:19:25,267 Idar: "We want our work to be significant, 396 00:19:25,371 --> 00:19:28,167 contributing to the formation of character 397 00:19:28,270 --> 00:19:32,343 and the cultivation of the minds of future generations." 398 00:19:32,447 --> 00:19:34,173 González: One of the most significant roles 399 00:19:34,276 --> 00:19:38,038 that Jovita had was to invite ethnic Mexican women 400 00:19:38,142 --> 00:19:41,766 to participate in La Liga Femenil Mexicanista 401 00:19:41,870 --> 00:19:43,837 at a time when many Mexican American 402 00:19:43,941 --> 00:19:45,805 and Mexican immigrant women 403 00:19:45,908 --> 00:19:51,017 would have found it challenging to step into a public role, 404 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:55,021 to be a part of the women's liberation process. 405 00:19:56,747 --> 00:20:00,233 Margulies: In one fateful encounter in 1914, 406 00:20:00,337 --> 00:20:03,098 Idar put herself in harm's way to protect the presses 407 00:20:03,202 --> 00:20:05,652 of the Spanish newspaper for which she worked. 408 00:20:05,756 --> 00:20:08,828 El Progresohad published an editorial criticizing 409 00:20:08,931 --> 00:20:13,867 U.S. military intervention in the Mexican Revolution. 410 00:20:13,971 --> 00:20:16,663 González: And for that, the Texas governor ordered 411 00:20:16,767 --> 00:20:20,184 the Texas Rangers to destroy El Progreso. 412 00:20:20,288 --> 00:20:22,807 They were a police force meant to protect 413 00:20:22,911 --> 00:20:27,260 the Anglo-Texan economic and political elites, 414 00:20:27,364 --> 00:20:29,987 who would shoot first and ask questions later. 415 00:20:30,090 --> 00:20:31,333 [ Gunfire ] 416 00:20:31,437 --> 00:20:33,508 But when they arrived, they found Jovita Idar 417 00:20:33,611 --> 00:20:34,957 standing proudly there, 418 00:20:35,061 --> 00:20:37,339 and she was not about to let them infringe 419 00:20:37,443 --> 00:20:41,688 upon their First Amendment rights as a free press. 420 00:20:41,792 --> 00:20:44,243 Idar: The Rangers said, "Please step aside." 421 00:20:44,346 --> 00:20:47,038 And I said, "No, I'm standing here. 422 00:20:47,142 --> 00:20:50,387 And you cannot come in because it's against the law." 423 00:20:50,490 --> 00:20:52,251 González: A Mexican American, Spanish-speaking, 424 00:20:52,354 --> 00:20:55,392 bilingual brown woman stood up to the Texas Rangers 425 00:20:55,495 --> 00:20:58,533 at a time when they were committing terrible crimes 426 00:20:58,636 --> 00:21:03,020 against people of color, and specifically ethnic Mexicans. 427 00:21:03,123 --> 00:21:06,403 Margulies: Idar stood her ground, and the Rangers left. 428 00:21:06,506 --> 00:21:10,027 But as her brother Aquilino later described, 429 00:21:10,130 --> 00:21:12,409 they returned early the next morning. 430 00:21:21,141 --> 00:21:25,560 ♪♪ 431 00:21:25,663 --> 00:21:26,906 Margulies: Idar continued writing 432 00:21:27,009 --> 00:21:29,218 for various Spanish-language newspapers, 433 00:21:29,322 --> 00:21:33,637 and in 1916, launched her own, titled Evolución. 434 00:21:35,846 --> 00:21:38,469 Idar: "I bought a press worth more than $1,000, 435 00:21:38,573 --> 00:21:39,953 and plenty of type. 436 00:21:40,057 --> 00:21:43,888 I can make a seven-column newspaper, and will start soon." 437 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,240 Margulies: Jovita Idar handed over the operation of Evolución 438 00:21:51,344 --> 00:21:54,071 to her brother Eduardo when she and her husband 439 00:21:54,174 --> 00:21:59,248 moved to San Antonio in 1921. 440 00:21:59,352 --> 00:22:02,044 There, Idar helped undocumented workers 441 00:22:02,148 --> 00:22:03,908 obtain naturalization papers 442 00:22:04,012 --> 00:22:07,222 after the Border Patrol was created in 1924. 443 00:22:07,326 --> 00:22:09,397 She also founded a free nursery school 444 00:22:09,500 --> 00:22:11,847 and tutored young children. 445 00:22:11,951 --> 00:22:16,749 She died of pulmonary hemorrhage in 1946, at age 60. 446 00:22:16,852 --> 00:22:20,062 González: She used her voice to encourage women 447 00:22:20,166 --> 00:22:24,964 to be politically involved within the American system, 448 00:22:25,067 --> 00:22:26,483 to be proactive, 449 00:22:26,586 --> 00:22:28,312 to join organizations, 450 00:22:28,416 --> 00:22:30,590 to seek an education, 451 00:22:30,694 --> 00:22:33,144 to craft a better future for their children. 452 00:22:33,248 --> 00:22:36,700 And she devoted her entire life to that project. 453 00:22:36,803 --> 00:22:38,357 Idar: "Women recognize their rights, 454 00:22:38,460 --> 00:22:41,394 proudly raise their chins, and face the struggle. 455 00:22:41,498 --> 00:22:43,638 The times of humiliation have passed. 456 00:22:43,741 --> 00:22:45,950 Women are no longer men's servants, 457 00:22:46,054 --> 00:22:48,332 but their equals, their partners." 458 00:22:48,436 --> 00:22:50,679 [ Cheers and applause ] 459 00:22:53,372 --> 00:22:55,995 Margulies: Suffrage was seen as the most important strategy 460 00:22:56,098 --> 00:23:00,482 that would allow women to be equal partners in public life. 461 00:23:00,586 --> 00:23:04,210 Lindsey: You have this energizing of activism 462 00:23:04,313 --> 00:23:07,524 among women who believe in the power of the elective franchise 463 00:23:07,627 --> 00:23:09,698 and in the power of electoral politics 464 00:23:09,802 --> 00:23:13,184 to reshape the nation. 465 00:23:13,288 --> 00:23:14,979 Margulies: A key player in bringing the vote 466 00:23:15,083 --> 00:23:17,637 to women nationally, was Jeannette Rankin, 467 00:23:17,741 --> 00:23:20,778 the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. 468 00:23:20,882 --> 00:23:27,406 ♪♪ 469 00:23:27,509 --> 00:23:29,235 Jeannette Rankin was born on a ranch 470 00:23:29,338 --> 00:23:33,066 outside Missoula, Montana, in 1880. 471 00:23:33,170 --> 00:23:36,207 Unger: She comes from a very well-to-do family. 472 00:23:36,311 --> 00:23:37,554 [ Children laughing ] 473 00:23:37,657 --> 00:23:40,867 She is expected to devote much of her time 474 00:23:40,971 --> 00:23:43,801 to helping raise her sisters and brother. 475 00:23:46,148 --> 00:23:48,841 Margulies: But her parents also promoted her education. 476 00:23:48,944 --> 00:23:52,845 In 1902, Rankin graduated from Montana State University 477 00:23:52,948 --> 00:23:56,020 with a degree in biology. 478 00:23:56,124 --> 00:23:57,263 Unger: The expectation wasn't 479 00:23:57,366 --> 00:23:59,472 that she was gonna become a biologist, 480 00:23:59,576 --> 00:24:02,406 but that a woman of a certain class 481 00:24:02,510 --> 00:24:04,477 should have a good education 482 00:24:04,581 --> 00:24:08,274 because this will allow her to be a better wife and mother. 483 00:24:08,377 --> 00:24:12,174 But she's very unusual in that she doesn't feel compelled 484 00:24:12,278 --> 00:24:14,453 to be married, to have children, 485 00:24:14,556 --> 00:24:18,318 which was what women were told was the only goal in life. 486 00:24:21,598 --> 00:24:24,255 Margulies: After working briefly as a teacher and a seamstress, 487 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:26,810 Rankin moved to New York in 1908 488 00:24:26,913 --> 00:24:30,676 to train at the country's first graduate program in social work. 489 00:24:32,643 --> 00:24:36,164 Unger: It's just a few blocks from the Lower East Side. 490 00:24:36,267 --> 00:24:40,513 So she is seeing firsthand the tenements, 491 00:24:40,617 --> 00:24:43,033 the conditions of poverty, 492 00:24:43,136 --> 00:24:45,829 this enormous divide in American cities 493 00:24:45,932 --> 00:24:48,176 between the haves and the have-nots. 494 00:24:48,279 --> 00:24:52,214 And she's really struck by this. 495 00:24:52,318 --> 00:24:54,665 She starts thinking that women need 496 00:24:54,769 --> 00:24:58,082 to be involved in politics. 497 00:24:58,186 --> 00:24:59,567 Rankin: "I saw that if we were to have 498 00:24:59,670 --> 00:25:01,396 decent laws for children, 499 00:25:01,500 --> 00:25:04,744 sanitary jails, safe food supplies, 500 00:25:04,848 --> 00:25:07,747 women would have to vote." 501 00:25:07,851 --> 00:25:09,577 Margulies: Rankin became a field secretary 502 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,476 for the National American Woman Suffrage Association, 503 00:25:12,580 --> 00:25:15,652 crusading for the vote in 16 states. 504 00:25:15,755 --> 00:25:17,723 [ Car horn honking, engine purring ] 505 00:25:21,623 --> 00:25:24,833 Unger: As the suffrage movement is really heating up, 506 00:25:24,937 --> 00:25:29,424 Jeannette Rankin is coming in just at the right time. 507 00:25:29,528 --> 00:25:31,944 She is traveling the country, 508 00:25:32,047 --> 00:25:34,049 buttonholing members of Congress. 509 00:25:34,153 --> 00:25:38,709 She's going to conventions, ladies' organizations, 510 00:25:38,813 --> 00:25:40,608 standing on street corners. 511 00:25:40,711 --> 00:25:42,264 [ Cheers and applause ] 512 00:25:42,368 --> 00:25:44,888 Her great strength was as a speaker, 513 00:25:44,991 --> 00:25:48,892 and apparently, she was just mesmerizing. 514 00:25:48,995 --> 00:25:51,170 Rankin: "Is it not possible that the women of the country 515 00:25:51,273 --> 00:25:54,414 have something of value to give to the nation? 516 00:25:54,518 --> 00:25:56,900 It is time for our old political doctrines 517 00:25:57,003 --> 00:25:59,385 to give way to new visions." 518 00:25:59,488 --> 00:26:05,391 ♪♪ 519 00:26:05,494 --> 00:26:07,427 Margulies: In 1911, Rankin was assigned 520 00:26:07,531 --> 00:26:11,259 to lead the suffrage campaign in her home state, Montana. 521 00:26:11,362 --> 00:26:13,986 But she faced stiff resistance from men -- and women -- 522 00:26:14,089 --> 00:26:16,920 opposed to women's vote. 523 00:26:17,023 --> 00:26:19,370 Unger: Many women believed that it would undermine 524 00:26:19,474 --> 00:26:23,512 their authority in the home, in society. 525 00:26:23,616 --> 00:26:26,032 There are a million different cartoons 526 00:26:26,136 --> 00:26:29,484 of husband wearing an apron, 527 00:26:29,588 --> 00:26:31,313 holding a crying baby, 528 00:26:31,417 --> 00:26:32,832 while the wife 529 00:26:32,936 --> 00:26:34,662 is smoking a cigar. 530 00:26:34,765 --> 00:26:38,666 It will make men effeminate, women masculine. 531 00:26:38,769 --> 00:26:39,839 It's unnatural. 532 00:26:39,943 --> 00:26:42,704 It's wrong. 533 00:26:42,808 --> 00:26:44,982 Margulies: But the tide of history was turning. 534 00:26:45,086 --> 00:26:48,537 Women had already won the vote in nine states. 535 00:26:48,641 --> 00:26:51,920 And when Montana granted women suffrage in 1914, 536 00:26:52,024 --> 00:26:54,992 Jeannette Rankin was inspired to campaign for a seat 537 00:26:55,096 --> 00:26:58,271 in the U.S. House of Representatives. 538 00:26:58,375 --> 00:26:59,928 Rankin: "Nothing else will go so far 539 00:27:00,032 --> 00:27:03,242 toward overcoming the prejudice against women in office, 540 00:27:03,345 --> 00:27:06,763 and nothing would be a greater aid to the feminist movement, 541 00:27:06,866 --> 00:27:10,180 than to have the higher offices led by women." 542 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,219 Unger: The fact that women have the vote in Montana 543 00:27:15,323 --> 00:27:17,187 really works to her advantage 544 00:27:17,290 --> 00:27:19,223 because she's promoting the kinds of things 545 00:27:19,327 --> 00:27:22,433 that most women support. 546 00:27:22,537 --> 00:27:24,781 But first and foremost, she wants the vote 547 00:27:24,884 --> 00:27:26,679 for women across the nation. 548 00:27:28,819 --> 00:27:31,719 Margulies: Rankin won her campaign by 10,000 votes, 549 00:27:31,822 --> 00:27:35,723 and on April 2, 1917, at age 36, 550 00:27:35,826 --> 00:27:37,621 was sworn in as the first woman 551 00:27:37,725 --> 00:27:39,140 elected to national office 552 00:27:39,243 --> 00:27:40,900 in the United States. 553 00:27:42,799 --> 00:27:45,353 Rankin: "I may be the first woman member of Congress, 554 00:27:45,456 --> 00:27:48,494 but I will not be the last." 555 00:27:48,597 --> 00:27:50,634 Unger: I cannot imagine what it would've been like 556 00:27:50,738 --> 00:27:54,396 to be the one woman working with 434 men, 557 00:27:54,500 --> 00:27:58,297 many of whom are not happy to see a woman among their ranks. 558 00:28:01,058 --> 00:28:03,302 She's barely taken her hat off, 559 00:28:03,405 --> 00:28:05,718 and she has to vote on whether or not the United States 560 00:28:05,822 --> 00:28:09,549 should enter into World War I. 561 00:28:09,653 --> 00:28:11,586 Margulies: On Rankin's very first day in office, 562 00:28:11,690 --> 00:28:14,037 President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to vote 563 00:28:14,140 --> 00:28:17,247 for a declaration of war against Germany. 564 00:28:17,350 --> 00:28:20,768 Unger: And when it's time to vote, 565 00:28:20,871 --> 00:28:23,874 she breaks a precedent of 140 years. 566 00:28:23,978 --> 00:28:26,014 You're just supposed to say yea or nay, 567 00:28:26,118 --> 00:28:28,568 but instead she makes a speech. 568 00:28:28,672 --> 00:28:30,294 Rankin: "I want to stand by my country, 569 00:28:30,398 --> 00:28:32,089 but I cannot vote for war. 570 00:28:32,193 --> 00:28:33,919 I vote no." 571 00:28:34,022 --> 00:28:36,197 Margulies: Even though 49 male members of Congress 572 00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:41,029 also voted no, Rankin's vote was especially controversial. 573 00:28:41,133 --> 00:28:43,342 Unger: She really sets off a whole firestorm. 574 00:28:43,445 --> 00:28:45,309 It's just pandemonium. 575 00:28:45,413 --> 00:28:48,554 And for many, particularly in the suffrage movement, 576 00:28:48,657 --> 00:28:51,660 there is just so much anger and outrage. 577 00:28:51,764 --> 00:28:53,076 "You've ruined it for us." 578 00:28:53,179 --> 00:28:56,527 "You are giving the message that women are sentimental, 579 00:28:56,631 --> 00:28:59,979 that they can't be trusted with important decisions." 580 00:29:00,083 --> 00:29:01,360 Margulies: Despite the backlash, 581 00:29:01,463 --> 00:29:03,776 Rankin pursued an agenda of reform, 582 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:05,295 introducing a number of bills 583 00:29:05,398 --> 00:29:07,815 to increase the rights of women and children. 584 00:29:07,918 --> 00:29:11,715 But her biggest goal remained securing the vote nationally. 585 00:29:11,819 --> 00:29:15,443 Rankin: "How shall we explain the meaning of democracy, 586 00:29:15,546 --> 00:29:17,410 if the same Congress that voted for war 587 00:29:17,514 --> 00:29:19,930 to make the world safe for democracy 588 00:29:20,034 --> 00:29:22,346 refuses to give this small measure of democracy 589 00:29:22,450 --> 00:29:25,108 to the women of our country?" 590 00:29:25,211 --> 00:29:26,730 Margulies: She created a congressional committee 591 00:29:26,834 --> 00:29:28,214 on women's suffrage, 592 00:29:28,318 --> 00:29:33,495 initiating the legislation that later became the 19th Amendment. 593 00:29:33,599 --> 00:29:36,326 But, like many white women of her day, 594 00:29:36,429 --> 00:29:41,469 Rankin's record was not as stellar around issues of race. 595 00:29:41,572 --> 00:29:43,609 Unger: The very racist Mississippi Senator 596 00:29:43,712 --> 00:29:45,576 John Sharp Williams tells her, 597 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:49,891 "If we pass your amendment, then Negro women could vote." 598 00:29:49,995 --> 00:29:51,410 She responds, 599 00:29:51,513 --> 00:29:53,619 "But couldn't you keep them from voting the same way 600 00:29:53,722 --> 00:29:57,071 you keep the Negro man from voting?" 601 00:29:57,174 --> 00:29:58,831 It's very disappointing for someone 602 00:29:58,935 --> 00:30:01,420 who is so concerned about women's rights, 603 00:30:01,523 --> 00:30:04,147 that she succumbs to the racism of the day. 604 00:30:06,908 --> 00:30:08,772 Margulies: By the time the 19th Amendment became law 605 00:30:08,876 --> 00:30:11,948 in 1920, Rankin's two-year term was over 606 00:30:12,051 --> 00:30:16,021 and she had lost her re-election campaign. 607 00:30:16,124 --> 00:30:19,162 In 1925, Rankin moved to Athens, Georgia, 608 00:30:19,265 --> 00:30:21,336 and focused on antiwar activism 609 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:24,477 as a founding member of various peace organizations. 610 00:30:24,581 --> 00:30:26,755 Rankin: "The work of educating the world for peace 611 00:30:26,859 --> 00:30:28,102 is a woman's job, 612 00:30:28,205 --> 00:30:31,312 because men are afraid of being classed as cowards. 613 00:30:31,415 --> 00:30:34,487 At the present time, I can see no more urgent cause 614 00:30:34,591 --> 00:30:37,283 than outlawing war." 615 00:30:37,387 --> 00:30:39,803 Margulies: In 1941, at age 60, 616 00:30:39,907 --> 00:30:44,635 Rankin campaigned to represent Montana in Congress again. 617 00:30:44,739 --> 00:30:47,569 Unger: As World War II in Europe is expanding, 618 00:30:47,673 --> 00:30:50,193 there's real fear that the United States 619 00:30:50,296 --> 00:30:54,024 will once again be sucked into a war. 620 00:30:54,128 --> 00:30:58,166 So this is a good time for her to be re-entering politics. 621 00:30:58,270 --> 00:31:00,859 She wants to be at the center of power. 622 00:31:00,962 --> 00:31:02,446 Margulies: Rankin won. 623 00:31:02,550 --> 00:31:05,622 Back in Congress, this time among nine other women, 624 00:31:05,725 --> 00:31:08,004 she made history again. 625 00:31:08,107 --> 00:31:12,801 Unger: Jeannette Rankin is the only person in Congress 626 00:31:12,905 --> 00:31:15,701 to vote against U.S. entry into World War II, 627 00:31:15,804 --> 00:31:18,704 which makes her the only person in American history 628 00:31:18,807 --> 00:31:22,466 to have voted against U.S. entry into both wars. 629 00:31:22,570 --> 00:31:25,469 This time, she is really vilified. 630 00:31:25,573 --> 00:31:28,231 She is so harassed after her vote 631 00:31:28,334 --> 00:31:30,889 that she actually takes refuge in a phone booth, 632 00:31:30,992 --> 00:31:33,270 and she has to call the congressional office 633 00:31:33,374 --> 00:31:37,412 and say, you know, "Send security down to get me out." 634 00:31:37,516 --> 00:31:40,588 Margulies: Rankin retired from politics in 1943, 635 00:31:40,691 --> 00:31:42,970 but remained active in the peace movement. 636 00:31:43,073 --> 00:31:45,593 In 1968, at the age of 87, 637 00:31:45,696 --> 00:31:47,284 she led 5,000 women 638 00:31:47,388 --> 00:31:48,976 in the Jeannette Rankin Brigade 639 00:31:49,079 --> 00:31:53,221 at a Vietnam War demonstration in Washington, D.C. 640 00:31:53,325 --> 00:31:56,017 Rankin: "You can't have freedom for anybody in a society 641 00:31:56,121 --> 00:31:59,055 unless you have freedom for everybody. 642 00:31:59,158 --> 00:32:01,057 We women should picket everything. 643 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:03,887 This is no time to be polite." 644 00:32:03,991 --> 00:32:06,165 Margulies: Rankin died in 1973, 645 00:32:06,269 --> 00:32:08,823 days shy of her 93rd birthday. 646 00:32:08,927 --> 00:32:11,377 A decade later, her statue was installed 647 00:32:11,481 --> 00:32:13,690 at the U.S. Capitol. 648 00:32:13,793 --> 00:32:16,589 Unger: It's hard enough for anyone to really step up 649 00:32:16,693 --> 00:32:19,282 and try to create meaningful change. 650 00:32:19,385 --> 00:32:21,180 She chose a very difficult path 651 00:32:21,284 --> 00:32:23,527 and she met with a lot of vilification 652 00:32:23,631 --> 00:32:25,944 and she continued on. 653 00:32:26,047 --> 00:32:27,324 Rankin: "You don't do the right thing 654 00:32:27,428 --> 00:32:30,776 because of the consequences. If you are wise, 655 00:32:30,879 --> 00:32:34,124 you do it regardless of the consequences. 656 00:32:34,228 --> 00:32:37,196 I have nothing left but my integrity." 657 00:32:39,543 --> 00:32:42,822 ♪♪ 658 00:32:42,926 --> 00:32:44,479 Margulies: While the 19th Amendment guaranteed 659 00:32:44,583 --> 00:32:46,378 voting rights for women, 660 00:32:46,481 --> 00:32:47,966 millions of women of color, 661 00:32:48,069 --> 00:32:50,934 in particular African-Americans in the Jim Crow South, 662 00:32:51,038 --> 00:32:54,351 were denied that right and shut out of the polls. 663 00:32:57,182 --> 00:32:59,253 Lindsey: There was a real ideology 664 00:32:59,356 --> 00:33:00,737 that emerged in this era 665 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:02,083 that was deeply rooted 666 00:33:02,187 --> 00:33:03,912 in white superiority 667 00:33:04,016 --> 00:33:06,260 and Christian superiority. 668 00:33:06,363 --> 00:33:10,264 The Ku Klux Klan is terrorizing black communities, 669 00:33:10,367 --> 00:33:12,783 to really re-establish a racial order 670 00:33:12,887 --> 00:33:17,236 that they thought was being threatened post-slavery. 671 00:33:17,340 --> 00:33:20,653 So you see black women having to rethink their organizing 672 00:33:20,757 --> 00:33:23,311 around the reality of third-class citizenship 673 00:33:23,415 --> 00:33:26,487 for black women. 674 00:33:26,590 --> 00:33:28,316 Margulies: One of the most prominent organizers 675 00:33:28,420 --> 00:33:30,284 who fought for first-class citizenship 676 00:33:30,387 --> 00:33:32,217 for African-Americans 677 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:34,253 was suffragist and civil rights leader 678 00:33:34,357 --> 00:33:36,083 Mary Church Terrell. 679 00:33:36,186 --> 00:33:44,022 ♪♪ 680 00:33:44,125 --> 00:33:48,371 Mary Church Terrell was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1863. 681 00:33:48,474 --> 00:33:52,478 Her parents, both former slaves, were mixed-race. 682 00:33:52,582 --> 00:33:53,928 Lindsey: Mary Church Terrell 683 00:33:54,032 --> 00:33:58,553 comes from a very privileged and affluent background. 684 00:33:58,657 --> 00:34:01,487 Her father had made considerable money 685 00:34:01,591 --> 00:34:03,489 doing real estate, 686 00:34:03,593 --> 00:34:07,252 and becomes one of, if not the first, 687 00:34:07,355 --> 00:34:11,359 African-American millionaire in the South. 688 00:34:11,463 --> 00:34:15,018 Also, because this family is fair-skinned, 689 00:34:15,122 --> 00:34:17,814 they are able to have access to certain spaces 690 00:34:17,917 --> 00:34:21,887 that most people of African descent would not have had. 691 00:34:26,409 --> 00:34:28,997 Margulies: After earning bachelor's and master's degrees 692 00:34:29,101 --> 00:34:32,277 at Oberlin College, Church Terrell spent two years 693 00:34:32,380 --> 00:34:35,935 studying classical languages in Europe. 694 00:34:36,039 --> 00:34:38,662 Moving to Washington, D.C., in 1890, 695 00:34:38,766 --> 00:34:40,837 she taught at one of the first public high schools 696 00:34:40,940 --> 00:34:42,425 for African-Americans 697 00:34:42,528 --> 00:34:43,702 and soon married the chair 698 00:34:43,805 --> 00:34:45,255 of the language department, 699 00:34:45,359 --> 00:34:48,741 Harvard-educated Robert Terrell. 700 00:34:48,845 --> 00:34:50,053 Terrell: "I enjoyed assisting him 701 00:34:50,157 --> 00:34:52,297 in the Latin department so much, 702 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,679 I made up my mind to assist him in all departments 703 00:34:55,783 --> 00:34:59,027 for the rest of my natural life." 704 00:34:59,131 --> 00:35:01,513 Lindsey: At first, she thinks about removing herself 705 00:35:01,616 --> 00:35:03,756 from public life because she's gotten married, 706 00:35:03,860 --> 00:35:07,760 which was an expectation for a lot of women. 707 00:35:07,864 --> 00:35:11,350 Margulies: But an event in 1892 in her hometown of Memphis 708 00:35:11,454 --> 00:35:14,215 changed her life forever. 709 00:35:14,319 --> 00:35:16,597 Church Terrell learned that one of her childhood friends 710 00:35:16,700 --> 00:35:18,426 had been killed by a lynch mob 711 00:35:18,530 --> 00:35:19,910 because his business was seen 712 00:35:20,014 --> 00:35:23,328 as competition by local whites. 713 00:35:23,431 --> 00:35:25,019 Lindsey: The lynching of Thomas Moss 714 00:35:25,123 --> 00:35:29,265 is this turning point for Mary Church Terrell. 715 00:35:29,368 --> 00:35:33,855 His death is not just a symbol of racial violence, 716 00:35:33,959 --> 00:35:36,927 but also the ways that black business owners 717 00:35:37,031 --> 00:35:38,377 were not shielded 718 00:35:38,481 --> 00:35:40,862 from the terrorizing of African-Americans. 719 00:35:40,966 --> 00:35:43,141 [ Glass shattering ] 720 00:35:43,244 --> 00:35:45,488 So this fundamentally radicalizes her 721 00:35:45,591 --> 00:35:48,870 and how she's thinking about racial justice. 722 00:35:51,045 --> 00:35:52,909 Margulies: Church Terrell and her journalist friend 723 00:35:53,012 --> 00:35:56,361 Ida B. Wells were among the first to speak out publicly 724 00:35:56,464 --> 00:35:58,121 against the thousands of lynchings 725 00:35:58,225 --> 00:36:00,537 that occurred at the turn of the century. 726 00:36:04,714 --> 00:36:06,474 Terrell: "Hanging, shooting, 727 00:36:06,578 --> 00:36:08,890 and burning black men, women, and children 728 00:36:08,994 --> 00:36:11,893 in the United States have become so common 729 00:36:11,997 --> 00:36:15,345 that such occurrences create little sensation. 730 00:36:17,313 --> 00:36:18,728 Tom Moss was murdered 731 00:36:18,831 --> 00:36:21,834 because he was succeeding too well. 732 00:36:21,938 --> 00:36:25,148 He was guilty of no crime but that." 733 00:36:28,634 --> 00:36:30,464 Lindsey: And she's gonna galvanize 734 00:36:30,567 --> 00:36:32,983 around the pressing issues of the day 735 00:36:33,087 --> 00:36:34,571 and become a force in the founding 736 00:36:34,675 --> 00:36:37,022 of numerous organizations and campaigns 737 00:36:37,125 --> 00:36:40,750 that would ultimately reshape American history. 738 00:36:40,853 --> 00:36:43,546 It's quite phenomenal. 739 00:36:43,649 --> 00:36:45,720 Margulies: In 1892, Church Terrell 740 00:36:45,824 --> 00:36:47,653 and scholar Anna J. Cooper 741 00:36:47,757 --> 00:36:49,759 co-founded the Colored Women's League 742 00:36:49,862 --> 00:36:54,004 to address social problems facing the black community. 743 00:36:54,108 --> 00:36:56,593 Lindsey: It becomes a platform for her 744 00:36:56,697 --> 00:36:59,907 to think about the future of the race, 745 00:37:00,010 --> 00:37:06,258 one that's anchored in and created by and for black women. 746 00:37:06,362 --> 00:37:08,605 Margulies: Two months after the Plessy v. Ferguson 747 00:37:08,709 --> 00:37:13,438 Supreme Court decision upheld racial segregation in 1896, 748 00:37:13,541 --> 00:37:15,163 Church Terrell co-founded 749 00:37:15,267 --> 00:37:18,960 the National Association of Colored Women. 750 00:37:19,064 --> 00:37:22,170 Bringing together black women's clubs from around the country, 751 00:37:22,274 --> 00:37:25,933 it advocated for reforms to improve African-American life, 752 00:37:26,036 --> 00:37:30,317 including an end to segregation. 753 00:37:30,420 --> 00:37:32,319 Church Terrell became its first president, 754 00:37:32,422 --> 00:37:33,389 coining the motto, 755 00:37:33,492 --> 00:37:35,287 "Lifting as we climb." 756 00:37:35,391 --> 00:37:38,842 Lindsey: Lifting as we climb refers to continuing 757 00:37:38,946 --> 00:37:44,054 to climb out of the stereotypes about African-Americans, 758 00:37:44,158 --> 00:37:46,505 and specifically African-American women, 759 00:37:46,609 --> 00:37:49,301 that proliferated during this era, 760 00:37:49,405 --> 00:37:51,890 and lifting those communities 761 00:37:51,993 --> 00:37:55,583 most deeply affected by Jim Crow. 762 00:37:55,687 --> 00:38:00,001 This idea that these women who were educated and powerful 763 00:38:00,105 --> 00:38:02,866 could be the ones to really uplift 764 00:38:02,970 --> 00:38:05,421 those who did not have those resources. 765 00:38:07,354 --> 00:38:09,114 Terrell: "The work we hope to accomplish 766 00:38:09,217 --> 00:38:12,117 can be done better, we believe, by the mothers, 767 00:38:12,220 --> 00:38:16,121 wives, daughters, and sisters of our race." 768 00:38:19,262 --> 00:38:21,333 Margulies: Mary Church Terrell saw voting rights 769 00:38:21,437 --> 00:38:26,027 as critical to the empowerment of African-Americans. 770 00:38:26,131 --> 00:38:28,271 She sought support from white suffragists 771 00:38:28,375 --> 00:38:31,654 like Susan B. Anthony, whom she had met in the 1880s 772 00:38:31,757 --> 00:38:34,484 during her travels in Europe. 773 00:38:34,588 --> 00:38:36,141 She also picketed the White House 774 00:38:36,244 --> 00:38:39,455 with the white-led National Woman's Party. 775 00:38:39,558 --> 00:38:42,906 Terrell: "My sisters of the dominant race, stand up 776 00:38:43,010 --> 00:38:45,737 not only for the oppressed sex, 777 00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,809 but also for the oppressed race!" 778 00:38:52,330 --> 00:38:54,193 Margulies: But her attempts to forge solidarity 779 00:38:54,297 --> 00:38:56,334 across racial lines were rebuffed. 780 00:38:59,164 --> 00:39:00,407 Margulies: During one of the largest 781 00:39:00,510 --> 00:39:03,099 women's suffrage marches in 1913, 782 00:39:03,202 --> 00:39:06,171 like other black suffragists, Church Terrell was forced 783 00:39:06,274 --> 00:39:09,554 to walk in the segregated section at the back. 784 00:39:09,657 --> 00:39:12,073 Lindsey: Mary Church Terrell is there marching 785 00:39:12,177 --> 00:39:15,076 with these young women from Howard University 786 00:39:15,180 --> 00:39:18,010 and being a part of this very historical moment, 787 00:39:18,114 --> 00:39:20,461 because it was only a few years after this march 788 00:39:20,565 --> 00:39:23,982 that the 19th Amendment is ratified. 789 00:39:24,085 --> 00:39:26,018 But she knows that black women 790 00:39:26,122 --> 00:39:31,472 still don't have the status that white women do. 791 00:39:31,576 --> 00:39:34,130 So her activism around racial justice 792 00:39:34,233 --> 00:39:36,339 really intensifies. 793 00:39:36,443 --> 00:39:39,100 Terrell: "Colored women are the only group in this country 794 00:39:39,204 --> 00:39:42,103 who have two heavy handicaps to overcome -- 795 00:39:42,207 --> 00:39:45,452 that of race, as well as that of sex." 796 00:39:48,765 --> 00:39:51,043 Margulies: As a founding member of the National Association 797 00:39:51,147 --> 00:39:52,976 for the Advancement of Colored People, 798 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:56,566 or the NAACP, Church Terrell traveled the country 799 00:39:56,670 --> 00:39:59,811 to speak out for civil rights. 800 00:39:59,914 --> 00:40:03,090 She never stopped her protests against lynching, 801 00:40:03,193 --> 00:40:05,989 helping to organize the 1922 'silent march' 802 00:40:06,093 --> 00:40:07,715 to pressure Congress to pass 803 00:40:07,819 --> 00:40:10,718 anti-lynching legislation. 804 00:40:10,822 --> 00:40:12,306 Terrell: "Not a band played. 805 00:40:12,410 --> 00:40:14,550 Not a sound was heard. 806 00:40:14,653 --> 00:40:17,656 As I walked in silence up Pennsylvania Avenue, 807 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:22,005 I thought of Tom Moss, who had been brutally lynched. 808 00:40:22,109 --> 00:40:23,697 And I said to myself, 809 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:26,389 there is at least one person in this protest 810 00:40:26,493 --> 00:40:30,945 who understands personally exactly what it means." 811 00:40:33,672 --> 00:40:35,674 Margulies: Church Terrell led sit-ins and protests 812 00:40:35,778 --> 00:40:38,297 well into her eighties. 813 00:40:38,401 --> 00:40:40,438 After being denied entry three times 814 00:40:40,541 --> 00:40:42,716 at a popular downtown restaurant, 815 00:40:42,819 --> 00:40:45,822 she filed a lawsuit that went to the Supreme Court. 816 00:40:45,926 --> 00:40:48,756 A year before her death in 1954, 817 00:40:48,860 --> 00:40:51,138 the Court ruled to desegregate restaurants 818 00:40:51,241 --> 00:40:54,624 and stores in the nation's capital. 819 00:40:54,728 --> 00:40:57,213 Lindsey: She was someone who had a vision of justice 820 00:40:57,316 --> 00:41:01,493 that was always concerned about the unique position 821 00:41:01,597 --> 00:41:05,980 of black women within the framework of American democracy. 822 00:41:08,293 --> 00:41:09,674 Terrell: "I cannot help wondering 823 00:41:09,777 --> 00:41:13,160 what I might have become and might have done 824 00:41:13,263 --> 00:41:16,232 if I had lived in a country which had not circumscribed 825 00:41:16,335 --> 00:41:18,993 and handicapped me on account of my race, 826 00:41:19,097 --> 00:41:24,033 but had allowed me to reach any heights I was able to attain." 827 00:41:28,106 --> 00:41:29,521 Hafen: For Indian women, 828 00:41:29,625 --> 00:41:31,868 female gender roles and responsibilities 829 00:41:31,972 --> 00:41:33,525 are very different than mainstream roles 830 00:41:33,629 --> 00:41:35,458 and responsibilities. 831 00:41:35,562 --> 00:41:38,668 Singer: We never had those kind of Western ideas 832 00:41:38,772 --> 00:41:40,774 of what a lady should be like. 833 00:41:40,877 --> 00:41:43,121 In my culture, Navajo culture, 834 00:41:43,224 --> 00:41:46,676 the women were in charge of everything. 835 00:41:46,780 --> 00:41:48,436 They had power. 836 00:41:48,540 --> 00:41:50,715 They were the changemakers. 837 00:41:50,818 --> 00:41:52,233 Margulies: For American Indian women, 838 00:41:52,337 --> 00:41:54,304 before voting rights could be won, 839 00:41:54,408 --> 00:41:56,721 citizenship had to be secured. 840 00:41:56,824 --> 00:41:59,862 And this was one of the major causes of civil rights leader, 841 00:41:59,965 --> 00:42:01,449 author, and composer 842 00:42:01,553 --> 00:42:03,279 Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, 843 00:42:03,382 --> 00:42:05,764 also known as Zitkála-Sá. 844 00:42:05,868 --> 00:42:11,287 ♪♪ 845 00:42:11,390 --> 00:42:12,702 Gertrude Simmons Bonnin 846 00:42:12,806 --> 00:42:16,395 was born in 1876 on the Yankton Reservation 847 00:42:16,499 --> 00:42:20,158 in South Dakota, to the Ihanktonwan tribe. 848 00:42:20,261 --> 00:42:23,023 She later renamed herself Zitkála-Sá, 849 00:42:23,126 --> 00:42:27,130 meaning "red bird" in the Lakota language. 850 00:42:27,234 --> 00:42:30,444 Hafen: I don't think anything is known about her father 851 00:42:30,548 --> 00:42:33,136 except that he was a non-Indian, 852 00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:35,483 but her mother raised her up as an Indian girl, 853 00:42:35,587 --> 00:42:37,900 and she saw herself as an Indian. 854 00:42:40,109 --> 00:42:41,835 Zitkála-Sá: "I was a wild little girl 855 00:42:41,938 --> 00:42:45,183 with a pair of soft moccasins on my feet, 856 00:42:45,286 --> 00:42:47,357 as free as the wind that blew my hair, 857 00:42:47,461 --> 00:42:51,258 and no less spirited than a bounding deer." 858 00:42:51,361 --> 00:42:54,088 Hafen: The Yankton Sioux made a treaty 859 00:42:54,192 --> 00:42:57,298 with the United States in the mid-1850s. 860 00:42:57,402 --> 00:42:59,231 They made peace early on, 861 00:42:59,335 --> 00:43:01,786 and they were not caught up in the major conflicts 862 00:43:01,889 --> 00:43:05,997 that the other Sioux tribes had with the United States. 863 00:43:06,100 --> 00:43:12,210 There were 60 million American Indians in 1491. 864 00:43:12,313 --> 00:43:16,559 In the census in 1910, there were 200,000. 865 00:43:16,663 --> 00:43:20,977 For the colonizers who were greedy for Indian lands, 866 00:43:21,081 --> 00:43:22,841 there were two ways to get it -- 867 00:43:22,945 --> 00:43:24,705 either by killing people, 868 00:43:24,809 --> 00:43:28,571 or by making them non-Indians. 869 00:43:28,675 --> 00:43:31,022 Margulies: In 1884, at age 8, 870 00:43:31,125 --> 00:43:34,577 like tens of thousands of other American Indian children, 871 00:43:34,681 --> 00:43:38,167 Zitkála-Sá left the reservation to attend a boarding school 872 00:43:38,270 --> 00:43:40,479 run by missionaries in Indiana. 873 00:43:42,861 --> 00:43:45,899 Hafen: The boarding school system was an institutional way 874 00:43:46,002 --> 00:43:48,867 of trying to erase tribal identity. 875 00:43:48,971 --> 00:43:51,387 You had children from all these different tribes 876 00:43:51,490 --> 00:43:55,322 thrown in together, made to wear uniforms, 877 00:43:55,425 --> 00:43:57,773 lose their individual identities, 878 00:43:57,876 --> 00:44:01,224 forbidden to speak their native languages, 879 00:44:01,328 --> 00:44:04,538 forced to become Christians. 880 00:44:04,642 --> 00:44:06,229 Zitkála-Sá: "Like a slender tree, 881 00:44:06,333 --> 00:44:09,888 I had been uprooted from my mother, nature, and god. 882 00:44:09,992 --> 00:44:12,201 I was shorn of my branches." [ Thunder rumbles ] 883 00:44:12,304 --> 00:44:14,341 "Now a cold, bare pole, 884 00:44:14,444 --> 00:44:17,482 I seemed to be planted in a strange earth, 885 00:44:17,585 --> 00:44:19,760 trembling with fear and distrust. 886 00:44:19,864 --> 00:44:22,176 Often, I wept in secret." 887 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:23,626 Margulies: Zitkála-Sá went on 888 00:44:23,730 --> 00:44:26,042 to attend Earlham College in Indiana, 889 00:44:26,146 --> 00:44:30,288 and later the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. 890 00:44:30,391 --> 00:44:32,359 Hafen: She was musically gifted. 891 00:44:32,462 --> 00:44:34,050 [ Violin music plays ] 892 00:44:34,154 --> 00:44:38,020 She performed at the White House for President McKinley. 893 00:44:38,123 --> 00:44:42,024 People were fascinated with her because she was a performer, 894 00:44:42,127 --> 00:44:45,510 because she was articulate. 895 00:44:45,613 --> 00:44:47,685 Margulies: In 1897, she became a teacher 896 00:44:47,788 --> 00:44:50,515 at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, 897 00:44:50,618 --> 00:44:52,620 the first federally-funded boarding school 898 00:44:52,724 --> 00:44:54,450 for American Indian youth, 899 00:44:54,553 --> 00:44:59,144 founded by military officer Richard Henry Pratt. 900 00:44:59,248 --> 00:45:01,940 Singer: The idea that Richard Pratt had 901 00:45:02,044 --> 00:45:06,634 was to kill the Indian to save the man. 902 00:45:06,738 --> 00:45:08,015 The way you look, the way you dress, 903 00:45:08,119 --> 00:45:09,948 the way you think, the way you talk, 904 00:45:10,052 --> 00:45:12,779 the way you pray -- they had to cut that out, 905 00:45:12,882 --> 00:45:15,057 save the soul inside. 906 00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:17,128 It's tragic, really. 907 00:45:20,269 --> 00:45:21,719 Native people weren't even viewed 908 00:45:21,822 --> 00:45:24,998 as human beings at this time. 909 00:45:25,101 --> 00:45:26,758 Margulies: After disagreements with Pratt, 910 00:45:26,862 --> 00:45:29,623 Zitkála-Sá left her job at Carlisle, 911 00:45:29,727 --> 00:45:32,695 and in 1900, published several exposés 912 00:45:32,799 --> 00:45:34,973 about the trauma of the boarding school experience 913 00:45:35,077 --> 00:45:38,321 in The Atlantic Monthly. 914 00:45:38,425 --> 00:45:40,427 Zitkála-Sá: "Gazing upon the Indian girls and boys 915 00:45:40,530 --> 00:45:41,946 bending over their books, 916 00:45:42,049 --> 00:45:46,053 the white visitors walked out of the schoolhouse well-satisfied. 917 00:45:46,157 --> 00:45:49,712 They were educating the children of the 'red man'! 918 00:45:49,816 --> 00:45:51,749 But few have paused to question 919 00:45:51,852 --> 00:45:54,821 whether real life or long-lasting death 920 00:45:54,924 --> 00:45:59,411 lies beneath this semblance of civilization." 921 00:45:59,515 --> 00:46:01,413 Hafen: The stories are published, 922 00:46:01,517 --> 00:46:06,453 and the criticisms are that she bites the hands that fed her, 923 00:46:06,556 --> 00:46:09,111 that she's criticizing the boarding school education 924 00:46:09,214 --> 00:46:11,769 which educated her to write the stories. 925 00:46:11,872 --> 00:46:14,737 Margulies: In 1901, Zitkála-Sá also published 926 00:46:14,841 --> 00:46:18,879 a book of short stories based on the Sioux oral tradition. 927 00:46:18,983 --> 00:46:20,570 Zitkála-Sá: "I have tried to transplant 928 00:46:20,674 --> 00:46:23,884 the native spirit of these tales into the English language, 929 00:46:23,988 --> 00:46:26,024 since America in the last few centuries 930 00:46:26,128 --> 00:46:28,716 has acquired a new tongue." 931 00:46:28,820 --> 00:46:31,547 Hafen: She works very hard 932 00:46:31,650 --> 00:46:35,896 to make the disparate parts of her life fit together. 933 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:37,967 But she also sees herself 934 00:46:38,071 --> 00:46:42,489 as being a preserver of those stories. 935 00:46:42,592 --> 00:46:46,044 Margulies: In 1902, Zitkála-Sá married Raymond Bonnin, 936 00:46:46,148 --> 00:46:49,530 another boarding school survivor from her tribe. 937 00:46:49,634 --> 00:46:52,154 They lived for 14 years among the Ute Nation 938 00:46:52,257 --> 00:46:55,191 on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah, 939 00:46:55,295 --> 00:46:56,468 raising their son 940 00:46:56,572 --> 00:46:59,402 and working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 941 00:46:59,506 --> 00:47:02,164 [ Opera music plays ] 942 00:47:03,475 --> 00:47:06,547 There, in 1913, Zitkála-Sá wrote 943 00:47:06,651 --> 00:47:08,756 the first American Indian opera, 944 00:47:08,860 --> 00:47:12,691 in collaboration with white composer William Hanson. 945 00:47:12,795 --> 00:47:14,728 "The Sun Dance Opera" was inspired 946 00:47:14,832 --> 00:47:17,662 by a sacred ceremony of spiritual healing 947 00:47:17,765 --> 00:47:20,009 then outlawed by the U.S. government. 948 00:47:20,113 --> 00:47:24,082 Hafen: The Sun Dance is common among the tribes on the Plains, 949 00:47:24,186 --> 00:47:25,670 and it is a dance 950 00:47:25,773 --> 00:47:27,327 of personal devotion 951 00:47:27,430 --> 00:47:30,295 and sacrifice. 952 00:47:30,399 --> 00:47:33,712 She is resisting the denial of religious ritual 953 00:47:33,816 --> 00:47:38,579 and trying to elevate these tribal sacred dances and songs 954 00:47:38,683 --> 00:47:42,169 to what she knows is respected in Western society, 955 00:47:42,273 --> 00:47:44,137 which is grand opera. 956 00:47:47,209 --> 00:47:50,522 Margulies: The opera was staged across Utah 15 times 957 00:47:50,626 --> 00:47:54,009 by a cast of American Indians and white performers. 958 00:47:54,112 --> 00:47:56,011 [ Applause ] 959 00:47:56,114 --> 00:47:59,842 Hafen: The opera gave a space to perform sacred dances 960 00:47:59,946 --> 00:48:02,880 and songs in a public setting. 961 00:48:02,983 --> 00:48:04,951 It preserved those songs. 962 00:48:07,056 --> 00:48:08,782 Margulies: As she witnessed the quality of life 963 00:48:08,886 --> 00:48:10,957 on Indian reservations decline, 964 00:48:11,060 --> 00:48:14,788 Zitkála-Sá moved to Washington, D.C., in 1916 965 00:48:14,892 --> 00:48:16,583 to dedicate the rest of her life 966 00:48:16,686 --> 00:48:18,412 to political activism. 967 00:48:20,345 --> 00:48:22,969 Zitkála-Sá: "Indians are virtually prisoners of war 968 00:48:23,072 --> 00:48:24,902 in America. 969 00:48:25,005 --> 00:48:29,251 Treaties with our government are still unfulfilled. 970 00:48:29,354 --> 00:48:30,700 There is no doubt about 971 00:48:30,804 --> 00:48:33,669 the direction in which I wish to go -- 972 00:48:33,772 --> 00:48:38,156 to spend my energies in working for the Indian race." 973 00:48:38,260 --> 00:48:40,952 Margulies: As secretary of the Society of American Indians, 974 00:48:41,056 --> 00:48:42,712 the first civil rights organization 975 00:48:42,816 --> 00:48:45,474 created by and for American Indians, 976 00:48:45,577 --> 00:48:47,131 she edited its journal 977 00:48:47,234 --> 00:48:50,168 and served as a lobbyist in Congress. 978 00:48:50,272 --> 00:48:53,171 Hafen: She gives public speeches, she writes editorials, 979 00:48:53,275 --> 00:48:54,759 and one of her major causes 980 00:48:54,862 --> 00:48:58,832 was to help get citizenship for American Indians. 981 00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:03,561 Zitkála-Sá: "Now the time is at hand 982 00:49:03,664 --> 00:49:06,667 when the American Indian shall have his day in court 983 00:49:06,771 --> 00:49:10,326 and find his rightful place in our American life. 984 00:49:10,430 --> 00:49:12,984 Wardship is no substitute for citizenship, 985 00:49:13,088 --> 00:49:16,332 therefore we seek enfranchisement." 986 00:49:16,436 --> 00:49:19,128 Margulies: Zitkála-Sá's work was significant to the passage 987 00:49:19,232 --> 00:49:23,063 of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which granted 988 00:49:23,167 --> 00:49:26,239 U.S. citizenship to American Indians. 989 00:49:26,342 --> 00:49:29,518 Singer: Zitkála-Sá understood that there's these two worlds 990 00:49:29,621 --> 00:49:31,865 that you have to be a part of. 991 00:49:31,969 --> 00:49:34,419 And you want to have power in both of them. 992 00:49:34,523 --> 00:49:37,043 Margulies: In 1926, she and her husband 993 00:49:37,146 --> 00:49:39,977 founded the National Council of American Indians 994 00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:43,118 to continue advocating for American Indians' rights 995 00:49:43,221 --> 00:49:45,085 and representation. 996 00:49:45,189 --> 00:49:49,469 She served as its president until her death 12 years later. 997 00:49:49,572 --> 00:49:54,612 Hafen: She firmly believed that the answer to Indian issues 998 00:49:54,715 --> 00:49:57,995 lay in Indian people themselves. 999 00:49:58,098 --> 00:50:00,859 Indians are still fighting for their rights -- 1000 00:50:00,963 --> 00:50:02,758 the theft of Indian land, 1001 00:50:02,861 --> 00:50:05,450 missing and murdered indigenous women, 1002 00:50:05,554 --> 00:50:07,107 voters rights -- 1003 00:50:07,211 --> 00:50:09,454 and that's where her voice is important. 1004 00:50:09,558 --> 00:50:12,492 Zitkála-Sá: "The American Indian must have a voice. 1005 00:50:12,595 --> 00:50:16,151 Let us teach our children to be proud of their Indian blood. 1006 00:50:16,254 --> 00:50:17,945 Let us stand up straight 1007 00:50:18,049 --> 00:50:21,018 and continue claiming our human rights." 1008 00:50:23,882 --> 00:50:25,746 Margulies: Despite the incredible accomplishments 1009 00:50:25,850 --> 00:50:28,404 of these and other changemakers, 1010 00:50:28,508 --> 00:50:32,408 equal representation is still a work in progress. 1011 00:50:32,512 --> 00:50:34,307 Unger: Many of the things that these women fought for, 1012 00:50:34,410 --> 00:50:36,309 we're still fighting for today. 1013 00:50:36,412 --> 00:50:39,070 Women do not have equal representation in politics, 1014 00:50:39,174 --> 00:50:42,970 and that's something that has been very slow in coming. 1015 00:50:43,074 --> 00:50:46,491 Haaland: I stand on the shoulders of so many women. 1016 00:50:46,595 --> 00:50:48,493 It's a stark reality to see 1017 00:50:48,597 --> 00:50:53,291 that we're not half the population here in Congress 1018 00:50:53,395 --> 00:50:55,776 when we're all on the floor together. 1019 00:50:55,880 --> 00:50:59,159 You can see that the men outnumber the women. 1020 00:50:59,263 --> 00:51:01,644 Love: If a young woman wants to get involved in politics, 1021 00:51:01,748 --> 00:51:04,613 I would encourage her to do so, at any level. 1022 00:51:04,716 --> 00:51:06,304 From city council to mayor, 1023 00:51:06,408 --> 00:51:08,686 to state legislator, governor, 1024 00:51:08,789 --> 00:51:10,101 to Congress -- 1025 00:51:10,205 --> 00:51:13,000 there's so many things that you can get involved in. 1026 00:51:13,104 --> 00:51:15,072 Holmes: Certainly, we're seeing a lot more diversity of people 1027 00:51:15,175 --> 00:51:17,936 who are willing to take a swing at the political bat. 1028 00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:22,148 But it's still a boys' club in many ways -- 1029 00:51:22,251 --> 00:51:25,254 where the money goes, who gets the support. 1030 00:51:25,358 --> 00:51:28,740 Poo: The future is women, and women of color 1031 00:51:28,844 --> 00:51:30,639 leading the way. 1032 00:51:30,742 --> 00:51:33,124 We're still fighting for voting rights 1033 00:51:33,228 --> 00:51:34,332 for women of color, 1034 00:51:34,436 --> 00:51:36,679 and voting rights across the board 1035 00:51:36,783 --> 00:51:41,201 are under threat again a hundred years later. 1036 00:51:41,305 --> 00:51:45,585 Allard: In my culture, women have always been warriors. 1037 00:51:45,688 --> 00:51:47,828 We would not be here if it wasn't 1038 00:51:47,932 --> 00:51:51,073 for the strength and integrity of these women. 1039 00:51:51,177 --> 00:51:54,594 And so no matter where I go, I know I'm not alone. 1040 00:51:54,697 --> 00:51:56,872 My ancestors are with me. 1041 00:51:56,975 --> 00:52:00,289 Packne The idea of lifting as we climb is so powerful. 1042 00:52:00,393 --> 00:52:02,222 It's to say there is no success 1043 00:52:02,326 --> 00:52:05,087 if our people don't come along with us. 1044 00:52:05,191 --> 00:52:06,640 It's going to take our energy, 1045 00:52:06,744 --> 00:52:09,056 it's going to take us being steadfast. 1046 00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:11,783 It's going to take us doing this for the long haul 1047 00:52:11,887 --> 00:52:14,131 to really see progress. 1048 00:52:14,234 --> 00:52:17,134 ♪♪