not only because of that, but because you have the founding of the secret service in 1865 whose original mandate is to aggressively go after counterfeiters. >> was it controversial to get to a single currency? >> extremely. because there's a number of steps the federal government has to take. the most dramatic is to break the power of the state banks which are deeply entrenched interests. you know, states like new york and pennsylvania have congressmen and senators who advocate very aggressively for these interests because they benefit enormously from a fairly chaotic monetary system. >> ben tarnoff is the author of this book, "moneymakers: the wicked lives and surprising adventures of three notorious counterfeiters." >> up next, phyllis schlafly and suzanne banker discuss the flipside of feminism. the co-authors argue that while women now have more power, freedom and education, they're

less happy. they believe that men have been miscast as obstacles in the path for equality for women and contend that both sexes have been hurt by feminism. [applause] >> thank you very much and, ladies and gentlemen, yes, i've had an interesting and fun life. and i don't owe any of it to the feminists. [laughter] i'll tell you that. feminism has become a very hot topic. i suppose the reason for that is sarah palin. feminists cannot resist attacking sarah palin. it's not just because she's a republican and a conservative, it's because she's a successful woman. she has a cool husband, a lot of kids, a great career, making lots of money. she is, by any standard, a success. and they can't stand it. and acid in their wounds is that she's pretty too. [laughter] so the feminists don't believe that women can be successful in

the united states. they think women are oppressed by the pay tar key. they are held down by mean men. .. >> was because they did not believe i was doing what i did. they conjured up conspiracies like the insurance companies were financing me or some other nonsense like that. now this ideology of telling young women that you are victims of an oppressive society is so

unfortunate. if you wake up in the morning and believe that you are probably not going to accomplish anything whether you are a man or a woman. many of the real feminist, in fact, most of them, think that abortion is the litmus test. one the new feminist, jessica, wrote in the "washington post" just a few weeks ago that the definition of feminism is that we are under an oppressive hierarchy and they have to work to overturn it. that's what feminism is. it is also not true they are working for equality. the feminist are for empowerment by the female left. you find that they are in the empowering all women. they want to make an alliance with the left wing and so it's the female left that has become

so powerful when it allied itself with the obama administration. now when the feminist movement got under way, really in the 1960s, early '70s, they called themselves not feminism, they called themselves the womens liberation movement. and you have to ask what did they want to be liberated from? they wanted to be liberated from home, husband, family, and children. and so you find that they were -- encouraging women to be independent of men. that's why they were big supporters of divorce and they looked upon marriage as a very confining role in life. gloria steinham said when a woman gets married, she becomes a seminonperson. betty friedan said the life of a wife and mother was living in a

comfortable concentration camp. that was their attitude. the social degradation of women was really a major goal of the feminist movement. and it wasn't -- they were really not using the argument that it takes two incomes to support the family. that really wasn't why they wanted to get her out of the home. they wanted to get her out of the home, not for economic, but for social and cultural reasons because they tried to tell women that you are just a parasite, your life is not accomplishing anything, the only way to have fulfillment is to be independent of men and have your own career. it's kind of interesting when they have a divorce, you know, while they are married, they are all the time griping because the men aren't changing half of the diapers and washing half of the dishes and getting up half of the time in the middle of the

night. they want him to do 50/50. once they have a divorce, they think only the mother can handle it. they want sole and exclusive custody and the father to become a visitor in the child's life, maybe twice a month. they taught young women that your only fulfillment is in the labor force. i guess reporting to a boss, instead of a husband. and they thought that was so great they wanted to treat men, or any man, as irrelevant, unnecessary, and they are also anti-masculine. which we see what they have accomplished in the agents in the department of education through title ix. they have been on an anti-man campaign to get rid of men's sports in colleges and now they are working on the high schools. and there is a cultural

difference between the way men want sports and college and women. when i went to college, i did everything to avoid any kind of sports. and -- but the men like it. and they have gotten the colleges to cancel hundreds of men's sports, but the one that annoys me the most is they have gotten colleges to ban 450 wrestling teams. now you tell me what good that does for women? and it shows you this campaign has nothing to do with equalizing the money that's spent on sports, because wrestling is the cheapest sport that you can have. all you need is a mat. but that's one the things that have done. and they are proud of it. and they have this idea that men and women are really the same and it's only this pate your kill that's keeping them down. now it is caught in the women's study courses and maybe other

sociology courses today. ideology seemed to be that god goofed in making us two different kinds. they took it as their responsibility to correct his mistake. i say her mistake. which they frequently did. now they seem to have shifted to the different theory that really god got it all right in the first place. and that all of these differences that we think we see are a social construct. they are built into you by your stereotyped underbringing, by the terrible things that mother give their girl baby dolls and boy babies trucks. a lot of what they are doing is based on the ridiculous idea there isn't any difference, physically, emotionally, cull --

culturally. in fact, in a good of colleges, you can't get a grade in the womens study unless you buy into the philosophy. there are so many lies they taught. really feminism is a fraud of the century. one the lies is that there's no difference between men and women. another lie is the hook up culture a liberating. they tell girls, you know, to be equal, you've got to engage in sex and be just as promise cuous. then they say you want to structure your life to have a career.

a lot of feminism discovered after 40 there was a biological clock. one the chief theorist, jermaine greer wrote bitterly trying to have babies after 40. i have the medical bills to prove it. another one that you see on television, made very bitter comment in her book. how she longed for the baby she would never have. one the feminist sylvia hewlett wrote a book in which she thought she had made an mane scientific discovery that woman over 40 are less fertile than women under 40. her book didn't sell very well.

people didn't want to hear that. another one the examples of the oppression is the society expects mothers to look after their babies. this burden has got to be lifted from women. that's why the taxpayers should be responsible for providing taxpayer paid day care for all children. and this was a tremendous fight that we fought around 1988, '89, '90 to try to establish federally financed, federally regulated day care for all children. nothing to do with need, but just as a matter to lift the burden off of women's backs. fortunately, we did beat them on that. i notice that bernard goldberg wrote in his book about the bias of cbs. he said the biggest story that you will never see on cbs is

what's wrong with day care. because the feminist in the network will not allow that on a story on cbs. another myth that is created is that the feminist movement has created so many opportunities for women. of course, you can get a few jobs like that. i remember people i worked my way through college as a gunner in ammunition and got my degree in 1944, absolutely no discrimination against me. i got my masters at harvard graduate school. absolutely no discrimination. i competed with all of the boys. that was 1945. my mother got her college degree from a great university in 1920. those opportunities were there. women wanted to take advantage

of them. i'll say maybe in those eras, most of my friends prefer to get married and get going having some babies. but that's the matter of individual choice. and they don't respect the individual choice. in fact, the big momma of feminist movements taught in all of the women's studies, the french woman who wrote the single sex said that you should not give women the choice to be -- having a career or be a full-time homemaker. because if you give them the choice, too many women will make that choice. so they understand that. but they didn't want them to have the choice. they didn't want all of the women in the work force. i guess i'm known for defeating the equal rights amendment in the ten year battle. what got me on to that, prior to that, i was writing and selling books on politics and on the strategic balance. the soviet missile threats.

but anyway, i got into era because it was such a fraud. it pretended to give a benefit to women and put women in the constitution. it didn't do that at all. i testified in 41 state legislative hearings, and the only time the other side came in and said we have a law in our state that discriminates against women that era will remedy was a state where they said they had a law that said that lives could not make home maid wine without their husband's consent. for this we need to mess up our constitution? and then they said it would put women in the constitution. but men are not in the constitution. the constitution is a beautiful sex neutral document. it only talks about citizens and residents and we the people and the presidents and senators and representatives. women have every constitutional right that men have and have had since the constitution was

originally ratified. so it was such a fraud. classic sex specific law was the draft registration law which said that male citizens of age 18 must register. well, i had sons and daughters about that age then. and my daughters thought this was the craziest thing they ever heard. you are going to give women a new constitutional amendment and the first thing is we have to sign up for the draft like our brothers? we were still in the vietnam war when era came out of congress. the whole side of feminism is a fraud. it's even worse than a fraud. i was so happy to have the support of my niese, suzanne

that speaks to the younger generation in voice and words that i think appeal to the younger people. they may think i'm an old fogey. the absolute version of marriage, but suzanne can give you the young people's view points and i think provide the book and road map for the happy life for young women and also a warning to the guys about what you can't say now but we hope to open up the subject of feminism so you'll be able to talk more frankly about some of the issues. it's "the flipside of feminism: what conservative women know and men can't say." i think you'll enjoy the book when you get it. thank you very much for listening. >> hello, it's so great to see

so many young ladies here. i have to tell you. you all are the group that we are most trying to reach through this book. because i truly believe that it is your age group that is getting such a bad message today. it is often said that when something gets repeated often enough, people ultimately accept it as truth. with no other subject is the psychological phenomenon more applicable than feminism. the modern generation has absorbed the myth of feminism like a sponge. they believe what they have been taught to believe. they think a feminist is someone that's strong and independent. they think feminism is what allowed women to get college degrees and pursue careers outside of the home. and they also believe that feminism freed mothers from

their cages. and we all have seen in hollywood movies that depict the 1950s mother who's despondent and she's alone in the kitchen and dark. that's the image that we have of the 1950s mother. i thought i'd read comments that were made online as a result of two publications, one in the "huffington post" and one in "boston university today" which is my alma mater. there were several articles about the flipside of feminism and several thousand responses from some angry women. who were clearly raised by baby boomers. >> my mother raised me not to

dependent on anyone but myself. it's hard to do. but my happiness dependents on it. >> if they have any sense, they would thank the movement for making it possible for them to have college educations. were it not for feminist before suzanne's time she never would have been gone to college or been able to be a public's author. obviously, it's okay for women to have a career, as long as the career involves putting women down and putting them in their place, i.e. at home barefoot and pregnant and submissive whenever a man is present. that is what i try to do on the flipside. women still earn less money and equally educated, equality experienced male counterparts. we are penalized for having a womb. and my favorite one, feminism saved up from the horrors of the role women were expected to play in the early half of the 20th century. anyone who denies that is just

insane. that should give you the kind of knee jerk responses of anyone that speaks out against feminism is going to get. it's worse if a man says. that's definitely worse. that would never fly. if a woman says it, it's a trader to her sex, of course. feminism means different things to different people. but we prefer in flipside to use the definition that phyllis and jessica who is the head honcho of the third wave feminist movement. she provided in the "washington post" a working definition for feminism. feminism is a structural analysis of a world that oppresses women. an ideology based on the notion

that pay triwar kill exists. if you believe that, you are a feminist. but being a feminist does not mean being strong and independent. in fact, just the opposite. feminism is not what allowed women to get college degrees and pursue careers. we have men and technology to thank for that. this is a completely new concept for young women. because they have never heard that before. and we explain what we mean by that in "flipside." how did feminism become so absorbed in american culture. very easy. it is women on the left who hold the power in this country. there is a chasm between

everyday american women who are a right-of-center-bunch and the women that you see in television, magazines, movies, and academia. those women are left wing. their message conflicts with the message that most young women need and want. what are some of these myths? there's a bunch. i'm going to focus on three. the first is the wage gap. we probably -- i know i have. so i'm sure you have. heard endlessly lately in the media, actually, about how women still don't make what men make throughout their lifetimes. they are constantly harping on the gender gap. there is a gender gap. there is a wage gap. they use both phrases. but there is a gap. there always will be. but there's a good reason for it. when women become mothers, they freely choose to care for those children. that means they are going to be out of the work force for some

period of time. for some people it's 5, 10, 20, maybe they don't ever go back. they take time out. when they do return, most of them return on a part-time basis, often after the last thrill trotted over to kindergarten. they often don't take the dangerous jobs. you add them up. there's a good reason why there's a wage gap. that's not what the message -- that's not the message that you get from the media. the women in the media don't explain that. they just tell you women despite all of the gains they made, still don't make what men make. making you think that women are discriminated against. another myth is the idea that phyllis brought this up as well, casual sex is somehow liberating. the more sex that you have or the freer that you are with your body is somehow meaning you own

your body and you are -- it's empowering and liberating for you. it's a horrendous message. we have a lot of research that is politically incorrect that will tell you about the horrible fall out of what we call the hook up culture. we also provide in the appendix, exerts from an excellent pamphlet put together concerning the issue. also, phyllis mentioned the other myth that i was going to talk about which is the idea that gender differences don't exist. there's really no difference between males and females. in a recent interview, gloria was asked about her thoughts on the latest research about male and female, which there's ban lot lately in the last few years which has been great and dr.

luanne wrote both the female brain and male brain. it's excellent material to prove that, yes, men and women are different. which we know. but now it's in print. her response to this, you know, every time there's a step forward there's a backlash. even if they are right, it doesn't have to continue to be so. what makes human being the species that has survived all of the time is our adaptability. when the interview prisoned further and said aren't there inherent differences we cannot ignore she replied, society can certainly intervene at a cultural level to change that behavior. fortunately, just this past january, just two months ago, dr. katherine hakeem from the london school of economics published a report that highlights a dozen feminist

myths. some of which we mentioned, but she provides a full dozen. and these myths she said, quote, have no solid bases, yet are widely believed and constantly reiterated in the media. feminism is not what people think it is. it has nothing to do with making women more independent. feminism is about power for the female left. it's an emotional issue. people feel very strongly about feminism. those who are able to detact and read the "flipside of feminism" with a genuinely open mind will see what feminism wants is no different than what president obama wants. to fundamentally transfer america.

thanks. [applause] [applause] >> we will be glad to take questions. there are microphone in the room which we would ask you to wait for for recording purposes. if you'd be so kind as to identify yourself and give an affiliation, it would be appreciated too. i could not help but think of during suzanne's litany of quotes, reagan, our opponents are not necessarily ignorant, they just know so many things that aren't true. which takes a while to get around. [laughter] >> do we have any questions from the floor? surely. >> al, the media, looking back at american history, when women gained the right to vote, do you believe feminist viewed that era

different ran than you do? -- differently than you do? >> is the mike on? is the mike on? i don't think it's on. it is. they claim credit for it and they don't deserve any credit for that. it was an entirely different movement, to get women a positive benefit. i'm certainly for women voting and being active in politics. but they claim they were therefore mothers or something. and there's no relations, those women were all pro family and in particular, anti-abortion. and i don't know how the current feminism can trace any lineage to them. but i think that's all another myth. >> if i could just add to that. i think that issue is what makes the whole conservative women movement so confusing when it comes to feminism. i think that's what's causes problem.

conservative women want to hold on to the label because they do associate it with the suffrage movement. one the things we do in "flipside" is delevel -- delineate, and really all of our discussion is '60s on. it's the confusion that people think if they chuck the label that you must think that women shouldn't vote because the movement really goes all the way back to the 19th century. in fact those two movement just aren't related. and as broad sense they might be, but in the real sense they are not. >> you can't believe how many times i've debated a feminism and she's crying around that women didn't have the right to vote. i don't even know anybody who remembers that time. i mean move on. get with it. [laughter] >> another question.

in the back. >> i'm suspicious, only men asking questions. >> i told you things they couldn't say. >> i wanted to ask you about women in the military. i have seen a couple of articles recently one i think just this morning saying that women who serve in the military have higher divorce rates than men who serve in the military. there are more single mothers serving in the military than there are single fathers. and a few weeks ago, there was information that there is an effort under way to expand the roles that women can take in the military to let them be in all forms of combat roles, expect for ground infantry. which has been expanding over time anyway. can you comment on, you know, what the feminism movement says and part of the reason for this

i might add is that it's presented for this in order that women have more career opportunities to advance to higher ranks, and i just wondered if you could comment on, you know, the feminism movement and what it's meant for the role of women in the military? >> yes, the feminist are complaining that there are not enough women general and high rank and you get high rank when you face the enemy. and fought for our country. i think it's very wrong what's happening. i don't really have respect for men that send women out to do their fighting for them. women have an important place in the military, i have a lot of friends who served honorably in women's jobs in world war ii. but as far as putting hem in combat, i think it's ridiculous. they simply cannot do the physical work that men can do. there's just no way they can. and then they make the man lie

about it and say they are doing the same work. and if men don't lie about it and accept it. that's a career killer for them. i think it's very wrong. but the feminism are pushing that and always have. and at the very beginning of the fight on the equal rights amendment, in 1972, their -- their document -- their platform was 100 page article written by a famous professor who wrote at the yale in the "yale law journal." between brutalizing men or women, there is little to choose. women should be in every combat job. and the feminist have never denied it. >> another question. >> i'm charlotte.

now the victim mentality is in place, what's the best way for women to over come it. how did you refrain from feeling like a victim as you received the different attacks? >> it's really difficult to stand up against this. there's no question about it. because it does seem as though everyone around you thinks one way. i have found, or i did find that really the best way is to surround yourself with people who are like minded that really helps a great deal. but have you ever spoken out and said opposite of what they are telling you. you don't think women are victims. that's something to think about. because if you just throw it out there and sort of put the question back on them, it's interesting to hear how they respond as to why they think that. and often times, they don't really have a good reason for it. they are just simply passing on what someone else told them.

what i always do is tell people to ask them the questions. ask them why they think that. where did they get that? where are the examples of that? and prove them wrong through getting them to see that they are wrong without your telling them they are wrong. i don't know if that helps. >> well, i don't think it's difficult at all. i think it's a lot of fun. [laughter] >> they are so wrong when betty friedan said in a debate she's like to burn me at the stake. i thought are you trying to make me into joan of arc? they are so wrong and so foolish. i'm not going to let the slobs ruin my day. >> i will say, she's extra thick skinned. >> i had to learn it though. >> that is true. my experience has been the exact same as hers. it does get easier over time for sure. you get to the point where when

the acquisitions are so outrageous. i got an e-mail yesterday yestet yesterday last week. told me i'm worse than hitler. and you -- it takes you back for a moment. it does. then eventually you realize who thinks like that? how can you -- do you really mean what you are saying? when you realize the kind of mentality that you are dealing with, the worse thing it does, sort of tell you how many people there are like that out there. that's awesome. that's the worse part. just in the last few weeks alone the attacks on me specifically, particularly because of the "boston university" article where i went to school. it was just an interview with me since it's my alma mater was off of the charts. crazy, crazy. it's sad because it tells you, wow, when conservatives talk about indoctrination, it's not a joke, paranoia, all you have to go to flip side web site and

click on "bu today" and click through the comments. maybe you will be -- maybe you won't be -- shocked. >> you will leave. has there been any in road in academia for your message. do you envision the roads? >> and if so where so the children can go to those schools. >> it's just starting. so i'm very cautiously optimistic. i know i'm going to be on an npr affiliate, in response to the bu, boston radio called. it's going to be a lion's den for sure. they are going to want to single me out as the enemy.

so i don't know. certainly phyllis has done a lot of speeches at colleges. for me at 43, i'm just starting out there. i don't know what's going to happen. i'm concerned. that's why i said when i stood up, i see all of the young lady's faces, it's so wonderful. again, that's the group that i'm trying to reach. >> well, i think the colleges have been infected in nearly all of the departments if you want to be safe, take engineering. but don't waste your education dollar on womens studies. they are absolutely the worst. and it's just a lot of feminism, lesbian propaganda. >> and it goes back decades. my husband would get lower grades. this is the early '80s because he would argue with or take issue with what they were

teaching. he would attempt to provide an alternate view point. the power is off of the charts. it's just awful. >> i had one more down here. >> think, i'm lynnette. it seems on both sides of the aisle men have becomed weakened by the feminism movement even if they do agree with things that are advocated in your book. >> right. exactly. my hope is that men will use the opportunity to have a door open and say, you know, i really think this isn't so great for our marriage, society, family, kids, whatever. it's going to be difficult. the women rule the roost. i know feminism don't want you

to think they do. they do on the home front. despite all of the power that we search for outside of the home, there's tremendous power within the home. if you are female. it's really about encouraging men to feel that they can argue with or take issue with some of those issues within the feminist movement and still and not be taken as a chauvinist. of course, he has been married to or surrounded by women who encourage that and think that way as well. so that will depend on how much he speaks up, the average person. >> well, the present time, the speaking out has to come from women. the men just can't do it. i'm sorry. >> no win situation. >> there's no question that it won't come out of their mouths the same as womens, hopefully they will be part too. >> background?

>> angela wove. could you comment more on what you think the effects has been on men and what they will continue to be if the feminism movement isn't stopped? >> stay that again? >> could you comment on the effects of the feminism movement has been on men and what they will continue to do if the feminism movement isn't stopped or halted or reversed? >> well, there was a fantastic in the last few weeks, there was a spread in the wall street journal about kay hymowitz's book "manning up" it said where have all of the men gone? i think that's the right title. it was the focus on how men are stuck in the prepubescent quandary. why are men not becoming men? they are still boys. at the answer is feminism. it's feminism that has not allowed them to be menned. and part of being men is getting

a job. that environment, since it's no longer there, women are shacking up, everybody is getting married, they don't need to sport the family, we don't need men we're going to do our own thing. your man starts out like this. he's still down there. he needs somebody, he needs a system to force him to grow up. that's just sort of the -- who's the man that we talk about, george gilder, you love george gilder. we quote him several times in the flipside. >> the book is called "men and marriage." >> he has an excellent grasp on men and women. what you need from women in order for men to be a certain way. now with feminism. we are not promoting that anymore. now men are not growing up. it's simple. it didn't come out. >> i would add to that, the domination that women have and feminist have in the educational system.

it starts in the elementary grades, which will mostly run by women and now largely feminist because of the power of the teachers union. and your typical, not all, but your typical elementary school teacher looks upon unruly boys as just unruly girls. and they need to be made to behave like girls. they need to sit still and do the little work with the pen and pencil that girls can do very easily. and unfortunately, a lot of new schools are being built without playgrounds and recess is being canceled in a lot of schools. now this is a direct attack on the boys who got to go out and run around and beat each other up so they can come in and learn something. and the feminism won't tolerate that. because that is insane idea that boys and girls are the same. and i've already mentioned the whole problem of sports. they are trying to take sport ace way. so the colleges are now 60/40

female/male. nobody like this is. the girls don't like it. but they've done it -- the feminism have done it. >> we have a whole chapter in "flipside" called the emasculated -- no, expendable male. we couldn't decide. i'm sorry. the whole chapter is about men that starts as school boys and go through sort of the stages of manhood and talks about precisely what has happened with men -- boys and men, males, as a result of feminism. >> we have one more question. somewhere. one far side. >> josh with congressman's office. i wondered way back on the first question, talking about the suffrage movement and how that contrasts with the more modern feminist movement. would you attribute the -- when they throw the, well, you can

only get a college education because of us thing more to the suffragette? >> no, i think they believe because they have been raised by baby boomer mothers in a culture that has taught them in no uncertain terms, feminism is what gave women opportunity. and that opportunity includes college degrees and careers. and without feminism, the world you see it today would not exist. that's what they believe. and what we are proving in "flipside" there's a whole nother reason why it is the way it is now. it would have happened exactly the way it did with or without the movement. that's a great question. >> i wrote my first book in 1964, before the feminism movement and sold $3 million out of my garage. [laughter] >> and so can you. [laughter] >> well, while we are some enjoyment with this discussion,

it is, of course, a very serious topic. we do recommend that you get a copy of "the flipside of feminism" just to see where we are on this agenda. we do want to thank suzanne and phyllis for a wonderful presentation. [applause] >> to find out more visit the web site. we'd like to hear from you. tweet us your feedback. twitter.com/booktv. >> yvonne thornson, the author "ditch diggers daughter" provideses them with the opportunity to become successful women focused on her proal life as a double board certified specialist in gynecology and fetal medicine. at the time she began her

studies in 1970s, 5% of the specialist were women. today 70% are women. >> thank you for being here. as i stand here today, i am the daughter of a ditch digger. now my father was born in new jersey, and basically he was -- [no audio] >> -- being a ditch digger, many of you may not know what obstetrics is. it's a field in medicine in which you deliver babies. i've delivered 5,542 babies to date, and overseen about 12,000

deliveries. [applause] [applause] >> thank you very much. [applause] [applause] >> now what i do in obstetrics, it's a very special type of obstetrics. i've done extra training to call people like me maternal fetal medical specialist, what are we? we are those object visions that deal with patients who may die or baby that may die. those women who have diabetes lupus, thyroid, triplets, those pregnancies are complicated. the average obstetrician may not handle it. anybody can deliver a baby. you've seen taxicab drivers, police officers, and there's a echelon with delivers baby.

all the way to basically a police officer and mid wives. people like me, i'm not the only one that delivers a baby. you have midwive that is are trained and nurses. the next step is general practitioners. but as far as babies delivers are concerned, i'm at the top of the food chain being a high risk. before i was a maternal fetal medicine, as i said, i was the daughter of a ditch digger. now my father who was the child in the great depression and those of you in the great depression probably beyond your understanding of just historical perspective now, the great depression was in 25% of our country was out of work. my father was a family of 10. by the age of 15, he dropped out of high school. he dropped out of high school and came from long branch to new york city to meet my mom. they met and married at age 18. basically they found a little tenement house up the street.

we were at 103rd. when i was born, my love lived at 75 east 119th. yes, i'm a kid of the hood. yes. the fact of the matter is they had two children. and three children being me. and at 18 years of age, having been a high school dropout, world war ii was waging. my father was drafted into the navy. we became a seamen second class in the united states navy. before he left my mom, he said okay. that's the end of that. when he came back, he had one child. donna. donna is my oldest sister. my father's name is donald. in those days, you needed to have a son. having a girl was like a consolation prize. the first born was donna. my father said that's great. let's keep trying to get that boy. and in those days, you know, the cinema and movie stars were

tyrone power, clark gable. second one, jeanette. he said, okay. got to get that boy. the third one, me, yvonne, i was named after the quintuplets. the first sisters in the world, they were from canada, and the likelihood of having spontaneous quintuplet was one in 65 billion. i was named after yvonne. my father said this is another girl. the third one. i'm going to drown it. that's when i learned how to swim. other than that, my father said we got to try another one. got to get the clark and tyrone. fourth child comes. rita. okay.

rita. and the fifth one is linda. so by the time my father was 27, he had five kids. all girls, and no boys. and my mother said, donald, you know, i'm trying. and i'm tired of all of this. five kids, she said the only son that you are going to see is the one rising in the morning. they father and mother was wonderful people, the young lady was molested. we moved down to another housing project in long branch, new jersey. in that neighborhood, 50% of all of the girls of color were pregnant by the time they were 16 or 17. they were on public assistance, and they were unwed. that was just the fact, that was just the statistics ever our neighborhood. now we have to go back 50 years ago, over 50 years ago before affirmative action, title ix, and basically, if you weren't a

boy, you were dead meat. my father was ridiculed, as sized, and taunted for not having a son. what kind of person are you? he said, that's okay. my kids are going to be doctors. they laughed even harder. it was crazy that we'd ever be anything that what our poverty would allow us to be. we didn't look like vanessa williams, or mariah carey, or the fair-skinned movie idols. we looked more like the sisters of buckwheat. we didn't have any role models when i was growing up. we didn't have any role models other than a black woman with a big bag of laundry, we had

basically people on one knee in black face. yes, in black face on singing. and then we had butterfly mcqueen sing i don't know nothing about black women babies. that was the role model. there were no other role model for women. you never saw a man pushing a baby carriage. you just didn't see it. it was distinction gender roles. were -- women stayed at home, and men weapon out to bring the bacon. women were expected to be cheerleaders. not business leaders. if they were allowed, they were expected to be secretaries. women were expected to marry a doctor, not be a doctor. all of this in the 1950s was preposterous. without an education, he had to

be menial work. he worked in the slaughter houses of new york, he pumped the home heating oil, he was a janitor, he laid brick. that was my dad. my mom was from west virginia, from east beckly, and a coal mining town. she came to new york to find a better way. she met my dad. she had three years of college. three years of college. but she couldn't afford the last year because you had to pay the tuition if you were a senior. she didn't have the money and she had to leave college with a straight a average. can you imagine that because she didn't have the money? basically what happened to a dream deferred? my mother wanted education for us. my mom and dad having lived in the projects with their kids said no. our kids are not going to grow up and be unwed mothers. they built the house on the other side of town. they built the house brick by brick. it took them four years to build the house. and they built the house where

there was better education, better teachers, it was from that time on that the teachers expected us to do well. my dad would say okay, i want straight as. i want pointy letters. the only pointy letter, is an a. i don't want any curve letters, bs, cs, ds and you are dead. all as. that was my mom and dad. they said you have to strive to do your best. now in long branch, new jersey, we had a wonderful attitude of great communities. sometimes the relatives would pretend we didn't exist. all of us, can you imagine six girls and two parents, eight people coming over to say hello. they pretended they weren't home. the shades would come down as we drove up. we are not there. my father would say, don't worry, girls, one day when you are a doctor vaned the scraps hanging around your neck, they will want you and say come on

in. but you see, being a woman and being a black woman, my father knew that we were born to be hurt. so what do you do about that? he said education. education is the only thing that will allow you to rise and stand on equal terms with anybody. be they white, black, male, female, rich or poor. that's what my parented wanted for us. to be well educated women. that was the dream. the dream hardened into determination, ironclad determination that fueled our lives for many, many years to come. running on a parallel track was music. now my sister, donna, my eldest, donna, she said she found a little red saxophone in a box of cracker jacks. when i was growing up, they had great prizes, you know? they had whistles, and really great things. a box of cracker jacks, my sister found the plastic red

saxophone. she said daddy what is this? a saxophone. can i have a real one? my mother is trying to pay the mortgage, and put food on the backs. my sister wanted to have a saxophone. having five girls and eventually raising six, my parented raised a foster child, betty, she became our sister. he raised six girls in our family. but he would say if it's good for you, if it's going to help you learn, i will find a way to get it. and he found a way. he went to one the old military buddies and said can i have the saxophone. i just need it for a month or so. my daughter wanted to play. but i'll had have it to you back. you know how kids are. they are interested, then they lose, i can give it back in a few weeks. to my sister's credit, she played that saxophone, all without lessons, the screeching

that came out. but she slept with it, ate with it, went to school, but the sounds were just horrible. my parents said, okay, we need to find somebody to teach this child. in the middle school, there was an elementary music teacher, mr wintrop. he said, sure. donna was there, and my mother went with her and sat in the back and did her crow shea. those of you in the tale of two cities. when my sister was told something, my mother was listening. consequence, my sister learned

very well. a few years go by. music was in the household. my sister and i were born two or two years apart. if i'm playing saxophone and my ore sister, guitar, let my play something. my sister wanted to have a larger one. great, i can pawn the alto to get the money to get the tenor. no, i wanted to be involved. everybody was get attention. i can do it, daddy. my father said, cookie, you can't even breathe, much less play the saxophone. i can do it, i can do it. he braced the saxophone and approached with a scientific purpose. okay? i blew all of the air out of my body into that saxophone, next thing you are they were picking me off of the floor. i had just fainted. my moth