needed to ratify the 30th amendment, granting the women -- granting women the right to vote. we are left tomorrow to mark the 100th anniversary of woman suffrage. the vice chair of the women's suffrage joined us to take viewer calls and tweets on the decades long fight to win the vote.

>> the commission to consider the rights of women, the list fileddopting a their grievances. it took george washington six but it took 72 years to establish women's rights by law. women's suffrage is a long story

heartache crowd by victory. -- crowned by victory. colleen shogan is the vice chair of the women's suffrage centennial women's suffrage centennial commission. she is also the vice chair of the white house historical association, joining us here in washington. thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you, good morning. >> let's talk about the significance of this week, august 16, 1920, and the key role it played in the 19th amendment. yes, in august of 1920, 35 states had ratified the 19th but the 36th state was elusive. thatwere 36 states at time. according to the constitution, there was a three fourths number of states that had to ratify to make the 19th amendment part of

the constitution. the last battle came down to tennessee here and there was not another obvious state that could ratify the 19 amendment. if women were going to have the right to vote in the 1920 election, it came down to tennessee. >> tennessee and one key vote. this is the headline from "the washington post." a mother's letter, a son's choice. the letter was written by the mother of harry byrne. who was he? >> he was a legislator in the tennessee state house who was the youngest legislator in the tennessee state house. he represented east tennessee. his district was not particularly supportive of the 19th amendment. the governor had called a special session for tennessee to considerately 90 -- consider the 19th amendment. the vote counters believed they did not have the votes to pass

the 19th amendment in the tennessee state house. they were shocked when harry burn, who had been voting against them for all the other procedural votes, changed his vote to an "aye" vote, which pushed it over the top. they do not know he had received a letter from his mother that morning delivered at the tennessee state house floor that asked harry to vote for women's suffrage and to be a good boy and listen to the leader of the suffrage movement in nashville. harry burn decided to listen to his mother. he was a supportive of women's suffrage, but before, his constituents were not. he said later on he will listen to his mother and voted for women's

suffrage, which is what put the vote over the top and gave the suffragists the win. >> who was carrie chapman catt? why did she play such a big role in this movement? >> she was one of the most import figures in women's suffrage history. she was growing up in rural iowa. she was the daughter of foreigners. it was the 1872 presidential election, and her mother and father were both politically engaged. the day of the election came. her father got ready to go into town to vote along with some of the farmworkers, who worked on the farm for their father. she did not understand why her mother was not getting ready to go into town to vote. she asked, aren't you going to town with dad to vote? everybody

laughed and said don't be silly. women don't vote. that is probably the moment, when she was 13 years old, that carrie champpman catt became a suffragist. she started her career in iowa. she was married and moved to the northeast and became involved with the national american women's suffrage association. she became the protege of susan b anthony. susan b. anthony knew she probably would not live to see women voting across the united states. susan b. anthony decided she need to recruit women who would take her place and carrie chapman catt was the woman susan b. anthony recruited. she played a pivotal role several times in women's suffrage movement, certainly as a strategist and in nashville, tennessee. >> those demonstrations came to washington, d.c.. we have

pictures from outside the white house. what role did woodrow wilson play in this? >> woodrow wilson, when he came to the white house in 1913, was not a supporter of women's suffrage. he tried to avoid the issue as much as possible. as time went on, he did grow and change his opinion when he realized it would hurt him. it would hurt the democratic party for a long time in the future if he did not change his opinion. the suffragists, led by alice paul were the first united states citizens to protest in front of the white house. they started in 1917. at first, woodrow wilson was lukewarm at their presence. he might tip his hat at them or politely not at them when he would exit the north gate of the white house but things changed when the united states entered

world war i. after the united states was involved in the war effort and the suffragists are made outside -- remained outside the white house protesting, woodrow wilson grew angry. at a certain point in time, he ordered they be removed. the d.c. police started arresting women outside of the white house. as it ended up, approximately 168 women were arrested outside the white house for the two years in which they protested and served prison time in the d.c. jail or occoquan workouts that was south of washington dc. >> what was the charge? >> obstructing traffic. they were standing in front of the sidewalk. it was a false charge. they were acting on the orders of the administration to remove the women from the area outside the white house. they were not breaking any laws. they were exercising free speech. just because they cannot vote at the time did not mean they were not citizens and did not have the

right to free speech. >> i am curious, as we look at this movement. what was the argument against giving women the right to vote? >> there were numerous arguments. there was opposition from many men as you might imagine. there was also a number of anti-suffrage women's organizations as well. what it was was that a lot of men and women viewed women's role as being head of the family, being involved in civic organizations but private civic organizations. asy did not view women having a role in the public sphere. many women opposed to suffrage thought if women did have the

right to vote and moved into the public sphere that they would lose their power and authority within the private sphere and family. those women did not want to give up that status. it is hard for us to understand, but 100 years ago there was not really the conception that women could play a role in both spheres. that women could have powerful positions within government but also play a role within the family and the private sphere. that was not viewed as being an alternative for the women in the anti-suffrage movement. they thought of it as either/or. >> colleen shogan is the senior vice president of the what -- -- white house historical association. our phone lines are open and we are dividing the phone lines regionally. (202) 748-8000 for those of you in the eastern half of the country, if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. suffragists versus suffragettes.

there is a difference. >> that is a great question. it is one of the first things you learn. suffragette is a british term. the reason why it came into being was in the early 1900s. a british journalist for the u.k. mail wrote a very negative article about the british women who are advocating for the right to vote. he came up with a term "ette"ette, adding that to the end of it to make them sound small and diminutive. that is to say the efforts should be minimalized. what the women advocating for the right to vote in britain did was they espoused that term, took it on, made it their own, made it their own powerful term. americanl who was an

living in great britain at the the and became part of british women's suffrage movement did not like the term suffragette. she thought it did seem diminutive and not as powerful as they should be. alice paul left great britain and returned to the united states and became a leader in women's suffrage movements in the united states. she said it would only ever be suffragist and never suffragette. when she created her own publication for the national women's party, it was called "the suffragist." when we talk about american women who advocated for the right to vote, we use the term suffragist. we talk about british women who advocated for the right to vote, the correct term suffragette. >> tennessee becomes the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment to the constitution. what happened next?

>> women did vote in the 1920 election. they voted probably -- the turnout we can estimate between 33% and 36%. women's turnout increased over time. by 1980, the proportion of women voting in the united states surpassed the proportion of men voting in the united states. >> one of the editorial cartoons with the caption "sky's the limit." in 2020, an african-american woman on a major party ticket, the third time there has been a woman on the ticket since 1984. it is all in a continuum of history. that is why i like that cartoon. it shows women moving up the ladder. we have seen a historic nomination with vice president candidate kamala harris. she stands on the shoulders of many women who came before, not only the suffragists, but many black women who advocated for the right to vote even after

1920, up until 1965. and of course all the women who have served as members of congress and have run for president as well. >> carol is first up from oregon. >> i am really enjoying this conversation. i am a daughter of the revolution and we talk about these things will we have our meeting. the subject you just happened to mention was the african women. there was one thing i would like to see pointed out my the fact that, when african women wanted to join the other women's group they actually said, well, you might hurt us a little bit. they still went on and got that right to vote. if we could hear more about that, that would be great. thank you for bringing this up, this is great. >> thanks for the call. >> african-american women

unfortunately were often shut out of leadership positions in the two major women's suffrage organizations in the united states. that is the national women's party run by alice paul, the national american women's severed association run by carrie chapman catt. they spoke. they remembers but they were not powerful within these organizations and institutions. however, that did not mean they stopped advocating for the right of all women to vote. they formed their own club, their own organizations and were heavily involved. some african-american women even protested in front of the white house. alice paul would call upon them to do so. >> let's go to louisville, kentucky. good morning. >> i just wanted to reveal a story to you. in 1992 or 1993, i knew a lady named lucy stevens.

she was a suffragist, if i am saying that right. i found myself homeless back then, and i used to see her on the street every morning walking to the neighborhood grocery store. she would carry groceries. i said, how are you this morning? she would be so spry and talk just the way you are talking on tv now. she was very alert, very intelligent. she was a caucasian lady. abouts a little lady, 105, 100 10 pounds and she was just a sweetheart. i wanted to relate that to you. she would talk about her times when she was a young woman and when she was in that movement.

i was blessed just to know her. she was a wonderful, saintly person. i just wanted to reveal that to you. >> any reaction? >> this is part of the reason why we have the centennial celebration celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment. to recall the stories of these women. there may be a little bit of a mythology with the women's suffrage movement. if it is taught at all in american history, it might be something like women advocated for the right to vote, they politely held their signs, they donned their parasols and pantaloons. before you know it, they were granted the right to vote. that is not really the accurate history that we are trying to tell at the women's suffrage centennial commission or the white house historical association. these women had to fight hard for the right to vote. the

movement lasted 72 years from 1848 to 1920. there were a lot of bumps along the way. there were a lot of men in power who told them no. they figured out a way they would go back, re-strategize and come back at it again. it is a tremendous point in american history that we can all learn from. >> why did it reach that crescendo from 1912 until the summer of 1920? >> there were a number of reasons. other countries are starting to grant women the right to vote, so there was a worldwide pressure that this was coming. in that particular era, world war i ended up helping women in the united states because women participated in the war effort as nurses and took over jobs from men who were deployed in europe. it was hard for woodrow wilson and others to advocate for

democracy abroad and then realize they were disenfranchising over 20 million americans at home. the hypocrisy of that rhetoric became apparent. in fact, woodrow wilson had to admit there is no way we cannot acknowledge women should have the full rights as citizens, given the civic participation and how they have participated as leaders in this war effort. >> woodrow wilson had three daughters from his first wife. did they put pressure on him to support the 19th amendment? >> there is not too much evidence for that, though one of his daughters was supportive of the suffrage movement and did appear at several women's suffrage conventions. there is not much of a record whether she petitioned woodrow wilson or asked her father to support the movement. however, one woman that was not supportive was woodrow wilson's second wife.

she was an anti-suffragist. she did not think women should have the right to vote. she was not supportive of the 19th amendment. she would definitely not have been in favor for woodrow wilson. thehe other factor is president at the time was in poor health, having suffered a stroke. >> that is correct, he was. time, carrie katz actually had to go to him at certain times to enlist woodrow wilson's health. would call their legislatures into session so the ratification could move forward across the united states. she had to work through edith wilson to do that. stated he was had in favor of the amendment. >> let's go to connie joining us

from florida. good morning, welcome to the conversation. >> thank you for taking my call. i have a question about the first women to break ground as far as congress and the u.s. governor. that this was the first woman elected to congress in 1916, before the 19th amendment was ratified. are you saying that all men voted for her? also, the first woman governor i believe was in wyoming. let's talk about jeanette rankin. she was elected before women had the right to vote. and she only served one term in the house at that point. she came back to the united states congress after she lost a bid to become a senator. --nette rankin did

. the freshman was a member of congress at the time. she threw her support behind the amendment so women all the us the united states would have the right to vote. >> jan, you are next. welcome. >> i have a story to tell about my grandmother who was born in 1869. she was 50 years old. was when the 19th amendment was ratified. my mother was talking to her. she was from north carolina as was my grandfather. she was quicker, he was baptist. he was republican, she was democrat. my mother asked out right on election day, why are you going down to vote?

you are only canceling each other out. she said, because i waited too long to get the right to vote and i am going to exercise it. just a word from my grandmother. >> that is a terrific story. occasionhis is a good to share the stories from mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers if you're able to do that. i just learned about the 19th amendment. what would it be like to be born into a society that you did not have the right to vote? >> i have a question as to the

native american women and whether they were involved with the 19th amendment. was there any? >> there was. i am not an expert in that particular history but there was native american involvement in the right to vote. there are many historians who started to write more about native american women involvement in the right to vote. historically, native american women did have the right to vote within their communities. they are some of the earliest examples of being politically active. this is what their communities decide to do and how they operate. >> you talk about carrie chapman katz. catts. >> are you talking about sue white?

was the national women's party representative down in tennessee. it is interesting for that final battle. alice paul was the head of the national women's party, but alice paul did not come down to tennessee for that final battle. there was a reason, two reasons first, the national women's party was struggling for money and donations at the time. alice paul stayed in washington, -- washington, d.c. and wanted to raise money and get more donations so she could support the efforts in tennessee. she felt like she could play a role at the fundraiser. the other reason was sue white had been born in tennessee and had roots in tennessee. what alice paul concluded was it would be better to have tennessee women advocating and interfacing with legislators in tennessee rather than outsiders. even carrie chapman catt, very

involved in nashville, stayed in her hotel room. she did not interface directly with legislators deciding how to vote on the 19th amendment. she had her supporters from the national american women's suffrage association who had tennessee ties doing that for her. >> we talked about elizabeth standen and susan b. anthony, who were pioneers in this and what role do they play? >> unfortunately, both susan b other earlier supporters of the women's suffrage movement were not alive when this happened. they had died earlier in the 20th century. the women's suffrage movement is an example of three generations of the movement. ,he movement of susan b anthony

, the nextcady stanton generation would be the carrie chapman catts and the women involved. the third generation is alice paul, ida b wells. generations of activism and women to get the 19th amendment over the hump and over the hurdle. >> we have a photograph of lucy burns. it is located in fairfax county. for disrupting society. >> that is correct. she was the american suffer just, lucy burns spent the most time incarcerated, the most time in prison than any other american suffragist. she was jailed on six separate occasions.

her sentences were quite long. she served more time in prison than anybody else. that is a great photograph of lucy burns. it was likely a staged photograph. these women were very resourceful. they would have some empathetic to their cause, take their picture when they were imprisoned. they would have that photograph. they were masters of political spectacle, imagery and they knew that was an effective way to garner more public support all across the united states. >> i know you spoke earlier in regards to african-american alongside even

though they do not think that the would bring harm to demonstration. she speaks about the role that african-american women played in the suffrage movement. there was this book, homespun heroes in 1926 also, our african-american women going to be represented in the celebration? thnank you.

guest: martha jones's book vanguard, i cannot recommend it enough. martha is the expert on black women in the suffragette movement and black women in the history of american politics in general. i recommend that book and anything else she writes. absolutely. one of the things for the commission, whenever we were first organizing and talking and planning for the centennial celebration, one of the things we wanted to do was to tell the full story of the women's suffrage movement. that is an inclusive history, which would include the stories of african-american women, need women, chinese women, other women involved in the movement who typically or in previous commemorations were not fully given their due. matter is youhe

cannot understand the history of the women's suffrage movement because it is an american story. you cannot understand it without understanding the important role that race played at various times in the movement. it is impossible. if you are not taking the role of race seriously and including that in the analysis or history, then you are not telling the full story of the american women's suffrage movement. absoultely, that is part of our -- absolutely, that is part of our initiative, and i would say that, if you go to our website, we have a terrific series. you will see all kinds of information and profiles of various women who played roles in the women's suffrage movement, including the role of black women. host: this week marks the start of two weeks of back-to-back political conventions. because back to 1920

the republican convention held in chicago, nominating warren g. harding. the democrats met in july of 1920 in san francisco. they nominated james cox and franklin d roosevelt as vice president. my question, did this issue play out in the party convention? guest: it did. at the republican convention, there was a lot of photographs and images of the national women's party, including alice paul herself going to the convention and protesting outside the convention. you might ask, why were they protesting at the republican convention? republicans, historically were more supportive of women's suffrage earlier than the democratic party. the reason was they were marching towards trying to find this elusive 36th state to ratify. there were two states that were potential ratification possibilities, but they were both headed by republican governors. that was vermont and

connecticut. what they did was go to republican conventions and protest outside to try to get warren harding to strong arm or convince those two republican governors to take up women's suffrage in the state legislature and call a special session. they thought, correctly, that if a special session was called that state legislators would go for the amendment. they wanted to make sure suffrage was included in the party platform. they were successful in having suffrage included in the party platform. they were not successful in convincing warren harding to put pressure on those governors to have them take up the suffrage debate in the state legislatures. they also went to the democratic convention in san francisco, and the main goal was to make sure the 19th amendment and support for women's suffrage was included in the platform.

they were successful there. host: this is a what if question. had tennessee not ratified the 19th amendment, what would have happened next? what would have stayed in line? guest: the two possible next states in line were the northeastern states. that is probably where it would have gone, but it would never have happened with enough time to have women vote in the 1920 election. most likely, that would not have happened until 1921. it might have been favorable. you think it would've been favorable after tennessee voted to become the 36 state. those other states did fall in line and ratified subsequently, but it would never happen for women to have the vote by the 1920 election. host: this happened 100 years ago this week. august 18, 1920.

alicia is on the phone, columbia, maryland. caller: good morning, america. with all due respect, colleen, american indians did not become recognized as citizens of their own country. in 1924. the women could not have been in the suffrage marching. also, the native women were free, and they held the standard as well as the men. they could do the job. it is only when we became under the u.s. government when we -- i am sorry, i get these senior moments. we lost our freedom. today, our native women and girls are still being raped and

killed, and u.s. government cannot cover up. how about that? thank you. guest: the caller is correct about 1924. that is right. that is that is an important larger point about the 19th amendment. the 19th amendment we often use verbiage that it gave women the right to vote or enfranchised women. it really did not give women the right to vote. what it did was prevent the united states or the states from creating laws or barriers that related to gender or sex, that would prevent citizens from voting. gender was no longer a reason why the vote could be denied, but there were other reasons for why the vote could be denied, as the caller outlined. that is why the 19th amendment

unfortunately did not result in all women having the right to vote in 1920. back to yourto go earlier point. this is a photograph from france. the french movement was well underway. how did the u.s. compare with other countries in europe or elsewhere? guest: the first country to give women the right to vote is new zealand. australia follows soon after that. the first european country to enfranchised women is finland. it is followed by a number of other countries, norway, the other countries. great britain gives women the right to vote in 1918, but only in a limited sense. it is phased in by age, so it is not until 1928 that all women are able to vote in great britain. germany and russia enfranchised women before the united states, canada in 1917.

the united states in 1920. subsequently, france in the 1940's, italy in the 1940's. south africa. so, the united states, when you look at the list of the countries and dates in which they enfranchised women, united states is about middle of the pack. they were not the leader, but they were not the last country to enfranchise women. host: next in san clemente, california, ron, thank you for waiting. good morning. caller: thanks so much, colleen, for what you are doing. i have a story of my great grandmother, who happens to be a -- who happened to be a socialite from canada city, -- kansas city, missouri. one of the things you might mention is what happens to people who were upper-class that were involved in this women's suffrage union. what happened was my great

grandma married an alcoholic. as a result, she joined a women's christian temperance union. that was part of a throwback from world war i when the guys came home and were all drunkards. so there was a combination of suffrage. bet is what got the women to inspired and go forward with their suffrage process. it got people outraged. one of the things my great grandmother did later in her life was to write cowboy novels. the reason why that was is we were cousins to a guy named jesse wilson james. they were third cousins and they were on a train. my great-grandmother's mom, she was in the 70's. that was in the 1870's i'm talking about. they were robbed by jesse james on the train.

when jesse james came, he said, aren't you my cousin? she said, yes. he gave the money back. there were a lot of things going on in the society at that time. i think the impact of suffrage was a combination of ingredients that came about where women had been disenfranchised over a long time. even the salem witch trials were nothing more than urban renewal where they found women at risk because their husbands died and left them with a lot of money and people wanted to take that money. host: you have to write a book. talk about some connections. caller: it is even worse because i have not mentioned we are related to rutherford b hayes. we are second, third cousins.

also to woodrow wilson. as i mentioned to you, the incestuous part of this process is there were a lot of socialites involved. my great-grandmother came from canada. -- kansas city, missouri. that is where it all started for her. host: six degrees of separation. caller: wait, wait, wait. one more thing i might mention, in her later years, she was writing cowboy novels. i will tell you how women get disenfranchised. when she first started writing cowboy novels about her life, she would send it in with her name on it and no one would publish a woman author. she changed her name to her wilsoname, robert hayes in order to get the publisher to publish the cowboy novels. host: now you have to write the book. we will feature it on book tv. thank you.

guest: yes, i think there was a lot there. the first point is about class. there were women who were working class industrial workers, teachers who became part of a movement. there were also wealthier women who became involved in the movement. some became funders to the movement. in washington, d.c. we of course have the belmont paul house named after the founder for the national women's party. some of the women did not just write checks. they stood outside. they were protesters. in fact, this is what draws a lot of woodrow wilson's attention. when some of these women are being arrested are more prominent in society and their husbands are friends with woodrow wilson and they come

into the white house and complained to wilson, saying why is my wife in jail or in prison 22 miles south of washington, d.c. in a workhouse, that starts to get wilson's attention because of the spouses coming to complain to wilson about the treatment. there were also working-class women, women who worked in education, who would travel across united states to come particularly for alice paul and participate in the pickets. the other question was about the women's suffrage movement. the caller is correct with that. there are at least two

movements. earlier was the abolition movement. many of the early suffragists gained their organization, political skills, how to give a speech, how to write an article for a newspaper, all through the abolition movement. later on was also the temperance movement and union, which was the major organization. the two heads of the major organization were sympathetic to the movement, but they try to keep it separate from the women's suffrage movement because they did not want to offend others that were not supportive of temperance. they wanted to make sure they had the widest tent possible. host: this is one of the many photographs we have been showing kieran this is from 1913 as women from foreign countries in washington, d.c. push for women's right to vote. how often were these parades demonstrations, and what was the

reaction by the general public? guest: that is the famous paris -- parade that took place on march 3, 1913. it is the first major social protest that exists in washington, d.c., the first parade of its time, the first march on the capital that takes place. at that parade, alice paul, who is the organizer along with lucy burns, they do not know how many people would show up. historians disagree about the number of people in the crowd, but was probably between 150000 and 200,000 people. the crowd got rowdy or as the day went on. there were a lot of saloons that lined the parade route on pennsylvania avenue. then you go in and out of the saloons and get a drink and come back. at the end, most of the men were intoxicated. they rushed out onto the parade route.

there was a lot of physical abuse upon the women. the d.c. police were not helpful to the suffragists who were marching, and the secretary of war at the time was watching the parade. the secretary of war, henry stinson had to call out the calvary to come in and break up the mob that had existed so the women could continue down pennsylvania avenue and finish the treasury department, which was the end point of the parade. these took place major cities. you might say, why was alice paul so interested in having a parade, especially when something like this could happen in 1913, which seems like a disaster? they had brought great attention to the cause. alice paul's strategy was, the

more i can create a spectacle, the more i can be in the news about women's suffrage, more people will learn about the fact that women do not have the vote all across the united states and the more people that will become some pathetic to the cause. she was a master at expanding the scope of the conflict. host: there was also the men's league for women's suffrage. what was the mission? guest: it was a myth to say this was men versus women in this movement. there were many men along the way who were supportive of women's suffrage, who organized along with the women. we do not see them in a lot of the photographs. that was on purpose. alice paul wanted to have the actual members of her party photographed in front of the white house and show them in various situations in which they were advocating for the right to vote. there were many men along the way who were supportive of elizabeth cady stanton, her husband.

carrie chapman catt's husband essentially bankrolled her participation in the movement because he was able to support her and support her travels related to women's suffrage. host: michael is next, new york. caller: good morning. it is so fitting, this topic you guys are talking about with women's rights and right to vote, and whatnot, and everything going on in the world. as we reflect back, we look back into the abolitionist movement and how instrumental women were. it ties right into the next movement, to the suffrage movement, where harriet tubman was this abolitionist that helped free slaves. now we have to look at women as being very instrumental in this process of getting rights to vote.

it is fitting today you guys had this on and the way things are going with the post office and rights to vote. it is so important to exercise our right, and women saw that. i love history. i love to see this stuff. it reminds us where we came from. as i look back locally, every -- seneca falls being the birthplace of the women's suffrage movement. it's a historical future. time i drive through the town, it is a sight to see. the special museum up there and everything. i do not know if you have ever been there. guest: i was scheduled to go to seneca falls this summer. we had a big celebration planned for seneca falls as part of their convention day celebration every july. unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we were unable to make that trip. however, the commission has decided in lieu of what we had

planned in july -- we had been working with a sculptor. we are going to be adding a series of monuments at seneca falls commemorating diverse women in the movement. those plans are underway, and we hope to have the statues erected next year. host: you mentioned edith wilson, who was the second wife of woodrow wilson after the death of his first wife, opposed to women's right to vote. was there an organized effort by her or other women that did not want to see women have the right to vote? guest: absolutely. edith wilson was not involved in anti-suffrage movement. she was personally anti-suffrage and made her opinions known to woodrow wilson and others in the white house. there was organized anti-suffrage, organizations and clubs, just as there were women's suffrage organizations

to promote the 19th amendment. there were organizations that had been constructed to stop the 19th amendment. you see this clearly in tennessee, in nashville at this final fight in august of 1920. all of the organizations descend upon nashville, pro-suffrage organizations and anti-suffrage organizations. also, we have not talked about this yet, but there were corporate influences. were special interest groups opposed women's suffrage. the manufacturing industry, the railroad industry, and the liquor industry. they played an important role in that fight in nashville. they descended upon hermitage hotel, set up shop, and essentially engaged in aggressive lobbying of all the tennessee state legislators. host: in case you are interested in today's new york times, this

editorial in the milestone and the myth. annapolis, maryland. go ahead, please. caller: good morning. i was the curator at the woodrow wilson museum in washington, d.c. in 1995 for a celebration of the 75th anniversary. i lead a team of three of our other guides and volunteers. i would like to mention a couple things, if you will indulge me. first, there is a gigantic wealth of artifacts and documents across the country for all 50 states for researchers that are researching this or with the boon in ancestry come out looking up what your family might have done. along the things we borrowed

were cartoons from what was then the belmont house in washington, the home of the national women's party. there were songs there was a wonderful song based on a 1920's song that went, "oh, dear, what can the matter be? women are wanting the vote." women who would pick it wilson would use his own words against him as they burned his words in kettles and cauldrons on the sidewalk outside the fence at washington -- at lafayette park. i would like to mention the clothing that still exists. you see pictures of women handing out various newspapers. i would like to encourage every woman of age to vote this year. when you do study this history, women were jailed. they were given a little jail door pin if they had gone to jail.

they were force-fed. some of those women could never eat well again for the rest of their life, alice paul included, because of the scars and damage from that. it is a hard one battle in this country, one that i hold close to my heart and vote every year, encourage everyone to do so. we named it an act of right and justice speakers -- justice because when wilson did turn the tide, that was part of his speech to congress. we got a big laugh when we started this and started going to archives and identified where

we were from, we would have women from archives or women experts turned to us, and they would almost in a whisper go, you do know he was the bad guy, don't you? we will get a kick out of that because we were trying to show the record. he did turn the tide and it was his speech in congress that helped the effort. host: some of that is on display at the wilson house, and we have a photograph of it here in washington, d.c. where he lived after he left the presidency. correct? caller: yes. host: thanks for the call for maryland. guest: i agree with everything that was said. we certainly have a terrific repository related to the women's suffrage movement. my former employer, the library of congress, probably has the most robust collection of women's suffrage manuscripts, prints, and photographs because the librarian of congress at the time was friends with the suffragists and convinced them to donate their materials to the library of congress. the national archive has a

strong record given its role in the history of voting and in american history. in the smithsonian museum did a lovely exhibit using portraiture to document many women suffragists. those materials are online. even though we cannot visit those museums and archives, we can visit them digitally. host: your website, this is what it looks like. women's vote 100.org. which includes photographs and historical information about what happened in august 1920. the centennial of women earning the right to vote. john is next in texas. caller: good morning. i was hoping you could speak about it. 100 years on, it is difficult to understand the point of view of the women anti-suffragettes. can you talk about their fears or reasonings? host: thank you. guest: yes.

they simply -- women at that time who were opposed to the right to vote, there were a couple reasons. first, they simply were afraid of giving up their stature within the family and private sphere. they viewed the men in their lives, their husbands, their fathers, their brothers, they thought they could represent them adequately at the polls, that politics was a dirty business, that it was not something women who were viewed in the notion of republican motherhood and they were viewed as pure and sanctified. it women entered into the public -- if women entered into the public sphere of politics, they would become dirty like the men. many women enjoyed that elevated status of purity that was promoted at that time. even teddy roosevelt, who was a progressive, until 1912 he was

hesitant. he said, it would make sense for women to vote, but why would they want to enter this sphere of politics which would damage the reputation? women's role are as mothers to their children and the nation. they really should not be advocating for the public sphere and right to vote. in the last battle in tennessee, a lot of women who were opposed to suffrage in tennessee were opposed to women voting because they did not want black women to have the right to vote. they thought the 19th amendment would be a march toward the enfranchisement of more african-american women voting in

tennessee and also voting elsewhere in the south because the 19th amendment would apply issue wide. it would not simply apply to just tennessee. there was great concern about the role of race in that last battle. host: john from virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. i was a little curious. after the civil war, black men all had the right to vote, supposedly, even though democrats did their best to keep them from voting. when women got the right to vote, how did they separate the black women? why would they not have the right to vote the same as all women since the black men already had the right to vote? host: john, thank you. interesting point. guest: they were subject to the same state laws or local laws that black men were subject to. so the common method in which they would prevent voting on the basis of race was either literacy tests or poll taxes,

which were applied throughout the south and in some places in the northeast, at least with literacy tests. the other method used, particularly in the south, was -- south, you have to remember that there was the rise of the ku klux klan, southern segregationist and white supremacists would use the extralegal method of intimidation to prevent black women and black men from voting. host: put this anniversary into perspective. what was the significance of women getting the right to vote in 1920, and where are we today? guest: the significance of women voting across the united states in 1920 was astronomical. the turnout was somewhere between 33% at 36%. even that is extraordinary of how many more millions of

americans at that point in time were voting in 1920 that had voted in the previous election. the 19th amendment did represent the largest single enfranchisement of american citizens in our nation's history. as we look to 2020, women now outvote men proportionally in numbers in the aggregate and also as a percentage. there is an interesting statistic as well. from what we have seen in the past couple elections, african-american women vote in higher percentages and proportions than white men in this country. when you think about the double disadvantage that african-american women have had both because of their gender or sex and because of the race, i think that is really extraordinary statistic to

reflect and think about. host: based on your research, when those women cast their ballots in 1920, did they face pressure at the ballot box? guest: women largely voted republican in 1920, but the 1920 election was a landslide for harding. that was really no surprise. there is a lot of writing that says women simply voted the same way as their husbands or as their fathers. unfortunately, since there was no exit polling in 1920, there is no way for us to actually know whether that was the case. host: the story of women earning the right to vote 100 years ago. colleen shogan is the vice chair of the women's suffrage centennial commission. she also serves as senior vice president of the white house historical association. thank you for being with us here on c-span's washington journal and on american history tv. guest: thank you very much.

american history tv is on social media. follow us at c-span history. >> up next on "the presidency." we look back at past presidential convention speeches from the major presidential party. president harry truman at the 1948 democratic convention in philadelphia. truman: -- >> our leader and the next president of the united states. [cheers and applause] ♪