this week marks the 100th university of the women's right about. coming up, a look at how that happened. next, the women's suffrage

centennial overview of a decision by state. and the current female leaders on the future of the 19th amendment. that's followed by look at the decade leading up to the passage of the women's vote. later, a look at lesser-known suffrage leaders. >> up next, hillary clinton and library of congress talk about the fight for women to vote. this is the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. the woman's efforts continue commission hosted this conversation. good afternoon, and welcome. my name is dr. colleen shokin, i'm the vice chair of the women's suffrage centennial commission. on behalf of the commission and twitter, we are thrilled to bring you women to fight for the vote, celebrating 100 years of the 19th amendment, a conversation with award-winning historian elaine weiss, and former secretary of state hillary rotem clinton. moderated by librarian of

congress doctor karla hagan. august 26th 2020 marks 100th unit anniversary of the 19th amendment and women's right to vote. in honor of this milestone, american democracy congress has designated august as national women's suffrage month. the women's suffrage centennial commission is coordinating national women's suffrage month, on behalf of congress and the american people. if this history interests you, visit the commission at women's vote 100 that order to learn more and to engage. for now, let's enjoy this conversation between these three billion women as we separate the centennial of women's suffrage and pay tribute to the legacy of the trail blazing suffragists who pave the way for our right to vote. hello! colleen, thanks for that thoughtful introduction. i am librarian of congress,

carla hayden and i join you from the suffrage exhibit, shall not be denied. welcome to women's fight for the vote, celebrating 100 years of the 19th amendment. a conversation with historian elaine weiss and former secretary of state hillary rotem clinton. what a joy it is to be here with these two women discussing this history and the centennial year. i'd like to start with a brief interaction. elaine weiss who is joining me today for this conversation at the library of congress is an award winning journalist, writer and historian as well as the author of the women's our, the great fight to win the vote, which tells the story of tennessee's role as the 36 and final state to ratify the 19th amendment. and it's also just been put out into a young readers addition. also joining us today is

secretary hillary rotten clinton. secretary clinton has a long career in public service and i have her 1996 book, it takes a village. that really makes sure that we all consider young people. she was also making history in 2016 as the first woman to earn a major parties nomination for president. she has been a long champion of women's suffrage history and is working as an executive producer on the television adaptation of the women's our. so secretary clinton and elaine, let's get started. so to start us off, here's a question for both of you. this was the longest movement in history, so why isn't the story of women's suffrage more widely torn?

>> secretary clinton? >> thanks so much, carla. i'm delighted to be here with you and elaine to talk about this. i think your question goes to the heart of the challenges we have faced, which is suffrage history was considered at best and add on to real american history. it was not given the respect and in the academy, it was not the subject of curriculum development. i remember very little in my public school years of learning about anything having to do with the suffrage movement other than eventually women were given, as they would say, the right to vote. so i think that this 100th anniversary, what you've done with the exhibit at the library,

the commissioner's work, obviously. great scholarship, like elaine's book is filling a vacuum. because we did not know enough about the history and how it links with the continuing struggle in america to form a more perfect union and try, despite all of the setbacks and obstacles, to keep moving toward true equality for everyone. >> and, elaine, was it difficult with the research because, as the secretary said, it was not a part of -- i know it was not part of my experience in school at all. >> it's absolutely true that it has not been taught very deeply in our curricula. but there's always been wonderful scholarship. and it just has not filtered down to why i decided to write

the book, there is wonderful primary documents, there is the collection and the library of congress and the tennessee state archives, there is wonderful, rich documentation of the seven decade movement, and yet it has not filtered down to public awareness, so that is one of the things i wanted to do. i wanted to take those primary documents that tell the story so richly and the scholarly work that has been done and sent the size that and tell a story that would intrigue a modern razor. there are so many themes that we are still grappling with today, so i am very hopeful that there have been wonderful new suffrage books, i'm surrounded by wonderful new

additions that tell the story from different angles. i think that's one of the special things about the centennial is that it is fostering this interest in public scholarship and popular culture of looking at this important movement and learning the lessons it can teach. as >> secretary clinton, he served as first lady, a senator, secretary of state and women's suffrage movement, didn't have anything to inform your journey, informing what you wore? >> yes, indeed. when you come to grips with how hard it was for women to first get included in the constitution and how much more difficult it was to enforce that right, especially for

black women, native american women who were left out because of the way the amendment was ignored, and how it was part of the continuing efforts in our country to deny black people and other minorities the right to vote. so i really see what elaine just said as an important point. what happened 100 years ago is still relevant today. i certainly, as first lady and senator, secretary of state and as a democratic nominee thought often about the women who started the suffrage movement, women like sojourner truth, like elizabeth katie stanton, like susan bee anthony. these women did not leave to see the result of all their labor. sometimes you have to understand that you are in the

relay race of history. you are handing off the baton that you have taken from someone else, and i think there is an enormous amount of energy right now at this moment in our history to write wrongs, to bring about a reckoning with racism, sexism, a lot of the challenges that unfortunately we still live with, and that was very present in my mind during the last years. and the early suffragists inspired and encouraged me. >> did you feel that as you stood there? did you knew you are carrying on a legacy? >> it has been a long time since we got the, vote a long time since any -- the two major political parties had even considered a woman the vice presidential ticket and then obviously being nominated,

i felt like i was standing in that great river of history. >> i felt so privilege to be there at that moment, to try to link our past, present and future, and that is why i get so much encouragement and i'm optimistic about this time because young people seem so energized and so committed to doing better and bring everyone in to the american experiment. i was incredibly conscience of it and remain so today because the work continues. it is by no means done. >> that's why you're book for young readers and making that available to the ten, 11-year-olds and what is so powerful is that you give them

the history, and then you give them a call to action. you tell them what? >> activism it's not just a particular time in your life. i think i wanted to show through the story of this and decades long movement, which took on its own momentum through three generations of women. and then had to go on for another 40 years for black women, and almost as long for asian women and native american women. sometimes these seeds are planted very young. i tell the story of several of the leading suffragists who became conscience of injustice when their children, their young girls and they see their mothers not able to vote, or

they see that their fathers who are judges cannot protect women because the laws are written in a way that they had a very few legal rights in the 19th century. i wanted to show the passion for social justice, for any number of passions that young people can recognize because they had a very keen sense of what is just and not, so i think it's very important to realize that you can feel that and then gather the tools and the knowledge to, as an adult, or even as a very young adult begin to bring that passion into the world and began creating change. >> the suffrage movement involved protests and demonstrations and also a very sophisticated political strategy.

i think it was very important that young people realize that it's going to take all of that. >> you're going to bring that powerful story to the screen and television series by stephen spielberg's production company. and, secretary, you are the executive producer. elaine, how did you feel when you got that call? >> it was a dream of a lifetime kind of moment. a very special moment. of course, for me it, with the idea that hillary clinton had read my book. that was the most powerful part of it. and then how deeply she understood the power of the story and wanting to make this story available to the largest audience. we agreed, we need to tell the

story because it's meaningful not just in our history but how we go forward and how we learn from this experience of having to fight for half of the nation to get the vote. the idea of partnering together on this and that's when the most spectacular experiences, young people will be interested in wonderful rollercoaster for us, we're not familiar with hollywood and we are learning. would you agree? >> i'd agree 100%. carla, i had never done that before. i read a lot of books that had inspired me and i've written letters to authors to thank them for bringing the book alive, but i finished elaine's

book, women's our and, i was stunned by the beauty of her writing and storytelling, and what a compelling, dramatic story it was, that final effort to get the final state needed to ratify the amendment. i have to confess, i vaguely knew that tennessee was the last state and i had come across the ending of the story where the young legislators changes its vote because of a no he get from his mother, but i had no idea that the real suite of this historic moment in america. so i did call her, and i said you really have to bring this to a larger audience and make sure especially that young people and young women understand that this was hanging by a thread.

all of these powerful interests, the alcohol industry, a lot of the attitudes about women's place being in the home, the women who were against it. there's so much of the status still swirling around in our politics, so i was thrilled when spielberg and his team said they were interested. as elaine said, it's a challenge. and even more so because of the pandemic, making a historical work like the women's our which has so much drama already, but making it accessible to this generation. i'm really in all of elaine's patients. she has done a great guide and understands the significance of this story. >> part of that trauma, and i as a woman of color, i just

have to give this quote, win the national museum of african american history and culture opened and the dedication, president george w. bush said a great nation does not hide its history, it faces its laws and correct them. and that story of race and prejudice and the suffrage movement is very compelling. secretary clinton, can you share your thoughts on that? you mention it's to good in the bad in the movement. >> i think we are coming to understand that every human being as strengths and weaknesses. it has real moments of greatness and sadly, moments of departure of that, flaws go with the process of being a human being, especially one in

the public stage. we take very seriously the challenges within the suffrage movement. starting after the civil war because, as you know so well, suffrage and abolition were married. the grim key sisters were preaching for abolition of slavery, but also speaking on behalf of women's rights. sojourner truth, and so many of the pioneers coming out of the declaration of sentiments in 1848, they were joined by that george douglas. so there was a real marriage of effort and belief, conviction, commitment between the abolitionists and the suffrage

movement. after the civil war, when the constitution was amended to give blackmon the right to vote, that began a rupture between the two movements. i have tried to understand it from the perspective of everyone involved. and i do understand. some of the challenges that i think both black and white women tried to deal with. they were sometimes successful and coming together, and recommitting themselves to the struggle, but even until the very end when the pressure was on congress to pass the amendment, you see the calculations of analysis paul, or a carry chapman, or two white suffragists and two black suffragists trying to figure out how do we deal with both

sex and race? how do we deal with the prejudices that affect both women and black people, particularly black women? it's a very important part of the story of suffrage and the very important lesson to people in the president, certainly young people going forward. you cannot sacrifice any part of your value system. you have to stay firm. your against racism and against sexism. you want to move everyone forward. i'd love to hear elaine talk about that, because she captures the tension in the women's hour and how black suffragists in nashville and tennessee joined forces. i think in a very realistic, pragmatic way with the white suffragists but they knew that

their full rights were not being recognized. >> elaine, you captured it. >> we see this happen all the time. we are seeing it today. the powers at the pick to disenfranchised groups against one another and say only one of you can come through as a suffer just. only one if you can be enfranchised. only one of you are going to get the legislation that you need to protect yourself. and we see this happen over and over again and the suffrage movement. again, learning the lessons of what went wrong, of the attitudes that hindered universal -- the idea of universal suffrage of all citizens having the right to vote, i think it is as important of telling the story of why the suffragists ticks

seated. and i bring of this alliance of black suffragists and white suffragists, working together for ratification because they are working and every city and town in america, understanding how important the vote was and understanding that in the south, the jim crow laws were going to impede their ability to exercise the 19th amendment. the great disappointment is that the suffragists do not insist that the 19th amendment be enforced and congress refuses to enforce it going forward after 1920. it is left to racist legislators and the seven states.

this idea that you can have constitutional law, but if it's not enforced, if the public will is not strong enough to force politicians, then legislation, even congressional -- even constitutional amendments are not as meaningful or as powerful as they should be. that is a really important lesson for today. and it's also a lesson that, leaving aside your colleagues, your sisters who we know are going to have trouble exercising this right and you fought for and one, it's going to weaken american democracy because you are not taking that next vital step. that's important for me to remember today as we are in the congress and even in our city

municipal government bodies, trying to right some wrongs. trying to make a more equal and more perfect union. we have to remember that as secretary clinton but so, well you cannot leave your ideals behind for political expediency. that said, there are forces that will make you make of those moral compromises. >> it's very important but very difficult. >> there's hope in looking at history, probably something that made you say i want to make sure this gets to a broader audience because look at the history, it takes everyone. is that part of what you felt? >> absolutely.

carla, the library of congress is a repository of history. you preside over, in effect, the real core of people's memories, their struggles, their efforts and it's such an important job that you had, at the library, and you are taking it out of the library. similarly, i think we have to take history, not only into our schools, but into the media. into social media. into the streets where people have to see as clearly as possible what came before so that they can learn those lessons. you know, elaine just said something i think is so important, and i alluded to it earlier. the relay race of history where you go as far as you can and then you hand off the baton to keep going, you are in this

river. let's say we're having a relay race in a river. every so often, the river backs up on you, or the people running the locks and dams tell you, sorry, only a few of you can get through. you have to wait your time. it's a tough compromise. on the one hand, you want to claim the progress that you've made, pass off the baton to keep going. on the other hand, those compromises just aren't fair. so i find this effort that elaine did with the women's our, and a lot of the work that are coming out around suffrage try to fill up the historical record so that we learn more about the black suffragists. we learn more about the corporate and political and

cultural and economic interests standing in the way. we learned that these battles we are fighting today have president going back hundreds of years, but certainly the last hundred and 70 years, so i'm disappointed the pandemic stop us from doing a lot of the events that were planned, but i am thrilled that through virtual events like this one with you, carla, you and elaine and i can talk to a much broader audience about, not only what happened, but what needs to keep happening to keep face with all of those other suffragists. >> that is why the saying there's hope in history resonates so much that you see that there were conflicts, there were doubts and so many things that happened. because we are in this

environment, we are also able to take questions, and i have a few from you that were submitted to us. on twitter. the first is a two part question, and it is for secretary clinton, from molly, a girl scout in east tennessee. there you go. and she asked what advice do you think the suffragette would give a girl like me who wants to be president one day? this is key. i learned about the suffragettes this year in school. did you? >> molly, i love your question. i did not learn very much about the suffragists when i was in school, so i'm thrilled that you are learning. being from east tennessee, you are right in the place where it

was finally passed. i hope you will read the young person's version of the woman's our, because it's about nashville and east tennessee, it's about the young man who costed a decisive vote. if the suffragists were here, and you say from the very beginning of the 19th century, through the final ratification of the amendment, they would be both amazed that a young man like yourself want to the president, but they would be thrilled and encouraging and they would tell you a couple of things. number one, the suffragists black and white believe strongly and education. some were able to have a lot of education, some had a rudimentary education, but

never stopped learning. that's what i think really underscored their preparedness. secondly, they were great at building coalitions, even when they split apart. but they were and coalitions and different forms for those 70 years. and they never lost hope. they never gave up on winning the vote for women. it gets discouraging sometimes, and what will really matter and what the suffragists want you to do is a setback in your public, professional life is to get back up and keep going or do you stop? they would say get up and keep going and you would have to

adjust your approach, your tactics, but don't give up on what you want and how to make others lives and pursuing your own interests. >> don't give up. and this question is for elaine, and they come from amanda at the brandy wine museum in pennsylvania. amanda asks, if you could magically discover the previously unknown writings of one suffragette that reveals her own personal thoughts, convictions and motivations, which suffragette would you choose? >> whoa. magic. magic. magic. of the suffragists, there are mysteries. there are documents or personal communications that if you do

not have. certainly, when i was writing the book and in the archives of the library of congress, there were times when i thought, wow, wouldn't it be great if i knew why they were doing this? and i think, to tell the truth, it is the leaders are really well documented. we do have a fair number of letters describing the choices that they are making. i think, perhaps, i would like to see either wells, her diary of entering the 1913 suffered march here in washington d.c., where she refused to march at the end of the parade. and she breaks in to the parade

and marches with her illinois suffragists. they embrace her. and they march with her and that delegation. the national archives has some wonderful letters between the suffragists and alice paul, who is planning this march and saying, you know, the march should not be segregated. the march was segregated because the idea that there would be some people who would take offense, some southern women's suffragists, and also the community of washington d.c., which was highly segregated in 1913, we'll take offense if they saw black women marching with white women. so, i would have loved to have seen her immediate reaction. she had that in wonderful

picture of our, having burst into this forbidden spot, but i would have loved to see her note to her family in that moment. it could be that it does exist, and i don't know of it but that would be a searing description of not accepting the limitations that would be placed on black women. >> that shows there's more research to do, and our last question is from barbara and washington d.c.. i'll ask both of you, barbara asks what does it mean to you to see how much americans have

embraced this this year? >> i asked the smithsonian to lead their exhibits because many who are interested in both were not able to visit. i want to make a few quick points about this, because we are having a big debate about monumental statues right now, and a lot of these women deserve statues. ida b. wells, sojourner truth, carry chapman carried, a lot of them. alice paul. when we think about if we are going to have visible, physical memorials, why don't we celebrate those women who,

through history move us toward that more perfect union. to that end, it was found after a survey that they have very few statues of women. at the end of this month, there will be an unveiling of the statue of sojourner truth and elizabeth katie stanton and susan bee anthony and essential park where the only prior woman was alice in wonderland. so it means the world to me that people are focusing on this history, learning lessons from it, adjusting their own understanding of the difficulties had to overcome that constitution real, not just to a very small group, as it was in the beginning but it

could not have come at a more opportune time for us to resolve that we are going to make our future different, truly different from our past. finally, resolve a lot of these long-standing thorny issues about equality and constitutional inclusion that have really kept us unequal and unjust for too long. >> elaine? >> i totally agree that what has allowed us to do is to look back and understand that our democracy is not given. every generation, sometimes many generations have to fight to expand it, to make it work. but it has also given rise to new research and new interests

and so that suffrage leaders and world communities, and native american communities are being lifted up out of the archives because it's harder to, but they are being lifted up and celebrated, they're being written about, spoken about in local terms. so every state is doing deep research in preparation for this centennial moment. i think that is very important, because we are getting voices of african american suffragists at a native american suffragists and asian american and all american suffragists and suffrage supporting men, and we are getting those voices back into the narrative. so we're going to get out of this much more complicated, nuanced, deep understanding of what this movement meant, and

why it is important today. >> i can ensure you that's elaborate of congress is extending the companion exhibit, rosa parks and her own words. the fact that those two are now virtually online, and we can continue and reach out to anyone. thank you elaine and secretary clinton for joining me in this conversation. this is inspirational and it means so much to have both of you let everyone know that there is hope and history. so thank you so much, and thank you to the commission. >> thank you, and thank you all very much. >> on behalf of the centennial commission and twitter, we'd like to suggest, doctor hagan

and secretary clinton for sharing this conversation with us today. learn more about the movement, and more of these events will be held throughout august. as the suffragists would say, onward.

good evening and welcome to