>> you're watching american history tv all weekend and week on c-span 3. ike us on facebook at c-span list. a panel of historians talk about the history of african americans voting rights. this event was part of the association for the study of african-american life and history's annual conference. they also provided the video.

enhance the work that the national park service was doing to interpret the african-american experience. sadly, she passed away at the start of this year. and i wanted to take a moment about the preservation of the history of the struggle to achieve black voting rights to remember my boss k my friend and a true you pioneer in the long and ongoing process to make conservation and preservation npca more s like just, diverse and includesive. thank you iantha. folks are going to be aware that the history for the struggle of voting rights is wide ranging, multi-faceted and current. it's still going on. what we want to do with this panel of experts and people who are my friends, folks that i

admire is to get their insights on this issue but maybe in more specific and direct ways. we've got one person, josephine bowman mccall who lived through the struggle of voting rights. we'll hear from josephine about that. her family's experiences, her experiences and what she's doing now to preserve that history. and i've got two other friends, nette kohlmann robertson and jeanette robinson who work on protecting the african-american experience including struggle for voting rights. so without any more adieu, we're going to get going. and we'll turn it over to you first. we'll move to a question and answer session. and we'll begin to take questions from the audience. and she's helping to coordinate those and feed them into this discussion. thank you all for being here. joe, we'll go to you now.

>> thanks, allen. good afternoon. in our discussion today, i'm going to make three declare ration regarding preserving the history of the voting rights struggle. number one, when the civil war ended in 1865, two years later in 1867, there were 4,000 black men registered voters in alabama. in 1965, out of 5,000 african americans of voting age, there was not a single registered voter. a ber two, mitch established and in may, ty 2,000 african americans participated in the democratic primary. the only history of the voting rights struggle is preserved in

lawrence county, alabama. it's off highway 80 known as the one nal historic trail cannot get from selma to montgomery without traveling in this county. 1865 miles county legislationors enfranchised black men believing they can control their vote. however, in march 1867 when ongress extended the franchise through black men through the reconstructive act, it became clear that they voted as they pleased. despite terror tactics, they failed to keep african-americans from the ballot box. by the summer of 1867, 4,000

polls.en went to the to mansville power, moved alabama and in 1867, he organized first baptist church for african americans. he received funds from the friedman bureau and openered a school in that building. 1872, mansville himself served as a county representative in the alabama house of representatives. in 1883, he sold property to the educational association and built a school as a separate building. the 1870 church and the

lawrenceburg school are on the national register and still there today. the african americans, of course, supported the republican party because that was the party from livered them slavery. the democrats took the house. d they gerrymandered and legislators who supported mansville tyler. they paid $1.50 a poll tax. pass a literacy test and provide

proof of good, moral character. remember in 1900, miles county had more than 5,000 registered black voters six years later, the county had district seven. the county became known as bloody lounge because of the high rate of white violence against black to maintain segregation. the united states district attorney had been told if he valued his life, he better stay way from the county. every black man, woman and child were threatened. administration purchased a large plantation and divided it into small farms. that same year, 1935, three . ack men were lynched

it was clear that the county remained too dangerous to challenge white power openly. 37 changed hisn 19 economic status such as many others. he was lynched for his achievement. seven children were left fatherless as a result. now, i was 5. our father began with a mule and a wagon. and he was 39 years of age. he acquired a plantation, a store on highway 80, famous civil rights trail and he helped build that highway. and he was employing about 40 people. and he had three tractor-trailer trucks. my father was shot six times with the pistol and once in the

back with a shotgun. miles county covered up the process so it wouldn't afear be a lynching. i wrote a book detailed about it fori titled it "the penalty success: my father was lynched in miles county, alabama." my family established a foundation in my father's memory to keep his legacy of being an entrepreneurs and history going. now we move forward to 1960. an infamous march known as bloody sunday. the march finally reached ontgomery on march 21.

independent political party. white men owners evicted 75 families. to keep evictees from leaving the ounty, smith organizes tent city. some residents of tent city lived there more than two and one half years. and still today, there's nothing rom the landscape to show that the community foot soldiers were ven there. >> jill, thank you very much.

very powerful presentation. very personal history. jena, we're going to go to you. take it away. >> i want to say thank you for sharing your story there. it's the kinds of stories of all histories that really make this relevant and real for us. bring tell these stories forward the cultural outreach that's so necessary for us to have and that out reach. that's the mission to preserve and protect the natural one, historical but also the cultural the countylaces like . and that was the underpinning if

the commemoration that we had and for the 19th amendment this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment that granted suffrage for women in through the discussion. we also though in our commemoration wanted to keep in nd two things that the national park service must communicate that not all women achieve the right to vote with the passage of the 19th amendment. and stheaked the struggle was very much defined by class and race and religion. those are the things that we wanted to make sure that we put forward in any commemorative events that we did. and so we kept this first point in mind but not all were to get

the right to vote because of the passage of the 19th amendment. because history is not pretty. it's not clean. it's not clear cut. when we try to tell it, the stories we must tell them in all their complexity. i want everyone to think for a moment, in your school day, when you were learning about the women suffrage movement, think of some of the images that were used to tell the story. you may recall some images of elizabeth katie stanton and susan b. anthony, looking over some papers to push forward for the suffrage rights. the sentinels that were standing out in front of the white house in lincoln park significant even today in protests. ut they were there petitioning against woodrow wilson or the

women that were jailed during these movements. when you think of those images, do you see black women present in those images? more often than not, you don't because those images are reflective of how the story had been told who was in charge of those stories. as hardk women who were as anyone else working towards suffrage, who were always there were not being able to be represented in a full way. hey were often marginalized. but now this body knows very well after the conference that we went flew the last month, the stories of ida b. wells barnett and mary church terrell and my favorite mary walker who

hopefully we'll be able to talk more about her and use her as an example to tell these stories that we were telling in the commemoration this year, that intersection of race and gender is very critical to talk about when we're talking about suffrage that -- that the movement for suffrage involved civil rights as well as political rights. second point that we wanted to make sure we got across is that the struggle which continued for cades after the 19 -- 20th amendment was passed. it was guided by class and race and religion as i mentioned. o the right to vote as you mentioned, josephine was restricted for black women in particular, and black men as

well by poll taxes and literacy taxes and grandfather clause and just a question of whether you were a citizen or not. these are parts of the stories that the park service wanted to make sure that we told in our commemoration this year. we also knew that we had to use a variety of names for getting those stories across. you can still go to mps.gov and see the website about the 19th amendment and women's history. you'll be pleasantly surprised, i'm sure about the variety of people who were represented on that page. we then using programming -- started planning as an agency two years before the event itself, and of course, when coronavirus comes in, we have to pivot, pivot, pivot. but you that i think it made our programming even more relevant

because we were going to a lot of the virtual platforms. so the things that we were doing that might have just reached a group of people right there at these individual communities were put on virtual platforms and had a wider reach. and you can still pull them up and see those events today and i think in particular the one that was done with women's rights had an equality day and invited descendants of those pioneering suffrages and people for suffrage including descendants of elizabeth katie stanton and lenaick douglas and maggie walker. so these are the types of programs that we are able to have and be effective today. we also made a point to create partnerships, reach out to other

organizations. we realize we're not pleatly all alone the only expert, the last word, the final check of what was happening. we need to work with other groups, other museums, other organizations to bring out these stories that we wanted to make sure we're told. and that also involved making sure it was an intergenerational approach tapping into the energy of the young professionals who ideas and a fresh place for reaching a larger audience. at the same time reaching back to get those oral histories and presentation brought in to make the connection so that we were reaching a wide group of people. who with this year's commemoration which doesn't end -- it doesn't end in august, and

will not end -- the struggle continues. and the story must continue. we want to bring out the stories hat were always there. to put a different lens on the stories that had been told, to bring a better focus to what happened before them. so we can see what happened in the past a little better so that forward.e better going >> thank you you -- for that. it's almost like we planned it. coleman turnover vidette robinson. >> thank you you so much, joe and gina. thank you so much for everything that you just said. when i -- when we had our

preview meeting, i made sure to tell both of you that i was very thankful to be on this panel with you. it's kind of like alan was just like hm, let me figure out, and you know, just make this thing that was absolutely beautiful. -- o hear you speak today it's like i've been out of park service for a year and a half, and all of a sudden, i can't say what it is. but i just -- coming from the park service, i've heard you cite. bout maggie walker and it's always whoa exhilarating. and joe, thank you so much for sharing your family's history. to me as a museum professional and also historian, the thing me islways passes through

hearing oral history but also being able to hear it from the family. i feel that that -- that's -- that's something that's very, very unique to what we have in our field as african americans. you know, we really do make sure to reach out to the community to get those stories. and it's -- thank you. thank you. i'm just overwhelmed. that was totally off script. but thank you both. and thank you all. thank you for having me here today at a solid conference. i feel like i'm back home all the time where i'm here at asalah. so thank you for having us and for having me. i'm vidette, and i'm the executive director of the african american museums. i have been here as executive director as of now a year and a half. so that's why i'm stumbling, oh, yeah, park service. i used to be there. i was at park service for 11

years as a grants management specialist for atcu grant and also the african-american civil rights grant and the community grant. so i'm hure a lot of you -- sure a lot of ways have had some connections with me there asalah having conversations and now being in this position i am always reaching back out to make sure that all of my folks are doing well. the association of african-american museums has now. round for 42 years and we are -- we are the organization that really preserves, protects and interprets, african an african-american history and culture. not just in the united states but also internationally. the thing that i always love to say about triple-a m members is

that when we're collecting we do it legally. and you know, we -- [laughter] we're also very respectfully. nobody has knocked on any of our doors, hey, man, you stole that from us. can you make sure you give it back? everything's legal. there's always a document being signed. and we are like i said to jo earlier, we make sure that we are in the community. the majority of our museums are formed in the community and of -- and are of the community. so when we are doing our collecting -- when we're collecting oral history all of that is in the community in which we serve. the other thing that's really important about that is sometimes you can have a being, a museum. we don't have those problems. our folks do come out because they see themselves in our

museums. and then as a matter of fact something george floyd was murdered. there was a protest. this protest started at city hall and ended at the national civil rights museum. to me that speaks volumes because those protestors could have chose anywhere to -- to end their journey. but they decided to end at the national civil rights museum. and that's happening all over the country in washington, d.c., you know, protestors were congregating at the national museum of african-american

history and culture going to the anacostia museum -- that is the correct name. this is happening all over the country. and to me, it's heartwarming, right? that those out doing the work, making sure our liberties and we still have a quality, that we are still reaching for after all of these years, to come to our museum and use them as beacons of hope. something else like ajena mentioned, we make sure to work through partnerships. no one should work alone. i mean, i guess you could, but the more the merrier, the more you can get done, just like this panel. i'm sure you would love to hear from me for an hour, but my

family gets tired of my voice after little bit, so it's k. i say that to say partnerships are important. to the park service and as well s asalh. we partner with fort monroe authority and the charles young useum, it is a site but once they come in they turn into a useum. and then also, we've partnered with waso, so that's the washington, d.c. office. and this is all, you know, just making sure that park service as figuring out how to do things and how to expand their reach, we make sure we are doing that

correctly with our museum. jena knows that very well, i tapped her on the shoulder and say, i have this idea for maggie walker. are you tired of my ideas? she's shalking her head no. i'm thankful for her because we have to do the work ogether. as i think about the 19th amendment and how our museums interpret and protect that history, we do not really have the problem preserving the history of the untold. something important to us is you will always see the suffrage movement of african-american women in our museum. t is just a matter of making

ure people understand it and are coming to the museum to get that information. something we also work to do with our museum, there are exchanges and people are doing a lot of personal things now so we have had to pivot, the entire conference in august was virtual and museums are doing programming virtually. this is the time for us to partner and to make sure we are doing right by our ancestors. i think it is very telling that our panel is right after the presidential election. yay, us. we get to talk about all of the things that could have happened, should have happened, i'm not going to lead that charge, i

will let alan do it. but we are the folks who could be the change we want to see, nd i am thankful for that. alan: thank you all for your introductions. we want to get into some questions and remind folks if you are listening and you have questions, you can submit those in the chat function and we will get to them as we are able. jo, i wanted to go back to you. one of the things i have learned and am becoming more familiar with racial violence in the country is often times, lynching and racial violence are thought to be random. someone was in the wrong place at the wrong time and something was done to that person. hat your father's murder

reminds us all of is that in most instances, violence frequented among frican-americans was not random. it was targeted against those who were the most successful because people in white communities did not like symbols of success like your father. ow does that play into the tory of your father, elmore, and the book you wrote, the penalty for success: my father was lynched in alabama? josephine: first we have to be aware these things are still happening. when the lynchings occurred, whites didn't try to hide their faces and many times people didn't know who they were.

many times they were being led by sheriffs and other officials. so it appears the same kind of thing is going on now and i do not want people to think this is something that just happened in the past. because it's still going on. alan: we have the funeral service for john lewis several weeks ago and we lost a great man. one of the comments shared by ormer president bill clinton was an off-the-cuff remark about stokely carmichael and the student nonviolent committee under his leadership may be going in the wrong direction. you had mentioned stokely in the work being done in alabama. it was a different kind of organizing you got from other civil rights organizers who were working at the time.

something different from the nonviolent philosophy. josephine: the kind of nonviolence being worked through could not and would not have worked in lowndes county. these people, once you strike us, we are going to strike back. so stokely, he said he did not want people to think he was thinking of black power as white power, he was talking about the masses being able to get together and use their numbers as strength.

that is what he thought of as black power. and dr. jeffrey spoke, you will see a lady there sitting with a shotgun. because people were in these tents at night. drivers would you just shoot into the tents until they found that these blacks were going to protect themselves and shoot back. so the kind of nonviolence and he hatred that was being situated by fplc was not have solved any in lowdes county. alan: lowndes county played a particular role in the voting rights struggle because you have selma to the west and montgomery to the east. lowndes county became the place where if you were a smith organizer and you did not want to be out on the road after dark, so lowndes county became a safe haven where people could stay overnight and seek shelter

n the community. could you talk about that, the role lowndes county played in the voting rights struggle? josephine: yes. several families owned their own homes and could afford to participate without a lot of revocations. they lost businesses but because they owned their own home, they could be out in the movement more. there was a man named john jackson who owned property and he knew that if these young men kept moving between montgomery and selma, they were going to get killed. so he had a vacant house. and he let these workers live in that house. it's called the freedom house now. nd it is still standing. mr. jackson owned property and he knew these young men in montgomery and selma were going to get killed.

so we had a house and he let the smith workers live in the house commit it is called the freedom house now. that is one of the ways the lowndes county people kept people safe. alan: we just saw on the screen the cover of the book and the sandwich board the organizer is wearing with the picture of the black panther. move on over or we will move on ver you. it's a little bit of a different sentiment than "we shall overcome." this portion of history is less well-known than other elements but the interesting story is these are the original black panthers because after the development of the freedom organization and selection of the symbol of the black panther, they got a call from some young men in oakland california asking if they could adopt that symbol or their use for the black panther party. at some point we will have a conversation about that. jena, we are talking about the

19th amendment, women's suffrage, and i wanted to get your thoughts on the march that took place in washington on pennsylvania avenue in march of 913. t was a march to press for the ratification of the right for women to vote, but it was segregated. what role did african-american women play where what role where they forced to play in that event? ajena: alice paul organized the march. she had witnessed the suffrage

movement in england, which was more radical than here in the united states. she was geared up to make sure women would come from all over the country and gather in washington dc for the march. there was a delegation and she came along and was prepared to march with them but washington dc is in the southern part of the country so the organizers approached and said to the black omen who were going to be part of it, including delta sigma theta sorority, they would not be able to march alongside. they would have to march in the ack. it was a segregated parade so they would not offend the people

in washington dc who could not fathom having an interracial march because jim crow was still n force. ida b wells did not deal with that. she was not going to march toward the back. she did not join the march when he delegation of her state moved out at first but when they came back she slipped in and marched along with them. mary church terrell took another route of compliance. they did march in the back of the parade, but what that story shows to us, i hope, is that there are individuals in different approaches to segregation.

different approaches to try to reach the same goal. sometimes it will work, depending on who you are and what the situation is. we have to take time to look at how all of those things come together, not condemn one way or another way. you have to take in the full context to understand what was happening. so these stories will help us see when we are in our own situation today, it is all right to take different approaches, depending on what was happening at the time. alan: thank you for that. i wanted to follow up with another question.

can you talk about who maggie alker was? she was one of the first african-american women to register to vote after the 19th amendment was ratified. tell us a little bit about who she was and is there anything in her personal papers, anything she wrote or said that gives us insight into how she felt? clearly she thought it was important, but what was in her heart? ajena: she was born in 1864 in richmond, virginia and grew up during the time when reconstruction was ending. the 15th amendment was passed

when she was a little girl. she knew with the rights were. the right to vote were being stripped away from black men uring jim crow and african-american women like her had limited opportunity. when she got the opportunity to be the leader of an organization called the independent order of sainthood, she looked at the organization as a way to expand rights and opportunities for community. she was a powerful community leader and civil rights activist and became nationally known for starting a bank in 1903. she used the newspapers to speak out for civil rights and against jim crow segregation and injustice. she was also a member of national association for colored omen, to speak out against

lynching and to speak out for civil rights for women. they were involved again trying to make sure the right to vote was applied universally. when you had the rights granted to black men in the 15th amendment stripped away, maggie walker and the women of the nac w knew they had to use their platform the best they could to get rights back. so she starts out and by 1920, she is very much advocating for omen's suffrage.

as soon as she could after the passage of the 19th and amendment, she went right down to city hall and registered to ote. he was also a woman who lifted herself up to be quite privileged. as a bank president and leader, she did not forget those who had less, those who did not have what she had and she used her position to help educate and enroll black women to register to vote. that was her challenge. we are in the south, richmond, irginia. so registration for women was egregated and you had more

registrars working to register white women than you did for black women. ms. walker went out there and said, put me in. i will do it. they didn't let her do it, but over the course of three days, in spite of all the obstacles hey had facing them, they were able to get 2500 women registered to vote. they would continue as a community to educate, get people prepared for the literacy test, to help them pay the poll tax. she would continue until she passed away in 1934, right at the beginning of the modern civil rights movement, showing there is a reason to work, even

if you do not get to see the benefits of it for yourself, it is important to lay the groundwork for the next generation to keep building on it alan: thank you. i have a question. the national voting rights museum and institute in selma, alabama, has a slogan on their website that read, hands that pick cotton can pick our president's. that is a powerful slogan. can you talk about how museums in your universe are tackling the issue of black voting rights? vedet: sure thing. thank you for the shout out for the sorority. e are beaming. thank you for the question. i can definitely answer that. all of our museums are convening

to start a revolution. it is a quiet revolution, but it is a revolution of voting rights and making sure people are registered to vote, taking sure in the community they are getting out to make sure people understand the gravity of what it is to not vote. i am learning a lot of our museums are trying to address a generation of people who do not understand how important it is o vote because they do not see the person they want on the ticket, so they are like, no one is moving me, i will not vote. i will not call their names because they will blow up my

hone, and one phone is connected to every device in my ouse since we started social distancing, but one of my embers told me they are so woke, they are asleep. that is basically what everyone is combating, trying to wake up, like in spike lee's movie, it is serious. making sure the communities in which they serve understand what will happen if we did not vote. what it looks like when we don't ote. the trends of what has happened in the past, of why it is mportant for black people to

get out and vote, people have lost their lives to vote. the thing that sticks with me is thinking about how long african-americans, i heard stories growing up about how my great-grandparents had to walk five country miles to get to a polling place, and it is eal. it is serious. there are people who died. blood, sweat, tears went into making sure we could vote and we annot just sit back. this is not a time for us to be quiet and sit back and allow things to happen to us. we have to be the change we want to see and i feel like we have

enough members who have done the work and are still here and can tell us what it was like trying to make sure people could ote. jo has the whole story about her dad and making sure in lowndes county people can vote. this is happening all over the country. it's not just lowndes county. it does not matter where you are. i think it's funny that people think these same problems are not happening in the north. i am from new jersey. i can tell you, they were happening. in summary, our museums are in he communities even when it is not something we are supposed to do because of covid.

we are doing it safely, but we have to be out to let people know it is important and that this is not a time to be quiet. e have to act. alan: to follow up, what some of the best examples you have from the museums in your association about the way they are interpreting the voting rights story? we have world history, video interpretation, things like that. what are some of the more innovative practices you are seeing coming out of museums talking about protecting and preserving and interpreting the history? vedet: oral history and xhibits. exhibit designs. but in the era of covid, everything has tobe virtual. we have a bunch of museums putting artifacts on their website, having robots in their museum to show certain parts of

the exhibit, reading exhibits, they are doing it for people who want to visit museums while temporarily closed. a lot of the museums are slowly opening and doing so responsibly based on covid guidelines. i think what was done at the maggie walker site, using a google robot, that is something our museums are implementing as ell. a lot of people will start calling you, ajena, about how you got that robot. i used it a lot when i was in ark service. t spoke to me.

and now the museum sees we need to be more nimble and have to think of creative ways to get to people. a lot of folks are making sure their facebook pages are more pronounced, social media presence is more pronounced than in the past. that is something else happening as well. for public programming, you can go to the museum's website and you will see there is a program that responds with the voters ights for now and will obviously ramp up next month to vote aggressively. ajena: with the google street views we used, that was a couple months back. google approached us to do the chores but it was on the website.

people would go to it and then go on their own. with having to be innovative, we started using that with ranger guided tours showing we could have a ranger on a resume call to take people to the site. technology has advanced further. when you look into the mirrors that maggie walker's house, sometimes you can see the machine reflected in the mirror. it was so big, we could not take it up to do the upper floors. by now technology is such you can take a cell phone and record

the tours. that's another option. it is a way to get the stories told beyond the walls in the useum. it is an incredible tool. vedet: absolutely. i can say that when i was speaking to a few of my museums when covid first hit, we were just trying to figure out what's next. what can we do? what can we do quickly? a lot of museums were temporarily closing. and i have to say that because i was saying, oh, yeah, our museums are closed. and they were saying, no, we're not closed. temporary. for legal reasons, yes. temporarily closed. our professionals were picking up cell phones, taking pictures of a piece of the collection, and like i said, just pushing it out on social

you are correct that the machine is huge. again, just being nimble. you can't get it up the stairs, it can't go to the second-floor, it is not designed for that. i don't think rosie robot was designed for that. to live in 2020, as crazy as 2020 is, we were able to shift. if this was 1990 or even the early 2000's, we would not be in the situation we are in now. for all the craziness that 2020 is, i am thankful that we have the technology that we have so we can continue to keep moving and keep making sure that we are in the communities in which we serve.

alan: i'm going to go to some questions from our viewers and i'm going to start with one from betty pickett. nelly quandary wrote a letter to alice paul saying that college universityhoward should be allowed to walk with white college women in the parade. the nwp told alice paul what she was doing about it, like black suffragists were allowed to walk with white separatists. ajena: in the chat -- i am learning as well, because when you go to some of the documentaries that are out now, the way that the story is told is it was completely segregated and when you see the pictures of the march, it has howard

university students marching in a group in the back of the parade. so i would love to look further to see about how they were allowed -- or that part of it from another perspective. these are the things we need to have come out to hear the different angles or views so that we can have the fullest picture. alan: yeah, in particular for ida b. wells, she waited along the side for the illinois delegation to walk past and she joined them. she was welcomed by her white colleagues. alice paul was dealing with -- i think what she felt would be a poor response especially from southern elected officials in congress who had the responsibility for ratifying the women's suffrage bill amendment and i think that was uppermost

in her mind in how she responded to the presence of african-american women in that march. >> choices made in the moment. alan: beatrice jones is asking, is the century-old rgb universal flag a permanent fixture in all aaam museums and if not, why not? is it in the woodson site? do you have black flag vendors to maintain your flag needs over time? >> i can answer that quickly from my end. i would need to ask our members. there is a permanent collection and a temporary collection. i would need to ask them how it is being preserved and i can get that back to you.

i do not have the answer right now because each collection is specific to our members. ajena: as for me, with the national sites, we just have our united states flag in the state flags that we are part of. as far as i know, those are the restrictions that we have. alan: thank you for that. jo, want to go back to you. we are both an integral part of this coalition for people seeking the alabama black national heritage area and wanted to find out why you are supporting that cause and how you think it might protect and preserve the history of the voting rights struggle. josephine: thank you for asking that. there are 19 counties and we know that we need more funds

because the counties are the poorest counties in the nation. i am interested because as i mentioned, all the work that was done, there is nothing to show for it. people talk about the cell not march and skip over what happened in alabama. with all of the work that we did there with the workshops, how to run for political offices, we need something to recognize them. i am hopeful that they will recognize the work that was done and also recognize the schools we built in 1883. that school is still standing. it is on the national register. most people have not heard of

it. most people have not heard of the reconstruction legislator. we will focus attention on an area that has done a lot of work but has not been recognized. alan: while we have you, for those of the audience members who have not been to lowndes county, can you give us a description of which hometown , your home county looks like? what if you look like in the day and what it looks like now. josephine: we have brick homes rather than shacks. the people have been kept on plantations and most of them did not have their own property. you go from mostly shack houses

to some houses now that are brick homes. there are still people living in mobile homes with not running water in some places. we have environmental issues, sewage problems and all of that. lowndes county is still one of the poorest counties in the nation. alan: maybe even more of proof that we need to get back on the voting rights track, make sure we have the representation necessary. ajena, want to come to you. we had a conversation about the women's suffrage, the ratification of the 19th amendment, and we have had the statement from our colleague, betty pickett, rounding out that story.

do you think there has been enough of a conversation nationally about the women's suffrage movement and the racial component of that, the racism in the movement, the opportunity for alliances across races, but the incidence that may be kept black women in a segregated position for a variety of reasons? having had enough of a conversation about that? if so, what are the next step? if not, how do we continue to highlight that story? ajena: i do not feel that there has been enough of a conversation, though we are making great strides in trying to bring it forward. as i mentioned, there have been several documentaries that have

been premiered in recognition of the centennial. one that was put out by tennessee public tv station, and what was pleasing to me is they made an effort to integrate the story of what was happening with black women and at the same time, they were talking about what is happening with the white women in the majority suffrage organizations. we are seeing progress in how the story is being woven together and it is bringing women of other ethnic backgrounds, racial backgrounds into the stories. it is not done, it is not finished. from the comment there, there are different ways -- more things to look at, more documents to come out.

i am familiar with that letter that was referred to that put another twist on what that picture showed. we need to have people to bring forward these stories so that we can make it a richer presentation, so we can get the conversation going. what i mentioned about the women's rights program, that is going to be rebroadcast on october 24 through the public station in new york. very interesting conversation about the legacy. that is what is important, for us to look at those who are descendents, and we essentially are all descendents and benefited from what these things were. we still need to have the conversation.

alan: we've got a comment. that letter referenced the president of the alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated was written on february 17, 1913 and the right way -- the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth on them. ida b. wells. put that in your notebook. vedet, coming back to you, i see similarities between what you are doing now with the association of african american museums and the work that dr. carter woods did in 1915, getting out the journal of negro history and establishing black

history month. what are your priorities for using the museum community to highlight african-american history, african-american culture, the african-american experience? tie that to voting rights but anything else you are working on at this point to make people more aware. you have a moment right now. vedet: thank you. for us, it is really about education. much like the doctor, it is about educating folks, making sure that they know their stories. some people, as much as we, as scholars, would love to say, did you read this book, that book, some people want to do the tangible things such as go to a museum. i did not know until i went to x, y, and z museum and sometimes i am astonished but other times

i am like, that is what we are here for, we are here to educate. i went to virginia state university in petersburg, virginia, which is not far from ajena's site, but i never went to the maggie walker site until i was in grad school at howard. i did not know that they existed. it is about making sure that folks are educated and know that our sites and museums are places of knowledge and we have a breadth as well. when you walk through, usually you will see that wall text and byte under their are a bunch of scholars who put that wall text together. there are also reading aids of

-- reading aides of where the information came from. it was something that was researched and folks put in a great deal of work to do it. jo's father's information, i'm sure one of my museums has if not the book, they are definitely commemorating that story, whether it is the oral history -- if they are not, you wind i need to have a conversation afterwards to make sure that this is done correctly. as far as voting rights are concerned and what we are doing there, we make it a point -- when you go to our museums, you will see artifacts about what has happened throughout history for voting, what has happened in these communities, something

that is really simple, what is happening right now? there are tons of something that we would call paraphernalia out there, signs going up of who people are supporting, kamala harris is the first african-american vp -- i would not be surprised and i'm not going to say that it is a surprise, i know my museum folks are saying, i need that because i'm going to need that to put that -- again, lately, nobody is stealing it off people's lawns, they are not going around at the end of the night when everyone is asleep grabbing these signs, but i know they are gathering

this information and putting it in their exhibits. doing the same thing with all the protests, whether it is a national protest or something happening in their state, they are grabbing that information and these protests, all the movements that have been happening -- it seems like it has been going on for 10 years with black lives matter but i know it hasn't. i know for a fact that our race for equality has been going on since i feel like we came here. since we were stolen and brought over here. way over 400 years where we have been struggling to gain equality. i say all that to say, over 400 years -- everything did not just happen in virginia. i don't want anybody to come for me after this.

not taking 1619 or any of that research away, but we also have to know that african-americans were here before then. in saying all that, the collections are in the museums and what is happening now is going to be part of what our museums are doing. it is going to be virtual for a little bit, but you are right. i should say that the site is one of our members. we have what you guys have. [laughter] alan: we have a question for jo coming from laura. i have done one pilgrimage around the white supremacist murder of jonathan daniels, seminarian murdered

in 1966. maybe. are the people who organized that connected to the heritage area effort and more generally for everybody else, what is the role of public/private partnerships to get the money we need to sustain this work we need? my students in public history believe that government should lead but the resources are usually not there. i know some private entities view voting rights history as more political than desegregation. josephine: jonathan daniels pilgrimage is sponsored by the episcopalian church. it is done annually and it is not connected with anything governmental. it is not funded by anyone other than the episcopalians and anyone other by than the episcopalians and

donations. alan: and for general information, a congresswoman from alabama is in the house of representatives and has introduced hr 5989, and we are hoping for passage of that bill this year, if circumstances lead us to have to restart the effort, we will be up again in 2021, so stay tuned. if you've got any interest in that -- exactly, you can go right there, congress.gov, to keep track of the legislation. because we are dealing with legislation, you may have to cover your park service badge.

i wanted to, as we get towards the end of this panel, i wanted to ask each of you to take a moment and talk to us about what voting rights means to you. we have had a little bit of the history, the interpretation and preservation, but as a concept, when someone mentions the concept of voting rights, here on wednesday, september 30, in the year 2020, what does voting rights mean for you? josephine: i have had a lot of heartache in terms of when i think of voting rights just because america was supposedly founded on democracy. the right to vote should be according to everyone.

there would not be efforts to suppress voting. yet everywhere we go, the efforts exist. the other thing that concerns me is -- then i want to refer back for a minute -- a building has one little room recognizing tent city but does not have any of the names of the people of sncc, the people who lived in tent city, none of those people are recognized. therefore, that history is not being taught to our children. they need to know what blacks went through to get the right to vote. that is a big concern of mine. i think every black should be

polls.their way to the we always should have some interest in what is going on. that is a history that is not being recorded and nothing tangible that our children can see to recognize what happened. the other thing is, when will the people in america decide to honor this commitment to the principles? alan: following up on that, a comment from massachusetts -- we need to keep educating in all schools, following up on your point. ajena, your thoughts? ajena: voting rights, to me,

means so much because of our own family history. when i was five years old, my big cousin steve started telling me, you need to vote, you need to make sure when you grow up, you vote. you might think that would have been lost on a little kid but it wasn't. i voted every chance i can get and i brought my son with me when he was about six to the polls and now my son is running for city council in richmond. he drew a picture of us going to the polls when he was in fourth grade. i created programs, i started delving into my ancestors' history and found out that one of my ancestors was killed because they were trying to suppress the vote in the area.

so i know deeply that the power and the right to vote is critical. it is so important for us to exercise that right, to make sure that we can change things. maggie walker was saying, things economically will not change unless women got the right to vote. one of her speeches from 1912. it was identified way back then, identified as soon as the right was granted constitutionally. we cannot sit down and sit back. it is too important. alan: thank you. vedet, voting rights, what does it mean to you?

vedet: that is a loaded question. i just have one word. mandatory. much like ajena, i remember when i was little, my mom was like, you are going to vote. i don't care who you are going to vote for, but you are going to vote. all my life, she would tell me what to do but this time, she did not tell me who i need to vote for. i was like, that doesn't make sense, now you want to be quiet? but what she was showing me was your right to vote is your personal decision, what you have to vote. then we went to the polls as soon as i turned 18 and i was able to do it, the lines were not as long as they are now, but we stood in line and i casted my vote and the rest is history. i make it a point to tell everybody who can listen that it is mandatory. people literally died for us to

have this right. people are still dying for us to have this right and it might not look like that, it might not look like folks are dying because of not being -- because of voters rights, but that is what it is. if you are locking people up and giving them the death sentence or locking people up and taking away their rights to vote, it is just mandatory. i also teach part-time and i make sure to tell my students, this is your right. please. it is one of those things, you have a right and you abuse it or you have a right and you don't use it.

abuse this one, please. on the good side. go to the polls -- don't abuse people, but abuse the right to vote. we need that. it is mandatory. i know i put a bunch of words after that. it was a good panel, so i want to make sure to give you guys what you want so i can be invited back. [laughter] alan: all of you came in under your word count and we are in under our time count as well. one of the things that the voting rights issue strikes in me is this notion that history is going on today and maybe this summer, this odd year with the racial reckoning, black lives matter, it is making it clear that history is not something

that was in 1893 or 1976, it was five minutes ago and being here in washington, d.c. and experiencing some of the things we have seen over the last couple months since the murder of george floyd has made my colleagues abundantly aware of the fact that as we continue to protect the historic and cultural resources that the park service manages, it is not all about the civil war and it did not stop in 1878. we are looking to continue to be good partners with our community partners, with our museum partners, and with our friends and colleagues in the association for the study of african-american life and history. i want to thank tonda duncan. she might be able to get some sleep. this woman has been answering emails at 3:30 in the morning and 4:30 in the afternoon and being a great steward and

partner for all of this. devon ferguson, also help set this up. i can't end this without giving a shout out to sylvia cyrus, the executive director of the association of the study of african-american life and history, and the president, evelyn brooks, who continues to do great work in promoting and protecting the african-american experience. i'm alan spears. please look us up at www.npca.org. npca also stands for the national police canine association, so make sure you get the right npca. turn it back over to you and thank you to jo, vedet, and ajena. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> this is american history tv where each weekend we have 48 hours of programs exploring our >> next on the presidency, university of mary washington history professor william crawley talks about franklin was about's personality, new deal programs, and his admirers and critics in this talk from the university's great lives lecture series. the university provided the video.