funding for this program was provided by friends, the iowa pbs foundation, as well as generations of families and friends who feel passionate about the programs they watch on iowa pbs. additional funding for this program has been provided by, philip and diana sickles, rhoda mccartney, susan moritz scharnberg and connie wimer. the organized woman's movement dates from

1848 when a nventiono consider the rights of women was held in seneca falls, new york. the committee drafting the list of woman's wrongs found their griences against the government of men to be the same number that american men had had against king george. it took george washington six years to rectify man's grievances by war, but it took 72 years to establish women's rights by law. ♪♪ in the fall of 1920, millions of american women voted for the very first time. they were taking advantage of what carrie chapman catt, among countless others, had worked so hard to help them gain. ♪♪ it was a momentous achievement, the

culmination of a battle that took more than seven decades. and for catt, a cause she had spent 40 plus years of her life fighting, the fight to win women the vote. ♪♪ it's the story of america and it's the story of how we change our laws and it's a story of how we make the constitution a living document. this is a very important story. it is the enfranchisement of half of our nation and it is a story of democracy. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

carrie clinton lane was born january 9, 1859 in ripon, wisconsin, the middle child with two brothers. in 1866, at the close of the civil war, her family moved to a farm new charles city, iowa. her parents, lucius and maria lane, saw in their daughter a toughness and an independence unlike most girls of her time and early on witnessed her pledge to fight for women's rights. jane cox: carrie said that she became a suffragist at 13 and it was the result of the fact that her parents very much wanted horace greeley to be elected president. and so election day finally came and carrie is a young 13 year old girl, was very, very, very excited about that. she ran into the kitchen where her mother was working to tell her she had to go change her dress

because her father was about ready to go into town to vote. and her father appeared at the door and both her father and her mother laughed about this, that carrie would think that her mother was going into town to vote too. and her father replied to her that voting was men's business. catt would later say, it was fate, not a career that took me in charge. i could never forget that rank injustice to my mother. i verily believe i was born a suffragist. ivadelle stevenson: my grandfather, warren, was charles' son who was carrie's brother and i was very proud of her. i would have liked very much to meet her. what made her be so determined to get people to vote and why she was so upset when her father went to vote and her mother couldn't.

♪♪ catt's childhood outrage marked the beginning of her decades long crusade for women's suffrage. she would become one of the towering figures who would lead the fight for women's right to vote against the nation's deep rooted forces of sexism, prejudice and political interests. karen kedrowski: i have come to appreciate what a strategic political actor carrie chapman catt was. she really understood the terrain and the realities that she faced in the 19-teens and the 1920s. dianne bystrom: carrie chapman catt i think more than any woman suffragist actually brought that suffrage amendment home, she financed it, she organized it, she was singly focused on it. i think that we, women in this country need to thank her for the right to vote. ♪♪ the 19th amendment to the u.s. constitution granted american women the right to vote, a right known as women's suffrage. the amendment was signed into law on august 26th,

1920. it declared, the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. elaine weiss: you have to lay the groundwork, you have to change hearts and minds first, and this is what the suffragists did in those decades before they actually achieved victory, they changed hearts and minds. they had to change not only the idea of who is a citizen who can vote, but what is a woman's role in society. ♪♪ carrie chapman catt was a potent politician during one of the most turbulent periods in the history of american women. deborah ann turner: she understood the obstacles that the movement faced. and so she looked at the landscape and she did what

is really critical to how you get things done in our country, quite frankly. she looked at individual states, she looked at what those state's needs were and how you could get things passed in that state d that in some ways people say well that has caused some of the problems, but by the same token it got the mission done. she was a very good strategic thinker. catt's political life was complex and sometimes controversial, much like the cause she embodied. the women's suffrage movement was revolutionary, but also flawed. suffragists often disagreed on the philosophies of suffrage reform and racism occurred within the movement. weiss: does racism raise its head again and again and again in the movement and in society? yes. it is a deeply segregated society at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. america is a divided nation. and this is, you have to see that as the backdrop

of the movement. martha jones: politics is the business of compromise, of alliances, of coalition. it's a very different approach to change than say social movements that work from the bottom up or later on strategies in the courts. but there is a live question that runs through the movement and really is critical by the time catt is at its helm, which is which compromises and on what terms. and catt, along with many other american women, have to navigate that and have to themselves decide where the line is. (men yelling) beginning as early as the american revolution, women have fought for the same social, political and economic rights as men.

in the late 1700s and well through the early 20th century, women had little to no rights. a married woman was thought to be her husband's property. husbands owned their wives' belongings, land and money. if a couple divorced, the woman lost all rights to her children. linda kerber: so, he has power over her body, he has power over her property, it seemed to follow that you would not let her vote because he has got so much power over her that the married woman is bound to vote just the way the husband does. what's the point of that? so here are all these guys who are speaking about independence and how when a colony grows up to adulthood they should be able to make decisions for themselves, but in their own households they can't see their wives as independent.

♪♪ in 1848, about 10 years before carrie chapman catt was born, the movement for women's rights launched on a national scale with the seneca falls convention in upstate new york. considered to be the first of its kind, it was organized by abolitionist performers elizabeth cady stanton and lucretia mott. more than 300 people attended, including around 40 men. former african-american slave and activist frederick douglass was there. ♪♪ there were always wonderful male champions of women's suffrage who truly believed that this was unfair. and so from the very beginning, whether it's frederick douglass or other political men or newspaper editors or just friends of the movement, husbands, fathers who are very supportive.

the delegates of the seneca falls convention agreed that american women were independent individuals who deserved their own political identities. janice ruth: the ideas that led to seneca falls were in play many years earlier the revolution in the united states, the american revolution sparked a lot of discussion about the roles of women and the potential equality for women. these campaigns for temperance, abolition, which alwere preceding the seneca falls and led to that. women cut their teeth on those movements. some of the delegates, led by elizabeth cady stanton, decided to write the declaration of sentiment, modeled after the declaration of independence. it stated, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal, that they

are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. the principles of the seneca falls convention were mocked and criticized in the press. male dominance in society was simply too powerful for the declaration of sentiments to have immediate sway. but, elizabeth cady stanton and lucretia mott persevered. the impact of the seneca falls convention could not be denied. soon, they would join forces with susan b. anthony, who had dedicated her life's work to female suffrage and other social causes. the suffrage movement lost momentum during the civil war as men and women turned their attentions to the conflict between the states. after the war, female suffrage endured another setback when the women's rights movement became divided over the proposed 15th amendment to the u.s.

constitution. it would give black men the right to vote, but failed to extend the same privilege to american women of any skin color. ♪♪ weiss: susan b. anthony and elizabeth cady stanton and lucretia mott, lucy stone, those whole first generation, the four mothers as they are sometimes called of women's rights in america, all are abolition workers before they are ever suffragists. and so the idea of women's rights and women's suffrage comes out of the abolition movement. it actually is a daughter of the abolition movement and they become sort of siblings. and the same people often work in both causes. so these women are truly committed to freeing the slaves. what happens is they believe, and they are encouraged in that belief by their abolitionist co-workers, that at the end of the civil war when

slavery is abolished that universal suffrage will reign, that black men, black women, white women, all those who have not had the vote, will get the vote. and so they are very deeply offended and disappointed and feel betrayed when in the 14th and 15th amendments they are told no, the nation can't take two big reforms at once. it's a tough pill for the women to accept and they don't. now, lucy stone and julia ward howe and a whole other branch of suffragists say, well wait a minute, it's not a good situation, we don't think that women should be cut out, but we have to still support the 14th and 15th amendments. so that is the first split in the movement. and so stanton and anthony form the national association, lucy stone and howe, the american women's suffrage association, and they

remain apart until 1890, for a whole generation. ♪♪ as this was going on at the national scale, carrie chapman catt was making her mark in iowa. in 1877, she started her studies at iowa agricultural college, now iowa state university, and completed a bachelor's degree in general science in 1880, the only woman in her graduating class. after graduation, she became the high school teacher and principal in mason city, iowa. then, in 1883, at the age of 24, she became superintendent of mason city schools, one of the first women to hold such a position. sue johannsen: she was a woman who was ahead of her time in so many ways. she was a big thinker, she thought about people's rights, her rights. she was appalled to think that her mother couldn't vote like her father did and i think she made up

her mind that she was going to change that. doris kelley: you have to look at someone her age that was committed to getting a college degree, committed to the women's movement, committed to getting out and really doing something. that is what inspired me. she was a strong-willed young lady. while in mason city, she met her first husband leo chapman, publisher and editor for the mason city republican newspaper. they were married in 1884 at her parents' charles city farm. she wrote a column for his paper called woman's world about women's political and labor issues. leo was supportive of his wife's suffrage cause. ♪♪ sadly, in 1886, leo became ill with typhoid fever and died. ♪♪ in 1890, carrie married her second

husband, a wealthy engineer named george catt. george also supported his wife's suffrage work, both financially and personally, believing his role in the marriage was to earn their living and hers was to reform society. they had no children. we made a great team to work for the cause, said carrie. ♪♪ during this time, catt became active in the newly formed national american woman's suffrage association, or nawsa. susan b. anthony, president of the organization, took catt under her wing. she saw the young woman as a trailblazer within the next generation of feminist leaders. she learns the ropes from her, she travels with her and so she feels this enormous responsibility to lead the movement. one of catt's first missions for nawsa was to help pass a woman's suffrage referendum in colorado in 1893.

she traveled to the western state and stayed there for two months. ♪♪ beth behn: stories from her time in colorado are incredible. she would go to mining camps d ride in mining carts down to talk to the miners where they were, rough crowds in a lot of cases, crowds that were not particularly receptive to the message. but she logged thousands of miles and hundreds of hours talking to those sorts of groups. and so she earned her credibility with the troops, so to speak, by having been in the trenches. corrine mcconnaughy: carrie chapman catt has this formative experience in the movement of being the on-the-ground organizer sent by the national organization to the state of colorado. she has learned already that you can't understand political possibilities in local context without getting an assessment from people who are on the

ground there. she also learns this really important lesson about whether coalitions are a good thing or a bad thing for suffrage. and at this point the national leadership has kind of decided that coalitions and associating women's suffrage with anything else is a bad idea and catt, on the ground, overrides what she has been told by anthony. and i think it's really easy to see her learning this very new, different model of doing suffrage politics than the one that had been propagated by the early suffrage leadership. in the end, voters in colorado approved women's suffrage making it the second state to do so. wyoming was the first. ♪♪ in 1900, susan b. anthony retired as nawsa's president and chose catt as her successor. the organization looked to the 41 year old from iowa

for leadership. it marked a new era for the women's suffrage movement, an age of restructuring and reorganization, and catt was its profit. weiss: she leads, she leads by force of personality, but also by her oratory. she becomes a great speaker. and then she couples that with being an organizational dynamo. she proves that to susan anthony very early. she goes on an early sort of canvassing trip with her through the south and then she comes back and writes this scathing analysis of what is wrong with their organization and how things could be managed better. and so susan anthony says, well okay, you wrote that report, go do it. and she does and she reorganizes the entire suffrage structure.

and she does this again and again. in 1902, catt expanded her fight for equality when she founded the international women's suffrage alliance. but in 1904, she was forced to take a step back from her international and stateside duties to deal with a personal challenge. ♪♪ her husband had become ill and she needed to care for him full-time. george catt died in 1905. ♪♪ while grieving the devastating loss of her second husband, catt was struck with more tragedy with the deaths of her mentors susan b. anthony in 1906 and her younger brother william and her mother maria both in 1907. ♪♪ catt was left grief-stricken and emotionally drained. her doctor and friends encouraged her to travel abroad to recuperate.

yet, even on the mend, she continued to promote equal suffrage rights worldwide for the next 9 years. ♪♪ cox: when tragedies happen to her she had to work. she said how lucky she was to have her work. she could pour her energy into that and that would be what would save her. but the process of picking yourself up and going on i think is such an important one in terms of all of our lives and was one of the things that really interested me about carrie. ♪♪ when catt returned to the u., she and her colleagues worked state--state to pass suffrage. by 1912, most of the successes were in the western states, wyoming, colorado, utah, idaho, washington, california, arizona, kansas and oregon, making a total of 9 states granting equal

suffrage. in 1914, a wealthy businesswoman, miriam florence squier leslie, unexpectedly left catt her entire estate with instructions that the money be used to further the cause of women's suffrage. bystrom: they had met but they weren't good friends, she was a wealthy publisher in new york city, so she left carrie chapman catt originally $2 million. by the time that the family took her to court and tried to get part of the money it was about $1 million when she finally went through all the court. bu$1 million back then is worth about $25 million today. so catt used that money to send people out all over the country. in 1915, suffragists insisted catt take the helm of nawsa again. they were worried the movement was drifting, but catt was apprehensive. her health was never good as she struggled with heart problems and severe migraines. weiss: she did not want to come back in the presidency,

but they literally lock her in a room and these hundreds of women come and beg her and so finally she cries, but she says okay. but she says i'll do that only if you consider my new plan, which is called the winning plan. and this is a synthesis of the two approaches that have been used by the suffragists. so it's saying, our goal is the federal amendment, but in the meantime we also are going to work for certain key states to pass women's suffrage. behn: there was no easy button anywhere in the process. and so keeping strong organizations at the state level but also recognizing that there were some states that were not going to hold a referendum or even if they did it stood no chance of winning. and so resources, funds and energy from those

states would need to be shuttled into other states. and women from those states who were not going to get the love from the national needed to accept that and realize that they were part of a broader winning plan. that took some finesse and nuance for her to explain that to her own followers and to get them in step with that program. ♪♪ having the largest population and the biggest u.s. house delegation all eyes were on new york. catt and her fellow suffragists felt gaining the vote in that state would be a powerful message. ♪♪ but, in spite of all the work the suffragists did in new york, the vote failed as it didn ssachusetts, new jersey and pennsylvania that same year. many were disappointed and felt defeated. ♪♪ kedrowski: she made a point of trying to learn lessons from every failed state suffrage

campaign that she engaged in and some of them were pretty miserable failures but she thought, you know, what can we do differently next time, instead of getting discouraged to think about that as an opportunity for the next battle, the next fight, the next referendum. ♪♪ weiss: i think if anything i learned from studying the suffragists and the whole movement it's persistence. it is you keep going, you get shut down, you get betrayed, you get disappointed, you get defeated. and carrie catt expresses that very poignantly after the defeat in 1915 in new york. she has led this magnificent campaign, i think they gave out like 10 million pieces of literature, they've had parades of 40,000 women down 5th avenue and it's election night and carrie

can tell they're about to lose and her workers are crying. and anna shaw asks her, how long is this going to delay suffrage, carrie? and she said, only until the morning, we start again on the campaign in the morning for 1917, the next election cycle. and they win then. (cheering) it was around the same time that the women's suffrage movement would disagree on its methodology, something that occurred often within the organization. a young suffragist named alice paul was serving as the chair of the congressional committee for nawsa. but, out of frustration with its policies, paul left to form the more militant congressional union for women's suffrage in 1914. a few years later, the group was renamed the national woman's party or nwp. alice paul spent time working withuffragists

in england and became radicalized. and she brought two of those strategies back to the united states. the first one was this notion that suffragists should hold the party that was in per responsible for not passing the suffrage amendment. the second thing that they did was that they practiced active civil disobedience, principally the pickets of the white house. ♪♪ carrie chapman catt believed there was a better strategy in changing president woodrow wilson's view on women's suffrage. in his first term wilson hadn't shown much support for the cause, and if he did address the issue he said it was best to leave the decision up to the states. catt and nawsa took a much more accommodationist stance with the president. they sought to cultivate his support over a long

period of time and she recognized the power of the presidency, she recognized what a powerful force he could be if he were won over to the cause. alice paul and the nwp continued their militant tactics, even as it looked like the country was going to have to enter world war i, something president woodrow wilson had long hoped to avoid. behn: he's in a conundrum because he has run on this platform of keeping the nation out of the war. without losing political support. well, hey, one group who could help him in that are women, both women voters and women want-to-be voters. catt sees the same thing. she recognizes that the president is likely going to have to enter the war and that suffragists are going to have a choice to make. they can get on board and support the war and support the war effort on the home front, they can

use their patriotism as a to aue for the right to vote, or they can oppose the war and see what the consequences of that will be. and she makes, again, the politically savvy choice. ♪♪ personally, the choice to support the war was a difficult one for catt. she was a lifelong pacifist. bystrom: she really felt like getting the vote was the key to everything. she just cried and cried after she was so attacked for turning her back on the peace movement, but she did it even though she was not for the war, she did it because she thought that suffrage isn't going to win unless we support this effort. behn: she had been a member of the women's peace party and was asked to resign her membership in the wake of her decision to pledge nawsa in support of the war.