but the all white male congress undermine that understanding as elizabeth cady stanton said that the insertion of the word male and the first time gender had been inserted into the constitution. into the 14th amendment undermine the concept of women's equality and set back the women's suffrage movement by a century. congress followed up with the 15th amendment which protected the right of black men to vote. it's very specific again in the gender the initial result of these amendments was the period known as reconstruction and the nation's first true almost democratic elections. the republican party swept elections around the country including in the south were alliances between former slaves and poor whites led to dramatic changes such as the first public schools infrastructure projects and the creation of our free press. former confederates hated it all and they countertop counterattacked often quite literally. through violence and intimidation acute klux klan and other white supremacist groups determined to force inequality in the nation. and it worked. they found a powerful ally i

and she is certainly well-known for that, along with elizabeth cady stanton and others of the women's effort for suffrage in the 19th century. but most famous was her so-called aren't i a woman, or ain't i a woman? speech. in ohio, at the women's rights conference, it is a mix of slavery and women's rights. allegedly, she said, that men over there says women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. nobody ever helps me into carriages or gives me any best place, and ain't i a woman? look at me, look at my arm, i have plowed and planted and gather into barns and no man could had me and ain't i a woman? i can work as much and eat as much as a man, when i can get it , and bear the lash as well, and ain't i a woman? i have borne 13 women, her report of what she said, and seemed most also to slavery. when i cried out with my mother's grief, none but jesus heard me. and ain't i a woman? the problem with the speeches we do not know what she really said. that goes back to the white audiences i was talking about. the person who recorded,

divorce reform committee for a national woman's conference and she was also best friends with elizabeth cady stanton whom she had been the free thought movement in the 1880s and as many people know standing too was a real critic of traditional marriage, which she equated to legalized prostitution, right a prostitute has to sleep with multiple men to support herself. where as a wife signs away her body to one man, but the and effect is the same in a world in which women have no rights to their own money or their own voice. so anyway, i think yes a marriage was a huge motivating factor sherry. what do you think? well as you were speaking about good or bad husbands sarah had the the luxury of actually having her husband be quite supportive of women's suffrage. yeah. he was actually part of the men's whatever that men's yeah answer. yeah actually and he was encouraging her to to go out in the world and work and you know, he was just kind of amazing guy, but there was some other things that were so great about him from her perspective. and of course earth can also did even though they political differenc

i made a film on elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony and there is an extraordinary betrayal at the heart of the women's movement after the civil war. the women were told, yeah, okay, you're right, but we're working on this one thing and once we're done, we'll take care of you. and in fact then all of a sudden you had a lot of white women going, okay, we want the vote but we don't necessarily want it for black men or certainly not black women. and the movement, the very progressive movement begins to splinter, which is always the case. fortunately, what's happening now is that our history is beginning to include extraordinary stories of women and women of color into the narrative. you know, harriet tubman, you know, is just ascendant, and ida b. wells will be ascendant. and you'll be able to hear about sojourner truth and people who will put the lie to what american history is. there is a long way to go for women, period, that i'm the father of four my daughters, and i don't get it every day from them. it's just i understand a wo

i made it i made a film on elizabeth cady stanton and susan b anthony and there's an extraordinary betrayal at the heart of the women's movement after the civil war. it was the women were told. yeah. okay, you're right, but we're working on this one thing and once we're done we'll take care of you. and in fact, then all of the sudden you had a lot of white women going. okay, we want the vote, but we're not necessarily want it for black men or certainly not black women and you know, the the movement of very progressive move it begins. splinter which is always the case fortunately. what's happening now? is that our history is beginning to include extraordinary stories of women and women of color into the narrative, you know, and harriet tubman, you know is is just ascendant and ida be wells will be ascendant and you will be able to hear more about sojourner truth and people that will help put a lie to so much of the conventional wisdom of what american history is. so there's a huge long way to go long way to go for women period that you know, i'm the father of four daughters and i i don't get