Ep. 89 | MRS. AMERICA - ERA & Two Women’s Movements (Part 1/2)
MRS. AMERICA (2020)
Portraying some of the 1970s real-life power players in the battle over the ERA: Row 1: Uzo Aduba (Shirley Chisholm), Tracey Ullman (Betty Friedan), Cate Blanchett (Phyllis Schlafly), Rose Byrne (Gloria Steinem). Row 2: Elizabeth Banks (Jill Ruckelshaus), Margo Martindale (Bella Abzug), Ari Graynor (Brenda Feigen-Fasteau), Melanie Lynskey (Rosemary Thomson). Photos: FX
Ep. 89 is also available on Apple Podcast | YouTube | iHeart In episode 89, REVOLUTION TO RIGHTS: AMERICA AT 250 revisits the 1970s, the women’s rights movement of that decade, and the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as seen in the 2020 FX series MRS. AMERICA.
We explore the history of the Equal Rights Amendment and the key people fighting for its ratification and demise with Marjorie J. Spruill. Marjorie’s 2017 book Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women’s Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics was a key resource for the stories in MRS. AMERICA.
As the feminist movement is changing the nation around equal rights for women, so is the activism of its dedicated opposition who build a platform for a political, social and religious Conservatism that continues to feed the political discourse and its divisions today.
In Part 1 of a 2-part MRS. AMERICA podcast, Marjorie J. Spruill gives an overview of the history of the Equal Rights Amendment, why men and women in both major political parties supported the ERA, the origins of the word “feminist,” and how a changing world shaped the modern women’s movement.
REVOLUTION TO RIGHTS: AMERICA AT 250
Episode 86 is part of REVOLUTION TO RIGHTS: AMERICA AT 250, a 10-episode podcast series from Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters® that takes you on a journey through America’s 250-year history of advancing freedom and justice since the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
“It was the story of two women’s movements and the growing political activity of women through the 1970s to the point that by 1980 they were voting in larger percentages than men....and we still outvote men, and we are still very divided in terms of how we use our political power.”
Guest: Marjorie J. Spruill, Ph.D.
Marjorie J. Spruill, Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. Marjorie specializes in United States history, particularly women's and gender history and the history of the American South.
She is the author of Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women's Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics (Bloomsbury Publishing); New Women of the New South: The Leaders of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the Southern States (Oxford University Press) and the editor of One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Women’s Suffrage Movement (NewSage Press); VOTES FOR WOMEN! The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation (University of Tennessee Press).
She is co-editor of The South in the History of the Nation: A Reader (Bedford/St. Martin's); the three-volume anthology South Carolina Women: Their Lives and Times, (University of Georgia Press), and a two-volume Mississippi Women: Their Histories, Their Lives.
Spruill has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Southern Historical Association, and president of the Southern Association for Women Historians. She has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Southern History and is currently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of American Studies, the journal of the British Association for American Studies (BAAS). She was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University in 2006-2007. In 2010-2011 she was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In 2011-2012 she had a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and was a Resident Associate at the National Humanities Center. Her work has also been supported by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Source: University of South Carolina
Connect with Marjorie J. Spruill: Facebook
USE YOUR POWER!
The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) “Can I vote?” website is a resource to…
Check your voting status
Find your polling place
Register to vote
This nonpartisan website was created by state election officials to help eligible voters figure out how and where to go vote. Can I Vote does not capture any information, but instead links directly to state election websites and trusted resources. Source: NASS
TAKE A DEEPER DIVE INTO THIS PODCAST!
Visit our affiliate bookstore REVOLUTION TO RIGHTS bookshelf for books about the historic quest for freedom for all people in the U.S. We’ll update the shelf to include books for all ages.
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MRS. AMERICA
MRS. AMERICA (2020) First Look trailer
MRS. AMERICA tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly. Through the eyes of the women of the era – both Schlafly and second wave feminists Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus – the series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the 70s shifted the political landscape for generations.
Featured in the MRS. AMERICA miniseries as the real-life figures from the ERA battle are Cate Blanchett (Phyllis Schlafly), Rose Byrne (Gloria Steinem), Uzo Aduba (Shirley Chisholm), Margo Martindale (Bella Abzug), Elizabeth Banks (Jill Ruckelshaus), Tracey Ullman (Betty Friedan), Ari Graynor (Brenda Feigen-Fasteau), also Melanie Lynskey (Rosemary Thomson), John Slattery (Fred Shlafly), Niecy Nash (Florynce “Flo” Kennedy), and Cindy Drummond as Lottie Beth Hobbs. Dahvi Waller (MAD MEN) is the creator and an executive producer. Source: FX
MRS. AMERICA is streaming on Hulu (for subscribers). Do a search for additional streaming services offering the miniseries.
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
Alice Paull (left) and Crystal Eastman (right) Photos: Library of Congress
“The Equal Rights Amendment was first drafted in 1923 by two leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul (1885 - 1977)and Crystal Eastman (1881 - 1928). For women’s rights advocates, the ERA was the next logical step following the successful campaign to win access to the ballot through the adoption of the 19th Amendment. They believed that enshrining the principle of gender equality in our founding charter would help overcome many of the obstacles that kept women as second-class citizens.
While the text of the amendment has changed over the years, the gist of it has remained the same. The version approved by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states reads:
“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
Learn more about the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and its current status on NYU Law’s Brennan Center for Justice’s webpage, “The ERA Explained.” (Source)
1977 National Women’s Conference: SISTERS OF ‘77 (2005)
SISTERS OF ‘77 (2005), a documentary produced by Cynthia Salzman Mondell and Allen Mondell, tells the story of the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston, TX, the first federally-funded women’s conference. This pivotal weekend attracted 20,000 attendees from across the U.S. SISTERS OF ‘77 is available from Media Projects. The film had its broadcast premiere on the Emmy-award-winning PBS documentary series INDEPENDENT LENS. Go to the filmmaker webpage for more information.
