Series: Ballot Blocked Podcast

The history of voting rights isn’t solely a progressive or linear narrative. Passing legislation is only one step along the way to the ballot box. The laws must be enforced and that takes organizing and struggle. One hundred years after the 19th amendment barred states from denying the vote based on sex, the fight for social, economic, and political equality continues. Ballot Blocked explores how we got here and asks where we might be going next when it comes to voting rights.

  • Article 1: Ballot Blocked Episode 1: Service, Sacrifice, and Citizenship

    An African American soldier in Union Army uniform sits with his family for a photograph.

    This podcast episode explores the service and sacrifice of Northern African American families during the Civil War. Dr. Holly A. Pinheiro, Jr. discusses the toll that enlistment in the Union Army took on soldiers, their relatives, and the broader community in and around Camp William Penn in Philadelphia. He also highlights how a lack of voting rights did not stop African American women from asserting their civil and political rights before, during, and after the Civil War. Read more

  • Article 2: Ballot Blocked Episode 2 - The Transnational Activism of Mary Church Terrell

    Mary Church Terrell

    Episode 2 of the podcast Ballot Blocked examines the transnational activism of African American women at the turn of the 20th century. Dr. Noaquia Callahan Banks discusses the life and work of Mary Church Terrell. An educator, writer, civil rights advocate, and suffragist, Terrell worked to advance the causes of racial justice and gender equality in the United States and around the world. Read more

  • Article 3: Ballot Blocked Episode 3: Remembering History's Complexities

    Entrance hallway Belmont Paul Women's Equality National Monument

    This episode of Ballot Blocked explores struggles for inclusion and equity within the women's suffrage movement. Public historian and ranger Susan Philpott discusses this history as well as the recent centennial commemoration of the 19th amendment's ratification. Read more

  • Article 4: Ballot Blocked Episode 4: The Radicalism of Irish American Women

    Women giving a speech and pointing

    This episode of Ballot Blocked explores the role of Irish American women in the suffrage movement. Many of these women were already veteran organizers in the labor and Irish independence movements. To learn more about how these experiences affected their views on women’s suffrage, we spoke with Dr. McCarthy, a professor at Central Michigan University. Read more

  • Article 5: Ballot Blocked Episode 5: Mexican American Voting Rights

    A group of men stand outside a truck with a Voter Registration sign

    This episode examines the barriers to voting faced by Mexican Americans in the Pacific Northwest. In Washington State, for example, some counties still required literacy tests, even after they were supposed to be banned by the 1965 Voting Rights Act. To learn more about this history and to understand how Mexican Americans challenged discriminatory laws we interview Dr. Josué Q, Estrada Read more

Tags: voting rights voting rights act women's history women in the labor movement labor history african american civil rights african american history and culture mexican american chicano civil rights movement irish american history suffrage movement