19th Amendment Podcasts

In honor of the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment and women’s right to vote, the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, the National Park Service, and public media organization PRX are partnering to bring you a set of history-driven podcasts inspired by the courageous suffragists who worked to secure the right to vote for American women. The podcast series—one for tweens, and one for teens and grown-ups—take you to the years before women could fully participate in their own democracy, when universal suffrage—the right to vote—was denied to them.

Click on the image to find The Agitators episodes and companion materials

.

The Agitators: The Story of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass

The Agitators tells of the enduring but tempestuous friendship of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. Great allies? Yes. And at times, great adversaries. Young abolitionists when they met in Rochester, New York in the 1840s, they were full of hope and a common purpose. As they grew to become the cultural icons we know today, their movements collided and their friendship was severely tested. Follow these brilliant, flawed, and rebellious activists with host Ashley C. Ford. Their message still matters.

This six-part podcast is based on the play The Agitators. The Agitators is brought to listeners by the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, the National Park Service, and PRX.

Click here for episodes of The Agitators

• The Agitators: Trailer

  
  

  These two heroes of women’s suffrage and abolition were friends -- and sometimes adversaries -- for 45 years. Follow them through time with this theatrical podcast based on the play by Mat Smart.

  Credit / Author:

  PRX, WSCC, NPS

  Date created:

  10/28/2020

  Audio Transcript

  ASHLEY C. FORD: Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony’s fingerprints are all over The Constitution. Frederick Douglass – with the 13th and 14th Amendments – especially the 15th, which provided for Black men’s right to vote. Susan B. Anthony – with the 19th Amendment, which secured women’s right to vote.

  What most people don’t know is that Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony were friends. They had a rich, complicated 45-year-long friendship. They were allies. They were sometimes adversaries. They agitated each other. They agitated the nation.

  SUSAN: I lie awake at night, my mind racing, my heart pounding – only thinking of one thing: How do we end slavery? How? Mr. Douglass, what can I do to help? It is 1849 – how is this still happening? I cannot think of anything else. I cannot sleep. I –

  FREDERICK: So we should end slavery because it keeps you up at night?

  ASHLEY: I’m Ashley C. Ford. Join me for The Agitators a six-part theatrical podcast from the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, the National Park Service, and PRX Productions, based on the play by Mat Smart.

  We'll be joined by the team from the stage production: Director Logan Vaughn, composer Juliette Jones, and actors Cedric Mays and Madeleine Lambert.

  The Agitators is a dramatic telling of the untold story of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. . . one of the most important and unlikely friendships in American history. We’ll begin when they first met in the late 1840s….

  FREDERICK: When is your birthday?

  SUSAN: What?

  FREDERICK: When were you born?

  SUSAN: February 15th, 1820.

  FREDERICK: I do not know mine. Not the day. Not the year.

  I did not understand – when I was growing up – why did the white children get to have birthdays and I did not? Slavery is not an idea to me – it is not a great evil that happens far away in the South that keeps me up at night. Slavery is what stole the first twenty years of my life.

  ASHLEY C. FORD: We’ll follow them through their fight over Black men securing the right to vote in the Constitution before women did --

  SUSAN: The Fifteenth is a constitutional amendment that disenfranchises half of this country. It is the opposite of our mission. I do not even know what to say to such a despicable suggestion – what shall you have me say?

  FREDERICK: That you will stand with me. Will you stand with me?

  SUSAN: You cannot be serious.

  FREDERICK: This in-fighting of the AERA has hurt the chances of the Fifteenth being ratified. If Susan B. Anthony had a change of heart and supported it – that could sway the country.

  SUSAN: You overstate my influence.

  FREDERICK: You are on the front page of the newspaper once a week. What you say matters.

  SUSAN: What I say is reported on, but what does it matter without the vote?

  ASHLEY C. FORD: We will take these two American icons off their pedestals and get to know them as living, breathing, flawed people. Frederick Douglass said: “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future.” The Agitators does just that. We will bring this untold past firmly into the now.

  Subscribe wherever you get podcasts; I’m Ashley C. Ford. Join me November 18th for our first episode. You don’t want to miss it.

---

Click on the image to find The Magic Sash episodes and companion materials.

The Magic Sash

The Magic Sash is a journey back in time hosted by gold medal gymnast and advocate Aly Raisman. Join Lotty and Isaiah, two very modern fifth graders, as they meet iconic heroes of the movement for women’s right to vote and experience big moments in women’s suffrage first-hand. They’ll learn that what women (and men) fought for — women’s full political equality — isn’t dusty history at all.

The Magic Sash is a member of TRAX from PRX, a network of high quality podcasts for 9- to 13-year-olds. It's a co-production with Gen-Z Media.

Click here for episodes of The Magic Sash...

• The Magic Sash: Trailer

  
  

  Meet Lotty and Isaiah, two modern kids who travel back in time to witness great events in the history of the women’s suffrage movement.

  Credit / Author:

  PRX, WSCC, NPS, Gen-Z Media

  Date created:

  07/09/2020

  Audio Transcript

  MAGIC SASH TRAILER

  Open on Magic Sash magical theme music.

  LOTTY

  Oh sweet - a sash! Like they wore in Marches.

  (reading) Votes for Women.

  ISAIAH

  Try it on. No, over your head, like this. Here, lemme help you put it on, Let’s just straighten it out...

  LOTTY

  I don’t need you to help ...

  Suddenly...WHIZ- BAM - WHOOSH! The sash lights up and they’re transported back in time.

  LOTTY/ISAIAH Whoa!!!!!!!!!

  ALY RAISMAN

  Hi, I’m Aly Raisman, Olympic Gold Medalist and advocate. I’m the host of a new podcast for your whole family called The Magic Sash.

  Lotty and Isaish drop down from the sky and hit the ground with SHOCKED, GASPING BREATHS. (”Ow,” “Ooo,” “Ouch!” Etc).

  LOTTY

  (stunned, confused)

  The Seneca Falls Sentinel. July 18th ... 1848.

  ISAIAH/LOTTY

  1848?!?!

  ALY RAISMAN

  The Magic Sash is a fictional audio adventure that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the constitutional right to vote.

  Sounds from the Women’s Suffrage Parade of 1913.

  MARCHERS (INCLUDING LOTTY AND ISAIAH)

  Votes for Women! Votes for Women! Women!

  ALY RAISMAN

  Join Lotty and Isaiah, two modern kids who travel back in time to witness great events in the history of the women’s suffrage movement.

  LOTTY

  The sash wants to show us all these important moments. I think...I think we’re supposed to be here.

  ALY RAISMAN

  Along the way, they’ll meet people like Susan B. Anthony...

  SUSAN B. ANTHONY

  Now listen, ladies. There’s the clerk. We’re going to walk up and ask to vote. We will not be turned away. If the police arrive, then so be it.

  ALY RAISMAN

  Frederick Douglass...

  FREDERICK DOUGLASS

  (taking the stand)

  Ladies and Gentlemen, when it comes to women’s rights, it was hers before she comprehended it.

  ALY RAISMAN

  ...and Harriet Tubman.

  HARRIET TUBMAN

  Every great dream begins with a dreamer.

  ALY RAISMAN

  The Magic Sash is a story about people who demanded that their voices be heard, a story that continues to this day.

  MARCHERS

  Vote for women! Votes for women!

  ALY RAISMAN

  By speaking out in public and winning the right to vote, these activists opened up new opportunities for women in all fields, and inspired future generations, including me, to continue fighting for progress.

  1920 SENATOR

  We hereby ratify that the rights 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.

  ALY RAISMAN

  The Magic Sash is a production of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission. I know your whole family will enjoy Lotty and Isaiah’s journey through time. And I hope the story of the fight for the 19th amendment inspires you to use your voice to make the world a better place.

  ANNOUNCER

  The adventure begins on August 5th. Subscribe now at Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to listen.

---

Click on the image to find And Nothing Less episodes and companion materials.

And Nothing Less

"Men their rights and nothing more; women their rights and nothing less.”

Written by suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, women’s rights activists used this rallying cry to demand voting equality. But the suffrage movement included far more voices and perspectives than these two well-known names: throughout the fight for women’s right to vote, generations of diverse activists demanded full access to the ballot box. Hosts Rosario Dawson and Retta guide us through this seven-part series, bringing us the stories we didn’t learn in our history books.

And Nothing Less is the official podcast commemorating 100 years of the 19th Amendment and women's constitutional right to vote.

Click here for episodes of And Nothing Less...

• And Nothing Less: Trailer

  
  

  The story we wish had been told. The history you never learned in school, but should’ve. Stories about radical women who made change, and those behind the scenes who inspired it.

  Credit / Author:

  PRX, WSCC, NPS

  Date created:

  07/09/2020

  Audio Transcript

  Transcript for “And Nothing Less” Trailer

  [“Winning the Vote” music up…] Now 'tis just as plain as my old hat, that's plain as plain can be, That if the women want the vote, they'll get no help from me. Not from Joe, not from Joe, if he knows it, not from Joseph; No,no,no, not from Joe; not from me, I tell you no! [Music fade down/out...] R: No no no! Rosario, What on earth is that?! RD: Oh that’s that’s a song called “Winning the Vote” written back in 1912. R: Oh geez. Let me try not NOT roll my eyes at “Joe” too hard here. RD: I KNOW. I know. But listen --- we’ve got to tell this story. R: That’s right -- the story of WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE. RD: Which really just means - our right to vote! R: Because, believe it or not...it’s turning 100. [Music slow up] RD: Alright Joe, we’ll take it from here. [Music fades out for good] [Fade in theme or contemporary music]

  R: I’m Retta

  RD: And I’m Rosario Dawson And we’re bringing you a new podcast called “And Nothing Less.” Over the next 7 episodes we’re going to tell the story of the over-seventy-year fight for women’s rights, leading up to the victory of ratifying the 19th amendment. R: And just in case you forgot-- it states that *clears throat* “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” AND that happened JUST 100 years ago. [fade in contemporary music]

  RD: So we're going to tell the story we wish had been told. The history you never learned in school, but should’ve. Stories about radical women who made change, and those behind the scenes who inspired it. R: We’ll talk about some of the biggest myths ---

  Lisa:There is no constitutional right to vote R: The big banner-waving moments --- Allison: Often textbooks just have a line saying and then women were granted the right to vote. That was absolutely not the case. Women were not granted anything. They fought extremely, extremely hard for this right.

  R: the fights over race ---

  Martha: White suffragists not only know that Jim Crow laws will keep black women from the polls, they count on that being common knowledge. R: And how this is about more than the past. It’s about our present and future.

  Elaine: This was an amazing civil rights battle. It's been ignored too long, and there were enormous lessons for today, not only historical lessons, but political lessons about how you make change in a democracy.

  RD: So join us on And Nothing Less, from the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission. the National Park Service and PRX. R: Subscribe now to hear our first episode on August 5th! RD: Oh, and remember joe? He came around.... (Boys) You're just right- how blind I've been, I ne'er had seen it thus; 'Tis true that taxes you must pay without a word of fuss. You are subject to the laws that men made, and yet no word or note, Can you sing out where it will count. I'll help you win the vote! Yes, I will. (Girls) Thank you, Joe. (All) We'll together soon be voters, Yes we will, if you'll all Vote "YES" at the polls next fall.