Womens Rights History

Emmeline Pankhurst was to women’s suffrage in England what Susan B. Anthony was for the same cause in America. She gave this memorable speech while campaigning in the US. In it, she explains the root trouble women face when campaigning for their rights: “We women, in trying to make our case clear, always have to make as part of our argument, and urge upon men in our audience the fact - a very simple fact - that women are human beings.” Though she faced harsh criticism for her “militant” means of advocacy, she never backed down, and as a result, gained suffrage in her lifetime.

Women have been at the forefront of significant positive change for generations, and yet they still struggle to have their voices heard. There is no more obvious example of this than when learning about modern history, where little acknowledgment is given to women's incredible feats and sacrifices during major world events. However, there are hundreds of true stories of brave women activists, each one fighting for important causes such as ending slavery and other forms of oppression.

Having lost her mother at a young age, Ella Fitzgerald struggled as a child, especially during the Great Depression. But after winning over the audience with her singing at an Amateur Night at the Apollo, Ella's career began, and she eventually went on to become a world-renowned singer known as the First Lady of Song.

On March 2, 1955, a slim, bespectacled teenager refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Mont-gomery, Alabama. Shouting "It's my constitutional right!" as police dragged her off to jail, Claudette Colvin decided she'd had enough of the Jim Crow segregation laws that had angered and puzzled her since she was a young child.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Fighter for Justice shows young listeners how the former First Lady evolved from a poor little rich girl to a protector and advocate for those without a voice. Although now seen as a cultural icon, she was a woman deeply insecure about her looks and her role in the world. But by recognizing her fears and constantly striving to overcome her prejudices, she used her proximity to presidents and her own power to aid in the fight for Civil Rights and other important causes. This biography gives listeners a fresh perspective on her extraordinary life.

The Progressive Era was the period of American history between the 1890s and 1920s. It was a movement dedicated to political and social reform, largely driven by the middle class. In a world that was dominated by wealthy industrialists and threatened by radical ideas of laborers, the middle class strived for order.