American Women — Women’s history

  • Harriet Tubman / produced by Darcell King. (Episode 6 of 7)

    Harriet Tubman was born into slavery and escaped to the North. Not satisfied with her own liberty, she risked her own life and freedom by returning to the South nineteen times to lead over three hundred men, women, and children to liberty by means of the underground railway. This program tells about her life and…

  • The Great goddess / produced by Joanna Brouk. (Episode 1 of 7)

    An examination of the goddess as creator and the facts and discoveries concerning the role of women in ancient times. In ancient myth throughout the world, from Asia to Ireland, to the islands of the Pacific, to ancient Crete, Babylonia and Phoenicia, the first creator of all was the Goddess. Her names were as varied…

  • Sojourner Truth : walking to freedom / produced by Darcell King. (Episode 3 of 7)

    This program tells the life of Sojourner Truth (c. 1797 – 1883), African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Prior to the Civil War, Sojourner Truth traveled around the country on foot telling others how she was abused as a slave, how she was sold and exploited, and how she gained her liberty. She began to…

  • Woman to woman : Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton / produced by Joanna Brouk. (Episode 4 of 7)

    In this docudrama, based upon court transcripts, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are interviewed on their lives and friendship. These two women were dedicated to their beliefs, and endured years of scorn and public ridicule for the efforts to achieve equal rights and suffrage for women. This program traces the history of Anthony…

  • New York, capitol of the 20th century / Elizabeth Hardwick

    Novelist and critic Elizabeth Hardwick presents “New York, Capitol of the 20th Century” at the UCLA English Department’s annual Ewing Lecture, April 21 and 22, 1981. The talk was presented in two parts on KPFK. In part one, “Pastoral memories,” Hardwick discusses the images of “Old New York” in 19th century American writing. This part…

  • Ourselves, our children / produced by Pearl Skotnes.

    February 14th, 1979 episode of “Holding up more than half the sky”. Segments include: a tribute to Susan B. Anthony, including a dramatization of her trial for “having voted knowingly, wrongfully, and unlawfully”; Janet Dodson interviews Ruth Bell and Joan Ditzion, members of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective and co-authors of “Ourselves and our…

  • Slavery and equality / Margaret Creel interviewed by Clare Spark.

    Margaret Creel, historian and professor of African-American Studies at University of California, Los Angeles, describes the relationship between two American heroes–Presidents Washington and Lincoln– to slavery and equality with KPFK’s Clare Spark. 25 minutes of presentation, then discussion and phone calls from the audience. Produced by Clare Spark for Newswatch. This program elicited much listener…

  • Women passing / Lynn Fonfa

    Lynn Fonfa, member of the San Francisco Lesbian History Project, talks about women who passed for men in the late 1800’s and 1900’s. Fonfa quotes correspondence and interviews from numerous women who “masqueraded” during that time and describes the ways in which these women passed. She is introduced by documentary filmmaker Liz Stevens. Mixed with…

  • Shoulder to shoulder / Midge McKenzie interviewed by Beverly Polokoff

    Beverly Polokoff of KPFK interviews Midge MacKenzie (1938-2004), documentary film maker, feminist, and author of “Shoulder to shoulder,” a documentary publication on the history of the militant suffragettes of Great Britain. She talks about what inspired her to write the book, the disappearance of these women in written history, and the fate of the radical…

  • Barbara Nestor / interviewed by Dorothy Healey.

    |Laurie Alexandre introduces Dorothy Healey (1914 – 2006), former chair of the Southern California chapter of the Communist Party, interviewing her mother, Barbara Nestor, on her activities as an anti-war and anti-capitalist activist. Nestor joined the Socialist party in 1915 and then later helped establish the Colorado chapter of the Communist Party. The end of…