American Women — Women’s history

  • The Tree of knowledge (Episode 8 of 14)

    On the gradual growth of opportunity for women to attain a secondary education during the early 1800s. Contains readings of excerpts from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emilius: or, a treatise on education (1774), John Gregory’s A father’s legacy to his daughters (1761), Thomas Jefferson’s letters to his daughters; Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Oldtown folks (1869), Alice Stone Blackwell’s…

  • The womanly woman (Episode 9 of 14)

    This recording centers on a story about a woman aboard ship with a group of men. The scene is taken from The Lady of The Aroostook written by William Dean Howells in 1879. This is the ninth episode of the fourteen-episode series produced and broadcast on KPFA by Virginia Maynard and Charles Levy from 1958…

  • Revolt of Mother (Episode 10 of 14)

    Dramatization of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s story The Revolt of “Mother” (1890), concerning a woman in rural New England rejecting the role imposed upon her by her husband. This is the tenth episode of the fourteen-episode series produced and broadcast on KPFA by Virginia Maynard and Charles Levy from 1958 to 1959. The series was…

  • The yellow wallpaper / written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Episode 11 of 14)

    This is a recording of the feminist play on the harm to society of sex discrimination, written by published sociologist Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892. This is the eleventh episode of the fourteen-episode series produced and broadcast on KPFA by Virginia Maynard and Charles Levy from 1958 to 1959. The series was written and directed…

  • A question of justice / written by Susan Glaspell (Episode 12 of 14)

    Reading of a short story about a woman on trial for the murder of her husband. Although advertised in the KPFA Folio as “A question of justice,” this is actually a short story called “A jury of her peers,” written by Susan Glaspell around 1916. This is the twelfth episode of the fourteen-episode series produced…

  • Suffrage victory (Episode 13 of 14)

    On the battle for women’s suffrage. Contains readings of excerpts from Sinclair Lewis’ Anne Vickers (1932) and a contemporary account of the Night of Terror, November 14, 1917, in which a group of suffragists, including Alice Paul, were brutalized by guards in front of the Occaquan Workhouse in Washington, D.C. This is the thirteenth episode…

  • Panel discussion on women (Episode 14 of 14)

    Discussion of the woman’s struggle for social equality. Panelists include Mark Shorer, English literature professor at the University of California; Ethel Albert (1918-1989), anthropologist; Dr. Anna Maenchen, Berkeley psychiatrist; Peter Odegard, professor of political science at the University of California; Miriam Allen DeFord, writer; and Virginia Maynard, writer and director of “The American woman” series.…

  • Liberty, equality, and fraternity (Episode 3 of 14)

    On women’s view of their role in Colonial life. Contains dramatic readings of Benjamin Franklin’s “The Speech of Polly Baker,” excerpts from the letters of Abigail Adams, and Charles Brockden Brown’s “Alcuin: a Dialogue.” Episode three of the 14-episode series produced and broadcast on KPFA by Virginia Maynard and Charles Levy from 1958 to 1959.…

  • Lucretia Mott (Episode 4 of 14)

    Biographical sketch with dramatization of the life and actions of the feminist abolitionist Lucretia Mott. Contains a dramatization of James and Lucretia Mott hiding from the anti-abolition mob that burned down Philadelphia Hall in 1838 and a dramatic reading of Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison’s motions at the World Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840 in…

  • Sinful Eve / produced by Virginia Maynard and Charles Levy (Episode 1 of 14)

    This episode is on the long-standing view of woman’s responsibility for man’s sins. Contains a dramatization of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.” Part one of the 14-part series produced and broadcast on KPFA by Virginia Maynard and Charles Levy from 1958 to 1959. The series was written and directed by Virginia Maynard and produced by…