American Women — Women’s history

  • 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…

  • Revolution (Episode 5 of 14)

    On the beginnings of feminist organizing in the mid 19th century, with a dramatization of the first women’s rights convention and Elizabeth Cady Stanton reading a new “Declaration of Independence for Women.” Also contains readings of some of the negative newspaper coverage of the Seneca Falls Convention. This is the fifth episode of fourteen in…

  • Whistlin’ girls (Episode 6 of 15)

    Dramatization of the Lucy Stone legend and the problems facing women who seek to be heard at public gatherings (ca. 1834). Episode six out of fourteen in the series. The series was written and directed by Virginia Maynard and produced by Maynard and Chuck Levy, narrated by Levy, and engineered by David Talcott. It was…

  • The Nineteenth century Minerva (Episode 7 of 14)

    Examination of Margaret Fuller and her writings which call for greater women’s rights, including a reading of an excerpt of The Blithesdale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This is the seventh in of the 14-episode series produced and broadcast on KPFA by Virginia Maynard and Charles Levy from 1958 to 1959. The series was written and…

  • 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…

  • 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…