PBS: Not for Ourselves Alone (1999, 2010)

Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony is a documentary film in two parts about the campaign for women’s rights in the US. It was shown on US television (PBS) in 1999 and released on DVD in 2010. Here is some basic information about it:

** Produced by Ken Burns and Paul Barnes

** Directed by Ken Burns

** Written by Geoffrey Ward

** Narrated by Sally Kellerman

** The voice of Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Ronnie Gilbert

** The voice of Susan B. Anthony: Julie Harris

** Run time: part one = 94 minutes; part two = 90 minutes

** Special feature: “The making of Not for Ourselves Alone: An interview with Ken Burns and Paul Barnes” = 8 minutes

** Total running time: 192 minutes

This film covers the lives and careers of two women: Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) and Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906). At the same time it covers the early history of the campaign for women’s rights in the US. The film is divided into two parts. Each part is divided into several chapters, which follow a (more or less) chronological line from 1815 (when Elizabeth was born) to 1920 (when all US women were given the right to vote for the first time). Here is the table of contents:

PART ONE: REVOLUTION

# 01. Introduction

# 02. I wish you were a boy

# 03. A drudge or a doll

# 04. A new revelation

# 05. A reformer

# 06. Mental hunger

# 07. Seneca Falls, NY, July 1848

# 08. A caged lion

# 09. Women’s souls

# 10. Man’s sense of justice

# 11. The Negro’s hour

# 12. Credits

PART TWO: FAILURE IS IMPOSSIBLE

# 01. Introduction

# 02. Done it!!

# 03. Spreading the word

# 04. Making history

# 05. Wedded to an idea

# 06. The solitude of self

# 07. An awful hush

# 08. A little bit of justice

# 09. Winter wheat

# 10. Credits

The film opens and closes with brief statements from two women who voted in the November 1920 election, the first US election in which all adult women were allowed to vote. Here are their names:

** Ruth Belcher Dyk, who was 98 years old in 1999

** Ethel Hall, who was 100 years old in 1999

Several experts were interviewed for the film. Here are their names, listed in the order of appearance:

** Lynn Sherr, biographer

** Kathleen Barry, biographer

** Elisabeth Griffith, biographer

** Judith Wellman, historian

** Sally Roesch Wagner, historian

** Ann Gordon, historian

** Lorie Barnum, Executive Director, Susan B. Anthony House

** Ellen Carol Dubois, historian

** Vivian Gornick, writer

Between the talking heads there is a lot of old footage, photographs and sometimes films. All the old footage is in black-and-white, but we cannot complain about that.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were both born in the US in the beginning of the 19th century. As leaders of the campaign for women’s rights they became friends. Their personal and professional partnership lasted for more than fifty years, even though their backgrounds and their personalities were very different.

Elizabeth was married and had children, while Susan never married and never had children. Elizabeth was a philosopher and a writer, who often stayed at home, while Susan was an activist who spoke at public meetings.

Elizabeth focused on many different issues which were important to women, while Susan focused more and more on one single issue - the right to vote - saying that all other issues would have to be postponed. They did not always agree with each other, but they always respected each other.

None of them lived long enough to see the moment when all US women were finally given the right to vote. This did not happen until 1920, 18 years after the death of Elizabeth and 14 years after the death of Susan. But they had laid the foundation for the movement that triumphed in 1920 when the eleventh amendment to the US constitution was adopted by Congress and ratified by the necessary number of states.

What do reviewers say about this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 79 per cent, which corresponds to four stars on Amazon. On the US version of Amazon there are 40 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.9 stars.

If you ask me, the four star rating on IMDb it too low, while the 4.9 star rating on the US version of Amazon is more appropriate.

As far as I can tell, this film is an ABC-product: accurate, balanced, and comprehensive. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS # 1. About the disc: this DVD is from the US (region one). My laptop is from Europe (region two). But the disc runs without any problems on my laptop when I use the program VLC media Player. According to information on the DVD box, there are closed captions, i.e. English subtitles that you can turn on or off. But when the disc runs on my laptop, the subtitles do not work.

PS # 2. The following book is the official companion to the film: Not for Ourselves Alone by Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns (1999, 2001)

PS # 3. For more information, see the following books, written by authors who appear as experts in the film:

** Failure is Impossible by Lynn Sherr (HC 1995, PB 1996)

** Susan B. Anthony: A Biography of a Singular Feminist by Kathleen Barry (1988, 2000)

** In her Own Right: The Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Elisabeth Griffith (1985)

** The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman’s Rights Convention by Judith Wellman (2004)

** A Time of Protest: Suffragists Challenge the Republic, 1870-1887 by Sally Roesch Wagner (1998)

** The Solitude of Self: Thinking about Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Vivian Gornick (2005, 2006)

PS # 4. One Woman, One Vote is a documentary film about the campaign for women’s rights in the US. It was shown on US television (PBS) in 1995 and released on DVD in 2005.

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