PBS: One Woman, One Vote (1995, 2005)

 

One Woman, One Vote – a documentary film about the campaign for women’s right to vote in the US – was shown on US television (PBS) in 1995 and released on DVD in 2005. It is an episode of the long-running program American Experience (season 7, episode 6). Here are some basic facts about it:

** Written, produced and directed by Ruth Pollak

** Narrated by Susan Sarandon

** Run time: 108 minutes

The film is divided into 16 chapters: an introduction and 15 chapters which follow a chronological line from the famous meeting in Seneca Falls, NY, in 1848 to the adoption and ratification of the 19th amendment to the US constitution in 1920, which gives all American women the right to vote. Here are the chapter headings:

# 01. Introduction

# 02. 1848 Seneca Falls

# 03. Early Days

# 04. The Challenge

# 05. The West

# 06. Hidden Enemy

# 07. Sisters and Strangers

# 08. Ties That Bind

# 09. New Woman

# 10. Hard Times

# 11. We Demand

# 12. We Have Power

# 13. Winning Plan

# 14. Patriots and Prisoners

# 15. Turning the Tide

# 16. Fight to the Finish

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

** Sally Roesch Wagner, women’s historian

** Sara Evans, historian

** Michael McGeer, historian

** Kathleen Barry, biographer of Susan B. Anthony

** Ellen Carol DuBois, women’s historian

** Marcia Goldstein, historian

** Sarah Hunter Graham, historian

** Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, historian

** Nancy F. Cott, historian

** Amelia Robert Fry, biographer of Alice Paul

** Marjorie Spruill Wheeler, historian

** John Morton Blum, historian

Between “the talking heads” there is a lot of old footage, photographs as well as film. Since the old footage is from 1920 or before, it is all is in black-and-white. We cannot complain about that.

Several topics are covered in the film: marriage, divorce, children, and economic rights, but the main focus of the film is on women’s right to vote.

The US is a federal state. This means that some issues are decided by the federal government and Congress in Washington, DC, while other issues are decided by the states. When the women’s campaign began, they were told that voting rights were decided by the states. Therefore the women were forced to conduct their campaign in one state at a time. Getting the vote for all American woman was going to be a long and slow process, if they had to do it this way.

Later they realised that a new amendment to the constitution would change the law in all states with one stroke. However, adding a new amendment to the constitution is a difficult and time-consuming task.

In this film, we follow the campaign for women’s right to vote from one state to the next and from one decade to the next. We learn about the methods that were used in order to create support for the campaign. Different women had different ideas about which methods were best. During some periods the movement was split, because there were different opinions about how to conduct the campaign.

Racism divided black women from white women and northern women from southern women. Mainstream women could not work with militant women who preferred confrontation and civil disobedience, which landed them in prison, over conventional methods of lobbying and education.

The film portrays the leaders of the movement, including the following:

** Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1815-1902

** Susan B. Anthony, 1820-1906

** Lucy Stone, 1818-1893

** Carrie Chapman Catt, 1859-1947

** Mary Church Terrell, 1863-1954

** Anna Howard Shaw, 1847-1919

** Alice Paul, 1885-1977

In this film, we learn where the women’s movement found its allies. In the beginning the best allies were the abolition movement, which wanted an end to slavery, and the temperance movement, which wanted to introduce prohibition, i.e. an end to the production, sale, and consumption of alcohol.

We also learn about the opposition which the movement faced. Opposition came not only from men, who were afraid they were going to lose control of society, it also came from women who felt it was unnatural for a woman to vote and to enter into politics.

Southern women opposed the female vote, because they did not want black women to get the vote. Racism played an important role in the history of this movement. Most members and supporters of the campaign - in particular the leaders - were white, middleclass women from the northern states.

Several male politicians are mentioned in the film, but President Woodrow Wilson gets more attention than anyone else. The reason is obvious: Wilson was known as a liberal and progressive politician, but when it came to women’s right to vote, he was a strong opponent, and because he was the president, his position on the issue was very significant.

When a group of women began picketing outside the White House, he was not amused, but he thought it was going to end in a few days. He was wrong. The women kept up their peaceful demonstration and their number increased. When a mob attacked the women, Wilson did not ask the police to stop the attack.

When the women continued their protest, Wilson ordered the police to arrest them and put them in jail. When some of the women began a hunger strike, they were force-fed by prison authorities. For many women, Wilson was no hero.

However, when Wilson realised that the tide was turning, he was quick to change his position. During the final campaign for the 19th amendment, he declared his support for women’s right to vote. Since women were probably going to get the vote, no matter what he did, he might as well support them in order to be on the winning side. The argument was: if you can’t beat them, join them!

One Woman, One Vote is an excellent film. The script is well-written and the story is easy to follow. The old footage that is shown between “the talking heads” is well-chosen; interesting and informative. As far as I can tell, this film is an ABC-product: accurate, balanced and comprehensive.

What do reviewers say about it? On IMDb it has a rating of 71 per cent, which corresponds to 3.5 stars on Amazon. If you ask me, this average rating is too low. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

If you are interested in the history of the modern world – in particular the history of women’s rights in the US – this film is definitely something for you.

PS # 1. About the DVD: there are no bonus features, but there are optional subtitles in English (closed captions), which can be turned on or turned off. The disc is from the US (region 1). My laptop is from Europe (region 2). But the disc runs without any problems on my laptop, when I use a program called VLC Media Player.

PS # 2. The following book is the official companion to the film: One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Women’s Suffrage Movement edited by Marjorie Spruill Wheeler (1995).

PS # 3. For more information, see the following books:

** Susan B. Anthony: A Biography by Kathleen Barry (1988)

** Women’s Suffrage and Women’s Rights by Ellen Carol DuBois (1998)

** Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life by Lori D. Ginzberg (2009, 2010)

** Women Against Equality: A History of the Anti-Suffrage Movement in the US from 1895 to 1920 by Anne Myra Benjamin (second edition, 2014)

PS # 4. Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony is a documentary film by Ken Burns and Paul Barnes. It was shown on US television (PBS) in 1999 and released on DVD in 2010.

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