From megaphones to microphones : speeches of American women, 1920-1960 / Sandra J. Sarkela, Susan Mallon Ross, and Margaret A. Lowe.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Sarkela, Sandra J., 1949-

Ross, Susan Mallon, 1947-

Lowe, Margaret A., 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Speeches, addresses, etc., American--Women authors.

Speeches, addresses, etc., American.

Women--United States--History--Sources.

Women.

United States.

History.

Genre:

Sources.

Physical Description:

xx, 341 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2003.

Summary:

Until recently, scholars assumed that women "stopped speaking" after they won the vote in 1920 and did not reenter political life until the beginning of feminism's second wave in the 1960s. Nothing could be further from the truth. National attention dissipated after 1920, but women didn't retreat from political and civic life. Their public activism shifted from a single-issue agenda to the myriad social problems and public issues facing the nation. As such, women began to take their place in the public square as political actors in their own rights, rather than campaigning strictly for "women's issues." This anthology documents women's activism from 1920 to 1960 by introducing heretofore unpublished public speeches addressing a wide array of debated topics including child labor, international relations, nuclear disarmament, consumerism, feminism and anti-feminism, social welfare, family life, war, and the environment. Some speeches were delivered in legislative forums, others at schools, churches, business meetings, and media events; still others were delivered before national political organizations. This diverse volume features speakers of varying age, race, class, ethnicity, geographic region, and political persuasion. The volume's editors include short biographical introductions, as well as placing each selection in historical context.

Contents:

I What Next? 1920-1931 1

Address at "Portrait Monument" Dedication (February 15, 1921) / Jane Addams (1860-1935) 5

The Black Mammy Monument (1923) / Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) 11

Talk to Young Men of Howard University (March 20, 1925) 15

General Federation of Women's Clubs

Early 1920s, Various Convention Speeches 19

The Conservation Department's Forestry Program (June 22, 1920) / Mrs. John P. Gooding (Chairman Forestry Division) 21

Home Economics Education (June 22, 1920) / Adelaide Steele Baylor 22

Developing Better Understanding and Friendship between the Pan-Americans (1924) / Mrs. E. O. Leatherwood 23

Report of Department of American Citizenship (1926) / Mrs. W. R. Alvord 24

Speech on the Outlawry of War Delivered at the Conference on Causes and Cure of War (January 18, 1925) / Florence Ellinwood Allen (1884-1966) 29

Excerpt from Miss Muskrat's Address on the North American Indian in The American Indian (February 1927) / Ruth Muskrat Bronson (ca. 1897-1982) 39

What the Negro Wants Politically (1928) / Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879-1961) 43

Speech before the Indian Rights Association (1928) (Zitkala-Sa, Red Bird) / Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (1876-1938) 51

Woman's Importance as an Investor of Money, Time and Leisure (January 17, 1929) / Elizabeth Manroe Sippel (ca. 1870-1940) 63

Pond's Radio: Mrs. J. Borden Harriman (February 2, 1931) / Florence Jaffray Harriman (1870-1967) 69

II Whose New Deal? 1932-1940 75

Campaign Issues Challenging Political Parties, "Challenge of the Woman Voter" (April 26, 1932) / Ruth Morgan (ca. 1880-1934) 79

Speech to Milk Shed Conference (1933) / Ella Reeve Bloor (1862-1951) 85

Statement by the President of the Birth Control League of Massachusetts (January 1935) / Blanche Ames Ames (1878-1969) 89

Social Insurance for U.S. (February 25, 1935) / Frances Perkins (1880-1965) 93

Philadelphia Branch of the National Woman's Party (September 9, 1935) / Anna Kelton Wiley (1877-1964) 103

What Libraries Mean to the Nation (April 1, 1936) / Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) 113

Woman and the Future (January 25, 1937) / Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) 119

Clarifying Our Vision with the Facts (October 31, 1937) / Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) 125

This Is My Task (March 12, 1939) / Aimee Kennedy Semple McPherson (1890-1944) 133

General Federation of Women's Clubs: Lucretia Mott Amendment (ERA) (1940) 143

For the Amendment / Mrs. Helen Robbins Bitterman 145

Against the Amendment / Mrs. Laura Hughes Lunde 151

Caravans of Sorrow (March 3, 1940) / Luisa Moreno (1907-1992) 155

III Speaking of War! 1940-1945 163

To the Democratic National Convention, Chicago (July 18, 1940) / Eleanor Roosevelt 167

The Great Democracy of the Free (October 24, 1940) / Dorothy Thompson (1894-1961) 171

The Lend-Lease Bill (February 27, 1941) / Hattie Caraway (1878-1950) 181

Address to the Liberal-Socialist Alliance in New York City (December 8, 1941) / Dorothy Day (1897-1980) 189

The Role of American Women in Wartime (September 24, 1942) / Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987) 195

Radio Speeches (February 22, 1942) / Mary Anderson (1872-1964) 203

Radio Broadcast to Nurses (July 1, 1942) / Mary Beard (1876-1946) 209

Women's Role in Winning the War (August 25 and 26, 1942) / Ella Reeve Bloor 213

/ Florence Jaffray Harriman 217

Woman and War (1941) 218

American-Soviet Friendship (December 9, 1944) 219

IV Is That All There Is? 1945-1960 223

My Democratic Credo (March 29, 1946) / Helen Gahagan Douglas (1900-1980) 227

Testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on the Equal Rights Amendment (March 10, 1948) / Mary Church Terrell 239

Toward Human Unity or Beyond Nationalism (Second Part) (April 7, 1948) / Emily Greene Balch (1867-1961) 241

Address to Business and Professional Women's Clubs (January 3, 1949) / Margaret Chase Smith (1898-1995) 251

Civil Rights and Liberties (March 4, 1949) / Maida Springer-Kemp (1910-) 259

Tydings Committee Testimony (March 14, 1950) / Dorothy Kenyon (1888-1972) 267

Women Share Service for Freedom (February 16, 1952) / Margaret M. Henderson (1911-) 275

Freedom

Not Fear (February 1, 1954) / Justine Wise Polier (1903-1987) 281

Standard Stump Speech (September 20, 1954) / Katie Louchheim (1903-1991) 289

Address before the Philadelphia Fashion Group (February 7, 1955) / Dorothy Shaver (1889-1959) 297

Talk at the ILGWU Convention (May 14, 1956) / Fannia Cohn (1885-1962) 303

Acceptance of AAUW Achievement Award (1956) / Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964) 307

The Community and Its Children (1958) / Martha May Eliot (1891-1978) 313

Being Good Neighbors

The Challenge of the Mid-Twentieth Century (February 12, 1959) / Pauli Murray (1910-1985) 321

Appendix Speeches by American Women Published in Vital Speeches of the Day, October 8, 1934-December 31, 1959 337.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0275967883

0275977722

OCLC:

49493380