VANGUARD offers a sweeping history of African American women’s political lives in America, recounting how they fought for, won, and used the right to the ballot—fighting against both racism and sexism.
The event is produced in conjunction with the encore broadcast of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’s The Vote, on PBS. The event will include an excerpt from the film and a discussion between Martha Jones and fellow historian Marcia Chatelain around the savvy political maneuvering of Black women from the fight for women’s suffrage to the present. They will explore Black women’s stunning political gains in the face of overwhelming obstacles throughout the 20th century, and their continued efforts to ensure everyone has a seat at the table and a voice in shaping the country.
Both Martha Jones and Marcia Chatelain are featured historians interviewed in The Vote.
Featuring:
Martha S. Jones – The Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. Martha is a past co-president of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, the oldest and largest association of women historians in the United States, and she sits on the executive board of the Society of American Historians. Author of Vanguard, Birthright Citizens and All Bound up Together, she has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, USA Today, and more. For more, visit www.MarthaSJones.com, and follow Martha on Twitter @MarthaSJones
Marcia Chatelain – A Professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University. Author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America and South Side Girls: Growing Up in the Great Migration. Following the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, she organized a social media response in the form of the crowdsourced #FergusonSyllabus. For more information, visit www.marciachatelain.com.
Visit pbs.org/thevote to watch the full film!
