We’re back with a special U.S. Women’s Equality Day issue of our Equality Now Recommends Newsletter, bringing you a round up of recommendations from our staff and supporters of books, movies, TV shows, and podcasts, that act as a megaphone for women’s rights.
Books
Finish the Fight!:The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote By Veronica Chambers and the staff at The New York Times
Who was at the forefront of women’s right to vote? We know a few famous names, like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but what about so many others from diverse backgrounds—Black, Asian, Latinx, Native American, and more—who helped lead the fight for suffrage? On the hundredth anniversary of the historic win for women’s rights, it’s time to celebrate the names and stories of the women whose stories have yet to be told, like Yankton Dakota Sioux, Zitkála-Šá, Mary Eliza Church Terrell, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee and many others.
Want your own copy of this book? Now is the last chance to enter our book giveaway! Enter before 11:59pm EST August 26th.
Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women By Kate Manne
In this bold and stylish critique, Cornell philosopher Kate Manne offers a radical new framework for understanding misogyny. Ranging widely across the culture, from Harvey Weinstein and the Brett Kavanaugh hearings to “Cat Person”, Manne’s book shows how privileged men’s sense of entitlement—to sex, yes, but more insidiously to admiration, care, bodily autonomy, knowledge, and power—is a pervasive social problem with often devastating consequences. Manne argues that male entitlement can explain a wide array of phenomena, from mansplaining and the undertreatment of women’s pain to mass shootings by incels and the seemingly intractable notion that women are “unelectable.” Moreover, Manne implicates each of us in toxic masculinity: It’s not just a product of a few bad actors; it’s something we all perpetuate, conditioned as we are by the social and cultural mores of our time.
Want your own copy of this book? Enter our book giveaway, open until 11:59pm EST on Sunday August 30th.
Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote and Insisted on Equality for All By Martha S. Jones
In the standard story, the suffrage crusade began in Seneca Falls in 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. But this overwhelmingly white women’s movement did not win the vote for most black women. Securing their voting rights required a movement of their own. In Vanguard, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American women’s political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of black women — Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more — who were the vanguard of women’s rights, calling on America to realize its best ideals.
Young Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson and illustrated by Andrea Pippins
Written in the spirit of Nina Simone’s song “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black,” this vibrant book is a perfect introduction to both historic and present-day icons and heroes. Meet figureheads, leaders, and pioneers such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Rosa Parks, as well as cultural trailblazers and athletes like Stevie Wonder, Oprah Winfrey, and Serena Williams.
Films
#FemalePleasure
Premiering tomorrow (August 26) on Fuse Media, this documentary portrays 5 courageous, smart and self-determined women, breaking the silence imposed by their archaic-patriarch societies and religious communities. With incredible strength and positive energy, Deborah Feldman, Leyla Hussein, Rokudenashiko, Doris Wagner and Vithika Yadav are fighting for sexual liberation and autonomy for women, beyond religious rules and cultural barriers. But their victory comes at a high price: they all have experienced public defamation, threats and prosecutions, have been excommunicated by the society they grew up in and even received death threats by religious leaders and fanatics.
#FemalePleasure premieres Wednesday 8/26 @ 8pm EST on Fuse linear. It will also be available to watch on Wednesday 8/26 on Fuse Apps, fuse.tv, and VOD.
The Vote
This two part PBS documentary explores how and why millions of 20th-century Americans mobilized for — and against — women’s suffrage. The Vote brings to life the unsung leaders of the movement and the deep controversies over gender roles and race that divided Americans then — and continue to dominate political discourse today.
TV Shows
The Ongoing Fight – Digital Short
This digital short highlights how Black women have long been at the forefront of the right to vote. Today, 100 years after the passage of the 19th Amendment and 55 years after the Voting Rights Act, their fight continues.
Equal Rights Amendment: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
In this segment from a Last Week Tonight Episode, John Oliver breaks down exactly what the ERA is all about and why it is so important. “None of this is that complicated,” says Oliver. “Equality for women should be a basic principle of our society — and if you think it already is, great! All the more reason to write it down.” Since this segment aired, the final 38th state necessary has ratified the ERA but the arguments Oliver makes are just as important now as we work to eliminate the ERA deadline and make it the 28th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.
Podcasts & Music
#FaceTheMusic4ERA Live Concert
Tomorrow night (Aug 26th) at 8pm ET, the ERA Coalition’s members will be hosting a live concert for Women’s Equality day to raise our voices with music and calls to action for racial and gender justice and to put gender equality in the U.S. Constitution. The event will be hosted by Kamala Lopez, President of EQUAL MEANS EQUAL, featuring performances by Art Alexakis of EVERCLEAR, Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Ali Handel & Patricia Bahia, Emily Ann Peterson, CryS Matthews, Cathy Richardson of JEFFERSON STARSHIP, and more! There will also be speeches from Equal Rights Amendment advocates, NV Sen Pat Spearman, Former IL Rep Steve Andersson, Former Rep & ERAMN Founder Betty Folliard, VA State Sen Jennifer McClellan, ERA Coalition COO Bettina Hager, VA Del Jennifer Carroll Foy, & VA Del Danica Roem. You won’t want to miss this exciting virtual concert!
She Votes!
100 years ago, the 19th Amendment was ratified. But American women’s battle for the ballot began long before that day in August—and continues, even to this day. She Votes! digs into the complex history of the women’s suffrage movement and its enduring significance, hosted by award-winning journalists Ellen Goodman and Lynn Sherr. Having lived through—and covered—feminism’s second-wave, Goodman and Sherr tell the definitive story of suffrage, from the first demands to speak on public matters by antislavery activists in 1837, through the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights, to the drama of the final passage in 1920 and beyond.
The Brown Girls Guide to Politics
The Brown Girls Guide to Politics Podcast is all about amplifying the voices of women who are too often forgotten in most media coverage. In the BGG to Politics blog, A’shanti Gholar created a space for women of color to learn about the current state of women in politics, to support others breaking into the political sphere, and to celebrate incredible people changing the course of the country. Gholar founded the blog and Wonder Media Network is thrilled to extend her platform to audio.
Do you have any suggestions for us to share next month? Please send them to us, we’d love to hear from you.