BC VOICES LAUNCHES TIMELY DOCUMENTARY ON VOTING RIGHTS
Exploring American Women’s Struggle for the Ballot and Beyond
Episode 2 of the Online Docuseries:
Stand UP, Speak OUT: The Personal Politics of Women’s Rights
BC Voices, Inc. is pleased to announce the release of Voting Rights, Episode 2 of Stand UP, Speak OUT: The Personal Politics of Women’s Rights (SUSO).
Voting Rights illuminates women’s struggle to achieve and exercise their right to vote through archival photo, audio and video clips as well as interviews with a diverse group of women who came of age in the 1968 era speaking about the importance of voting rights in their lives. From no vote at all to the 19th Amendment, from oppressive Jim Crow laws to present-day voter suppression tactics, viewers will learn how public policy on voting rights has affected several generations of American women.
Rosalind Rosenberg, Barnard College Professor Emerita of History and an advisor to SUSO, calls Voting Rights “impressively comprehensive, factually accurate, vividly illustrated, represents diversity … a timely and important contribution to this election season.”
A planned six-episode online docuseries, Stand UP, Speak OUT centers on how critical women’s legal rights are to American women’s on-going freedom and independence.
“We hope Americans of every background will be inspired by Stand UP, Speak Out to continue the forward momentum of equal rights for all,” said BC Voices President Katherine Brewster. “In 2020, the centennial of the 19th Amendment, we honor the fortitude of those who fought to secure those rights. We invite organizations to share our SUSO videos with their membership, include them in their programming, and collaborate with us on creating events around these critical issues related to women’s equality.”
“And we are thrilled,” she adds, “to have the support of Craig Newmark Philanthropies, which made our documentary on voting rights possible. Craig Newmark, the founder of Craig Newmark Philanthropies, said “I am excited to support BC Voices, Inc., and look forward to seeing your project come to fruition.” Mr. Newmark’s philanthropic work helps to strengthen American democracy by supporting the values that the country aspires to – fairness, opportunity, and respect.
About Stand UP, Speak OUT
Through historical narration and short personal stories, the Stand UP, Speak OUT docuseries tells the story of the unprecedented lives led by women of the 1960’s generation over the past 50 years, empowered by the mid-20th century expansion in their legal rights, and the risk, today, of losing those rights for themselves and their daughters.
Each episode of Stand UP, Speak OUT opens with a historical overview of the right, followed by stand-alone interviews with diverse American women from the 1968 era who illuminate how the right transformed their lives. Each woman gives an unscripted account of her lived experience being deprived of full equality. Grandmothers, mothers, and daughters hear and respond to each other’s stories, often for the first time.
Future episodes are planned to address key women’s rights: reproductive choice; affirmative action; sexual harassment; and to marry whom we love, or not at all. The first short documentaries in the series can be viewed on the Stand UP, Speak OUT website:
The docuseries introduction, 200 + Years: American Women Fight and Rise, the struggle to gain, uphold, and expand women’s rights in America from 1776 to the present.
Episode 1: Equal Pay for Equal Work, American women’s struggle for the recognition of the value of their labor, Then And Now.
Episode 2: Voting Rights, the fight for women’s suffrage for all women and the challenge of maintaining a voice in the laws and policies that affect women’s lives, Then and Now.
The Filmmakers
Katherine Brewster, President of BC Voices and Executive Producer of Stand UP, Speak OUT, is an entrepreneur, managing a practice in somatic healing and wellness. She has more than 50 years of experience in sales, marketing, business management, and fundraising for non-profit artistic enterprises. She is a 1971 alum of Barnard College and earned an MBA at Columbia Business School in 1978.
Elisabeth Harris, the producer and director of Stand UP, Speak Out, has worked for more than twenty years on projects for CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, Travel Channel, History Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery, and other outlets. Her work includes the hit PBS show “History Detectives” and the longest-running history show on cable TV, “Mysteries At The Museum,” on The Travel Channel.
Renowned feminist scholars – Celia Naylor, Professor of History and Africana Studies, Barnard College; Annelise Orleck, Professor of History, Dartmouth College; Rosalind Rosenberg, Professor Emerita of History, Barnard College; and Ellen Ross, Professor Emerita of History and Women’s Studies, Ramapo College – advise BC Voices on the historical accuracy and inclusiveness of each Stand UP, Speak OUT episode.
About BC Voices
In 2012, a diverse group of women from the Barnard College Class of 1971 formed the non-profit BC Voices, Inc. to tell the story of their generation of Barnard women who came of age during the tumultuous college years of 1967-1971. BC Voices produced the Barnard Class of 1971 Oral History Collection, housed in the Barnard Archives and Special Collections, and two short films: “The Way It Was,” about the experiences of college women during the political and social turmoil of the late 1960’s/early 1970’s; and “Making Choices, Forging Paths,” about creating lives as adult women over the past 50 years, when doors opened for women, yet not all the way. Both films are available for viewing on the BC Voices website.
About Craig Newmark Philanthropies
Craig Newmark is a Web pioneer, philanthropist, and leading advocate. Most commonly known for founding the online classified ads service craigslist, Craig Newmark works to support and connect people and drive broad civic engagement. In 2016, he founded Craig Newmark Philanthropies to advance people and grassroots organizations that are “getting stuff done” in areas that include trustworthy journalism and the information ecosystem; voter protection; women in technology; and veterans and military families.
