July 19, 2020 • 9 mins
The Seneca Falls Convention convened in New York on this day in 1848. / On this day in 1919, race riots began in Washington, D.C., during the period of increased anti-Black violence known as Red Summer.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, y'all, we're rerunning two episodes today, which means you
might hear two hosts enjoy the show. Welcome to this
day in history class. It's July nine. The Seneca Falls
Convention took place on this day in eighteen forty eight,
and it was the first major women's rights convention in
(00:20):
the United States. The two women who get the most
credit for organizing this convention were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth
Katie Stanton. Both of them had a history of activism
before this. Lucretia Mott had helped organize the Philadelphia Female
Anti Slavery Society, and then Elizabeth Katie Stanton had gone
to the World Anti Slavery Convention in London on her honeymoon.
(00:42):
As a side note, she also famously refused to include
a vow of obedience in those wedding vows. The two
women actually met at this convention, where they were forced
to sit in a separate section that was only for women.
On July nine of eighty eight, the two of them
were at a gathering at the home of Jane and
Richard Hunt, with Marianne McClintock and Martha Right there also,
(01:03):
and they were talking about their frustrations with the limitations
on their lives. And we should take a moment to
note that these were all white educated, well off women,
and so the frustrations they were talking about were really
ones that were affecting white educated, well off women. And
when they talked about these issues, you can tell that
(01:23):
they were sort of assuming them to be universal when
they really weren't. They were as a particular subset of
women that their work really applied to, and that would
play out in a lot of ways later on in
this movement. So they decided to hold a convention. This
was something that Stanton and Mott had been talking about
way back in London in eighteen forty, and they scheduled
(01:44):
this convention for ten days later. They announced it in
the Seneca County Courier on July fourteenth. It was to
be a two day convention only for women on the
first day, with the general public invited on the second day.
The same ad ran in other news papers as well,
including in Frederick Douglas's North Star. Douglas was really an
(02:04):
important part of this movement, and he was present at
the convention. Elizabeth Katie Stanton drafted a declaration of sentiments
leading up to this. This detailed eighteen injuries and usurpations
that women were subject to. This included uh the idea
that women had an inalienable right to vote, but they
weren't actually being given that right. That by being denied
(02:29):
the right to vote, women were also being denied representation
that they were held to a different moral code from men,
with women being cast out from society for behavior that
was tolerated in men. Speaking of mankind as a concept,
this declaration said, quote, he has made her, if married
in the eye of the law, civilly dead, and he
(02:51):
has taken from her all right and property, even to
the wages she earns. There are also eleven resolutions in
this document that included that men were equal to men
and quote that the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and
refinement of behavior that is required of women in the
social states should also be required of man, and the
same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on both
(03:13):
man and woman. One of the resolutions was also that
women should have the right to vote. Between two hundred
and three hundred people attended this convention. The declaration was
read and discussed and read again. Changes were made and
an amended and updated version was signed on the second
day by sixty eight women and thirty two men. You
can learn more about the Seneca Falls Convention on the
(03:35):
December seven episode of Stuffy Miss in History Class called
The Road to the Declaration of Sentiments, and you can
subscribe to This Day in History Class on Apple podcasts,
Google podcasts, and whatever else you get your podcasts. Tomorrow,
we'll look at an event for young athletes that was
really groundbreaking for its time. Welcome to this day and
(04:04):
History Class, where history waits for no one. The day
was July nineteenth, nineteen nineteen. One of the most infamous
(04:24):
race riots that happened during Red Summer began in Washington,
d C. Red Summer, a term coined by author and
activist James Wildon Johnson, was a particularly violent period in
the US in nineteen nineteen. The time was characterized by
a bunch of social and political change and unrest. Black
(04:44):
people were moving from the South to the North in
search of work in a better life, though when they
got there they found that they were still subject to
racial persecution and employment discrimination, and black people who had
fought in World War One were returning home with the
desire to fight for equal rights and freedom on their
own soil, and as the Red Scare encouraged, a fear
(05:06):
of radicalism and revolution, nationalism and xenophobia were heightened in
the US. These were some of the big issues that
led to Red Summer several months in nineteen nineteen, when
white supremacists attacked black people throughout the country. Lynchings made
up a big part of the anti black violence that
occurred that year. On May second, a mob of at
(05:29):
least one hundred white men brutally killed a black man
named Binny Richards for allegedly injuring a white sheriff and
other white men. On the fourteenth of May, in Vicksburg, Mississippi,
a mob of eight hundred to a thousand people hanged
a man named Lloyd Clay over a bonfire and shot
him for being accused of assaulting a woman named Maddie Hudson,
(05:51):
who had previously said Clay was not the man who
assaulted her. On June, a mob lynched John Hartfield and
Ellis Field, Mississippi, because they claimed he had raped a
white woman, though John's family said it was because he
was dating a white woman and really a fighter Robert
Crosky and Will Temple were lynched in Montgomery, Alabama, on
(06:13):
September ninety. Those are just some of the eight three
recorded lynchings that were committed in the summer and fall
of nineteen nineteen. Red Summer was also marked by race riots,
where white mobs would attack black people in their neighborhoods.
As with lynchings, this mass violence was sometimes committed under
(06:35):
the guise that black people had done something wrong and
deserved punishment, though the accusations were often just made up
or plainly harmless, like smoking in front of a white woman.
There were at least twenty six recorded riots in the southern, Northern,
and Midwestern states from April to November of nineteen nineteen.
(06:55):
One of the major riots that happened during Red Summer
was in Washington, d See on July nineteen, when a
black man was released after he was arrested for being
suspected of assaulting a white woman. A mob of about
four hundred people attacked black residents in Washington neighborhoods randomly.
When the cops showed up, they mainly arrested the people
(07:16):
who have been attacked. Rioting lasted for days, and black
people armed themselves and fought back. Though President Woodrow Wilson
has sent troops to d C. Dozens of people have
been killed and more were injured. Days after the DC
riot ended on July A Ryan in Chicago began after
a conflict broke out an unofficially segregated public swimming area.
(07:41):
The incident sparked violence across the city that petered out
on August three, after thirty eight people have been killed
and five hundred and thirty seven had been injured. Though
it's been dubbed Red Summer, the increased pattern of violence
did not slow down until the fall. Racist violence continue,
but leaders began condemning it and the people who committed it,
(08:04):
and the press became a little less aggressive with this.
Anti black propaganda organizations also worked on improving race relations.
Though many of the incidents that happened during Red Summer
are well documented, many others have no official records or
had no investigations and are not documented in detail, if
at all. I'm Eves jeffco and hopefully you know a
(08:27):
little more about history today than you did yesterday. If
you like to learn more about this topic, you can
check out the episode of Stuff You missed in history
class called Red Summer nineteen nineteen. You can find the
link in the description. If you haven't gotten your fill
of history after listening to today's episode, you can follow
(08:48):
us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at t d I
h C podcast. Thanks again for listening and we'll see
you tomorrow. Yeah yeah. For more podcasts from I Heeart Radio,
visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
(09:09):
listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, y'all, we're rerunning two episodes today, which means you
might hear two hosts enjoy the show. Welcome to this
day in history class. It's July nine. The Seneca Falls
Convention took place on this day in eighteen forty eight,
and it was the first major women's rights convention in
(00:20):
the United States. The two women who get the most
credit for organizing this convention were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth
Katie Stanton. Both of them had a history of activism
before this. Lucretia Mott had helped organize the Philadelphia Female
Anti Slavery Society, and then Elizabeth Katie Stanton had gone
to the World Anti Slavery Convention in London on her honeymoon.
(00:42):
As a side note, she also famously refused to include
a vow of obedience in those wedding vows. The two
women actually met at this convention, where they were forced
to sit in a separate section that was only for women.
On July nine of eighty eight, the two of them
were at a gathering at the home of Jane and
Richard Hunt, with Marianne McClintock and Martha Right there also,
(01:03):
and they were talking about their frustrations with the limitations
on their lives. And we should take a moment to
note that these were all white educated, well off women,
and so the frustrations they were talking about were really
ones that were affecting white educated, well off women. And
when they talked about these issues, you can tell that
(01:23):
they were sort of assuming them to be universal when
they really weren't. They were as a particular subset of
women that their work really applied to, and that would
play out in a lot of ways later on in
this movement. So they decided to hold a convention. This
was something that Stanton and Mott had been talking about
way back in London in eighteen forty, and they scheduled
(01:44):
this convention for ten days later. They announced it in
the Seneca County Courier on July fourteenth. It was to
be a two day convention only for women on the
first day, with the general public invited on the second day.
The same ad ran in other news papers as well,
including in Frederick Douglas's North Star. Douglas was really an
(02:04):
important part of this movement, and he was present at
the convention. Elizabeth Katie Stanton drafted a declaration of sentiments
leading up to this. This detailed eighteen injuries and usurpations
that women were subject to. This included uh the idea
that women had an inalienable right to vote, but they
weren't actually being given that right. That by being denied
(02:29):
the right to vote, women were also being denied representation
that they were held to a different moral code from men,
with women being cast out from society for behavior that
was tolerated in men. Speaking of mankind as a concept,
this declaration said, quote, he has made her, if married
in the eye of the law, civilly dead, and he
(02:51):
has taken from her all right and property, even to
the wages she earns. There are also eleven resolutions in
this document that included that men were equal to men
and quote that the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and
refinement of behavior that is required of women in the
social states should also be required of man, and the
same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on both
(03:13):
man and woman. One of the resolutions was also that
women should have the right to vote. Between two hundred
and three hundred people attended this convention. The declaration was
read and discussed and read again. Changes were made and
an amended and updated version was signed on the second
day by sixty eight women and thirty two men. You
can learn more about the Seneca Falls Convention on the
(03:35):
December seven episode of Stuffy Miss in History Class called
The Road to the Declaration of Sentiments, and you can
subscribe to This Day in History Class on Apple podcasts,
Google podcasts, and whatever else you get your podcasts. Tomorrow,
we'll look at an event for young athletes that was
really groundbreaking for its time. Welcome to this day and
(04:04):
History Class, where history waits for no one. The day
was July nineteenth, nineteen nineteen. One of the most infamous
(04:24):
race riots that happened during Red Summer began in Washington,
d C. Red Summer, a term coined by author and
activist James Wildon Johnson, was a particularly violent period in
the US in nineteen nineteen. The time was characterized by
a bunch of social and political change and unrest. Black
(04:44):
people were moving from the South to the North in
search of work in a better life, though when they
got there they found that they were still subject to
racial persecution and employment discrimination, and black people who had
fought in World War One were returning home with the
desire to fight for equal rights and freedom on their
own soil, and as the Red Scare encouraged, a fear
(05:06):
of radicalism and revolution, nationalism and xenophobia were heightened in
the US. These were some of the big issues that
led to Red Summer several months in nineteen nineteen, when
white supremacists attacked black people throughout the country. Lynchings made
up a big part of the anti black violence that
occurred that year. On May second, a mob of at
(05:29):
least one hundred white men brutally killed a black man
named Binny Richards for allegedly injuring a white sheriff and
other white men. On the fourteenth of May, in Vicksburg, Mississippi,
a mob of eight hundred to a thousand people hanged
a man named Lloyd Clay over a bonfire and shot
him for being accused of assaulting a woman named Maddie Hudson,
(05:51):
who had previously said Clay was not the man who
assaulted her. On June, a mob lynched John Hartfield and
Ellis Field, Mississippi, because they claimed he had raped a
white woman, though John's family said it was because he
was dating a white woman and really a fighter Robert
Crosky and Will Temple were lynched in Montgomery, Alabama, on
(06:13):
September ninety. Those are just some of the eight three
recorded lynchings that were committed in the summer and fall
of nineteen nineteen. Red Summer was also marked by race riots,
where white mobs would attack black people in their neighborhoods.
As with lynchings, this mass violence was sometimes committed under
(06:35):
the guise that black people had done something wrong and
deserved punishment, though the accusations were often just made up
or plainly harmless, like smoking in front of a white woman.
There were at least twenty six recorded riots in the southern, Northern,
and Midwestern states from April to November of nineteen nineteen.
(06:55):
One of the major riots that happened during Red Summer
was in Washington, d See on July nineteen, when a
black man was released after he was arrested for being
suspected of assaulting a white woman. A mob of about
four hundred people attacked black residents in Washington neighborhoods randomly.
When the cops showed up, they mainly arrested the people
(07:16):
who have been attacked. Rioting lasted for days, and black
people armed themselves and fought back. Though President Woodrow Wilson
has sent troops to d C. Dozens of people have
been killed and more were injured. Days after the DC
riot ended on July A Ryan in Chicago began after
a conflict broke out an unofficially segregated public swimming area.
(07:41):
The incident sparked violence across the city that petered out
on August three, after thirty eight people have been killed
and five hundred and thirty seven had been injured. Though
it's been dubbed Red Summer, the increased pattern of violence
did not slow down until the fall. Racist violence continue,
but leaders began condemning it and the people who committed it,
(08:04):
and the press became a little less aggressive with this.
Anti black propaganda organizations also worked on improving race relations.
Though many of the incidents that happened during Red Summer
are well documented, many others have no official records or
had no investigations and are not documented in detail, if
at all. I'm Eves jeffco and hopefully you know a
(08:27):
little more about history today than you did yesterday. If
you like to learn more about this topic, you can
check out the episode of Stuff You missed in history
class called Red Summer nineteen nineteen. You can find the
link in the description. If you haven't gotten your fill
of history after listening to today's episode, you can follow
(08:48):
us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at t d I
h C podcast. Thanks again for listening and we'll see
you tomorrow. Yeah yeah. For more podcasts from I Heeart Radio,
visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
(09:09):
listen to your favorite shows.
This Day in History Class News
Host
Gabe Luzier
Show Links
AboutPopular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.