March 19, 2021 • 51 mins
Join us this week as we discuss the impacts and lives of four women in history. We're covering Shirley Chisholm, Geraldine "Jerrie" Mock, Sophia Jex-Blake, and Fannie Lou Hamer. These women exemplified courage, determination, and the ability to achieve their goals in the face of racism, sexism, and danger.
Sources:
- https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/01/us/womens-history-month-why-march-explainer-trnd/index.html
- https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/twenty-seven-years-after-amelia-earhart-tried-geraldine-mock-flew-solo-around-world-180950144/
- https://www.alpa.org/news-and-events/Blog/2019/03/26/Gerrie%20Mock
- https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sharecropping
- https://www.biography.com/activist/fannie-lou-hamer
- https://youtu.be/stcFWVAeaFE
- https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/shirley-chisholm
- https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/C/CHISHOLM,-Shirley-Anita-(C000371)/
- https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/twenty-seven-years-after-amelia-earhart-tried-geraldine-mock-flew-solo-around-world-180950144/
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/unbought-and-unbossed-when-black-woman-ran-for-the-white-house-180958699/
- https://biography.yourdictionary.com/sophia-jex-blake
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sophia-Louisa-Jex-Blake
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
aj (00:00):
Hello again and welcome to the stories We forgot
pearl (00:03):
Welcome to our podcast Thank you for listening
aj (00:06):
That is my beautiful adorable charming lovely wife
Pearl Hearst
pearl (00:13):
That's a lot of adjectives I don't know if I can
live up to all of those let'sjust stick with beautiful I can
do that one for sure
aj (00:18):
That is my beautiful and humble wife Pearl Harris
pearl (00:22):
and that is my charming and handsome husband Andrew
Hurst Thank you for joining ustoday on the podcast We're happy
you're here
aj (00:32):
we're also happy we're here
pearl (00:34):
We're happy We're here So we've got a lot of stuff in the
podcast today in the pod
aj (00:48):
Yeah Give us a you want to give us a quick rundown Pearl of
pearl (00:50):
yeah So
aj (00:52):
coming up in the pod today
pearl (00:53):
on the pod we're going to be highlighting women's history
month yeah you better cheer
aj (01:02):
Yes Ma'am
pearl (01:02):
Women's history month international women's day is
March 8th but the entire monthof March has been designated as
women's history month as acountry we've been celebrating
it in some form or another sinceabout 1911 but it wasn't until
1987 that Congress officiallydesignated March as the first
(01:26):
official women's March, 1987 asthe first official officially
recognized women's history monthwomen's history month is also
celebrated by recognized andcelebrated by the UN So
aj (01:38):
okay
pearl (01:38):
Yeah the a quote from cnn.com The quote is schools
universities and localgovernments came to realize that
this period of time allowed themto not only celebrate the
achievements of women but tolook critically at equality and
opportunities for women andeducate people on women's
history So today on the podwe're going to be doing just
(01:59):
that We're going to tell youstories covering the lives in
very very unfortunately briefdetail of four women who shaped
history These are four women whochanged stereotypes and fought
discrimination maybe you aren'ta woman or Maybe you aren't a
woman and you live under a rockor maybe you as a woman don't
feel like you've faceddiscrimination or stereotyping
(02:21):
if that's the case then you owea debt of gratitude to the women
who came before you Because theenvironment that we have today
whether good or bad has beenshaped by people in the past so
before we kick off the podcast Ijust want to highlight a quote
from Martin Luther King juniorAnd the quote is injustice
Anywhere is a threat to justiceEverywhere We are caught in an
(02:42):
inescapable network of mutualitytied in a single garment of
destiny whatever affects onedirectly affects all indirectly
aj (02:51):
That's a good word all right Pearl Well uh a it is five
o'clock somewhere Not sure wherebut somewhere it's five o'clock
and B it's St Patty's day weekSo what are you drinking
pearl (03:05):
I guess celebrating today yeah I am drinking a glass of
red wine and you know the here'shere's the thing I'm drinking
Apothic red And I feel likeanyone my age who drinks red
wine knows about Apothic red
aj (03:20):
And if you don't shame on you
pearl (03:23):
it is literally everywhere I know it's a$5 word
I just pulled out You have noidea The places that white had
to go to avoid coming out mymouth You weren't
aj (03:45):
could only have dreamed of that reaction Wow Okay Well now
that I have tears in my eyes
pearl (03:53):
so I'm pretty sure in my red wine and my boogers for
aj (03:57):
Yeah I am I definitely don't feel like I am much of one for
Like specific going for aspecific brand of wine But I
always know that if I get anApothic it's going to be really
good
pearl (04:10):
It's going to be I mean I to be fair we haven't tried all
of the Baltics I
aj (04:13):
That's true I think I think there's maybe
pearl (04:15):
not a huge fan of whites and rosés but I mean
aj (04:19):
so this is just the Apothic
pearl (04:21):
red
aj (04:21):
it's really good
pearl (04:22):
really good yeah So I'm drinking some Apothic bread and
it's just classic mellows smoothrich not dry Good
aj (04:37):
hints of leather and prunes
pearl (04:40):
Yeah I I didn't really look up look up the tasting
notes on this but I'm gonna haveto say some plum and cherry dark
cherry smooth notes
aj (04:48):
Okay We don't really know what we're talking about
pearl (04:50):
This is
aj (04:51):
but it is pretty pretty tasty wine for fairly cheap
pearl (04:55):
What are you Ha what are you drinking
aj (04:57):
Well to celebrate and St Patrick's day I should be
drinking a stout instead I amdrinking once again A tiny port
from trader Joe's Comes No thisis the ten-year-old Tawny port
pearl (05:12):
Oh right Oh
aj (05:14):
is the good one This is the one that actually tastes really
good And I like
pearl (05:17):
uh um As you may know if you've listened to this podcast
from the beginning we're about12 weeks into our port
experience This is only 12 weeksof experience here And we have
discovered that Ruby port isdisgusting
aj (05:34):
It's disgusting It's just not nearly as good
pearl (05:39):
Ruby port is basically red wine That is super sweet
aj (05:43):
enough about port
pearl (05:44):
Okay
aj (05:45):
It is delicious though And I enjoy it All right what's up
first on the docket Pearl
pearl (05:51):
the first person that we're going to be highlighting
and these they're really semirandom people There's just so
many great women in history Sowe just picked four kind of
randomly the first one isShirley Chisholm
aj (06:04):
Shirley Chisholm so the main thing about Shirley Chisholm is
that in 1968 she became thefirst black woman elected to the
U S Congress representing newYork's 12th congressional
district That's in the house ofrepresentatives for seven terms
from 1969 to 1983 Then in the inthe night Yeah that's a long
(06:28):
time in the 1972 us presidentialelection She became the first
African-American candidate for amajor party's nomination for
president and the first woman torun for the democratic party's
presidential nomination Therehad been a woman that had run
for the Republican presidentialnomination like eight years
(06:49):
before I think She you knowhonestly again this is just a
brief blip on her long andwell-respected career in
politics she was the daughter oftwo immigrants They let's see
her father was born in BritishGuiana and her mother was born
(07:11):
in Barbados both immigrated tothe U S in the 1920s they were
both very they were very poorgrowing up struggled a lot She
had several siblings and so herparents sent her from the age of
five to 10 along with I believetwo of her sisters too Barbados
(07:31):
to live with their maternalgrandmother And I thought there
was a great quote that she hadfrom this She said granny gave
me strength dignity and love Ilearned from an early age that I
was somebody I just thought thatwas a great piece of her life
She she does credit the verystrict school system that was in
(07:52):
Barbados for setting her up verywell for the rest of her life
actually yeah she came back sheworked in early childhood
education began getting involvedin local democratic politics in
the fifties 1964 she was electedto the New York state assembly
And then in 1968 she was electedto Congress and Rose to the
(08:13):
democratic party leaders
pearl (08:15):
in what year for New York
aj (08:17):
for New York And then of course What did I say in 72 she
went for the presidentialnomination ended up I don't
think she made much headway inthat she was severely
underfunded and not wellorganized I'm not even positive
(08:39):
I have to go back and look Um uhshe did she retired in 1983 from
politics and taught at MountHolyoke college Although she did
still stay involved in um somesome form of political activism
She was nominated to be anambassador in 1993 but she was
(09:03):
enabled to do so due to healthissues she died in I believe it
was 2005 I don't think I wrotethat down but she was post
humorously given thepresidential medal of freedom in
2015 many of our modern daypeople who are breaking through
a lot of these barriers such aspresident Obama being the first
(09:24):
black president Kamala Harrisbeing the first female vice
president They certainly lookback and have publicly credited
Shirley Chisholm with breakingthrough some of those initial
barriers And it is amazing whenyou think that all the way back
in 1968 she was Black womanrunning for a presidential
(09:50):
nomination
pearl (09:51):
Yeah Yeah She was definitely an inspiring figure
and she shaped she shaped thepolitics that we're living with
right now because she providedso many kids growing up an
example
aj (10:04):
Yeah Someone to look at and say wow look look what she's
done And
pearl (10:10):
so speaking
aj (10:11):
that story
pearl (10:12):
of kids looking up to heroes we were just watching I
think it was discovery plusDestination no
aj (10:19):
expedition I know
pearl (10:20):
unknown and that's just kind of a fun what kind of a
show It's just kind of a
aj (10:26):
travel adventure Show
pearl (10:29):
lead
aj (10:30):
follows the guy who wishes he was Indiana Jones being on
the show
pearl (10:34):
is I think he's an archeologist he might be an
anthropologist I can't rememberRemember Anyway So we were
watching one of one of theepisodes and the episode was
talking about Amelia Earhart andjust you know her her journey
and the person that we're goingto be talking about today is
someone who grew up with Earhartis one of her heroes So today
(10:56):
we're gonna be talking aboutGeraldine Gerry mock Jerry walk
was the first female pilot tocircle the globe so as soon as
we finished watching the specialwe were like well who was I mean
it's I'm sure it's happened Whowas it Who was the first woman
who circled the globe Yes Hername was Jerry mock so you know
over the very last leg ofEarhart's journey over open
(11:18):
ocean she lost radio contact anddisappeared and that was back in
1937 So it wasn't until 1964that Jerry Mach became the first
woman to fly solo around
aj (11:30):
Wow Nearly 30 years later before
pearl (11:34):
Yeah So born in 1925 she she was interested in flight
from a very young age She becameone of the first female students
to study aeronauticalengineering at Ohio state
university And after marrying apilot she began taking flying
lessons at the age of 32 And shegot her pilot's license in 1958
And I think 33
aj (11:55):
Oh
pearl (11:55):
yeah she got married she had a couple kids and then she
just decided that she wanted toget her pilots license
aj (12:00):
Yeah I would I would not have expected it to be I mean
that's still young 32
pearl (12:06):
I mean we're also talking about We're also talking about
the early sixties here
aj (12:12):
Yeah
pearl (12:13):
So she at that point she started you know flying a lot
with her husband on crosscountry trips for his work as a
pilot And during these trips shejust she decided to plan a
longer trip because she wantedto see more of the world And she
just really loved to travel andshe loved to fly and she wasn't
super qualified for this journeyI mean she had a lot of flight
(12:36):
hours in her belt but I don'tthink she'd ever flown over the
open ocean but she just
aj (12:40):
have flying over the open ocean Right Rather terrifying
thought
pearl (12:44):
I mean it's a terrifying thought to be a passenger Yeah
aj (12:48):
think about in the gigantic jet aircraft let alone a solo or
maybe with one other personflier in a small airplane
pearl (12:55):
it was solo Yeah So this mother of three was quickly
dubbed the flying housewifeafter filing her flight plan to
circumnavigate the world
aj (13:05):
So this just kind of evolved
pearl (13:07):
Yeah she just kind of like actually I
aj (13:09):
might as well might as well keep going
pearl (13:11):
might as well just firearm the entire world so she
she's about just over five feetTall weighs about a hundred
pounds She's this tiny littlehousewife with three kids at
home And she decides to flyaround the world And her pilot
husband is of course reallysupportive And so she files her
flight plan and she departsMarch 19th, 1964 from Ohio
(13:35):
Columbus Ohio And she returnedon April 18th there's a lot of
details from her journey thatI'm not going to take the time
to highlight but
aj (13:42):
that would take a long time
pearl (13:43):
plane malfunctions instrument errors navigation
miscalculations but shecompleted the trip safely and
she was awarded the federalaviation federal aviation
administration's exceptionalservice decoration by president
Johnson
aj (13:59):
That was
pearl (14:00):
of 1964 So um yeah the press just completely loved her
and made a really big deal outof her But she said in a quote
from airspace mag.com she said Ididn't think it was such a great
thing It was just lots of fun Itwas a good practical thing that
dozens of women both in theUnited States and other
countries could have done beforeI did you just use your common
(14:22):
sense know how to fly anairplane do what you're supposed
to do No the routes and all therules and regulations Just
nobody else had the sense orshall I say the stupidity to try
it
aj (14:31):
There are
pearl (14:32):
who told me that they flew because of me I'm glad I
did what I did because I had awonderful time
aj (14:38):
I like this Jerry mock She sounds like someone you'd enjoy
just hanging out with
pearl (14:43):
yeah So afterwards she just continued to fly planes I
think she broke several Shebroke a lot of like speed
records on certain types ofaircraft and she raised her kids
and Yeah that's that's a verybrief story about the first
woman who circumnavigated theglobe in 1964
aj (15:04):
which is crazy because we hear all about Amelia Earhart
And yet we hear nothing aboutJerry mock who is the one who
did what Amelia Earhart set outto do Now I know there's lots of
intrigue and mystery andeverything surrounding Amelia
Earhart but
pearl (15:23):
the mystery is just as yeah but also I mean to be fair
it's fortunate because JerryMach had so much more
sophisticated equipment
aj (15:32):
Well yeah 30 years later it's a much different flight I'm
sure not that I know much aboutflight
pearl (15:39):
All right Aja You are up next with Sophia Jax Blake
aj (15:44):
at bat We've got Sophia Jax Blake who lived from 1840 to
1912 She was an Englishphysician teacher and feminist
who fought for the right ofwomen to receive university
medical training and becomepracticing physicians so at the
time The would be the 1860swomen were generally not
pearl (16:08):
and she's in England right This isn't in the United
States I'm pretty sure this isEngland
aj (16:13):
correct This is England She spent a little bit of time in
the United States she actuallyintended to try to enter a
university in the U S that wasaccepting women but then her
father died And so she returnedhome and had to pursue it in the
UK she was the first practicingfemale physician in Scotland She
(16:35):
fought through a lot ofadversity to get this because
women were generally notadmitted to universities at the
time And especially not formedical training and even her
parents never expected her tomake any money They even denied
her taking a salary when she wasa math tutor as a young adult
(16:55):
she visited the U S and met afemale physician there and she
fell in love with the idea ofbecoming a physician that's when
she planned to attend thatuniversity but had to return so
she came home and appealed tothe university of Edinburgh for
admittance but was initiallyrejected because they couldn't
make the necessary arrangementsfor quote just one lady So she
(17:19):
put an ad in the paper for morestudents and eventually ended up
with a group dubbed theEdinburgh seven and they were
all admitted in the summer of1869 Now of course this was an
uphill battle They didn't justreceive all kinds of support and
encouragement to do this Theyfaced quite a bit of
(17:41):
discrimination includingreceiving obscene letters They
were followed home They hadfireworks attached to their
front door And mud thrown atthem And one incident they came
to what was called surgeon hallto sit for an exam
pearl (17:59):
I mean 1860s and bruh was a very disgusting city It was
not clean was super dirty so Ican only imagine that mud
throwing that was done was
aj (18:12):
the readily available projectiles of mud and other
rubbish in this surgeon hallthey were sitting supposed to
sit for I think it was a somesort of anatomy exam and around
200 people gathered outside thesurgeon's hall and threw mud
garbage and insults at the womenSo after this riot they did win
(18:36):
some supporters in the pressbecause it ran in the newspapers
But unfortunately it also drewthe ire of a lot of the More
prestigious medical faculty atthe university and they
persuaded the university not toallow the women to graduate Even
after they had even after theyhad completed their studies they
(19:00):
had done well you know from thevery beginning they just asked
for a level playing field and nospecial treatment And they S
they did really well theargument was taken to the courts
and the university the courtsruled that they the courts ruled
that they should have never beenadmitted in the first place And
(19:20):
their diplomas were withdrawnNow at this point several of the
Edinburgh seven went to otheruniversities in the UK that were
beginning to admit women So theywere able to complete their
studies there there SophiaJackson Blake She ended up now
it gets a little murky and you'dhave to do some more research
(19:42):
because it was a littleconfusing for me But at the time
some of the universities werebeginning to admit women Some of
the there were some laws beingpassed to allow people of any
gender to become licensedphysicians There were also
(20:03):
multiple governing bodies thatcould license a physician So
Sophia Jax Blake she continuedto study and she was able to
pass the exams from at least onegoverning body and became a
licensed physician in 1877becoming the very first Scottish
female physician So yeah she hadto fight an uphill battle There
(20:29):
was kind of some Beliefs at thetime that women were
intellectually inferior allsorts of ridiculous
discrimination that they had toface she went on to found some
different schools of medicineultimately they were either
swallowed up by larger schoolssuch as the university of
(20:50):
Edinburgh that then began toadmit women or I think I read
that her her teaching abilitywasn't exactly on par with her
practicing medicine ability Soum she ultimately practiced for
I believe 12 years after thatand then retired Lived her life
(21:11):
but she certainly paved the wayin many regards for women to
enter university women to toaccess higher education period
And certainly to practicemedicine and become licensed
because you know not only werethey not being admitted to the
universities but some of thelaws were such that even if they
(21:34):
had all the ability in the worldthey could not be licensed to
practice
pearl (21:38):
Right Yeah
aj (21:40):
So there was a you know huge change going on at that time and
she was part of it
pearl (21:47):
Yeah So the next person that I want to highlight I came
across her last month and yeah Ijust wanted to I just want us to
highlight her because of hercourage determination and hope
in the face of huge odds Sotoday we're going to be talking
about the life of Fannie LouHamer
aj (22:08):
Fannie Lou Hamer
pearl (22:10):
Lou Hamer
aj (22:11):
I don't think I even recognize
pearl (22:12):
no Yeah most people don't um she she shaped so many
policies in the United Statesand our way of life and she is
relatively unknown she was bornFannie Lou Townson in 1969 to a
poor sharecropping family inMississippi She was the 20th and
(22:33):
youngest child
aj (22:34):
Oh my goodness 20 children
pearl (22:37):
Yeah So sharecropping Was basically one step up from
slavery It there's been variousforms of sharecropping all
through our history butsharecropping in the American
South spring up as a response toblack freedom after the civil
war So that previous slaveowners could continue to exert
control over the black peoplethat have farmed for them as
slaves and get cheap labor Sothere's a lot of systemic racism
(23:03):
tied up in sharecropping and itfully deserves its own podcast
but in a nutshell people withoutthe funds of or inheritance to
purchase homes that would rentland from wealthy owners and
their rent would come out in theform of crops harvested from
that land So they made very lowvery they made very little money
and the cycle of poverty wouldjust continue that's the life
(23:24):
that Fannie Lou Hamer grew upgrew into she began working in
her family sharecropping fieldsat the age of six Even though
she was still recovering fromabout a polio a year earlier I'm
at the age of 12 she dropped outof school completely to help her
family on the farm And by theage of 13 she was picking around
400 pounds of cotton a day andgetting paid around$1 So I mean
aj (23:50):
I'm trying to picture that because we have a 12 year old
daughter
pearl (23:53):
pounds of cotton in one day
aj (23:56):
That is a load of cotton cotton
pearl (23:59):
cotton Yeah
aj (24:01):
I mean I don't I don't know anything about Right I don't
know anything about pickingcotton but I know that 400
pounds is a lot of cotton
pearl (24:09):
I think the cotton I think it's like a pod that opens
up cracks opens a hard Husky podAnd then you reach in between
the pod openings and you pullout the cotton and there's be
seeds and other random littlethings that get stuck to
aj (24:25):
it
pearl (24:25):
it's sharp on your fingers to you know reach in and
pull it out So your fingers endup getting really calloused and
leathery after you know justcountless pod scrapes and you're
picking cotton seeds and thenrandom other miscellaneous bits
of chaff and plant But by andlarge very very light product So
picking 400 pounds of cotton ina day is just mind blowing
aj (24:50):
as a 13 year old
pearl (24:52):
as a 13 year old and getting paid about a dollar for
it so because she learned toread and write and had some real
basic math skills she helpedwith the bookkeeping on the farm
and she saw firsthand just howthe white people would kind of
aj (25:10):
they were taken advantage of
pearl (25:12):
Yeah they would kind of doctor the books so that their
black sharecroppers would getpaid less even than they had
worked for you know um so one ofthe first acts of rebellion that
she did was she and I don'treally understand how she did
this but she found out a verysneaky way to tip the scales a
little bit so that blacksharecroppers were getting
(25:33):
slightly more for their money ofeven that out a little bit she
married Perry Haimer in 1944 andthe couple continue to work
together as sharecroppers on onanother plantation in
Mississippi in 1967 No in 1961she Went to the hospital for
(25:55):
went to the local hospital for acyst removal and Well when she
woke up she discovered that shehad had a hysterectomy And
unfortunately this was reallycommon at the time for black
women I think she called it shecoined the phrase actually that
it became to be known by but shecalled it Mississippi
appendectomy because it was socommon women black women would
(26:17):
go in for procedures and theywould wake up sterilized They'd
wake up with a hysterectomyhaving been completed without
aj (26:25):
knowledge or consent That's
pearl (26:28):
It was it was a really really common thing at that time
there was overt demands forsterilization for welfare
recipients and then there wasalso secret sterilization there
was so much widespread eugenicshappening through sterilization
at this point in history youknow we have a completely
different type of eugenicshappening now but at that point
(26:49):
the S the standard forsterilization was everything
from mentally feeble to poppersto I mean just such a wide
spectrum of violent you know allthese very Subjective
aj (27:06):
criteria
pearl (27:07):
were applied and they applied universally to black
women So if doctors had anopportunity to sterilize black
woman that by and large they did
aj (27:15):
I mean were there any repercussions I mean could they
I mean I'm sure they couldn't doit even if there was there
wouldn't be much they could doIt'd be it'd be a poor black
woman's word against a doctor
pearl (27:29):
yeah I think I don't I don't even think it would have
resulted in a court case I thinkit would have been more like
aj (27:36):
just be dismissed them Yeah
pearl (27:39):
Yeah So um in so that was in 1960 in 1961 Yeah And there
was just so much sterilizationeven though it had been around
since the turn of the century bythe mid fifties it was really
obvious that it was raciallymotivated Mississippi even
(28:00):
proposed a bill that would makeit a felony If a parent on
welfare had more than one childand they could avoid jail time
only by sterilization So yeah itwas just yeah so Fannie Lou and
Perry eventually ended upadopting several in 1962 Fannie
Lou decides to vote She decidesto register to register for vote
(28:24):
She went to a community meetingabout anti-violence and she was
inspired to vote and let hervoice be heard And She and 17
others went to the localcourthouse in Indianola
Mississippi to register for voteregistered to vote And most of
the vote of most of the groupwas actually physically blocked
(28:46):
from registration So we'retalking about 1962 and it's
really easy Like we're talkingabout the Wilmington massacre
It's really easy to look to lookat that through the lens of like
well that was so long ago that
aj (28:59):
was were still in horse-drawn carriages
pearl (29:03):
But this story is you know this is happening in the
sixties and seventies here inthe United States And
aj (29:12):
clear weapons we had you know we had this was a modern
world
pearl (29:18):
Yeah so she decides to register for vote They were
blocked from the vote Most ofthe group were blocked from
registration and only Hamer Andone other man were allowed to
fill out a registration andtaken a literacy test at the
time literacy tests werecommonly used to keep um they
were they were kind of just usedas a tool to keep ignorant
(29:39):
people from voting But whatwould happen then is that you
would effectively exclude anypoor or black people
aj (29:47):
Because they had to drop out of school so they could help
them you're by
pearl (29:51):
eliminating that entire perspective from voting So you
aj (29:56):
helps you understand how these things were propagated and
continued for such a long timewhen there was just such an
active push to prevent thesethings
pearl (30:12):
Yeah so after failing the test they were all denied the
right to vote and they left theywere sent home on their way home
They were pulled over by policeofficers naturally and they were
fine to because their bus wasquote too yellow They were fined
a hundred dollars because theirbus was too yellow So just a
aj (30:33):
classroom full
pearl (30:35):
police interfering with the voting process and
aj (30:38):
they couldn't even come up with something better than to
yellow
pearl (30:41):
bus was too yellow the and the fallout from this just
attempting to register to voteThe fallout was so large for
Fanny she the owner of theplantation that she and her
husband had been working on for18 plus years at this point told
her that if she didn't withdrawthe registration she was gonna
have to leave she refused towithdraw the reg the
(31:01):
registration she left the housequickly And just in time because
later on that same day her housewas attacked by white
supremacists and they shot herand shot into her house over 15
times assuming that she wasinside inside Nope Yeah So um in
(31:21):
January, 1963 she finally passedthe literacy test after visiting
every 30 days to take the testSo you know after she failed the
first time then she would goback and take the test And if
she failed she would study somemore go back and take the test
again
aj (31:35):
I mean debate whether she actually ever even failed it
begin
pearl (31:40):
She failed that like three times at least
aj (31:42):
Well I mean they told her she
pearl (31:44):
Oh right Yeah
aj (31:46):
wonder if she really did Yeah
pearl (31:47):
for sure after registering to vote though so
now she's passed the literacytests Now she is officially
registered to vote but then shediscovers a she still doesn't
have the right to vote becauseshe doesn't have any poll tax
receipts So the poll tax was putin place to ensure that the
poorest people didn't have avoice to vote So this is like
another layer of making surethat poor people and poor black
(32:09):
people do not have the abilityto influence voting decisions
Their their interests are notgoing to interfere with any of
any special interest groups thathave that are currently holding
money in power in the UnitedStates and the fact that the tax
was there to keep black peoplefrom voting was not a secret
There's actually a quote fromthe Alabama Tuscaloosa news And
(32:33):
the quote is this newspaperbelieves in white supremacy And
it believes that the poll tax isone of the essentials for the
preservation for white supremacyAnd that is a direct quote
aj (32:43):
So here we are 65 years after Wilmington same stuff
pearl (32:48):
right Absolutely In 1962 the U S outlawed the poll tax
but it was not really enforceduntil 1965 So she went to go try
and vote in 1963 And the polltax had been outlawed but they
still would not allow her tovote because someone basically
needed to come down and enforceher right to vote
aj (33:10):
Right Because I'm sure that especially in those areas I mean
it could still be in many areasLike if you have corrupt local
authorities who's going to andespecially back then here you
can today you could jump onFacebook and Twitter and
probably get someone above themBut back then what you're going
(33:33):
to drive to someone's officemaybe find a telephone and be
given the runaround by asecretary for days and days
You're not going to get anywhere
pearl (33:44):
today Eight States including Mississippi still
haven't ratified that amendment
aj (33:50):
for the poll tax
pearl (33:51):
So it's a little bit not necessary but it's still just
kind of goes to show howlawmakers in those States didn't
value the black right to voteAnd they had no motivation to
try and change that So whilePerry continued to work off our
well well her husband PerryHaimer continued to work off
(34:12):
their sharecropping debts
aj (34:14):
Well that's what I was wondering after they left that
home
pearl (34:16):
still working off their sharecropping debts I don't
entirely know how it works but Iknow that he he's got a certain
amount of money that he needs tobe paying to the landowner each
year So um you know essentiallyslavery
aj (34:31):
I mean simply to exert their right to vote they've made their
lives exceedingly more
pearl (34:40):
super
aj (34:41):
I mean you know they're they're facing serious
repercussions just to try andvote
pearl (34:47):
Yeah So uh while he's working on that hammer is just
she's just kind of a woman on amission She once she realizes
how It was just you knowsomething in that that meeting
that she went to initially in1962 they just kind of lit a
fire under her And she was justreally inspired to fight
inequality and segregation inthe United States and for her a
(35:11):
really big path to doing thatwas through re voter
registration so that blackpeople would be able to be
represented through the vote
aj (35:19):
Right They would have a voice
pearl (35:20):
didn't see any any true change happening unless black
people's voices were being heardon a nationwide level
aj (35:27):
Right Isn't it crazy that this can harken back all the way
to the revolutionary war Thatthat one of the primary reasons
for that was that the colonistshad no representation in their
ruling government And so theyrevolted and rebelled and we
(35:48):
look at them as heroes and now200 years later they're
perpetuating the same evil thatBirth donation
pearl (35:59):
Yeah absolutely Well it is also really interesting It it
kind of kind of goes back to oneof the reasons we started this
podcast which is those who don'tremember history are doomed to
repeat it
aj (36:10):
That's what I was
pearl (36:11):
see that that repetition happening over and over again
throughout history wheresomething really awful happens
and you think okay well this hasgotta be the change but then it
just keeps happening over andover and over again
aj (36:25):
It's definitely giving me and I'll let you finish your
your story about Fanny hammerbut it gives me such a more
rounded perspective on some ofthe issues that still pop up
today about voter registrationand who can vote And whether you
(36:46):
need to provide proof of who youare
pearl (36:49):
empathy When you have a situation where the government
is putting up criteria forvoting and you realize Oh this
this isn't a new thing This hasbeen a this has been a longterm
effort on the part of the UnitedStates to stop the black
aj (37:05):
Right And it from someone who has never been affected by
this I'm on the outside lookingin and I'm thinking well
obviously we should verify who'svoting so that people can't vote
multiple times and stuff theballot box and cheat the vote
and stuff without having anycontext for that These things
(37:26):
have been put in place fordecades and decades and
centuries with a very maliciousintent
pearl (37:35):
agenda Yeah So um In 19 in June of 19 June 9th actually
of 1963 Haimer had been she'dbeen on a trip with a bus full
of other activists and they werethey had gone to some convention
and on their way back they wereintegrating lunch counters And
(37:58):
so what that basically meant isthey would stop at a diner and
they would all get out and gosit at the counter and just
order lunch and you knowprobably get kicked out I don't
know so that's essentially whatthey were doing And then partway
through their journey Of coursethe police caught up with them
and arrested them They were notreleased until June 12th and in
those three days Hammer and theother activists were beaten so
(38:21):
badly She was beaten so badlythat she suffered from lifelong
damage to our kidneys eyes andlegs When the police in that
precinct grew physically tiredof beating them they made the
other black inmates beat theactivists as well And in a later
trial this is in 1963 Ourparents were little kids In a
(38:42):
later trial the police werecleared for their actions
aj (38:45):
Hmm I I was thinking that when you were saying they were
in a bus and integrating dinercounters just all I could think
of was target They're justmaking themselves a target which
is sad I mean it's good for themfor doing it I don't know that I
would have the courage to dothat I mean
pearl (39:05):
courageous courageous
aj (39:07):
such bravery
pearl (39:08):
to do And this is a woman who grew up as a poor
sharecropper she had forcedsterilization that took away her
ability to have children withher husband And she still hasn't
been able to vote even thoughshe spent months on her
registration to vote over whichshe lost her home and her
livelihood I mean she's justbeen so much it's been through
(39:32):
so much and she refused toregardless of how much she went
through and how much sheaccomplished she just never quit
aj (39:39):
Yeah Credible perseverance
pearl (39:41):
Yeah So um at this point she and I'm I don't really know
what the state was between orwhat the condition of the
Republican party at this pointwas and why she didn't want to
join the Republican party whichhad been a heavily black
flavored party earlier on in thecentury But at this point and
(40:01):
she also doesn't want to jointhe democratic party because the
democratic party is also veryracist she co-founded the
Mississippi freedom democraticparty so that's essentially a
third party and they went to thedemocratic national convention
in an attempt to getrepresentation So they wanted
the democratic convention torecognize them as part of the
(40:24):
democratic party in this act shereceived multiple threats and
she actually testified at thisconvention um Uh she testified
at this convention talking abouthow difficult it is for black
people to vote And presidentJohnson did not want her
testimony to break up thecoalition of white Southern
delegates that he needed to getelected So he tried he asked her
(40:48):
not to speak and when she didn'tlisten he tried to hold an
impromptu press conference sothat the broadcast would have to
cut away from her testimony andfocus on him because he's the
president somehow And I'm notreally sure how this happened It
completely backfired Fortunatelyfor hammer it ended up with many
news evening evening newsprograms giving full coverage of
(41:09):
the speech that Johnson hadtried to interrupt So even so
and because of incrediblepressure from president Johnson
the convention refused to accepthammer as a delicate and they
refuse to allow the Mississippifreedom democratic party to Join
the convention basically theysaid we'll let you join You can
(41:30):
only have two seats hammer can'thave one of the seats and you
don't get to vote on anythingAnd they said Nope And they
turned around and went home Soshe actually ran for Congress
for Congress several times afterthat in 1964 think 1968 1970 I
(41:51):
believe I can't remember But sheran several times She did not
win any of the times I think forher it was just the the journey
of running was just as importantas winning
aj (42:00):
Right just to kind of have a a voice out there saying we
won't shut up We will not be becowed by fear
pearl (42:10):
She's changing the narrative of what it means to be
a black Person a black woman inthe United States
aj (42:17):
Isn't that amazing Just to contrast a little bit with
Shirley Chisholm in New York in1968 as the first black woman
elected
pearl (42:28):
Yeah So this is around the same time that Shirley
Chisholm is you know cause I'msure she had a pretty uphill
battle
aj (42:34):
Yeah I'm sure it was up Hill yet She
pearl (42:38):
She's not running in Mississippi
aj (42:40):
That's what I mean Yeah The difference
pearl (42:43):
Yeah So in 1968 the democratic party began requiring
equal representation for statedelegations So because of this
hammer was finally recognized asan official Mississippi delegate
at the national democraticconvention So that was let's see
she went she went to theconvention I believe in 1964 And
(43:06):
then in 1960 68 she's officiallyrecognized as a delegate at the
convention she also was reallypassionate about economic
justice because she knew thatthat was
aj (43:19):
she lived in that
pearl (43:20):
had she lived that as a sharecropper and a
sharecropper's daughter so in1969 she co-founded the freedom
farm cooperative to provideblack people with farm They
could farm and own
aj (43:32):
Oh cool
pearl (43:33):
and so there were there were a lot of large donors
involved in that and it allowedblack families to make money for
their family make food for theirfamily farm pigs It was it was a
really big it was a really hugegift to the state of Mississippi
Unfortunately it was it did notlast more than a couple of years
(43:53):
I think they just kind of Didn'thave the funding to support it
but she is also she's alsopartly responsible for the
voting rights act Fording rightsact passage because of her 1965
civil case hammer hammer versusCampbell which was about
restricting the right to votefor black people And then after
(44:15):
the voting rights act was passedin 1965 she continued voting for
fighting for voting rightsbecause again white people in
jurisdictions would still we'restill continuing to try and stop
black people from voting
aj (44:28):
Right There's a lot of different routes you can take to
restrict people from votingwhether it's lawful or unlawful
intimidation whatever whateveryou may
pearl (44:41):
Yeah Even even simple things like you must pass still
pass a literacy test You knowand she I think one of the
questions that she said that shefaced on that very first
literacy test was and I'mtotally going to misquote this
but I think that she said thequestion was what is a defacto
government And I'm going to bereally honest with you right now
(45:04):
on this podcast I couldn'tanswer that off the top of my
head and you know
aj (45:11):
this probably wasn't a multiple choice
pearl (45:13):
right Putting in requirements like that where
you're kind of weeding outanyone who and again you know
how many of these how many ofthese questions was she allowed
to pass versus a white carcounterpart yeah So um in 1970
Hammer who's not going to quitorganize a class action lawsuit
(45:36):
for school desegregation in heraccounting in sunflower County
in Mississippi just
aj (45:43):
kept going and
pearl (45:44):
She was just firing on all fronts this resulted in the
district court ordering theCounty schools to merge its
segregated schools into a singlepublic school system So Haimer
unfortunately died of breastcancer and 1977 at the age of 59
aj (46:00):
that's sad That's so young
pearl (46:02):
it was really young
aj (46:03):
Do you have a record of when she very first was able to
successfully vote
pearl (46:08):
I believe that she was first able to success the first
able to successfully vote in 1964
aj (46:15):
Okay I was just curious
pearl (46:17):
Yeah I think it was But yeah there's a lot of great
links I only watched one butthere's several good clips on
YouTube about her
aj (46:26):
Is there a movie made about her should be
pearl (46:29):
But yeah she's just she's just a really inspiring person
from history She's inspiring toall of us whether or not we are
black or a woman because andthis kind of goes back to that
quote from Martin Luther Kingjunior earlier Um you know I've
always heard it's it's like oneof those Pinterest quotes or
Instagram quotes
aj (46:49):
quote
pearl (46:50):
where injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere But the second partof that quote is just so
profound where he says we'recaught in an inescapable network
of mutuality tied in a singlegarment of destiny And the work
that she did to fight injusticeWas so important and it's
(47:11):
something that even we as whitepeople get to stand on her
shoulders because she's donethis for us it's affected our
lives too for the better
aj (47:23):
absolutely boy that that story just it's making my my
brain spin Just thinking aboutwhat she went through the
courage that she showed theperseverance tenacity I mean
just on a on a small personallevel it's incredibly inspiring
(47:45):
to just continue to pursue whatyou are passionate about as well
as that you know is right andfighting against injustice But I
mean it just even inspires me topursue whatever dreams I have
Like if I can have a quarter ofthe perseverance that she had I
(48:07):
will have incredible success inlife Let alone being massively
inspired to have a greater senseof what people went through that
I am not And so much that thatquote of if you don't know
history you're destined torepeat it And how applicable
(48:31):
that is even to our modern dayissues where if we have no sense
of where we came from and thelaws that have had to be just
beat down one brick at a time toallow people to exercise their
rights such as voting if wedon't recognize that and we pick
(48:57):
up what we think is a verybenign brick to put back on the
wall Without Understandingpeople's perspective on
pearl (49:05):
when you look at stories to the entire through the bigger
lens of history
aj (49:09):
Yeah And and you know even if even if the laws or
regulations or whatever thatpeople are trying to Institute
are nowhere near that If theystill just even remind people of
it there's just a lot you justneed to have some empathy and be
willing to go that extra step tosay you know absolutely we are
(49:33):
not going backwards This is whatwe're doing And we are going to
work together to move thisforward rather than just
stomping over people'sobjections that are based on
decades of horrible history HmmJust
pearl (49:50):
absolutely
aj (49:51):
just such a different perspective
pearl (49:53):
Yeah So um that's our podcast for the week Go out and
raise a glass to
aj (50:01):
Fanny Haimer
pearl (50:03):
Fannie Lou Hamer and Shirley Chisholm and uh uh Betty
no GERD Jerry
aj (50:14):
Jerry mock
pearl (50:15):
Jerry mock And Oh this is
aj (50:20):
Sophia Jack's Blake I had to look it up because I keep
wanting to reverse it or sayJack's black or something Sophia
Jack's
pearl (50:29):
Patrick's week So you know We're not doing a day
anymore We're doing a whole weekSo raise raise a toast to these
four amazing women And um youknow if you're not a reader if
you're super lazy I wouldrecommend typing one of those
names into YouTube and see whatpops up That is my that's my
life hack for you guys You'rewelcome
aj (50:50):
All right guys Thanks for listening If you enjoyed that or
even if you didn't
pearl (50:57):
that mildly offensive we want to know about it Fight me
aj (51:01):
but feel free to rate review and subscribe
pearl (51:05):
and share it with your mom Bye guys
aj (51:08):
Bye
Hello again and welcome to the stories We forgot
pearl (00:03):
Welcome to our podcast Thank you for listening
aj (00:06):
That is my beautiful adorable charming lovely wife
Pearl Hearst
pearl (00:13):
That's a lot of adjectives I don't know if I can
live up to all of those let'sjust stick with beautiful I can
do that one for sure
aj (00:18):
That is my beautiful and humble wife Pearl Harris
pearl (00:22):
and that is my charming and handsome husband Andrew
Hurst Thank you for joining ustoday on the podcast We're happy
you're here
aj (00:32):
we're also happy we're here
pearl (00:34):
We're happy We're here So we've got a lot of stuff in the
podcast today in the pod
aj (00:48):
Yeah Give us a you want to give us a quick rundown Pearl of
pearl (00:50):
yeah So
aj (00:52):
coming up in the pod today
pearl (00:53):
on the pod we're going to be highlighting women's history
month yeah you better cheer
aj (01:02):
Yes Ma'am
pearl (01:02):
Women's history month international women's day is
March 8th but the entire monthof March has been designated as
women's history month as acountry we've been celebrating
it in some form or another sinceabout 1911 but it wasn't until
1987 that Congress officiallydesignated March as the first
(01:26):
official women's March, 1987 asthe first official officially
recognized women's history monthwomen's history month is also
celebrated by recognized andcelebrated by the UN So
aj (01:38):
okay
pearl (01:38):
Yeah the a quote from cnn.com The quote is schools
universities and localgovernments came to realize that
this period of time allowed themto not only celebrate the
achievements of women but tolook critically at equality and
opportunities for women andeducate people on women's
history So today on the podwe're going to be doing just
(01:59):
that We're going to tell youstories covering the lives in
very very unfortunately briefdetail of four women who shaped
history These are four women whochanged stereotypes and fought
discrimination maybe you aren'ta woman or Maybe you aren't a
woman and you live under a rockor maybe you as a woman don't
feel like you've faceddiscrimination or stereotyping
(02:21):
if that's the case then you owea debt of gratitude to the women
who came before you Because theenvironment that we have today
whether good or bad has beenshaped by people in the past so
before we kick off the podcast Ijust want to highlight a quote
from Martin Luther King juniorAnd the quote is injustice
Anywhere is a threat to justiceEverywhere We are caught in an
(02:42):
inescapable network of mutualitytied in a single garment of
destiny whatever affects onedirectly affects all indirectly
aj (02:51):
That's a good word all right Pearl Well uh a it is five
o'clock somewhere Not sure wherebut somewhere it's five o'clock
and B it's St Patty's day weekSo what are you drinking
pearl (03:05):
I guess celebrating today yeah I am drinking a glass of
red wine and you know the here'shere's the thing I'm drinking
Apothic red And I feel likeanyone my age who drinks red
wine knows about Apothic red
aj (03:20):
And if you don't shame on you
pearl (03:23):
it is literally everywhere I know it's a$5 word
I just pulled out You have noidea The places that white had
to go to avoid coming out mymouth You weren't
aj (03:45):
could only have dreamed of that reaction Wow Okay Well now
that I have tears in my eyes
pearl (03:53):
so I'm pretty sure in my red wine and my boogers for
aj (03:57):
Yeah I am I definitely don't feel like I am much of one for
Like specific going for aspecific brand of wine But I
always know that if I get anApothic it's going to be really
good
pearl (04:10):
It's going to be I mean I to be fair we haven't tried all
of the Baltics I
aj (04:13):
That's true I think I think there's maybe
pearl (04:15):
not a huge fan of whites and rosés but I mean
aj (04:19):
so this is just the Apothic
pearl (04:21):
red
aj (04:21):
it's really good
pearl (04:22):
really good yeah So I'm drinking some Apothic bread and
it's just classic mellows smoothrich not dry Good
aj (04:37):
hints of leather and prunes
pearl (04:40):
Yeah I I didn't really look up look up the tasting
notes on this but I'm gonna haveto say some plum and cherry dark
cherry smooth notes
aj (04:48):
Okay We don't really know what we're talking about
pearl (04:50):
This is
aj (04:51):
but it is pretty pretty tasty wine for fairly cheap
pearl (04:55):
What are you Ha what are you drinking
aj (04:57):
Well to celebrate and St Patrick's day I should be
drinking a stout instead I amdrinking once again A tiny port
from trader Joe's Comes No thisis the ten-year-old Tawny port
pearl (05:12):
Oh right Oh
aj (05:14):
is the good one This is the one that actually tastes really
good And I like
pearl (05:17):
uh um As you may know if you've listened to this podcast
from the beginning we're about12 weeks into our port
experience This is only 12 weeksof experience here And we have
discovered that Ruby port isdisgusting
aj (05:34):
It's disgusting It's just not nearly as good
pearl (05:39):
Ruby port is basically red wine That is super sweet
aj (05:43):
enough about port
pearl (05:44):
Okay
aj (05:45):
It is delicious though And I enjoy it All right what's up
first on the docket Pearl
pearl (05:51):
the first person that we're going to be highlighting
and these they're really semirandom people There's just so
many great women in history Sowe just picked four kind of
randomly the first one isShirley Chisholm
aj (06:04):
Shirley Chisholm so the main thing about Shirley Chisholm is
that in 1968 she became thefirst black woman elected to the
U S Congress representing newYork's 12th congressional
district That's in the house ofrepresentatives for seven terms
from 1969 to 1983 Then in the inthe night Yeah that's a long
(06:28):
time in the 1972 us presidentialelection She became the first
African-American candidate for amajor party's nomination for
president and the first woman torun for the democratic party's
presidential nomination Therehad been a woman that had run
for the Republican presidentialnomination like eight years
(06:49):
before I think She you knowhonestly again this is just a
brief blip on her long andwell-respected career in
politics she was the daughter oftwo immigrants They let's see
her father was born in BritishGuiana and her mother was born
(07:11):
in Barbados both immigrated tothe U S in the 1920s they were
both very they were very poorgrowing up struggled a lot She
had several siblings and so herparents sent her from the age of
five to 10 along with I believetwo of her sisters too Barbados
(07:31):
to live with their maternalgrandmother And I thought there
was a great quote that she hadfrom this She said granny gave
me strength dignity and love Ilearned from an early age that I
was somebody I just thought thatwas a great piece of her life
She she does credit the verystrict school system that was in
(07:52):
Barbados for setting her up verywell for the rest of her life
actually yeah she came back sheworked in early childhood
education began getting involvedin local democratic politics in
the fifties 1964 she was electedto the New York state assembly
And then in 1968 she was electedto Congress and Rose to the
(08:13):
democratic party leaders
pearl (08:15):
in what year for New York
aj (08:17):
for New York And then of course What did I say in 72 she
went for the presidentialnomination ended up I don't
think she made much headway inthat she was severely
underfunded and not wellorganized I'm not even positive
(08:39):
I have to go back and look Um uhshe did she retired in 1983 from
politics and taught at MountHolyoke college Although she did
still stay involved in um somesome form of political activism
She was nominated to be anambassador in 1993 but she was
(09:03):
enabled to do so due to healthissues she died in I believe it
was 2005 I don't think I wrotethat down but she was post
humorously given thepresidential medal of freedom in
2015 many of our modern daypeople who are breaking through
a lot of these barriers such aspresident Obama being the first
(09:24):
black president Kamala Harrisbeing the first female vice
president They certainly lookback and have publicly credited
Shirley Chisholm with breakingthrough some of those initial
barriers And it is amazing whenyou think that all the way back
in 1968 she was Black womanrunning for a presidential
(09:50):
nomination
pearl (09:51):
Yeah Yeah She was definitely an inspiring figure
and she shaped she shaped thepolitics that we're living with
right now because she providedso many kids growing up an
example
aj (10:04):
Yeah Someone to look at and say wow look look what she's
done And
pearl (10:10):
so speaking
aj (10:11):
that story
pearl (10:12):
of kids looking up to heroes we were just watching I
think it was discovery plusDestination no
aj (10:19):
expedition I know
pearl (10:20):
unknown and that's just kind of a fun what kind of a
show It's just kind of a
aj (10:26):
travel adventure Show
pearl (10:29):
lead
aj (10:30):
follows the guy who wishes he was Indiana Jones being on
the show
pearl (10:34):
is I think he's an archeologist he might be an
anthropologist I can't rememberRemember Anyway So we were
watching one of one of theepisodes and the episode was
talking about Amelia Earhart andjust you know her her journey
and the person that we're goingto be talking about today is
someone who grew up with Earhartis one of her heroes So today
(10:56):
we're gonna be talking aboutGeraldine Gerry mock Jerry walk
was the first female pilot tocircle the globe so as soon as
we finished watching the specialwe were like well who was I mean
it's I'm sure it's happened Whowas it Who was the first woman
who circled the globe Yes Hername was Jerry mock so you know
over the very last leg ofEarhart's journey over open
(11:18):
ocean she lost radio contact anddisappeared and that was back in
1937 So it wasn't until 1964that Jerry Mach became the first
woman to fly solo around
aj (11:30):
Wow Nearly 30 years later before
pearl (11:34):
Yeah So born in 1925 she she was interested in flight
from a very young age She becameone of the first female students
to study aeronauticalengineering at Ohio state
university And after marrying apilot she began taking flying
lessons at the age of 32 And shegot her pilot's license in 1958
And I think 33
aj (11:55):
Oh
pearl (11:55):
yeah she got married she had a couple kids and then she
just decided that she wanted toget her pilots license
aj (12:00):
Yeah I would I would not have expected it to be I mean
that's still young 32
pearl (12:06):
I mean we're also talking about We're also talking about
the early sixties here
aj (12:12):
Yeah
pearl (12:13):
So she at that point she started you know flying a lot
with her husband on crosscountry trips for his work as a
pilot And during these trips shejust she decided to plan a
longer trip because she wantedto see more of the world And she
just really loved to travel andshe loved to fly and she wasn't
super qualified for this journeyI mean she had a lot of flight
(12:36):
hours in her belt but I don'tthink she'd ever flown over the
open ocean but she just
aj (12:40):
have flying over the open ocean Right Rather terrifying
thought
pearl (12:44):
I mean it's a terrifying thought to be a passenger Yeah
aj (12:48):
think about in the gigantic jet aircraft let alone a solo or
maybe with one other personflier in a small airplane
pearl (12:55):
it was solo Yeah So this mother of three was quickly
dubbed the flying housewifeafter filing her flight plan to
circumnavigate the world
aj (13:05):
So this just kind of evolved
pearl (13:07):
Yeah she just kind of like actually I
aj (13:09):
might as well might as well keep going
pearl (13:11):
might as well just firearm the entire world so she
she's about just over five feetTall weighs about a hundred
pounds She's this tiny littlehousewife with three kids at
home And she decides to flyaround the world And her pilot
husband is of course reallysupportive And so she files her
flight plan and she departsMarch 19th, 1964 from Ohio
(13:35):
Columbus Ohio And she returnedon April 18th there's a lot of
details from her journey thatI'm not going to take the time
to highlight but
aj (13:42):
that would take a long time
pearl (13:43):
plane malfunctions instrument errors navigation
miscalculations but shecompleted the trip safely and
she was awarded the federalaviation federal aviation
administration's exceptionalservice decoration by president
Johnson
aj (13:59):
That was
pearl (14:00):
of 1964 So um yeah the press just completely loved her
and made a really big deal outof her But she said in a quote
from airspace mag.com she said Ididn't think it was such a great
thing It was just lots of fun Itwas a good practical thing that
dozens of women both in theUnited States and other
countries could have done beforeI did you just use your common
(14:22):
sense know how to fly anairplane do what you're supposed
to do No the routes and all therules and regulations Just
nobody else had the sense orshall I say the stupidity to try
it
aj (14:31):
There are
pearl (14:32):
who told me that they flew because of me I'm glad I
did what I did because I had awonderful time
aj (14:38):
I like this Jerry mock She sounds like someone you'd enjoy
just hanging out with
pearl (14:43):
yeah So afterwards she just continued to fly planes I
think she broke several Shebroke a lot of like speed
records on certain types ofaircraft and she raised her kids
and Yeah that's that's a verybrief story about the first
woman who circumnavigated theglobe in 1964
aj (15:04):
which is crazy because we hear all about Amelia Earhart
And yet we hear nothing aboutJerry mock who is the one who
did what Amelia Earhart set outto do Now I know there's lots of
intrigue and mystery andeverything surrounding Amelia
Earhart but
pearl (15:23):
the mystery is just as yeah but also I mean to be fair
it's fortunate because JerryMach had so much more
sophisticated equipment
aj (15:32):
Well yeah 30 years later it's a much different flight I'm
sure not that I know much aboutflight
pearl (15:39):
All right Aja You are up next with Sophia Jax Blake
aj (15:44):
at bat We've got Sophia Jax Blake who lived from 1840 to
1912 She was an Englishphysician teacher and feminist
who fought for the right ofwomen to receive university
medical training and becomepracticing physicians so at the
time The would be the 1860swomen were generally not
pearl (16:08):
and she's in England right This isn't in the United
States I'm pretty sure this isEngland
aj (16:13):
correct This is England She spent a little bit of time in
the United States she actuallyintended to try to enter a
university in the U S that wasaccepting women but then her
father died And so she returnedhome and had to pursue it in the
UK she was the first practicingfemale physician in Scotland She
(16:35):
fought through a lot ofadversity to get this because
women were generally notadmitted to universities at the
time And especially not formedical training and even her
parents never expected her tomake any money They even denied
her taking a salary when she wasa math tutor as a young adult
(16:55):
she visited the U S and met afemale physician there and she
fell in love with the idea ofbecoming a physician that's when
she planned to attend thatuniversity but had to return so
she came home and appealed tothe university of Edinburgh for
admittance but was initiallyrejected because they couldn't
make the necessary arrangementsfor quote just one lady So she
(17:19):
put an ad in the paper for morestudents and eventually ended up
with a group dubbed theEdinburgh seven and they were
all admitted in the summer of1869 Now of course this was an
uphill battle They didn't justreceive all kinds of support and
encouragement to do this Theyfaced quite a bit of
(17:41):
discrimination includingreceiving obscene letters They
were followed home They hadfireworks attached to their
front door And mud thrown atthem And one incident they came
to what was called surgeon hallto sit for an exam
pearl (17:59):
I mean 1860s and bruh was a very disgusting city It was
not clean was super dirty so Ican only imagine that mud
throwing that was done was
aj (18:12):
the readily available projectiles of mud and other
rubbish in this surgeon hallthey were sitting supposed to
sit for I think it was a somesort of anatomy exam and around
200 people gathered outside thesurgeon's hall and threw mud
garbage and insults at the womenSo after this riot they did win
(18:36):
some supporters in the pressbecause it ran in the newspapers
But unfortunately it also drewthe ire of a lot of the More
prestigious medical faculty atthe university and they
persuaded the university not toallow the women to graduate Even
after they had even after theyhad completed their studies they
(19:00):
had done well you know from thevery beginning they just asked
for a level playing field and nospecial treatment And they S
they did really well theargument was taken to the courts
and the university the courtsruled that they the courts ruled
that they should have never beenadmitted in the first place And
(19:20):
their diplomas were withdrawnNow at this point several of the
Edinburgh seven went to otheruniversities in the UK that were
beginning to admit women So theywere able to complete their
studies there there SophiaJackson Blake She ended up now
it gets a little murky and you'dhave to do some more research
(19:42):
because it was a littleconfusing for me But at the time
some of the universities werebeginning to admit women Some of
the there were some laws beingpassed to allow people of any
gender to become licensedphysicians There were also
(20:03):
multiple governing bodies thatcould license a physician So
Sophia Jax Blake she continuedto study and she was able to
pass the exams from at least onegoverning body and became a
licensed physician in 1877becoming the very first Scottish
female physician So yeah she hadto fight an uphill battle There
(20:29):
was kind of some Beliefs at thetime that women were
intellectually inferior allsorts of ridiculous
discrimination that they had toface she went on to found some
different schools of medicineultimately they were either
swallowed up by larger schoolssuch as the university of
(20:50):
Edinburgh that then began toadmit women or I think I read
that her her teaching abilitywasn't exactly on par with her
practicing medicine ability Soum she ultimately practiced for
I believe 12 years after thatand then retired Lived her life
(21:11):
but she certainly paved the wayin many regards for women to
enter university women to toaccess higher education period
And certainly to practicemedicine and become licensed
because you know not only werethey not being admitted to the
universities but some of thelaws were such that even if they
(21:34):
had all the ability in the worldthey could not be licensed to
practice
pearl (21:38):
Right Yeah
aj (21:40):
So there was a you know huge change going on at that time and
she was part of it
pearl (21:47):
Yeah So the next person that I want to highlight I came
across her last month and yeah Ijust wanted to I just want us to
highlight her because of hercourage determination and hope
in the face of huge odds Sotoday we're going to be talking
about the life of Fannie LouHamer
aj (22:08):
Fannie Lou Hamer
pearl (22:10):
Lou Hamer
aj (22:11):
I don't think I even recognize
pearl (22:12):
no Yeah most people don't um she she shaped so many
policies in the United Statesand our way of life and she is
relatively unknown she was bornFannie Lou Townson in 1969 to a
poor sharecropping family inMississippi She was the 20th and
(22:33):
youngest child
aj (22:34):
Oh my goodness 20 children
pearl (22:37):
Yeah So sharecropping Was basically one step up from
slavery It there's been variousforms of sharecropping all
through our history butsharecropping in the American
South spring up as a response toblack freedom after the civil
war So that previous slaveowners could continue to exert
control over the black peoplethat have farmed for them as
slaves and get cheap labor Sothere's a lot of systemic racism
(23:03):
tied up in sharecropping and itfully deserves its own podcast
but in a nutshell people withoutthe funds of or inheritance to
purchase homes that would rentland from wealthy owners and
their rent would come out in theform of crops harvested from
that land So they made very lowvery they made very little money
and the cycle of poverty wouldjust continue that's the life
(23:24):
that Fannie Lou Hamer grew upgrew into she began working in
her family sharecropping fieldsat the age of six Even though
she was still recovering fromabout a polio a year earlier I'm
at the age of 12 she dropped outof school completely to help her
family on the farm And by theage of 13 she was picking around
400 pounds of cotton a day andgetting paid around$1 So I mean
aj (23:50):
I'm trying to picture that because we have a 12 year old
daughter
pearl (23:53):
pounds of cotton in one day
aj (23:56):
That is a load of cotton cotton
pearl (23:59):
cotton Yeah
aj (24:01):
I mean I don't I don't know anything about Right I don't
know anything about pickingcotton but I know that 400
pounds is a lot of cotton
pearl (24:09):
I think the cotton I think it's like a pod that opens
up cracks opens a hard Husky podAnd then you reach in between
the pod openings and you pullout the cotton and there's be
seeds and other random littlethings that get stuck to
aj (24:25):
it
pearl (24:25):
it's sharp on your fingers to you know reach in and
pull it out So your fingers endup getting really calloused and
leathery after you know justcountless pod scrapes and you're
picking cotton seeds and thenrandom other miscellaneous bits
of chaff and plant But by andlarge very very light product So
picking 400 pounds of cotton ina day is just mind blowing
aj (24:50):
as a 13 year old
pearl (24:52):
as a 13 year old and getting paid about a dollar for
it so because she learned toread and write and had some real
basic math skills she helpedwith the bookkeeping on the farm
and she saw firsthand just howthe white people would kind of
aj (25:10):
they were taken advantage of
pearl (25:12):
Yeah they would kind of doctor the books so that their
black sharecroppers would getpaid less even than they had
worked for you know um so one ofthe first acts of rebellion that
she did was she and I don'treally understand how she did
this but she found out a verysneaky way to tip the scales a
little bit so that blacksharecroppers were getting
(25:33):
slightly more for their money ofeven that out a little bit she
married Perry Haimer in 1944 andthe couple continue to work
together as sharecroppers on onanother plantation in
Mississippi in 1967 No in 1961she Went to the hospital for
(25:55):
went to the local hospital for acyst removal and Well when she
woke up she discovered that shehad had a hysterectomy And
unfortunately this was reallycommon at the time for black
women I think she called it shecoined the phrase actually that
it became to be known by but shecalled it Mississippi
appendectomy because it was socommon women black women would
(26:17):
go in for procedures and theywould wake up sterilized They'd
wake up with a hysterectomyhaving been completed without
aj (26:25):
knowledge or consent That's
pearl (26:28):
It was it was a really really common thing at that time
there was overt demands forsterilization for welfare
recipients and then there wasalso secret sterilization there
was so much widespread eugenicshappening through sterilization
at this point in history youknow we have a completely
different type of eugenicshappening now but at that point
(26:49):
the S the standard forsterilization was everything
from mentally feeble to poppersto I mean just such a wide
spectrum of violent you know allthese very Subjective
aj (27:06):
criteria
pearl (27:07):
were applied and they applied universally to black
women So if doctors had anopportunity to sterilize black
woman that by and large they did
aj (27:15):
I mean were there any repercussions I mean could they
I mean I'm sure they couldn't doit even if there was there
wouldn't be much they could doIt'd be it'd be a poor black
woman's word against a doctor
pearl (27:29):
yeah I think I don't I don't even think it would have
resulted in a court case I thinkit would have been more like
aj (27:36):
just be dismissed them Yeah
pearl (27:39):
Yeah So um in so that was in 1960 in 1961 Yeah And there
was just so much sterilizationeven though it had been around
since the turn of the century bythe mid fifties it was really
obvious that it was raciallymotivated Mississippi even
(28:00):
proposed a bill that would makeit a felony If a parent on
welfare had more than one childand they could avoid jail time
only by sterilization So yeah itwas just yeah so Fannie Lou and
Perry eventually ended upadopting several in 1962 Fannie
Lou decides to vote She decidesto register to register for vote
(28:24):
She went to a community meetingabout anti-violence and she was
inspired to vote and let hervoice be heard And She and 17
others went to the localcourthouse in Indianola
Mississippi to register for voteregistered to vote And most of
the vote of most of the groupwas actually physically blocked
(28:46):
from registration So we'retalking about 1962 and it's
really easy Like we're talkingabout the Wilmington massacre
It's really easy to look to lookat that through the lens of like
well that was so long ago that
aj (28:59):
was were still in horse-drawn carriages
pearl (29:03):
But this story is you know this is happening in the
sixties and seventies here inthe United States And
aj (29:12):
clear weapons we had you know we had this was a modern
world
pearl (29:18):
Yeah so she decides to register for vote They were
blocked from the vote Most ofthe group were blocked from
registration and only Hamer Andone other man were allowed to
fill out a registration andtaken a literacy test at the
time literacy tests werecommonly used to keep um they
were they were kind of just usedas a tool to keep ignorant
(29:39):
people from voting But whatwould happen then is that you
would effectively exclude anypoor or black people
aj (29:47):
Because they had to drop out of school so they could help
them you're by
pearl (29:51):
eliminating that entire perspective from voting So you
aj (29:56):
helps you understand how these things were propagated and
continued for such a long timewhen there was just such an
active push to prevent thesethings
pearl (30:12):
Yeah so after failing the test they were all denied the
right to vote and they left theywere sent home on their way home
They were pulled over by policeofficers naturally and they were
fine to because their bus wasquote too yellow They were fined
a hundred dollars because theirbus was too yellow So just a
aj (30:33):
classroom full
pearl (30:35):
police interfering with the voting process and
aj (30:38):
they couldn't even come up with something better than to
yellow
pearl (30:41):
bus was too yellow the and the fallout from this just
attempting to register to voteThe fallout was so large for
Fanny she the owner of theplantation that she and her
husband had been working on for18 plus years at this point told
her that if she didn't withdrawthe registration she was gonna
have to leave she refused towithdraw the reg the
(31:01):
registration she left the housequickly And just in time because
later on that same day her housewas attacked by white
supremacists and they shot herand shot into her house over 15
times assuming that she wasinside inside Nope Yeah So um in
(31:21):
January, 1963 she finally passedthe literacy test after visiting
every 30 days to take the testSo you know after she failed the
first time then she would goback and take the test And if
she failed she would study somemore go back and take the test
again
aj (31:35):
I mean debate whether she actually ever even failed it
begin
pearl (31:40):
She failed that like three times at least
aj (31:42):
Well I mean they told her she
pearl (31:44):
Oh right Yeah
aj (31:46):
wonder if she really did Yeah
pearl (31:47):
for sure after registering to vote though so
now she's passed the literacytests Now she is officially
registered to vote but then shediscovers a she still doesn't
have the right to vote becauseshe doesn't have any poll tax
receipts So the poll tax was putin place to ensure that the
poorest people didn't have avoice to vote So this is like
another layer of making surethat poor people and poor black
(32:09):
people do not have the abilityto influence voting decisions
Their their interests are notgoing to interfere with any of
any special interest groups thathave that are currently holding
money in power in the UnitedStates and the fact that the tax
was there to keep black peoplefrom voting was not a secret
There's actually a quote fromthe Alabama Tuscaloosa news And
(32:33):
the quote is this newspaperbelieves in white supremacy And
it believes that the poll tax isone of the essentials for the
preservation for white supremacyAnd that is a direct quote
aj (32:43):
So here we are 65 years after Wilmington same stuff
pearl (32:48):
right Absolutely In 1962 the U S outlawed the poll tax
but it was not really enforceduntil 1965 So she went to go try
and vote in 1963 And the polltax had been outlawed but they
still would not allow her tovote because someone basically
needed to come down and enforceher right to vote
aj (33:10):
Right Because I'm sure that especially in those areas I mean
it could still be in many areasLike if you have corrupt local
authorities who's going to andespecially back then here you
can today you could jump onFacebook and Twitter and
probably get someone above themBut back then what you're going
(33:33):
to drive to someone's officemaybe find a telephone and be
given the runaround by asecretary for days and days
You're not going to get anywhere
pearl (33:44):
today Eight States including Mississippi still
haven't ratified that amendment
aj (33:50):
for the poll tax
pearl (33:51):
So it's a little bit not necessary but it's still just
kind of goes to show howlawmakers in those States didn't
value the black right to voteAnd they had no motivation to
try and change that So whilePerry continued to work off our
well well her husband PerryHaimer continued to work off
(34:12):
their sharecropping debts
aj (34:14):
Well that's what I was wondering after they left that
home
pearl (34:16):
still working off their sharecropping debts I don't
entirely know how it works but Iknow that he he's got a certain
amount of money that he needs tobe paying to the landowner each
year So um you know essentiallyslavery
aj (34:31):
I mean simply to exert their right to vote they've made their
lives exceedingly more
pearl (34:40):
super
aj (34:41):
I mean you know they're they're facing serious
repercussions just to try andvote
pearl (34:47):
Yeah So uh while he's working on that hammer is just
she's just kind of a woman on amission She once she realizes
how It was just you knowsomething in that that meeting
that she went to initially in1962 they just kind of lit a
fire under her And she was justreally inspired to fight
inequality and segregation inthe United States and for her a
(35:11):
really big path to doing thatwas through re voter
registration so that blackpeople would be able to be
represented through the vote
aj (35:19):
Right They would have a voice
pearl (35:20):
didn't see any any true change happening unless black
people's voices were being heardon a nationwide level
aj (35:27):
Right Isn't it crazy that this can harken back all the way
to the revolutionary war Thatthat one of the primary reasons
for that was that the colonistshad no representation in their
ruling government And so theyrevolted and rebelled and we
(35:48):
look at them as heroes and now200 years later they're
perpetuating the same evil thatBirth donation
pearl (35:59):
Yeah absolutely Well it is also really interesting It it
kind of kind of goes back to oneof the reasons we started this
podcast which is those who don'tremember history are doomed to
repeat it
aj (36:10):
That's what I was
pearl (36:11):
see that that repetition happening over and over again
throughout history wheresomething really awful happens
and you think okay well this hasgotta be the change but then it
just keeps happening over andover and over again
aj (36:25):
It's definitely giving me and I'll let you finish your
your story about Fanny hammerbut it gives me such a more
rounded perspective on some ofthe issues that still pop up
today about voter registrationand who can vote And whether you
(36:46):
need to provide proof of who youare
pearl (36:49):
empathy When you have a situation where the government
is putting up criteria forvoting and you realize Oh this
this isn't a new thing This hasbeen a this has been a longterm
effort on the part of the UnitedStates to stop the black
aj (37:05):
Right And it from someone who has never been affected by
this I'm on the outside lookingin and I'm thinking well
obviously we should verify who'svoting so that people can't vote
multiple times and stuff theballot box and cheat the vote
and stuff without having anycontext for that These things
(37:26):
have been put in place fordecades and decades and
centuries with a very maliciousintent
pearl (37:35):
agenda Yeah So um In 19 in June of 19 June 9th actually
of 1963 Haimer had been she'dbeen on a trip with a bus full
of other activists and they werethey had gone to some convention
and on their way back they wereintegrating lunch counters And
(37:58):
so what that basically meant isthey would stop at a diner and
they would all get out and gosit at the counter and just
order lunch and you knowprobably get kicked out I don't
know so that's essentially whatthey were doing And then partway
through their journey Of coursethe police caught up with them
and arrested them They were notreleased until June 12th and in
those three days Hammer and theother activists were beaten so
(38:21):
badly She was beaten so badlythat she suffered from lifelong
damage to our kidneys eyes andlegs When the police in that
precinct grew physically tiredof beating them they made the
other black inmates beat theactivists as well And in a later
trial this is in 1963 Ourparents were little kids In a
(38:42):
later trial the police werecleared for their actions
aj (38:45):
Hmm I I was thinking that when you were saying they were
in a bus and integrating dinercounters just all I could think
of was target They're justmaking themselves a target which
is sad I mean it's good for themfor doing it I don't know that I
would have the courage to dothat I mean
pearl (39:05):
courageous courageous
aj (39:07):
such bravery
pearl (39:08):
to do And this is a woman who grew up as a poor
sharecropper she had forcedsterilization that took away her
ability to have children withher husband And she still hasn't
been able to vote even thoughshe spent months on her
registration to vote over whichshe lost her home and her
livelihood I mean she's justbeen so much it's been through
(39:32):
so much and she refused toregardless of how much she went
through and how much sheaccomplished she just never quit
aj (39:39):
Yeah Credible perseverance
pearl (39:41):
Yeah So um at this point she and I'm I don't really know
what the state was between orwhat the condition of the
Republican party at this pointwas and why she didn't want to
join the Republican party whichhad been a heavily black
flavored party earlier on in thecentury But at this point and
(40:01):
she also doesn't want to jointhe democratic party because the
democratic party is also veryracist she co-founded the
Mississippi freedom democraticparty so that's essentially a
third party and they went to thedemocratic national convention
in an attempt to getrepresentation So they wanted
the democratic convention torecognize them as part of the
(40:24):
democratic party in this act shereceived multiple threats and
she actually testified at thisconvention um Uh she testified
at this convention talking abouthow difficult it is for black
people to vote And presidentJohnson did not want her
testimony to break up thecoalition of white Southern
delegates that he needed to getelected So he tried he asked her
(40:48):
not to speak and when she didn'tlisten he tried to hold an
impromptu press conference sothat the broadcast would have to
cut away from her testimony andfocus on him because he's the
president somehow And I'm notreally sure how this happened It
completely backfired Fortunatelyfor hammer it ended up with many
news evening evening newsprograms giving full coverage of
(41:09):
the speech that Johnson hadtried to interrupt So even so
and because of incrediblepressure from president Johnson
the convention refused to accepthammer as a delicate and they
refuse to allow the Mississippifreedom democratic party to Join
the convention basically theysaid we'll let you join You can
(41:30):
only have two seats hammer can'thave one of the seats and you
don't get to vote on anythingAnd they said Nope And they
turned around and went home Soshe actually ran for Congress
for Congress several times afterthat in 1964 think 1968 1970 I
(41:51):
believe I can't remember But sheran several times She did not
win any of the times I think forher it was just the the journey
of running was just as importantas winning
aj (42:00):
Right just to kind of have a a voice out there saying we
won't shut up We will not be becowed by fear
pearl (42:10):
She's changing the narrative of what it means to be
a black Person a black woman inthe United States
aj (42:17):
Isn't that amazing Just to contrast a little bit with
Shirley Chisholm in New York in1968 as the first black woman
elected
pearl (42:28):
Yeah So this is around the same time that Shirley
Chisholm is you know cause I'msure she had a pretty uphill
battle
aj (42:34):
Yeah I'm sure it was up Hill yet She
pearl (42:38):
She's not running in Mississippi
aj (42:40):
That's what I mean Yeah The difference
pearl (42:43):
Yeah So in 1968 the democratic party began requiring
equal representation for statedelegations So because of this
hammer was finally recognized asan official Mississippi delegate
at the national democraticconvention So that was let's see
she went she went to theconvention I believe in 1964 And
(43:06):
then in 1960 68 she's officiallyrecognized as a delegate at the
convention she also was reallypassionate about economic
justice because she knew thatthat was
aj (43:19):
she lived in that
pearl (43:20):
had she lived that as a sharecropper and a
sharecropper's daughter so in1969 she co-founded the freedom
farm cooperative to provideblack people with farm They
could farm and own
aj (43:32):
Oh cool
pearl (43:33):
and so there were there were a lot of large donors
involved in that and it allowedblack families to make money for
their family make food for theirfamily farm pigs It was it was a
really big it was a really hugegift to the state of Mississippi
Unfortunately it was it did notlast more than a couple of years
(43:53):
I think they just kind of Didn'thave the funding to support it
but she is also she's alsopartly responsible for the
voting rights act Fording rightsact passage because of her 1965
civil case hammer hammer versusCampbell which was about
restricting the right to votefor black people And then after
(44:15):
the voting rights act was passedin 1965 she continued voting for
fighting for voting rightsbecause again white people in
jurisdictions would still we'restill continuing to try and stop
black people from voting
aj (44:28):
Right There's a lot of different routes you can take to
restrict people from votingwhether it's lawful or unlawful
intimidation whatever whateveryou may
pearl (44:41):
Yeah Even even simple things like you must pass still
pass a literacy test You knowand she I think one of the
questions that she said that shefaced on that very first
literacy test was and I'mtotally going to misquote this
but I think that she said thequestion was what is a defacto
government And I'm going to bereally honest with you right now
(45:04):
on this podcast I couldn'tanswer that off the top of my
head and you know
aj (45:11):
this probably wasn't a multiple choice
pearl (45:13):
right Putting in requirements like that where
you're kind of weeding outanyone who and again you know
how many of these how many ofthese questions was she allowed
to pass versus a white carcounterpart yeah So um in 1970
Hammer who's not going to quitorganize a class action lawsuit
(45:36):
for school desegregation in heraccounting in sunflower County
in Mississippi just
aj (45:43):
kept going and
pearl (45:44):
She was just firing on all fronts this resulted in the
district court ordering theCounty schools to merge its
segregated schools into a singlepublic school system So Haimer
unfortunately died of breastcancer and 1977 at the age of 59
aj (46:00):
that's sad That's so young
pearl (46:02):
it was really young
aj (46:03):
Do you have a record of when she very first was able to
successfully vote
pearl (46:08):
I believe that she was first able to success the first
able to successfully vote in 1964
aj (46:15):
Okay I was just curious
pearl (46:17):
Yeah I think it was But yeah there's a lot of great
links I only watched one butthere's several good clips on
YouTube about her
aj (46:26):
Is there a movie made about her should be
pearl (46:29):
But yeah she's just she's just a really inspiring person
from history She's inspiring toall of us whether or not we are
black or a woman because andthis kind of goes back to that
quote from Martin Luther Kingjunior earlier Um you know I've
always heard it's it's like oneof those Pinterest quotes or
Instagram quotes
aj (46:49):
quote
pearl (46:50):
where injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere But the second partof that quote is just so
profound where he says we'recaught in an inescapable network
of mutuality tied in a singlegarment of destiny And the work
that she did to fight injusticeWas so important and it's
(47:11):
something that even we as whitepeople get to stand on her
shoulders because she's donethis for us it's affected our
lives too for the better
aj (47:23):
absolutely boy that that story just it's making my my
brain spin Just thinking aboutwhat she went through the
courage that she showed theperseverance tenacity I mean
just on a on a small personallevel it's incredibly inspiring
(47:45):
to just continue to pursue whatyou are passionate about as well
as that you know is right andfighting against injustice But I
mean it just even inspires me topursue whatever dreams I have
Like if I can have a quarter ofthe perseverance that she had I
(48:07):
will have incredible success inlife Let alone being massively
inspired to have a greater senseof what people went through that
I am not And so much that thatquote of if you don't know
history you're destined torepeat it And how applicable
(48:31):
that is even to our modern dayissues where if we have no sense
of where we came from and thelaws that have had to be just
beat down one brick at a time toallow people to exercise their
rights such as voting if wedon't recognize that and we pick
(48:57):
up what we think is a verybenign brick to put back on the
wall Without Understandingpeople's perspective on
pearl (49:05):
when you look at stories to the entire through the bigger
lens of history
aj (49:09):
Yeah And and you know even if even if the laws or
regulations or whatever thatpeople are trying to Institute
are nowhere near that If theystill just even remind people of
it there's just a lot you justneed to have some empathy and be
willing to go that extra step tosay you know absolutely we are
(49:33):
not going backwards This is whatwe're doing And we are going to
work together to move thisforward rather than just
stomping over people'sobjections that are based on
decades of horrible history HmmJust
pearl (49:50):
absolutely
aj (49:51):
just such a different perspective
pearl (49:53):
Yeah So um that's our podcast for the week Go out and
raise a glass to
aj (50:01):
Fanny Haimer
pearl (50:03):
Fannie Lou Hamer and Shirley Chisholm and uh uh Betty
no GERD Jerry
aj (50:14):
Jerry mock
pearl (50:15):
Jerry mock And Oh this is
aj (50:20):
Sophia Jack's Blake I had to look it up because I keep
wanting to reverse it or sayJack's black or something Sophia
Jack's
pearl (50:29):
Patrick's week So you know We're not doing a day
anymore We're doing a whole weekSo raise raise a toast to these
four amazing women And um youknow if you're not a reader if
you're super lazy I wouldrecommend typing one of those
names into YouTube and see whatpops up That is my that's my
life hack for you guys You'rewelcome
aj (50:50):
All right guys Thanks for listening If you enjoyed that or
even if you didn't
pearl (50:57):
that mildly offensive we want to know about it Fight me
aj (51:01):
but feel free to rate review and subscribe
pearl (51:05):
and share it with your mom Bye guys
aj (51:08):
Bye
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
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.