By Daniel Bergin, Executive Producer and WEM Endowed Director of History at Twin Cities PBS
“The ballot is the weapon with which to defend whatever rights we have…As a law-abiding citizen and taxpayer and one who has given all she could give to the support of this government; I have a right to be heard.”
This quote about voting rights and civic engagement could be from a few weeks ago, but it actually echoes from over a century ago. These are the words of Minnesota’s Julia Bullard Nelson, an abolitionist, educator, temperance leader, and suffragist who fought for full citizenship for American women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Growing up in Minneapolis, I never learned about this icon who Susan B. Anthony called “the rock on which Minnesota’s suffragist movement was built.” So, I am proud that Julia’s story is shared in classrooms and living rooms across the country as part of my documentary Citizen, which introduces Minnesota’s suffragists and the ongoing fight for voting rights they sparked. Nelson, who came of age in Red Wing, MN, harnessed the power of storytelling and free expression. She used public speaking, op eds, letter writing, and even poetry as her choice of weapons in the fight for full citizenship for women. Julia Bullard Nelson and the other founding mothers featured in our film knew that when women’s voices rise, our children, communities, and our society rise as well.
Our core mission here at Twin Cities PBS is to amplify and affirm the voices of all Minnesotans. Women’s History Month reminds us that women’s voices have been present since our earliest years of broadcasting and continue today.
One of the most respected women of the 20th century, Eleanor Roosevelt, was featured in an episode of Twin Cities PBS’s early 1960s series, That Free Men May Live. The story of Feminist Lesbian political pioneer Representative Karen Clark is among the many stories of women, including transwomen, included in one of my films I’m most proud of, Out North: MNLGBTQ History. The powerful stories of the region’s Indigenous women can be seen in a range of Twin Cities PBS content including The Past is Alive Within Us, Nokomis: Voices of Anishinabe Grandmothers, The Jingle Dress Tradition, and Leya Hale’s award-winning Bring Her Home, which helped change the narrative on missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and relatives. Hope in the Struggle: The Josie Johnson Story allows audiences to virtually sit at the feet of Minnesota’s mother of civil rights, Dr. Josie Johnson, and learn lessons from her nine decades of diplomacy and activism. This included her wide-ranging community-building collaborations, from working with the state’s Republican governors of the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter movement of the 2010s.
This year, as America considers its 250 anniversary, Twin Cities PBS’s Voices Rising initiative is underscoring the nation’s founding principal of a free press and freedom of expression, which flows through our mission to strengthen our community through the power of media. I invite you to spend time with these narratives from the state’s Her-story this month and every month and experience inspiration and empowerment that comes when we lift every voice.
Be Heard.
That free men may live is the theme of this series and in a much larger sense, it's the theme of all the best efforts of mankind. Meet people who work and fight for freedom.
Out North: MNLGBTQ History explores the untold past of Minnesota’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and celebrates the strides the state has made since the gay liberation movement began in the 1970s.
The Past Is Alive Within Us: The U.S.- Dakota Conflict
This documentary examines one of the most difficult chapters of Minnesota’s history: the state’s involvement in the Dakota War as the Civil War was simultaneously raging. It’s a mix of historical information & contemporary stories & is designed to build a better understanding of historical interpretation & encourage critical thinking. It will look at the subject through the lens of public memory.
Nokomis: Voices Of Anishinabe Grandmothers
Stories of racism and discrimination towards Native American women from the early 20th Century. Hear the voices of the women themselves as they recount the mistreatment from their childhood.
The Jingle Dress Tradition
Ojibwe stories tell of the beginnings and the healing powers of the Jingle Dress Dance, a popular tradition throughout America’s Native communities. Produced with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.