Kansas 1972: Women on the Move
March 11, 2022
Kansas was the seventh state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment on March 28, 1972. Hear how the ERA was ratified in Kansas and the challenges it faced after ratification.
Go Deeper
Archival Audio Sources
- American Women and Social Change - Labor, USIA (1974), https://catalog.archives.gov/id/50555
- Phyllis Schlafly debates Betty Frieden on the Today Show, Jan. 28, 1976, https://youtu.be/WncN6PWEMGo
- Barbara Walters interviews Phyllis Schafly on the Today Show, 1972, https://youtu.be/kjrP0NFHKAE
- Shirley Chisholm speaks at the PSU, Nov. 15, 1972, from the Axe Library Special Collections
- “Women with Carol Hahn” 1972, Wichita State Univ. TV, https://youtu.be/ImldwCMP2s4
- Interview with Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, “Women’s Movements of the 70s and 80s” project at Washburn University, http://womensmovements.wuhistory.com/home
Primary Sources
- The Emporia Gazette, March 29, 1972, “Rights Amendment Ratified in Topeka”
- Letters to Senator Bob Dole about the ERA, from the Dole Archives at KU, https://dolearchives.ku.edu/hdtopics_era
- “Press Release from the Office of Senator Bob Dole," Washington, DC, Feb. 24, 1972
- “Press Release from the Office of Senator Bob Dole," Washington, DC, March 22, 1972.
Secondary Sources
Interviews
- Joan Wagnon - Kansas elected official who served as a member of the KS House of Representatives, the mayor of Topeka, and most recently, the Chair of the Kansas Democratic Party.
- Marylin Ault - Former Director of the YWCA Battered Women Task Force in Topeka and a lifelong activist on women’s issues
- David Heinemann - Republican representative from Garden City in the Kansas Legislature from 1968-1995.
- Kelly Erby - Assistant Dean and Professor of History, Washburn University
- Kerry Wynn - Professor of History, Washburn University
- Leslie Smith - Associate professor of religious studies and director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at Avila University
- Tracy Quillin - Associate Director of Humanities Kansas
Music
- Intro and Outro music by: Clelia Walking
- Background music:
- “Analog” by Jon Luc Hefferman [Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0)]
- “Flicker and Burn” and “Gears Spinning” by Podington Bear