TBM Records Tanya Bickley says, "Following the success of our first two albums, The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro, also known as Frederick Douglass' Fifth of July Speech, and The Lesson of the Hour: Why The Negro Is Lynched, Fred Morsell and I talked about choices for TBM's third album. Since 1976 when he portrayed Douglass in the CBS Bi-Centennial TV show We, the Women, Fred had been intrigued by Douglass' life-long public support of women. And, I was blown away by Douglass' astonishing writing and public support and respect for women and women's rights. TBM's Executive Producer, Geoffrey Dean, agreed it was a good move. In his mid-20's, a banker by trade, and smart, he said, "It's good material. Fifty percent of what Frederick Douglass recommends still hasn't taken place."
Our goal was to produce a recording that would allow listeners to hear the historical heartbeat, mind and motivation of woman's rights in the United States. Strange as it may sound, we were able to avoid the full swath of fashionable women's rights hype of the 1990's by going back 150 years to Frederick Douglass, the consummate woman's rights man. It is with Mr. Douglass and the 19th century women he describes and gives tribute to that today'woman, having no time for irrelevant hype as she juggles family, work, friends, community and religious responsibilities will find, we believe, a most modern and profound articulation of woman's rights that will inform and encourage her. It is also quite an album for men to listen to-- men who, on principle, believe in women's rights; men who like and respect women; men who are puzzled and want to understand better and learn more. And, for men and women who love the spoken word, Frederick Douglass' way with words is nothing short of dazzling!
Along the way, Why I Became A Woman's Rights Man has been and continues to be a joy! In early August of 1995, a few weeks before the album's release and a few months before her death, Barbara Jordan called me from Texas. In that never-to-be-forgotten voice and with her accustomed politeness and civility, Ms. Jordan said, "Ms. Bickley, I am calling to wish you success and good luck. Unfortunately, I cannot take the time to write a paragraph for the album cover because I am not feeling well and must save my energy for a trip to Washington later this summer." I sat still and quiet in my chair for several minutes after that call, overcome by the generosity of Barbara Jordan's spirit that she called to wish us well when she so needed to husband her strength. We released "Why I Became A Woman's Rights Man" on August 26, 1995 to honor the 75th anniversary of women's suffrage. (The 19th amendment to the United States Constitution, which grants women the right to vote, was ratified on August 26, 1920.) On that historic weekend, Mr. Morsell performed Why I Became A Woman's Rights Man at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., at the Women's Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls, New York, and at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
The speech and the album have received positive response from so many people. Anne Woolford-Singh, a professor at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach, Va wrote and said that the speech was the most comprehensive articulation of women's history she had heard. Laura X, the founder of National Women's History Month, as well as the Women's History Library in Berkeley, called me. She said she had picked the album up at a book store and thrown it in her pocketbook. Late one night, on the road, in a hotel room, and discouraged before giving an important speech, Laura played Why I Became A Woman's Rights Man. She told me, "I cannot begin to tell you what an inspiration this speech is when you are down and out, or feeling trashed!" Laura gave her speech the next day!
Teachers have called to explain that 13 & 14 year old boys and girls cannot believe that a 19th century man, Frederick Douglass, was thinking, saying, and urging what Frederick Douglass did.. At the Seneca Falls performance in August 1995, women, who later told us they were veterans of the woman's rights movement, fully understood Mr. Douglass' sardonic and wry comments and laughed throughout as Douglass, the consummate orator/performer, delivered sly and sardonic one-two-three punch laugh lines. And, at Smith College, during a Sunday morning performance, one saw couples look at each other in that special way when together they hear someone describe the essential correctness and satisfaction of women and men according each other full respect and responsibility. Why I Became A Woman's Rights Man is by no means solely a "woman's album." It is for anyone who wants to know more about Frederick Douglass and the history of women's rights; to hear indisputable reasoning which affirms women's rights; and to learn Douglass' thoughts on women's voice, power and point of view if they were to participate in national and international public arenas.
