Archived Radio Show

February 10, 2025

Original Radio Show  ID:
WSA250210

Listen to the Show on the Mp3 Player below

Duration 57 minutes

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Featuring

Click the Name to access the Segment below

1. Commentary by Elaine B. Holtz,  Host of Women's Spaces  

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1. Commentary by our Host, Elaine B. Holtz:  Hello everybody and welcome to Women’s Spaces. My name is Elaine B. Holtz and I am your host. With me at the board this morning for our second show being recorded in my kitchen is Judy Elliott. Also joining me is my co producer Ken Norton. Good morning, Ken. Looking forward to our show next week when we hope to be live in the studio.

As many of you know, on January 1st I had a fall and injured the tibia bone below my knee and I'm happy to say that I'm recovering very nicely and again thank you for all the letters of support and wonderful communications from friends and family. Special shout out to my son-in-law David Jensen who helped redesign my bathroom so I could take a shower. This injury sure helped me appreciate the small things in life.

It’s February 2025, and we are celebrating Black History Month. For this show I'm going to honor several black women who had impact. I will be playing a poem by Maya Angelou, called, Still I Rise. This poem is an anthem of resilience and strength. The poet confronts the struggles of oppression, discrimination, and hate, and, through every obstacle, she declares her unstoppable rise. The imagery is vivid, the message empowering, and the rhythm unyielding. The lines speak directly to the power within each individual.

I also will be playing a clip talking about activist Ida B wells and I will be going over some of her favorite quotes and one of the featured songs will be Strange Fruit which almost cost the career of singer, Billie Holiday. where she sings about lynchings in the South. It gives you a sense as to what was going on and what these women were up against and trying to bring information forward to the public. They all had impact and were courageous.

February 1 thru the 28th is Black History Month. The 2025 Black History Month theme is African Americans, and Labor, which focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people.

2025 marks the 100-year anniversary of the creation of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids (BSCP). by labor organizer and civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph, which was the first Black union to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor. I talked a bit about this last week and did some research about the role of women which is Often overlooked. The role of women in the BSCP was pivotal, especially among African-American and Chinese-American women working as Pullman maids. These women, although highly educated, were categorized as "unskilled service workers," responsible for cleaning berths, attending to sick passengers, and offering free manicures.

Six weeks after the BSCP's founding, women formed the Women's Economic Councils, later recognized as the International Ladies' Auxiliary to the BSCP in 1938. Many had backgrounds in union activism, particularly from the garment industry. This organization focused on fundraising and spreading pro-union information. However, activism often led to the firing of maids. Notable figures, like Rosina C. Tucker and Halena Wilson, played crucial roles in the union's growth and civil rights activism. Frances Albrier was instrumental in educating African-American women about the importance of unionizing and supporting their rights during the 1920s. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_Sleeping_Car_Porters )

Special thank you to Judy Elliott, who came by to record Elaine and the music for this Women's Spaces show. Judy Elliott hosts her own show on Radio KBBF, 89.1 FM, called The Rainbow Zone (Zona Arcoíris), every 2nd, 4th and 5th Friday of the month.   

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Our History Is Our Strength

Check out important dates to remember in Herstory at the National Women's History Alliance, where the date descriptions were sourced unless otherwise indicated.

Special thank you to the National Women’s History Alliance for making women’s history alive. Shout out to Co-Founder and Retiring Executive Director, Molly McGregor who will be on the show when we celebrate Women’s History Month in March for making the fabulous list of Women in History where I get most of the info I present in this Herstory segment.

Herstory Events:

February 11, 1989 – Rev. Barbara Harris became the first woman bishop in the American Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion worldwide.

February 12, 1869 – The Utah Territorial Legislature passes a bill allowing women to vote.

Herstory Birthdays:

February 10, 1883 (1959) – Edith Clarke, first woman to earn an M. S. in electrical engineering from MIT (1919), first woman professor of electrical engineering (1947), invented the Clarke Calculator, a graphical device for solving power transmission line equations.

February 15, 1820 (1906) – Susan B. Anthony, inspirational leader of 19th century women’s right movement, national suffrage strategist, lecturer, activist
February 15, 1935 – Susan Brownmiller, writer, also known as Susan Warhaftig, writes novels and conducts historical research, including Against Our Will: Men, Woman and Rape (1975) and a memoir, In Our Time.

February 16, 1905 (1988) – Louise Larson, first Chinese American and first Asian American reporter in a mainstream daily paper (1926), received many awards, wrote memoir Sweet Bamboo (1989).

February 17, 1912 (2005) – Andre Norton, writer, Alice Mary Norton used “Andre” thinking that it would be more salable in science fiction and fantasy, also used pseudonyms “Andrew North” and “Allen Weston,” 50 years later she was named “Grand Dame of Science and Fantasy”. 

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Announcements  

Monday, February 17, 2025 11 AM # repeats 11 PM PT, the show will feature to be announced. Radio KBBF 89.1 FM, North SF Bay or live streaming at https://kbbf.org/live

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Wednesday, February 19, 2025 Peace and Justice Center issues new weekly list of events and links to community non-profit organizations. It includes ongoing peace protests: PJC website www.pjcsoco.org

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Wednesday, February 19, 2025, 10 AM PT, the show will feature to be announced.  Radio KPCA 103.3 FM, Petaluma, CA. https://petalumacommunityaccess.org/kpca   

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Music Selections

The Opening and Closing Theme song The Woman in Your Life is You is done with permission of the Composer and Singer Alix Dobkin ((August 16, 1940 – May 19, 2021) Alix Dobkin death was just announced - Thank you for all you did for Lesbians to be recognized and Women to be honored. May you rest in peace. See our Interview with Alix Dobkin on 12/1/2014 and our Memorial to Alix Dobkin on 5/24/2021

The Woman in Your Life is You by Alix Dobkin from the album Living with Lavender Jane (2010 Women's Wax Works) - www.alixdobkin.com