Episode 5 "Sufferin' Till Suffrage"
Singer: Essra Mohawk
Song Writer: Bob Dorough, Tom Yohe
Original Air Date: February 21, 1976
This song teaches about the steps women took to get their right to vote.
(Yeah! Hurray!)
Now you have heard of Women's Rights
And how we've tried to reach new heights
If we're "all created equal"
That's us too!
(Yeah!)
But you will probably not recall
That it's not been too, too long at all
Since we even had the right to
Cast a vote
(Well!)
Well, sure, some men bowed down and called us "Mrs." (Yeah!)
Let us hang the wash out and wash the dishes (Huh!)
But when the time rolled around to elect a president
What did they say, Sister (What did they say?)
They said, uh, "See you later, alligator
And don't forget my, my mashed potatoes
Because I'm going downtown to cast my vote for president"
Oh, we were suffering until suffrage
Not a woman here could vote, no matter what age
Then the 19th Amendment struck down that restrictive rule (Oh yeah!)
And now we pull down on the lever
Cast our ballots and we endeavor
To improve our country, state, county, town, and school
(Tell them about it!)
Those pilgrim women who
Who braved the boat
Could cook the turkey, but they
They could not vote
Even Betsy Ross, who sewed the flag, was left behind that first election day
(What a shame, Sisters!)
Then Susan B. Anthony (yeah!) and Julia Howe
(Lucretia!) Lucretia Mott, (and others!) they showed us how
They carried signs and marched in lines
Until at long last the law was passed
Oh, we were suffering until suffrage
Not a woman here could vote, no matter what age
Then the 19th Amendment struck down that restrictive rule (Oh yeah!)
And now we pull down on the lever
Cast our ballots and we endeavor
To improve our country, state, county, town, and school (Right on! Right on!)
Yes, the 19th Amendment
Struck down that restrictive rule (Right on! Right on!)
Yes, the 19th Amendment
Struck down that restrictive rule
(Yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah!
Right on!
We got it now!)
Since 1920
Sisters, unite!
Vote on!