In this episode, Nathan and Todd talk with Dr. Kimberly Hamlin about her new book, Free Thinker: Sex, Suffrage, and the Extraordinary Life of Helen Hamilton Gardener. Gardener (1853-1925) lived a fascinating life: she was a freethought lecturer, a world traveler, and a key organizer for women’s suffrage. She was described as the “most potent factor” in the passage – in 1919 – of the 19th Amendment to the US constitution which granted women the right to vote. We talk about a range of topics including how her agnosticism was the starting point for her feminism, the question of race and women’s suffrage, and the interesting fate of HHG’s brain.
Free Thinker: Sex, Suffrage, and the Extraordinary Life of Helen Hamilton Gardener: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324004974
For more on Kimberly Hamlin: http://www.kimberlyhamlin.com/author/
Follow Kimberly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProfessorHamlin
Follow Nathan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NathGAlexander
For Todd’s post-episode reflections, check out: https://todd-tavares.medium.com/
Buy Kimberly’s book first, but if you are in the mood for a second, check out Nathan’s Race in a Godless World: Atheism, Race, and Civilization, 1850-1914: https://nyupress.org/9781479835003/race-in-a-godless-world/