1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,640 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, Eve's here. Today's episode contains not just one, 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: but two nuggets of history. Consider it a double feature. 3 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: Enjoy the show. Hi, I'm Eves, and welcome to This 4 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:16,160 Speaker 1: Day in History Class, a show that uncovers history one 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: day at a time. The day was February eleven, nineteen sixteen. 6 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:35,160 Speaker 1: Anarchists and activist Emma Goldman was arrested in New York 7 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: City for passing out materials on contraception and violation of 8 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: the Comstock Act. At the time, birth control was considered 9 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: a moral and still not widely accepted in the United States, 10 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: and the Comstock Act was a reflection of this sentiment. 11 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: The eighteen seventy three law banned the transportation of so 12 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: called obscene, lou and or lascivious materials through the mail, 13 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: and after the law was passed, dozens of states passed 14 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: their own laws to restrict the dissemination of birth control 15 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:16,479 Speaker 1: at the state level. But Goldman believed that women should 16 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: have access to birth control, and she was no stranger 17 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: to protest. Emma subscribed to anarchism, which is a philosophy 18 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: that advocates for the abolition of government and the formation 19 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: of society's based on voluntary cooperation between individuals and groups. 20 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: When Goldman immigrated to the United States from Lithuania in 21 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty five, she began working in clothing factories, but 22 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: she quickly became disillusioned with working conditions and she drew 23 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: inspiration from the labor movement. But Goldman's anarchism kicked into 24 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: high gear after the Haymarket affair in eighteen eighty six 25 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: eight seven, when a labor protest turned riot caused deaths 26 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:09,119 Speaker 1: and several labor activists were convicted for bombing without proper evidence. 27 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: Emma became a much admired lecturer and writer who spoke 28 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: out on anarchism and social issues like women's rights. Goldman 29 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: moved to New York City in eighty nine, and while 30 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: she was there, she worked as a nurse and midwife 31 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: for poor people in the Lower East Side. She saw 32 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: women who couldn't support children resort to inducing their own abortions. Soon, 33 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: Emma began working to increase public knowledge of and access 34 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: to birth control. She believed that laws barring access to 35 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: birth control needed to be struck down because contraception was 36 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:57,639 Speaker 1: essential to women achieving sexual, social, and economic freedom. Goldman 37 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: began smuggling birth control into the West, and she started 38 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:07,839 Speaker 1: lecturing on women's rights to bodily autonomy and contraception. Activists 39 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,239 Speaker 1: and nurse Margaret Sanger and Emma got to know each 40 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: other in New York, and Emma's advocacy influenced Margaret to 41 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: work for what she once called family limitation, even though 42 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: their relationship eventually soured. In nineteen fifteen and into nineteen sixteen, 43 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,519 Speaker 1: Goldman went on tour to give a series of lectures, 44 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: including some where she explained the necessity of contraception. The 45 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: lectures on contraception drew out huge crowds, but distributing contraceptives 46 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: and information on contraceptives was still not legal everywhere, so 47 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: on February eleven, nineteen sixteen, Goldman was arrested for her 48 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: birth control lecture that she had given the previous week. 49 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: She was released on five hundred dollars bailed that day. 50 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: A few days at ter she was arrested, Goldman told 51 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: the press the following in a letter. When a law 52 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: has outgrown time and necessity, it must go, and the 53 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 1: only way to get rid of the law is to 54 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: awaken the public to the fact that it has outlived 55 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: its purpose. And that is precisely what I have been 56 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:24,479 Speaker 1: doing and mean to do in the future. Emma hoped 57 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 1: her protest could help move the needle on progressive birth 58 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: control legislation. She went on to say this in the letter. 59 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: While I am not particularly anxious to go to jail, 60 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,360 Speaker 1: I should yet be glad to do so if thereby 61 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: I can add my might to the importance of birth 62 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: control and the wiping off our antiquated law upon the Statute. 63 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: But after her trial on April she was convicted and 64 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: was imprisoned in the Queen's County Penitentiary for fifteen days. 65 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: On May five, more than thirty five hundred people gathered 66 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: at Carnegie Hall in New York to celebrate Goldman's release, 67 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: and at that meeting, literature on birth control was distributed. 68 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,919 Speaker 1: Emma did not stop promoting birth control, and she continued 69 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: to speak out on issues like marriage, prisons, sexuality, and 70 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:26,679 Speaker 1: public school education. She was deported to Russia in nineteen 71 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: nineteen and lived the rest of her life in various 72 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: countries around the world. Emma died in nineteen forty in Canada, 73 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: and though birth control is still a hotly debated topic 74 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: and US politics today, Goldman's promotion of contraception as a 75 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 1: necessity greatly contributed to the birth control movement in America. 76 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: I'm each Jeffcote and hopefully you know a little more 77 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. You can subscribe 78 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,359 Speaker 1: to This Day in History Class on Apple Podcasts, the 79 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio app, or wherever you get your podcasts. Come 80 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:28,680 Speaker 1: back tomorrow for another tipt from history. Hi everyone, I'm 81 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: Eves and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 82 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: podcast where we rip out a page from the history 83 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: books every day. The day was February eleven nine. The 84 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: BBC aired the first known science fiction television program, and 85 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: adaptation of part of the play Are You Are? Are 86 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:01,720 Speaker 1: You Are stands for rowsm's Universal Robots. It's a science 87 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: fiction play by Check writer Karel Chopic, written in nine 88 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: and first performed in Prague in one. The play popularized 89 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: the word robot, So robots in the play are not 90 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: how we think of them today. The word robot comes 91 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: from the Check word robot, to, which means forced labor. 92 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: The robots in Are You Are are not mechanical. They 93 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: are living beings with artificial flesh and blood. Chopic himself 94 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: was dismayed by the mechanical and chemical weapons used in 95 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: World War One, and he did not see the progression 96 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: of technology as a holy positive force. In the play, 97 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: a scientist named Rassum figures out how to make artificial people, 98 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: and he opens a factory to produce these robots. By 99 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: the time the play takes place, these robots are popular 100 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: around the world. They are cheap and make production way 101 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: less expensive. A man named Doman is the general manager 102 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: of Are You Are, the company that makes the robots. 103 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: Are You Are wants the robots to replace humans in 104 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: the workforce. While the robots at first seem like they 105 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: are subject to the whims of humans, they begin to 106 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: rebel all over the world. They imprison people and murder 107 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: some of the higher upset Are You Are. In the epilogue, 108 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: almost all humans have been killed and robots have taken 109 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: over the world. The play was popular in Prague, so 110 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: it was translated into many languages, including English, and shown 111 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: in England and the US. Once the play made it 112 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: to the US, in it had its critics and fans, 113 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: But just two years after the BBC started its regular 114 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: service of TV broadcasts, the BBC showed a thirty five 115 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: minute long adaptation of the play. It aired on February 116 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: eleven at three pm. It featured Derek Fond, Harvey Braben, 117 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: and William Leon Brown. The Radio Times, a British magazine 118 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 1: that p idit radio and television listings, said the play 119 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: was one that quote should lend itself very well indeed 120 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:10,199 Speaker 1: to television from the point of view of effects. A 121 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: ninety minute version of the play was broadcast in night. 122 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: No known recordings of either program exist. I'm Eve chef 123 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: Cote and hopefully you know a little more about history 124 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:25,199 Speaker 1: today than you did it yesterday. If you've seen any 125 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: good history memes lately, you can send them to us 126 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: on social media at t d i h C Podcast 127 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 1: and you can send your thoughts are comments to us 128 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 1: at this Day at i heart media dot com. Thanks 129 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 1: for listening to today's episode. We'll see you again tomorrow. 130 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 131 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.