Primary source exercise Wk14

Instead of reading written documents this time, let's watch some television. We're tuning in to "Good Morning America" in January 1976 (yes, the show's been around that long!) for a debate about the Equal Rights Amendment. The proposed amendment, which stated "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex," had been approved by Congress in 1972 and sent out to the states for ratification. If 38 of the 50 states voted to ratify, it would become part of the Constitution. By the time of this debate, the ratification drive seemed to be stalling.

This debate brought together two of the major voices in the controversy -- the famous feminist author Betty Friedan in favor of the amendment, and Phyllis Schlafly in opposition. We'll let them take it from here . . .  (Note: the video is posted on a pro-Schlafly website, but don't infer bias from that -- the video seems unaltered from the original, and this was the cleanest copy I could find online)

Phyllis Schlafly debates Betty Friedan on ERA