Victoria Claflin Woodhull For President

Victoria Claflin Woodhull For President

Bruce Von Stiers

Hilary Clinton and Kamala Harris both ran for the office of President of the United States. They are the most notable women candidates for President. But there have been other women who have run for that top office. How many more? A bunch.

Unless you are a huge fan of suffragette history, you might not be aware of the many women who actually ran for the Presidency. One person took it upon herself to help educate the world about those women. Her name is Joceyln Kuritsky.

So how is Jocelyn going about educating the world on those women candidates? Through a podcast that provides an accounting of the who, what, where and how of female presidential candidates prior to Harris and Clinton. The title of the podcast is A Simple Herstory.

The first season of A Simple Herstory concentrates on Victoria Claflin Woodhull. Among other things, Victoria was a spiritualist, a stockbroker, a newspaper tycoon and, in her younger days, a prostitute and grifter. Throughout the podcast, the listener learns about the trials and tribulations of Victoria trying to make herself a better life and the lives of other women by taking world of politics head on.

The podcast provides a lot of information about Victoria and the people who were involved with her. People like Schulyer Colfax, who was Ulysses S. Grant's Vice President, Cornelius Vanderbilt and whole bunch of others.

The podcast is a bit irreverent. There are comical moments, such as in the first episode where the host gets flustered and yells about doing a re-set. There is the spirit of Victoria who keeps interrupting the host and a slew of other characters who interject their opinions, especially when they aren't asked for. People like Victoria's sister, Tennie, and their father, Buck. All the while, the listener learns more about Victoria and her run for President.

The first season has eight episodes. They range in length from around fifteen minutes to thirty-five minutes.

In a way, the podcast comes off almost like one of those old radio plays. Each of the characters is voiced by an actor. There are sound effects and music just like an audio theatrical production.

Jonathan A. Goldberg wrote the first season of the podcast. Jocelyn Kuritsky created the podcast series and was the first season show runner, which included overseeing all of the writing and production elements. Jocelyn also appeared in The Blacklist, A Queen of Glory and A Little Dream.

Kara Young played the host of the podcast. Her onscreen roles include the films We Strangers and The Driven. Florencia Lozano was Victoria Claflin Woodhull. She appeared in episodes of Bull, Madame Secretary and Keep Breathing along with several feature films.

Daphne Rubin-Vega played Victoria's sister Tennie. She had a recurring role as Inez in Only Murders in The Building. Erin Cherry had a recurring role in After Forever and has been in Blue Bloods and Law and Order. For this podcast she played Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Dale Soule, who played Frieda Berlin in Orange Is The New Black, played Victoria's dad, Buck Caflin, in the podcast.

Kate Burton, who played Ellis Grey on Grey's Anatomy, among other roles, played suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. And Louise Lasser of Mary Hartman, Mary Harman fame played a man in one episode of the podcast.

Other notable actors who had roles in the podcast include Socorro Santiago, Yetta Gottesman, Tonya Pinkins, Maria Dizzia, Jennifer Ikeda, Veanne Cox, Jacqueline Antaramian, Rachel Crowl, Danielle Ferland, Ching Valdes-Aran and Donetta Lavina Grays.

Also lending their voices for an episode each was Kyra Miller, Zainab Musa, Carmelita Tropicana, Rebecca Atkinson-Lord and Jocelyn Kuritsky herself.

A Simple Herstory is both entertaining, informative and innovative. The comedic moments are pure fun. And the dramatic elements allow the listener to get a glimpse of what it was like to be a suffragist who took on the world of politics wholly controlled by men. This first season of the podcast was a fun and enlightening take on the life and times of Victoria Claflin Woodhull.

The second season of the podcast is forthcoming. It will feature the life and times of Margaret Chase Smith, who ran for U.S. president in 1964.

You can listen to the entire podcast of A Simple Herstory on its website. Not only can you hear the podcast, you can also read the transcript for each episode. There is also a lot of information about the production, the awards it has won and assorted other things. That website can be found at https://www.asimpleherstory.com/

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