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Broad History

The Real American Frontier | Part 2 | The homesteaders trad wives would rather forget about (with Megan Kate Nelson)

June 6 · 35 min · Season 1 · Episode 9 · 34.3 MB
0:00-35:39

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In part 2 of our exploration of the American frontier, Megan Kate Nelson introduces two women who belie the homesteader image conservative "trad wives" like to harken back to. Polly Bemis was a Chinese immigrant who built a life and a community in Idaho, despite intense prejudice and stringent anti-Chinese immigration policies. Ella Watson was a self-made homesteader and small rancher, a so-called cattle queen who got on the wrong side of cattle barons in Wyoming and paid the price.

Read more: How Chinese women were barred from the American dream 

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On this episode:

  • Isabelle Roughol - Host
  • Megan Kate Nelson - Guest

What do you think?

Jump to:

  • (00:00) - Megan Kate Nelson part 2 (updated 29/7)
  • (00:35) - Start of interview
  • (01:03) - Introducing Polly Bemis
  • (02:20) - The majority-Chinese American West
  • (06:11) - Polly Bemis traveled without moving
  • (08:29) - Chinese women were the first targets of US anti-immigrant policy
  • (09:07) - The aggressive anti-Chinese immigration policies of the United States
  • (11:29) - How big government made the West for white men
  • (12:59) - Ella Watson's broken American dream
  • (13:41) - The cattle queens
  • (22:19) - A high tolerance for risk
  • (23:46) - Why correcting the Frontier myth matters today
  • (26:22) - How trad wives utilise the American Frontier
  • (29:38) - What moment in history should we revisit from women's perspective?
  • (33:47) - Outro

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Click here to view the episode transcript.