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Women in Omaha: Interview with Jaqueline St. John

UNO Libraries - Oral History Projects

 

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00:00:00 - Private and public education

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John introduces herself and talks about the plentiful amount of educational training under her belt.

Keywords: History; Private School; Private college; Public School; Scholarship; Syracuse University; University of Oklahoma

00:01:45 - Maternal and paternal grandmothers

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John reflects on the fighting spirit her grandmothers had as they both immigrated to America and were pioneers in their respective doing.

Keywords: Canada; Family; Grandparents; Ireland; Parents; Pioneers; Textile

00:04:12 - Teaching experience

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John talks about her pioneering work in the women's history field by helping create criteria for American history courses, as well as being the first woman to teach a course on Soviet and Russian history.

Keywords: American; Assistantship; Curriculum; History; Pioneer; Russian; Soviet; Syracuse

00:07:28 - Women’s history course

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St John discusses forming the first ever history of Women class in the United States, but also the unfortunate incidents that took place thereafter that prevented her form teaching it.

Keywords: Activism; Blood clot; Course; History of Women; National Organization; Omaha; Women

00:11:38 - 2nd chair of the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Women

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Segment Synopsis: Jaqueline became the second ever chair of the Chancellor's Commission on the Status on Women and used her authority to help settle a want ad dispute that was in violation of the Civil Rights Act, which she is openly very proud of.

Keywords: Civil Rights Act; Commission on the Status of Women; Feminism; Newspaper; Want Ads

00:14:00 - Involvement with labor unions

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Partial Transcript: Mrs. St. John has openly embraced labor unions in the past, having ties with the American Association of University Professors, American Federation of Teachers, Coalition of Labor Union Women, and the Central Slavic Association. She has also been a keynote speaker for several feminism events, and even worked with the military with her expertise in Russian studies.

Keywords: American Association of University Professors; American Federation of Teachers; Central Slavic Association; Coalition of Labor Union Women; Federally Employed Women; Israel; Labor Unions; Omaha; Russia; University of Nebraska; University of Nebraska at Omaha

00:18:55 - Participation in national conferences

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Segment Synopsis: Jaqueline St. John discusses national conferences she has attended, including events taking place in the national archives, and the international Women's History Conference, where she was invited to speak and was also able to meet a handful of first ladies.

Keywords: Coyote Convention; International Womens History Conference; National Archives; National Conferences; Oral Historian; University of Nebraska at Omaha

00:23:24 - Participation in local conferences

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Segment Synopsis: Jaqueline St. John was one of the founding members of the Missouri Valley History Conference and helped oversee it in order to make it a success.

Keywords: Local; Missouri Valley History Conference; Omaha

00:24:44 - Participation in international conferences

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John has gone international to places like Norway and Scandinavia to present at conferences she was invited to.

Keywords: 1980's; Norway; Sabbatical; Scandinavia; University of Nebraska at Omaha

00:26:51 - Awards and recognitions

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Segment Synopsis: The state of New York once awarded Jaqueline St. John the Pioneer Feminist Honor award for her work in the Women's study field. She's also been the recipient of a number of awards presented to her from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Keywords: Honorary; Pioneer Feminist Honor; University of Nebraska at Omaha; Womens Studies

00:29:45 - Post-retirement reflections

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John expresses her anger at the University of Nebraska at Omaha for not having a Russian studies program, and no longer offering a number of courses she once taught, including Russian and Soviet history.

Keywords: 1990's; Russian; Soviet; University of Nebraska at Omaha

00:31:58 - Experiences of gender discrimination

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Segment Synopsis: Jaqueline St. John details some examples of workplace discrimination she has dealt with in the pass, such as being handed typing tests and other performance related papers while her male counterparts did not have to, and even being denied her teaching a course on the system she pioneered because of these stigmas.

Keywords: Advanced Placement Program; Amendments; Barack Obama; Betsy Devos; Courses; Discrimination; Feminism; Outstanding Teaching Award; Typing Test

00:42:26 - Reflections on her parents and sister

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John pins her feminist views on her mother, who she describes as the strongest woman out there. She also talks about her sister, her experience in college, and the scholarships they achieved.

Keywords: College; Father; Ireland; Mother; New York; Parents; Scholarships; Sister

00:46:20 - Has read a wide array of publications

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John has read both the encyclopedia and phone book from cover to cover, and is a compulsive reader.

Keywords: 1984; Reading; Russian; Soviet; Steinbeck

00:48:32 - Decision to become a teacher

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John talks about her decision to pursue teaching after passing up on law school because of societal standards.

Keywords: Engaged; Family; Law school; Lawyer; Men; Teaching; Uncle

00:54:20 - Interactions with male students

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Segment Synopsis: When Jaqueline St. John started teaching, her male students, who were very conservative, vilified her. Other male students who had never even enrolled on one of her classes also hated her, spreading gossip about her in local bars.

Keywords: Conservative; Men; Student; Teacher; Womens Studies

00:58:15 - Interactions with male colleagues

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Segment Synopsis: St. John discusses how her male colleagues would steal students from her.

01:01:50 - Interactions with female students

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John reflects on being tougher on the women in her class because of her frustration with them squandering opportunities to the male colleagues.

Keywords: Grading; Opportunity; Students; Women

01:03:45 - Rejection of first application for full-professorship

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Segment Synopsis: St. John was rejected for a full-time position as a professor at UNO.

Keywords: Application; Full-professorship; History; History Department; Political

01:04:42 - Topics of equal opportunity and income inequality

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John talks about the big issues she dealt with as a feminist and the issues that current feminists in third wave feminism should focus on.

Keywords: Equality; Feminism; Income; Inequality; Opportunity; Wage

01:07:35 - Topic of transgender and LGBTQ issues

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John speaks on the topics of transgender and LGBTQ issues, how these issues will effect every family, and her family members who are part of this community.

Keywords: Daughter; Family; Gay; LGBTQ; Pronouns; Son; Transgender

01:15:15 - Icelandic and Scandinavian gender equality

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John talks more about the women she met while going to conferences in the Nordic countries and the impact they had on her personally.

Keywords: 2017; Equal pay; Gender equality; Housework; Iceland; Men; Scandinavia

01:17:20 - Issues of race, internationally and locally

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Segment Synopsis: St. John describes an incident while in Norway when an English speaking woman asked her, "how can you bare all those blacks." This shook Mrs. St. John, which was confused how they can be so progressive towards women's rights but can be so racist.

Keywords: American; Delegate; Equality; Feminism; Immigration; Racism

01:23:12 - Lack of individual women’s holidays

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John calls out the lack of women's holidays and says Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Suzan B Anthony are the top contenders, calling them "forbearers."

Keywords: 19th Amendment; American History; Articles of Confederation; Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Suzan B Anthony

01:27:04 - Book recommendations

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John recommends 1984, The Handmaids Tale, and Future Shock as the three most important books anyone can read on the topic.

Keywords: 1984; Future Shock; Jane Austin; The Handmaids Tale

01:29:11 - Advice to young women

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John calls for young women to never give up on their dreams and to never let a man put them down or to get in the way.

Keywords: Education Department; Feminism; Suzan B Anthony; Women; Womens Studies

01:30:31 - Importance of women’s history and gender studies

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St John claims that Women's history should be a required course for anyone looking to get into the education department.

Keywords: Education Department; Womens history

01:30:46 - PhD examination

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Segment Synopsis: Jaqueline St. John had to take five 8 hour tests in her five fields, American History before and after 1865, Russian history, European history after 1865, and Foreign Affairs.

Keywords: American history; Education department; European history; PhD; Russian history

01:34:06 - Stories from her time as a student

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John tells stories of being a student, the sexism she faced during lectures, and her skills in the classroom.

Keywords: Lectures; Student; University of Omaha Nebraska

01:36:00 - Final advice and conclusion

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Segment Synopsis: Mrs. St. John and the interviewers sign off.