Show notes
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 ★ Support this podcast ★On this episode: Isabelle Roughol - Host Megan Kate Nelson - GuestWhat do you think?Read & comment at broadhistory.comReply on BlueskyEmail me: [email protected] to: (00:00) - 08 Megan Kate Nelson part 2(01:18) - Start of interview(01:46) - Introducing Polly Bemis(03:04) - The majority-Chinese American West(06:55) - Polly Bemis traveled without moving(09:12) - Chinese women were the first targets of US anti-immigrant policy (09:50) - The aggressive anti-Chinese immigration policies of the United States(12:13) - How big government made the West for white men(13:43) - Ella Watson's broken American dream(14:25) - The cattle queens(23:03) - A high tolerance for risk(24:30) - Why correcting the Frontier myth matters today (27:06) - How trad wives utilise the American Frontier(30:21) - What moment in history should we revisit from women's perspective? (34:30) - OutroGet the book🇺🇸 Buy the book🇬🇧 Shop the UK bookshop (Megan Kate Nelson's The Westerners is only available in the US)(Affiliate bookshop.org links support Broad History and indie bookstores.)Click here to view the episode transcript.
