Episode
Episode 11: Living in Captivity
- Podcast
- The Persistence
- Published
- Sep 5, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 2368
- Processing state
processed
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Summary
The 1950s sold us smiling housewives, white picket fences, and tidy sitcom kitchens. But behind the canned laughter? Millions of women were juggling two jobs. One at home, one on the clock…and still getting shortchanged. In this episode of The Persistence , host Angelica Cordero pulls back the curtain on post–World War II America. From union women taking on GE and Westinghouse, to Black garment workers packing Madison Square Garden, to Latina mamas turning PTA meetings into organizing hubs. This is the story of how women, families, and communities fought back against wage gaps, housing discrimination, and runaway inflation. You’ll hear about: * The myth of the “traditional family” versus the reality of poverty and redlining. * Women fighting for equal pay, childcare, and dignity on the job. * Mutualistas , comadres, and community kitchens raising future leaders like Dolores Huerta and Helen Chávez. * Housewives boycotting overpriced groceries and flipping the “perfect homemaker” script into full-on protest. Because postwar America wasn’t just barbecue grills and baby booms. It was strikes, boycotts, and casseroles in one hand with protest signs in the other. The revolution wasn’t just televised. It was homemade. This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT. Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold , used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio . Resources For Fellow Wascally Wabbits Books An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz Citizen, Mother, Worker: Debating Public Responsibility for Childcare after the Second World War by Emilie Stoltzfus Common Sense & A littl…