That is where she is now a professor. She is the author or editor of numerous books including most recently sex and the civil home y at Something Like that. That is not right. The diary of a free black woman and philadelphia. Just read andars discuss and we all want to know what happened. Sorry. She is much more than a academic civil war nerd. Though she is this which i know because i ran into her family on the memorial day weekend heading to the grace of black civil war soldiers as the rest of us ate. She is a devoted public historian having moved from editing to a new digital project. Finding families after slavery. This open access database give scholars and students and genealogists a chance to examine thousands of information on lost friends and advertisements that were taken out by former slaves looking for family members lost in the domestic slave trade. In this project as with the emily davis book and website she includes her students extra doing research on that makes it available to the public. Along with Everything Else she does such as editing the civil war era and countless other of ads she has written more articles that i can list and spoken at more roundtables and all of us have attended. Brings a this she clear and consistent dedication to finding and telling the story of africanamericans as part of the civil war narrative. My favorite moment was on a sunday last april. I came across a ad in the New York Times recounting time at villanova. It said you should come to villanova because of her digital themed history project. When id exit her to congratulate her on the notice she had not seen the advertisement and asked if it had been on the style page. Apparently a lifelong ambition of hers. It was not but i expect we will see her there any day. Be talking will about the civil war and civil rights. African women in civil war philadelphia. [applause] judith thank you. I was shocked way to discover Something Like this project is reuniting families. She is reuniting families. Between the Media Relations people and the New York Times they changed things from the past tense to the present tense. They were shocked to think that people were going to call me to see if i could help them find their brother that they lost at the mall or something. Gettingd the project is some attention because i think it is going to be very useful it is already for you to be useful for people trying to find lost family members. We are hearing words of thanks in that wallho are of slavery as they put it. When it is hard to find family members. I will talk about that in just a minute. It is how people get beyond that wall. So, thank you all for coming. And as well to the Library Company for hosting us. To the neh for funding many important projects like this. They do this all over the country for teachers at all levels for the scholars and doing all of the important work that the neh does. I have been making phone calls and ready letters to remind people how much it has meant to me as a cal professor but i started my career as a High School Teacher. When iited from the neh was a High School Teacher as well. Thank lori in taking place with this institute that you have open. I am a big fan of her work. She is just a little bit older than me. Older where her first book came out and it sort of convince me that i could go in to time and study these women. Thank you. She has continued to be that not only for me but for a lot of us who study this time. It is a real pleasure to be able to do anything with her. I just about three weeks with timehich you all have the to do. I dont know how she keeps the energy to do that. Thank you all. I am going to be talking to you today about various groups of in and aroundd philadelphia during the civil war. Of experiences africanamerican women and the civil war. He will notice some of these projects and i have been working on coming into this talk to if anybody is interested in looking at any of these things. They are all available most of what i have worked on is all available free of charge. That is on the internet. If anything is interesting to wards so stop me after f you can go play around on his website similar more about these extraordinary women. Starting of course with emily davis. That is where we will start. Becauseo start with her her extraordinary diary can everybody hear me ok . Diaries livenary right here in philadelphia at the historical society. If you have not yet had a chance to kind of go over and look at these diaries they are quite. Xtraordinary this is what they look like. They are not that big at all. They are just a blown a picture of her diary. Can everybody see the image . Good. Saw her diaries years ago. These are three leather bound volumes that are small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket. If you hold them and your hands they are no bigger than a smart phone. Have leather cover is free to is a little bit different. They all show a lot of wear and tear of being regularly opened and closed. As a young woman who owned them carried them with her. Minutes to record her hopes, fears and to capture something of what it meant to be a africanamerican woman in the city. Name this is to give you a sense of how big they are. They are very small. She filled every inch of space and is diaries. She wrote her name and the front on the first point page. She wrote her name. In big open letters. As you can see from this image. E andg each end of the dotting the i with a flourish. The book it seems to me that this was my first introduction to her. Importantto be a activated she took to writing her name very seriously. It was something personal for her and significant for those who want to learn more about the experience of women of color in particular. We do not have a letter of diaries by women like her. To find this diary right here at not somethingas you would pass by. Was a younges she free black woman during the civil war. Are remarks in the progress of her own education. She was a student at the time. She talks about the challenges often of living as a half citizen and the nation she herself was free but she was also keenly aware of her status in a nation that is still supporting slavery. She earned her living as a teacher and she cared for children of white families fitted at night she attended classes at the end is to at the institute for colored youth. Coloredthe institute of youth and their classrooms civil rights luminaries such as octavius catch up, jacob white so do free blacks like her. She made right all have borne a slave. Everywhere inis her diary. Carrying alongside the half realized dream of real freedom and independence. Hunting the pages like a unwelcome visitor. The war took one of her brothers. In it she nearly lost her father. She did survive this war. Young and unmarried and for all we can tell working class. Of theured the pages newspaper for more news. She attended meetings, raised money and supplies for the colored troops. Went here is a image of alping you imagine how seamstress may have been portrayed during this time. We do not have any pictures of her i am afraid. You will see the diary a few times so you can get a sense of what we are talking about. She listened to Frederick Douglass and tried to listen to him when she could. And a lot of other people as well. Moments withthose her aspirations for a equal future that went up against a very unequal present. A lot of philadelphians 1863rated generally first when the emancipation proclamation came into effect. She cheered in june of 1863 when men of her school boarded a train to go to harrisburg to volunteer to defend the state. On their way to pennsylvania. Lincolnned the news of stepped. She attended his funeral and philadelphia and she worried about what was going to happen. Ext fill it up it was on to a vibrant black community and a White Community that was openly hostile. Excluded from concert halls, public transportation, schools, churches, meeting halls and other Public Places they were harassed and assaulted and their own neighborhoods. And meetinges places for a taxpayer when philadelphians where violently opposed to abolition. To denouncey met slavery. Asple attacked the building the women spoke great way that night they burned it down. Frederick douglass believed that there was not a city to be found in which prejudice is more rapid than in philadelphia. The segregation and the violence, not of that was new in the 1860s. What was new was the willingness of young black philadelphians to confront the prejudice headon. Of 1860 for example a group of young activists try to rescue a fugitive who had been ordered to return to slavery. I thanking federal marshals as they let him to a train station. The attack on federal officials signaled a new militancy among activists one generation removed. Let me try to go forward here. There we go. Of two menkes created this activism originated in the schools. Happened in the churches in the lyceums, it was nurtured at homes for politically active parents. There like may have been patiently convinced to work the back channels. This new bold activism was realized in the streets of the workedere black women alongside men to lunch as Civil Rights Campaign and the middle of the civil war. Among the leaders of this movement were men like jacob white. Women like teachers. They came together in classrooms at the institute for colored youth. Included people who went on to careers elsewhere. Here we go. Remember what not this man looks like and what jacob white junior looks like. We do not have a picture of the teacher. I found sort of a teacher image from that time so we can think about what she may have looked like they did there may be a picture out there but so far i have not found it to it also included those who went on to careers elsewhere. Where we think this is a image of her from a sketch. This is from an medical lecture that she was attending. Rebecca went on to become a physician after she graduated from the institute of colored youth at the top of her class. These were her teachers and fellow parishioners at her church. They were her friends and confidence. Confidence. I want to talk about these africanamerican women during the war. The battle that they waged to support themselves. To dismantle segregation and to do what they could for the war. Talk to you about those women who worked in philadelphia elsewhere to remake their own families that had been torn apart with slavery. Womenare three groups of that we are going to talk about to give you a idea of the experience of women during the war. All right. We will start with the teacher. That seems appropriate. We will hear more about her in just a minute. To give you a sense of where these battles are being waged. The battle that she is going to wage against racism is in the streets of the city. Davis records was of her struggles in the diary. We do not know if she took a public stand against racism and segregation that she saw in the city of philadelphia. You can tell by reading her diary that the expectation would rise during the war. She becomes increasingly frustrated when she comes up against limitations to her expectations in the city. I will go backwards. I want to show you one of those advertisements before you go too far. If you see that image on the right that is one of these information wanted ads that you are being told about. There are hundreds of these. So far we have collected nearly 2000 of these advertisements. These are individuals taking out these ads. They are women and men of color who tried to find family members. With slavery. Ost they told their story and the newspaper where they took out these ads. Hoping to find those people that they had lost. These ads talked about their thatte grief and the loss many who had sustained this decades ago. In the papers and as i want to suggest to you at the end these ads stood as public rejections shaping and denial of black family life. You will see in just a minute what i mean when we look at some of these advertisements more carefully. Served as aads persistent memorial to the bonds of a section that sustained enslaved women and men through slavery. Each ofell you it about his years of people and a second. We are starting with carrie lam account. In 1867 caroline a 21yearold teacher and principal of the ohio school one of the citys elite africanamerican schools went down a street car. The conductor refused to allow her to board. Talking her by saying we do not allow negroes to ride. Not he did not know who he was missing with. Armed with a newspaper about a law signed by the governor outlined segregated public a complaintine left with the nearest Police Officer. Not beenhave suppressed in the Police Officer also knew nothing about the law. She then produced the proof, she just happened to have it in her day. The Police Officer arrested the conductor. What else could he do . He was fined 100. Act caroline would have less significance in the history of the civil war until he find out that she was part of a larger movement. It linked to the schoolteacher here in the city of philadelphia with local civil rights leaders who advocated for equal access for public travel. As well as equal Political Rights for africanamericans in the state. Her principal stands than when we put it in that context stands even higher in our estimation. That by 1867ze against takes a stance segregated travel in the city of philadelphia she is art of not only a local campaign that has by now exceeded that succeeded but a nationwide crusade. She stood beside female counterparts in the cities like new york, cincinnati, San Francisco, we have one woman on the right who was part of a Similar Campaign in San Francisco. Then another described as a hairdresser by the newspaper. Obviously a civil rights activist. Streetcars in those days. In one sense this story ends in pennsylvania with the antisegregation law that had been passed. By the time they had to confront the remnants of segregation. Enforcement of that law continued. It required educated and vigilant writers like caroline who were to get who are armed with the law to defend themselves. That way perpetrators were punished accordingly. Of course she was also willing these women who sustained injury. They had to find lawyers and judges who were willing to award women whohese black are injured or insulted on the streetcars. That theyomething have learned the hard way. Let me tell you a little bit more about this campaign. The Campaign Began in 1861. When streetcars denied service to africanamericans in the city. It was confirmed by a ejected man. The activist and head of the Vigilance Committee will hardly needs any introduction led the campaign at this early date and focus on trying to convince the companies to voluntarily give up segregated cars. Beganhe u. S. Army accepting black recruits in 1863 women of color joined this campaign when they worked getting supplies and delivering aid for colored troops. They were convalescing in and around the city of philadelphia and many different areas to get to them they run those segregated cars. Caroline graduated from the institute of color view that the top of her class in 1963. Became a part of the ladies Union Association. She was squarely in the middle of the community as entrepreneurs and civil rights leaders. They expected their children to work for racial uplift. They did not always what their daughter to be publicly humiliated. With her colleagues at the school it was a matter of principle but also of practicality. The growing numbers of this troops were convalescing around the city. Women needed to get to them. The streetcars were fairly obvious solutions. They began to write them. Trading strategy with each other as they met in the black churches. With conductors and which lines made sense. Alone for less attention. To dress carefully. Wear a veil. We do not have the minutes of the strategy meetings we do know that the ladies Union Association had specifically identified segregated policies of the streetcars. Organizations come against segregated travel. We know that it was really difficult for them to do their work. We also have Court Records to prove when all of this discretion and this guys did not work. When they were ejected from these cars they took the streetcar companies to court to sue for damages. I will give you just a couple of examples. One evening in april of 1865 a as one of theed ladies Union Association colleagues operated a car. After several stops the conductor asked her to leave. She declined. The conductor thing called to men off of the street to his aid and together they grabbed her and struck and kicked her and dragged her from the car. She decided to take the Streetcar Company to court and sue for damages. The judge ruled in her favor awarding her 50 in damages for injuries that she sustained when she was roughly ejected from the streetcar. In 1865 it was still legal. Dish was no law outlining outlined that can of travel. Ruled that as long as africanamericans were serving the nation as soldiers they ought to enjoy it their right to citizenship at home. Among these was axis to public transport or conveyances an. A number of women made use of the court and to pressure streetcar companies and their employers to stop deny service to africanamericans. Philadelphias newspapers reported on a number of these cases. Women and then becoming forcefully ejected. Theofficial newspaper of visible church in philadelphia described incidences involving several women. Some of those names may sound familiar. That one definitely sounds familiar. They were mentioned several times and these newspaper stories covering these acts. These cases went to criminal court they found little success. When women took them to the civil court and sue for damages the repeatedly put streetcar companies on notice for the racism and that it would not be tolerated. As they filed into the streetcars and in the courtrooms of philadelphia we did not hear it until it reverberated outwards. With cities throughout the north. Cities decided to test the waters for the Civil Rights Campaign. As caroline took to the courtroom and philadelphia as i mentioned before there were women that did so in San Francisco and cincinnati. As well as new york. Cases involving schoolteachers they with hairdressers were also widely known in every case for their civil rights activism. These cases were quite minimal. The verdict expanded slowly but surely in space inhabited by blacks in philadelphia. There were these women screwing this to demand something in what this streetcar campaign, carolyn lecount was just getting started. Has a very long career of civil rights activism. This is the opening act. She remains vigilant about defending what had been gained in the war, throughout her life. Riding the cars cars, educating the police, the judges. She knew what freedom meant, and what they had to preserve. Emily davis lived in the same city as lecount. She attended classes at the institute for colored youth. Maybe lecount was even her teacher. We dont know. She crist crossed the city she crisscrossed the city to pick up her work. Emily davis is 22 years old and 1861, when the war began. Two years later, she began reporting the advance of her afe in her diary, opening up small window into a black community during the war. In these slim, pocketsized emilie never missed a day. She recorded her sewing work, she kept track of who she owed dresses two and two she was sewing for, that week. She talked about social life in the black community, a lot. Tolie also used her diary keep track of her social call center for respondents. It was very important for her to write letters to people and call on those to whom she was posted colin. She repeatedges, gossips and rumors about the real courtships, and marriages gone wrong. She also talked about the vincent, and i wish i knew what happened to vincent we were all devastated to learn at the end of the diary, as some know,u read the books were to find, and this is a spoiler alert. She does not marry vincent. Vincent is constant throughout the diary. He is definitely her, sort of, boyfriend. The most significant man in her life. , what happens to him,. E dont know we ar who he is, we also dont know. The diaries recount the emancipation proclamation. Also, the nervous excitement surrounding gettysburg. This is the january 21 entry from the diary. 1 entryis the january in the diary. And it says today has been a memorable day and i thank todd i have been spared to see it. All the churches had a jubilee. Jubilee captures that feeling among the black community, not only philadelphia on throughout the country, january 1, 1863. She talks about her nervous excitement during the battle of gettysburg, about what would happen, about who stood in the way of the army of Northern Virginia as they came into pennsylvania, including, among other people, her own father. And, their collective morning about president lincoln. Mourningcollective about president lincoln, when they heard that he had been shot and when they heard that he had died. On that first page that we are looking at, in just a few words she describes that sense of anticipation, when the war makes its turn, to be a warm emancipation. When thet summer, Confederate Army is coming into pennsylvania, she is not only worried about her father, who is living in harrisburg, and who she worries might be kidnapped by the army of Northern Virginia, she also talks about men who she goes to school with, and other men in her life, including vincent and others, who sign up to drive the Confederate Army out of the state of pennsylvania in june of 1863, before pennsylvania is actually ready to accept lack men in uniform to drive out that black man in uniform to drive out that army. Of allttends lectures sorts. She never misses Frederick Douglass when he is in town. Mentions in her diary, she records in her diary that she saw a poet come to town. She talks about the lectures that she goes to an talks about the ones that she misses. William kelly, congressman comes to philadelphia and she wants to go but she ends up not knowing. William kelly, like a lot of congressman, tended to be longwinded, and perhaps that is why she didnt go see William Kelly but she wouldnt miss Frederick Douglass or the poet, francis harper. Although she could not vote, also keeps track, in her diary, a political news. She reports on elections. She likes to predict their outcome. In this entry in november, 1864, she predicts lincoln will win the election. She was right. She also takes care not to go the city of philadelphia on election day. She talks about that in her diary, as well read as there was oftentimes violence in the streets of philadelphia on election day, and she says that in her diary. I did not a lot today because co as election day and that was a wise choice on her part because there was often violence, that she avoided by not going out. Attended concert as well. Attended concerts, as well. All war, it was a distraction. She learns how to play the guitar. She frequents the performances of celebrities, such as a former slave from net jazz, mississippi, who was known popularly as the black swan. Douglassederick favorite. She would saying in anticipation , to warm up the crowd. Greenfield moved to philadelphia where she was freed, and raised by quakers. D andpparently ha enchanting voice in the classical repertoire. No wonder she was a favorite of Frederick Douglass. Also went with a friend to see a performer called blind tom, or thomas wiggins. He traveled to music calls and perform songs by memory. N incredible talent, performing to songs on two different pianos come at the same time. And also, capable of singing a third song at the same time. [applause] judith we can all do that. Raise your hands, if you can do that. Emily declared herself, much pleased with the performance, except that we had to sit upstairs, which made me furious. She had to shuffle up to the balcony at the same venue where she had attended lectures by Frederick Douglass and francis harper, and it was too much emilie, who expected more from whites in philadelphia in 1865. At theaters and concerts, lectures and churches, the negro is restricted to the remote gallery. Was wellpositioned to remark on the changes that war had brought to the city, and also what had stubbornly not changed, what had remained the same. Reading her diary, i think, will open up your eyes and give you insight into what the world was like for africanamerican women living in the city of philadelphia. What the civil war was like. May of 1888, and aged millie way from herer home in south philadelphia to the offices of the question christian reporter. She may have had a 1520 minute walk from where she lived to where she was going. And millie took out a nadler and for members of her scattered family. Although the war had ended years remembered details as if they happened yesterday. As you can see by this ad, cintha, wasnt sold sometime before the war, from milton, north carolina, to memphis, tennessee. I have not heard anything of her whereabouts since that time, she explained. But, millie also hoped to find her sisters children. Hope compelledy millie to take out that ad, more than 20 years since the war ended, and even longer since she had seen those loved ones, whose names she still remembered. Details had faded, and she was certainly not alone. 25 years after she wasnt sold away from her children, lidia, mrs. Am, alan, and parker, Elizabeth Williams still held out hope of finding them again. Took out an ad similar to millies. The end of slavery rekindled her hope of reconstructing her family. She mentioned in her ad that she had been sold twice, changed her name, and moved thousands of miles away from where she had last seen anybody who she was looking for. The memory of her children, nonetheless, was still vivid in her mind. And here are some of the details she mentions in the ad. She refers to herself, in the ad, in the third person. She says, the author was formerly owned together with her children, lydia, william, alan, and parker, in woodberry, tennessee. Ry, tennessee. She talks about how various family members were sold away. She talks about the sale to mr. Stroud of arkansas. And here is the one that will get you. Any information will be gratefully received by one whose love for her children survived yearsitter hardships of spent in slavery. This is one of the first ads that we collected, in this effort to try to get all of these in one place and get them accessible to people who are studying this period. What is extraordinary about this is how well she remembers all these details, and how she just fills the ad. Andy word has meaning, every detail she includes in the this ad, and the hope that somebody is going to respond to this informationwanted ad. She says, in the ad, that she thiswants any neighborhood pres y, tennessee and hopes that the preachers will read the ad to their congregations, and hopefully more people will be enlisted in her effort to find her family members. And this prose is really vivid. Headyptures that anticipation of a mother who had never given up hope. But also, the stark realities. Issue going to find them . Toed men and women, hoping reconstruct their families. Last line, there. These mothers, like millie and elizabeth, are not alone. To date, wei said, have almost 2000 of these ads. Just getting started. Most of those ads were just from one newspaper. We have many more to do. We are in the midst of this outect, trying to figure what the ads can tell us about expectations that people of color had, former slaves had, of emily life after the war. Them wehad about 400 of went through them to get a sense of what these ads mean and what we can learn about family life after the war. Figure oute ads to who was the most likely to have taken out an ad, and who they were looking for. There are some things that are not surprising, at all. We found out, in order of frequency, mothers are looking for their children, in these ads, in our first 400 ads they were the most frequent people. I dont know if you can see this year, but the mothers are the first bar, here. And then of course, children looking for mothers and fathers. Sisters and brothers, looking for each other. Fathers also up, looking for children and husbands and wives show up as well. We also coded them, or who they were looking for. Again, this is not super that the most frequent, the blue tower that you see there, is mostly mothers but also fathers, looking for looking for daughters or sons that is the most common the nextmost frequent is sisters and brothers looking for each other necessarilyt surprising but we wanted to get a sense, before we get started, of what we were looking at tell us about women like millie, living in philadelphia. And women and men living in other places, well after the civil war, something we likely already knew. Formerly enslaved women and men continued to hold out hope for finding their children. But women seem to have been much more likely to take up these ads, and they were likely to do it longer. They arefter the war, still taking out ads looking for family members. Cole is an example. Different least two ads, looking for a son separated from her when he was just 12. There is the original one. Her first dad, in february of 1865, the one you are looking out on the left, in which she describes the nine long and dreary years that passed since she had seen him last. Cole also requested information about her own mother. She then took out another ad, in june of that year. By that time, she notes the passing of an anniversary. I that time it had been 10 years since she had been separated from john. In that ad, she says nothing about her mother. Maybe that means she found her mother. But she is Still Holding out hope, she is looking for her brother. She says in the ad, this is the only child i had and i desire to find him much. In these ads, women chose their world chose their words carefully, deciding what information to share with the public and some information to keep to themselves. Ads seem to be describing fugitives. Or, they are originate by men and woman who had been fugitives themselves. We can guess at that because of some of the words they use, coded words they used, in the ads. Especially those taken out during the civil war and in the immediate aftermath. Such as when a father refers to a son, in one of the ads, as saying the sun left the premises. Or a wife, who wanted a husband said,id who she disappeared. In 1870, Francis Parker took up an ad that was very frank ances parker took out and add looking for her two brothers, that was very frank. On the they escaped underground railroad. From whom she had been separated in a place called ally white. She says later on in the ashes carried back to the plantation by those union troops, and that is when she was separated from them. They likely were in the process of running away when they ran into the union troops. Many ads simply describe loved ones who left, they use that term. Farmarold James Haskins to join the union army. Brothers and sisters, in 1858. Sameh willis spann did the thing, looking for brothers left in kentucky. These ads serve as important evidence. Ads, in particular, when they are using a coded language of how enslaved people are more often than not responsible for their own emancipation. These terms like left, and escaped, on the underground railroad. And the ads leave clues for genealogists and historians today. For instance, the ads name slaveowners. This is an important piece of information. And these are critical breadcrumbs in the historical record which can help families, and can help us put Families Together in time and place. In a number of ads for making 66 and 1867, former slaves actually put the by in quotation marks. Catherine mason, searching for her children lewis, lizzie, and kate mason, whom i last saw in owensboro, kentucky. They were the property of thomas painter. Any information would be gratefully received by their mason. Catherine and she gives information that she is also from philadelphia. It seems unlikely that this is an editor at the newspaper adding these quotation marks. We dont know that, but there is some variety in the way they use these quotation marks. Onhaps these marks caught among readers who sought to establish the legitimacy of their claims, while discounting those of their former masters. Erine mason, whose ad we are looking at here, looking for her three children. And then adding 1866, again uses in quotation marks. 1867, here is a another use of quotation the use of marks. Rhodes took out they her twoarching for sons, jeremiah and william. ,ith the emphasis on belonging catherine sought to establish that jeremiah and william were dorseys. Not caleb and perhaps as more important, that she was theirs. As an aged mother, she describes herself that she hoped to count on their support. , freedomerine rhodes meant belonging. Here is one from lewis blackwell, who expresses that same sentiment. I am an old man, lewis says in his ad, and i need in companionship of my son. Blackwell, writing from virginia, and expressing that belonging. Nging, and owncompany of ones children. These ads express the desires of mencanamerican women and come after the war. Having lived to see the end of slavery and experience freedom, what they wanted is family. These ads serve as short, powerful family histories im going to leave this one up here us lovedemorate, for ones who were lost these some cases, as in twin ads, here, they allowed families to be united. Is taken out left in october of 1895 it seems a generation removed from the end of the civil war is looking for various members of her family and then she takes out an ad to say she found them, or some of them. We do have some of those, we hose as number of t well, not 2000 as, but we do have some. Emilie davis and her husband had at least six children. , emily,d george, maria carrie and julia. When she died in 1889 at the age the younger children were still at home, likely, and the older ones seem to have stayed in the city. Emlie had lived long enough to see the end of slavery, and to fe at the racism after the war, and to be married and have her own family into have them on hand when she had her final illness. It is nice to imagine emilie riding an integrated streetcar. Did, she most certainly would have recorded that in her diary. We dont have her diary from that time frame, but it is nice to imagine that for emilie and people like her. Untiln lecount talked 1911. According to my favorite source from this time. In her longdom life she continued to fight for ,ivil rights on streetcars, and among other places, the citys School System where she defended black teachers and advocated for them in front of the board of education. And her more than 30 years of teaching in the citys black touched theount lives of thousands of people, recounting her years growing up in civilwarera philadelphia. And finally, the women and men who took out these as we have been looking at, their families sought that same thing. To give freedom meaning. They bequeathed to the generations who followed them, who would open the newspapers and read these ads that failed postwar newspapers, these stories of postwar survival, during slavery and its aftermath. And we are just now starting to recover those of stories and tell those stories. So, that is where i stopped talking and thank you all, for your attention. [applause] judith and i get to handle questions with this microphone, i think. There is a microphone, over here . This one. Ok. We have a question, over here. They would like is, when you ask the question, for me not to come to you. You go to the microphone. Question, carolyn lecount. Caddosshe octavius fiance . Muchy other question, how more are you finding out about literacy during this time . Because all of these ads required someone to write, to take pen to paper. Were they pastors themselves . Judith that is a good question. We are not sure if anyone is helping to write the ads, if people are writing the ads themselves. We are not sure. Some of the as clearly invoked the help of others. They describe themselves and then they also name a pastor to whom they would like the information directed. It is also important, when they talk about wanting these things to be read in churches, not only because of the literacy, but because of access to the newspaper. Who would have access to the newspaper . Reporter was widely distributed. People have studied the newspaper and it was widely circulated by u. S. Colored troops who moved through philadelphia and took it with them. And they had many subscribers from outside the city. But that is just the beginning. That is just the first newspaper. There are shortlived newspapers that popped up throughout the south, and many run similar columns. So, that tells us a few things. We hope that that is also a sign that there is more literacy, in the postwar south then we talked before. Some people have talked about that. Who studies this. Who studies this era, says he counted Something Like 50 newspapers following the war. Most of them are shortlived. But that also, has to be seen as an indication of the desire to access this stuff, but also, probably, as an extension of literacy that these papers around. People are subscribing and they are reading them. Good question. Other questions . Yes, here in the front. They went to to go over there. You to go over there. Can you tell me the first piece of information you found that made you cry . Judith Elizabeth Williams ad. A long time ago before i started any of these projects, when i ran into one of these ads, and Elizabeth Williams was one of the first i ever saw, in the question reporter. Reporter. . I wasnt looking for these ads i was looking for Something Else, and i came across this ad, and it just gets you. She describes the 30 long years of slavery. I dont think you even have to be a mom to get that sense. But being a mom, you can just , but never lose hope that you might. And that gets you. There are lots of those moments, sayhese ads, when they things like, alike every parent last time i saw him, he was just crawling. Or when they say things like, how they tried to imagine what and itsd look like, like something that they want to be saying to their own child. I am sure he is tall now, and it shows you that they stay alive in their memories, and it is really hard to read. Yes . Could you say a little bit more about the institute for color lose institute for colored youth that she graduated from . And can you tell us how we find the colored ads, the website or whatever . Talked aboutyou streetcars being segregated, but you kept saying they were eject ed. Were they segregated from writing them, or segregated in the cars . Judith good question. How about if i do them in reverse order . Great questions. The various streetcar lines had different rules. Sometimes on these streetcars, segregation meant that you, as a black rider, had to stand outside next to the conductor. That was a particularly dangerous place, and uncomfortable for all sorts of reasons. So taking a seat inside a streetcar, as a person of color, was breaking segregation orders on those lines. Other lines ran an infrequent colored car that you have to wait for. Riderser lines, black were not allowed. So, getting on the streetcars, you did is covertly. You did it carefully and discreetly in hopes that the conductor might just ignore you, or not notice that you are a person of color. Did i answer the first question . Occurredr thought that to me was the Training Camps where the colored troops were, were way out. Judith at camp william penn . Yes. You couldnt get there, unless you hired a private carriage. A private car. Thats precisely the issue. Color know that women of are frequently going out to camp william penn to visit relatives or to bring supplies. Because we know the military administrators of the camp are complaining that there are civilians around, and passing orders prohibiting these women from coming to the camps. That they are there, and certainly streetcars provided some of them access. Weree other two questions how we find the ads on the website and something about the institute for colored youth. Ads by you can find the informationwanted. Org. , by todays count. So if you go to informationwanted. Org, they are crowdsourcing transcriptions. You all are transcribing them. 800ave Something Like people who signed on to transcribe them. Lots of people are starting to find them and post them. You can do all of that on the site. If you want to help in the effort, you can go on the site and sign up to transcribe. I am the technical expert on this project. It takes a few days for us to get back to you, just remember that. I have people working with me on it, but their first job is to be students. Question, the first thing i would say to finding out more information about the institute for color youth is to read tasting which is the best study and is now available in paperback. Oh, sorry. Not yet. In september. But you can preorder it. You can preorder tasting freedom. Dont lend out your copy because you wont get it back. Anat villanova also did archiving project. We were trying to tell a history of the school, which is now cheney university, it becomes chaining it becomes cheney university. We reached out to archivists at cheney and tried to find as many documents as we could, documenting the history of the school. And we created a website with everything you could find on the institute for colored youth, for people who want to go back and study the school. That is at villanova. And that is a longer web address institute fort do colored youth at villanova university, you will find it. It is a huge archive of everything we could find at the school. We do profiles of the first 40 graduates. We try to find out as much as we can about the first 40 people who graduated from the school. And we put everything we can about the school, on the website, so people can study the school. Two things, i guess. How did the equal Rights League, because i hear civil rights always, especially related to the streetcars, but i recognize there was an Organization Called the equal Rights League. And a lot of people were involved, and as a relates to women, i think that connotation fits more during that time frame, so i wanted to know more about the equal Rights League. Because it ises, interesting to year of these judges who best rulings in favor of. Thosere any research on judges, i am assuming they were different types with different backgrounds, in the most segregated city in the north, to pass these rulings. So, who are these judges . Judith that is a really good question. I wish i had a better answer for that question. There were a couple of judges when i wasd, studying the streetcar battle in philadelphia, who made those connections very clearly. This is exactly why we are fighting this war, so this is a ner. Rai some of these guys i think had been tapped earlier in some of these rendition cases, or cases involving fugitives in the city of philadelphia. They had enough of whatknowledge lawyers they could go to, and how the lawyers might be able to manage these cases, where they wound up in front of judges who might be sympathetic. At least in a couple of cases, you see judges appear more than once. So, they must have already had a list of people who had already sort of worked with them, originally, before the war. Then, what was the other question . The equal Rights League. They were lobbying for the passage of the law. Members of the equal Rights League were in harrisburg lobbying for the passage of the street car integration law. They were essential. They were doing the work in harrisburg at the same time the grassroots stop was happening in the cars. I think the combination of those two things seemed to work magic. Having the stuff appear in the newspapers, and you cant ignore this issue when it appears in the newspapers. Riders complained about the violence they saw in the streetcars, and wrote to the newspapers and said, we dont want to ride streetcars with our children and have summit he get beat up in front of them. So the combination of the lobbying of the equal Rights League and these tactics of nonviolent resistance, we might call it, in the streetcars, i think were critical to the success of the law. Other questions . I was curious about the geographic distribution of these ads that were coming out. You mentioned a lot were originally from the question recorder. Judith we are in the process of mapping the ads. We have enlisted people with skills to map them. The ads are coming from all over the place, in laymans terms, that is what i can tell you right now. To be interesting is to sea, over time, if it changes. That is what we are going to be doing with these maps. Christian recorder, the ads are not just coming from philadelphia, they are coming whenpeople writing in, they cant deliver these ads in person. Ads start disappearing when the ads start appearing in 18 63, 1864, 1865, how do those as differ and what they look like in say, 1869. And we have ads coming from the sot indies, from canada, that is another project that we will have to figure out, where they are coming from. And if there is a pattern there. Other questions . I guess we are done. Barbara. Orry, last week, i was at the smithsonian s new museum of African American history. And to me, and many people, the most touching thing there is the and thef emmett till story of his mother, and her bravery. And there was a statement from rosa parks that said, she was only able to do what she did after that happened, after she saw the bravery of his mother, standing up for civil rights. And this inspired her to do what she did, with the bus boycott. I wonder if any of the people you looked into had similar moments. Generally, i understand you were saying that they were going to do good for the troops. Say, i cantdy take it anymore and i am going to risk whatever it is to write that streetcar . Judith thanks for that story. The next available tickets, i think for november. So, i cant wait to go. There was at least one example in new york city, that got a lot of a woman who was mourning the death of her husband who was a soldier in the u. S. Colored troops. He was removed from a streetcar in new york city. And the image of this woman in in mourning,man leg given her husband to the who had given her husband to the cause and then couldnt ride the streetcars, it was a cathartic moment for people to watch. These were very public spaces that this is happening in. If you are sitting in the streetcars, nobody is not being watched by many other people at the same time. You are sitting across from each other. You can see everything that is happening. So, you can imagine there were these moments when white people saw this and thought that same thing. This has got to stop. And, tried to help or at least wrote these letters to the editor, saying this is it. This is got to stop. A comment. One of the first ads, i think you showed, was somebody looking org inles f fairfield. Wasmy maternal grandfather orphaned and grew up in an orphanage in the fairfield district. I didnt know my grandfather. He died in 1920. My mother was born in 1912. What she told me that he struggled very hard to try to find two sisters, from whom he was separated right after the time of enslavement. He eventually found to woman two women who we felt were these sisters, and reconnected with them. They were my mothers aunts, and they rebounded as family. There was always seemingly a question, as to whether they really were those two sisters, but they all claimed one another. Judith it didnt matter. And the second question. Given that a number of churches in philadelphia, particularly the historic black churches, do have records. Of marriages,an baptisms, burials. Able to undertake, particularly with regard to the ads that are local, whether any of those people seeking to find individuals belong to any of those churches . Has the last question, there been any collaboration with dr. Heather williams who wrote, help me find my people. Judith thank you, for all three of those. Thanks, first, for your familys story. The answer to your second question is no, we have not taken that next step and tried to find any of these people. Select have done in some cases, and i make my villanova students do this every semester, is, i give them an added to them to find out as much as they can about these people. And that usually means they go to ancestry, which is good. I will take that. Yes,iably they say, oh they found each other, i have the evidence that they found each other. And that is what we all want to find out. That they found each other. Have not gone into the archival records to look for people. We have on the site is an invitation for anybody to add any additional things they know, about any of these people. We are starting to get some of that. Found will say, i Something Else about this person from someplace else, and maybe that is of use to you. We have to figure out how to have all of that available on the site. Sort of like ancestry does, we can create family trees. But we have started getting people who either have some documents, or think they might know Something Else about people mentioned in it. So that is something we certainly hope will become part of this project. Oh, yes. She is on the Advisory Board for the project, is the answer to that question. The novel underground railroad, is that what it is called . He uses the ad. I have not read the book. It is on my reading list. It is the first thing i will do when i have my Summer Reading list time. He uses the ads, or least talks about them someplace. I have seen them online. He used the ads to write that novel. So maybe we will get him on our Advisory Board, too, if anybody knows him. Yes, maam . Thank you, very much for this vital information. Im definitely going to use it. I want to ask you, have you come across more Success Stories of, you showed the one where she found her relatives. Have you found more Success Stories . Judith yes. It is always a big deal, when we found them. We post them on the site. Answer is probably, we have documented in the newspapers the turkish people have to take out the follow up bad to say, i found that person. And i had that doesnt happen very often. They used their money to take out the ad to find family, but we do have some of those. I think we have maybe eight or 10 people who took out a followup ad. Which is great. I might have exaggerated. It might have just been six or eight. So youy are on the site, can go on the site and search by and you search by found will find some of those at. Ads. Me of those i have a graduate student back there, who is one of the students working on the ads. Bonnie, if i forgot something you can speak up. We have great news. We are getting a new microfilm reader, which is very fantastic and very exciting. We also have this bunch of ads that came to us from a user who found them in white newspapers. Much,ey are not ask, so as reporting on reunited families. What to do, iow dont know how to deal with those. But apparently that was a whole genre of things that were covered in white newspapers in the late 19th century. Heres a great, heartrending story of how this former slave woman found her children. I dont know if you all have an idea, or have seen these before, they were news to me. We havent been looking at white newspapers for these ads, because we know they are in black newspapers and there are plenty of those, and we have plenty to do. But what this user has been sending us is, all of these ads, all of these stories run in white newspapers about these happy reunions. I dont know what to do with them yet. I have not put them on the site because i need to know more about that. Im a little suspicious. I want them to be true stories, just like, every time a villanova student comes to me and says, they found each other, it is so exciting. Butnt that to be the case, it wants to know more about that before we put those up on the site. But when people who took out original ads, take up take out followup ads, theres no reason not to. Those are on the site. What is the site, again . Informationwanted. Org. Sign up. We need transcribers, all the time. Great idea. He was free. He lived in philadelphia. We are looking for vincent. We have had people log on to the ilie davis site, and nominate people who they think might be vincent. So, we hold out hope. All right, well thank you all. Thank you very much. [applause] these weekend on American History tv on cspan3, saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, lectures in history. The Temple University professor on the Environmental Movement of the 1970s. I want to argue here that the nobles average environmentalist was kind of a product sold to american consumers, just like big max or cars. At 10 00 p. M. Father and daughter pilots, a former Airline Captain and former ec National Guard f16 pilot, talk about their experiences on 9 11. And we take off. And we had northeast into a serene and peaceful and silent sky. There is no one airborne. We had out to the northwest and we never find anything. We were not heroes that they. That day. The passengers on flight 93 were the heroes. Hern american artifacts, to the harriet taliban Harriet Tubman underground railroad center. She had epilepsy which allowed her to have amazing visions and a direct connection to god. She heard voices, she heard vidging, she had very vi dreams. So it was hard on the physical side but amazing, for faith. Danhat image, that shows bartlett, the communications director, pointing to the tv, that is the first time we started seeing the replay of the second tower being hit. American history tv, all week and every weekend, on cspan3. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the integration of Little Rock Central High School in little rock, of Little Rock Central High School in little rock, arkansas. In 2011 we took a tour of the National Historic site, with the daughter of one of the little rock nine. They were the first black students to attend the