Transcripts For CSPAN2 Sally McMillen On Lucy Stone 20240622

Then i just do it all day long. I have a network of friends out there that im in touch with. Tom from the New York Times and we have changes exchanges back and forth and chuck todd and i talk a lot. He is the moderator of meet the press and our political dress it director in washington and other folks as well. We are not a very large group. The old political journalist and we like to stay in touch with each other. Why arent you on the letterman show . I dont know whats going to happen. Dave and i have been close for a long time and he is kept us very tight. I was on his first show when he went to cvs and we have been talking back and forth about a couple of things. I did send him an email today saying david, tonight tonight all the eyes of america will be on you the departure of an icon and im so proud to have been your friend. If you screw this up i will never talk to you again. [applause] tom brokaw perhaps its odd for me to be speaking to an icon of journalism breaking a journalistic rule and saying im so grateful for what you have done for my father and so many people who remember were members of the greatest generation who i think you gave permission to speak about their experience and dignity to qualify their experience and im extremely grateful that you did that for him and for so many others. I know there has been a lot of criticism for it. [applause] and you have become a spokesman for the greatest generation in many ways a figurehead. Is this book going to make you a spokesman for the cancer story . In fact i said to somebody yesterday i am not equipped to be a spokesman for cancer. I cant help but from a cancer Patient Point of view but Patient Point of view but let me back up. Im not that place where what happens is if you get labeled as something it gets picked up and repeated so i am now always described as the legendary tom brokaw or the iconic palm brokaw. I remember not long ago when i was described as the babyfaced tom brokaw so i dont take that all too seriously. The greatest generation, what i did was open the door. They speak so eloquently for themselves and what i learned very early on is to stem back to let them speak. I was at the 70th anniversary of dday. There was a 178 70yearold coast guardsmen. He had been thrown into the job and the ramps were steel and they were up like this and they landed in a particularly hot spot and a machine gun or zeroed in on them. He said it was like a typewriter. Everybody was crouched down and the person running the boat was to drop the ramp and he pretended not to hear. He knew they were going facetoface with a german machine gun. Finally the guy gets a lot of expletives and your espresso. He said i had no choice but to drop the ramp and he said when men are dying on the beach theyre not calling out to their god or their lord, they are calling out to their mothers. I couldnt improve on that in 100 years a journalist. Thats most eloquent thing you can imagine one man who entered on dday and that gives you a sense of the chaos and the choices that had to be made that day and what i was was just the transmission for them. Thank you. [applause] and before i officially think you let us thank all of the people who made this might possible the music hall executive producer or writers onstage is Patricia Lynch the musical producer Margaret Talbott and Betsy Gardella the New Hampshire public radio broadcast producer this evening is maureen mcmurray. Our digital producers sarah ford or the music hall production manager is john manager is jono morris and the hall light sound and recording engineer jason martin, musical director of the band bob lauradin dreadnought broadcast sponsor for tonight is horace m. Lifestage photography is from clear iphoto and you can find photos on line. A couple of days of clear iphoto and please a warm thank you for mr. Tom brokaw. [applause] thank you very much. [applause] history professor Sally Mcmillen discusses her biography of the abolitionist and suffragist lucy stone. From the Library Company of philadelphia, this is about an hour. Its now my distinct honor and privilege to introduce dr. Sally mcmillen babcock professor of history at Davidson College in north carolina. A graduate of Wellesley College and her ph. D. At Duke University and along the way we learned today got a degree in library science. She has been one of the most important and productive scholars of 19th century womens history in the past decades. Her many books include motherhood in the old south, southern women black and white in the old south and seneca falls and the origin of the womens Rights Movement. Her brandnew book which we are celebrating tonight recently received a wonderful review in the l. A. Times is entitled lucy stone an unapologetic life. A path breaking activist whose life has been hidden in plain sight for far too long lucy stone at last has a biography and biographer worthy of her inspired and inspiring life. Please help me welcome to Benjamin Franklins library distinguished scholar, and dr. Sally mcmillen. [applause] thank you so much. I wanted to say its an absolute delight to be here. I want to thank rich for inviting me and for the Library Company for also inviting me and its just a pleasure to be in philadelphia. Its a great city and i actually have heard of the Library Company of philadelphia but ive never been here before. I got a own personal tour this morning and its an exceptional place so you are very lucky to have this. Let me start on lucy stone. In the rotunda of our Nations Capital stands an impressive monument celebrating three remarkable 19th century women. Also important in Winning University suffrage for women. Lucretia mott and Elizabeth Cady stanton and susan b. Anthony. But a fourth woman is every bit as deserving to be carved into that white marble lucy stone. She was equally dedicated to the womens Rights Movement as were these three women and also a celebrated passionate for the Antislavery Movement. Her absence from the monument says volumes about how we tell her history and whom we celebrate. Tonight i want to choose a lucy at least temporarily into that marble. I decided to write a biography of lucy stone after he completed a book on the Seneca Falls Movement and the 19th century womens Rights Movement rate editor at oxford commented that i seem to enjoy writing about people and should consider a biography. Lucy stone immediately came to mind. For many gears in my teaching i talk about and use lucy stone as an example of not only a great woman but also how often we leave important people out of our past. So i plunged in losing using lucys correspondents convince reports and widespread newspaper coverage that she generated. What was especially fun was with my husband visiting several places where lucy had lived and died. Even though none of her homes remain standing actually being present at these area sites and imagining her living there gave me a better sense of who lucy was. Born on august 13, 1818 at the village of West Brookfield massachusetts lucy grew up on a farm the sixth of seven children. Her father francis embraced patriarchal tenets of the day ruling over his household and his family. He expected obedience from his wife hannah and their children. As lucy later wrote there was only one will and our home and that was my fathers. Like most farm children lucy and her children helped plant crops garden haul water canned food bill cowles cook laundry and even sewed leather shootouts or local tanners. Lucys mother was a pious woman who instilled in her children the meaning of right and wrong and insisted that they become good christians. Francis and hannah believed in education and lucy like her siblings attended, and schools until she was 16. Lucy sensed the need for further education in order for her to lead a more purposeful life. When she asked her parents if she could continue her schooling they said she had to have more than enough education to find a good husband which of course was the goal for nearly all young women at that time. Lucy however had little interest in marriage and began Teaching School and intermittently attending semesters at a number of private academies in the area including the newly opened mt. Holyoke female seminary. While in her late teens she earned tax learned about a new college and ohiocollegiate institute founded in 1833 that was doing the absolute unthinkable at the time accepting women and africanamericans. She was determined to attend. Though francis had sent two of lucys brothers to college he refused to help pay her way since she was a woman and in his eyes in the eyes of most americans had absolutely no need for Higher Education. So lucy taught school, save your money and in 1843 with 92 hands traveled 650 miles to attend overland. One can only imagine the raised eyebrows when fellow travelers met this petite young woman and burned that she was alone and had to of all places the First College in the nation to accept women. At oberlin she worked to earn enough money to pay her expenses. At one point she works three jobs and slept only four hours a night and she studied and she studied. Lucy stood out not only because she was brilliant and outspoken but unlike most students and faculty at oberlin she was sick arizonians supporting the ideas of William Lloyd garrison one of the nations most radical abolitionists. And while oberlin was remarkable for knitting by men admitting women and africanamericans it embraced ideas about how women should behave. After lucy delivered a lecture to village residents as they celebrated haitis Independence Day she was reprimanded by the overlands ladies committee. Women students were not allowed to speak in public take rhetoric classes or participate in societies. So she and her best friend antoinette rounds secretly founded the womens debating society the first in the nation. As a senior and at the top of her class lucy was invited by the faculty to write an essay to be delivered at graduation. She was told however that while she could write the essay he would be unseemly for a woman to appear on stage and read what she had written. A man had to do that. A principled proud luci refused to participate but she graduated in 1847 at the age of 29 becoming the first Massachusetts Woman and one of the first women in our nation to graduate from college with a bachelors degree. In researching will lucy stones life that couldnt help but wonder what set her apart from hundreds of thousands of other farm girl from the nation that did not become reformers activists are suffrages, how to explain her belief in Higher Education for poor women and a commitment to the Antislavery Movement and to womens rights. For one thing she had good genes. Some of her forebears were groundbreakers such as a forefather who defended a woman accused of witchcraft in 17th century massachusetts and a grandfather who had fought in the American Revolution and was a leader and chaise rebellion. All the stones were abolitionists and subscribe to and read garrisons antislavery newspaper. Lucy was the only Family Member who became an ardent suffragist rebelling against womens inferior status in the lhasa cap women especially married women in a state of submission. Women were not allowed to vote hold public office, serve on juries buying contracts attend college or pursue professional careers. When married they fell under the legal control of their husbands and were expected to remain at home. But lucy became especially sensitive and affected by meth suppression of women. She saw how her father treated her mother how stingy he was even though hannah worked as hard as he did and how verbally and physically abusive he could be when he drank too much cider. Lucy experienced womens invisibility when she attended a Church Meeting to decide whether to expel a member who is deeply involved in abolition movement. When lucy raise your hand to vote on this very matter and defend the man the minister told the faux counter to ignore her for even though she was a Church Member she could not vote because she was a woman. Lucy observed a neighbor woman married to a domineering oak aholic adulterous husband and she wondered why the woman was not able to leave him when the womans father. And try to rescue his daughter. Lucy read and objected to passages from the bible that insisted on womens silence and inferiority and decided to agree to understand the language in certain bible passages that have been mistranslated. In 1837 new england ministers were aghast into South Carolina sisters angelina and sarah lectured on antislavery to men and women. Ministers wrote a formal protest which lucy heard read in church and she was incensed by their effort to try to silence these women. She vowed to that point to dedicate her life to ensuring womens rights to speak in public. While a senior at oberlin and over the objections of her parents and her sister lucy decided to become a Public Lecture for the Antislavery Movement and unthinkable occupation for a woman at that time. Today i think its impossible to imagine how daring and challenging that career was for a young woman. Lucy had no money no name recognition beyond her home in oberlin but in the spring of 1848 in Massachusetts Antislavery Society hired her as a speaker and she gave her first talk on womens rights several weeks before the first Womens Rights Convention in seneca falls new york. Lucy moved to boston and lived with a family barely making enough to live on. Within a few months she added womens rights to her talks for she told fellow abolitionists i am a woman and of course they are my costume back. Early on and lucy shared the stage with many wellknown men. Ralph Waldo Emerson of reverend parker pills perry Wendell Phillips frederick douglass. Soon she was also lecturing on her own and attracting large crowds. For the early 18 50s lucy stone had become a spellbinding orator and one of the most famous women in the nation. She attracted audiences by the hundreds and in a few cases even by the thousands. There was an admiring press. Journalists were amazed at lucys magic and influence in the crowd. Unlike the rantings of Abby Kelly Foster and the shrill voice of susan b. Anthony lucys voice and winning manner were apparently mesmerizing. From these accounts one learns at lucys musical voice silence mobs of protesters to came to mock and i know speakers. Her intensity of purpose and ability to move her listeners were profound. One example of her intense commitment to the Antislavery Movement was in the early 18 50s she joined garrison and some of his followers by demanding the radical idea of disunion urging northern states to separate from Southern States states. In other words to secede and thus create a nation free of slavery and we always of course blamed the south. Are most effective moments where the story she shared about the evils of slavery and oppression of women. There was something compelling in the way lucy spoke and when she had to say. Initially she and others charge no entrance fees for abolitionists wanted to attract as many people as possible but lucy and others realized that people were willing to pay to hear them. After all this was the 19th century entertainment at its best. I tried to get this into my students that there is no internet or tv. She was soon earning a substantial income and their financial worries ended. Whether those in the audience were supporters or opponents of her radical causes everyone wanted to hear lucy stone. The press made her a household name. She had become a star. The public lecturing was a dangerous profession especially for a woman addressing to radical causes. We often forget how many people even in the north opposed abolition and womens rights. Mobs gathered to protest. Men heckled and hassle and in 1838 protesters burned down brandnew lecture hall so the philadelphia Pennsylvania Hall for free discussion to protest the biracial gathering of women engaged in the Antislavery Movement. Mentor rotten vegetables fruit and hymnals at lucy and other speakers. In one instance they doused her with ice cold water by forcing a hose through window behind the stage where she was speaking. A resolute lucy grabbed her shawl and kept on talking. Another time while on cape cod and angry mobs left towards lucy and mail orders try to worsen off the stage. Lucy took hold of the armor of one of the largest minute declared that he would protect her. He did just that leading her through the melee. He then placed her on a tree stump outside and stood there defending her while she finished her speech. Lecturing was also exhausting and challenging. 19th century travel conditions were primitive going by horst trained coach or even foot. Sometimes in blizzards and driving rain. For several years luci traveled across new england and the middle Atlantic States and undertook a major lectured to across the midwest and even to the slave states of missouri and kentucky. She stayed overnight in hotels dirty boarding houses or homes where she might sleep on filthy sheets separated only by a current for many slept in the same room but as lucy maintained no great cause was won without great sacrifice. Her efforts even challenged female fashion that in the early 18 50s lucy Elizabeth Cady stanton and a few other women adopted the bloomer costume a short dress and pantaloons which lucy wore with excitement thrilled at the comfort of dressing without corsets and skirts and petticoats. But public outcry was so enormous however she gave it up realizing few people were paying more attention to what they were wearing down to the message they were trying to deliver. From this point forward lucy dressed simply in a black silk dress and whitecollar and no corsets. She attracted people to her lecture center causes. Some came reluctantly simply to hear the famous lucy stone but then left his converts to her cause. Most of her speeches were extemporaneous, and major tragedy for a story and since we depend on the written word. Fortunately scribes and journalists were often at the conventions and lectures can at least take notes on her talks. She was also an expert of responding to reports and holding her own when challenged they read comments from the floor. At one of denton man shouted out by accusing her of eating a disappointing woman. Disappointed by nation that accepted slavery. In 1853 she gave a series of lectures in kentucky and womens rights a bold act in the Southern State that embraced womens inferior status. There she went over hundreds of people who came to hear her. Her kentucky hosts were charmed by this dominant petite woman and her bold arguments. Dozens if not scores of people joined the womens Rights Movement because of lucy including susan b. Anthony Julia Ward Howe Francis Miller and claire are tuned to name a few. At the mid18 50s she was far better known than Elizabeth Cady stanton and susan b. Anthony. Lecture he was only one part of her life in addition to speaking career in 1850 she and seven other women decided to advance womens rights by holding a national convention, one larger and more inclusive than the original meanings of seneca falls new york and a couple towns in ohio. The First National Womens Rights Convention was held in western massachusetts in october 1850 and attracted hundreds of people from across the nation. From then until 1857 lucy played a central role in organizing these annual national Womens Rights Conventions selecting a location finding speakers and entertainers raising money and publicizing the meetings. The press and most americans identify lucy as head of this Young Movement which operated without a budget and office, officers or newspaper. But her life altered significantly in the mid18 50s 50s. Two major moments occurred at the height of lucys career and her earning power her marriage and two years later her becoming a mother. For years luci have publicly and privately rejected the idea of marriage bill a few young men had courted her. She implored the laws of defined women as coverts and made them legal subservient to their husbands. Upon marriage women lost their claim to their own property which is the inability to sign contracts or to act as independent beings. Subservience was not something lucy had ever invention for herself for she had learned to act on her own and had created a rich fulfilling life but she also year and for intimacy and closeness of family that she had known as a child. It was Henry Brown Blackwell who heard lucy speak and Antislavery Convention and determined he would marry her. Despite garrisons warning to blackwell but lucy would never marry he began his pursuit. He was seven years her junior and at that point a partner at a cincinnati Hardware Store but struggling to find a more meaningful career. Henry was used to strong women. An older sister Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman in the country, Everybody Knows her. To graduate from medical school and become a doctor. Younger sister emily to the same a few years later. For two years and recorded lucy with astonishing relentlessness mostly through correspondence. His letters and there are scores of them, were pages long britain and these beautiful tiny handwriting often crosshatched. Thats when a ride across the page and up and down and often is as a researcher you would say theres nothing in this letter i want to read. I cant read it. He shared his belief in the marriage of equals promising lucy she could continue her career to announcing laws that oppress married women celebrating past heroines and discussing literature. Reading these letters is a fascinating experience though at times i wanted to shout out get a life. Henry his career path up to this point had been rather aimless was drawn to lucys devotion to on popular causes her strength and facing opponents are independents, her resoluteness and her fame. Henry a people pleaser hope lucy was become his inspiration to lead a more inspired like. Eventually lucy gave him the nod without experiencing a great deal of stress for she was abandoning one of her basic needs of both but henry kept his word consisting lucy create a legal contract to keep her own money and future earnings separate from his should be able to purchase property in her own name to travel, 10 conventions and to lecture. They wed in the Early Morning of may 1, 1855 at the stone family farmhouse treat the word obey was removed from the service. Immediately after the ceremony the couple published in several newspapers a protest that they compose that objected to all the laws that remove rights from a wife and put power in the hands of the husband. Suffragists heralded this protest. The press had a field day wondering how the couple could marry and censure the very idea of marriage. A year later after consulting with lawyers lucy took an even more radical step by keeping her maiden name. After all, since men kept their names when they married, why could women not do the same and on the front of the cover it says the quote from lucy says the wife should no more take her husbands name then he should take hers. My name is my identity and must not be lost. I think was 1921 where there was an organization founded of women had kept their maiden names. Henry had no objection to this but the only time this worked against lucy was in the 1880s when massachusetts women gained the right to vote in school board elections. She showed up to vote but was told she could not register his lucy stone. She had to use the name lucy stone blackwell. She refused and her only opportunity to vote was lost. But lucy put her antislavery and womens rights work on hold in 1857 after giving birth to daughter alice. She tried to find time to lecture but the nurses she hired for alice proved incompetent. Also she was overwhelmed by attending alices childhood problems. Henry never proved a consistent breadwinner. He sold his partnership and try to learn the sugarbeet business won his late father had pursued. He then speculated and thousands of acres of land in wisconsin and illinois bill was not until after the civil war that the land sold and finally get the Family Financial security. Domestic life became even more typical when henry left her new jersey home to work in chicago for five months selling agricultural books. Alice was not yet a year old. In 1859 to three move to chicago for henrys job and their lucy gave birth to a premature baby boy who died. Though she wrote very little about this heartwrenching event she became ever more devoted to caring for alice. Lucy pull back from her lecturing in the Womens Movement to become a fulltime mother. During the civil poor she devoted much of her attention to raising and caring for the Family Members who were ill as well as fighting to defend after the civil war lucy returned to her causes as a member of the American Equal Rights Association who sought insisting former slaves and women could gain the right to vote. Congress did address black male citizenship and black mans right to vote for passage of the 14th and 15th amendments. This action had major repercussions on lucys life for it led to a major split in the Womens Movement. Stanton and anthony opposed both amendments. Stanton in particular was was outraged by congresss action because politicians have that black male suffrage tromp womens suffrage. She pointed out and very racist language that mile friedman have been released from slavery could not read or write well educating white informed women women like herself had demanded the right to vote since the senate called false convention of 1840. Ultimately lucy supported both amendments hoping the 16th amendment would soon follow and give women the right to vote. Of course that did not happen. Instead the situation split the Womens Movement and led to the creation of two organizations seeking womens suffrage. Stanton and anthony created the National Woman Suffrage Association and a few months later Lucienne Henry with Julia Ward Howe. Lucy found she could not work with these two women who did not support equality for all even though she too was upset with congress for ignoring womens demands. That same year lucy decided the family should move to boston. She had many friends there and she wanted to distance herself from me and wsa which was headquartered in new york. She decided to start a newspaper covering womens issues hoping the new pursued would create an easier call my wife for as she put it a snug home. She henry and dallas moved to boston purchasing a large home atop a high hill in dorchester to popular suburb to the south of the city. They manage to raise 10,000 for friends and supporters to start a womens journal a weekly papers first issue came out on january 8, 1870. For two years Mary Livermore served as the journals editor but when she left to pursue a lecture career lucy took over the paper aided by henry Julia Ward Howe and later alice. The journal proved to be a greater challenge than lucy had imagined published every saturday without fail with lucy and charge until shortly before her death. Shed never pursue this type of work before but with her typical determination she pounded the streets to raise money sold advertising space sought new subscribers and writers and wrote many editorials. At times she was certain the paper which failed but it lasted until the 19th moment was ratified and women were on the right to vote in 1820. Paper was seen by some as playing an influential role in the fight for womens suffrage but it was hard on lucy. She often had to forego Family Vacations on Marthas Vineyard and a trip to europe because the newspaper came first. The work affected her health and she suffered under the strain of rheumatism and irregular heartbeat sciatica and anxiety were among her many health problems. Sister on line physician Emily Blackwell insisted lucy absent herself from the womens journal and duties associated with the american womens Suffrage Association. Barely could lucy pay heed for she could not imagine leaving the paper or the organization. This is only a brief summary of lucys life but i want to discuss if you issues that challenge me in researching and writing her story. One topic i had to confront was henrys alleged relationship in 1869 with a then mrs. P which a few scholars have about the safe old blown affair. I am less certain. What was the nature of that relationship . A close friendship a flirtation or adultery . Having a sexual relationship for any woman in the 19th century was extremely risky because there was no absolute means to prevent a child other than abstinence. If mrs. P was the person historians assumed her to be she was a beautiful young woman married to a much older very wealthy man. She was at the hutchinson patina member of the family of singers who entertained at various antislavery and Womens Rights Conventions. The patents live near lucy and henry anwr couple friends. In 1869 lucy was distracted upset embassy consumed with womens issues and the founding of the and wsa. Henry is a navy affectionate spontaneous man in contrast to a serious focused hardworking wife. One can imagine him ive been tempted to stray. Whatever happened was upsetting to lucy and henry sisters. Only a few scattered remarks exist in letters mentioning a mrs. P and a poignant letter from lucy urging emily to tell her brother henry to stay away from mrs. P. No doubt much of lucys anguish of his heart breaking up that must have been discussed in private. Other letters may have revealed details of a house fire in 1970 destroyed most of the letters henry had ever received and after her parents died out with destroyed all correspondence that reflected poorly on the family. In any case henry and lucy were able to rebuild their marriage though to time. Henry may have agreed to move to boston out of guilt the sense that he owed this to lucy or to remove himself from temptation. I tried to not be absolute in defining this for all marriages have issues than much of what occurs does so behind closed doors. Another matter was the akamais relationship that developed between lucienne susan b. Anthony. In the 18 50s the two women were close supportive friends and compatriots in the fight for womens suffrage often expressing very tender feelings in their letters to one another. Their friendship began to unravel in 1867 and ended in 1869 with the formation of the two womens suffrage organizations. Letters by both women revealed nasty hurt all comments. I wish i could complain that lucy was more charitable than anthony but both women took after one another. This was Human Behavior at its worst. Suppress observe the womens intolerance towards one another. Lucy could be moralistic and defensive though she quickly identified anthonys determination to lead the Womens Movement railroading for ideas despite strong opposition. One example of anthonys elevated sense of self was her hiring ida husted to read her biography a work that demanded three volumes with every word of it having to be approved by anthony. Now another important point is i conclude why he lucy stone has such a limited presence in the history of the 19th century women, Womens Movement and the Antislavery Movement and why she is not acknowledged as one of our nations major heroines. Her absence reveals much about how history gets reported and remembered. Most abolitionists who loom large in the history such as William Lloyd garrison record douglas Harriet Beecher stowe Lydia Maria Child and others publish their speeches. As i mention lucy almost always spoke extemporaneously achieved at energy didnt like writing. Thus we have few actual written records of her many speeches and a significant role in the Antislavery Movement. She never wrote about herself. The Womens Movement was another matter. In the early 1880s Stanton Anthony and Jocelyn Matilda gage embarked upon a huge project to induce the womens meet movement. Staton had britains eichler previa articles. Now the three began a massive work by collecting sources. Newspaper accounts speeches convention reports letters government documents and they asked dozens of women to write autobiographical entries. Stanton has lucys to contribute but she refused as she had refused every journalist and author wanted to write about her her. Throughout her life lucy possessed a heightened sense of humility and a desire to avoid the limelight. She never kept a diary or wrote a memoir and unlike a mic stanton and anthony talev public attention at parties she never welcomes celebrations to honor her. For lucy it was the movement not the individuals leading at the matter. She also had a keen sense of history believing it was far too soon to write about a movement whose goal had yet to be one nor did she wish to be associated with the written accounts. It would be biased and celebrate the contributions of its editors and the National Womens Suffrage Association. Volume one of the history of womens suffrage appeared in 1881 and cover the Womens Movement up to 1861. Reviews were generally positive even the womens journal. Volume two covering 1861 to 1876 was another matter for presented a skewed view of the movement. Future for Stanton Anthony and wsa members and organizations activities. There was no mention of 1869 split stantons racist comments on the workings and 15th amendments or an unfortunate incident in the late 1870s when the very disreputable the colorful victoria woodhall briefly became poster child for the National Womens Suffrage Association. And stantons daughter harriet arrived from england to assist with the second volume she was astonished to find that a wsa and lucy were absent. She convinced her mother that volume two would be suspect about covering them so it was harriet who composed the final chapter that covered the a wsa especially could but this one chapter at the end of volume two was an afterthought bus volumes in of the history of womens suffrage contained an amazing collection of information. These are the very primary sources that scholars typically turn to when researching the 19th century Womens Movement and are still used today as primary source material. In most scholarly account stanton and anthony loom largest is the National Womens Suffrage Association and lucy and the separate association are mere shadows. Historical accounts invariably give me and wsa much of the credit or the eventual winning of suffrage but almost missing the statebystate approach of the a wsa. The lucys health was declining. After suffering weeks of pain she died of stomach cancer on august 13, 1893. More than 1100 people crowded into the church to attend her funeral. But even in that lucy was a path breaker. Before she passed she decided to be cremated a form of aerial that was just beginning to be accepted in this country. Ever humble her reason was that she did not want her body to take up much space on earth. Bostons beautiful Forest Hill Cemetery did not yet have a crematoriums ive had to build one in order for lucy to be cremated and her ashes buried there. Henry who is making a name for himself in the womens Rights Movement finally finding the perfect gave his life meaning was inconsolable after a year after lucy stepford turing to his bedroom for hours each night. He did help alice at the womens journal and in various locales on womens suffrage pretty died peacefully at home in 1909. Alice retained her role as editor of the womens journal. She never married. A brief relation relationship she had with an armenian villages student ended when he died unexpectedly on a trip home. Eventually alice moved out of the familys large dorchester home and lived in cambridge. Besides working for womens suffrage shoe to perform work such as temperance the womens trade union leg of the naacp and armenian causes. Unfortunately an unscrupulous Financial Financial agent lost most of her savings but with the help of women like Eleanor Roosevelt and Carrie Chapman she managed in reduced circumstances to live on. She died in 1950. Her ashes and henrys were deposited decide to cease. Like her near disappearance from history lucy left no offspring to carry on her name and there is scant physical evidence of the places she lived and carried afterward. Though she died 27 years before when gained the right to vote she never lost hope that universal justice would be achieved. She wrote we know it is only waiting to bless the world. She was ever grateful that she lived a long life to devote to this cause. This brave passionate woman deserves more prominence in our history books. In writing this biography ofl. A. Canterbury school the marble monument but i want to give lucy stone her rightful place front and center is one of the major and they womens Rights Movement and most importantly in our nations history. Thank you. [applause] i will be happy to answer questions. I know its always hard to be the first one. It was asphalt and over. Yes. What were your primary resources . My primary sources for small was the extensive correspondence of the block will family which is a Collaborative Congress and the schlessinger libr bread clip of bread clips even though despite the fact that so many letters were lost and particularly henrys letters were lost the blackwell family and lucy stone even though she didnt write about herself wrote hundreds and hundreds of letters. I dont know how she had time to correspond with as many people as she did. Someday i hope there will be a volume on line. I was the principle means and newspaper accounts of her and recollections by people who knew her well. But the letters were the primary source. You mentioned she was unknown and untested when garrison are they Antislavery Society invited her to become a speaker that is correct. What was it that they saw in her that would allow her to speak even in front of promiscuous audiences . She becomes famous but she was not known then. She was not known ben thats right the chair contact with Abby Kelly Foster who was speaking on abolition and Abby Kelly Foster encourager to become a Public Lecture. There Antislavery Society was looking for people. They welcomed more speakers. They pay them very little. The other thing and i dont know how much influence has had but when lucy graduated from oberlin and William Lloyd garrison was there. He was there for an Antislavery Movement at a meeting and he heard about lucy because she was such an outstanding student and even though she wasnt able to give this talk based on her essay that she never wrote her Graduation Ceremony he heard about her and theres a letter he wrote to his wife commenting on this miraculous lucy stone whom he had heard about. I dont know the intricacies of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society in terms of what it did but she actually went to boston to talk to whoever was head of that as well as talking to Abby Kelly Foster who probably put in the word for her so im guessing that was it. They only paid her 6 a week so it didnt put out much money for her. Yes, yes. At the two societies emerged you mentioned in passing that the American Society favored state a state plodding work and to expand on that did each style of pursuing the cause reflect lucys style and personality . Well actually i was just hearing from another witness historian today who wished she could be here but she said a really good history of the american womens Suffrage Association has yet to be written. We dont know that much about them. You know i think that dichotomy of the National Approach of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the statebystate approach of the american is probably overstated because susan b. Anthony in particular was often present when states were trying to add womens suffrage to their constitutions which usually failed so i think thats probably not a hard and fast rule to show the differences between the two organizations. I dont know if it really reflects lucy but you have to remember that it was up to states to determine voting rights. States have traditionally been the ones to determine who could vote in the state so i think probably was just sort of a traditional approach. She was fed up with politicians. That is another reason perhaps why she took the statebystate approach. She wanted to get out to the people into the male voters but she was totally fed up with both democrats and republicans because neither would support womens rights. You have to remember that for both Political Parties having womens vote did neither won a lot of good because women would vote sometimes somewhat vote democratic and some would vote republican whereas in pushing for blackmail suffers not only was that done because slaves had been oppressed for centuries but also because the Republican Party knew those men would vote republican. Im guessing that lucy probably didnt want to spend a lot of time in washington d. C. Dealing with issues she wanted them to support womens suffrage. Between her graduation speech speech experience in their unwillingness to write out her speech for someone to read and her later unwillingness to write out her speeches. The graduation speech was basically on principle. There is no doubt that was done and she wrote about that and she rode her parents about it and she got comments from them and they were all proud of her for not doing that and not having a man read something that she had written. I think the reason for not writing out her speeches was first of all she was so good at extemporaneous speaking and also when she was at oberlin there was a letter to her parents about how much he disliked writing which is kind of interesting for someone who edited a newspaper for so many years and wrote a lot of editorials but she said she disliked writing an impact i did have when i went to oberlin to do research of her College Years there are these pages where she wrote a paper for a class that she created in the form of a newspaper which i thought was interesting. That was her essay as if she were writing for a newspaper which foretells what she was later interested in. As they say the graduation speech was on principle. She never thought about writing about herself. She was incredibly humble. Everybody knew that about her. Yes, the very back. I think she was absolutely correct. H. L. Mencken said the difference between the democratic and Republican Party are between twiddle dee and twiddle so at this stage of history she was armored vans and a lot of the other people in terms of analyzing the political system. I would agree and it was very frustrating. It wasnt only frustrating for stone but anthony and stanton when they were trying so hard to get these clinical parties to stand behind womens suffrage. Electric company has in its collection the friendship album of amy Latoya Williams which is signed by lucy stone and i was wondering if you might Say Something about her relationship with prominent africanamerican women who traveled in the abolition and reformed circles some of whom were graduates of oberlin college. Actually dont know much about her relationship with other africanamerican women. I do know that she was celebrated by the africanamerican community. I dont know about cassie in terms never found the letters you are talking about. I wish i had