President of the white house historical association. Our program is ready to begin. Please welcome the first lady of the United States, dr. Jill biden. Welcome to the first Lady Symposium hosted by the white house historical association in partnership with American University. First ladies are not elected and they have no constitutional role to guide them but over the years these incredible women have served our country in their own way carving out a place for themselves in our history books. Theyve supported their husbands agendas and launched their own campaigns. Theyve comforted americans during times of crisis and helped us to rise to better days. Theyve been trusted advisors diplomats and legends in their own rights. Im humbled by the accomplishments of those who have come before me and grateful for the lessons they teach. The stories of our first ladies arent always told but they are critical to our history as well. They reveal so much about the presidency about our Countrys Relationship to the world and about Womens Role in america. And thats what today is all about. Since first Lady Jacqueline Kennedy founded the white house historical association in 1961. This organization has worked hand in hand with first ladies to protect the Executive Mansion and share the rich history it holds. We are grateful for their dedication and for their resources like this symposium. Todays panelists are scholars and experts and i hope you enjoy hearing what they have to say and more than that. I hope you will be inspired to keep learning about our first ladies and the history they helped write. Thank you, dr. Biden and good Morning Everyone and welcome to the first Lady Symposium. My name is Anita Mcbride. I am the director of American Universitys first Ladies Initiative at Au School of public affairs. I also serve on the board of the white house historical association as Education Committee Chair and i am thrilled that these two organizations have partnered in this important event. We thank first lady Jill Biden for her firming message that our work in this daylong gathering of experts will no doubt provide you with a deeper understanding of the women who served as first lady of the United States and how they shape this role throughout our history. We look forward to further working with first lady Jill Biden as she now serves our country inspired by the women who came before her. The partnership between American University and the white house historical association began with the launch of the universitys first Ladies Initiative in 2011 when the first of a series of national conferences was held at the university followed by additional conferences at the national archives and President Ial libraries around the country. The association has been a key collaborator with the university since the founding of the initiative and this partnership has expanded to other projects that you will hear about shortly from aus president. Sylvia burwell. But Todays Event is the result of work that began at a gathering that took place in may 2020 when we virtually hosted an esteemed group of experts to start a robust dialogue about the women who had served as first lady the Evolution And Transformation of the role and the growing Visibility And Influence of first ladies. As you will learn today there is a thriving field of scholarship related to first ladies that are participants are eager to share with you. Id like to thank the superb team of historians and staff at the white house historical association and my colleagues at American University for their great work in planning this 2020 first Lady Symposium. I also want to acknowledge the archivist of the United States the librarian of congress the secretary of the smithsonian and the acting chairman of the national endowment for the humanities for their support a first ladies and our efforts. I now like to introduce Fred Ryan chairman of the board of directors for the white house historical association. Fred is Publisher And Ceo of the washington post. He is chairman of the ronald reagan President Ial Foundation And Trustee of the university of southern california as well as many organizations that have all benefited from his strategic vision and his depth of experience in the public and private and nonprofit sectors. He also recently became a firsttime author the much acclaimed Book Wine and the white house a history combines Freds Passion for History And Wine and was published by the white house historical association in 2020. Please join me in warmly welcoming Fred Ryan. Thank you everyone for joining us today. And thank you anita for that very kind introduction. I appreciate the great Leadership Anita that you provide to the white house historical association and this very important symposium. We would normally hold this symposium at decatur house, but today for the most part. Were in our own houses. And all this is a disappointment to many of us. In fact, it is enabled us through our digital reach to include a much broader national and global audience. We appreciate all of you making time to join us today. 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the white house historical association dr. Biden mentioned we were founded in 1961 by first Lady Jacqueline Kennedy as a private nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the Understanding Appreciation and enjoyment of the Executive Mansion. Many of the associations activities public programs Exhibitions Publishing and research are driven by our educational mission . One of the ways we seek to achieve our mission is through partnerships with cultural institutions organizations and leading universities. The association is honored to partner with American University. And the first ladys initiative. For Todays Event the first ladys symposium. Were very grateful to president. Sylvia burwell for her support of our partnership, which is thrived under her leadership at au. Well, Todays Symposium features the most accomplished experts and scholars who think and write critically about the role of first ladies. Im sure well hear a number of revealing and noteworthy stories throughout the day. And im also interested in the connections that we made across different historical errors. Traditionally first ladies have looked after the white house and its historic treasures. Caroline harrison had a deep interest in china services of past administrations edith roosevelt suggested creating a first Ladys Gallery of portraits to greet guests along the ground floor corridor. Edith wilson designated the China Room for the display of President Ial state services and Lou Hoover oversaw the first major effort to organize and catalog all objects in the white house collection. These efforts both preserve the past and transform the house into a museum and with mrs. Kennedy support and her successors that has become even stronger today. While history is given more Attention And Credit to their husbands. It was these women who collectively saved pieces of our history for future generations. Much of the associations work the acquisition of fine and decorative arts for the permanent collection. Conservation and preservation efforts the selection of state services and the commissioning of portraits directly involved the first lady of the United States. Weve been honored to work with 12 remarkable first. Ladies since 1961. We could not do these things without our supporters. So on behalf of the white house historical association. Thank you for your continued support of our work. Now id like to introduce Sylvia Burwell president of American University. Shes american universities 15th president and the first woman to serve in that role. Since coming to au in 2017, she has focused on building a University Community centered on Scholarship Learning and service. President burwell previously served as the 22nd Secretary of the us department of health and human services and also served as the director of the office of management and budget. Please join me in welcoming president burwell. Fred thank you so much and thank you for all that you do for the white house historical association and our partnership at American University, but you do so much more in terms of our community here and the nation whether thats your contributions and academics but in so many different ways, so thank you. Were thrilled to be a partner. Were thrilled about Todays Event, and im actually going to take a moment to do a little bit of a teaser and an announcement because were thrilled about the upcoming launch on June 1st of the first Ladies Association for Research And Education or flair and theres no one better to lead that than our shared Anita Mcbride. So were thrilled about that and also want to just take a moment to acknowledge stewart who is an important part of this partnership that we have together and what a joy that dr. Biden was able to join today even virtually and of course, happy 60th birthday to the white house historical association. Next year. Im very very hopeful that we can do this celebration in person. Au and the white house historical Association Share a long and impactful history our institutions understand that by learning about the past through Scholarship Research and civil dialogue that we can discover how we can all do our part to advance progress. And thats why together. We actually created recently the public History Graduate Fellowship in the history of slavery and its legacies in Washington Dc a new partnership between Wha And Aus antiracist Research And Policy center. I actually was recently able to speak with Mia Owens whos the inaugural fellow of this program, and shes finishing her first year as a public History Graduate in the student in our college of arts and sciences and Mia Talk to me about her work to deepen our understanding of the legacy of slavery in dc and her hope that these lessons can advance important and timely conversations about racial justice. An american University Part of our roles and institution of higher education is to be a convener especially in Washington Dc. We love working with partners like the white house historical association to address the issues of the day by creating Knowledge Teaching Mentoring and building community. First Lady Michelle Obama once said weve got a responsibility to live up to the legacy of those who came before us by doing all that we can to help those who come after us. Thats how weve always made progress each generation doing its part. To lift up the next so lets learn together and create lasting change for generations to come. Thank you. Much. Thank you, sylvia, and thank you fred for starting our day along with dr. Biden and Stewart Mclaurin president of the white house historical association. We are in for a very robust day. We appreciate Everyone Tuning in from around the country and around the world will begin our first panel first ladies and gender this panel will be moderated by association senior Vice President and director of the David M. Rubenstein national center for white House History Dr. Colleen shogan. My name is dr. Colleen shogan, and im a senior Vice President at the white house historical association and the director of the David Rubinstein Center for white house history. Im honored this morning to moderate our Opening Panel of the first ladies symposium. The consistent variable of focus for this first discussion is gender. Undoubtedly the historical role of first ladies has been affected by changing conceptions of gender that historical evolution continues today. Specifically in this panel, we will examine gender through a variety of lenses including societal relationships societal ideals material Culture Art and the history of slavery. Our first presenter is dr. Sara. Georgini who is a Series Editor for the papers of John Adams. She will be speaking on the Style And Substance of Abigail Adams. Sarah will be followed by dr. Cassandra good Assistant Professor of history at Marymountain University Dr. Good will focus on social relationships in the Founding Era. Our third presenter is dr. Marie Jenkins Schwartz Professor emeritus of history at the university of rhode island. She will discuss the gendered and idealized role of first lady, martha, washington. The fourth and final presenter on our panel will be dr. Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw the class of 1940 bicentennial Term Associate Professor in the department of the history of art at penn. Dr. Shaw will discuss the role of Gender And Portraiture drawing from the exhibit featuring the first ladies. She recently curated at the smithsonian national Portrait Gallery. After the presentations are complete the panel will be happy to take questions from our online audience. Please enter those questions in the Chat Function and we will get to as many as possible at the end of our program. Dr. Georgini, we look forward to your presentation and ill be back with more questions at the end of our program. Good morning, Everyone And Hello from beautiful boston. Thank you so much to my colleagues and to our terrific organizers for gathering scholars in Dialogue Today to talk about some remarkable women who are still making history. So, lets Dive Right in. How do you start a revolution and keep a republic all wild Guiding Virtue and votes . As were going to learn from Scholars Today first ladies like Abigail Adams travel down career paths that took a few plot twists before they ended up in the public eye today. Ill Use Fashion to explore the Style And Substance of Abigail Adams and her legacy and until our doors can reopen safely to the public. I bring you greetings from our virtual, massachusetts historical society, which features more than 12 million collections to explore many of which are online including our free atoms papers digital editions now in the adams papers alone, we are blessed with a quarter of a million manuscript pages stretching over 10 generations. So yeah, the adams is and abigail wrote a Lot And Plenty of her letters. I think talk to other first ladies that were reintroducing here for you today next slide, please. So it seems right that we should begin our Morning Road Trip into the past with this letter at the center of your screen one of the real treasures at the manuscript is the Manuscript Trove at the historical society. This is abigails march 31st, 1776 letter to her husband john now as abigail wrote and this is about three quarters of the page down in the new code of laws, which i suppose it will be necessary for you to make i desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous in favorable to them than your ancestors do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could if particular Care And Attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no Voice Or Presentation now thinking back on Abigails Era a time before women won the right to vote when the practice of legal coverture often restrained them from holding property and running for office. You might wonder how would women foment a rebellion, though . Now while manuscripts can supply some of the answer i think turning to the rich Material Culture of early american fashion really helps us to explore that question in fall, and you see just a few samples of it here on the bottom Lefthand Part of your screen. You see Abigails Pocket which she tied to her skirts and packed with letters on the top right Hand Part of your screen. You see a wonderful little sample of address attributed to abigail in our collections thats chocolate brown with hot pink polka dots and well talk about that in a moment and then finally on the bottom you see that beautiful Amber Silk Dress that we know Abigail Moore for at least one portrait. So women like Abigail Adams were at the center of early americas economic life. They shaped consumer markets. They made investments. They bought stocks and land by developing this unique form of what we call economic citizenship. Stabilize the governments financial health and propelled american Industry Fashionable or not their choices dictated local farming methods and steered the course of global trade. If were interested in uncovering their role in guiding the nation, we only need to look down the streets of the past. Theyre women open shops managing free and enslaved labor. They ran plantations and operated printing presses looking at this terrific panel of scholars, and im eager to learn from all of you today. I want to remind you of a bold truth about historical evidence studying something like fashion can flip the narrative that we know looking at Abigails Fashion choices tells us something about gender roles as scholar Richard Senate reminds us in the craftsmen making is thinking Material Culture reveals relationships between Craft And Community Maker And Consumer private and public spheres these rich histories of craft in early america deserve our greater analysis first ladies like Abigail Adams and her Daughterinlaw Louisa Catherine deepen our story thinking like a craftsman is more than a state of Mind Senate writes. It has a sharp social edge take a look at Abigails Era of Style Welldressed Elites relied on paintings and here ill ask for the next slide. Please like these John Singleton copley masterworks at the museum of fine Arts Boston just down the road here from the historical society. They use them as theyre calling cards abigail knew the families here quite well, the royals the hancocks the quincys these are and the lawrence even if she did not always agree with their Politics Abigail appreciated their efforts to project a distinctively american Intellect Culture and class as the new nation opened to the world first Ladies Fashion lives live on in memorabilia too bicentennial celebrants for example rejuvenated interest in Womens History by exploring what their ancestors wore to the revolution and now you can make it yourself with maybe an etsy assist. Just look at these butterick patterns and simplicity patterns in the center of your screen. So as we delve into the eras Material Culture, its natural that we find it layered with stories. Drawing on first lady Abigail Adams is a case study. Lets explore how she used three tactics to establish her economic citizenship. She was a buyer a seller and believe it or not what we recognize today as influencer it wasnt easy early american women did business in a difficult economic Landscape One that favored white male property owners and sanctioned transatlantic slavery. Through buying Selling And Borrowing women made networks reimagined identities shared goods and forged chains of credit. Fashion encompasses individual style, yes, but its also about economic collaboration and as well hear in sessions to come. Its a way to amplify women social and political concerns. Look at address a fan or as well see abigails note asking thomas jefferson to shop for her in paris. What we notice is that women were vital and widening the early american marketplace is they tried on new looks created jobs and ran estates. Heres what we see when we reunite abigails letters and her clothes. Power was part of every transaction next slide, please. From a young age Abigail Adams understood american Womens Value is consumers when her husband john went abroad in 1778. She persuaded him to send back Linen Calico Gauze lace Ribbon And Barcelona handkerchiefs to massachusetts in bulk shipments for resale a savvy Business Woman who knew that the revolutionary war would cause prices of European Goods to skyrocket abigail turned an impressive profit despite her uninsured goods often being captured by the british when john got cold feet about what we might consider her black Market Operation Abigail pressed him to continue writing in 1779. It is a risk to send me anything across the water. I know yet if one in three arrives, i should be a gainer. She spent her earnings on necessities for their young family then abigail purch. Thing on the Family Wish List that john had dragged his feet on buying her own carriage. Offered suggestions on how abigail might make use of the goods he sent and the money she spent on vermont land acquisitions as we can see here from this 1782 exchange. He deferred to her expertise. They also collaborated on ways that clothing. The goal on the grimy streets of boston helped abigail to advertise her husbands diplomatic prowess in securing Dutch Recognition of american independence. Bold dresses invited bold talk the green silk was hardly every day where Abigails Sense of style evolved is the colonies fought to become a nation when abigail traveled through her duties as Wife Mother and farm manager. She followed the womens fashions of the day a square neck to gown with two layered petticoats supported by Whale Bone stays underneath a Matching Pair of low buckled heels and a frilly white lace Mob Cap topped off her Ensemble Color and brilliance were muted during wartime many women embraced planer homespun cloth to symbolize their support for liberty, but as we can tell from that lively sample of chocolate brown and pink Polka Dot Silk abigail found the way to experiment with pallet next slide, please. When she joined john in europe in the 1780s a new world of fashion opened up a selflabeled Ambassadorist Abigail soon grasped the social power of diplomatic dress. She sported trendy colors like spanish fly, which was a bright green and appeared at various court functions in Lavender Creek Gold fringe and gleaming pearl pins outfitted in yards of blonde lace and the correct number of sleeve ruffles that separated her from Queen Charlotte Abigail served her reflection and told her sister. This is my Rigging Abigail was a sharp Fashion Critic at core 2. She called the english and here i quote abigail more ridiculous than the french in the pursuit of style. She preferred dutch womens wear which included less rouge and thick quilted coats with sensible black Tammy Wool aprons, but allowed them to move easily between urban and rural tasks. Abigail wrote long journal letters and sent home fashion magazines from the british and french courts describing dresses and diamonds in sparkling detail. Ever a thrifty Yankee Abigail hung on to hand me downs and upcycled. Her bestknown looks a delightful detail that we discovered just a few volumes ago quietly and generously abigail regifted her fancy Court Attire to her teenage nieces nieces in rural, new hampshire. Next slide please. Thanks to her retail experiences during the revolutionary War Abigail remained a key contact for american shopping for foreign goods throughout the 1780s in paris us minister thomas jefferson sought out Abigails Aide as they both struggled to run diplomatic households on a tight budget. To ease the burden she and jefferson shopped for each other. So take a closer. Look at this inclusion of their wellitemized accounts. He purchased and sent shoes Madeira Wine silk stockings find Damas Cloth and french statuary. She mailed him custom shirts new buttons and fine irish linen as jefferson observed abigail. He never quite managed to surpass her Business Savvy in finding a Fashion Deal confessing in august 1786, you know the balance of trade was always against me. Once she returned home to the United States abigails economic voice changed tone while john continued to buy Land Abigail turned to investing in bonds and securities a shrewd trader in private. She remained keenly aware of maintaining her public role as first Lady Abigail was careful to help set the tone for federal. Fashion in her Family Circle modest high quality clothes that drew from european influences, but were mostly americanmade reiterating the atoms of support of the new nations manufacturers. First lady Abigail Adams favored a full Dress Something less clingy and youthful than the trendy drapery dresses and a muslim cap. Finished with the pleated border or lace. She traded dress patterns with her sisters and arranged for couture items like a 30 Wedding Dress to be sent to relatives shipping. Fine clothes still carried risks when the Wedding Dressed in some caps were lost in the Mail Abigail waited several months for news of the delivery. Next slide please. As first Lady Abigail taylored her style choices to bolster her husbands political prospects an outburst of patriotism evident in addresses to the president and the wearing of black caucades followed the Alien And Sedition acts in the summer of 1798. Abigail used fashion to promote her support. She presented a black caucade adorned with a Silver Eagle just like this to a visiting core of new York Voters think of the optics. Family informants in philadelphia and boston. Meanwhile kept abigail current on politics and Fashion Nephew William reported to abigail that a cadre of young massachusetts men known as lady adams rangers stood ready to form a military unit in her honor. Its tempting to imagine them marching just rows of Silver Eagle all glow next slide, please. Is a Buyer Seller in . Figure abigail learns that the adams brand political economy was not to everyones taste when Mercy Otis warren published her history of the United States in 1805, john and abigail took offense at her depiction of his Role Or Lack of it in the revolution this triggered an estrangement that lasted until 1812 when they engineered a happy reunion quite literally here pinned together by Fashion Abigail had this Gold And Seed Pearl Ring and Brooch Part of the historical societys collections now made to celebrate the renewal of their friendship. Abigail wrote to mercy i forward to you a token of love and friendship. I hope it will not be the less valuable to you for combining with a lock of my own hair that of your ancient friends of his request the lock of hair with which you favored me from a head which i shall ever respect. I have placed in a Handkerchief Pin set with pearl in the same manner with the ring. I shall hold it precious. This is i think is a wonderful example of the perils of political friendships as revolutionaries became citizens, and i know my Colleague Dr. Cassandra good may have some ideas on this topic as well as her view of this incredible jewelry next slide, please. Curating the Material Biography of a revolutionary like Abigail Adams offers us a real chance to see how women crafted power and to reexamine the lives that first ladies forged with revolutionaries at the helm or better at the Spinning Wheel politics and fashion often combined and surprising ways. Let me conclude with a word about the challenges we face as public historians librarians archivists and curators constructing first ladys lives telling the stories of women like Abigail Adams takes time and depth in 2018. We hosted a yearlong series of exhibits and events at the massachusetts historical society titled remember abigail next slide, please. After much discussion lots of crowdsourcing and really wonderful community partners we settled on four aspects of Abigails Life to explore in our Student And Teacher Workshops Twitter takeovers abigails allstars, March Madness Competition walking tours public Programs Author talks blog posts and popup exhibits. Yes first ladies yield a lot of history. So you just seen a taste of one on Style And Substance. We also traced her political Thought And Independence and ideals we reappraised her career as a selfpronounced former s of the Family Home to understand how concepts of Nature And Nurture guided the young republic and finally for the fourth season of our remember abigail journey. We explored her Life And Legacy as you can too in our adams papers digital editions and resources online through 19th and 20th century interpretations of her. Act so lots of visitors some new abigail fans. Lots of Material Culture finds that we can use to explore the manuscripts anew and many tweets later. Heres what we learned long after Abigail Adams era women kept on fomenting rebellion often with first ladies in the lead. Thank you. Thanks so much, dr. Georgini for that terrific presentation, and i really liked your conclusion there at the end. Our next presenter is dr. Dr. Cassandra good from marymount university. We look forward to your presentation. Thank you, and it is great to be here with all of you and virtual world and thanks to the white house historical association for focusing on this important topic and its always great to go after sarah who already brought up, you know a fair amount about the Abigail Adams and some im going to sort of add on to from another angle. So im going to take a sort of unorthodox approach to looking at women and power particularly the first Ladies Today and that is their friendships with men. Slide, please. So in the Founding Era, there was no clear role for the wife of the president much less the president himself every action as weve seen from sarah every choice of dress helped establish precedent for the new nation. There was little separation between the public and private lives of political figures and their lives in this period so the social life of the President S wife always had political significance. The first ladies of the earlier republic were setting up the social spaces where Power Brokering would happen. They were female politicians who had recognizably public political roles. These women also in the mixed sex spaces of the Nations Capital. Formed friendships with magnets to seeing them emotionally as well as becoming avenues for both exerting and accessing political power and if you can just click here this should come out just were seeing men and women talking to each other, right . This is theyre not separated at this period and that these people that are talking to each other are probably not married. These are people who are friendly or friends. Women double their access to power by having both a husband and male friends who could help advance their political causes and male friends recognized and called upon womens political power. The notion that men and women could be friends was and is still today a contested one. Americans in the Founding Era were really worried about the seduction of women and they thought that friendships between men and women could lead to this. They also worried as many contemporary americans do that friendship would inevitably turn into romantic love what we might think of as the when harry met sally problem. The literature of the early republic portrayed Seduction Or Romance as the only possible outcomes of a friendship between men and women slide, please. This is one of the most famous novels of the era late 18th early 19th century in which the female heroine is seduced and impregnated by a man. Who does this by saying, lets be friends and she tragically dies at the end. So heres the outcome of a friendship between men and women, but the reality that we find in the archives tells a different health than novels like this do many elite men and women were able to have longlasting affectionate friendships that had a meaningful impact upon their lives. These were relationships in which both men and women were intellectual companions and which women were equals rather than subordinates. As a law actually made them in marriages. Next slide its unsurprising in that context then that all of the nations first first ladies had male friends indeed first, ladies and other political wives were more likely than other women. Define find friends among the opposite sex. They were well informed on political matters and could converse with men on the political scene. They held social events and paid calls on their Husbands Behalf Building friendly ties with politicians out of necessity. First ladies were vital to establishing the social tone in Washington And Part of how they did. This was through friendships with men slide, please. So Dolley Madison was well known for the network of friends both male and female federalists and democratic republican that she formed in, washington. She had the peculiar power her friend Anthony Morris wrote to make enemies into france. In the earliers in Madisons Presidency when there was a whole lot of partisan rancor that would feel familiar. This was no small feat. Her talent for creating a welcoming and collegial atmosphere at the President S house was vital to keeping politics moving. However, this picture of social life in some ways. I think flattens relationships because it doesnt really distinguish between political allies or collegial acquaintances and affectionate reciprocal relationships. While the Term Friend might apply to all of these the emotionally rich and enduring relationships that we would understand as friendships had stronger political values. So while dolly did reach across the aisle, most of her close male friends were from the same political persuasion. Many people at the time and in retrospects have laotted Womens Ability to soothe partisan divides in apolitical supposedly social settings. But the fact is women were political beings. Dolly may have entertained both federalists and republicans. But her strongest ties were to men from her party. Next slide please. Other political spouses were no different we heard about Abigail Adams splitting with mercy, Otis Warren and here you see one of her close friends thomas jefferson. She tried to remain friends with him even as jefferson, you know was making political talks on John Adams in 1797. She said that although he was quote wrong in politics my friendship for him has ever been unshaken. But after jefferson became President Some of the actions he took impacted her family and her Husbands Legacy directly. She took these actions as personal fronts that made her lose her steam for him and friendship was no longer possibility. Well, John Adams, ultimately reconciled with jefferson. It was years later actually abigail weighed longer to rekindle that friendship. As political actors then you can see that women would have also needed emotional support in the same way that politicians did in a world when politics were often quite ugly. Male politicians were ideal friends for this task next slide, please. Abigail adams commented on this need to referend James Lovell a member of the continental congress in 1780. She talked about being sick sick of politics. She knew he was in the thick of political ugliness and it is cruel for female to wound who ought to soothe the statements herod brow, but at that moment my indignation overpowered my tenderness. Annual recognize the idea that Womens Role was supposed to be to soothe the brow of the herald politician because of her supposed removed from politics. But she was unable to do so she was in too deep herself. Next slide in fact, it was abigail who turned to level in many cases for comfort rather than the reverse with John Adams in europe for a years and not being a great Correspondent Abigail Substitute a level for john as her emotional confidant as she told level it has been a relief to my mind to drop some of my sorrows through my pen. Which had your friend been present . Would have been poured only into his bosom your friend meaning John Adams. A motion was also going to play a role in the way that friends address patronage requests to first ladies. They would invoke ties a friendship as well as the importance of family when asking for help obtaining offices for themselves or for other members of their families. For instance when Charles Store wrote abigail asking for a particular position a Patronage Post basically for his father. He admitted where i seeking a monument for myself. I might be diffident, but when soliciting for the interest and a happiness of a parent, i am emboldened and venture to presume upon your Friendship Goodness on the occasion. And i want to just skip the next two slides. So if you can go, there we go. When its involvement in politics particularly first ladies went far beyond patronage though often historians describe patronage as a primary form of influence that women exercised in political life in this period however, women could serve as conduits of power for their male friends on a variety of issues male friends took advantage of first Ladys Access to the era of the president writing them in lieu of the president when they had delicate messages to convey. These men were relying on the influence of these women as both wives and savvy political players. For Instance Joseph Hopkinson who we see here use Louisa Catherine adams as an intermediary to deliver a message to her husband John Quincy. He wrote her a really long letter in january 1823 and basically said lets think of this what im going to tell you as a friendly chat and at the end of the letter he had an important postscript. Ps you will understand i would not dare to say or write half of the above to mr. A but you may do what you please with it. Of course hopkinson expected louisa to show it to her husband. She did and he wrote a reply directly to hopkinson. Male friends might also expect to receive political News And Commentary from first ladies. Although such communications were usually accompanied by sort of formulaic disclaimers. Louisa actually wrote hopkinson at one point saying that people of a nation have more judgment and more justice than we are willing to give them credit for this is sort of contrasting her views with his own while she gener that he would quote think her romantic and that she was unused to right to gentlemen in particularly on any serious subjects. Its not really true. She also made an argument for womens superior political acumen. We women have no rule by which to form our opinions, but daily experience. She said and if this fact admitted of close observations 9 times out of 10. Our practical knowledge would be found to be correct. Next slide please. Dolley madison similarly combined disclaimer and political intelligence when she wrote her friend Thomas Park in 1807 with updates on the attempted burr revolt. If i was a politician, i would collect for you a great deal of news. She began. Explaining that she did have at least a scrap for him. She gave a concise report a burrs movements near natchez and the Governors Response explaining the jefferson had conveyed that information to congress that morning. Jefferson had received a letter at prizing him of the situation which he shared with james madison. James clearly told Dolly Dolly and her friend were the some of the first outside of official government channels to learn this news. The friendships between men and first ladies offer a window into a particular sort of political identity and power. Indeed women in this era took up the only tools to which they had Access Persuasion and influence. Men too relied upon these tools and an error without institutionalized parties or much centralized power, so i dont want to suggest that these are uniquely feminine kinds of power. However, without the right to vote or serve as serve as elected officials women relied particularly heavily on influence slide, please. Abigail adams adapted a line from Alexander Pope and told her husband that women charmed by accepting by submitting sway. Hiding their Sway Or Power to influence behind submission women like abigail skillfully created a space for exercising power. Given that the friendships i have described here are Mix Sort of the traditional tools of political Power Or Mix Reason And Emotion to get political power and alternate ways. I think that looking at these friends is an ideal way to understand womens power. Part of the task of differentiating the political power at women like Abigail Adams from that of male political leaders is in how we define power itself. Persuasion and influence are very different ways. Of exerting power then Dominance Or Coercion most errors of power particularly political scientists have been more interested in studying the latter Feminist Theory and contrast has created a different concept of power one that understands power as Quote Energy Strength and effective interaction. This definition of power often focuses on relationships. Taking a panic rns notion that power is not individual property, but rather quote corresponds to the human ability to act in concert. Americas earliest first ladies had lives in which the political and social the instrumental and the emotional were intertwined. Their friendships with men were political relationships by default. From their positions of power these first ladies engaged in relationships that escaped the traditional bounds of gender roles inherent in family marital or samesex relationships. For women in the public eye to do this set a model for greater flexibility in both gender and political orders slide, please. And click so with this in mind we should no longer picture a founding fraternity, but rather a Founding Cohort of both men and women. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, dr. Good and for that great exposition of expanding our notion of power that power is indeed the ability to persuade as well as traditional mechanisms that we think. Our next presenter is dr. Marie Jenkins Schwartz from the university of rhode island. Good morning. Im delighted to be here on this panel of brilliant scholars so that weve heard so far and looking forward to the rest of the day. My talk this morning is called beginning with Martha Washington performing the gendered role of first lady. Martha washington knew from the start that the role of first lady was in part performative. Everything she said and did what she wore how she entertained whom she associated with seem to evoke a public response. She dared not act too much like royalty. The people of the United States had declared themselves free of monarchy in 1776. Still as the wife of the new first president of the new republic. She sought respect at home and abroad. And so she positioned herself as a lady of distinction. Carefully considering her every move. The level of scrutiny took some getting used to half a year after her husband assumed the Presidency Martha said she felt more like a State Prisoner than anything else. She hardly dared venture outside for fear of offending someone or being found wanting. My hair is set and dressed every day. She wrote a Kens Woman from the capitol. She dressed fashionably as mistress of Mount Vernon. But now she fretted over her wardrobe. Slide too, please. Martha was on troubled about aspect of her appearance. She went about with enslaved attendance particularly her ladies made on a judge. By her mid teens own a headmastered the fancy sewing and other skills necessary to maintain marthas elaborate words or a Wardrobe Style of hair. Just as important. Owner understood the differential behavior expected of enslaved servants both in private and in public spaces. Whether she was drawing her Mistresses Bath or accompanying her on social calls. Own i had to anticipate her mistresses every demand. To stand aside when she wasnt wanted. But always within Reach Or Hearing for the time she was could go back to the Speaker View. Its like on a judge attended to their own Hair And Hygiene and wardrobe in addition to their mistresses. Described as nearly white and very much freckled. Owner was under scrutiny alongside her mistress. In martha, Washingtons World personal attendance were symbols of status not to be ignored. Owner was part of the first ladys persona. The role of elite lady and of ladies made were learned. Many girls grew up in homes where they saw their assigned parts performed day to day. But Martha Dandridge whose family was merely well off lacked such models. Only elite families especially trained servants to help them dress and tend to other personal needs. Jack and Fanny Dandridge were land holders and slaveholders but virginias grandes held thousands of acres of land lived in large and elaborately furnished homes and held many scores if not hundreds of people in bondage. The dandridge just lived in a modest. Twostory Wood Frame Home on 500 acres where they held 15 or 20 people in slavery. Girls of Marthas Background were expected when they came of age to marry someone of similar wealth and social status to their parents. They learn to keep house from their mothers. As part of her Training Martha would have learned to supervise the enslaved people who cooked and clean ended other domestic chores in the dandridge household. They tended to be janes of all trades or children to young to work in the fields. Personal conduct was an important part of the instruction. Slaveholders and slaves alike had to walk and talk in a manner that befitted their station. Reflecting the nuances of status one did not speak to ones betters in the same way once but with equals. Neither did one speak to free servants in the same way as to enslave servants. Although the dandrages were not grandes at age 18 Mary Martha married into one of virginias richest and most prominent families. As the bride of daniel park custis, she had to relearn the art of walking talking and dressing this time as an elite lady. For one Thing Martha had to learn to command a much larger contingent of enslaved domestic help. In the custers home. Scores of enslaved servants worked at specialized occupations under her super sufficient the elaborate routines followed in elite households such as removing the tablecloth after each course at dinner. What have been new to martha . Martha spent seven years as daniels wife. 18 months after he died in 1757 she remarried. This time it was the groom who married up and not the bride. George washington owned Mount Vernon at the time and he claimed people as property. But his wealth was modest compared to marthas inheritance. Slide three, please. After the Marriage Martha brought her highly trained domestic help to Mount Vernon which over time underwent transformation from a much more modest home into the 20 Room Mansion visitors see today. The washingtons entertained in grand fashion and each Family Member had his or her own personal attendant. The washingtons ordered luxury goods from europe and tended to set them off as elites. For martha orders included Silk Hose Gloves Jewelry and corset stays good easy made and very thin. There were also luxury goods for entertaining including Wine Mustard and sugar. Guest came and droves as many as 400 a year in the 1760s and 1770s. Slide 4, please. When George Washington took the oath of office of the presence of the presidency and 1789. Martha wants again facing the necessity of redefining yourself. This time as first lady. Despite her expressions of anxiety this transformation was not drastic. And that neither of the washington scrapped their identities as Mistress And Master of Mount Vernon. The slaveholding plantation on the Potomac River was a source of livelihood. Of course. But it also grounded the washingtons in the class of elites who ruled virginia and now the new nation. On a judge in the small number of other Mount Vernon slaves who accompanied the washingtons to the to the Nations Capital were chosen with care each had a history of delivering impeccable service and all had proven their loyalty. Owner appears to have excelled in serving the first lady until may 1796 when she escaped to, new hampshire. Slide five, please. This is a copy of an ad the washingtons placed on page one of the philadelphia gazette. In an effort to secure owners return but own a managed to make her escape permanent. Despite being recognized and her whereabouts reported to the washingtons. Ask later why she gets fled on a set. You want it to be free, maybe learn to read and write. Admitting that she had better Food Clothing and housing than most other slaves. She made clear her desire to live as a free woman to marry and have a family. Onus disappearance was a personal loss from martha. But also an embarrassment. A dent in her carefully constructed Persona Onus Presence had been intended to remind people that the first lady was an important and distinguished woman. Someone worthy of her physician Owners Escape revealed all to clearly the discontent that slaveholders denied existed among the people they held in bondage it revealed the inequality an artificiality of status built on the enslavement of others. Marthas washingtons and own a judges stories remind us that gendered performances varied depending on class and standing we can come back to Speaker View now. For a woman like Martha Possession of highly trained attractive and enslaved personal attendance. Signaled Wealth And Distinction for a woman like ona a wealthy and socially prominent mistress single signaled Subservience And Insecurity both women were constrained of course by expectations of a patriarchal society. But their experiences of it different. One had much greater ability to maneuver in the world than to the other. They each had their own concepts of womanhood. Although for a long time one of them held the resources and power to compel the other to adhere to hers. Americans have from the nations founding expected their first ladies to exemplify an idealized woman. But the ideal changes over time and from one social group to another. In Martha Washingtons day among the elite class that ruled, virginia. A great Lady Health servants in captivity for personal convenience and for show expectations of subsequent first ladies varied for example 30 years after the Washington Presidency ended. The idea of a slaveholding first lady was not so widely admired as in Martha Washingtons day. At least not among certain politicos slide six, please. The President Ial election of 1828 one of the most vicious campaigns and President Ial history. Pitted incumbent president John Quincy adams against Andrew Jackson Slide 7, please. One of the many disputes between the candidate supporters was about which of their Wives Rachel Jackson or Louisa Adams would make the better first lady. Jackson supporters tried to present Rachel Jackson as the unassuming plain old housewife of the Tennessee Farmer she was hardly a plain old housewife. She had been born into a prosperous slaveholding for family from virginia. And at the time she and andrew live near nashville on a thousand Acre Cotton Plantation where they held a hundred or so people in bondage. Their land and human property together with andrews previous military and political successes. Place the jacksons squarely within the class of elites who ruled the country. But Jackson Supporters prefer to emphasize that his humble frontier beginning. And they apparently believed that the majority of americans voters. What prefer to have as first lady a Plane Housewife from tennessee. Rather than a fancy Slaveholding Mistress or a sophisticated and experienced diplomate diplomats wide and incumbent first lady like Louisa Adams for that matter. During the Election Rachel was charged with Adultery And Bigamy for living with andrew before obtaining a divorce from her first husband. Slide 8, please. Newspaperman charles hammond pictured here and other atomsmen hampered away on rachel supposed moral failings. Have a defendant such attacks as a duty. No degraded female he said. Should be placed at the head of the female society of the nation. Which is how he described the position of first lady . Could come back to speakers view, please. Mores have changed since Martha Washington and Rachel Jackson lived. So too have ideas about how women should look and act. Although even today we dont agree on what this should be. What hasnt seemed to change is the idea of scrutinizing the words and deeds a first ladies to see if they are performing the role of an idealized woman to our satisfaction. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Schwartz that terrific discussion of first Ladys Gender and the complicated history of slavery and how they relate to each other. Our fourth and final doctor Gwendolyn Dubois shaw from the university of pennsylvania, and we look forward to your Presentation Today as well. Thank you so much colleen. Its its wonderful to be here. Its a real pleasure. I wanted to start with a video of the exhibition every eye is upon me first ladies at the United States, which i curated for the national Portrait Gallery and which will be on view again after being dark for a little while this coming monday. So if you could play the video, that would be great. Thank you are you . It and us you will you and in the next slide, please. Okay, and so we have a number of lenders to the exhibition. Were very happy that the white house lent a majority of lent works or a dozen that were specially conserved with the aid of the white house historical association, and we worked very closely with the national first Ladys Library the library of congress the State Department and numerous President Ial sites and libraries next please. The Exhibitions Title comes from a letter. Weve been doing a lot of letters this morning a letter from Julia Gardner Tyler to her mother in which she said i very well know every eye is upon me my dear mother and i will behave accordingly and i like to begin with Julia Gardner Tyler because shes one of these few first ladies where we have a lot of images of her next slide, please. One of the earliest ones is actually kind of a coded image which shows her as the rose of long island in this print by alfred baker which appeared in a new York City newspaper. Theres a little cartouche on the side where her pocketbook would be which says something to the effective I Shop at bogart in the familys which was a Department Store in new york. It says theyre goods are are very nice and astonishingly cheap. This was a big scandal, of course for the Gardener Family young. Julia had been a debutant when she came out. She was known as the rose of long island and at the very bottom of that picture you can see a little rose there and so people recognize her her family shipped her off to europe until the controversy was able to die down and her father who was the senator from one of the two senators from new York State David Gardner brought her to Washington Dc. One day they were on a ship a new naval ship which had just been commissioned with this enormous gun this canon that was being demonstrated and exploded you can see that in in the print at right. Julia garner was not injured in the explosion, but her father was killed. She was not injured because she was below decks flirting with president john tyler. He was newly widowed the two were drawn close together by this terrible experience. They had about 30 Years Difference in their age. She was 24. He was about 54, but by all accounts they had a very loving relationship. They were married in the white house and she became one of these very young first Ladies Kind of the next slide, please. Because she came from a very wealthy and well healed background. There are a lot of images of her which is very unusual for women of her era and also very unusual for first ladies in general and ill talk about that in a second not only was this beautiful portrait by anneli from the white house available for our exhibition, but we could have also used the other painting that you see here, which is in the collection of the Smithsonians Museum of american history, and then there are photographs that exist of her she was alive during the era of photography and their early types and then photographs from later in her life as you can see at upper right in addition portraits of her were made into popular prince like the one at center and so her image really was deployed a cross a wide plat. Form of media which again was very unusual for women of her era, but because she came from this wealthy family the gardeners of long island. She was born on gardiner island, which is still today held by her family. Its one of the largest privately owned islands in the United States and because of this she was in a very unique position in regard to formal portraiture next, please and you can see that here these two portraits of her the one on the right being from the collection of the american History Museum both of these images show her as though she were kind of a princess, you know, very literally to the manor born with wearing beautiful silks and jewels set in very romantic settings next, please and this is not the case for other first ladies. So for example in curating exhibition we were unable to locate any images any portraits of any kind that were accurate where you know accurate. Representations made during the lives of either Martha Skelton Jefferson the wife of thomas jefferson who predece him by many years or margaret Mccall Taylor the wife of Zachary Taylor who was alive, you know, during the era of photography and yet as a very busy woman, she had 10 children. She was not photographed or at least no photographs of her have survived to this day and this tells us something really, you know, very important about the role of gender in the preservation of images of our leaders and their families women were just not prioritized when it came to portraiture during the 19th century. So for these two very very important women in the history of the Presidency Martha Scalp And Jefferson and margaret Mccall Taylor. We simply dont know what they look like in the exhibition. We represented Margaret Taylor with her daughter Betty Taylor bliss with the picture. Her next please. Some first ladies like harry lane johnston, who was the niece of James Buchanan and who served in that capacity as his hostess and first lady really understood the power of portraiture and here you see her in a Marble Portrait Bust which she herself commissioned. Its in the collection of the smithsonian american Art Museum because she gave it to the nation along with her very extensive Art Collection and that formed the basis of the national fine arts collection, which is now the american Art Museum. Its very rare to have a portrait of a woman a named woman done in marble during this period and we may see lots of portraits of women that are well not really purchase, but lots of our presentations of women in marble, but more often they are allegorical portraits. They are types like Liberty Or Colombia or america but in the case of harriet lane johnston, she stood the power of portraiture and as a woman she decided that she needed to preserve her likeness not only in two dimensions, but in three dimensions next, please. At the national Portrait Gallery today, we commissioned portraits of first ladies, but this only began in 2006 with the portrait that you see on the left of Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2008 the second Commission Portrait of a first Lady Laura Bush was completed and the most recent one of Michelle Obama came in 2018, and this has been an effort by the Portrait Gallery to redress that gendered absence of portraits. Our collection is by no means as complete in the area of first ladies as it is incidence. We are the one place where you can you know, go besides the white house to see a full set of portraits of President S. But the exhibition could i have the next slide, please . The Exhibition Everyis upon me was the first real effort by the Portrait Gallery to show a comparable exhibition of first ladys portraits, and im very pleased that we were able to publish an Evergreen Book along with this first ladies of the United States which joins as a companion to americas President S, which was published in 2017 on the occasion of the reinstallation of the President S galleries and just the last side slide. And i want to encourage you if you are in washington, im exhibition is reopening on May 10th this coming week. It will be up for just 13 more days, which is absolutely heartbreaking for me. You dont even know but im glad that people be able to see you again. So if youre interested in it i encourage you to go to the website first ladies. Si. Edu, which well be up for a long time to come and has a wonderful teaching materials and all of the the labels and information and videos and theres some great interviews that that i did with with Anita Mcbride about the exhibition and if youre curious about my other work, my website is below. So you very much. Thank you very much, dr. Shaw, and it is very good news that the national Portrait Gallery is reopening even if its only for a few weeks so that we can view that exhibit in person now, i think were going to be joined by all of the panelists so we can have a brief Question And Answer with everyone one of our first question is from maggie, and i think its a good one given that we have talked about gender in all of these presentations. You view the current role of first lady as a gendered role and if so, how anybody can go whoever would like to go first as long as you unmute yourself. Yeah, i mean i can speak to that a little bit because i was recently talking about the question of Doug Mhoff as second gentleman, and whether he was getting more Press Coverage for instance as because hes a man or is it because hes the first second gentleman and usually we think of these spousal roles with this sort of social functions. I think those are gendered female, but they dont have to be but part of it is going to be thinking more expansively about the role of a spouse and more egalitarian visions marriage. So eventually there will be a first gentleman and i think he will do similar things but it is going to bend how we think about the roles in men and women. Anyone else who would like to speak to that . Okay. Next question. I think would be very helpful to our viewers. Its a question from nancy. What are your favorite books on the topic of first ladies . They can either be biographies or books about the first ladies. I think a lot of our audience would like to have a Reading List after this symposium. So if you could share some of your favorite books that youve read that would be terrific. So one of the blessings of working in the atoms papers is getting to meet researchers when theyre constructing these biographies and i have to say for Abigail Everyone falls a little bit in love with her and i think that bookside recommends include Edith B G Elliss Work on abigail as a writer and a thinker and a revolutionary. I think that rosemary sagari in revolutionary backlash also uses the Abigail Adams mercy, Otis Warren political relationship in a very effective way. Thats another great angle to understanding her and i think woody Holtons Assessment of abigail as this savvy Bond Speculator Kind of bit of an inside trader maybe for the 18th century is a really interesting. Look at Womens Economics Citizenship something we explored a little today. I do want to just add just briefly. Theres another way into understanding these womens lives. Thats their own words. So Lou Catherine Adams takes a stab at autobiography fairly early on she has one very anodyne version of this called record of a life, but then the title that tells us so much is her second try at autobiography and that is adventures of a nobody and you can read both of them in our Letter Press editions here and the diary in autobiographical writings of Louisa Catherine adams she also pops up from time to time reflected in her husband John Quincys diary. So theres an interesting cameo always look to the President S papers to see how the first Lady Kind of goes in and out of the political sphere. I think thats so interesting and you can read those of course as a digital edition on the historical society website. I always pay attention to mrs. Hated what today so i think theres theres a reflection there of their lives. So im you know, im a bit of a newcomer to first ladies i had to do a Crash Course over about two years. And so i relied on a lot of these books which you know, bring you through 200 years of these remarkable women in 400 pages or less right . And so i especially enjoyed Betty Boyd carolis first ladies the everchanging role and i have to give a shout out to her because she is an alum of the university of pennsylvania who represents as well. And you know, i found that was a really interesting one, especially because at certain points she digresses from first ladies to women who could have been first ladies and talks about them a little bit and you know and reminds us that there were many important women in the 19th century who and in the early 20th century, especially these are kind of the areas that ive been most fascinated by because i think that were more familiar with modern first ladies then we are with the earlier ones and so learning about how these these early first ladies navigated. These unusual spaces has been really fascinating and and she reminds us that there were a number of women who worked really hard to help their husbands gain that highest office and were unable to quite get there about what would it have been like, you know, had they ascended to to that role. So i really enjoyed that book. Um, and then also i i loved the title of Katie Anderson browers first women the Grace And Power of americas mod is first ladies because you know, this this issue of terminology i think is really important. You know, what do we call these women and they have always, you know, some of them like Abigail Adams wanting to be called mrs. President , for example, you know, theyve always had you know their own ideas about this and its become into an era of you know reconsidering whether you know the first lady is going to be you know, that the closest to the presidency that we will get as women. Its its important to kind of reassess these terms first ladies first women, you know for spouse. Theyre all of these terms that we can use and so i thought it was kind of charming that you know here where were, you know, starting to explore that through the titling of books. Well, i want to echo that you can look at the Participant List for this white house posium. And you will find a lot of suggestions for secondary literature. But i also love the autobiographies im someone addicted to autobiographies written by first ladies from barbara bush. And it just goes on but i also want to say the letters are very revealing and Martha Washingtons existing letters were published sometime ago. Im not even sure its still in print. But it might be available through a library a worthy partner. And this just make fascinating reading because youre right there with the ladies as their lives are unfolding and i feel a little deprived working in the early period as you move forward you tend to get more written documentation, although thats not entirely true you have someone like Florence Harding who went through the Harding Papers and destroyed things that she thought would be detrimental to their later image and legacy but its just its just a fascinating field you can learn so much about history by reading a book like that said in a particular historic setting and then compare and contrast that with a book about another first lady in a different era its just fascinating. Sometimes its interesting to read the book by if its a more modern administration the book by the first lady and the book by the president. Ive done that a couple times side by side. Were in close succession. I usually find some of the insights from the first lady maybe in some ways more interesting and revealing than what you read from the former president. So you really get a different picture of the time at the white house if you read those those two books at jason to each other cassandra, do you have a favorite book . Well, i just wanted to throw in that there is that older edition of the Martha Washing papers, but the good news is a new addition is coming out next year. Im pretty sure thats the latest ive heard as early next year from the washington papers in charlottesville, and thats going to have letters that werent in the earlier edition and some better footnotes more thorough for footnotes. So keep an eye peeled for that because thats gonna be great. We have time for one last question, and id ask your question your answers to be brief so we can end on time, you know, i learned Something Today about theres a lot of different reasons why we study first ladies to understand american history to understand white house history. But today i learned that it really expands our conceptions of power that theres a different way to look at power through Persuasion Influence Presentation in your own words. Why do you think its important to promote and extend the the Study And Scholarship related to first ladies . What the first . I think that they do i mean working in the Founding Era. I think they broaden our Understanding And Help to amplify voices that we might not think of as inherently political or as people had political power or who were stakeholders and first ladies. Just give us such a great kind of white house. I view of whats going on in the public and private sphere. They just expand the realm of knowledge. We have about politics and the Founding Era and such a big way and when i think about President Ial history is kind of genre. I always remember that if theres no women in the story that youre writing youre missing half the history, so its really important to kind of bring in those voices all the time. And i will say that every first lady had relationships with other people certainly the President S but also advisors also friends also servants and some cases enslaved people. And i think its really important when we look and study relations of power that remember that we remember everyone who was there in the white house everyone. Who is there shaping their lives and whose lives they shake . And i think thats how we get a fuller story about who these Women Work and who we are as a country. And so i think that this will just be an important. Type of enterprise to go forward is just to keep looking and expanding our idea of who they came in contact with and what they did and said i would agree with that, you know so many of these women are far more complicated, you know, then we realize and like Julia Tyler for example in 1853. Is she writes this open letter supporting slavery and its the first time that white woman has written publicly. She writes the duchess of sutherland in england and she tells, you know, british women to get the heck out of the uss business. We take care of our people and she makes this really odious argument in favor of slavery, but shes made that argument because she has found the power of her own voice as first lady and so its you know, its interesting to think of how amazing that is that she feels able to speak even though what she says today is kind of horrible and we dig into these lives you discover these contradictions where you want to root for her as a woman but as an antirac person your scandalized by yeah. Cassandra yeah, i mean i think the other speakers here have meet a lot of the points. I would make i would just say also that it helps us i think. Remember to look at power more fully today, too. We wouldnt want to just look at the congressional record to know whats happening. We need those news stories on the behind the Scenes Stuff and women often are in those places in the past when you know, they couldnt be on the floor of congress speaking at least they were on the floor sitting there whispering to the senators. So i think that it really helpsf introducing our second Panel Today and then later of course moderating your questions. Of which we will take as many that we can. Are Panelists Today . Are amy greenberg