>> i think you have to understand that the way that we got into this mess, sort of second mess, not the first mess, is that a number of policy people, including "the new york times" and advisors to the president who really want to try to fix the country said that what we need to do is take a chapter and we need to borrow a lot of money and spent a lot of money. if we do that it will be great. and there were those of us at the time who said that's not going to work. and the reason we said that it's not going to work is that if you put initiate a big surge in government spending, even if that makes gdp go up this year, when you take it away it goes down can. so if we do the policy to recommend when i don't have to know that this year which we certainly knew but we had no, it would be great next year and we could afford and we take the steam is away.

since that didn't seem plausible back at the time, what we argued back then, i kadima you testament was we need to pursue policies that are somewhat reminiscent of what was he in the 4% growth chapter now. the fact of testifying a little while ago and were taught about what step that should be and it was a democratic senator in that hearing who was going to defend the stimulus on the record. and i was being pretty combatant in my testimony, and nobody argued with me. and the point is that the economy is still terrible. i think 2% is optimistic we are growing what do. nobody wants to do something to fix it, and that's a great opportunity for president is going to try something new. >> thank you. and i just want to emphasize, we've been talking a lot about fiscal policy here, about spending and taxing, and entitlement policy, but this book also yet gets deeply into

energy, into immigration, entrepreneurship and a lot of other areas. but we think policies, if they change, can promote growth. so i thank you all for coming. thank you, mr. president. and please, pick up your book on the way out. [applause] and read it. >> is there a nonfiction author or book you would like to see featured on booktv? send us an e-mail at booktv@c-span.org. or tweet us at twitter.com/booktv. up next on booktv, lilly ledbetter recounts her 19 year career at goodyear tire and her decision to file a sex discrimination suit against the company in 1998 over unequal pay. she recalls the 5-4 supreme court decision against her on the ground that she should've

filed a claim within 180 days after receiving her first paycheck that was unequal and they. supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg vocalized her descent to the ruling from the bench and in 2009 president obama signed the lilly ledbetter fair pay in restoration act. his first official bill signed as president. this is just over an hour. >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you folks. i have to tell you right off, i've got a little hearing problem with my ears. i flew about, over 12,000 miles in march and got it ruptured blood vessel in what my ears so i don't hear very well. but everybody says i'm talking okay. i still have a southern drawl. i didn't get rid of it. "the new york times" stated early on in my battle that i the southern drawl, but she has a good story. and i knew, and the reason that i remain having a good story,

i'm not anyone special. this belongs to everyone in this room. it touches every family across this nation. there's not any of you exempt. if it's not you yourself, if someone in your family, your sister, maybe your mother or whatever, but it's ruining this country that women are so mistreated in their pay and their benefits. and it's like what the president said when he signed the bill into law, it's not a woman's issue. it's a family issue. it belongs to the family. and that's why this story has stayed -- state so popular because people are living it every day. i make a lot of trips around the country, and last year i did a lot of military bases, and the primary thing i find on them, people are having to move their mothers and mothers-in-law in their homes simply because they did not receive enough of pay

during their working years to have a decent retirement. that's not right in this country. because then their family is trying to raise their children, their teenagers, and have their grandma there. it hasn't interferes with family life and it's also a hardship and expense, too, when this happens. i'm going to tell you a little bit about who i am. when i came to goodyear i was a district manager for h&r block, managing 60 locations. prior to that i was assist the financial aid director at jackson state university. and before that i was one of those people who, for six years, i worked two full-time jobs nine months a year. i worked one of them 12 months, and the other nine months. i work another job full-time so worked two full-time jobs for six years. so i know what i'm talking about. i went to goodyear in 1979

because they built the radio division and gadsden, alabama, in 1976 and i was in my office one day and saw a good article from business week on the gadsden plant and the radio division and are going to implement a new management style a penny. that's what i believed in and wanted to be a part of the. i already had them on my car and my husbands injection because the first one came out was like everything else. they were very, very high. so i started interviewing, and 1978 and was hired 1970 not as a first line supervisor. there were five of us on the squad, and we were smart. there were five divisions at the time and about 5000 people working at the gadsden plant. we knew that they would put one, each of us, and one of those

divisions. so i started lobbying the best i know, that's what i learned to lobby i think because i wanted the radial division. and i did get the radial division and i had that this -- i had to physically job every job from one into the other, part of my dream. then they put me on night shift. they said later they never put a new higher there again. but i survived and i made it, and it was a good job. that's the sad part about my story. those jobs at good year, they were good manager jobs for women. we were detailed, we follow through and we were always on the job. so that was 1979. and i worked in every division in the plant out there through my career that was left after the downsizing, except shipping. i spent two years in the mailroom, and 1998 i went to

work one night. the first thing always did was check my mail the out of that mail felt a note showing that my name and three men, just our first name, those men were each one making 58,000 plus based day. mind was $3727 based day, and that was no overtime. the managers on the line, first line managers, we cut overtime, time and a half, double, triple. the first initial thought popped in my mind was how much money i had lost in my overtime pay. i was embarrassed. i was devastated. i went into the ladies lounge and walked around and sat down a minute, tried to get my composure. i didn't understand. i got up, finally and realize i

had to get on my job or i would be late. all through the night i kept looking at people wanting who left me a note. but halfway through the night it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks, my retirement is based on what i'm earning. my contributory retirement was matched by percentage for goodyear, and i had that after six month is going to work there. my 401(k) at the time was 10% of what i earned matched by six or 7% stock. that cost me a lot of money through the years. just in that. and today, my social security as well. i was devastated all the way home the next morning. i thought about what were my options. i was two years away from retirement but i couldn't let go. i just couldn't let it go because that's not to im. for me, growing up in a poor town in alabama in a rural section having to pick cotton as a child, learned, you give a

good day's pay -- good days work for a day's pay. but i couldn't let that go. i got home, i told my husband unless you object, i said i have to go to birmingham and finally charged with the equal employment commission. and i can tell you up front, if i start we will be in this eight years. there is not a quick solution to a case like this, and corporations in the corporate world, they've got deep pockets. they can wait you out. they can spend you out and they can wear you out. i said we'll be in a long time because i'm not a quitter, and you know that. he said what time do you want to leave? we went to birmingham. i filed a charge with the equal employment commission. the end of your icon, she dropped out of me all the details, because when you're a manager and you have to go in and say they're not treating me right, you sound like a crybaby and a whiner.

when she finished she stayed with me about three hours, she dug it out of me everything that had occurred to me during my career at goodyear here in gadsden. when she finished, she said mrs. ledbetter, these people have been messing with you for a long time. i said yes, ma'am. i understand that more today than i've ever faced before. but i go back home and i go back to my job, and as soon as goodyear is notified, the retaliation starts. i had been put on a different job. i can't get any information. they did not have policy and procedure. there was no job description. they created a new job, and he was right difficult to survive. so i saw the handwriting on the wall. 1998 i filed the charge. in 1999 the equal employment commission called and said you have got one of the best cases

we have ever seen, and we would advise you, and we can't do it, but we would suggest that you get your own attorney because we are so backlog and understaffed during that time till you get to trial must faster. i found a young attorney at the wiggins firm in alabama. he did my case pro bono. i did my investigation on him and the people i spoke with said he'd never lost a case. but when i got there somebody said well, he never had to go to trial before. [laughter] but i'll take him he was my kind of guy. he was good at negotiating settlements, and for an individual to come out in a case like this with anything in their pocket, you need a decent settlement. but there was never one, that's what i saw it through and i wouldn't give up, neither would he. but peace deal is working with me today and he's never made a

dime. but that was 1999. he took my case. but we try. he tried to get us to federal court at least by 2002, but we didn't get there until 2003. my case was heard in my home county in january 2003. after a week of testimony the jury came back with a verdict in my favor. but i had to women who came forward, one of them are still working at the plant at the time. she took a tremendous risk, and she is paid a terrific price for doing that. but she has suffered a lot of discrimination as well and has never gotten, to my knowledge, ever got anything for. the other lady had sold her service after being hassled and harassed so much commission 22 years service, as she threw her radial against the wall i was told them what to honda as a supervisor. she took a personal day and came

to court to testify on my behalf. the lawyer asked her why she never complained. she said i was a divorced mother, supporting a blind handicapped son. i live paycheck to paycheck and i couldn't afford to bring up my pay, because you see, we were all told in management if you discuss your pay, you will not work here. and evidently everybody took them at the were because no one ever did discuss their pay. and she said i knew if i brought up my pay that i would not have a job and i couldn't afford to lose my job. but she was making, we got into discovery, she was making even less than i was. in fact, she was below the minimum but that was one of the things i learned when we got into discovery, i was below the minimum for my job most of the years that i worked there.

we got the verdict on a friday in january 2003 compared to other people out in the hallway. i had a general maintenance man who worked for me. he was going to testify, and their was an area manager sitting there to testify, but we didn't need him after the two women. and my attorneys had a four by eight whiteboard with all of the managers names and our salaries, our higher dates and what we started at and where we were at the time. and it was a disgrace. that was really all the jury should have seen, because it was beyond the shadow of a doubt that i've been discriminated simply because i was more than a woman. but that was 2003, and the verdict came back. i lost the discrimination case and other smaller's we in, but the pay discrimination they found in my favor $3.8 million.

i had been told, keep a straight face and don't look at the goodyear attorneys, don't look at the jury, just keep staring straight ahead. that was hard to do. they said don't cry, don't do anything. but when i heard that verdict, that's all i need to hear. because i will tell you this. when i started this i knew i would never get any money. it was not about the money. i needed that money when my two children were in college and we are paying car payments and house mortgage and trying to keep them fed and in college. that was hard. that's the normal family life, like i needed the money them. i didn't need it later. but i couldn't let a major corporation get by dong it that way when the law was on my site. the judge asked the foreman of the jury to take a seat and explain to the court from how i was only entitled to 300,000.

there's a cat for a person when you only have one item, and all the discriminatory idea i had was the fact i was a woman but i did have color or anything else. so i could only get 300,000. backpay, you can only go back to years. i knew that going in. i did not know about the count, but backpay you can only go back to years. dicky worked for years or 30 years and you decide you want to file your lost wages, you can only go back to years. that's the law. and there's nothing, nothing in the law that allows an individual to regain any other lost overtime pay for their lost retirement. you cannot get your retirement adjusted. they are gone forever. and that's a shame. i hope i live long enough to see the count get off if you're a

white woman and that's all she's got. that count needs to come off because that's the only way a jury can compensate an individual for all of that lost money. the judge took the lowest paid mail in the entire room and he transferred income on been working in good you're just a little over a year, had less education and less experience, and he already made $600 more a month than i did just transferring in from a lower paying job. but the judge took his pay and calculated my two years of back pay, and i was given 30,000 per year. so i left the courtroom with $360,000. but folks, i love headlines. the headlines next day from california to chicago to new york to florida, all across this nation read, jacksonville, alabama, woman awarded $3.8 million from goodyear tire and rubber.

is a gadsden headline that reads goodyear lost, loses case. but i love those headlines. there's a lot to be said. i got a lot of comfort addressing those headlines, and the news. well, that was 2003. it went to circuit come and go in my attorneys appealed we were heard in the supreme court in november of '06, the monday after thanksgiving. a lot goes on during this time. we had our normal family life, the best you can do but i worked this case full just like it was a job. i called people. i called over 100 people to find those four people that, there were a few others but we didn't need them, to testify on my behalf. people were afraid of losing their jobs. they were so afraid. that's why they switched over. and if they came and gave a deposition, most of it was color

coded. but life went on, and my husband, we had two major back surgeries, was bedridden for six weeks, then he started developing cancer. he had one on the right gear and one on the left there. two months after the left there, one cannot on the left side of his face right to the jaw, and they removed the left side of his face and grabbed his skin off his face and left him at home with a home health care nurse to travel to the supreme court to hear my case presented, because it was important for me to be there. i don't know why, all i heard was ledbetter v. goodyear, and i never heard my name anymore. all i ever heard was she, and we can't let this go forward. but the equal employment commission has supported my case all the way from the time we started until the supreme court. because as you heard from the introduction, the law was on my side.

all of the cases previous to this was based on paycheck a cruel which meant if you're still getting a check, it started a new accounting period. but when the government, after goodyear's lawyer had 20 minutes, then the government's lawyer took figures cited he said we can't let this case go forward. in which is the case of coming out of the woodwork to file, and to be such a hardship on the corporations. well, we waited until may of '07 when the verdict came out. they came back with 5-4, and justice alito wrote the opinion. he said, i should've filed my charge the first discriminately check i got come even though i didn't know it, even though i couldn't prove it, but i should've filed within. now, what this would mean to normal everyday life, if you get a new job, you've got six months to file the charge because that's when the pay is said.

it's set in the beginning. i don't think people on a new jobs going to be walking around trying to figure out should i be filing a charge. you're trying to learn the job. at goodyear i never if one were all the restrooms were in six months, it was such a big operation. i mean, that's just not normal. that's not the way it's supposed to be. but justice ruth gator ginsburg hit the nail on it was she said these people understand what it's like in the real world. she said the ball is in your court. you can take it up and you can correct this injustice and change the law back. and she was exactly right and the congress her loud and québec that was made of '07. the lawyers told me when they called and gave me the verdict, they said you don't have to respond to the media. but i had to give is my best shot. the law was on my site. i had worked this case.

my lawyers had worked it. we didn't have anything to be embarrassed about. in fact, the arbitration case settlement that we had figured, offered allow me to come back and work two days a week and i could get my old rate of pay. i said look, i don't want to earn any more money. i just want what i meant how do that i should've had one it was working but i don't want to earn anymore, and i said, too, i know how goodyear thinks. i would be in the mailroom on saturn saturday night and sunday night sweeping. all, no, you can work with h.r. managers. you and he gets along so well. we will let you work with him two days. i said no. i said no, he has been a good you're just the right time to transfer out, and he did two months after the case, verdict came outcome he transferred, and he doesn't even work with goodyear anymore. but in two weeks i, my lawyer

balmy a plaintiff, called and said we're going to washington, you're testifying before the house but i testified twice before the house, and twice before the senate. and i had the opportunity, the first time in the senate to testify before ted kennedy's committee. his staff put together to charts on roberts and two on alito. during their confirmation hearings one chart covered what they said. the other chart showed how they had voted since they had been on the bench. it was, in fact, senator kennedy's words, they didn't appear to be the same individuals. and my case is not the only one that they have reversed or change the law. i spoke at the democratic convention. i went, invited by the president. president, we have today with not endorsing him.

they said you know like ron reagan did, or john kerry. but in the meantime we are doing radiation and chemo at the house, and also i am flying back and forth to washington. the coalition in washington kept me up there. i would go three or four days a week, and a day for me in washington, colin radio program, and npr program to a tv spot or up on health, we are hitting republicans as well as democrats to get support for the bill. the ledbetter bill is bipartisan. it doesn't belong to the democratic party or the republicans. it's a fundamental american rights that each of us are paid what we are legally entitled to and have earned. but when i walked off the stage that night at the democratic convention, i felt the audience. i could see the tears on the women's face down front, and the men were going yes, they got it.

i walked off into reports ago and when did you endorse obama? i say tonight. because i knew i had to get off the fence and go for him, because john mccain had just said the women's problem across this great nation, we didn't have enough education or training. that's why we didn't make enough money. i couldn't let that go. i had to start campaigning and try to get the law changed, because it was important. and it was a record deal. it took us 18 months to get the ledbetter bill passed, and paycheck fairness past that i was sitting in the senate last november to see it voted on. after 15 years being in the works, it failed by two votes. all the democrats voted forward, but no republican would come across the aisle and vote for it. and it's the same as the ledbetter bill. had that been the law i would have known i was getting shortchanged.

way back when and could of done something about it. but this is real, people's lives, folks. this is not again. this is real families across this nation. and i have learned that the young, they are suffering because their mothers are working two jobs, still can't make the in seat. and they are not home to prepare good healthy meals. they're becoming obese. they're not there to go to the parent teacher conferences, and education is hurting. we have to get this country turned around. that's what dragging the nation down is the fact that so many people are underpaid for the work they do. it seems simple to me because when people are paid better, it benefits the community, the state and the nation. they will turn the money back around in the neighborhoods, and they will spend it, and it makes it stronger all the way around.

i also have learned that doing the right thing may not be popular and not easy. but doing the right thing sometimes means having the courage to speak the truth to power. i came from a judge in birmingham, and i still believe it. i also learned it's not so much what happens to us but how we react to it. i can't let this go today. i lost my husband in the center of all way. i came home from to a 2020 segment in new york. i found him, he was already cold. the cancer and the treatment had warned him completely out. he had a stroke in his left eye the last year and with nine operations on that i. never regained eyesight. and he had a prostate surgery the last year, plus all the extra treatment, and his body was absolutely worn out. but i could not let it go, and i

don't let it go today because we still have much work to do right now. i'm disturbed they're trying to take away our protective right and decisions we women have, and we can't let this happen. we have to wake up. i did learn that one person can start a battle, but it takes a lot of us to win a war. everybody across this nation, one of the headlines read, she struck a nerve. and that's exactly what i did, and people got behind me. and in that same interview that came from the university when i spoke there, i stated, that was a good job, those of you who work at the click of you know those were good jobs. i had good benefits. if i could've just gotten paid what i was legally entitled to, had my pay been within the ballpark i would have let it go. and i thought about i.

that was the easy way, the easy thing to do. i thought about it long and hard, because i knew once i started i would be in for a fight. but that was the price i was willing to take, and my family supported me. i could not let it go. my time in the plant immediately became troublemaker. so i carried it on through, and after the verdict came out from the supreme court, i got a bill for -- from good year for $3165, the birmingham at bama sent that to the media. washington attorneys sent to the law schools. so i have not heard from it. [laughter] but this is something that we all need to get behind. we can't let this go, and the kind of people that went to the white house, the first call i got the day after the funeral

was from senator hillary rodham clinton, at the time. and the second call was from president-elect obama, and the third was was from a shelter these are caring people, and the people that are there now and i'm not campaigning. it's nonpartisan here, but they understand what it's like in middle america. and i would suggest this, i tell the college students this when i visit them, you better research your people you're voting for. don't read the headlines and you don't watch the news. you better research their voting records but what do they do? what have they done for you back home? and those are the people you need to support. not what they might do or might think about doing, but what they have done is what you look at. but i couldn't let this go. i can't let go today. i've traveled the world, march of '09 by washington attorney and i went to rome italy.

we stayed six days sharing my story. i first thought since i've never lived anywhere but alabama in the south, this had to be a deep southern problem. but no, it's coast to coast, north to south, east to west, and it's around the world. we went to rome, italy, state '60s, shared my story, the french and japanese sent reports into this country and envy me, and they run articles. the chilean newspaper, a month ago interviewed me for the second time. they have the same problems. this is around the world. and the other countries, what's sad, they're looking at united states for leadership to set an example. but there's a lot in the book -- there's a law in the book and i wanted linear to share with you a little bit about what we have in the back and some of things they are there, give you

information that there. then we'll open up for question. and there's no secrets because you know, go online and read anything you want to about me. i hope you are seeing the racial matter interview and chris matthews on hardball. rates as was march the fifth, it's running online. and hardball was march 16, and there's a video running on obama's website that they came to alabama in may to have a lot of the libraries videos that they purchased to use, and there's a lot to that one. they did a good job. they sent a professional team in, and i flew all those miles last month, and here i will be leaving tuesday morning, we will be going to harvard in boston to speak at harvard tuesday night. so we, and their son, when she's at tulane i will be at pittsburgh here to we even split

up. so i think she captured my story extremely well, and since this is a local audience, i'll share some things. i did turn down a movie deal early on right after the verdict, simply because i wanted this story to be heard across the nation. because it's important that we wake up and stop, prevent this would have been to other other families. and we do not have to be accepted. we can do something about it. >> well, as lilly said, her story is every woman's story. and then unfortunate the reason that is the case is because today in america, you probably know this, caucasian women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man

earns. and this fact is based on the median earnings of all full-time year-round workers. so in 2010 when a man earned $47,000.718, $47,715, a woman earned almost $11,000 less. she earned $36,931. so 50 years ago the equal pay i was passed in 1963, and women earned 53% to every man's dollar. that was just 50 years ago. and there's two things to note here your gap has not closed. very much and have a century. that's about half a sense annually. have a sense annually. and if you add up that difference over the course of a lifetime, a working lifetime is

considered warty seven years of full-time work. 47 years of your life you are working. as a high school graduate that means you lose $700,000 if you're a woman. for a college graduate that's 1.2 million, and for professional school graduate, who as a graduate degree, you've got $2 million that you've lost. so, for lily when she discovered that note after 19 years a good year, that meant she was making 40% less than the three other area managers. in other words, she lost over $200,000 in a grid and that was not taking into consideration her retirement and her social security. for women of color the wage gap is even worse. and 2010, african-american women were earning 60 7.7% to every man's dollar there and hispanic women 58 points 7% of all men's earnings. so lilly's story is every

woman's story, and there are over 60 million working women in the workforce. two-thirds are mothers who are bring home at least a quarter of the families earnings. so in many cases women are the sole breadwinner's. so from wall street to wal-mart, it doesn't matter where you work, women are discriminated in the workforce. and that's a very statistical picture of the wage get. lilly has become the poster child of the wage gap whether she wanted to or not. here is her story from her point of view. and that is just one woman's experience. so we did is we put a lot of information in the back of the book about the pace check fares act which donates be passed about pay equity and the wage gap. gap. slavery destroyed then you also have that.

and we hope that things will change. >> we will open up for questions. i'll give you two answers right off. i do not know who gave me the note, because what happened after i filed the charge later i got in the mail the last evaluation sheet anonymously mailed, so i don't know who gave it to me, where it came from. and that trial it will would be interesting to know, goodyear could not produce my personnel file. when i've also said he thought they burned. the judge came across that mentions a let me explain a lot to you goodyear attorneys. when a person files a charger are required by law to retain those records until it is closed. if they could not produce it, and so it wasn't a big but that's all we had, other than our pay records. they discovered, my attorney to finally get from goodyear.

so i don't know who gave me the note, and no, i don't buy goodyear tire's. [laughter] i do not. if i buy a vehicle that got them, i get rid of them immediately. spent one thing i think is interesting to point out, since over a decade fighting the battle, and when you got to court in 2003, the number of legal documents that the case generated, if you stack it up, it would be three stories high. so it's hard to understand what someone really goes through and how much time, effort, energy, you experience to stand up to star what is right. >> i'm the type of individual, i couldn't let it go. it just was not right. i just could not let it go. the law was on my side, and all it did, the outcry against the supreme court about this ruling, and tell the next ridiculous

case that came before them about something similar to pay was the later filed a charge to equal employment, and it was on the wrong form or wrong date or something. it should not have been let go, but bruce said it's okay, just let that one go. no shots were not called from the bench in my opinion. that's my opinion. i got it, but she's right. it was a long fight, and it's hard on individuals. it's hard on their families. we could not leave home, like on a vacation or go on a trip, without advising the attorney where we were and how we could be reached. for 10 years. it took me nine years to get my final verdict. i told my husband eight, it took nine years and then ask we took 18 months to get the bill changed. >> why did you tell him eight? what would you thinking? >> well, i read the headlines. you don't see any cases in the

paper that is a quick fix. they drag them out, and now that we, in the last three years, the equal employment commission is double staff and have more money. i do a lot of work with them now, and one thing that they're doing, they're going around training like cities and county and governments that don't bring in official people to train them on what they should be doing with the law, and they go in and train those people and, therefore, they don't make these mistakes. so they're doing a lot of preventive work now, as well as if you'll check the paper periodically, you will see a large sum that they have one for an individual. now, when day when the money, they get it all, that person does. the government doesn't keep any of the. now, in my case when i talked about money, that 360, had the supreme court awarded it like

they should have, my attorney scott have and i had to pay federal and state tax on all of it because it was in blue of wages. so i would have had less than $50,000, and i spent 40 of my own money. it wasn't a complete washout. eyed aubry spent $40,000, and i worked every weekend getting ready to go to trial and i was there for every deposition. i think you will enjoy the book. if you work in the plant now or you have worked there or know someone who worked there, which a lot of you here do, you are going to say yeah, i knew that. i saw that. you really well. how about questions? i'm sure you get something you would like to ask. >> i have a comment. i think that it's extraordinary that you spend as much time and effort as you have to do this, because a lot of people would not have done it.

and i think that we all need to take a lesson from that. and i think, not on the issue of women pay, but i'm concerned about the vote, that, they are trying to stop a lot of people from voting. that is a right. >> you write. >> and we all need to be concerned about that. >> that's true, that's true. >> i commend you for all you have done. >> thank you. we have a question over here. we need a mic. they did ask that you talk into the mic when you ask the questions that everybody can hear. >> this is kind of i guess a double question for you. the day that the supreme court made its decision for you, i'd like to know what you felt. i'd also like to know how you felt that a president obama signed the law.

>> great question. the day i heard the verdict, my husband and i started to sing with the church. we thought would go have lunch, go on our merry way, well, the media started calling. and the lawyer said you don't have to respond, but i didn't have anything to be embarrassed so i said, nbc called, i said come on in. we opened the door into the gaming. they videoed and recorded, and pete williams with a hookup, for brian wins that night, he did the questions. and then the next day cnn came, and it was just one meaty, radio, norman lee recalled that night and he said i want to send a team in. do you know who i am? i said yes, you made jeffersons and all nfl. that's what i remember. i met him since then. but he sent a team in and we video and all day. i may, they left.

some of the are still running on youtube. you can't believe what you see on tv because they rearrange your whole house and hang stuff up over your curtains, take a photo step and move your dining room table. your coffee table and make a cake, and i said i don't think so they are i just lost 3.8 million you will need to make a cake? no. just look like a. and i said no, no, no. he said you got a coffee maker. my husband was retired, he said i had a fresh pot of coffee. but they had me poured out and make some more. when we went to the white house for the bill, they called me and said do you want, does your daughter want to come? the customer both been on the train trip with the obama's and guidance to the inauguration but and i said i will call or. the lady who called said i have to get her cleared, and it's not easy.

so let me know quick. well, i called my daughter's house at 6 a.m., and i told my son-in-law what i needed. another hour she called back. she said can you get five of us in? i was so embarrassed i didn't think about, my son-in-law and my grandsons. i said well, sure. i've got that much swing out there, i'm sure of that. i called back and gave them all the social security numbers, but we went in the white house. we walked through the gate that morning, and people were chanting my name, all of those women and men. they which into, you thought i was a rock star. my grandsons eyes were this big looking at me, and said they had never been involved in any of this. we get into the white house. they pull me out separate, if you're out there meeting all the people, and then they signed the bill. that was an awesome walk down the red carpet. coming, it was, if any i had, because i had prayed so hard to

come and i don't think you're supposed to pray for personal things like that, but i have prayed that that would send a message. it was the first bill he signed into law. i was the second one they got to dance with him at the neighborhood ball. there is an eight by 10 picture in the hardback "washington post" book, and you can get them on line. they are running online. but while we were dancing he said we are going to do this. well, i know, i knew he wasn't talking about dancing. he was talking about the ledbetter bill. he said we are going to do this. so he saw it through, and he got it done, and it went on through and he signed it. but when that didn't have that paper, it meant so much to summon. that was what went through my mind was all of you that scott family or working out there today, that you have that right. if you find that tenure so now you have been discriminated against, file the charge within

180 days. so it was an awesome feeling. then we went in for the reception. that was the first one they have done since they got there. and that was a first time the women's groups in washington had been to the white house in eight years, eight years they had not been there. they had all the refreshments said that. i look at all those neat dinky dishes and food over there, and i sure did want some, and they told my daughter sound, they said you can't move. if you do you lose your seat. so my daughter said i did get some coffee, but it was need to be there, and hillary clinton came in, and, of course, you secretary of state by then, but all of those politicians, the republicans and democrats, half of those people standing behind, they are republicans. but i had three checks opportunity to run for office. and i turned it down.

because i do more good going to college campuses, military bases, law schools and anywhere else that anybody invites me. monday of last week i spoke, i addressed the assembly at the capitol in california. that was an awesome experience as well. i've been to places. she's got three more years. we will do another book with where i've been and what's happened because it has been unreal. and the door is open. this past monday i had dinner at the home monday night of marshall loeb who started "fortune" magazine. i couldn't eat to look at the chandeliers and all the things on the wall and on the floor, because i participate in a fundraiser in new york are not that i could give any money, but me being there created a lot of excitement, pictures, and i spoke, spoke at the equal pay panel. and then went up the ladder to

raise money to get women into politics. either republican or democratic. and that was an awesome experience. so many doors. and i've gotten through, the last thing on my populist and 2010, i got to meet just as ruth bader ginsburg i also was the first ordinary citizen to testify for elena kagan when she was confirmed. and i didn't take that lightly. i researched her and i called and i said i knew you'd been at harvard and found that her background and look corrected up, and i supported her. and i was the first one to testify for her. so it is been an awesome journey. it really has. and every one of those -- fact when i did the thing up on the corner with that richard and vice president, he told me he was getting hired at getting me a prude to get into the white house. he would just give me a permanent pass. because a lot of people think i only went one time but i was supposed to have been there last

monday but i already had his commitment in california, and i have never missed a commitment yet. i had the flu once, trying to get over it but the guy said, could you just end up at the podium for 15 minutes? we've got people buzzing in your to montgomery from birmingham and surrounding areas. so i got my cousin to drive me. i did the programs i kept my record. i haven't missed one yet. i'm getting close though. >> amazing. >> any other questions? i've got one at the back of the room. spent if there was a movie, he would you pick to play the part of lilly ledbetter? >> i would like to have meryl streep. there will be a movie. my attorney and i meet tomorrow with a movie producer from california. he is an alabama native. he's made five movies in the state, and that's all i know about them. we do have offers from two of the tv channels to make movies, but i'm waiting on the hollywood

deal to get meryl streep. if i'd gone with the publishing house with disney and abc, they have direct contact. but meryl streep does a lot of work for women. she's already given oprah $1 million for the women's museum in washington, d.c. they have the land and the bill has been passed and the house i know. so it's on a go. they are raising money but we don't have a women's museum in washington. she would be the one. she has a younger daughter they said could play claim a younger. that would be my choice but i don't think i have much input. we have a question right to spank i would just like to commend you for your tenacity and everything you have done, and that one else god has for you to do and he continues to strengthen you and everything he has for you to do. what i'd like to ask is that did you not to say that there is a paycheck fairness law to come up? was a hindrance, funny, are you

receiving bipartisan support? isn't just democrats? is the republicans? where is the state of the law as far as it being past? >> it will come up again, and i've been told that it will pass, but what happened was -- it crinkles. i'm kind of nervous. not really. if that had been the law when i heard it at goodyear or shortly after, i could have found that because i did ask. goodyear said that they wished i'd come to them first. i did. what my boss said, too much more bs than the men. except he said the words. he didn't say bs. he said the exact words. so i asked him from time to time to check and see about what was a top and the bottom, increase those to you. nobody at goodyear new.

i did not with john new or not. he worked there. i didn't know. i don't know if anybody ever knew. you couldn't get them. so i was a heavy that outcome and he said well, i haven't had time to check. they were not going to give me an answer. so when i got the note i went straight to eeoc because it was time to stand up. but paycheck fairness will come up again. the only reason it didn't pass this last time, that was when they had first got back in and there was no republican going to cross that line. they wouldn't cross it for nothing, because the two, collins and the other lady that is retiring this year, both of them, i called them. they called me back. they called me at home. that's interesting. you folks will like this. i stayed up there in washington knocking on although stores, and back in those days it would be a lawyer from national women's law center, a lobbyist, maybe one or two others sometimes, and we

would call on the congress house people and then the senate. in the beginning we only got the assistant. now i can call, i walked in the door. mr. harry reid, i see harry reid. efforts rosa delauro, i was eager. senator leahy from vermont. i see him. and i've traveled all over the country for each one of those people. i've been to california for george miller, and i think in because it was his committee who named the ledbetter, a law leadbetter. and i'm told that i am the only albanian with a law named for the. it's not. and there's less than 35 and a history. i will be going back to seattle law school in seattle, washington, next month, and they have, there's lived there that's been doing the research. so this is not a common thing to have a law, and it's like congressman miller said, we

don't name them for people like you, lilly. he said we named them for ourselves. who ever drafted the bill. any other questions? [inaudible] >> talk into the mic. >> before you got that note, did you suspicion, did you have any suspicions that you were not being paid? >> common sense would tell me based on the treatment and so forth at a lot of other things that you will read in the book, commonsense told me that they were not paying me what the men were being paid, but i was sort of a trailblazer. i don't think any woman had ever lasted as long as i did in that job. and not to my knowledge not again. i felt like i was in the ballpark, but when i got that note and saw how much less, and then in calgary my overtime and my retirement, i wasn't even in

the ballpark. i was in a different game, to tell you the truth. if i had been closed it would've been okay because they did the change from cole to the pay-for-performance they called. but every which way they want to give the money out, basically. but i did not know. i did not know or of would have filed the charge. i can take it i found a charge in the early '80s to get my job back and to keep from losing the job i had. that's on record, too, and its mention in the book as well. so i knew where to go. i knew how to file a charge, and i'd worked for h&r block managing all those people and locations and i knew the law. >> this question is really for lanier. can you go through the process of you and lilly looking up books that also like to know how many pages of notes you have from her. >> thousands, thousands. i met lilly right after the bill

was signed when i did a profile for a statewide magazine. and when she decided she wanted to do a book, she knew she wanted an alabama writer. she liked the article law. we had a natural sort of rapport, and lo and behold, we got together and started talking, or lilly started talking and i started listening and writing. but it was tough because lilly was traveling so much, and we talked a lot on the phone. i did a lot of research. but it took a year of the research and interviewing and writing the book proposal, to sell the book, nine months to finish the book and nine months to publication. so that was the process. >> and that is the picture on the front, birmingham photographer. so it's a birmingham

photographer, an alabama writer and an alabama native. so i even carried her to possum trot. i carried her to possum trot, to speak we did a tour of possum trot. >> where i grew up and all that section. that some of you that are going for obama. >> family cemetery. >> yeah, went to the family cemetery. got to go there to get the history. spent we had a good time. >> it's been a journey. employer that i had in birmingham is the one that negotiate a contract for lanier and a book agent in new york. he's not made a dime. he's not getting anywhere fast, and he had two children we start together come and by the time we got through he had four. he went to washington. the first time, and he sat right behind me during the testimony, and was so mad. he was so infuriated, and when he came to do the trial, he is

jewish, and he wasn't sure how the rural people in alabama would respect him or, you know, except what he says, so he brought one of his partners in the firm he is a short redhead, sort of sandy haired guy, but john would get furious at him because he didn't do it exactly like he wanted, and he's very come he's one of those precise people. ..

>> a. yes. i have it framed. i have to tell you about my house. although police took all of his things. it to a, you know, the only one left. my little son took the album. he took the big ego. he spun and around. he's get it down. it they took all tt. now looks like a museum. ahead of the deal and i haven't done very doctorate of law in 2010 from the city university of

new york. i heard it. it allegedly 12 years to get that one. vatican have been no real one and less. my daughter and my youngest grandson when on that trip. there eyes get real big when they get to the airport and this person is standing over. the oldest one with a whip. he just turned 21, it also have of that presented to me from louisville kentucky engraved. they sure going to bat for the love of kentucky. i have a big stick. a huge, huge water provable of my dining room table that came about three years the doe, the

national convention. i have been on there's so much, i have a collection of crystal and michael we used to get at a flour. it to, and no. the military bases. it's a hilarious. you can't have that there. i might as well have it out. you're going to take it. it is really interesting. $0.77 at the time. the young man i hired to come in and help me place and get all this fixed and framed. the framing, she found my pen and my bill free.

it is too big plaques. i also and now make kentucky colonel. i have the proclamation on that. it's just as did. i have to days proclaimed in the state of illinois. the day in chicago, the committee, the community, and the commissioners to down one. all of the country. i really like in mexico and arizona and all the states that have been. it has really been an interesting life so far. >> here in tents in. >> you sure did. the mayor has 12, three years ago. i sure did hope they give me

that picture. i think it might have been bigger now one. he sure did. i guess that's the only one. and that did get some proclamations, but they had to come to the democratic people in my memory. he did not just volunteer them. >> was the president again the answer? >> yes, yes. a very good. he has a lot of rhythm. >> how does he know how the dense so well? >> i and ballroom dancing greece and great. she found out that i did ballroom dancing for eight years i went all the way to the grand nationals in miami, florida.

every one of them. in national champion ballroom dancer. your rubber worker. so you have to do something. that is what my grandfather's name is, grace. the articles he did for the magazine, agrees on one side and a grid on the l.a. we couldn't do that on the book. >> thank you for coming to the public library. >> thanks for having me. happen. [applause] >> don't settle for less. i have of the one i found that says make a difference. i did tell my passer that i wanted that to be a lifeline. she made a difference. they do, folks, for being here.

>> every weekend book tv offers 48 hours of programming focused on nonfiction authors and books. watch it here on c-span2. >> this weekend with the help of our local affiliate time warner cable book tv breezy a few interviews with local authors. during the civil war in important union base of operations and a major military supplies entered. after the war the city emerged even more prosperous than before next we hear from author of two centuries of black bluebill. this is just over five minutes. >> we are located right now in may street in louisville, kentucky. it was essentially a child of the river.

founded in 1778 and grew very slowly. african-americans played an increasingly important role here . the environment was just too cold. it developed into what some would call a slave trading state . african americans here, but you also have a number of african-americans who were sold off every year down the river. from second street all the way down to eighth street, lynen market, you had roughly 8-10 slave tense during the 1830's and 40's. this is where slaves to be can't

for shipping further dollar. this is one of the ways that kentucky maintained slippery during the latter part of the and the bill. >> kentucky was divided during the civil war to end lou roe was the only as divided as any part of kentucky because it was the major population center on the river. it became a major installation for the union army. then met to discuss strategy for the end of the war. a very important place. african-americans played many different roles. you had slaves to a listed.

some local african americans to join the army. of course, perhaps most unique to you have the local free ballot black community embraced the soldiers providing them with medical care. over time their families gathered here, and as of that in a black refugee camp. you have the lives in the children. the black man named thomas james who was superintendent of the camp. he got along with some black soldiers. of the mainstream market street. a very unique experience. now we add fourth in chestnut street. louisville again looking to the south.

in my youth this was the main shopping district of louisville. of course it was segregated. african-americans could buy clothes, can look at restaurants, but not sit down and have a meal. some early the illustrations. it is really in 1961, the winter of 1961 that there was a major campaign against segregation. we called it nothing new for easter. you have high-school students, some college students, some adults. literally every day this campaign can of the registration campaign on the back of segregation in louisville.

when the civil rights act. standing at tenth and molly street and m. think of all will run street. this is the area. leader stanley essentially in the area where black louisville was born. two young african-americans who inherited a lot of money or will to get a young white woman to actually sell those improperly that was that of the cost of town. this is that property here going further back up to about seven street. the 1850's you have eight independent black churches, a small but thriving community. of course this is what