the middle of the isles of various legislative houses, you could see a lobbyist give a handful of those to a legislator who would then not have had. he was signifying that his opposition to suffrage was now bought and paid for. but momentum trumped money in this case and the 19th amendment was added to the con dictation in the summer of 1920 ironically a few months before the first national election in which women would vote and women joined men and they had no choice in voting out of office the first female president of the united states and so fire the only female president. she wasn't really the president,

but she was the president of fact ... is supposed to be sure. most americans didn't even kw about it. at the click here i see most americans don't know about it today. the political community in washington knew about the woman in the white house. senator albert fall was enraged. we had petticoat government is and the diplomatic community in washington knew, the french ambassador to the united states reported back to paris that he was dealing with mademoiselle, president. >> welcome to cincinnati on booktv. but the time warner cable partners will spend the next hour explaining literary history

of the place nicknamed the queen city located on the ohio river. we will travel around the city to talk with local authors and it's a rare book and manuscript collections. we begin the hour with the underground railroad and its contribution to send 90 in the country. >> on one level the book is about how the underground railroad can be viewed as they say make the argument is the first multiracial, multiethnic movement in the history of the united states that predates the modern civil rights movement that started in the 1940s with world war ii. one of the major things as the underground railroad movement that brings different racial and ethnic back round to fight for freedom in a country based on inequality. the book starts the founding of the country and how slavery developed and how was left in the constitution and the

declaration of independence and burns with all the way up to development of ohio and through cincinnati. we tell stories of churches, individuals, multiple stories throughout the book connecting to the larger story of american slavery. >> a stir in 1831 of a runaway by the name of tiny davis where he escapes from enslavement in kentucky and its owner says the individual must escape using underground road said that become synonymous with the building of a railroad in the united states at the same time. so what you have is a merger of that story and other stories link into how the railroad was built because you people calling themselves conductors and is part of the underground railroad and the words get mixed in together. that term has one version but as a whole two things are going on.

local underground railroad networks in cincinnati but you also have pockets in other parts of the country that are more loosely tied. it's kind of a connection that depends on the community, city, town, state and how the railroad actually function. >> cincinnati school with the underground railroad and now it's an integral part of the whole book. >> wanted to set the stage for the origin how is the gateway to the west. certain products on the river, part of the steamship era moocher muffin on the river on the steamship and it's what i call a quagmire between freedom and slavery because the concept sounds pretty straightforward good freedom and enslavement but it's not that simple. there's some complexity because

ohio is a free state that there some other things going on. >> are some other things going on in ohio. ohio with one vote not to be a slave state. it still voted that there would be free or slave. helmet passes by one vote. most people moving here came from virginia and kentucky that were slaves to it that there were deep rooted pieces embedded in the state of ohio. in 1803, the state of ohio pretty much stated we didn't want african-americans to come here. you have to have two white men crouched for you. you weren't allowed to testify against another wife and a quarter. so this was released adding up as seen in cincinnati that it

became an active city in the underground railroad but also very proslavery. 1829, 1831, 1836, 1848 in 1862 and there is actually a cannon fired into the community. this is very much at proslavery city at night is very connected in the underground railroad. the reason it became such an active place in the underground railroad as there were people here from multiple different reason to just caring for other people in human beings i became involved. there were churches here because of their beliefs became actively involved in the underground railroad. major african-american churches that were here. the union baptist church, zion baptist church, so there's multiple people here in the community. by 1850 the sixth largest city

west of the allegheny mountains. if you're going why scummy are most likely come into the city of cincinnati with the movement you also had two major african-american communities here in cincinnati. little africa and bucktown for procter & gamble said today. multiple people in that area helps people become involved. it was also because of the location. one side at kentucky, the other side you at canada which many people were trying to get to. most historians and scholars will say it was a loose network of people. here in cincinnati was a very good network of people. there's the story went 28 people were escaping in cincinnati and the community had to come together both african-americans and white i came up with a

clever way and since i was very much a proslavery city during the day of his people would arrive during the day. people communicated through different means to say we need a combo with an idea and what they came up with this funeral. they have the funeral walk down through cincinnati and at the 28 people in the funeral walk them out the cemetery which we talk about in the book and eventually were able to get on to canada. cincinnati was a connected network but at the beginning of the story you had to make a decision on your own. there were people coming out of ohio that there were people saying you had to get up and escape. he made that decision on your own. you also have to make some tough personal decisions. were you going to take your family with you? would you tell them you were

escaping? when would you leave, what would you take with you? would you trust someone on the journey? if someone not on your door, would you help them or turn them away in foreign it's a the person making the decision to leave in the majority of cases he left on your round 10 of the slaveowner the next day, guess what, where are they going to go when you don't end up working in the field the next day? they will go to your mother, father, brothers, sisters. there's multiple risks involved in escaping the underground railroad. >> the other story of slaves going to freedom and whiskey mice to come back to go. >> absolutely. one of my favorite is the louis pagan story, and enslaved african american and kentucky

and he has to escape the long so he decides he'll go back to the state of kentucky and every time he came back he was caught so he was raised late. after this several times had to leave his family and start helping other folks. he had to make a decision for freeing himself first. this is a hard decision because he had to leave his wife and child in late. lewis hayden is one of those stories for perseverance, contradiction and struggle in every decision he makes because this is a hard decision. you have to be lucky. you have to be good and sometimes how to read and write which is not a federal says you can't teach african-americans but the state thursday night, so

you have to figure out how to read and write and he talks in his narrative he becomes free and abolitionists when he teaches himself how to read and write. that's his freedom because then he can start challenging but folks are telling them in his mind and then he starts to be part of the underground railroad himself. he comes to cincinnati one and talks about the story of the power education for african-americans and it's the power of understanding you can challenge authority by empowering yourself you have to understand the contradiction struggle and perseverance in your life. >> lewis is very much an interesting man. he ends up in boston. his helping people escape the underground railroad and becomes

involved in massachusetts and the film is still there today. one of the interesting things and look under my porch. there were some interesting stories that came out, the u.s. stories the parker, a young man enslaved and float away from his mother when he was eight years old. he changes his life and he fights through the likes area and begins to help other people like that. he has a novel called his promised land that kind of talks about his attempts to escape. eventually he comes here to cincinnati and gets involved in the underground railroad and moves onto ripley ohio and he was one of the few people that went across the river and help people escape and rewards in the state of kentucky.

you had your man named william casey that would go across the river and bring people back. there are stories of people in the south getting people out and bringing them back in cincinnati. >> what would you like people to walk away reading your book knowing? >> i use it in the context of a multiracial, multiethnic movement to define freedom for everybody. the most powerful people should come away with in a top about this all the time with my class that way you have going on here as ordinary old doing extraordinary things all the time because they choose to do it, because they're just ordinary people. these are not famous people, famous families. these are ordinary people doing extraordinary things all the

time because they believe freedom and equality. that echoes for decades and centuries because you don't have to be a powerful big family and i have to do is get engaged in this underground railroad or get engaged in just ordinary people. >> i would agree with that. it's an ordinary person can involved in the underground railroad. the book is just a glimpse. you only have so many words are about to putt with each picture and how it played out. we knew that going in. a lot of places we talk about in the book and the reason we didn't put addresses of the privately owned home, but this provides a glimpse of what the underground railroad was like in cincinnati. but there's so many intertwining stories in here like the reverend john van van who was a

former slaveowner freezes and saves people, gets involved in the underground railroad. has church kicks them out of the church and a fight through his stats to reclaim his name and property. unfortunately that doesn't happen. 150 years later the church actually accepted his whole family back into the church. so it gives you a glimpse of the stories but we hope people will continue to dig in the stories of the underground railroad find out there's so many more stories out there but we hope this provides a start for them.

>> and newest book i published is titled american jewish history primary source reader is actually a documentary history and by that i mean it is an attempt to review the entire flow of the american jewish experience but tell that story through documents. each document has something to ken, helps the reader understand the overall story of a given. and the overall history. when one goes through this volume, one will see many, many documents, the vast majority happened to come from this great collection in cincinnati, the american jewish archives and also one would easily take note of the fact cincinnati as a city

and a community seems to have a much greater role than one might expect as one goes through the story of the american jewish community in the 19th century. cincinnati, ohio was probably one of the most important jewish communities in the united states of america. it was the second largest after new york in terms of size. it is arguably one of the richest is not the richest jewish communities where jews had places of prominence in significance in every field of endeavor. cincinnati is self at that time was the fifth or the sixth largest population, urban population in the united states.

the city itself was important and that is why we always say it is really a path of old to tell the story of the american jewish experience without talking about cincinnati, ohio. it couldn't be done because so much about the involvement of the story in the united states touches upon things that happen in cincinnati. the very first way came in the 18 team in 1820 and most of these are relative of one another and hence settled in england. it helps contribute to the explosion of cincinnati has to do with the german migration. you may know to this day about the ethnic groups, the whole rainbow of ethnicity that has

come to united states of america, the largest group as the germans migration and that begins in the 1820s but grows in the 1830s and 1840s and continues in the 20th century. the largest ethnic migration and there is a huge wave of germans who came here in the mid-19th century. these people came and helped to settle cincinnati. i'm talking about germans in general. with these germans there were german jews led last hope that they could make a decent livelihood. they have suffered so many disabilities. the same kind of bitter oppression we talk about the sometimes we read about an eastern european pro-crimes of

terrible brutality or to discuss even in the context of 20th century brutality of the germans, none of that. there were economic disabilities so young people were not able to anticipate providing for their families. this hopelessness wrote then to join the other migraines. they came to this country and they are, a place is pioneering because there was land available, opportunities and the story of the jewish toddler. you've probably heard that where you land in new york and you pick up a bag of who knows what and so forth and you start going into the interior. you find yourself a place where you've got a monopoly and if you like it you can make a decent

living. he tried to move from your back to a pushcart and a pushcart to restore and then you bring your relatives over. they work for free. they live upstairs. many were involved in this. economics was the kind of mercantilism or petty merchandising was something they were allowed to do in europe. there were many things they were forbidden to do so that was something they were able to do and succeeded. this helped them spread all over. you can read we have documents here that help to explain and make.cincinnati looks like the old country. they felt at home here and it was beautiful and there were hills and the weather was reasonably commodious and so forth. the community grew from a

handful of trent three to the second largest jewish community by midcentury. the man is often credited with being the first train to and cincinnati is a man by the name of joseph jonas. he tells a story that a quaker woman traveled to see him because she's never set eyes on a train two. and so, she comes in them as i would like you to turn around so i can back to you from all sides. so he accommodates her request and then set the famous line which becomes a lawyer in jewish history america and certainly cincinnati she says thou art a

jew at different than any other man in that sort of pecans the album of jewish life. in other words, we have one and want to preserve our heritage, but on the other hand we want to be a part of the american experience in that quaker woman grasped that. guess you are part of the ancient heritage that you are not different from anyone else here. that is a very affirming kind of story. cincinnati became a major economic center in the antebellum period through the years after the civil war and that happened for a variety of reasons. first of all it's a great transportation center so you had the convergence of three rivers that could literally take product and brand products from everywhere at that time.

the major source of transportation, the steamboat and cargo ships were converging on cincinnati. think of it this way. when abraham lincoln was born in 1809, cincinnati ohio was that very best a little ham all. when abraham lincoln is running for president, literally half a century later, cincinnati is about the fifth-largest city in the united states. it is something that experienced a literal explosion, a booming population and wealth, business and so it became a force with which to be reckoned with. jews flooded and along with the

other immigrants who built the population and they succeeded in help being to grow the community. so when the jewish community begins to establish his golf, it doesn't envision it now has a teeny place where there is a handful of jews and i just want to have a synagogue. they began to imagine them selves as the majors. jewel center. it is in the of the beautiful plum street chapel which still stands today. this is a temple dedicated in 1886 and seats about 1200 people but the congregation went dedicated with only about 450 people and that tells you something about their vision of

their future. they were building for tomorrow that was the spirit of this community. is here that so many to race in the development of life. the first jewish house of published here in cincinnati. the first rabbinical seminary. others had been established before the hebrew union college but they did not succeed. the oldest continuously to exist in the world established a whole array of institutions, a first congregational union bringing together congregations in common harmony for the purpose of establishing seminary and supporting congregational unions called at the time the union of

a very hebrew congregation established in 1873 here in cincinnati. the first rabbinical association bringing together american rabbis into a common union here in cincinnati in 1889. the brothers and big sisters started hearings in the 90 from the jewish community. the second oldest jewish federation in the united states here in cincinnati. i could go on and on and all this as a result of two things. one, that this is a very dynamic, exciting and big important community in many century and their vision of who they were. they didn't see themselves as backwater from the little community struggling to exist. they exploded onto the american scene in the jewish community and left a legacy that exists today. for the american jew who reads

it, i want to emphasize american jewish history is not new york jewish history writ large, mean when you want to talk about jewish life in this country, you have to go beyond manhattan island and that is what that document root volume really strives to achieve. it doesn't just focus that gives proper credit to the great your jewish community which has been so pivotal from the beginning. it also makes enough for to show the richness and diversity, some of the most inspiring stories which take place all over this country. cincinnati is one example. to the american people who read it might be interested in it, i feel it is not what you are looking at when you studied the american dream to is not a

religious history, meaning the study of a religion. you are actually studying the american experience. it is a window -- here's another way of looking at it. 50, 60, 70 years ago the story of the american people was told without government chain much about the african-americans. the only story you heard is about the slaves. and after it has been in the last 40 years to redeem not story. 40, 50 years ago, very few women would've been tension in the context of retelling the story of the united states. these stories are being reclaimed and have been acclaimed but there's more to do in that area. help us to understand our past. the story of the jew is exactly comparable to these other

examples. when you see the role that they have played, how they built their lives, how they transform themselves, their desire to become american, the way they contributed about their own religious institutions that they contributed to business or enterprise is of all different kinds. it is not a story of a segment of the people. it is a story of our nation. >> we spoke with civil rights act is married spencer along with dorothy christianson about her role as a community leader. >> i know all the spaces, the the young and old here.

[inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> i am mary ann alexander spencer. i was born in galveston, ohio, my grandfather was a free slave and as a slave owner's son, he had been one of maybe 20 slaves on their property in virginia, union county, virginia. he passed through poster children of the owner were taken into the big house, the owner's house, the slaveowners housed and taught to read and write,

which was of course illegal in those days and because they were taught to read and write, they had an advantage over their other half brothers that he had bear on the plantation. ..

her grandfather, parents, own goals, mr. mitchell, got together and sued because the real estate levy said that they would maintain the black high school and they have not. at that angle several years in the '20s they actually one which is what marian went to an integrated high school. >> we were state a students come my twin sister and i in our great school and her school. and in a class of common student body of over 400. we graduated call valedictorian in 1938 and then we came to this college. you never knew what was the you should stand up or sit down. it was always a question. what do they do? they didn't have a lot of signs of, although right outside our town we were supposed to be in the town until after dark, we

were supposed to be in the town. we didn't have any playmates down there, but we knew that there was a lot of prejudice. we knew that maybe half of the time -- down, blacks lived and the other part whites lived. we knew we had a black grade school and we knew at the high school we were mixed. we knew that in a black school with black teachers, one white teacher i recall was a first grade teacher, and she taught the first and second grades. all children in our family were taught to read and write by her, and we became excellent readers. we would read all the books in the library. but we also knew that the black students would go to the white high school and that we would

find a lot of discrimination. we were admitted to the a cappella choir. we were not admitted to the swimming pool. there were things that we knew were there for the white students that were not available to us. the same was true on campus. when we came here we took modern dancing for our sport, but we had a teacher who taught swimming. she also taught modern dancing and she would let us come in at the end of the regular classes. we never learned how to swim, i didn't learn until i was married and 29 years of age. my husband taught me. my twin and i were here when we were not admitted to the swimming classes. there were many things that we would not comfortable

attempting. we were not welcomed. in fact, when my husband came, he said that it wanted to go to the junior senior prom and they were not really welcomed. >> how does that make you feel? >> uncomfortable. but, and there were some black students on campus who were passing for white and he didn't recognize them. because she didn't want to interfere with their lives. my twin and i've were very proud of our black heritage. and my grandfather said come teacher education, and we were very happy that we were given the opportunity to come here as graduate students, past the high school level, because our parents had not had that advantage. >> marian spencer is a civil rights icon and should been part of legislation which has changed many things locally, statewide

and nationally. she is best known for her desegregation of coney island. the circumstances there were that my twins had seen on the tv and heard on the tv swim and dance on coney island. they were like six and nine years old and it wanted to could they go? i said i don't know but i'll find out. i heard we were welcomed there. i got on the telephone come close the door to the kitchen so they could get the conversation and the young girl answered when i asked what their policy was, i said, all children are welcome. she said oh, yes the knesset, well, we are negroes and want to be certain that they will be welcomed. she was very quiet and then she said, i'm sorry, she said, but no, they couldn't come.

she quickly followed that up with, but i don't make the rules. and i said, i know you don't, andy, but i'll find out who does. i was on the board at the naacp at the time and brought it up immediately going to a regular board meeting and told him that i thought we should do something about opening coney island to black children. i said that we should write a national and ask them if they'll send out a lawyer and who will talk with the spirit and i got together all black lawyers in the city of cincinnati. they met in the basement of the ballroom, and the young man by the name of carter was the lawyer they sent. he was the legal counsel for the naacp at that time. and he told us what we needed to do to bring a suit against coney

island. he said, you need to have white and black plaintiffs, and he said, and they should all go up on a full week possible, during the week of the fourth of july. the whites will be admitted and the blacks will be rejected, and that's what we did and that's what happened. we had our case, because we then later went before the judge and our case was heard. we were going, we will question why we were being rejected and whites only been admitted. well, they made a decision that we could go, and then, of course, those people who followed us have to follow us

because the swimming pool was in another county. they told us that didn't mean the swimming pool. the few who were there could go but others could not. >> i would like to know the extent to which mary has had such an impact, but i also hope that they will learn the things that we've included about what cincinnati was like even during world war ii. cincinnati was a transit point that if you're black you were to get out the white railroad car and move to a black railroad car if you're going south of you. and things that i don't think they'rofan art school books andt think that my contemporaries are younger people today have any idea how extensive and what impact of segregation was. i do hope it's just a small piece to open a few eyes. >> i like the title because i do feel that we must keep on fighting, but we must not be

satisfied with less than equal opportunities. and we must make changes every time and every way possible, where ever we are, and who ever we are. because a functioning democracy has got to have equal opportunities for all. >> you are watching the tv on c-span2 you. this weekend we are in cincinnati, ohio, with the help of our local cable partner, time warner cable. next, suing painter discusses the life of our ninth president and native ohio in william henry harrison. >> i wrote a little book about william henry harrison who is one of my favorite historical, local characters. he was one of the most fascinating people in greater cincinnati history. i think because he connects

across time spent and geography and so many different people. harrison grew up in a political family, a family that he knew, his father near in kenya as a child, thomas jefferson and james madison and all the people that the founders of the country. william henry harrison came to cincinnati as an ensign in the first infantry. he was sent by president george washington, became commandant, that would be commander, afford. in the woods here in 1791 when cincinnati was mostly much streets and a few log cabins on the riverfront. his time in cincinnati parallels the lives of cincinnati as a grand city which it became. when he left in 1841 to be

president, it was the fastest growing city in the united states. it was a city of find churches in beautiful mansions, flowers, very prosperous. david cohen significant in that time. it wasn't just that harrison on third what happened in that period, which was a story of american progress, but that he participated in it. i maintain that he really had a major hand in building institutions, the political and cultural institutions that made cincinnati america for subsequent immigration. what harrison did as a delegate to the u.s. congress was to write a harrison planned act of 1800, which made purchasing land available to people of limited means. set was broken up into smaller

plots. you could buy land on credit. it literally opens ohio, indiana, the northwest territory to millions and millions of people. people started talking about harrison to become a candidate for president. he did not volunteer or go around. in fact, he said he would not, not go around and organize and try to seat delegates. but he was sought out. it was a sincere and honest draft. he did not refuse. in fact, he said if they want this clodhopper farmer for president, then i'm available. part of his charm was that he was humble, that he wasn't being aggressive in pursuit of it. at many, many people, yet lots of old friends, came to his assistance.

harrison's opponents tried to characterize him as a feeble old man. so for that reason if none other he felt obliged to campaign strenuously. it was the canals, which he had a major part in developing in ohio when used in the ohio legislature, allowed when the journey rather easily from cincinnati to toledo. from there the railroads were coming into play then, so he took his first railroad trip, our second i believe it is, on a trip to harrisburg for a big rally at the ford. he returned to some of the sights of his military victory because that was part of what was talked about in the campaign. the log cabin campaign

transformed political tactics in the united states. previous to that, candidates had refused to campaign. they thought it was undignified and we need them. not true of jackson of washington and the adams did not go into that kind of behavior. but harrison was willing to. he enjoyed the rallies, the festivities. he invited some of his old friends, the indians who helped him defeat the british to come to the rallies and dance. african-americans were welcomed. lots of women came. none of these people could vote, mind you, but they enjoy being part of it and they wanted to show their support for harrison. at any rate, it captured the imagination of the people. it became a spontaneous kind of thing. what he did was boost the turnout for the election.

1 million votes were cast for each candidate. this was huge. it was almost 19 more than had been cast in the 1936 election. so it wasn't the first presidential election where people really became involved. harrison was elected in 1840. in 1841 he took the steamer from cincinnati, he went to washington. he was received by president van buren cordially. and people greater than come and give it back to virginia to his childhood home where he still had a lot that is history books and his classics. and he wrote a very long speech for his inaugural. his friend, daniel webster, and did it have reportedly cut out

many, many roman centurions but it was still two hours long to read your it was a cold and rainy day for the inaugural, and harrison to the dissatisfaction of many of his supporters, stood bareheaded without a coat on the steps and read his long address. he got a cold then and went back, but he seemed to have recovered, at least my sources say that he was well enough to go to the farmer's market several weeks later. there he was caught in a drenching thunderstorm. he came home and got a bad, bad cold which went into pneumonia. this was a month after his inaugural. from what i've been able to piece together, he might have made it, survived them except

the doctors were called in his treatment at the time consisted of things like bleeding and other practices which, even in 1840, a medical society said probably contributed to his death. so he died of pneumonia one month after taking office. one thing that he was sent to pursue he thought was reform of what had become a corrupt political system, of awarding jobs to people who had given to your campaign or help on your campaign, instead of the best people. he issued executive orders that officeholders without be allowed to participate in politics or contribute, and he did start reforms in that direction. i believe that cincinnati and and americans have really not

recognized the contributions that william henry harrison made. probably different about harrison is what you usually you find in that period of history, a town person is interested in urban affairs. and they do things there. country people overcome if they do things, they are less likely to be noted. but harrison at one foot in the city and the other in the country. and he brought the two together. >> during booktv's recent visit to cincinnati, ohio, we toured the home of uncle tom's cabin author harriet beecher stowe with chris to someone. >> -- chris desimion.

>> we are standing in the parlor of harry beecher stowe house in cincinnati's wanted hills. this house was built as the home for harry's father and stepmother. he came here to cincinnati to be the president of a theological seminary that stood about a quarter of mile commute. so this is the home bill for the president of the college, a very important place in cincinnati at the time and still is today. cincinnati was considered the west. this was a boomtown. there was the fastest-growing city in the country at the time, the population doubled every changes between 1800-1850, and it was a huge amount of money being made. the downtown area a few miles from here was a flat plane but lifted up above the river perfect for pharma, perfect for

trade, a great place to build a city. so farmers from all about ohio and indiana would bring their grain in texas and safety turned it into finished products to be sent by riverboat down the ohio river to the mississippi river and threat new orleans and back up the east coast. does a huge amount of commerce being done. this was the other place to train ministers for the presbyterian and congregational church. the presbyterians were the first organized religion in cincinnati. to among the most energetic. they had a lot of money and they want to make sure that this, the west, the london of the west some people called it, they wanted to make sure that this was something firmly in the camp of christ followers as they called it. they wanted -- beecher himself said if we win the west all is

what it was the last all is lost if he can get later in his later he was the ama and was the ama tenure but he did think it was important because he wanted to make sure that their version of calvinism was spread throughout the west as an organizing principle. we are talking about 1832. doctor beecher, harry's father, graduate from yale in the 1790s, had a parish can log on the move to litchfield, connecticut, first law school in the country was there. it was a center of learning. the kids were very smart children. he had a large family. he had 13 children all told. harriet was one of the last children born to live in beecher and his first wife, roxanne. she had a sister born three years before also named harriet who passed away in infancy. harriet was born and then her brother was born if you split a than charles was born a few

years later. her mother died when she was five. so she spent time with her father's family. her father remarried and shortly afterwards, and then she spent time going back and forth between her birthplace of litchfield, connecticut, and a grandmother some in not played connecticut. this is where she met her mother's brother's to work wealthy merchant and ignited her very young imagination. a lot of the colorful description of foreign lands that she wrote about early in her career came from the description of her brothers. our brothers like a lot of connecticut yankees as they were called moved here to cincinnati to improve their fortunes. they would end up in your years before she county. there are several stages of her life you she was a 21 year old shy worried about being a spinster, always in the shadow of her famous sister, catherine.

catherine had let the education world on fire by educating women. her hartford female academy was revolutionary. it taught people come the seventh grid toppe topped the sx registered sex greatest half of this pretense or. they taught each of how to teach. in doing so they learned a lot more. they learned more than just what young women of the time we typically learn. they learned a lot of things that normally men would learn. so catherine came here to set up a school. harriet followed along as a teacher. she taught in her sister's school many topics including piano. so she lived downtown at first. there she was a single, still kind of quiet, but then she's introduced to a group called the; club. they would gather every monday night downtown use at home over uncles. it was a palatial estate on, not

far from where the underground railroad freedom center stands today between the red state in and the bengals stadium at the foot of downtown cincinnati. and so this club would meet every monday night and they would submit writings anonymously. they would discuss the issues of the day. they would sing. they would have snacks. they would dance. it was a social club, and it attracted some of the highest levels of the cincinnati. salmon p. chase was a member. dr. daniel drake was a member who was beecher personal physician, founded university of cincinnati. one of the founders. a gentleman named james hall, judge james ho. the book was written about him called the literary pioneer of the ohio valley. these were the highest level of cincinnati society and your young harriet and her sister catherine just wade right in. she's kind of shy at first but

she submits some writings as you listened and she watches and learned how to talk to she meets a new friend, eli system whose husband calvin stowe was a professor at the seminary who worked for her dead. it was a nice will have a think as a member of the semicolon club a contest was proposed, the publisher, editor james all offered a prize of $50 for the best story submitted to his magazine, the western monthly. harriet won the $50 tha $50 at t store, a prized it was called was published in 1834 in that magazine. she then gets married in 1836, and the economy is falling apart the this is right around the time president andrew jackson failed to renew the charter of the banks. the country was thrown into a depression. they were renting out parts of the house to make ends meet. being a minister didn't pay much money back then come and being a college professor didn't pay much money back and.

and harriet's husband, calvin, was both so they were chronically short of cash. she got asked to to go back east to take what's called a water cure him. she was there for a long time. she got all out of her system. she was physically and spiritually reenergized, and she came back to cincinnati. and instantly became pregnant with her son samuel charles stone. this young man lived her life. she admitted, this was six of her seven children that he was her favorite child. the water treatment worked so well that calvin took the next year. so little charlie and she called was born in 1848 to 1849, calvin says of his water cure sounds like fun, why don't i do it? he does come and then one of the

worst cholera epidemics takes place in 1849 and that's the epidemic that took her own son at the age of one year and have. and so he passed away. she writes to calvin saying, calvin finds out that he is sick. i will hurry home. i will come back. she says no, there's no way you can get back in time. she writes about his cold, lifeless body. it is heart wrenching. but that was the moment that she admitted that she understood what it was like to lose a child. she'd witnessed a slave auction in the area about 50 miles from here where she saw a young child being sold away on the child's mother, and that made an impression on her. i was 1833. 16 years later she loses her own child, and it hit home and changed her. it did. it changed her forever.

get personalized it for a major write about things in a way that she was, she could reach into her own grief and reach into her own experience and get it out on paper. there's a chapter in the book, although tom's cabin, where you never were she's going in this, the slave is on the road doing with her son charlie advocate about the dork of a senator. and early in the chapter she describes politicians and tosses out some very pointed barbs at politicians. and that she focuses on the senator's wife. mrs. bird sees the slave escaping. she sees the slave baby. she goes to her dresser, followed by her two little sons come and she opens the drawer. and here is harriet describing his cynthia kenyon the scene, harriet almost turned to the audience, almost like a movie or

tv look at the camera and bringing the audience in and she said something to the effect, and all, mothers come is the one among you who doesn't have a drawer the opening of which is like opening a small grave? because what she does then come her a little child i think mother, those are the babies toys. those of the babies close. she's giving to close and the toys of her deceased child to this fugitive slave. ..

their mothers, fathers commit sisters, brothers held in bondage across the river in kentucky. it was not usually as wide as it is now. it would sometimes will appear it would dry up in the winter. there were race riots here in 1829. race riots in 1836, writes in 1841. all of these happening that she was here. one of the famous cases argued in a few minutes from here not far from where calvin lived. it was called the jones van zandt case beard and sandals a farmer selling produce on a riverfront in gennady europe

when he was done he came up and stayed here nearby appeared that morning as he woke up to go north there were some slaves milling about the wagon and he was known to be active, come on in, away they went. he was so sure they made it to safety data that one of the fugitive slave start the wagon. the slave catchers cut up within. most of the slaves for cod and he was soon ready under the slaves that mr. jones. the cases are due to the supreme court by cincinnati's own cell mode cheese that took place almost in her front yard. she was very much aware of leave in the controversy. california said that it is a

free day and two placate the south and the slave power in 1850 is inserted into this law. he was reviled in the north because it legally required anybody that became aware of the fugitive slave to help capture the slave. talk about a conflict of interest, that captures they would be brought before an appointed magistrate he was paid $5 if he accused labor be set free from a $10 to send them back south. this was the law of the land. it infuriated people and i'll be 18 years of being here kind of observing atmosphere of bondage and discrimination losing her child this was the final straw.

she had the slave crucified and she writes to her friend and says i have an idea. i can run with this. starting in june 1851 is published in weekly installments into 1852 and it caught the sensation. the 1850s version of go in cairo. to polarize people because people said this can't be true. there is no way this happened. all the descriptions of slave suffering flew out of the space that what people in the south were saying flames like a slayer spirit the bible says they can base layers. she had everyone at this point in this book. by the time she finished the story yesterday to publish in book form in 1852 and i got a

nice contract for it. should never have to worry about money after that. the headlines in 300,000 copies were sold. these are huge massive numbers translated into 70 language. it was the second most purchased both in the 19th century after the bible. when people come today. teachers know how, they can step into areas world. they can stand in the right is our with students about whether they should have debates on abolition in the first place. there must've been fiery discussions in this house. they can stand in the room where her brothers and sisters ran around and coming up and presents for her little half brothers. you'll see panels that tell the

life story. there is a timeline that shows the other things going on around harriet. there's a newspaper from the 1830s. not a copy. you sir professor stowe newspapers at the name written on them. these are the papers where she signs her name franklin and you can touch the walls and breathe the air she breathes. >> the american jewish archive was established in 1947 by the great, great american jewish historian jacob or rader marcus

was a member of the faculty for 75 years. dr. marcus is acknowledged as one of the great historians of the american jewish experience. he was my teacher and dr. marcus felt there were so many documents that needed to be a lack that although there was an archive collect in a new york that too much is owing to be lost 747 he established you on the campus and with the help of student graduate students he would collect materials mostly between alleghenies and during his lifetime expert to be one of the largest collections of documents, not just the holding of the hebrew union college that had many, many papers from important organizations come a significant jewish malady. right now we are in the reading

room at the american jewish archive and was taken out a few of our precious document that illustrate the story of a cincinnati jewish history and it's impossible to even mention the history of jewish life in cincinnati without talking about isaac mayer wise and this here is a picture of wise from his younger years, probably this is how he loved pretty representative of when he first came to america. he arrived from a community right outside of prague where he was raised and came to america in 1846 and he started in new york and he wasn't all that impressed with the jewish community of america and would go into some other field of endeavor. but it was a charismatic and

passionate man and he began to be a guest speaker at various synagogues and he did dedications and so forth and before long he won himself a pulpit in albany, new york and that's where he was from 1848 until he came to cincinnati in 1854. by the time he gets to cincinnati, isaac wise has been americanized. isaac wise can speak and preach pretty well in english and has big dreams and cincinnati, ohio which as he's arriving it's now if you will approaching the high point of growth and expansion. he is riding this wave of enthusiasm and he sees jewish life in cincinnati what's going on in the general community. so he dreams and one of the

biggest dreams he has is to create a rabbinical seminary in america to train american to serve american jews. not defending europe but to do it right here in america and he worked hard at this dream and it takes him a quarter of a century to realize he has a lot of obstacles to overcome but he eventually will do so if that happens in the creation of the hebrew union college in 1875. this tells you everything you need to know in this one paragraph. he reminisces and the german paper about why he came to cincinnati in 1854 and i want to read this to you in english. he says he wants to come to cincinnati because the people

there are young and aspiring and they are not yet cast into a fixed mold. i shall start a new weekly journal. i will start a new and powerful impetus and avenge myself for the good of humanity on the narrow religious bigot said they will think of me for a century. he sure had a hearty ego but i don't think anybody could question the fact that we are still talking about than a century later. he delivers about me could be very critical during his

presidency but after lincoln's death, he joins us so many others in terms of idolizing lincoln and in his eulogy published in the secular press in cincinnati, isaac wise says he spoke to the president personally and president lincoln always believed he was the defendant and of course no one knows whether lincoln really said that are not but he's already deceased. but he put those words in his mouth and for that reason to this day there are jews and many people who believe abraham lincoln is a direct descendent of jews. he's also invited to rise as a democrat and was invited to run for state legislature here in ohio and his congregants kind of put a stop to that.

they thought he was doing plenty between the president of a rabbinical century. they fell going to congress was a little too much. this document is known in the scholarly world to be the very first official notification to the jews of america that the mechanized destruction of european jewry had begun. i'm talking about the extermination of jewish life in germany and eastern europe. this is called the rainer telegram because a man by the name of gerhardt reagan era. his name is mentioned here, who is working at the time at the world jewish congress located in geneva and he had engaged and

the informant brought him is of the fact that meeting had taken place earlier in the year 1942 in the meeting he says in his note that it was a meeting in which plans were discussed to murder all the jews of germany. then he gets the information from a sender to rabbi stephen wise was president of the world jewish congress. also said that two samuel silverman, a member of parliament, a british trained to listen the congress. stephen wise telegram somehow is not delivered. they had become during the war through the military offices and is never delivered. the suburban telegram does

survive and though he sends the telegram to stephen wise and now it makes sense because if you read it because i have received to the foreign office the following message and now he's going to quote the man said she had received. says an alarming report in the headquarters they plan is discussed in under consideration at all jews occupied or controlled a germany member in three and a half to 4 million should after deportation and concentration at the east at one low be exterminated to resolve once and for all the jewish question in europe. it goes on to say on the second page they are planning to use acid or gas and matt diaz and it

says this is a difficult story to believe that the informant is usually correct. when stephen wise gets the telegram in about six, seven weeks he holds the major news conference and announces the jews of europe are being murdered. this is a moving and gripping document. shows us the jews were informed and they tried to inform the american nation of what was going on. by the time the jews received the telegram the end of august, already a million jews had perished. the decision to murder them in a plan that was executed or carried out in january of 42 and

it isn't until august it's even delivered. we now know thanks to the scholarship of many others that the british and american military knew what was happening, but the program was at the time the war would be one in the information wasn't the focus of the war. people know this is going on, that there was information circulating it was hard for people to believe it's a very tragic part of our history and this is part of a whole collection of material we have a detail the story of the american jew and the holocaust. is a division of the college and so we are grateful because the college provides our wonderful

archival professionals on the staff. the archives are available to anyone who wants to use it. as a source for genealogy, researchers and people are curious about american jewish experience. publishers use at all the time because we have one of the largest collections of photographs. if you need the elimination or illustration for something or publishing convention desired you'll come to the american jewish archives. the >> we are joined now by jean

o'hare who is a professor at brooklyn college and author of the rebellious life of mrs. rosa parks. prior to december 1st come in 1855, was rosa parks rebellious? >> absolutely pure to rebellious spirit starts as a young person, as a.k.a. for instance, she grows up in a home with their grandparents and mother. after world war ii there is an update in alabama. by this time a bully pushes her and she pushes back. she shouldn't have to be pushed. her political life starts when she made the issue described the first or lack arrest and that is raymond parks if they get married in 1932 and children in organizing on scottsboro case. for the next 20 years she will

be react active. they love to lead the montgomery naacp to be a more activist chat there doing voter registration, working on the go cases, legal lynching cases by trying to get justice for black women have been big fans of violence. at december 1st 1955 is a seasoned rebel if you will. >> was december 1st 1955, was that planned? >> no. it was not planned, but it's the process of a culmination of many hacks of rebellion. certainly montgomery's black community thinking about filing a suit. this is a year after brown v. board of education and a different legal climate talk about the need to challenge segregation. this is also not the first

person arrested on the bus. a decade after world war ii you see a trickle of people refusing to give up their seats, getting arrested. 1940 4a woman by the name of feel that way is arrested, pursues her legal case. police transfix her daughter. brown offers a new opportunity and a march of 195515-year-old refuses to give up her seat on the bus. first it seems like this would be the case in the community begins to galvanize. 2001 that brought the segregation charge in the community doesn't stand behind holden. they see her as too young, too feisty. when i say it's not planned, rosa parks was not a freedom

writer. it doesn't come out of nowhere. rosa parks made stands on the bus before 1955. many bus drivers and they get off the bus and record the back. she refused to do that and she had been thrown off by this poster ever will have her arrested of those who considered her uppity for not being willing to do that. this is not her first act of bus resistance. she's coming home from work about 6:00 at night. she goes to the drugstore, buy us a few things come of wars the bus, sits in the middle section. the middle section is a no man's land in that lack people, not the way section. she makes clear she's not

sitting in the white section. she is sitting in the middle section. black people could sit there, but if she would put it on the whim of the driver could be asked to give up their seat. the third stop after she gets on, bus fills up and one white man is left standing and the bus driver notices us. he tells the people of rosa parks row because all for people of the row have to get up and he asked them to get out. no one moves. he asks more forcefully better get laid on yourself. the other three people we like to blame god up -- he puts it, she pushes far she could be pushed. she got a them to be consenting to the treatment and she did not consent. she thinks about emmett till.

the young 14 year old. she thinks about her grandfather and she refuses. she loved the man sitting next to her goodbye her insides of her to window and refuses. the bus driver says i'll have you arrested and she says he may do that. so it gets often caused the police if you think about what's happening in the moment. she's sitting there. those of us on the bus when somebody makes a save, when people are grumbling, getting off the bus. the police officers get on the bus and many of us think about rosa parks being quiet and rosa parks is certainly a shy reserved person, the rosa parks did not quiet in key moments. when police officers get on the bus and asked her why she didn't move, she says that quite he

pushes around. so i think rosa parks in many moments challenges in her body and also with her voice the system of inequality in this country and she is arrested. >> as children we all learned rosa parks sat on the bus in the way section. this is why you write in your book, "the rebellious life of mrs. rosa parks," just as turn-of-the-century history tells a good black people as differential and happy, so does the incessant celebration of quieted non-angry. >> we learn about her. on one hand she's incredibly celebrated and honored. the other hand we hear about one day when rosa parks had a lifetime of activism in montgomery but they'll have to leave montgomery in 1977 issue of spin the second half of her

life as an activist in detroit fighting racism of the jim crow north. she will continue to do that. she will be at it again the war in vietnam. she will be a hit against south african apartheid. you are showing a picture of an older rosa parks protesting outside the embassy. she will continue to be an everlasting the struggle is not over. there is much injustice in the country and she will kind of be resolved to keep fighting. yet the way of rosa parks has taught as a problem is solved in the past when actual rosa parks that there's much more to be done. >> how did you do your research on this boat? >> i had to do a lot of digging. i did all sorts of archives and

history interviews in part because part of rosa favors are caught up in a dispute as she had gotten papers to sell. with all of her effects they languished for about a decade until the summer howard buffett made an incredible donation and recently gave them to the library of congress and february they opened. they are remarkable. the library of congress is open to anyone who wants to visit. you can read letters and see some of rosa parks political writing. you can hear her voice talking about why she did what she did. i very much recommend them. >> you're spending a little more time at the library of congress. >> absolutely. >> jeanne theoharis, "the rebellious life of mrs. rosa parks" is the name of the book.

he met the pope's upcoming visit to the u.s. c-span has live coverage from washington.

>> next, a nickel of a sharper cause her life and political career. she is interviewed as susan page in the washington bureau chief for "usa today." >> congratulations on your new book, the senator next-door. it's a pleasure to talk to you about it. and the low allowed to talk about an early brush with sexism and injustice. you are in the fourth