[ applause ] >> american history tv will be at the soldiers national cemetery at gettysburg national military park in pennsylvania this coming tuesday to cover the commemorative ceremony marking the 150th anniversary of lincoln's gettysburg address. speakers include civil war historian and author james mcpherson and interior secretary sally jewel. you can watch the ceremony on thanksgiving day, thursday, november 28th at 4:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern time. here on american history tv. on c-span3. >> i got into taft, knowing he had been friends, knowing he had

broken apart in 1912. and when i figured out what was the difference in their leadership, it was teddy's leadership, taft's leadership. so i started reading about the publications in the press, these guys stood at the center of it. they played a center role. even the best historians will say these guys are the vanguard of the history. he came into my life. >> roosevelt, taft, and the muckrakers, at 8:00, on c-span's question and answer. all weekend long, american history tv is featuring ann arbor, michigan, c-span's local content vehicles recently

visited many sites exploring the rich history, learn more about ann arbor all weekend long on american history tv. it was extremely important the way they looked at slavery and how slavery affected them. in 1836, men, they were all men from across the state of michigan, which was only sparsely settled at that time, held an anti-slavery meeting in ann arbor, where we are. and one of their goals was to sway people to have an

anti-slavery stance. and in order to do so they felt they should have a newspaper because they could disseminate the information to encourage them that slavery was wrong around the country. out of that meeting. remember, this was a year before michigan was actually a state. out of that meeting came a publication of a newspaper. and it was mostly led by, theodore foster, they managed to keep it going from 1841 to 1848. and that is really amazing when you look at the history of newspapers in this country. in 1842, we still have a newspaper being published by the executive committee of the

anti-slavery society. and sullivan, who was the printer out of jackson county, michigan, is still the printer. that is going to change. and beckley and foster are going to take over within a short time of managing the newspaper. this newspaper has an article here about -- written, describing frederick douglass. and it is actually -- when he was first starting to speak and what it was like to be a slave. and introduced many people who had a biassed viewpoint that a slave could not necessarily be well edged to hear these words spoken by a man who has recently been enslaved. and how eloquently he spoke. we also have in this issue articles about supporting the liberty party. the liberty party would become

the party for electing the person in the united states, the president of the united states lived in the state of michigan. he ran unsuccessfully because the liberty party did not have a lot of support. and the main reason for that, and the opinion of beckley was because they only had had one issue on their platform. and that was ending slavery. another really important part of the newspaper, they always had some poetry. and this one was by whittier. he published a number of peoples that related to slavery and the sadnesses connected with those enslaved. you'll see in this issue, march 6th, 1843, that now foster and beckley are the publishers of

the newspaper. they would all have taken over until 1847, when beckley resigned and foster then continued for sometime -- at least another year. they generally had publishing information, in terms of subscriptions or wood or chickens or anything they could get. here is the people again related to slaves by longfellow. they then included national news and here -- the michigan temperence society, here, they have -- doctrines at washington. so the national news was very important to include. and then they would sometimes follow that with discussions or alternative viewpoints that might -- of an opposing view.

the underground railroad had become quite effective by the 1840s. and certainly came to be very effective in the 1850s. and it was proven not only by the northerners making claims but also by the slaveholders in states, by going to the legislature and saying help us retrieve our quote, property. so here we have an article about the missouri legislature going to congress and saying to them that under the existing laws of canada, and the treaties between great britain, it is impossible to recover a slave who has once escaped to the canadian shore. and of course, what is the fastest way to get across but from detroit, across the detroit river to get to canada, which is why michigan played such an important part in the underground railroad. so here we have them showing

themselves to this whole country, that this issue had become a serious problem. and that slaves were not these contented folk, as they claimed. they were escaping, permanently. from a life they no longer wanted to lead. they wanted their freedom. and they showed it to the world. so this newspaper said look, here it is. getting toward the end of publication. and it is 1847. at this time, beckley has bowed out of publishing. he had written personal letters when he said it was just too great a hardship. he had many children and they were not getting enough to live on because he was putting so much money into the publication of the newspaper. sadly, he died suddenly, very shortly after this.

so theodore foster continued publishing. he found someone else to work with him. but this is the next to last publication that we have here. so it did not -- it was not able to continue without enough financial support. it was very effective in reaching thousands of people. there were at least a couple thousand, over 2,000 people at one point subscribing to this newspaper. and like other newspapers, it opened an avenue for people to lead discussions in their own communities. it also upheld the liberty party. and notified people where there would be liberty party meetings, anti-slavery society meetings. it was a way to reach people, the citizens who needed to be involved and wanted to be involved. >> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring

ann arbor, michigan, our local content recently travel there had to learn about its rich history. learn more about ann arbor, you're watching american history tv every weekend on c-span-3. >> there are some serious scholars in women's studies, most departments include their fair share of non-ideological courses in women's psychology, women's history, or women in literature, if there is a department that defies this stereotype, i would love to know. by the way, conservative women, moderate women, libertarian

women, traditional women, left out. >> she critiques feminism, and has been labelled anti-feminist. looking ahead to the new year on in-depth, join radio talk show host mark levin, book tv in depth, the first sunday of every month, on c-span 2. next, the political career of eleanor roosevelt, with insight from her granddaughter, tracy roosevelt. first lady from 1933 to 1945, eleanor roosevelt became a key player, an advocate for women and civil rights and president kennedy appointed her to chair a special commission on the