and recognition by the supreme court of how important education is. yet in the aftermath, this is the one area where we are least aggressive at least assertive about ensuring at a national level that there is equal educational opportunity. >> i know there are more questions from the audience. of our panelists will remain, so feel free to speak with them after the conclusion of this. as you heard, lawyers play a big role today in education, as they .id 60 years ago we know that education is something that is important to all of us, but this is only a start of a dialogue. tory generation needs reflect on what america was like 60 years ago, fast-forward to 2015 and look 60 years ahead. please give everyone a appear applause and again, thank you for coming to this session. [applause]

>> abigail fillmore was the first first lady to work outside the home, teaching in a private school. she successfully lobbied congress for funds to create the first white house library. was a fashioner icon. nancy reagan as the young name mistakenly on the blacklist of suspected communist sympathizers in the late 1940's. she appealed to ronald reagan for help and later became his wife. these stories and more are featured in c-span's book, first ladies. presidential historians on the lives of 45 iconic american women. the book ask a great gift for the holidays, giving readers a look into the personal lives of every first lady in american history. stories of fascinating women and how their legacies resonate

today. share the stories of america's first ladies for the holidays. it's available as a hardcover or an e-book from your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. be sure to order your copy today. announcer: all weekend, "american history tv" features worcester, massachusetts. c-span cities tour staff recently visited many sites, showcasing the city's history. learn more about worcester all weekend here on "american history tv." >> abby kelley foster was a women's rights, human rights, and abolitionist was born 1811 in palace, massachusetts. at six months old, she moved to

worchester. this is where she had her career. she went to an anti-slavery meeting and william lloyd garrison was the speaker. she was 21 years old at the time and it was then that she decided she had to do something for the cause. and she did join the female anti-slavery society and raised a lot of funds and took petitions around to be signed and was very active on behalf of the abolitionist movement. she became a radical abolitionist, unlike a lot of abolitionists at the time. she felt that, not only should slavery be ended, but people should be treated equally. so she then decided, not long after she gave her first public speech in 1838, that she would become a lecturer for the american anti-slavery society.

abby really spoke from the heart and yet she did a lot of studying. she read legal books and she read political information in order to make sure that she was being able to answer questions or hecklers who threw things out at her as she was speaking. she was absolutely bombarded with hecklers and things thrown at her. one time, she was speaking in ohio and the stage was set on fire beneath her and she didn't know because she was so involved in her passionate speech that she didn't realize that somebody pulled her off the stage. she was speaking at places in school houses and meeting houses and apple orchards. there were always people there when she was speaking that did not want to hear what she had to say, nor did they want to hear it from a woman. so she was battling both of those fronts, talking about abolition, about equality, but

not only equality for blacks, but equality for all human beings. she had a lot of courage. she certainly went -- one of the things that she said was go where you are least wanted for there you are most needed. and that truly put her in the thick of people harassing her physically and verbally. but she continued because she knew that she had to do something. abby was an abolitionist to, even when the civil war was over and slavery had been abolished, felt that now the abolitionists had even more work to do. so she was committed to seeing that the black men get the right to vote. so working very hard to pass that amendment, she then was split apart from the women's rights movement who wanted women

severed -- women suffrage. but she felt it was a matter of life and death for black men to have the vote. so she continued to work for the 15th amendment. and when the 15th amendment was passed in 1870, she said we will now get an amendment and women will have the right to vote the next year. well, it was 50 years later before that happened in 1920. when abby decided to lecture, she was making this decision knowing full well that, by going around and traveling around the country on her own or in the country of married men or single men, that her reputation would be sullied. and indeed it was. she was called almost every name in the book, in newspaper articles, and on the pulpits -- from the pulpits of churches. but she was determined that she

was going to -- this was her calling, that she was going to work for the abolition and the freedom of slaves. in 1870, the 20th anniversary of the first national women's rights convention, was with cady stanton opened that session giving credit to worchester for having held the first national women's rights convention because it really was here in worchester in 1850 that a group of about a thousand people came to discuss women's rights and roles and responsibilities. and abby was very much a part of all of those causes just by doing what she was doing, which was traveling around and lecturing and organizing and getting other lecturers to go to different places and just being a woman ahead of her time really. she was given credit at the time for being the beginning of the women's organize -- the organize women's movement. >> our graphic arts collection contains all kinds of imagery of all kinds of media.

we have displayed on this table some items that relate to the time period of abby kelley foster's life and abby kelley foster herself. to give some insight into the time period, the attitudes that people had about not only -- not only because he foster but abolitionists and the rights of african-americans at that time. the first piece i am sharing with you is the amalgamation po lka. this is a cartoon satirizing a movement in certain communities to legalize interracial marriages. but it is speaking more to the general attitudes about abolition in the mid-19th century.

it is dedicated to abby kelley. she was certainly the most outspoken person, female at this period, talking about abolitionism. it really speaks to a lot that people had at the time, that if people -- if black people were to get any rights at all, all of society would kind of than a great. -- would kind of denigrate. and that there would be interracial marriage and lawlessness among the sexes. one thing -- abby foster begins her crusade in the 1840's. she is facing a number of attitudes in the deep south and in the north. there is a sense of preserving slavery. there is also a large part of people in the north particularly who are indifferent to the whole

issue. they see this as a southern issue, not a northern issue, not something they should be concerned with. but something changes that really changes that attitude. and that is the passage of the fugitive slave law. we have a number of pieces that speak to that. this is a lyrical cartoon called the practical illustrations of fugitive slave law. many persons are depicted in this cartoon, including daniel webster, who was one of the architects of the compromise of 1850 and the fugitive slave law was part of that bundle of legislation. he was considered kind of a traitor to the massachusetts -- to massachusetts because of this legislation. he was vilified and his reputation never really recovered from it. you can see his riding who looks

apish and is holding a whip and chains. over here, we have william lloyd garrison protecting a black damsel. and also behind him, although he is not depicted as such, it looks like that is frederick douglas, who is side-by-side with garrison. they are also predicting a woman who, by the shadow and the outlines of her body -- 19th century people would view her as being very erotic, almost wanton. because we can see her body in such a way. i think that is an important component of this, this piece here. part of the time period that abby kelley was active in is also part of the movement that she was fighting. she could use this moment to help the cause of abolition.

>> her legacy is a profound base of work that anyone of us could look at and realize what courage and determination and perseverance she had to continue battling as she did as a female for not only the abolition of slavery, but for human rights, the rights of all human beings. she speaks to us now as much as she did in the 19th century because of the bullying going on , all the fights, the discrimination, and the prejudice. her courage, her willingness to stand up and fight the odds and take all the harassment, the constant harassment really proves that an ordinary person can effect change, can do extraordinary things in the