house under her term is going to pay off. it's going to give the surge of nationalism around the war. >> our next program features istorians katherine allgor and others on why we study first ladies. monday night at 9:00 eastern, 6:00 p.m. pacific on c-span. >> even though gettysburg was the turning point of the war, why does it loom so large in national memory? consider the statistics. three days of fighting, july 1 through july 3, 1863, 7,000 killed. 33,000 wounded, some of whom later died and 11,000 missing. staggering total of 50,000 casualties in one three-day period. >> the 150th anniversary of the battle of gettysburg. live all-day coverage from the

gettysburg national military park next sunday. >> now a discussion on the resurgence of prayer in public schools from washington -- "washington journal" earlier this week. this is 35 minutes. host: this week we look at the christian science monitor piece on prayer in school. lee lawrence is in new york city. he piece says 50 years after a supreme dourtbarnings prayer in scoop makes a comeback. thanks for joining us this morning. it was 50 years ago that is supreme court essentially banned prepare. what were those decisions? >> the two decisions were in 196 and in 1963 and they banned school sponsored prayer, not the action of praying in school. and so the first one was brought

-- had started in new york with the parents of about 10 children and the objection was that the school district imposed a morning prayer and in fact by the time it reached the supreme court it was no longer imposed, it was not mandatory. but there was a generic prayer to got to bless the parents, the teacher the country, etc. and then in 1963 there was another case, abington in pennsylvania and there the issue was that the school district had a bible reading that was broadcast over the intercom and fit couldn't be on the intercom then the teacher led it and that was followed by the lord's prayer. and the family brought suit opposing prayer. even though it was not mandatory, the parents could have asked for the child to be excused. e coumplets ruled it was

indirectly coercive to have these school sponsored and therefore state-sponsored prayers and religious activities in public schools. they did make the point. sorry. host: please continue. guest: they made the point it was perfectly fine to study about religion and the bible and the influence that the bible had had on culture and art. it wasn't a ban on any kind of talk of religion or study of religion. in fact, the only people who could not be praying publicly were the state employees, the school administrators and school teachers. host: so what happened immediately after the rulings? as you mentioned, there were two, both about 50 years ago. was there a big difference in the effects after each of them? >> well, what happened was that

people really, really were upset. it provoked a huge amount of controversy. some people decried that it was imposing an establishment of a secular religion, a religion of atheism. others felt that it was going against the history and traditions of our country. then there were some who supported it because at the time, remember we had recently elected our first non-protestant president so some were keen to have a healthy separation between church and state les he take his orders from the vatican, because he was catholic and i'm talking about president kennedy. the families involved got a lot of hate mail and really some pretty vile things that were thrown at them. at one point "life" magazine called one of the mothers the most hated woman in america. the immediate reaction was that

some schools obviously abided but some dent and openly -- didn't and openly defied the law. alabama and i believe arkansas. and little by little court cases starting coming so there was a flood of court cases over the years over the issue. then they started sorting it out. host: lee lawrence writes for "the christian science monitor." we're looking at the issue of prayer in school. who was on the court 50 years ago and why did they make the decisions they renled centered >> they made their decisions based a lot on history, on the fact that the founding fathers had come to the new world to cape any kind of government-imposed religion, to have religious freedom. they felt that it protected religion not to have the

government too involved or involved at all. kinds of that these prayers did, in fact, do that. they countered the notion that this was establishing a religion of secularism. they said that the government had to stay neutral and to be neutral was not to be sponsoring it. it was in fact, not -- some historians argue quite effectively that this was a progression. it had started in the 18 90's. there was a case of a bible reading in wisconsin and they were using the king james bible and some roman catholic families object and the it was deemed in 1890 that, in fact, this brought civil authority and religion too

close together so they ruled against it. there was a progression going on toward a more secular approach in the public schools. >> lee lawrence, if you'd like to speak with her, here are the numbers to call -- d our independent callers, 202-585-3882. take us into the present day, lee lawrence. what is still felt from those supreme court rulings and how have things changed over time? guest: some of the feelings are still there. i think a lot of people feel that religion itself has been banned from public schools and are trying to get prayer back in schools. they feel that we've robbed children of a moral keel. that's one side. the other, however, shows that, in fact, a lot more religious

activity is taking place in schools, probably thanks to the parameters that the -- that are set. pretty quickly, by 1966, some of the christian groups that were active on university campuses said oh, wait a minute. we can be active and talk to campuses h school mainly and then to middle school. by that i mean the phillip of christian athletes, the campus crusade for christ and they would help kid forms -- kids form groups of prayer and solidarity. that has continued over the years. you have a lot of religious clubs that are starting on campus. they come under special regulation. a faculty member can be an

advisor but not a participate, according to the rules so it doesn't go against school policy or incite division and then there are other rulings that allow any kind of outside group come in and hold an afterschool program must also allow a religious group to come in and hold an afterschool program. there's a very good argument to say that, in fact, there's much more religion going on. there's a lot more religion being taught, courses about religion. world religiouses. religion is taught as part of world history and world geography. there are some electives on the bible as literature.

it's done in a variety of ways, sometimes better than others. host: our guest lee lawrence writes for "the christian science monitor." you mentioned the question whether groups such as girl scouts, if they can meet, then the court has ruled that other groups should be allowed to meet. tell us about the supreme court cases that got us to this point now, the cases in 1990 and 2001 and what laws came into play? >> well, in 1990 -- so there are wo kinds of ways that relidges -- religious activity can take place on campus and one comes under the rules of 1990 which basically extended the equal access act to high schools. so if a public school allows students to form non-curricular

groups. a spanish club would be considered a curricular club if there's a spanish class being taught but a religious group would not be. i can't think, maybe the chess club might not considered a non-curricular club. so if they allow non-click rar -- curricular clubs then religious groups also need to be allowed. now, a school can say we don't allow any non-curricular schools so then no religious clubs either. in 2001, the good news group, which is an afterschool program did an afterschool program in an elementary school and there the case was argued under free speech. because they had other groups that had afterschool programs there, the girl scouts, etc.,

then they should also be able to have an afterschool program and to deny that meant that they were denying the religious point of view. that the girl scouts, for example, talk about morality and ethics and so does a religious group and to scleed it would be to be discriminating against that point of view. host: ralph joins us from on our democrats line. hi, ralph. >> i'm worrying about this sort of creeping religious movement in the schools and it's going beyond prayer. at least from what i'm reading. it's going on to curriculum and text and specifically the teaching of science and the rejection of science, the rejection of, let's say, the theory of evolution. rejection of, you know, global

warming. ah, and then there's also the ocial agenda, which would be see -- anti- let's gay, that kind of thing. so i think of it as kind of a whole. isn't ate whole movement, a whole shift? not just prayer but in agenda. what would you call it, the christian agenda? guess: you know, it's -- i mean in a way -- i can certainly see where you're coming from and how upped think that. i think that the teaching about religion is really about world religion and understanding different point of views and different faiths and that really enriches a curriculum and is not

a way of injecting a particular face or a particular religious point of view into sort of an indoctrination. it is not that at all. there is also the issue that there are a lot of people of faith and so to deny them the right to come to the public square, which is school is part of, and not be wholey who they are is problematic. so we could look at the public school as a perfect ground to learn how to do that and to learn how to do that well and respectfully with curiosity about one another as opposed to wanting to make somebody else believe what we do. you know, and it's tricky. which e of a faith really your mandate is to evangelize and to bring others to your point of view or to express that to others, then we have to figure out how they can be done well.

there is more religion in schools but we are a very religious society and we're increasingly pluralistic so we need to understand all the facets of the different religions and no face that people bring in, the number of people who declare no faith is also ricing so they have to not be attacked. but you bring up some very good points. i think it's an experiment that's going on and i think it's a very important one. host: matt on twitter says i agree with the status quo on school prayer. the school should not endorse any prayer but students or groups can lead prayer. and a c-span democrat writes -- a person can pray wherever they want, including the -- in school. and a c-span democrat writes what's prohibited is organized prayer in public schools.

e, you've made a differentuation in school-led organized prayer and student prayer. >> -- guest: private prayer is one thing. i can just be sitting at my desk and no one knows what i'm doing. organized prayer, i get together with a little group over lunch hour or after school and we have organized prayer. we're all standing together or where we gather, there's an annual ritual of see you at the pole where students on campus gather around the flag pool before school starts and have a prayer. so that is an organized prayer that students led and that's perfectly fine. if you mean something in the assembly hall that everybody has o listen to, then that becomes

a different issue entirely and the schools cannot do that. an administrator or teacher cannot lead that kind of prayer. they cannot invite a clergy to lead them. there was another case that determined that. where regional courts are divided a little is whether students can lead that. john toor class wanting lead the prayer, that is regional whether the courts allow that or not. there's still a little battle around that. host: gene calling from hudson, florida. go ahead, gene. caller: hi, lee. how are you? i wanted to address this issue of school prayer. i was a student between eighth and ninth grade when prayer was taken out of the schools in 1963 and for the past 40 years i've been a teacher. i just retired recently, a couple of weeks ago after 40

years as a teacher and i've got to tell you, in the early 1970's when i started teaching. it wasn't perfect back then but i have seen in the last 40 years, a tremendous decline in the morals and the ethics and the respect for teachers in the classroom and i'm absolutely apowelled -- appalled by it. i think when god was taken out of the classroom, it led to a moral decline in our country and i'd like to see it put back in again. i think it was one of the best things -- i mean, our country was founden -- founded on jue dayic christian ethic by many of our founding fathers and i believe it should be something that should be in schools. i'm not saying there should be religious classes taught in school. that's for the church but i do believe we need to get back to some of the principles of the bible and i feel it's very

important. guest: there are a lot of character and value classes being taught in a lot of schools and if you look closely at those curricula, a values come out of a religious tradition and very often a christian religious tradition so those things are being taught. i think that the whole society has changed an awful lot and first of all, i admire anybody who's a teacher and i thank you because it's an amazing job that you do and it's a difficult one. the prayer -- one of the arguments that was made, and i think it was in the first case, was that, in fact, it was a bit of a protection of religion. that religion, when government got too involved, that religion could be denigrated, it could

deteriorate. so in a way i wonder whether a prayer being told by a teacher or official over a loudspeaker that becomes a rote activity is less effective than having the ability for students to meet, to talk to each other. i think teenagers, one of the things that does come up is how do you see the world? what do you believe? what happens when you die? those are big issues we confront as teenagers and so to be able to gather in groups and talk about it and have your mates say you know, i go to this christian club and we're talking about that today. do you want to come over? i think it could be something that's over the long term as those things grow -- there are a lot there but they're certainly not in every single school -- that that could be more beneficial in having something that becomes very rote over the loudspeaker orr in class.

host: a twitter comment says i think kids should learn about philosophy.on and lee lawrence, one of the images we see that accompanies your piece is an image of a teacher standing with the blackboard and "church history. does god exist? how is the teaching not only of religion but religiouses dealt with in schools? guess: the teaching of religion is to talk about what people believe, how these beliefs influence their actions. how they have generated great art, civilizations. how they have motivated people to do different things. that's the teaching of religion, to explain how things happen,

going out of a conviction. nd you really can't understand medieval europe if you don't understand the church. the distinction is very important. i agree with the first gentleman who wrote in that we should know about everybody's religion. that would be ideal. it's a big task. here are a lot of them and the teaching about religion is sort of the difference of saying this is true and this is what this community believes is true and it doesn't say -- it's not pronouncing on whether it is or not true. it's staying neutral, which is a major point of the supreme court is that the government should stay neutral in terms of religion, not saying one way or another. that's basically the teaching point about religion.

teachers aren't very often trained in how to deal we religion so the tendency is to pull back and not do it at all but there are a lot of guidelines out that are very helpful. host: that picture by melanie freeman shows a teacher in flushing, new york in a world religious unit. taught to 90-graders there. joan on the democrats line from ohio. welcome, joan. caller: hi. i'm in my 80's so naturally i know a lot of things that went on in the 1930's were ungodly. but i'm a devito christian who does not like prayer in the school. when i was in third grade i was forced to go for six months to a regular public school and i suggest that we say a hail mary once in a while. i was so bullied and beat up that when the supreme court announced that we would have no more prayer i rejoiced because i

say you want a prayer, whose prayer will it be for 6, 7, and 8-year-old kids? thank you. guest: that's a very good point and the suffering is intense and it sounds in your voice that you still remember it quite clearly and that is one of the main reasons that we don't have school-sponsored prayer because whose prayer will it be? we're a very religiously diverse country. even within christianity, there are a lot of differences. so that's a very important point. and i think that if people realize that, in fact, the next person who's saying that prayer could, in fact, be saying something that would really upset them, they might not like it so much. thank you for your call. that's a good comment.

host: another image in the piece that you wrote shows the hundred due association at a texas high school, bel air high school. they sponsored a holi celebration at one of the events on the hundred due calendar. it included indian dancing and drew over 700 people of all faiths, so how are other besidesses -- religious christianity dealt with in schools? guest: in terms of religious clubs -- they started joining in -- i think the hundred due club is quite old, oddly enough, thanks to the efforts of the -- of one teach every. hendee and confusing hin due. other groups, jewish groups and muslim groups and secularrist humanist groups have started

probably in the last 10 years or so and they're still growing. there are not that many of them but if you start googling around you can find them in several schools and they come under the same regulations as any relions -- religious club. very often if anywhere minority religion, what i've found is they were there partly to take comfort with each other, to discuss issues. some of the young muslims are under a lot of peer pressure for things they don't feel is right with their religion in terms of dating, alcohol, in terms of the popular culture. so it's a reinforcement for each other to discuss issues with people who share their values or to be able to go in and read text and understand and kind of negotiate their way in this world. but it's also for minority religious a way of explaining

who they are to others so that in the jewish groups they takened, there were several people who were not jewish who just came because it was fun and they were taught something about a religion they don't -- didn't know much about. host: lee lawrence's piece is "prayer in school" and you can find it online at csmonitor.com. let's hear from william. fort wayne independence caller. how are you doing? caller: how you doing? i grew up in school in the 1950's and i remember what it was like. all these little pockets wherever where the majority religion controls the schools and what goes on. i went to a public school in chicago where it was an all jewish school. you are not going to be able to control these -- all of these

different religious sects when it comes to having what you consider rules. this will just be another fight because that's something that's happened forever and ever is that we fight about our relidges -- religions. and what will happen is you'll have domination in every little community on who is going to be right with their relidge -- recolin and that is what will be taught. what happens then as then as children you are outsiders if you do not believe just like what the local school is teaching. an example of this is what is going on in texas right now. texas is dividing up what they consider the right religion. if they don't like it, they'll just leave it out of the books. guest: well, the -- the whole

issue of text books is another issue and it's worth a whole other article and discussion. whenever you do have -- i think even with religious clubs, if you're in a community that's predominantly of one religion the schools always have to worry d be very mindful of any bullying, divisiveness, attacks on one another and religion has and does often spark a religious belief against the way somebody else is and that is a big responsibility of the school. i think the more people understand -- the more that religion is taught in terms of understanding what a set of beliefs is of somebody else's, then you can see where somebody else is coming from and there's probably more room for dialogue. it's always, i think, a learning

experience especially when you're in school and trying to figure out who you are and you're trying to identify yourself in relation to other people. sometimes in contrast to other people. so it's going to be a fraught time and i think the more we understand about how other people believe, the better off we are. host: lee lawrence, you write about a school in utah and a teacher who's able to negotiate the differences between her mormon students, those who belong to the church of latter-day saints and those who don't. tell us about their ability to come together and how the dialogue has happened. guest: that was sort of a case that relates to what the previous caller was saying. they have a community that is about 80% members of the church of latter-day saints. it probably doesn't occur to the

80% of the student body that there are 20% who are the minority and don't quite feel like they fit in, like a previous caller who proposed the hail mary. what happened was this teamer had a world religion class in which they talked about religion and world religion. but it was always issues that were more academic -- academic in some ways. one day a student came in and found that somebody had rimmed up the book of mormon and scattered leaves around the campus. she was visibly upset about this so the next day, the teacher put all the tables in a circle and said help me understand how this could happen. so what slowly trickled out was that -- not so much why this particular thing happened but

the fact that the non-mormons felt one way. they felt that you really only want to talk to us to convert us. you don't want to date us. we play in middle school but in high school you will won't date us. in kindergarten people had told me i was going to go to hell. those kinds of comments and the majority of students are thinking well, you look altus like we're we're. they had a conversation of each other's opinions and a lot of hurt and frustration and misunderstanding came out of it and then at the end a lot of understanding. host: jacksonville, florida is where our next call is coming from. republican. are you with us? ok, go ahead. we're getting a lot of noise on the line. you have a question for us? caller: sorry. yes. i think they should be allowed

to pray in school as long as they don't make everyone pray. host: anything else to say? caller: i think they should be allowed to pray in school. the jewish kids should be allowed to pray in school. they should be allowed to do whatever they want. prayer weet asks do proponents favor allowing all religions' prayers as well as a discussion of atheism? guest: that's a very good question and what you say prayer proponents, i'm assuming the writer means those who want to have official prayers in school. certainly promoments meaning students should be allowed to express and live their religion freely that that of course, applies to everybody. having said that, in some communities when a group wants

to form, so let's say there was one school in georgia, it happened to be, that had had a christian group on campus. they may even have had two. assuming they had one on campus and then a secular, an atheist student wanted to form his own group so he petitioned and the school said yes because there was no one saying no but the faculty was very upset. there was a big brouhaha but then within a few months it was just another group on campus. so to answer his question, the prayer proponents, if they mean that student-led, student-initiated groups, absolutely. if he means the prayer proponents for officials then you would have to ask them individually what they mean by that. host: david, democratic caller. hi, david. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i wanted to comment on one of

the callers that sort of blamed a breakdown in society that we're having from taking prayer out of school. i think that's real simplistic. there's all kinds of things you can point the finger at for the problems of society. back when there was prayer in school we only had three network tv channels. now we have a proliferation of tv channels all over and the programming on it is more violent and it's terrible programming. and children are being exposed to all kinds of stuff that they were not exposed to back when i was a kid. i would think you would point a finger more at something like that. also, back when i was a kid i had a mother at home all the time. we were more nurtured as a family. to bring society's woes on taking prayer out of school, it seems to be a real simplistic idea.

i think that when he said that, the country was founded on judeo-christian values. i'm sure pill grips and the like were practicing their religious they brought over -- religions they brought over here but that was one of the reasons they left england. host: we're about out of time. guest: it wasn't those everybody all around the country were always praying in school and then the supreme court leveled them. according to one historian about 41% of school districts had some kind of prayer that was instituted in the program across 26 states. that's not the whole country. that's a lot and that certainly doesn't count the schools here and there that might not have had an official policy or school district policy. but it isn't the case that everybody had daily prayers in school and then one day, boom, it was gone. host: lee lawrence, "christian

science monitor" correspondent. you can see herpes in the "christian science monitor weekly." "prayer in school." thank you so much, lee lawrence. guest: thank you so much. thanks. >> tomorrow, robert rector and lex nowrasteh debate immigration policy. bob cusack discusses congressional issues. and a discussion of the recent iranian presidential election. live sunday at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> in a way this is a challenging time for people who are conservatives. we have not only a democratic president but i think a quite liberal democratic president who has not only been elected but re-elected after putting in some

kids and projects that i think are very wrong held. the public had a chance to think about that and they did re-elect history so it's a challenging time but it's also an exciting time if what you're trying to do -- i'd say i'm trying to do and many others are is modernize conservatism. bring it in line to the challenges the country faces now. neither side in our politics, neither party is doing a very good job of confronting the problems. there's a lot of opportunities for thinking about what america in the 21st century needs to change about the way it governs itself to get back to economic growth, prosperity, a kind of cultural revival that we need. it's challenging but challenging. >> more with national affairs editor sunday at 8:00 on c-span's q&a. >> let us not be blind to our

differences but let us also direct attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved and if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. all free men, wherever they may live are citizens of berlin and therefore, as a free man. i take pride in the words -- ich bin ein berliner. >> you see a much different president kennedy than in the first-year and then in 1963 you see a different one again who at the same time is preparing the ground for a real shot at detente and his nuclear test ban treaty, which was agreed to in the fall of 1963 while at the same time also building up defenses and seeking a way

toward peace with this american university speech. >> looking back on the 50th anniversary of j.f.k.'s peace speech and berlin speech. sunday night at 7:30 p.m. >> in this week's radio address, president obama called on americans to urge members of congress to pass the bipartisan immigration bill. education and work force community john kline of minnesota gave the republican address. he talked about the g.o.p. bill who keep student loan interest rates from doubling on july 1. >> hi, everybody. right now the united states senate is debating a bipartisan common sense bill that would be an important step toward fixing our broken immigration system. it would continue to strengthen security at our borders and hold employers more accountable if they knowingly hire undocumented

workers. it's a bill that would modernize the legal immigration system so that as we train american workers for the jobs of tomorrow we're also attracting the highly skilled entrepreneurs and engineers what grow our economy for everyone. it's a bill that would provide a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million illegals who are in this country illegally. it would include learning english, paying a penalty and going to the back to the line behind everyone trying to come here legally. a survey showed this will help grow the middle class economy and shrink our deficits by making sure everyone in america plays by the same set of rules and pays taxes like everyone else. according to this independent report, this would reduce our deficits by almost a trillion

dollars and increase our economy by more than 5%. this comes on the heel of another report from the independent office that monitors social security's finances which says that this immigration bill will strengthen the long-term health and solvency of social security for future generations. because with this bill, millions of additional people will start paying more in taxes for things like social security and education. that will make the economy fairer for middle class families. that's what exrensrive immigration reform looks like. stronger enforcement, a smarter legalization system. a pathway to earned citizen isship. a very vibrant growing economy that's more favorable to the middle class. the bill isn't perfect. it's a compromise. nobody is going to get everything they want. not democrats, not republicans, not me. but it's consistent with the

principles that i and others and laid out for common sense reform. that's why many are saying that now is the time to pass this bill. if you agree with us, reach out to your senators and representatives. tell them that the time for excuses is over. it's time to fix our broken immigration system once and for all. we can do this because we are a nation of laws and an -- a nation of immigrants. a place enriched by the contributions of people from all over the world and stronger for it. that's been the story of america from the start so let's keep it going. thanks and have a great weekend. >> hello, i'm john kline. as you know, millions of student loan borrows could soon see their interest rates double. this rate hike, which will take place july 1 is nothing is done would apply to new stafford

loans. the house of representatives is the only chamber of congress that has acted to solve this problem. our students deserve better. we're in this predicament because politicians put themselves in setting interest rates, guaranteeing this type of down to the wire uncertainty for students and families. we need a long-term solution that gets congress out of the business of setting rates altogether. fortunately president obama agrease and he proposes to tie interest rates to the market. republicans put together a similar measure, the smarter solutions for students act and the house passed it last month, weeks before the deadline, but senate democrats have actively blocked the president's plan and refused to consider ours. in fact, they have yet to pass a solution of any kind. if i didn't know any better, i would say they're content to let rates double. still, republicans have pressed ahead in good faith and what we

need to move forward now is more leadership from president obama. this week speaker john boehner sent a letter to the president asking him to step in. i am reaching out to senate colleagues and urging members of the obama administration to take action. there are finally signs of progress for a long-term market-based solution, but we need to finish the job and do so soon. this 11th hour scrambling is a perfect demonstration of why we need to take the politics out off this buns and for all. i -- off this once and for all. urge president obama and others to get involved and pass the kind of legislation we need and deserve. hanks for listening.

>> this week prime minister cameron discusses the g-8 mmit, the humanitarian trade deal. sunday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific times on -span. >> first ladies have a progression of personifying if they so choose. there are women, real people, who actually do things but then there's this secondary capacity of being a charismatic figure. i think many a first lady has become a first lady and

realizing this thing was larger that be life. that was something dolly figured out so she becomes a figurehead for her husband's administration and fosters a connection to the capital city. all this is happening in 1808. in 1814 the british are going to burn the capital city and all this work she put into having the public identify with this house they called the white house under her term is going to pay off. because it's going to give a urge of nationalism around the country. >> monday night at 9:00 eastern on c-span. >> even though gettysburg was the midpoint of the war and more died after than before, why does it still loom so large in national memory?

three days of fighting. 7,000 killed, 33,000 wounded, some of whom later died and 11,000 missing. a staggering total of 50,000 quarblets in one three-day period. >> the 150th anniversary of the battle of gettysburg. live, all day coverage from the gettysburg national military ark. >> on wednesday, congressional leaders along with vice president biden honored rederick douglass. washington, d.c. delegate eleanor homes norton and netty washington douglass were there,

the great-great granddaughter of frederick douglass. this is just over an hour. >> ladies and gentlemen, the speaker of the united states house of representatives, the honorable >> ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to emancipation hall. this is a proud day for all americans especially so for the leaders and the residents of the district of columbia. we have long labored to see this day come. we offer you our gratitude and congratulations today. [applause] the man whose statue we are gathered here to dedicate today was in the minds of many including abraham lincoln, one of our greatest americans.

he is depicted here today standing by a podium giving an address. we lean forward and listen carefully as captivated audiences once did. his name is frederick douglass. he said he was born into slavery sometime in february and eight to 18. he was never ever able to determine the day. -- in 1818. he had to tussle with his master's dog for food. he learned to read. he started with a bible. this lit a fire in him. a passion for liberty and you can still see in his eyes. indeed, once you learn how to read, he says, you will forever be free. he resolved to escape. after a try or two, he succeeded.