anthony and o.s.b. wahl and his wife amanda wahl were not just civil rights activists, but they were really suffrage activists for the vote for women. so in 1870 this was a time when susan b. anthony was arrested for trying to vote in the congressional election. amanda wahl also was marching to the registrar of voters and demanded to be registered to vote. so susan b. anthony was there, and i think the wahls were embarrassed by one of the o.s.b. wahl's sisters who was an opponent of suffrage for women because she thought it was unfeminine. but o.s.b. wahl, amanda wahl, john mercer langston's wife, carrie wahl langston, they were suffrage activists. >> i read this. when we see these dinner gatherings and just the luminaries of the people that were there, we see a galaxy of activists and people we all know, we see an interracial environment and don't see segregation inside the home. indeed, at one point wahl invites to his home a young man who is a white cousin on the slave side of the family. they have a high

with o.s.b. wahl, o.s.b. wahl was dead at the time this trial happened, but there are transcripts of the fugitive slave act case. he actually testified, and you know, what comes through with him is, you know, he's a shoemaker who is sitting in a federal court. there are marshals and people armed, and he's someone who is completely unintimidated and is just constantly making jokes. in the trial transcript you're reading his words, and they're always followed by the brackets that say laughter. order restored. so he was asked at this trial do you know the colors, the complexions, the different complexions of people of color? and he said, sure, i do. they're black, blacker and blackest. and everybody laughed. a lot of gavel banging. that tells you something about a person. there are certain -- there's a certain kind of performance that people engage in, and at the same time you can get a -- you can see people when they're very vulnerable and you can develop a remarkable portrait of a person. it's also a starting o