‘Remember the Ladies’ features Adams
The Bradford House Museum and Washington & Jefferson College will present their annual Symposium on Life and Customs in Western Pennsylvania with “Remember the Ladies – An Evening with Abigail Adams” March 31 at the college’s Chapel at Old Main.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with symposium speakers taking the stage at 7. A reception and displays will follow at 9 p.m.
America’s Founding Fathers are often discussed, but little is said about the Founding Mothers. In a time when women were relegated to domestic duties and often had little formal education, Abigail Adams was one of the first advocates for equal education and property rights for women.
Writing a letter to her husband, John, dated March 31, 1776, while he was in Philadelphia serving in the Continental Congress, Abigail boldly declared, “I long to hear that you have declared an independency – and by the way, in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.
“Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
Abigail was an educated upperclass woman whose well-articulated opinions on government, politics and life in general influenced at least two American presidents: her husband, President John Adams, and her son, President John Quincy Adams. She embraced her role as wife and mother, passionately embodying the enlightenment concept of woman as keeper of household virtue.
Kim Hanley, an actor, singer, costumer and dancer, began interpreting Abigail Adams with American Historical Theatre in 1997. Hanley has appeared in venues that include the White House Visitors Center, National Archives, National Portrait Gallery, Frazier Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Franklin Institute, Liberty Museum, Constitution Center, Independence Visitors Center, Freedoms Foundation, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, Delaware Humanities Chautauqua and libraries throughout New Jersey and the greater Philadelphia area.
Advance registration is $18 per person. Register online at www.bradfordhouse.org/symposium, by calling 724-222-3604 or by sending a check to the Bradford House, P.O. Box 537, Washington PA 15301. Advance registration ends March 27. Registration at the door will be $20.
For more information, call 724-222-3604 or visit the Bradford House’s website.