In Her Footsteps

I talk about Abby all the time. In discussions of any topic, I can and do relate it back to     Abby. It is easy to do as some things haven’t changed all that much. When female legislators make speeches while male colleagues try to shout them down or shut them up, I think about Abby (and Elizabeth Warren....“she was told and yet she (they) persisted”). When female candidates make speeches, the commentary includes her hairstyle, her clothing, the tone of her voice, her unlikability but not necessarily, the substance of her speech, I think of Abby (and Hillary Clinton). Abby encountered all of these criticisms and more throughout her almost three-decade career lecturing across the United States.

In March, Women’s History Month, I will be talking about her and speaking her words in Ohio and Illinois. I will have dinner at the Haines House in Alliance, Ohio where she and Stephen stayed in 1847, and I will perform the play at a middle school and for the Alliance   Area Preservation Society. Perhaps some descendants will be there!

After a performance in Illinois, I return to Ohio to perform as part of the Laura C. Harris Series at Denison University in Granville, interestingly settled by people from Granville,   Massachusetts and Granby, Connecticut, in 1804.  I will guest teach in three different classes and talk about Abby, her times, her work, her challenges and her commitment to humanity and her commitment to ensure justice for all  human beings.      

It has taken me fifteen years, but Abby will return to the Midwest and I can’t wait!

Upcoming 2018 performances of Yours for Humanity—Abby

• March 21 -Alliance Middle School, Alliance, Ohio
• March 21—Alliance Area Preservation Society (not Alliance Historical Society)
• March 29—Denison University, Granville, Ohio;  Laura C. Harris Series
• Fall—Medway Historical Society

Others are to be confirmed.