Streicker Center: Norah O’Donnell Remembers the Ladies

On March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams wrote a plea to her husband, John, a member the Continental Congress, who would go on to serve as our second president.

“Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable 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 . . .”

Abigail’s supplication went largely unheeded. When our republic was finally founded, all power remained in the hands of men: Women could not vote, own property, control their own money or sign legal documents; their husbands, fathers and brothers were given the authority to manage their affairs.

As the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its declaration of independence, award-winning broadcaster Norah O’Donnell presents a gripping portrait of the fierce women fighters who refused to give up on Adams’s vision, We the Women.

She joins us to talk about them — the woman publisher who printed the first signed Declaration of Independence; the woman members of Philadelphia’s Forten family, leaders in the abolition of slavery; the first women to brave the ranks of the all-male US military — and how they rewrote America’s story.

A multi-Emmy–winning journalist, Norah O’Donnell spent five years as anchor and editor of the CBS Evening News and is now both CBS News’s Senior Correspondent, focused on big interviews and projects for the network, and a 60 Minutes correspondent.