Civil War-era Congressman Thaddeus Stevens was a fierce abolitionist and advocate for racial equality. His life and legacy are now being celebrated in a new museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Liz McKenna of our journalism training program, PBS News Student Reporting Labs, has the story.
Amna Nawaz:
Finally tonight, a report from PBS News Student Reporting Labs. That’s our high school journalism training program.
They bring us the story of Civil War era Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, a fierce abolitionist and advocate for racial equality. His life and legacy are now being celebrated in a new museum.
Liz McKenna has that story.
Mabel Rosenheck:
Southerners called him the scourge of the South because not only was he advocating for the end of slavery. He was also advocating for this total transformation of American society.
Liz McKenna:
Thaddeus Stevens is considered one of the most important voices for racial equality in the nation’s history. He played a pivotal role in crafting the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution, the 13th abolishing slavery and the 14th enshrining birthright citizenship, due process and equal protection into the fabric of this country.
Tommy Lee Jones, Actor:
I do not hold with equality in all things, only with equality before the law.
Liz McKenna:
For decades, he was largely forgotten in the public imagination until his sharp tongue and iron-willed personality was brought back to life in Steven Spielberg’s 2012 movie “Lincoln.”
Tommy Lee Jones:
How can I hold that all men are created equal when here before me stands stinking the moral carcass of the gentleman from Ohio, proof that some men are inferior?
Robin Sarratt, President and CEO, LancasterHistory: He was known for having really caustic witness, and so he would just let these zingers fly both in personal interactions and even on the House floor. One of his political peers was known to say “I’d rather tangle with a porcupine than with Thaddeus Stevens.”
Liz McKenna:
Now, a new museum has opened at the site of his former home dedicated to Stevens and his longtime companion, Lydia Hamilton Smith.
Robin Sarratt:
Lydia Hamilton Smith was born in 1815 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She was born in a tavern. Her mother was Black. Her father was a white Irishman. And when she moved to Lancaster, it was because she wanted to take a job as Thaddeus Stevens’ housekeeper.
Liz McKenna:
Smith broke social barriers and became an influential and wealthy property owner and businesswoman.
Mabel Rosenheck:
She accomplished a lot, both as a woman, and particularly as a Black woman.
Liz McKenna:
She also looked after Stevens when his health began to decline.
Robin Sarratt:
She kept him alive for the last eight years of his life through her caretaking and her assistance. And if not for her, we probably wouldn’t have had Thaddeus Stevens live long enough to secure the passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments.
Liz McKenna:
More than 150 years after the 14th Amendment was ratified, the Trump administration is now attempting to overturn its guarantee of universal birthright citizenship in a case before the Supreme Court.
Mabel Rosenheck:
Fourteen Amendment really embodies a lot of these questions of, who is American, what does it mean to be American, and what are the rights that come with being American in a country where being American is an idea, not just heritage.
Robin Sarratt:
It is the foundation for key cases that so many people will be familiar with that provided desegregated access to education and civic life, provided access to property ownership regardless of race or gender, that provided access to marriage equality, women’s rights, equal rights. It is the foundation of our modern civil rights movement.
Liz McKenna:
Local high school students toured the museum before its official opening and discovered how Stevens and Smith’s legacies helped lay the foundation for the country.
Hasset Tesfaye-Desalgn, High School Student:
Looking around at all the exhibits, I noticed how outspoken Thaddeus Stevens is and how he isn’t afraid to speak his mind. And that’s something I really value and an individual, and it shows that he was actually human and he was another individual, a part of our community.
Hana Rebek, High School Student:
The history of the United States is activism and speaking out. Visitors should take that into their lives today. And when they see things in the world that they want to change, they can look at examples like in this museum and know that they’re capable of doing that too.
Liz McKenna:
For PBS News Student Reporting Labs, I’m Liz McKenna in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
