Speaker: Jessica Downing-Ford

Norfolk Public Library Room A

Abigail Adams

Five years after Abigail Smith married John Adams, the American colonies adopted the British law of coverture. This law held that no female person had a legal identity. At birth she was “covered” by her father’s identity and, when she married, by her husband’s. The husband and wife became one person: the husband. Married women owned nothing—not even the clothes on their backs. More importantly, they had no rights over their own bodies, or custody of the children they bore. Abigail and John’s marriage was based on mutual admiration and respect, and Abigail understood how lucky she was. She witnessed families torn apart by husband’s drunkenness, temper, lack of employment and/or money mismanagement. Women in these unhappy unions were left to tolerate humiliation, mistreatment, and physical abuse along with their daily struggle to feed their families, stay housed, and stay safe. Abigail’s famous ‘remember the ladies’ letter to her husband in which she implores him to “not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands,” speaks directly to the law of coverture. This was the women’s rights issue of her time—remnants of which still exist in the year 2022.

Jessica Downing-Ford

Jessica has always enjoyed being in the spotlight. While growing up in Braintree, Massachusetts, she enjoyed gymnastics, dancing, and acting. She attended Emerson College where she graduated in ’93 with a BFA in Dance. Jessica forgot her passion for performing and had large gaps between stage productions after becoming a mother. It was during a trip back to Massachusetts in 2014 that she caught a glimpse of her soon-to-be-heroine. She attended a reenactment of the signing of the Declaration at the Adams’ National Park on the 4th of July and was brought to tears by a reading of Abigail’s “Remember the Ladies” letter. She fell in love not only with Abigail but with the art of Chautauqua; she jokes that she’d been waiting her whole life to find an avenue for her talents. Jessica enjoys bringing Abigail to life for history classes in western Colorado as well as coaching students through the Young Chautauqua program with Colorado Humanities. She continues to research and visit Abigail’s historical sites as she deepens her understanding of this complex, amazingly brave, female patriot.