Nationally Televised Show on Worcester History Airs Dec.

19-20

The invention of the liquid fueled rocket, the first national womens rights convention, and the
creation of the most recognized icon in the world all happened in Worcester Mass. Learn about
Worcestersfascinatinghistoricalcontributionsin this weekends CSPAN program.
Stories were collected starting in August of this year from Charter, the Worcester Historical
Museum, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Worcester.
Programming recorded in Worcester will air on:
Book TV on C-SPAN2,
Charter Communications channel 85 / 836 HD and history channel American History TV on CSPAN3,
Charter Communications channel 86 / 837 HD on December 19-20, 2015.
C-SPAN is available in Worcester on Charter Communications channel 16 / 835 HD.
Featured on this weekends episodes:
First National Womens Rights Convention
First National Womens Rights Convention was held in Worcester in 1850 with organizer Abby Kelley
Foster. Worcester played a major role at the center of radical abolitionist activity and social reform.

Robert Goddard Father of Modern Rocketry

Born in Worcester, MA, Robert Goddard attended WPI and Clark University in Worcester. He
invented the liquid fueled rocket that he launched in 1926 in a field in Auburn. Dr. Laurie Leshin, a
rocket scientist and former NASA official, worked in a building named in Goddards honor, is WPIs
current president.
In Their Shirtsleeves
The exhibit at Worcester Historical Museum, In Their Shirtsleeves, tells the ongoing story of the
innovators, workers, and investors who made industry the story of Worcester. More than one
hundred years of diversity and invention have been the hallmarks of Worcester industry since the
beginning of the industrial revolution in the early nineteenth century.
Smiley Face
The international icon, and now emoji, Smiley Face was born in 1963 in Worcester at the talented
hands of Harvey Ball. Smiley is everywhere. From Forrest Gump, to major retailers, to hundreds of
thousands of novelty items, Smiley has made an impact worldwide and now has a World Smile Day.
Worcester Revolution of 1774
The American Revolution actually started in Worcester, seven months before Lexington and
Concord, on Sept. 6, 1774 when more than 4,000 militia men from Worcester County gathered on
Main Street to force the British magistrates from county government in a non-violent act.
Authors interviewed include:
Keeping the Republic: Ideology and Early American Diplomacy
by Robert Smith, Author and Assistant Professor in History and Political Science, Worcester State
University
How did the ideology that inspired the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution translate into
foreign policy? John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton each
struggled with this question as they encountered foreign powers.
The Tortured Life of Scofield Thayer
by Jim Dempsey, Author and Professor, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Scofield Thayer was gatekeeper and guide for the literary modernism movement. His editorial
curation introduced the ideas of literary modernism to America and gave American artists a new
audience in Europe. Thayer suffered from schizophrenia and faded from public life.
Against Wind and Tide: The African American Struggle Against the Colonization Movement by
Ousmane Power-Greene, Author and Associate Professor of History, Clark University
Against Wind and Tide tells the story of African Americans battle against the American Colonization
Society (ACS), founded in 1816 with the intention to return free blacks to its colony Liberia.
Although ACS members considered free black colonization in Africa a benevolent enterprise, most

black leaders rejected the ACS, fearing that the organization sought forced removal.
Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age by Edward
ODonnell, Department of History College of the Holy Cross
Americas remarkable explosion of industrial output and national wealth at the end of the nineteenth
century was matched by a troubling rise in poverty and worker unrest. Edward T. ODonnells
exploration of Georges life and times merges labor, ethnic, intellectual, and political history to
illuminate the early militant labor movement in New York during the Gilded Age.
First Fruits of Freedom: The Migration of Former Slaves and Their Search for Equality in Worcester,
Massachusetts, 1862-1900 by Janette T. Greenwood, Author and Professor of History, Clark
University
A narrative that offers a rare glimpse into the lives of African American men, women, and children
on the cusp of freedom, First Fruits of Freedom chronicles one of the first collective migrations of
blacks from the South to the North during and after the Civil War. Even in the North, white
sympathy did not continue after the Civil War.
Additional interviews for segments include:
Worcester Polytechnic Institute:
Dr. Laurie Leshin, President, will talk about how Goddards experiments and vision impacts space
exploration today. Dr. Leshin served as the deputy director of NASAs Exploration Systems Mission
Directorate, where she was responsible for oversight of NASAs future human spaceflight programs
and activities. Leshin also worked as the director of science and exploration at NASAs Goddard
Space Flight Center.
American Antiquarian Society:
Ellen Dunlap, President of American Antiquarian Society; Elizabeth Pope, Curator of Books; Tom
Knoles, Curator of Manuscripts; Vince Golden, Curator of Newspapers and Periodicals;
Molly Hardy, Digital Humanities Curator in Digitization Workspace
City of Worcester: Edward Augustus, Jr., Worcester City Manager
Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce: Tim Murray, President and CEO
Worcester Historical Museum: Bill Wallace, Executive Director
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