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Living History – The Woman Who Would Not be Silenced
June 9 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard was committed to the Illinois state mental asylum in 1860, and was kept under lock and key for three years, all the while protesting her sanity. While her husband, Theophilus, insisted to everyone – Elizabeth’s children, extended family, neighbors, friends, and the asylum employees – that she was, in fact, insane, Elizabeth was able to obtain her release. But her battle did not stop there. Conscious of the fact that the current law allowed married women to be placed in asylums by their husbands without the benefit of a formal trial or medical examination, Elizabeth started a campaign to change that unjust law. Hear from Elizabeth Packard in April 1864, while the Civil War rages around the nation, and her private war is raging in her soul. Join Laura Keyes, as Elizabeth Packard, for this informative and inspiring presentation. Laura Keyes graduated from UW-Madison with a Master’s Degree in Library Studies, and is a lifetime member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters. Laura recently won the Excellence in Performing Award from that Association.
