Our Mission
The mission of FLARE is to create and sustain a network to promote and publicize research and education relevant to the contributions, lives, impacts, and lasting legacies of U.S. First Ladies.
Our Vision
FLARE will be the primary association to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and outreach among scholars, institutions, First Ladies’ staff, biographers, archivists, journalists, and public historians interested in research and education about the lasting legacy of U.S. First Ladies.
FLARE Focus more information
FLARE Focus on Mrs. Lincoln and Mental Health: A Short Apology
Haley Gray
Research reveals that First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln was very different as a child from who she evolved into as an adult. Mrs. Lincoln, as noted by many childhood friends, was the embodiment of joy and spontaneity; she was described as "the very creature of excitement" by a young lawyer in 1840. Later tales of Mrs. Lincoln depict a woman who was struck by tragedy, emotionally hurt, and mentally destroyed by the time of her death in 1882. She had no ability to take her case to social media or to engage with mental health awareness organizations. Instead, her life devolved partly through lack of understanding by the medical community, the courts, the people around her, and public opinion. Today, seven score and one year later, Mrs. Lincoln is deserving of compassion, care, and an apology.
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Erika N. Cornelius Smith |
