was here. his wife and daughter died of yellow fever on the same day in 1804 and his brother-in-law was shot in a duel a few years later, defending him and his now deceased wife. in addition to the official correspondence, there's also a few personal letters. this is a letter he is writing to his in-laws, telling them of the death of their son in the tool march 23rd, 1805. so this volume is just one of my favorites that we have in the collection. it's just kind of fascinating to me that for louisiana they went back and forth to the french and the spanish and then became part of america in a sick one day, that's america. but how does that really happen? how does that look for the changes happening? this volume tells us a lot about that change and what things were like on the ground at that time.

>> up next on booktv, henry louis gates talks about the 16th century to present day. this is about 40 minutes. [inaudible conversations] six >> good evening. is it on? i couldn't tell. welcome to the atlanta history center. i am president and ceo of the history center. we are delighted you are here this evening. please join us on december 15, a couple nights from now in the 20th as we celebrate the season with two evenings of a new program we call holiday spirit. this is a new, interactive and immersive holiday program will be delighted with. to purchase tickets with more information, please visit our

website at galante history.com. two nights lecture is an a-10 history, which are made possible by the generous support and funding from the trust of lucy rucker akin. henry louis gates junior will speak for 30 minutes this evening and then sign books in the lobby. tonight's program is being recorded by c-span, so everyone will be on their best behavior right now. you will all turn off your cell phone, your beepers -- who has beepers anymore? [laughter] seriously. please refrain from texting and e-mailing in respect to our speaker. henry louis gates junior is the director of the w.e.b. dubois institute of african -- african and african american research and university professor at harvard university. he is the author of several

award-winning works, including a memoir of colored people as well as the future of the race co-authored with cornel west. and 13 ways of looking at it but man. please join me in giving a warm atlanta welcome to henry louis gates junior. [applause] >> thank you very much for the kind introduction and blessedly brief. i appreciate that. it's nice to be back here in atlanta. i love the banner. i was have a good time in atlanta. it feels like my home away from home. so very good information on trade evening, everyone. hey, i saw the way from boston. good evening. >> good evening. >> that's what i'm talking about. the reason i come here, besides the fact i can get biscuits for

breakfast is a strong appeal for me. it has been a big day. i've been filming my new pbs series called finding your roots, which will start airing in late march and i've always admired sanjay gupta. he's a good guy. i know most of you haven't met him, but he such a warm guy. retrace his family back on his mothers side and his father's side when a long way. i can't give you the details come up it was one of the most moving experiences i've had doing all of my genealogy and genetic theories. so i'm just sort of psyched about that. so stay tuned late march and he'll check out his history. i want to tell you about my new book called "life upon these shores." and it is subtitled, looking at african american history 1513 to 2008. and it consists of 789 illustrations and about 237

entries. it is dedicated in memory of my father. my father died last christmas eve. henry louis gates junior -- i'm sorry, henry louis keith senior. i am to junior and i'm still here. [laughter] and daddy was -- he loved history. and he and i -- but he also loves sports. i have one older brother -- it's just two of us and he and my brother were sports junkies and i was there. love books. it took a long time for my father and me to bond. we started to bond when i was a teenager and we started to bond over current events. we even watch the news together. there was a time in the evening news was only 15 minutes long. remember that. but we would watch news together when i was a teenager to talk about it, analyze it.

i realized it was a way into my father's consonants and into his heart. i mean, i'm sure he loved me, deeply understood, but i didn't care about sports when my brother did. but all of a sudden i had something i could share with my dad. and i remember in 1959 i was nine years old i watched mike wallace interview malcolm asked for a special called to hate that he produces. and my dad and i watched it together. but when i was 13, we watched the great march on washington together in august 1963. we stayed up late into the night to get results from massachusetts to see if a black man, a republican, senator ed burke was going to be the first black man elected to the senate since reconstruction. and of course u.s. and then the next year we stayed

up late to see if a black man, carl stokes, would be the first afro-american as we probably would say that would be elected mayor of a major city. and of course he was. remember adam clayton power? beloved adam clayton power. he loved him when he took on the dixiecrat. he loved him when he became a road and unfortunately in the 1960s finally was expelled. but these are my formative shaping experiences with my father. and i decided -- i was trying to get this book down before my father died. i mean, he wasn't sick when i undertook the boat. but i wanted this book to attribute kind of a secret history of current events that we had shared together, but also of amazing facts about the

african-american experience, which my father wouldn't know and which most of us wouldn't know. and i wanted it to have the magic of this analyst desiccated i wanted it to be heavily illustrated and having over 700 beautiful mostly colored illustration site that would be a way of bringing these events to life. do you remember a book called, the black book? it came in 1974 when toni morrison -- before toni morrison was the great writer or not to be the great writer she is, she was also a great editor at random house. she was the editor for this book called the black book which consisted of documents and memorabilia, slave auction documents, even racist sambo postcards, all sorts of things. and as a graduate student at the university of cambridge in the book came out and i thought that was the magic book. a few years ago i did a

documentary called looking for lincoln. and i coproducers, the concerns come at peter and philip chouinard had a huge collection they inherited from generations of their family, of lincoln memorabilia. and they did a book called, looking for lincoln. and each page is a visual image. and the text is written to the visual image. so my book was inspired by the black book and buy this book, looking for lincoln. so i started the illustrations and then broke the text to eliminate the illustrations, and that is the other way around. and i want to tell you a little bit about, for me, some of my most favorite entries in the book. and i started 1513, not in 1618. i don't know about you, but most african american history courses in my day started in 1619 when the first one he made cars as they were called shut up on the

james river in jamestown. we now know thanks to the work of a scholar called john thorton that they came from angola. did you know that we know because of the work of the scholar here and camry, we could not count the slaves because it was capitalism. we now know between 15 to one in 1866, 12.5 million africans were shipped from africa to the new world. 12.5 million. 15% died in the middle passage. so that's a million get off the boats in the new world. the 11 million, how many do you think came to unite states? 388,000 came directly. you are looking in my book. [laughter] you put the book down. this is like cliff's notes. dear member cliff notes? 388,000 came directly from africa to what is now the united

states and another 50,000 we estimate touched on briefly in the caribbean. absolutely right. you get the gold star. think about what that means. all those other africans went to the caribbean and south america. i do know about you, but when i was growing up i thought the slave trade was primarily about us. at the 40 million african-american people in the four and 50,000 africans who came here between 1619 and mostly by 1820. 1820, 99% of our ancestors were here. it's quite remarkable. but all of those other africans -- brazil got over 5 million africans in the slave trade. well, here's the reason that i start in 1513. because the first africans who show up in what is now the united states showed up in 1513. and they didn't come here only

as slaves, but i would get to that in a minute. i was fascinated by the contact between europe and africa before african-americans got here. and so, i start with images. remember, it is a book driven by pictures and driven by images. a site with an image of african monarchs, african kings and queens who actually received emissaries from europe and their screaming thing to come up for what is now angola and mutombo who became queen in 1624. there is an image of her receiving a delegation of dutch traders who are coming to negotiate for her -- with her for the slave trade to get slaves. there is another image of kindersley at the second of the congo who ruled between 1641 in 1661. both of them met regularly with

portuguese and diplomats in major slave traders, especially in the 1640s. do you know how we were raised to think that africans were so benighted that they just sat there and waited for europeans to discover them and the approach was always from your to africa? we know from the visual record that is not true either. the earliest european emissaries arrived in africa in the 16th century and similarly, african emissaries were received in europe at about the same time. one of the men named antonio emmanuelle whose other name was never in doubt. he was the king of the congo's ambassador to the vatican. we have an image in the book that was done of him when he arrived in the vatican in the year 1608. congo was sending ambassadors to europe. as you know that?

now, i didn't know that either. miguel decastro, another beautiful image of the book became the representative of the king of condo to the portuguese colony of brazil into the netherlands and 1641. their images were preserved in europe in oil painting. i'm not going to ask anymore questions because you're already ahead of me. but the africans who came to what is now the united states entered the new world also came as slaves, but not all cam assays. 30 africans accompany balboa in 1513. several africans traveled with hernando cortes in 1519. among them come a black man named juan carino who was a free black man in the first person he claimed in a letter to the king of spain. the first of a date wheat crop in the new world.

that's why new he was a brother because anyone who claim that had to be a black man. [laughter] cabeza cavaco through texas and mexico in 1528. black men were with pizarro in peru in 1531 with the unfortunate conquest of the inca. 200 but then accompanied by joe alvarado to modern-day ecuador in 1534. i want to tell you about her veto. juan converted to christianity before arriving in the new world beauty explored florida with ponce de leon. survivors of the falcon abuse? vision of a free black man, a it conquistadors at ponce de leon and then he went with cortes and cortes defeated the aztecs. in 1524, with a record of him living as an honored citizen in mexico city.

there is a black man named casaubon. s. bucksport florida in 1528. he was shipwrecked in present-day galveston, texas. he was enslaved by it indians for five years. he escaped and we have a map of the book, as you know, that he wondered for a total of 15,000 miles from florida -- these places through what is now texas in new spain, which became mexico. he was hailed as a medicine man and a son of the son and he returned to exploration in 1537 and was captured and executed by the sunni people in what is now new mexico in the year 1539 because they saw him as a harbinger of unwanted visitors, unwanted visitors to change the way of life forever. my brother, dr. paul gates is fascinated by clown figures and for years he was tried to figure out why does you meet people had a blackface doll.

he figured it was because they thought was a relic or amendment of eschaton, which of course is stephen and spanish. within 23,000 people lived in what is now mexico. there were two centers. some of you know i did a pbs series that recently aired called black and latin america. and i shot one program on black people in mexico and peru. the black culture in mexico and south of acapulco on the pacific coast. and there was a slave named younger, who ran away from his master in veracruz and about 1570 and other slaves ran away and joined his community county community of marines. the spanish brought them between 1570 and 699 and finally the

spanish gave out and sign a treaty with them and gave him the right to create an independent, all-black settlement, which is still there. the town is called young to an extent independents independent since 1609. we did not learn this in our history books. a black city in mexico run by black people? no way. who discovered manhattan? there was a black man named juan rodriguez who was the first non-native american to be a permanent resident to survive in what is now manhattan. we call him jay rod. [laughter] he was deposited on manhattan by dutch country named missile in my 1612, early 1613. it's a series of clashes between mosel and two dutch traders who die with rodriguez.

and they are upset because a free man -- a free black man was trading independently berge and was not his agent there is a part in new york where there is a tribute to have as the official sounder patent. there is another black man in maryland, and the feisty susanna who owned property in voted in maryland, during the 17th century. he was a cavaco portuguese and african descent. he settled in saint maryland and was a free man in the colony. he owned land and was treated as an equal member of maryland society. these are the exceptions. you know, we know so much about the slave community, but not about these exceptional but people who function in the interstices of society. you know, between the cracks as it were, between free people in his laypeople.

but people also fought back against the slave trade. tucson's obituary in haiti, the revolution between 1791 and 1804 sparked great unrest in the united states. in august 1800, a slave named gabriel on page 45 of the book plan to revolt and richmond to kidnap james munro. but toguri was exposed in heat at 26 other slaves had been executed and eight others transported out of the state. here i think people asking out of time, what is your favorite story? in the book? i have a lot. this one was interesting to me. in september 1799, a south carolina slave, known as telemark to his owner and known to history as denmark bases won the lottery. a hominid who knew there was even a lottery? [laughter] we have his ticket number.

this brothers ticket number was 1884 anti-$11,500, which was a heck of a lot of money in 1799. he determined he would use the money to buy his freedom and support his bid to end slavery. on fact, many slaves in the charleston region had come at their others who have escaped the haitian revolution. and denmark haziness co-conspirators solitudes under the chair as a hero and planned to burn the city and escape. he and 34 others were betrayed by other slaves and bayesian 34 -- 33 others were hanged. but on the other hand, there is a man named gero bob bode, pages 56 to 57. he was born in 1736, it died in

1823 and is representative of a small but rising black population. he is probably brown and was probably in the sun. you should maryland just before the american revolution. in 1783 come his owner took them to washington d.c. he gained his freedom in 1796 when his owner died. he earned a very comfortable living by bricklaying and basket making any invested, george washington. but 1800 he learned money to buy his own home in georgetown. he took a daily span, just like john quincy adams did. he proudly professes is that they had earned the respect of his white neighbors. in 1819, the great artist, charles wilson painted his portrait after coming to washington to paint president

monroe. he heard that mark did was alive, heard his story, was born in africa and also heard he was 134 years old, in another sign to me, clearly, that he was a black man. [laughter] so far i've talked about nothing but women -- i mean about then. what about women? here's the story of julia chin. now, this is a black man who emerged and roiled the 1836 election. i know you all remember the details of the 1836 election. president margaret. richard mentor johnson in the war of 1812 were here from kentucky and a former congressman. he had been an ally of thomas jefferson. now we know thomas jefferson never spoke about his relationship with sally hennings. this man openly lived with his

slave wife named julia chin. both lived openly. the liaison caused acute embarrassment of southern politician who wanted nothing to do with him, but a current support is stronger than and in the south because of his marriage, which of course was illegal and not sanctioned by the church or by the state. the democrats even used vulgar images of chin to criticize their candidate. now apparently we don't know, but apparently bit of warm and loving relationship. the two lived openly together. their two daughters together. the doctors were imaging and data line. johnson educated them as if they were white and eventually he married them off to weightman in washington d.c. now unfortunately, julia died from cholera in 1833.

and so what did richard mentor johnson do? he took up with one of julia chin sisters. [laughter] julia's brother, marsalis accompanied johnson during the campaign of 1836 in new york. marsalis and the wise man was took the opportunity to flee to the abolitionist, lewis pac-man. when johnson turned to julia's father daniel to be his personal servant commenting that the opportunity to flee straight to canada. in the famed 1858 senate election, with stephen douglas accused abraham lincoln a favor and was amalgamation, which was later called massage nation, like an asserted that racial mixing to place most often were slavery existed, and then went on to say, as mr. douglas was your good friend richard m.

johnson. and the audience of course knew what the reference was. let's think about lack military service. let's start a civil war. much attention for a generation has been placed on the unit that was thinner of the 1989 film, which was that the 54th massachusetts regiment. there were about 150 different black civil war regimens. one battle they really shown at the battle of newmarket hate. it's a virginia battle, not sufficiently known. 14 men woodwind the medal of honor for their hair with them in this one engagement. and the represented as a black regiments that thought on that date, september 29, 1864, pages 139 through 140, is the sacrifice of a man called milton m. holland. milton m. holland was born and

initially participated in the war is a servant to a white office or been in the summer of 1863, he joined the fifth united states colored troops. so remember, it was only officially with the emancipation proclamation that black men were allowed to serve in the military, though but then did their and unofficially were some engagements and late 1862. the lincoln included this as part of the emancipation proclamation come which becomes effective january 1st of 1863 and led to creation of the u.s. colored troops. well, holland, like several other black enlisted men took command of his own company after the white officers have been killed or wounded. after the war, he earned a law degree from howard university. he worked as an auditor in 1892 founded his own insurance company. what about the buffalo soldiers?

which was of course the next manifestation at the end of a civil war at the black military involvement and prowess. despite the heroism of the black troops in the civil war, significant opposition or maybe gives the i.t. of blood people serving in the peacetime army. there's about 188,000 who served in the civil war. now, under pressure from articles in congress, president johnson on july 28, 1866 signed a military appropriations act that called for the establishment of the ninth and 10th calvary and four regiments of infantry that were consolidated into the 24th and 25th infantry regiments in 1869. most of the recruits were young, but many were civil war veterans who joined first to escape the south into a regular wage unavailable to them otherwise.

and three, for the adventure. these units served from the dakotas to the mexican border and they sought to protect native americans for white encroachment, partly, and to protect native tribes satellite reservations from other hostile tribes. but they earned their great icon that in various indian wars to the best from the 1860s to the 1960 encouragement into mexico but general john jay pershing in pursuit of punch of yet. 23 buffalo soldiers received the medal of honor in the 19th century can including participation in the spanish-american war. here's a little-known fact. between 1899 and 1804, buffalo soldiers during those months served in the sequoia in a semi-national part in the park rangers. smokey the bear broad rimmed hat's introduced as broad rimmed hat into the service, which is

now standard issue for all park rangers. african-americans in the the military during world war ii ended tuskegee airmen. the war offered african-americans an opportunity to combat racial prejudice by once again proving their patriotism as they had done and everywhere in this country since the french and in the more in the mid-18th century. black service was tied to at the pittsburgh courier labeled -- first label to double the campaign, victory against fascism abroad and victory against racism at home. our first by general wes benjamin o. davis senior, who has served in the army since 1898 and received his star in 1840. during the war, won a bronze star and the distinguished service. his son, benjamin o. davis junior would be commander 332nd fighter group, one of

the most experienced and successful the squadron supported by the tuskegee airmen. you know the story of tori miller, a black messman on the ship of the west virginia dear to my heart from piedmont west virginia during pearl harbor on december 7 manned a 50 caliber machine gun and shut down for japanese planes. his hair was in went unreported until the pittsburgh courier bobby for his recognition because of his race the navy but until president roosevelt personally ordered that he received a medal for his service in. i'm a 27, 1942, admiral chester nimitz awarded him the navy cross. most of our popular understanding of world war ii these days comes from hollywood. yet, how many of us know that the marine corps first accepted like men in 1942? and the several major films

available to us, which we have all seen on the june 6, 1944 in nation of normandy in france in the annual commemorations of that battle, how many of us know that black soldiers landed on bloody omaha beach? black soldiers were there. you never see them in the movies, do you? given the abrasive abrasive and often intolerant george s. patton awarded a silver star matter to a black soldier for his hair was then deliberating a french village in 1944. the tuskegee airmen formed in part by the persistent lobbying of the great we would say feminist today, mary mcleod so would, one of the best friends of roosevelt. success is past disproved racist assertions that blacks were not smart enough to fly in an airplane, to master aviation. 962 men trained in tuskegee, alabama and 450, to master

aviation. 962 men trained in tuskegee, alabama and 450, to master aviation. 962 men trained in tuskegee, alabama and 450. they served enough credit and italy and airmen earned an enviable record and the 332nd earned the distinguished citation for outstanding performance and extraordinary heroism. the deaths of 66 testify to patriotism and to their enviable record. that form a basis for harry s. truman to desegregate the military officially in 1948. without the service of the tuskegee airmen, general colin powell would not have been possible. and without colin powell, barack obama would not have been possible. these are just some of the stories, ladies and gentlemen, that i love in this book i wrote first of all for my daddy. but also for our children. if our children, african-american children and for all american children

because the black story, black history is american history. there is no american history without black history and ironically, there is no black history and african-american history without american history. they are inextricably intertwined and we do a disservice when we separate them. i want the stories to be a fundamental part of the american history curriculum. but i also want within our black institutions, as petitions like jack and jill. you have a jack and jill? he said i would never go to jack and jill. for those who don't know, that was to learn how to be sedated. jack and jill was to learn which fork to use if you are ever invited to the white house. it was to learn how to be middle class. why can't jack and jill be a black history class? why can't that be a fundamental part of a jack and jill does? i am not singling out jack and

jill. it's just a convenient example. take our sunday schools. it is great to learn about the lord and to learn about the sacrifices of g says and the martyrs and saints. but why can't we use the format is sunday schools to teach these stories were children when they are john? as growing up, ladies and gentlemen, the blackest thing you could be was a lawyer for a.dear, not an entertainer for an athlete. do you know that twice as many black fortified cardiologists are black men in the nba? how many of our children know that? statistically, it is easier to be board-certified cardiologist if you're black then to make it in the nba. my daddy when i was a professor at duke, our house was seamier black neighborhood and they had a basketball court that was lights -- headlights comes after

midnight the brothers are playing. my daddy was a look at that. if we study calculus like we said it best well, we would be running m.i.t. why can't we use these stories to reignite for such a huge percentage of our children, the love of learning that our ancestors had and that led them to believe in the future? one-time cornell west and i were talking about the absurdity of our appearance, the absurdity of our parents believing -- remember, i was born in 1950, believing there to nappy headed little boys could be anything that they wanted. even if they didn't believe that, they made us believe it. and we were born before brown v. board. our people believed in education under slavery when we had no hope. we made our way out of nowhere. frederick douglass said we used to see a little learning from white man. how many of our children have lost his passion for learning?

the blackest thing you can be was an educated man or an educated woman in the 1950s and too many of our children don't believe that anymore. that is why i am working with my colleagues at harvard to do a curriculum on genealogy and genetics. you all know my passion for genealogy and genetics. i want to reawaken in our inner-city kids, for inner-city schools, the love of science and its history. how to do that? let's go to history class. imagine we have every child in that class to their family tree. they would go home and interview their mother, their father, come back to school it would have an electronic family tree on a computer that would be the first one. and then makes a good interview their grandparents read some of the stories. it is important to write down every story, even the ones that might not be true. last back how many of you out --

i'm just speaking to african-americans. how many of you out at ancestors of tai chi bones and straight black hair? [laughter] for those of you who can't see, all the black people in here just raised their hands. [laughter] none of you outside any real names entre native american. only 5% of the african-american people have at least 12.5% native american ancestors. the 58% of the african-american people have at least 12.5% european or white ancestry. those high cheekbones and that straight black hair came from and for sexuality or even the complicated relationship like julia chan, sometimes a willing relationship between generally a white man and a black woman. 35% -- if i did the dna of all the black men in this room and

in the nba or in the united states, 35% of you which you inherit from your father. 35%. that is extraordinary. well, what if we could get our children to do their family tree back to slavery, back to the senses when our ancestors were slaves first appeared with two names and then look as we did with oprah winfrey, look in the same county in the 1860 census for someone named winfrey who owned a male slave and the same schedule 10 years younger than constantine winfrey, her great, great grandfather awake that in 1870 cents at them and teach them how to look through the state record of this white man named winfrey to see if he and a tax record he will have a slave named constantine.

anyway, we are doing the family tree, we go down the hall to the science teacher. now if we walked into a science class in inner-city and said tw. now if we walked into a science class in inner-city and said two days once in his watson and crick in the double helix, people would say get out of town. he said cetus q-tip? are going to survive your cheek. frequently what ethnic group or tribe your ancestors came friend in africa. only for the results, will teach you how the science of dna works. what child wouldn't be interested in that, ladies and gentlemen? who would not be turned on by that knowledge? why's it so compelling. genealogy is all about yourself. the historical anecdotes i've collect dead in "life upon these shores" all about arcola is

cells. our collective selves as african-americans. counterintuitive stories, quirky stories and also the sad stories of sacrifice and suffering from our people's experience in the new world as slaves. as slaves, but as three women and three men and ultimately as president of the united states. thank you very much. [applause] >> this event was hosted by vietnam history center. to find out more kind is it atlanta.com. >> next, from baton rouge, louisiana, a tour at the john bk library at southern university. booktv recently visited come exploring literary culture of several cities across the country.

we spoke to many authors and toured literary locations the city has to offer with the help of our cable partner, cox communications. >> my name is angela proctor. and the archivist at southern university in baton rouge, louisiana. we are in the commission a african-american section of the library. right now we're going to be looking at a collection specifically from the archives, which i'm really, really proud of. we have in our archive and original site of slave narratives dated 1935. they are compiled and created by the library named after him. he was the first dean of the institution as well as direct terror overextension services center from the 1960 institution. and with the slave narratives, when mr. kato is here, he was also the history abstract

theory. what he did was he utilize the strengths of the history class and assign them a project to interview slaves. in the slaves were to go out and interview -- i'm sorry come the slaves were to go interview former slaves or ex-slaves. and from there, he would give them a set of questions that he should actually ask as slaves. all these questions cover the social conditions and things for instance, the master of the slaves, the social conditions that the types of foods they were that easy, the closing, the punishment in various aspects that it's out with the various inspections. and, just to give you an ideal of the collection we are dealing with comprises of 16 different states. one country, which is canada. in the box that we have here is

called a records storage box not the narratives are arranged alphabetically by the state and within the state the narratives are british alphabetically by the name of the slave. just to give an idea of what they actually look like, they actually encapsulate in terms of trying to preserve them. the name of the slave is news and blake. she is from alabama and the type of slave she worked in the house and at that time she would be considered a field slave. so her owner was named mr. out of. msm advocate things is a great deal of them were also assigned to interviewers who happen to be suez. so we are very, very proud of this collection. one of the things we actually did is that we the library would not have purchased a database that would allow