american history tv usually shown on the weekends on c-span3 will continue this week in prime time. our focus on tuesday night is black history month. at 8:00 p.m. eastern with the groundbreaking of the new smithsonian museum of african-american history and culture taking place wednesday on the national mall, the museum's founding director lonny bunch takes us through the storage facility to see some of the artifacts that will be on display. at 8:30, the relationship between martin luther king jr. and his mentors benjamin mace and howard thursday min. at 10:00 as we tour the national civil rights museum built on the site where martin luther king jr. was assassinated and at 10:30 we're taught the use of the "n" word in american culture

c-span3. news and social media from facebook, youtube, twitter and foursquare. follow it all weekend every weekend online. all day monday american history tv is featuring america's first ladies. who do you think was our most influential first lady? vote and join the conversation with us on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. this week on american artifacts we visit the center for education and leadership across the street from ford's theater where john wilkes booth shot president lincoln as he enjoyed the play "our american

cousin." the center is the newest addition where visitors can learn about the life, death, and legacy of bray con. paul tetro talks about the center's purpose and goals and kur yater tracythexhibits. >> we are in the center for education and leadership directly across the street from historic ford's theater on tenth street in washington, d.c. concept that really r of books, started about five years ago to visualize and showcase the unending quest to learn more about bray hamlin con. and so this tower of books represents as we all know that abraham lincoln is the most written about figure in world history next to jesus christ. >> for the past couple of years

we've been working with the ford's theater society on developing new exhibits here at the ford's theater for education and leadership. a public space in the lobby. it had to be fireproof so all of these books have to be made out of aluminum for weight and familiarability purposes. we've got a structure that goes onto this colom and then we're building up with perforated alum name shelving and attaching the books to those as we go and eventually work our way up to 35 feet. a lot of fasteners, high-temper silicone and minor cuts to make sure everything wraps well around this column. a lot of notches here that won't be visibility when the piece is finished but it will look like complete books all the way around this column. we've left spaces in here. we've got over 200 unique titles by publishers. we had to get permission to use these books but we anticipate a

lot of people coming forward. it's generating a lot of excitement where they'll want their book added so we'll leave spaces throughout the sculpture to add new books and new titles and books that aren't written ye unique. we do a lot of different projects. everything from natural history museums to cultural institution loosic that. but this is really public art piece. >> we believe that this will become an iconic image in washington where people, especially young people will come here and be able to see, wow, there really were a lot of books written about that guy. and that in and of itself is not so interesting but that will spark them to say why? who was he? i want to know more about it. and so this is really the as it stands at our entry point here, something to really spark, especially young people, their imagination and say, do i need

to read some of those books? i need to know more about this guy. this building will be the extension of the understanding of who lincoln is today, lincoln's legacy. >> my name is tracy avant and i'm the curator here at ford's theatre society. and we're now standing in the entry way for the center for education and leadership which is the fourthing at of our four-act drama we've set up for our entire campus. our first act is the museum across the street underneath the theater and that looks at president lincoln's time here in washington. the second act is in the theater itself and is the assassination of lincoln and the third acted is the lincoln was taken to die. now we're waiting to open our education and leadership. it looks at the afterpath math

of lincoln's assassination. that includes his death and the funeral train journey home to illinois and the manhunt for john wilkes booth and the conspirators and the second part of the act looks at the memorialization and legacy of bray hamlin con and why it's so important. why don't you follow me, and we'll take a look at what we've got. in our mezzanine this is actually where vitters to the site will enter the center and take the elevator to the fourth floor to experience the first exhibit. people will come through the peterson house, across a back porch and to this area, and this way it's a continuous flow from that third act to that fourth act. so people will come here and they'll learn a little bit about what the center is, and then people will load onto the elevator and take the elevator to the fourth floor, which is what we're going to do right now.

we like to think of our elevator as time travel. as the elevator doors open, we step out onto the washington streets of april 15th, 1865, and visitors get an opportunity to hear the street sounds of horses and carriages traveling along, tolling bells mourning lincoln's loss, and we also hear the telegraph sending out confirmation of bray hamlin c-- abraham lincoln's death. visitors have an opportunity to learn a little bit about what the newspapers were saying and also just the general state of affairs here in washington, d.c. and that takes us to our next stage of the exhibition where we step onto a train platform and into the funeral car, which is a replica of the funeral car that carried abraham lincoln to springfield, illinois, to be

buried. we learn a little bit about the funeral and the staging of the funeral in washington and at the white house. and here we have items on display from the national parks service. some items in this case have never been on display before, and the items range from things that were related to the funeral train itself, a handle to the coffin, to mourning ribbons, a ticket to the funeral at the white house, and even things like the tools that were used to seal abraham lincoln's coffin for the final time before he was buried in springfield, illinois. the people who rode in the we ss actually, and they disinterred the body of his son willy, so willy and lincoln's coffins were in this particular car.

the funeral train itself were many cars long and all sorts of dignitaries and others related to the train and the funeral was the first re mortician president ever to be em balmed which is what really made the funeral journey possible because he was em balmed so they did have openen casket during that 14-day journey over all of the cities and these two gentlemen rode along to touch him up along the way. robert rode on the train from washington to baltimore but then he returned to washington to be with his mother. and he then later came out to springfield for the funeral. mary never rode the train and she did not attend the funeral. she was too distraught with grief to attend part of the ceremonies. the flag is significant in that it only hat 34 stars. we think that this obviously was an older flag but we think it

probably came from a fort somewhere or a garrison and it was one of many flags that draped his coffin along the way. as we step out of the train, we're stepping back onto our train platform where we come to our first interactive, which is a really great opportunity for visitors to look in depth at this fer and to try to get a better understanding of why something like this -- nothing like this ad ever happened. never been assassinated before, but a mourning train journey like this had never happened and a lot of historians figure that the reason the whole united states took such an interest in this unusual circumstances of the assassination of abraham lincoln but also because it was a way for them to mourn the waemendous losses that had taken so many people never saw their loved ones again. bodies were not necessarily returned from the wa that theyd come to terms with that

openly in a period where that wasn't always necessarily the case. what is interesting aboutlook ae major cities along the route, nd there are cards that talk each city and how each city might have mourned lincoln's passing. it talks a little bit about the journey along the train where the train did not stop at cities. there were still crowds of hundreds of people along the tracks at all hours of the night with bonfires, with bands, wanting the opportunity to see the president's funeral train pass, and one thing that our interactive gives, which i think is really interesting is it gives the date and the population of the cities, but it also gives you the number of the people that attended the funeral, and the further away you get from the east coast and the closer you get to the land of lincoln, the greater the crowds are compared to the numbers. so you have a small town like

cleveland where the population was only 43,000 people roughly but 150,000 people came to view lincoln's coffin and tremendou outpouring that people experienced, and they had to set up special pavilions in cities to accommodate the crowds. the rest of our gallery is dedicated to the hunt for john wilkes booth and the capture of the conspirators. both sides deal with that. we start with john wilkes booth here. with learn a little bit ab comet case. it has two items on on wilkes booth when he was captured, a set of keys and a travel map much like what we carry today. it folded up in this nice little book. these were on his body and the national parks service were able to loan this to us.

as we move forward we come to a map that traces that escape from washington that john wilkes booth and david harold made. and by pushing this little li t light-up button we get to follow the path way that booth took, his stops at the tavern to pick up weapons, the stop at the d k doctor's house where his leg was set. their first attempt to cross the potomac river and the second one and the journey across and eventually ending up at the garrett farm where, of course, john wilkes booth and david harold were caught and captured and he was ultimately killed there? this side lets exhibiters take a look at the final moments and take a look at john wilkes

booth's capture. we have recreated garrett's tavern. visitors will be able to look in the barn and hear the sound track where they come to capture him and booth refuses to surrender. you'll get to see the barn lit on fire and then boston corbett shooting and john wilkes booth's final words to his mother. >> let me have a moment. if you'll take your men 50 yards from the door, i'll come out and fight you. give me a chance for my life. well, my brave boys, prepare a

stretcher for me. [ horses winnieing ] >> mother, i died for my country. >> so it's kind of an interactive way like our street scene to take people into 1865 and give them sort of an emotional connection with all of this material. on this display case here, we have items that are related to the trial and capture the imprisonment of the conspirators and some of the items in this case have never been on display include this we'll of the montauk where several of the conspirators were held and imprisoned until they went to

trial. we have the military passes to visit the prisoners and for the trial itself, and we have keys to the jail cells of mary surrat and dr. muscular dystrophy along with shackles he wore on his journey where he was prison bfrd he was part onned by andrew johnson. the rest is looking at the trial and looking at how the trial was conducted as a military tribune, a little bit about why it was conducted that way and the outcomes that might have been different if it had gone to a normal court, as well as looking at where they were imprisoned and giving you a little montage here at the end of the prison and one of the hoods that all of the swon tirr tors except for mary surrat and dr. muscular dystrophy dr. mud had to wear. it was high entertainment in some ways. people were riveted by what was happening in the newspapers and

by the reports of this chase and what was going to happen to him. so it was sensationasensational. and as soon as it was realized that he was the person that was responsible, all sorts of information started coming out that this wasn't an ice late incident, that it was conspiracy. i think it was hard for people to sort of understand why he had done this, and it was such a drastic act, nothing like this had really happened in the history of the united states yet. the fact that he was kill and not brought to trial was a disappointment by the federal government. they wanted to make sure that -- they wanted to make an example of him so that nothing like this would ever happen again. as we step out into the atrium, we have a final hunt for the

trial for the conspirators. that's the mural of the conspirators prior to their hanging. i think it was 3 1/2 years before those bodies were released to their respective families and allowed to be buried in their private cemeteries. edward stanton did not want these people to be made martyrs of. confederacy had just been fallen and he was worried that if they were returned that they would become matters and these grave sites would become tributes. he did not want this to happen. he wanted this to be over, an example made of them and the country to move on, so that sort of wraps up this level. and, of course, mary surratt was the first woman to ever be executed by the federal government and to this day lot of controversy over how guilty or insoenlt she was. after that mary had a long and difficult journey before she finally made it to springfield, illinois, where she lived with

her sister until her death. inish will she stayed in the white house actually longer than she should have. she just wasn't ready to move. and andrew johnson was very understanding and forgiving of this and just waited until she was ready to move out of the white house. she was very worried about not having enough money to live on and so she tried to sell some of her dresses which led to a lot of publis a while before the money that was due to her from lincoln's presidency as a leader was given to her. but eventually she lived in chicago for a while. she and tadd went to europe after she moved out of the white house. they went to europe for a while and spent several years over there. unfortunately it was a period of time she didn't recover from her grieving and rock earth had her committed to an asylum for about 12 weeks, but eventually she did

manage to move to springfield where she did retire from public life and lived with her sister until her death. so as we make our way to the third floor, we look at recon sfrukz and the challenges of reconstruction without abraham lincoln. so we look at how we construction happened without andrew johnson and the downfalls of that. things still happened like the passing of the 13th amendment but there was still a back charge because he didn't have the philosophy that bray hamlin con did. as we move through construction, we walk to our third floor gallery which is about the memorialization and legacy that bray hamlin con has left us. so our exhibit starts really looking at how lincoln's image changed very quickly after his

assassination. he was a president loved by a lot of people but alps despised by a lot of people, eechl people who very faithful to the union were very frustrated with him but as soon as he was assassinated he suddenly became a martyr and you started seeing images like this, this combination of lincoln and washington. washington made our country and lincoln saved our country and even images like we have an apotheosis of lincoln. so bray hamlin con is being welcomed into heaven by washington. so days before his assassination, some of these things never would have been put together, but because of his assassination and the effect it had on the country, all of his misgivings, at least for a short time, were forgotten. and the memorialization of bray hamlin con really started with the mattrtyrdom. e look briefly at the erected.

we look at the celebrations like the first celebration of his birth in 1909. we look at many of the positives like ee mansz passion which were not fully realized by 1909 when celebrations were held, but african-americans were not allowed into these celebrations and how those kinds of things spurred the birth of organizations like naacp. we look at how presidents throughout time and what we have is just a small example of how lincoln's words inspired them, how they turned to lincoln and his writings for inspiration in their own decisions. and even how presidents on opposite sides of political parties used the exact same quote to support arguments that were opposing arguments. we have that on this side. and then on this side we have what we call our global lincoln. and this looks at two things.

it looks at the world's response to the assassination of abraham lincoln and how they grieved and also sent their condolences to the united states. and then it also looks at how leaders and countries around the world have looked to lincoln for leadership for inspiration. how leaders from democracies to communist leaders have used lincoln's words to inspire the masses and howeverday ordinary people have been inspired by lincoln to rise to great heights. this is an immigrant american pageant and the lady playing lady liberty is golden my ear when she was just a young lady. it's a nice look that covers cultures and countries all over the world and that leads us to one of our final sections which is our look at abraham lynn cin

sort of pop culture. he was used to sell things as diverse as smoking toe pa co-and emery bricks for polishing silver to sewer rupp bottles that could be turned into banks and iconic items like lincoln logs, items that you can by together, lincoln keds and jewelry that was all bought online by our designers. there's something that people identify with him and i guess the honesty of abe to sell the products, our product is the best because abe supports it. so our final piece looks at why abraham lincoln is still relevant today through his own words. so all the words you hear in this piece are actually pieces of text that have been taken from his speeches and from his writings, and they're remixed. and the idea behind this was to give visitors a last impression of how lincoln's words are so

relevant today, how the ideals that he believed in are also still relevant and really to challenge the visitor with the idea that democracy is a work in progress and it's our duty as american citizens on how to continue that legacy further. there's something about abraham lincoln and his words that allow people to connect with him and find some kind of meaning with him. lincoln is still here with us today and there's a reason for that, and it has to do with the ideals that he believed in and the principles that he followed. >> we believe that ford's theater is the location in washington, d.c., to learn about lincoln and his legacy. it's one of the things that we do better than anyone else. we are able to marry the

concepts and the excellence that we bring to thee eight trick call productions to the museum experience. we will teach our yore torrey programs as part of our education programs in this facility. we will use this facility to do our teacher training. all of those things are jumping off who lincoln was, such a brilliant leader. this center is what that is all about. for more information about the ford's theater education and leadership center, visit their website at fordstheater.org. you're watching american history tv all weekend every weekend on c-span3. all day monday american history tv is featuring america's first ladies. who do you think was our most influential first lady? vote and join the conversation with us on facebook at facebook.com/cspan. you'd be interested in what

the first lady wears. why do we care? we look to her clothing for clues about what she's lake as a person, about what the administration may be like both in its style. is it formal? is it informal? is it extravagant? is it simple? and what -- possibly something about her politics or the administration's politics. sit american maid? do you proudly say you only wear american designers. caroline made a point of only wearing american made clothing. if you look to the back, you'll see a beautiful dress of eleanor roosevelt that's actually her first inaugural gown. eleanor roosevelt had a busy life and she had a point of saying busy women also like to buy their clothes off the rack but she also expressed you should. buy clothes from sweat shops so

her politics also came into her clothing. >> what is the oldest gown? >> the oldest gown in the collection is actually martha washington's. it's not on display right now. it's been on display for a long time. it's having a rest right now. in this ballry, when we round the corner the oldest dress will be dolly madison's. >> around the corner, mrs. obama donated hers? >> she came in person and donated the dress and the shoes. they were actually donated. it's interesting. this is the first time we had the designers donate, and mrs. obama had them donate these pieces. so jason wu and jenny choo and laura wad kin donated the pieces and they're donated. when you see the label, they'll be donated by jason wu in honor of first lady mrs. michelle obama. she came to present it to the museum. >> what goes into deciding which

dress to wear and are they thinking about the influence that they'll have on their husband's administration? >> i think we like it to maybe be a little more political than it probably is. when we did -- there's a video playing in this exhibition. we were lucky enough to interview rose lynn carter and laura bush about the dreshs that they chose thinking there was maybe a symbolism. mrs. carter in reality for sentimental reasons wore a dress again that she had worn when her husband was made governor of georgia and mrs. bush just remembers collaborating with the designer michael fair cloth and she want add pretty party dress. i think what women -- the first lady wants it to be beautiful. she wants it to be comfort about. she wants it to be appropriate. appropriate is the word when first ladies are dealing with clothes. they want to be appropriate for the occasion, appropr f