when texas slaves escaped to mexico, what did it mean for them to integrate into mexican society and how did they do this with the threat of recapture from slave hunters? and the barriers that are existing and the specific language barriers. >> how far long do you think you are in your research? >> well, i'm beginning to publish chapter four but it is a bit of a large project, so i'm hoping to go back and read it over and put in new things that i've learned. it has been some recent scholarship about fugitive slaves in mexico. i want to incorporate this into my larger project. >> have you been able to find any descendents of the slaves? >> i have not yet but that is one of my goals moving forward. >> a doctor student at rutgers university in new jersey woman thank you very much -- a doctoralin, student at rutgers university, thank you for joining us.

>> c-span is touring cities across the country exploring american history. a look at our visit to salt lake city, utah. americanatching history tv, all weekend, every weekend. >> a photograph of the fourth president of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints and arguably the most important historian of the first century. goodr woodruff was a very journal keeper. he kept journals from the time he joined the church in 1833 and continued keeping them up until his death in 1898. this is his very first journal and it shows you how meticulous he was in his journal keeping. he was stand as much as an hour a day writing in his journal and for very important events he would add a little bit of decoration. here, for example is the entry for his marriage date. as you can see here, he has

decorated it with lots of filigree and other things to make it almost looked like a little marriage certificate by its self. at the end of his journal, he kept statistical accounts of what happened to him in a given year. 1837 summarizing his life during that time. it essentially tells how many meetings he had, how many miles he traveled, how many letters he wrote. tabulation ofs the most important events that occurred in his life during that one year. i blessed to children, i wrote 30 letters, i received 13 letters. well, he kept up this kind of journal keeping his entire life in the church. from 1833 until 1898, 65 years. some of the entries are very poignant. he lived in the city of naboo with the founder of the church of jesus christ, joseph smith.

he was there after joseph smith's death. in 1846, the church completed the temple that was begun under joseph smith's direction. this temple, to which he and other latter-day saints had devoted an enormous amount of time, money, effort, became a symbol for them of the great sacrifices that they had given. when the people of illinois drove out the latter-day saints in 1846, wilford woodruff made an entry in his journal. he wrote -- upon the temple and the city of nam who and i asked the lord to preserve it as a monument of the sacrifice of his saints." it is very poignant. he is getting his last points of the building. the importance of temples is

that they are the buildings in which they perform ceremonies and they link families together for trinity. is thatthe world marriages until death. they believe that they can be for trinity and the temples are the places where the ceremonies that are performed that make linkages for trinity possible. leaving a couple was eating a great -- a place of great import of this for latter-day saints. ,n the case of wilford woodruff he crossed the great plains of north america into the great basin and finally reached the salt lake valley. when he reached the salt lake valley, he was traveling with brigham young. he makes a note of the impression that he and bring them young had when they entered

the valley. he said "president young expressed his full satisfaction in the appearance of the valley as a resting place for the saints. they had been driven from place to place. at last, they thought here is a place where we can have freedom of religion and peace. we contemplated that in not many years at the house of god would essentially be built here in this valley in what they call the tops of the mountains. the moment they into the salt lake valley, they are already contemplating that in that valley will be built the salt lake temple. ring them young and wilford woodruff arrived in the salt lake valley on the july 24, 1847. and that was a saturday. on sunday, they caused to worship. on monday, they climbed a nearby peak and on that peak they got a

look at the valley and essentially declare that this was the place they were going to be. then, bring them young went down into the valley between the two forks of a creek he put his cane into the ground and essentially you will be our new temple location. in the meantime, the peculiar form of marriage practice by latter-day saints became an object of derision across the country. in 1862, a federal law was passed prohibiting this kind of marriage. the latter-day saints ignored the law largely because it wasn't enforced and because they believed that the law was unconstitutional. that it violated their civil rights.

finally, 20 years later, the pressure to discontinue plural marriage increased at the passage of another law in 1882 and then and even tougher law in 1887. combined with those laws were supreme court decisions essentially saying no, these laws are constitutional. the latter-day saints practice pearl of marriage and the lead in the importance of temples were forced to a choice. wilford woodruff talks about that choice in his journal. he essentially records a document that he released in september of 1890 beginning the ending of that practice of our marriage. in which heurnal recorded that. the date of september 25, 1890 he recorded in red ink official declaration. whenever he put it in reading, it was a title. journal copies into his

a document that was released to the public and later called the manifesto. this did not and for a marriage but it started the ending of plural marriage in the church. in the church, the operative most important was the site was down here that is in fine print which basically says i hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws come in meaning the laws that have been passed and found constitutional and use my influence with the members of the church over which i preside to have them do likewise. that is the language, that is what began the and of the practice of plural knowledge in the church. it did not end immediately. we had multiple women, continue to support them. they continue to live their lives.

there was roughly 14 years until 1904 when there was a second manifesto issued. after that time, they dropped off considerably and now of course today, they have not practice for generations. polygamy isd extricated. that decision to choose the preservation of the temple. if things continue the way they were, the federal government would take over the temple. manifesto, hes and the members of the church were able to complete the salt lake temple. on april the sixth, 1892 when they finished the exterior, they had a ceremony in which they put the angel statue on the top over onto the capstone. in his journal, wilford woodruff

reports that a kid -- records that event. he writes "this was the most interesting day in some respects the church has ever seen since his organization." the temple cap stone was laid with imposing ceremonies, with electricity. angel on to its high pedestal using electronic switch. presidentsided by woodruff. there was 50,000 on the temple grounds. this is a huge public event. it has done some -- under some remodeling. this is the essentially asked. that you see today.

this is a photograph of wilford woodruff. he was a man that had piercing eyes. all of the photographs show the eyes of a man who seems to be able to look through people. being the fourth president of the jesus christ of latter-day saints, wilford woodruff was its most important historian. he was the most important historian i believe because the experience many of the most important events of the early history. from its early days of persecution through crafting the planes, two construction of the same salt lake temple and he recorded these in his journal, often spending a terminus amount of time doing that and it was this journal, this literary effort on his part that causes us today to be able to plumb deep into these events. we have someone there who was a

witness and recorded his experience in a journal. >> we wanted a building that was very accessible to the community. it needed to be able to incorporate a future that we didn't, we cannot predict the future. part of the problem is that we were tapped out on as many computers and wiring that we could fit into that structure. our new building you to have a lot of flexibility and movement into the future and one thing we like about the design is that he --bined different geographic geometric features. we have a round up atari them on the side of the building. a red secular structure on the west side. that cutsescent wall

the library on the north and east side. and all of these different geometric features are bridged together with the skylights. building at all levels and we have a total 360 degree view of our surroundings. for ahink it is vital community to have a library that brings people together. this particular space was geared in bringing the community together. this is an opportunity for people to remember that the things that hold the city together, the public safety officers, the mayor, and his various departments and the library, all really work together to build a city. i like that we have physically done that. >> this weekend, learn about the rich history and literary life of salt lake city, utah throughout the weekend on c-span

2's book tv. >> next, professor christopher hamner teaches about the motivations of civil war soldiers. professor hamner explains how things like hatred chisholm, money, and ideology initially factored into young man's decisions to list and head into combat. of anlicitly promise immediate furlough served as incentive for soldiers to relisted during the latter half of the war. george mason university is in for jenny. this class is about one hour and 10 minutes. >> good morning. we have taken a top-down look at this middle part of the w