do this, i believe the war could have ended sooner. maybe much sooner. maybe six months sooner. it is a "what if." it can never be proven one way or the other. but it was a "what if" that came close to happening. it also goes to show nothing is inevitable in history. nothing is inevitable in the civil war. it did not have to come out the way it did. lots of other things had to do with it. but this one little piece of the puzzle was very important in the timing of the end of the civil war. if you want to remember this way, you can remember that -- one thing to remember is that early was one day late. early was late.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> visit year, c-span is touring cities exploring history. visit to our recent jackson, mississippi. you are watching american history tv, every weekend, all weekend. us, who fought for this country, fought for mississippi and alabama, we fought for north carolina, we fought for illinois, for every state in this union. and we are going to stay see that it becomes a reality. [applause] >> 15 minutes past midnight, evers got out of his car.

a sniper fired a single shot from a high-powered rifle. the bullet hit him in the back and passed through his body. he died within one hour at a jackson hospital. >> i am in the home of medgar evers. raised in aand little town called decatur, mississippi. he talked about, when you read about him and listening to him talk, he talked about differences of how the racists. he could never understand a wide. he talked about having white playmates. -- he could never understand

why. 16, they be the age of were separated and went in there different ways. he talked about seeing his friends going downtown and you sigh his friend standing on the corner with another white. head.iend dropped his that is the kind of situation he grew up in. i knewed about, he said the difference made between the races. he talked to his father about it and he would say, what his responsibilities were. in reading and listening to people talk and those who knew medgar, it came home to him just how much a different were made between the races and the things that would happen. asked hisd when he

father why would they do that to him, he said that is was and they do. medgar said -- i'm sure use a little bit angry and frustrated and hurt, getting away, getting away from mississippi and enlisted in the army when he was only 16. he served in world war ii. he talked as he drove about a month it did not -- he talked about going about, it did not matter and he tried to register to vote. he and his brother, charles, and other veterans and his group of white men turned them around with shotguns. id they ran. it made him get serious. when he got back and finish his other two years of high school, he went to oakland university and he enrolled in college and majored in business administration. movedmedgar graduated and

to mississippi, he was up and innt by you in it -- bayou an all-black town. lived there who was a black man who was rich. he had an insurance company. he gave medgar his first job of selling insurance for him. medgar said he started in a little town of clarksville, mississippi and then he ventured out to some of the plantations. that is what he was telling people about insurance. he looked at some of the conditions under which the people were living. he talked about black people not even knowing what insurance was. as he was talking to them and watching their conditions and looking at their conditions and looking at the reaction he was getting when he talked about human rights, civil rights, the

naacp, registering to vote, and tell the stores which were true. what was happening to people in the area. there were no schools for blacks. and if you try to register to vote, what would happen and what had happened to others and what could happen to you. medgar was telling them, that is your right. once they were not allowed medgar back onto their property and the word got out what he was doing. initiatedarted -- he boycotts. you cannot use the bathroom. the grocery stores. in and a lot of times they had -- and they said you had to stand in line until the whites were done.

medgar would say not to buy the gas. it would work because of medgar evers. before medgar, mississippi had not had any naacp secretary and his job was to come in and organize calendars and getting people registered to vote. taking complaints and that kind of thing and checking what was going on. by i believe he was selected the national naacp office to do that after he tried to get into the old university of mississippi which is now ole miss. when they denied him admission, this is when the national naacp asked him to become filled secretary. he had to come into jackson. it was only after he came into jackson and really began to get things flowing as to speak and got involved with the student

movement. you had the freedom riders and who came in. that is when medgar, people began to see this man is shaking things up post up he would not give up. he challenged. blacks could not speak on -- i heard medgar evers's voice only when i went to college. blacks were not on television or radio. this would people but can -- began to see -- this is when foote began to see, the soldiers got involved. women and children began to get involved. and i need this is when they saw this man is really shaking things up. anything onop for capitol street. let's let the merchants feel the economic pinch.

i had one merchant called me and said, i want you to know i have talked about my national office today and they want me to tell youre do not need business. they help support of the white citizens, the councils dedicated to keeping us as second-class citizens. finally, we will be demonstrating here until freedom comes to negroes into jackson, mississippi. [applause] where medgar and his family came to live in 1955. intor and his family came this neighborhood after he became a field secretary. it was a neighborhood that was a subdivision being developed by 2 black veterans and this had never happened before.

probably in the state of mississippi. these veterans were developing a one street subdivision. and they were developing and constructing homes for what they called her fashionable, middle-class blacks. lawyers, doctors, teachers. business owners living on this one street. and then they were going to put up it between 2 white subdivisions. it is a trial. this is where medgar came and he selected this particular lot but cause it was a house on the left and one on the right. he knew what was happening and what could happen and he knew things were happening to the families and threats are being made and those kinds of things. he came in with his house plans. he did not want a front door. this is the only house in the area that does not have a front

door. he said he wanted his main interest through the carport -- carport through the and he would teach his family they would exit from the passenger side. it will be a source of protection. the east wall was higher than the other windows. here,rst year they were someone shot through this window, the living room window. said a put of the children on the floor so they will be lower than the windows. the second time, it was shot in window so they all got on the floor. she talked about she would sleep with a gun. , she was protecting her kids just as medgar was. werer knew people

following him. that is why he took the precautions. he talked about in meetings, car a heould get a would take it to a mechanic to be souped up. that is why, sometimes you have let go.g and you cannot i believe that is the way it was a four medgar and that is what -- for medgar and that is when you was like. >> i've had threading calls. people tell me they would kill me and i only had a few hours to live. >> 15 minutes past midnight, got out of his car in a subdivision. a sniper fired a single shot from a high-powered rifle. the bullet hit him in the back and crawled through his body and through a window in the house. >> mrs. evers talked about her and her kids in the back of the

house. and then they heard -- and she heard the shot and she said, my "link -- my is a kids began crawling. is where they were heading, in the bathtub until she hurt somebody throw something into the house. and she said when she threw open the door, medgar was staggering, and around her car trying to get to the door. she said she heard a couple of more shots. she thought they were still shooting at her. was next two shots door. aimingls said i was not at anybody in particular. i was hoping to run whoever it was always. he and another friend came to medgar's rescue. was lying said medgar

face down with his keys in his hand and i thought he was dead but he was not was i he was saying something, but we cannot understand. they brought him into the house and got a mattress and put him on it to transport to the hospital. in jackson mississippi, in 1963 was braved a man who he fought for freedom all of his life ♪ >> following his death, the movement -- they had his funeral. that, he was buried at

arlington national cemetery. of time, thed house and got into bad shape. aboutare other exhibits medgar and other museums. we knew we wanted to do something with the house. we may not know exactly what we're going to do at first and we just opened it up and people want to see where medgar evers and his family lived. we let people flow in and flow out. it got to the point where we said we had to say something about medgar. inre are people here mississippi who are my age or older who do not really know who medgar evers was. that is what i want people to know. i want to know who medgar evers was and what a great difference he made in mississippi. i learned later, not only in mississippi but throughout the world. ie of the things he said was

like a mississippi. this is home. here. fishing i like hunting. mississippi is a wonderful place to grow up. he said, why should i leave? an medgar left, what about -- what about all of the other people? why shouldn't you? you have the same rights as anybody born here. why should you have to run away to some unknown city or state to get a decent education, make a living for your family, to get a decent job, and be able to support your family to have a nice home? why should you have to do that? medgar evers decided to stay right here in mississippi and thank god he did.

>> we are at the country life center which is 50 miles southwest of des moines. this is the birthplace of henry a. wallace. it is three generations. the patriarch was known as uncle henry. he was the founder of wallace's former magazine. secretary of.s. agriculture under woodrow wilson. and his son was born on this editor 1888 and he was of the magazine. he was asked by franco roosevelt to serve as u.s. secretary of agriculture which he did a 48 r eight years.o as the u.s. secretary of

agriculture, he is known for the agricultural and adjustment act which was the first time that farmers were asked not to produce. believe, people cannot the things he was proposing regarding that. then as prices went up, they started to listen to him. people still refer to him today ofthe genius secretary agriculture. >> explore the history and literary life of des moines next weekend on book tv. >> 40 years ago, the watergate scandal led to the only resignation of an american president. throughout this month and early august, american history tv revisits 1974 and the final weeks of the nixon administration. this weekend, hear the supreme

court oral argument -- united states v nixon as the watergate special prosecutor contest the president's executive privilege. >> the president may be right in how you read the constitution, but he may also be wrong. if he is wrong, who is the tell him so? and if there is no one, the president, of course, is free to pursue his course of erroneous interpretations. what becomes of our constitutional form of government? >> watergate, 40 years later. sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span 3. and parkhistorians officials discuss the development of a washington, irc.'s civil war forts, the

roles and how they have been reserved. especially for stevens were vital in keeping with the capital under union control. this is cohosted by the national archives and [applause] >> good afternoon and thank you for hosting us as we look at the fascinating look into washington's civil war history. let me add my welcome to everyone in attendance and watching online. the commission's role as the planning agency in the suburbs of virginia and maryland, we seek to protect and enhance the