that economically, efficiently, and have it available to them. about thisting thing laboratory, edison was a very early proponent of what we today call a factory system. each one of the tables in here would have had a different operation going on, and the team of scientists around the table would be working on that particular process. edison would be moving through the process happening at each table. of thek was that director, the man who took what everyone was working on, take that process, and move it to the next step. if he were here, he would be the thoughtful overseer. i'm not saying he also didn't do work in the lab himself, but he had a talented group of people working with him. himself, he also had a full-time glassblower. a lot of the work that was happening in here used some very different beakers, test tubes,

and glass material. the processmake right, he had to create the glass himself. a gentleman from europe who was his full-time glassblower. he also had a full-time machinist. an interesting feature of this laboratory is the metal shop. glass, a lot of what he was doing was working with metal pieces, a lot of times creating it from scratch, changing them, modifying them, or repairing them. this laboratory had to have been a very interesting place at various times. some of the most interesting inventions that edison has to his credit or certainly the ones we know about the most, his love of the sonogram, electricity, the lightbulb. the last part of his life was plant science. he was very successful in this laboratory finding a source of

rubber that could be grown in this country. the plant goldenrod successfully could be harvested. the chemical process took place. a source of rubber that could be commercially viable. an american and world history at that time, we were just coming out of the depression, and the project was not funded in fort myers. it was taken by henry ford to savanna where it did move onto some next success. we think edison, ford, and firestone as all three being green scientists, a very early understanding of, we have to look at our natural resources and replenish them in order to be successful as a country. that is where we are today. enough, or should we be looking at other sources,

plant sources? edison, ford, and firestone all understood that. >> all weekend on american history tv, we are featuring historic sites and local historians from cities across america. these are highlights from to seeu the4 cities scheduler of where we've been and watch video from all of our stops at. c-span.org/localcontent. >> for many of us who have gone overseas, fought for this country and fought for mississippi, alabama, north , we have illinois fought for every state in this union. we are going to stay here and see that the things that america has said become a reality. past midnight,

evers proceeded towards his home. a sniper fired a single shot from a high-powered rifle. back,llet hit him in the crushed through his body, through a window into the house. he died within an hour. >> you are in the former home of medgar evers in jackson, mississippi. 2332 margaret walker drive. ar was born and raised in decatur, mississippi. when reading about him and listening to him talk, he knew the differences between the races. he never could understand why. he talked about having white playmates. it was only -- they would hunt

and fish together -- it was only when the three of them got to be the age of 16 that they went, separated, went there different ways. he talked about seeing his friend. he was going downtown, and he saw his friend standing on the corner with some other whites. they called him nigger. he noticed his friend dropped his head when he said it. that is what kind of situation he grew up in. -- he said,ed about i knew the difference that was made between the races. i could never understand why. he talked to his father about it, and his father would talk to him and tell him what his responsibilities were. in reading and listening to the people who talked, it really came home to him just how much different was made between the races, the things that would happen.

his father said, that is what they do. he was a little bit angry. frustrated. he was hurt. getting away for mississippi when he was only 16. he served in world war ii. as he troubled about, he said, defending america, it didn't matter but the color of his skin until he came back home to mississippi. on his 21st verse per -- birthday, he tried to register to vote, he and his brother charles -- he said, these group of white men turned us around with shotguns, random out with shotguns. metzger said, we ran. that is when he got back into -- he finished his other two years of high school you're at alcorn college. he enrolled in college, majoring in business administration.

he was at amount of by you. it was an all-black town. a young man lived in mount by you -- bayou. he had this insurance company. 's firsthe gave medgar job. he then ventured out onto the plantations, and that is where he was selling people -- trying to sell insurance other. medgar began to look at some of the conditions under which these people were living. he talked about what people not even knowing what insurance was. ande was talking to them watching their conditions, looking at their conditions, and looking at the reactions that he was getting when he talked about

human rights, civil rights, the naacp, registering, getting registered to vote, people would begin to tell him these stories, which were true, what was happening to people in the area. in many places, there were no schools for blacks. if you try to register to vote, what would happen to you, what could happen to you, what happened to others. medgar was telling them, that is your right. allowhey would medgar not -- they would not allow medgar onto their properties, he started initiating several boycotts. storesces in the grocery on many occasions would go up. in, and a lot of times, they would say, you have to stand in line until the

whites were served. medgar said, don't buy the groceries. we will go somewhere where you are treated better. these things begin to work because of medgar evers. mississippi did not have an naacp secretary. his job was to come in and organize 82 counties in the state of the city, getting people registered to vote, taking complaints, and just checking out what was going on. he was selected by the after henaacp officer tried to get into the university of mississippi. when they denied him admission, this is when the national naacp asked him to become secretary. to do that, he had to comment jackson. maybe at first, they didn't take medgar seriously. it was only after he came in to jackson and really begin get things flowing, so to speak, and

then got involved with the student movement, the freedom riders and all of that. --hink that is when medgar people begin to see, this man is shaking things up. he will not give up. blacks couldn't speak. you couldn't speak. i haven't heard medgar evers' voice. i heard it only when i went away to college. he was not on television. he was not on radio. i think this is when people begin to see -- they were not going to turn people around. i call at the grassroots people, the foot soldiers. women and children begin to get involved. that is when they saw, this man is really shaking things up. >> don't shop for anything on capitol street. let's let the merchants down on

capitol street feel the economic pinch. i had say this to you -- one merchant call me, and he said, i wanted to know that i talked to my national office today, and they want me to tell you that we don't need nigger business. these are stories that help to support the white citizens council, a council that is dedicated to keeping you and i second-class citizens. gentlemen,dies and we will be demonstrating here until freedom comes to negroes in jackson, mississippi. and hisis where medgar family came to live in 1955. it was historic in itself and that medgar came here to this neighborhood after he became secretary. this was the neighborhood that was being developed by two young black world war ii veterans. this had never happened before

in jackson, mississippi. these two veterans were developing a one street , and they were constructing homes for what they called professional blacks. lawyers, doctors, teachers, business owners living on this one street. then they were going to place the subdivision in between two white subdivisions. it was kind of like a trial thing. --gar this is wheremedgar this is where medgar came. it was the house on the left. happen.new what could he knew the funds that were happening to the family, the threats that were being made. he came in changing his house plans. for instance, he didn't want a front door. this is basically the only house in the area that doesn't have a

front door. he said he wanted his main -- he was going to teach his family, when they come into the driveway, they were always great to exit the car and the passenger side. that way, they could use the wall and the car as a means of protection. the windows on the east wall are higher than under -- in other windows, higher than houses that look like this on this street. the first year they were here, someone shop through this window, the living room window. said,s when misses evers put kids on the floor so they would be lower than the windows. the second time they were shot at was through their bedroom window. this was when they all got on the floor. she talked about sometimes she would sleep with the gun, medgar with a pistol if he was here. she was protecting her kids just as medgar was. knew people were

following him. that is why he took all of these precautions. in meetings, he talked about when he would get a car, he had a mechanic friend, he would take it to him and have it souped-up to out run the people who would chase him, these kinds of things. have aes, i think you calling, and you cannot let go. i believe that is the way it was for medgar. >> i have had a number of threatening calls, people calling me and saying they would kill me, they would blow my home up, saying i only had a few hours to live. >> 15 minutes past midnight, evers got outside his car. in a vacant lot 40 years ago, a sniper fired a single shot from a high-powered rifle. the bullet can in the back, crushed through his body, through a window into the house. >> misses evers talked about, she and her kids in the back of

the house, and hearing medgar drive up and not come in to the house. she heard the shots, and she said, my kids began crawling across the floor to the bathroom because they had told medgar, if something should happen, the safest place is the bathtub. that is where they were headed until she heard a thump, like somebody threw something on the house. she said, when she threw open the door, medgar was staggering, trying to get to the store. she said she heard a couple more shots. she shot -- she thought they were still shooting at her, but the other two shots she heard were mr. wales next door. mr. wales said, i wasn't aiming at anybody in particular. i was hoping to run whoever it was away. he and another friend came to so to speak.ue,

misses evers said, medgar was lying down with his keys in his right hand. i thought he was dead, but he wasn't. he was saying something, but they couldn't understand him. i brought him inside the house and took on mattress off and put him on the mattress to transport to the hospital. in jackson, mississippi in 1963 mane lived a who was brave he fought all of his life but they laid medgar evers and his grace ♪ following his death, the movement died a bit rude they had his funeral over at the