just wept as she felt the throbbing of the great instrument and the sound of those pipes playing the song that the pioneers had sang as they came across the plains. there's something unique about this choir that comes across to audiences, and i think it's a combination of things. it's not just the size of the choir. it's not just how well trained they are and well rehearsed and how professional they are. i think it's their sincerity about their message, and when they turn to the audience at the end of any performance or the broadcast to sing "god be with you until we meet again," i see tears in the eyes of the people out there, and i know the stories of the choir members, i know what they're going through in their families, and i know they're really singing from the heart, and that comes across when the audience hears them sing.

throughout 2014 c-span cities tour has featured the history of communities throughout the country with the help of our local cable partners. today we feature the music of several of these cities. ♪ ♪ >> so right now we're at the dug douglass theater, one of the most famous landmarks in macon, georgia. it was a theater that started in the early 1920s by an entrepreneur, and macon's first

african-american millionaire charles douglass and it became a cornerstone to the music industry and to performing african-american artists throughout the south. so charles douglass was an important figure in macon history because he was macon's first african-american millionaire, but he started out with very humble beginnings. he was the son of a former slave who began working as soon as he was old enough to do it. he began working with the florida blossoms minstrel circuit and how to network different venue that is would play or showcase african-american artists, and what that did was it led to the groundwork for the chit ling circuit. he opened this douglass theater as a premiere vaudeville hall in the' 20s. not only did it host great blues performance like ida cox and bessie smith, ma rainy, but it would become an important movie

theater venue for african-american filmmakers. so it became a premiere spot in the entertainment industry, and it made macon an important stop along the way. in fact, the street the douglass theater is on became known as the black broadway of the south, and so the douglass theater and charles douglass himself were just really important in building that network of entertainment and touring possibilities and what's interesting when you get into the later years, into the 1950s, that jazz led to eventually the formation of rhythm and blues, and it was here that some of the premiere soul artists such as james brown and otis redding actually graced this stage. ♪ >> rhythm and blues began getting its start not long after the break of little richard. we call little richard the architect of rock and roll but he really became the inspiration

for african-american artists in macon that if he can make it, maybe they could, too. and it started out as race records as they would call it, those 45s that were newly pressed were known as race records because they couldn't quite put their finger on that sound. ♪ young artists like otis redding would come to local talent shows to perform and try to gain some notoriety. the douglass became a host of probably the most well-known talent show in the area. it was broadcast live on the radio on wibb, and it was here during this talent show that young otis, who is known as rockhouse redding, would win consistently. i mean, nobody could beat him. nobody could outplay him, and one of the listeners on that radio station happened to be my uncle phil walden who would eventually become a business

partner and manager with otis redding. phil heard that early sound of otis that would later make him so famous, that amazing soul that he was able to project. that's something that you could just feel. i mean, it was truly music that you could feel. ♪ for whatever reason, whatever fate may have it here in macon, georgia, these two young guys, a black guy and a white guy in a segregated south were able to look at each other, shake hands, and form this unbelievable partnership that would lead to the commercial success of southern soul music. the douglass theater is just a beautiful example of some of the rich history in architecture in macon. the theater survived through the roaring '20s and the great depression and then through this

interjection of rhythm and blues, but in the '70s it did eventually fall into disrepair, and it was closed down and eventually questionable if it could ever open again. it was severely dilapidated, and in the late '90s with the help of a private businessman and then the city working together, they were able to restore this theater to a lot of its original glory. you know, i still get chills when i see that stage and think about all the people who have walked across it and have performed here. now we actively use it as a community. you can see anything from art house films on the big screen when they bring it down to local talent shows today with some of our rising stars. it's a beautiful piece of history of macon. probably one of my favorite parts of it is if you look at the paintings on the wall, the actual chain stenciling represents the bondage of

slavery, but then in the corners the chains are broken representing that freedom, and, you know, it was here that with rhythm and blues so much happened in that sense of race relations, and with the foresight of charles douglass, such a big thinker, he really paved the way for macon to become a music mecca that it grew into over the years way past his lifetime. >> to learn more about the cities on our 2014 tour and watch videos from historic sites throughout the country, visit cspan.org/localcontent. this is american history tv on c-span3. >> project runway co-host tim gunn hosts a panel of fashion experts to discuss first ladies' fashion choices and how they represented the styles of the times in which they