>> here are some of our featured programs you will find this holiday weekend on the c-span network. tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, from the explorers club apollo 16 astronaut charlie duke, the youngest man to walk on the moon. sunday at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a," resident and ceo of the largest national hispanic civil rights and advocacy group in the united states. on c-span2, tonight at 10:00, meet chuck todd, on president obama's performance. and our three-our conversation with talk show host and author tavis smiley with your calls e-mails, and tweets. and tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3, opening-day remarks by former house speaker's tip o'neill, newt gingrich, then he has to, and nancy pelosi. we will hear from senate majority leader's byrd, howard baker, bob roll, and george --

bob dole and george mitchell. let us know about the programs you are watching. call us, e-mail us, or send us a tweet. join the c-span conversation. like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> all weekend american history tv is featuring austin texas the loans star state's capital and fourth-largest city. hosted by our time warner cable partners, c-span's city tour's staff recently visited sites showcasing austin's history. learn more about austin all weekend here on american history tv. >> the texas state library and archives commission is a state agency that was founded by the state with a very simple but powerful mission, and that is to make sure that texans have the

information that they need to live informed, productive, and fulfilled lives, and we also provide and house the archives of the state of texas, which is the historical record of the state of texas going back to the republic of texas state and even earlier than that. what you will see today is a collection of some of the most iconic and important documents from our collection. the document of texas freedom and the -- that document the struggle for texas freedom. >> today, we are in the lorenzo days of all of -- lorenzo de zavala archive building. this is an original portrait of stephen f austin, considered the father of anglo colonization in texas. we believe this portrait was painted from life before his death in 1836.

this is a very important map that was researched and compiled by stephen f austin. if he and his father knew that texas was to be successful, that they would have to have a good map of the area. he worked with tanner publication -- publishing company in philadelphia to create this map. the earliest one was in 1830. they issued several editions, the last one being in 1836. this is an original imprint of that 1836 map. you will notice that it still has the mexican eagle in the cartouche down here. at this time, even though it is dated 1836, at the time of publication, it was still to -- part of mexico.

this book was actually a publication of the proceedings of the convention of texas at sense of the best -- at san fil elipe de austin. stephen f austin was the president of this convention, and it was a number of the prominent men who met to draw up a list of grievances that they had with the mexican government for a variety of reasons we are not sure about. it was never presented to the mexican government, but one significant thing about it was that the delegation from their -- bear, san antonio, and the delegation from goliad in southeast texas was not present. basically, it was the work of white male colonists, so that is rather significant. the hispanics and tejano'ss were

not represented. this is another of our most iconic documents, a handwritten original copy of the texas declaration of independence. the convention met on march 1 1836, at washington, texas which is now known as washington on the brazos. 59 delegates eventually signed this. there were three hispanics that signed it. one of them was a mexican national lorenzo de zavala, for whom the archives and library building is named. there was also jose francisco ruiz and jose antonio navarro. as we talked about before, stephen f austin and moses austin, his father their hope for texas was to colonize it and

make it a very prosperous place but this was mainly a dream for white colonists who came from the united states and from some european nations. the same promise was not necessarily available to people of other ethnicities. if you were of african descent you have basically no rights. this is a really fascinating document. basically a letter of safe passage. we might call it a passport for emily west, who was a free woman of color from new york who had come to texas before the texas revolution with captain morgan. during the revolution, she was trying to return home to new york and got this letter, which would have allowed her free passage. in the meantime, she was captured by santa ana and detained for a while. a myth grew out of this story

that somehow she was a woman who had distracted santa ana at the battle of san jacinto. there's not much evidence for that but it was a myth that grew out of those infants and was perpetrated later on -- that grew out of those events and was perpetrated later on. it may have been the inspiration for the song "the yellow rose of texas." that is popular lore, anyway. this is an imprint from 1888 of that sheet music, which is mysterious because we do not even know for sure who the composer -- initials j.k. -- is. this is a treaty with some cherokee indians and some other tribes in 1836 -- actually, in very early 1836. signed february 20 three, which is right at the beginning of the siege of the alamo -- signed

february 23, right at the beginning of the siege of the alamo. this was worked on by sam houston, who had always had a very close relationship with the cherokees. the significance of this was that texans wanted to try to be sure that the cherokees and other bands of native americans would be either neutral or on the side of the texan colonists. they did not want them to side with mexico if hostilities arose . so this was something that had been worked on for some months but with war with mexico impending, there was much urgency to get this signed. unfortunately, these -- the stipulations of the treaty were not honored, and the cherokee did not get their lands eventually. the major signatory on here for the indians was killed in 1839

at the battle of natchez in northeast texas, and the rest of the cherokee -- most of them had to cross the border into indian territory, which is now oklahoma, but this contains the signatures or the marks of the indians who participated in it as well and the texans, sam houston and others. so after texas gained its independence in 1836 after the battle of san jacinto, there was some belief that texas would probably be annexed by the united states, but that did not come to pass very quickly, and once it became apparent that texas was not going to be quickly annexed, then texas had to be about the business of establishing relationships with other nations. one of the most obvious ones, of course, was with the united

states. so this treaty from 1838 establishes the boundaries between the united states and texas -- a very important detail . this was when martin van buren was president, and this particular document does not contain the actual terms of the boundary treaty, but it does -- i guess you would call it the document of transmission of that treaty. it includes these beautiful seals, which contain sealing wax from the united states. texas also entered into treaties with other nations. notably, great britain. this one was from 1840 and addresses the suppression of the slave trade. it is actually signed by queen victoria. after the civil war and after

reconstruction, texas experienced a new era of immigration. again, mostly from the united states into texas. this is a broadside railroad map in effect from an organization called the texas colony association. again, it was the new attempt to colonize the vast lands of texas . in an attempt to address many of the issues that should have been corrected by reconstruction -- and this is the constitution that was written in 1875, signed in 1876 -- and interestingly texas still operates under this constitution today, even though it has had hundreds of amendments to make changes to it. we can flip to the signature

page of the document, which contains all of the original signatures from 1876. as you can imagine, these are many of the most prominent men of their day. while this document addressed some issues of inequality, of course, these problems did not go away with equality, enfranchisement. most notably of which was even though men of african descent could theoretically vote women were not allowed to until well until the 20th -- well into the 20th century. this is the memorial to the texas legislature in 1884 by the undersigned committee of colored men -- i guess that is kind of a

predecessor of the black caucus -- and they are asking for redress on several issues that pertain to people of african descent living in texas at the time. this small newsprint leaflet or handbuilt or broadside, as we call it in the archives, was published by the texas equal suffrage association about 1919 in advance of the vote, the upcoming election by texas male voters, of course, about weather women would be given the vote. of course, as we know, eventually, the 19th amendment was ratified, giving all within in the united states the right to vote. you can see this document and many more that we have previewed by visiting the texas state library and archives commission. several of these items -- documents and artifacts -- will be featured in our upcoming exhibit, "texans' struggle for

freedom and equality," which will launch in mid-january. >> throughout the weekend american history tv is featuring austin, texas. learn more about other stops on a span's cities tour at -- on c-span's cities tour at www.c-span.org/localcontent. >> each week, american history tv's "reel america" brings you archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. ♪ >> cuba's fidel castro emerged triumphant after two years of guerrilla warfare. against the batista regime. the revolution began with castro a fugitive, practically alone with 82 followers nearly being wiped out by government forces and ended with the flight of the dictator and the entry of rebel

forces into havana to be acclaimed by the city. the forces of castro's 26th of july movement named for the anniversary of his first attack on the regime in 1953 had grown, vastly empowered by captured and surrendered weapons. nearly two years of hit-and-run warfare aimed at toppling batista's government by paralyzing cuba's economy culminated in victory as 1958 ended. castro led an all-out government offensive counterattack. in the battle for santa clara, he won the crucial victory. batista resigned to prevent more bloodshed and fled the country. his departure touched off wild rejoicing in the capital as the first rebel forces entered havana.

[cheers and applause] at first, the celebration was peaceful as cheering crowds surged through the city. then the temper changed as they targeted the symbols of the overthrown regime and targeted the homes and businesses of batista's cronies. six years of surface prosperity and government corruption caused oppression and led explosive discontent. now batista has fled. a new leader is on the scene, fidel castro. certain to be dominant in cuba's new era, just begun. >> you are watching american

history tv. 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter at c-span history for information on our schedule, upcoming programs, and to keep up with the latest history news. >> this sunday on "q&a," the president and ceo of the national council of morocco, the nation's largest hispanic civil rights and advocacy group on the state of hispanics in america immigration reform, and her compelling personal story. >> i had the great privilege of experiencing the american dream here in this country. born in kansas. you know, my parents actually came to this country in the very early 1950's -- very early 1950's. my parents came from mexico with no money and very little education. i think my dad had an eighth

grade education, my mom a fifth grade education. yet, they believed in the promise of this country. they were seeking better opportunities for their children, so they worked really hard and sacrificed, as so many latinos and hispanics have done in this country, because they wanted that better future for their children and they believed in the promise of this country. they really taught us important values that have then our guide -- have been our guide for our lives, for me and my siblings my six brothers and sisters. they taught us the importance of family faith community, hard work, sacrifice, honesty integrity -- all of those work important values that they shared with us. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's "q&a."

>> watch live coverage of the house on seas and, and the senate on c-span two. have your say as the events unfold. new congress, best access on c-span. >> union forces under general william tecumseh sherman captured savannah, completing the march to the sea campaign that started in atlanta five weeks earlier. todd gross of the georgia historical society talks about the significance of the campaign and how it has been remembered. this is 20 minutes and includes the unveiling of a historical marker. >> good afternoon. i'm bob jepsen, chairman of the georgia historical society and