house. although american forces lost the courthouse during the fighting, it led to the eventual surrender at yorktown by john -- general george cornwallis. the -- learn more about greensboro all weekend here on american history tv. >> the international civil rights center and museum opened in greensboro february 1 2010. . museum tells the story of the sit-ins that happened in the city that launch aid wave of sit-ins across the south the >> what happened here in 1960, february 1, four young men from north carolina n.c. state university chose that day to make a stand, really to take a seat so that the rest of us

would be able to do that. so they took a stand against jim crow, against segregation, against whites-only access to public accommodations and to being seen as a first-class citizen. they came here to this woolworth building and this lunch counter to sit down and be treated like a first-class citizen and be served against their policies and practices. this is the actual lunch counter area that's been preserved. some seats have been taken out in other areas that are at thing smithsonian and other musics. the four young men that sat in here have talked to us about around where they sat, so a lot of the things you will see here are the actual advertisements around the different menu items they offered and the prices. these four were franklin mccain ezell blair joseph mcneal, and david richmond.

they were freshmen at north carolina a & c, a historically black university here. they came to the store, sat at the lunch counter and asked to order i believe some coffee and a piece of pie. the responses with really mixed. "you boys go on from here," i think another waitress was saying "we don't serve colored people here." the word spread quickly the next day that this was going to be ongoing and that other people were wanting to get involved. other adults were showing up, there were other students that said we want to be part of this. students from bennett college and what is noy unc greensboro but was at the time women's college. other students who wanted to get involved and stand behind this brave, courageous step. they weighed the consequences.

they talked about being afraid but they also talked about what i would say that courage many is not the lack of fear, it's doing what is right in the face of fear. it's the way they decided to finally come here and take the step that day. so they talked about the community, talked about law enforcement, they talked about the police, what would be their reaction. they talked about the dangers, the consequences, their futures. they had been advised, counsel siled, eastern courged, trained about what was going to be -- to happen to them here. they would go through sort of mork experiences where people are going to be calling you names, spitting on you. people may throw food on you those kind of things. people may be chanting, getting in your face, there may be some physical experience you may have with someone. so there were mixed reactions in greensboro fought sit-in. a lot of people felt like this is just the way things are and up keep the peace, you just accept that that's the way things are.

i think other people feel like this isn't right so there were mixed reactiones to this. there are some people white and black, that encouraged and said it's about time and lent their support. other people said you're just starting trouble, this isn't good, it's just going to create more sfention -- tension around here so there were mixed reactions to that. i think there were around the country. so the sit-ins sort of sparked this dialogue and discussion and frustrate -- frustration about what it is that we're going to do? there were requests made that while we're in negotiations if we could just not have the demonstrations. i think the negotiations went on for some time and all parties agreed that that he would not participate in the demonstrations atd that point and then the decision was made to desegregate the lunch counter. cuns you set a precedent like

that it gets tos -- to be used as leverage to change people's minds and practices. those thinds are catalysts to saturday -- start that domino effect of equality and justice. the fact that this happened in greensboro gives us an incredible immediate sense of how to interpret and understand what we're going through today. to be able to come to this museum to go on the tour, to look at the differ exhibits, to hear the re-enactments, to be able to see the photographs ans to have an incredibly personal experience, a very compelling, pro vovegtive -- provocative experience here gives us the courage to say what must we do going snard i think this place provides the contextual information to understand why do we have racial inhe canityies today? why do we have achievement

gaps? why do we have overrepresentation in our criminal justice and juvenile justice systems? so we have this place right here where we can put our hands on it and we can come and be not only in that physical place but in that interpretive space. the actions that those young men took on that day and the fact that we were able to memorize that here in this museum -- museum gives us an opportunity to ask ourselves, what is my lunch counter issue? what would i be demonstrating? or if those young men were here today, what we -- would they say societally needs to be addressed and what would be the strategy for that? >> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring greensboro, north carolina. our cities tour staff recently traveled there to learn about its rich history. learn more at

c-span.org/citiestour the you are watching american history tv. all weekend every weekend on c-span 3. each week, american history tv's reel america brings archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. >> this is the night that hollywood holds the world's spotlight. the annual academy awards. the bestowing of the coveted oscars has a glittering assembly on hand to hear audrey hepburn announce the best actor. rex harrison reeves hit -- his statuet for "my fair lady." it's a popular choice at the crowd. next hear sidney poitier name the best actress. >> julie andrews. >> she played opposite rex

harrison in a stage version of "my fair lady." passed over for the movie role, she played mary poppins and parlayed the portrayal of that bouncy gov eastern essinto tonight's truive. one said hollywood is handing out foreign aid. both winners shall british. >> this is lovely. i know you americans are famous for your hospitality but this is really rid i can lurs. >> in a year of many outstanding movies it was a chore to pick the winners. the night was a huge success. >> the political landscape has changed with the 114th congress. not only are there 43 new republicans and 15 new democrats in the house and 12 new republicans and one new democrat in the senate, there's also 108 women in congress including the first african-american republican in the house and the first woman veteran in the senate. keep track of the members using

congressional chronicle on c-span.org. lots of useful information there, including voting statistics on each member of congress. >> each week american history tv sits in on a lecture with one of the nation's college professors. you can watch the classes here every saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern. next, iowa state university professor sara marcketti talked about the creation of the fashion originators guild of america in the 1930's. despite its popularity, the guild faced backlash from merchants and in the 1940s faced federal sanctions for monopolistic practices. the fashion originators gu