eston. it created the wealth for the city and the wealth for the state of texas. oil was really a 20th-century activity. industry. of course, it is closely tied to texas today. galveston is more closely tied to what occurs offshore. those platforms are brought into galveston today to be repaired and cleaned and taken back out. but there is not a lot of immediate drilling around here. it is a working port to support the industry offshore. immigration into galveston is one of the overlooked stories of texas history and american history is that without this port and its availability for 150 years, we would not have had settlement in the united states and certainly in texas. early i'm talking about pre-civil war 1830's, 1840's,

you had europeans, mainly germans coming into the port of galveston and as a group settling a different parts of the state of texas. if you had been here in the 1850's german was the most common language spoken in galveston. on the streets, that is what people were talking in. we have a number of groups -- you can see in galveston today if you go to the garden, you can see what became the center for german entertainment and social life. you can go to st. joseph church the first german catholic church in texas. you can see where they worshiped and where they were educated and how they spent their lives in galveston. but the height of immigration with the late 19th century and early 20th. and it continued up to 1954 when it was no longer a point of interest for immigrants. but the story of that is the back-and-forth between the state of texas managing immigration

and eventually the federal government doing immigration. but it became a place where there want -- they wanted to push immigrants away from the northeast and bring them into the central part of the country. in the early 20th century, there were something called the galveston, a formal program to bring jewish immigrants to this part of the country. that movement continued for a while and was vve successful -- -- was very successful. it brought development to communities in texas but all the way up into kansas. the interesting thing about immigration here is that it wasn't they pulled a botat and everyone jumped off. immigration was heavily regulated and created about a number of things in the nation's history. so in the late 19th century,

immigration was heavily inspected. you might arrive on a ship. you travel for months and you travel with the family or by yourself. you land here and look at the barrier island, pretty flat, almost no trees. you must've thought, oh, my gosh. what is this place going to be? then you would go through a health inspection. if you did not pass for some reason, and the reluctant ways you could fail, you would be sent to a quarantine station perhaps and you would be -- you'd stay there -- or be returned to where you came from. and there's a lot of process involved and there was a lot of angst and points of being carefully checked if you cmaame in for health reasons as well as the ability to earn a wage and your ability to bring something to this new place you are landing. today we forget there is this

connection to how we developed in the country and in the state of texas, in particular. we think of it as being a 20th century state and area with large cities in land. but if not for the gulf coast this transportation and the viability of bringing in ships we would not exist. in galveston you have to think about it as being the point of creation in texas for what we see as a modern state. announcer: all weekend, american history tv is featuring galveston, texas. the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery and the united dates originated in galveston. on june 19, 1867, major general gordon granger and union soldiers landed at galveston with news the civil war was over and slaves were free. our comcast cable partners worked with c-span cities tour

staff when we travel to galveston to explore the city's history. learn more about galveston all weekend on american history tv. ♪ [klaxon sounds] announcer: in 1917, the submarine force was battling public opinion as well as the enemy. both submarines were -- but war under the sea was unfair and inhuman. if we paid much attention to these protests, we would not have had that tough s boat and the long-range fleet that made up our small submarine force in 1941. when all the training of 25 useful years was suddenly put to the test. [explosion]

a small submarine force based in pearl harbor was not attacked. inand it soon had the japanese wishing they had been more thorough. host: cavalla is a world war ii summary gato class. she was built in 1943 in commissioned in 1944. she served gallantly. and one of for claims to fame is she sank the japanese carrier which was one of the aircraft carriers involved in pearl harbor attacks. then she went on to think fou -- to sink four other enemy vessels. in 1944, after the cease-fire, she was put in a decommissioned status and standby. in 1963 she was turned into a

submarine hunter-killer. the navy converted her into a platform that -- whose primary mission was to look for other summaries. they had to add sonar equipment. you can see the deck is falt. -- is flat. a lot of people are taken by that. but the original configuration of the sub is not what it was during the war. she had a different sail that surrounded the tower that had machine guns and bigger guns 3 to 5 inch guns that was used for making service attacks. this boat primarily ran on the surface. if you submerged this vessel after a full battery charge which takes about six to eight hours. and then you went underwater with a well-trained crew could submerge this boat in under a minute. you would only last about 45 minutes. ♪

[explosion] announcer: they sank 1178 japanese merchant ships, 214 japanese combat vessels, 2/3 of their merchant fleet, 1/3 of their navy. [explosion] host: we are in the forward reporter -- torpedo room on the cavalla. you will see a couple of torpedo tubes. two down below in the deck. two on top. originally she had six torpedo tubes. after the reconfiguration to make this vessel a hunter, they had to remove the top two tubes so they can install on the exterior of that bulkhead, more sonar equipment to make it one that is capable of -- going

further distances. one of the interesting facts about submarine life is that the crew would often compete who could reload ultrapetrol faster. ba0---- reload a torpedo faster. the had black and tackle. nowadays we have hydraulics. the guy had to be pretty strong to move these torpedoes. behind me is the primary weapon used in world war ii. it is not live. the marc 14. 21 feet long and weighs 2500 pounds loaded. it has two speeds. at slow speed, it will go 36 knots for a distance of four miles. on high speed settings, she will go 51 knots for a distance of two miles. steam driven.

she in this version is a contact or peter which means she has to get the enemy to drive a pin in the precharge and into the main charge. >> hundreds of men apply yearly for training. they are drawn by the camaraderie. they are screened three times. first for physical fitness, including 2020 vision. then for intelligence and fast reaction time. the lives of 80 men may depend on the quick closing of a hatch. there's no room for a mistake. the fthird screening is by navy psychologist for social adaptability. the easy going, ,steady sailor fits best into the crowded conditions peculiar to submarine operations. host: usually the biggest thing i hear from people is that the sumbarbmarines, they cannot work on them because they are so tight. 97 out of 100 sailors cannot do

this job for one reason or another. some people can be here in these tight quarters and does not bother them. some people it bothers a lot. most people it does. it is more than claustrophobia. there are a lot of technical details that at some point you have to learn all the details from stem to stern. you go before boards and make quiz you do you know this system? and then you have a final signoff. ok, now was in officers country, what is considered officers country. to my right is the pantry, which is where the officers' food was served up on nice place with the captain and his men. they were served in here, the ward room where the captain and his men ate, did war strategy, and any socializing the officers have done because they would keep to themselves and not socialize with the crew.

but also, i will point out the hole in the wall between the pantry and the ward room. i like to ask people, what is that hole for? a lot of people say it is for passing food. which is not the case. what it was back in the 1940's television had not been invented or was extremely rare. the officers would have a realtor real projector from the pantry side -- a reel to reel projector. they will have a movie screen. the officers would watch the old reel to reel type movies. here you have the captain's quarters. this is as good as it got. this is where the best accommodations were. the foot of the captain's bed he has indications of the position of the ship, the gyro reprieved orpeater. he could wake up at any time and knkow which way the -- know which way the boat is going.

he would already know what it should be doing because he had left orders. we are still in the after battery compartment. when i say compartment from watertight door to watertight door. this part is called the crews quarters. this is where the crews would sleep. oftentimes they would share the same bunk. one guy would get up and go to work. the other guy would get back in it. water was a huge premium because the water you made was primarily used for batteries. you got to take a bath every week or 10 days. the guy stinks as bad as you. announcer: each man must acquire a working knowledge of each department of the submarine. the men study communications and engineering classes they become familiar with both the diesel and the battery propulsion systems. they learn to load and fire

torpedoes. they studied damage control and how to save a crippled ship. they learn how to dive their summaries, to take her donw iwn in less than a minute. host: here we have the control of what you see various panels for systems. i am looking at an electrical panel, the old style breakeres. you have power supplies to the right of that. here you will see a power supply, which the navy uses on their vessels, gyro compass is as opposed to magnetic compasses. gyro compass always gives you turerue north. a magnetic compass will give you magnetic north. you would have to use various competition -- competitions to make sure you got to true no rth. plus all the metal would have an adverse effect. here you see the controls. two wheels control the the stern and bow planes which give the

submarine angle to go up and down. to my right, you will see a bunch of handles that opera close -- open or close valves or open and close tanks which you can flood. empty the tanks to put more weight on the sub. the way we get the water out is close out the -- introduce high pressure air and it blows out of the bottom. a summary is two -- the submarine is towwo hulls. between the two hulls are tanks that you flood or de-flood to give you that balance affect. visitors that come to our park and check out the cavalla, i hope they walk away with a sense of sacrifice these men make everyday. they are still out there today

serving our country, but the conditions they face is something that most people have never seen or experienced. announcer: all weekend american history tv is featuring galveston, texas. established by the proclamation issued by the mexican congress the port of galveston is the oldest in the gulf of mexico west of new orleans. our comcast cable partners, the c-span cities tour staff recently visited many sites. learn more about galveston all weekend here on american history tv. announcer: our collecting policy is collecting anything related to galveston from its founding in the 1830's to the present as well as documents relating to the history of the early republic of texas up to the civil war. most of our patrons come in looking for genealogy information.

galveston was a port of entry for immigrants. so so there is a lot of genealogist coming here looking for information on their ancestors. the first thing i want to show you is our oldest map in the collection a map done by jean baptiste benard de la harpe in 1721. it is the earliest known rendering of galveston harbor and bay. the reason i wanted to show it is a lot of historians were unaware that this was a drawing of galveston and the harbor. they thought it was done of another bay. so they have not acknowledged it as a drawing of galveston, but it is the earliest known rendering of the island, the harbor, and the natural bay.

some of the other items we are going to look at today are documents from the collections of some of the founders of galveston. again, they are the earliest collections we have here in the history center. we'll head out to the reading room and take a look at the documents out there. the city began in 1837 after "q&a texas won -- after texas won its independence from mexico. since galveston was already a major port, they wanted to start a city here. so a group of men were entrusted with the task of setting up basically a city on the island. the next document is actually from the james morgan papers. it was also an early founder of galveston. it actually lists the original stockholders of the galveston city company. here you can see mckinney and

williams who actually were in partnership together and had their own business. mckinney and williams were actually businessman and they were cotton traders. and they really wanted to establish themselves as the primary route for cotton growers in texas to transport their cotton out of the republic of texas. they pretty much wanted to have be the primary transporters of that. so, they are businessman merchants, primarily. the next letter we are going to look at is a letter written from andrew jackson to sam houston. andrew jackson at this point is in retirement at the hermitage in tennessee. and sam houston is president of texas. it's written in january 1844. sam houston knew andrew jackson

from his time back east. he had served under andrew jackson in the military. he was involved in politics in tennessee. and so, he and andrew jackson's knew each other from before houston' time in texas. circumstances pushed houston to texas. he became involved in the effor ts here to gain independence and the push for annexation and joining the united states. that issue had gone back and forth between prior president of texas and u.s. presidents. both sides at one point or another refusing. there were issues going on annexing a state that accepted slavery was an issue.

great britain getting involved. sparing the united states to an- -- spurring the united states to annex texas. in 1884 it became a major issue any gets revisited. so andrew jackson writes to his friend sam houston basically saying that it would really benefit the future prosperity of texas and the united states for this to happen. he ends the letter saying, "god bless you. is the prayer of your friend, andrew jackson." the 1900 storm for galveston is a major event in the island's history. there's been a lot written about it and said about it, but it

lingers today. so, it is still very much a part of galvestonians history and lives today. this letter is a recent acquisition, and it's from francis lister, who was a railroad agent. it is written to his two sons. "dear boys." it is a letter basically describing what happened to him and his family during the storm. it goes into great detail about the water rising and the wind picking up and what happened to them through the night of september 8. it's basically letting the boys knoew tw they are ok. he had already sent them telegraph's, but i guess he wanted to go into detail and let them know what happened. it is very poignant.

the detail is very descriptive and really gives you a good idea of the horrors these people suffered. just to give you an idea of how horrible the night was we can read about the water rising and houses being moved off their foundations, but mr. lister in his letter writes that he needed to send his wife and daughter off the island because he was afraid of the disease, and he was afraid of an epidemic. ehhhe writes, "will send mama and emma to palestine. the town witll be visited by an epidemic. they are so terribly shocked that they must be taken away from here." that gives you idea of the trauma so may suffer during a hurricane.

host: the rosenberg library is unique in that it has not only in archive and of the collection but also a museum. we have approximately 8000 objects in the collection, including artwork, textiles, weaponry glass all sorts of wonderful things. well recently, the smithsonian portrait gallery had an exhibit on the war of 1812 and borrowed this wonderful portrait of jeane la feete who had a base in galveston after the war of 1812. he came here about 1815. relations between la fete and the u.s. government soured. he and his brother pierre were hired on as informants for spain, which at the time, mexico was trying to gain independence from spain. so, he used galveston as a base of operations for not only the sort of spying but also his

privateering endeavors as well. it's a unique piece. the provenance is interesting. a local family was building a mansion on broadway. and when they tore down the old house and were laying the foundation for the new one, they discovered a number of confederate artifacts and this painting rolled up in a tent. the family took this as possible jean lea fete painting. in the 1970's, the piece was donated to the library. however, it was speculation that led early foflslks to believe this was jean la fete. it has really caught fire, much like all the history with la fete there is a lot of mythology that is difficult to disentangle from fact.

a few experts have taken a look at this portrait an and concluded it is most likely not la fete for a number of reasons, including the cost and he's wearing. the hat looks like it belongs more in the 1600's rathern than the 1800's. the lack of an undershirt, very central for an early 19th century proper portrait. notice the way he's holding a dagger. that would be -- the dagger would be facing down. so this is a very foreboding man. he is going to stab you in the back when you in the back when you're not looking or stab from up above. some folks have speculated that it might just be a fanciful victorian interpretation of la fete. and another idea is that it might be the famed actor edwin booth, brother of john wilkes

booth who came to galveston a few times. well the next object i would like to show you is really fascinating and it ties in withh the revolutionary period in galveston and texas history. these are a. dueling pistols that belonged -- a pair of dueling pistols that belonged to general sam houston. very ornate. they were never used for duels but a wonderful piece. they were given to sam houston by his friends in cincinnati. at the time of the revolution. many in ohio, and especially cincinnati, supported the cause of texas independence. those who chose to came down to fight. and the remaining people raised funds to send canons here. two of them called the twin

sisters came and were involved in the decisive battle of san jacinto whic sch saw the texans win independence from mexico. this inscription says " general sam houston from your cincy frie nds, 1836." host: what i would like for people to take away when they visit is a piece of history. so many people, or with a connection to galveston looking for a piece of family history or a connection. we play a very important role for galveston. we are the keeper of the history here. announcer: all weekend, american history tv is featuring the city of galveston, texas. two miles off shore on galveston island. posted by our comcast cable partners, c-span city tour staff recently visited many sites showcasing the city's

history. learn more about galveston all weekend here on american history tv. ♪ [bagpipes playing] announcer: with the explosion and the growing price of cotton and some of these other commodities, galveston became an extremely wealthy city. the only way that wealth could leave here was on the decks of sailing ships. el,isissa has a vital role in telling the economic story of galveston. [birds cawing] >> take it down!

>> aye! [men shouting orders] host: elissa was built in aberdeen scotland. she is classified as a barc. three masts. she carries a sail. she was a merchant ship. she was part of a vast british conglomerate of sailing vessels that sailed around the world. she was a tramp sailor. she was the equivalent of about a ups truck or fedex. she was not a big 18 wheeler. there were a lot of ships larger. her niche was to go into

undeveloped potsrts ports without a lot of water depth. she could offload her cargo and load a new cargo. sthat's how she made a living. [men barking orders] host: with the opening of the suez canal in 1869, sailing ships were dealt a death blow. with that opening of the canal coal-fired ships had a shorter route to the far east, to india. so sailing ships really needed to find a way to make their own living. so instead of high-value cargo they started carrying lower value cargo, coal, oil cotton, etc. so elissa found her niche in carrying any kind of cargo that did not require getting to market at a very fast pace.

[engine roaring] elissa's connection to galveston is unique is that she arrived in galveston 100 yards from where we are standing now back in 199883 with a cargo full of bananas. she came later on in the 1880's, 1886. it was really important for the galveston historical foundation to find a vessel that had a connection. the fact she was a sailing vessel was all the more important. [men barking orders] >> take it up. that is a terrible habit. we ease slack into the gear when they want it from aloft -- host: in the 1970's elissa fell on hard times. she had been at sea for 100 years.

she had one of the longest careers as a merchant vessel. galveston historical foundation were made aware of elissa's plight and the gears were put into motion to purchase the ship. she was purchased and brought to galveston in 1979 and the complete restoration of the ship began. she is involved with crew sail trianiaining. we have adult seamanship traini ng. was the year she is allowed into the gulf of mexico for day sails. our volunteers learning how to sail the ship on a real one to one basis. it is one thing reading about sailing these ships, but to climb the rigging and feel the ship move while sailing is a unique opportunity and one available to people that join our volunteer program at texas seaport museum. announcer: all weekend long,

american history tv is featuring galveston, texas. in 1900, a category four hurricane devastating the city killing 6000 people. it;'s remembered today as one of the worst hurricanes in american history. together with our comcast cable partners, c-span's city tour staff visited many sites exploring galveston's rich history. learn more about galveston all weekend here on american history tv. ♪

host: the emancipation proclamation, it was signed into law of september 1862 to go in effect january 1 1863, but the word, the enforcement of the emancipation proclamation did not go into effect here in the south until 2 1/2 years after the effective date. african-american slaves couclld not read. it was against the law for them to be able to read. i do not think that you about it. the union troops arrived in galveston on june 18 1865.

it was 2,000 union soldiers along with a ranger. some of the slaves, once they heard the referee, were jubilant. others were depressed because they had never been on their own. they did not have a place to go. they did not have any money to purchase anything. so a a lot of slaves stayed at first baptist church, which was established in 1840. we're at ashton villa, which was the first brick mansion constructed on galveston island. it was constructed in 1859. this place also served as the residence for the confederate army. and then later joan gordon granger's residence when he arrivedon on june 18. 1865.

we have been having a celebration at ashton villa for 36 years. and it coincided with the state of texas holiday. the texas state holiday occurred by an african-american representative by the name of al edwards of houston, texas. he remembered as the kid growing up the celebration of june -- so he introduced a law making that a paid holiday. there were only 8 african-american legislators black legislators in the legislature. and this bill passed. and it was signed into law. and it went into effect june 13, 1979. it was mainly here in the south

where the celebration was you had major celebrations. today, you have big celebrations in milwaukee, los angeles, washington d.c., new york, san antonio. there are a lot over 40 states. and at least five foreign countries that even celebrate the june teenth emancipation day. this date is very important because it showed that even though texas is a southern state, it had compassion for the african-american struggle of slavery. announcer: throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring galveston, texas. our cities tour staff recently

traveled there to learn about its history. learn more about galveston at c-span.org/cities tour. you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and the senate on c-span 2 on c-span3 we come from it that coverage by showing you the congressional hearings and public affairs event. -- comp womanwe that coverage. on weekends, c-span 3 is home to american history tv. the civil war's 150th anniversary, visiting battlefields. american artifacts, touring historic sites to discover what artifacts reveal about america's past. history bookshelf, with the best-known american history writers. the presidency, looking at the policies and legacies of our nations commanders in chief. lectures in history with top college professors delving into america's past.

and our new series real america featuring archival educational films from the 19 30's through the 1970's era c-span 3 created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us on hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. announcer: monday night on the communicators, rocco commisso founder and ceo of mediacom on the challenges facing media companies and the follow-up from the latest fcc decision affecting the internet. mr. commisso: this will increase the rates to consumers. why's that? if they are going to impose on us regulatory fees, additional rental fees, taxes at the local level, i think utilities regulatory utilities in the states we operate are going to get into the act. i have not found one government that does not want to raise more money.

it is going to give an opportunity to raise more money. announcer: monday night on "the communicators" on c-span 2. join american history tv next saturday and sunday, march 14 and 15, for live coverage of a conference focusing on the closing weeks of the civil war in 1 865. topics include the battle of sailor's creek and the surrender and legacy of appomattox. live next saturday and sunday, march 14 and 15, at longwood university in virginia on american history tv on c-span 3. announcer: each week american history's reel america brings you films that tell the story of the 20th century. on bloody sunday, march 7, 1955, 600 civil rights activists were attacked with clubs in selma alabama. images of the members of the voting rights movement gained attention around the world. 8 days later on march 15

president lyndon johnson spoke to a joint session of congress asking for the introduction and passage of a voting rights la appealing for equal rights for all americansw and. now here is president johnson's entire 48 minute speech. president johnson: -- man: mr. speaker the president of the united states. [applause]

[applause continues] [gavel pounds] president johnson: members of the congress i have the great pleasure the highest privilege and the distinguished and i might also say personal honor of

presenting to you the president of the united states. [applause] [gavel pounds] president johnson: mr. speaker mr. president, members of the congress, i speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy. i urge every member of both parties, americans of all

religions, and of all colors from every section of this country to join me in that cause. at times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. so it was at length into an -- lexington and concord a century ago at appomattox, so it was last week in selma, alabama. there long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denail oial of their rights as americans. many were brutally assaulted.

one good man, a man of god was killed. there is no cause for pride in what has happened in selma. there is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long de nial of equal rights of millions of americans. but there is cause for hope and for faith in our democracy in what is happening here tonight. for the cries of pain and the hymns and protest of oppressed people have summoned into convocation all the majesty of this great government the government of the greatest nation on earth. our mission is at once the

oldest and the most basic of this country -- to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man. in our time we have come to live with the moments of great crisis. our lives have been marked with debate about great issues issues of war and peace issues of prosperity and depression. but rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of america itself. rarely are we met with the challenge not otto our growth, our abundance, our welfare, or our security, but rather to the values and the purposes of and the meeting of our beloved nation.

the issue of equal rights for american negroes is such an issue. and should we defeat every enemy and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars and still be unequal to this issue then we will have failed as a people and as a nation. for, with a country as with a person, what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? [applause] there is no