he also wrote music. this piece here is one of his earliest pieces of sheet music you can see here at the top it says tom the blind negro boy pianist, only 10 years old. we have an image of him here, depicting him. he was most often photographed and drawn with his aunt's close. tom continued to tour not only through the nation but internationally. even after the civil war when he was officially no longer a slave. however, through a series of convoluted legal dealings, members of his initial owning family continue to act as his manager and legal guardian. that one point, his mother even signed over legal guardianship with the promise of receiving some of tom's earnings. however, when she realized that

this was not the case, she left new york city where tom and his owner manager reliving and return to columbus on her own. this is another piece of music authored by blind tom. this piece is called the battle of manassas, and this peaks -- this speaks to tom's ability to re-create elves that he heard. >> ♪ >> the battle of manassas was one of the first battles of the civil war. people who heard this piece performed at had been on the battlefield said it was a more shocking how accurately tom was able to use the sounds of the piano to mimic sounds that will be heard on a typical battlefield.

this document is very typical of the concert programs you would have received if you attended a blinded tom concert. you see here songs, sketch of the life of blind tom, here in image of the adult tom, again, you see him depicted with his eyes closed, inside there is an account of tom's life. on the back is a typical concert program. tom wiggins received a claim across the world. by some accounts he was the highest grossing musical artist of the entire 19th century. unfortunately, because of his race, and because of his disabilities, he never saw a sense of that money.

that one point, a newspaper article in the new york times reported that tom had only the clothes on his back and won silver flute, which had been presented to him as a gift by one of his flute teachers in new york city. towards the end of his life, he had to stop performing after suffering a series of strokes. there are many different stories about his death and what exactly happened. the most commonly accepted version is that he passed away in hoboken, new jersey in 1908. there are two grave sites associated with tom, one in hoboken, and one your -- one near his original birth pace -- birthplace in columbus. we hope the visitors come away with a greater appreciation for the rich history and heritage and culture that columbus has had throughout his life. economically, socially culturally, and so many different facets. we want our local residents to

really take pride in where they are living and appreciate what has come from here and made an impact on the world stage. we hope the visitors from out of town begin to recognize such as columbus's rich history when they are here, but also when they return home and they go about their daily lives, they may see something that reminds them of a person, place, business product that came from columbus and how it and enriches their own daily lives. >> monday night on the communicators, we met up with wired magazine reporter tim moynahan at the consumer electronics show, who gave us a two or -- a tour. >> led refers to the backlight system. it uses led backlights to color

liquid crystal displays and in this one is actually using the individual ole db particles as a source of light. they can be turned on and turned off independently. with an led sets, you will always take sums are of light seeping through there. to my eyes this is pretty amazing, right? these the two big buzzwords of this year's show and have been for a few years or it the holy grail of tvs. >> monday night at 8:00 eastern on the communicators on "c-span2." >> and we are back live of ford's theater in washington, d.c. where all day today we have been covering a symposium looking at president abraham lincoln's life and legacy. force theater is the site where president lincoln was

assassinated nearly 150 years ago. for theater and ever have lincoln institute cohosted the days events. -- the abraham lincoln institute cohosted the days events. >> on the night of april 11 1855, a large crowd gathered outside of the north portico of the white house come of it come the president speak, and now with the war although one, is with the words northerners most wanted to hear and southerners most needed to hear. he spoke of black voting rights he spoke of reconciliation tolerance, and moderation towards fallen foes. it was not the best speech he had ever made, far from it. it stated outright that it fell dead with out effect on the audience. but given the time to make ease

of his words, it might have been more far reaching. tragically, he was not to be granted that time. as has been noted, there was one in the audience that night he would use lincoln's words as the catalyst for one of the most heinous and disruptive acts -- destructive acts in our nations history. from childhood we are taught that to know john wilkes booth is to hate him. he is universally vilified, dismissed as a madman, demonized as the embodiment of consummate evil. and yet few of us know very much about him other than the fact that he is a handsome and popular member of the nations leading thespian family until he jumped the track. his own brother described him as a goodhearted, harmless, the wild readable way. -- though wild brained boy. what has been lacking is a

complete defensible and highly readable biography of booth until now. after spending a quarter century in the most painstaking research dr. terry alford has written fortunes fool, a book that i believe along defined subject -- will longer to find the subject for scholar and layman alike. the story was shot as a documentary by pbs, attracting more than 3 million viewers. dr. alford has appeared on such terms as "20/20," but it is as a teacher that he shines the brightest. since 1872, dr. alford has been at a community college.

he was one of only a handful of teachers to receive the outstanding faculty awards. the highest honor bestowed upon educators by the commonwealth of virginia. here are just a few of the online comments by nearly 300 of his former students. if you don't like this guy, you have to be a more on. -- a moron. [laughter] quote -- he is the best professor i've ever had. i mean, the guy wrote his own book. quote -- i hate history. all caps five exclamation

points. you made it so interesting. who would have guessed history could be fun? quote -- god of history. i'm impressed. quote -- this class is really helpful and it liked it so much. no papers, no homework, no stress. the final paper is so easy. i got a low grade in this class. [laughter] but i believe you will do a really good job. quote -- the funniest old guy i have ever met. [laughter] i had such a good time finding these. quote -- ah, as you can see there is over like what, 200 comments on this prof. he is so normal. he