of the kansas territory, the violence that took place in kansas'early years would come to be known as bleeding kansas, and triggered the war. >> america could not develop further until it resolved the issue one way or another whether slavery were going to expand -- was going to expand or receipt. -- receed. it becomes all out war. >> later, we visit one of the schools in topeka involved in the brown versus board of education case. if there certainly were no supporters of segregation, but the african-american community also was very proud of their schools because these are excellent facilities. the teachers teaching in the classrooms like the one we standing and now, all had that choice degrees. these were the professional jobs

for african-american women in the city of topeka. >> would begin with a trip to the kansas state capitol only the second structure to serve as the capital building. its dome is as tall as that of the u.s. capital. ♪ they started in 1866 after the civil war was over. we became a state generate 29, 1861. we are 154 years old. but they were not able to start on the building because of the civil war. when they did, they built it in

sections. we are laid out like the u.s. capital. they started with the east wing, which has the senate chamber. and then the west wing, the house chamber, and then the supreme court room, and in the north wing, which has the state library and a former secretary of state's office, and finally, the dome. that took 37 years. $3.2 million. it was quite a bit of money at that time but they spread it out over the 37 years. all the money was raised before they built. there was no debt associated with actually building the capital itself. one kansas was about to enter the union, there were an equal number of free and slave states. kansas was going to break the tie. i believe that is where the state motto kind of come some -- comes from. it stands for "to the stars

through the difficult ap or just kind of talking about how kansans are tough and can get you anything. and no matter what happens, they will make it through. we are currently on the second floor of the kansas state capital. this floor has the most famous mural on it, the tragic payroll -- tragic prelude, painted in the late 1930's. when john stuart was painting it he was commissioned to paint the story of kansas. so he started off. it was showing the early days in the first person who described the area now known as kansas. then the buffalo, clearing the way for the railroads. progress. he included covered wagons painted heading west. the covered wagons are painted heading west, representing that

movement. at the time, kansas was the frontier. we were the last civilization before people headed out to california. but again, the main figure is john brown, who towers about 12 feet tall in the painting. he is surrounded by the two sides of the civil war. the north and south and confederate flag and the united states flag. and then there are two dead soldiers that rested his feet, and they represent everyone who died during the civil war. quite a lot of symbolism. there is a gentleman kind of hidden in the background. with a top hat. there is discussion that might have been abraham lincoln. that was on the northern side. but he would not have been president at that time since this was all prior to the civil war. maybe some foreshadowing in there.

and of course, he included a tornado and a prairie fire in the painting as well, which says he represented the death and destruction associated with war the coming storms of war, and also the natural disasters we face in our state. there is just a lot of symbolism in there. when you look off to the side, he includes our state bird. it little bird and prairie seem to the left as you are looking straight ahead to the tragedy going on in front of you. some people say he was a martyr and some say he was a terrorist. here he is, our famous painting, and people can comment it is art . people can interpret it how you would like. the state library is in the north wing again. that was the last place completed in the capital building.

at the time, it was about 1900. the state librarian at that time, the first female state librarian, and she had a lot of contributions to the way the library turned out. she wanted it to be a big open space. they chose stenciling to welcome people. when you look up, there is pineapple stencil. the pineapple is a symbol of welcome. there are also faces with feather headdress is on. then there are bird faces on the side of the wall. she is credited -- she was a populist. kansas is really the only state that had populism. we had a couple of populist governors and big figures involved in the populist movement but she reminded them the workers, that when they were designing the library, though the bookshelves were empty at that time, they are at some

point would be holding a lot of books. they reinforce to the floor in that wing knowing there would be book salon those shelves. there is a glass floor. at that time, a lot of libraries had glass floors to let natural light filter into the building. when people got electricity, they a lot of times got rid of those. we luckily kept ours. the glass itself goes around the bookcases so you can see in between. we also have two original book lists the librarians can still use today to lift the books up and down from the first to second floor it also, when in the capital, we have the dome tour where you can climb and go to the top of the building. we are taller than the nation's capital by about 18 feet and are one of the few capitals, maybe the only one, there are a few capitals that can go to a we

consider our seven floor, but matt many go to the very top. -- not many go to the very top. we go to the balcony and you can see about 40 miles, it is a beautiful view number matter what the season. we tell people to go up -- several times a year. spring, winter, and fall, it is very fun to look there. it is very crisp and clear. it is open to the public and it is beautiful. when you come into the rotunda, you look up and see the beautiful glass dome surrounded by all the copper. you look up any thank you are looking all the way to the top but you are not. there is another 75 feet of space above that. it is a great tour. we stop and we tell people it is a fun event. if you are scared, we do not make you go all the way to the top.

with our recent renovations, we were able to add on quite a bit of space at the ground level. the historic society was given a basically nice visitor center area with exhibit space. on permanent exhibit, we have john brown, which a lot of people of to look at his sword. we do not know if we -- if he used it for anything except that he did carry it with him and it is on display here. we also have the original constitution. the first page of the kansas constitution that made us a state is housed here in this building. it is quite a wonderful original article. it is here and kids can see it and adults can see it. it is on display. some kids cannot read it now because it is in cursive, but we try to share it with everyone. it is housed basically in the center of the building on the

ground level. if we were looking up, we would see into the dome where that is. when you're at the top of -- the top of the capital, and you can go out on the balcony and look and see for about 40 miles if you lean back on one of the four corners of the balcony, you can see added, who is a kansan indian word here -- warrior. he is a bronze statue and i guess even though i mentioned earlier that it took us seven -- 37 years to complete our capital, some people might say it was not completed until 2002 because that is the year we put that on top of the building. there were always notes that there should be a statue on top of the building, and, for a while, the goddess of agriculture