after this class, remember the song i started with. the battle lines are being drawn. after one of these clashes, one of the guys looks down and he miss we will be , fighting for 40 years. and he's right. the thing that makes this fight for freedom go from just being a call for political rights to something that violence in the streets is the vietnam war. that's what we will talk about next time. thanks guys. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> you are watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on

c-span 3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook. now, a look at highlights of the c-span city store, as we learn about the history of cities and towns across america, in cooperation with our cable partners. to learn more about our stops on our tour, visit c-span.org. ♪ >> we are standing in the main waiting room of union station in omaha, nebraska. it is an art deco building built in 1931. architects wanted to make a

statement about what the railroad was. in his mind, it was things, masculinity, and permanency. that is what he wanted the a building to an body. embody. omaha started out as a frontier town. citizens decided they wanted to found the city on the site of the river. everybody knew there would be a transcontinental railroad, they just didn't know where. they wanted it to come through their so they would have a better chance of having a railroad if they have a city on the opposite side of the river, already established and ready to go. it worked. council bluffs didn't think omaha would it bigger than council bluffs, because that was

an established city. union pacific is one of the premier railroad companies of america. it was founded in 1862 with the pacific railway act, signed into law by abraham lincoln. it combined several railroad companies to make union pacific, and there were charged with building that transcontinental railroad. they started here, moving west, and central pacific started on the west and moved east. they met in omaha. that is what propelled us farther. we became that point of moving west, one of the gateways of the west. to helpility came about

rail travel, all of the passengers coming through omaha. the first station reached capacity. they needed a new modern station. it was a brand-new, art deco building, a different style. the first one was neoclassical. art deco was in vogue in 1931, so they decided to build this new one, and show the nation that omaha had arrived as far as architecture. at the height of rail travel, it was 1946, about 10,000 people per day, 64 trains coming and going. what you would have seen -- people coming and going, and when the silence trains departed. they would have these great times of activity, people running back and forth, and then dead calm, and then it would pick back up again. .hat would have been the norm

we preserve the main floor, the great hall, as it would have been in 1931. the benches are what you would have sat on. the ticket windows, outside of our gift shop, or the original ticket windows. the layout is the same. the artwork, the windows, all of that is original to the building. even the floor. it has really been kept in its original state, and we have restored it to what it would have looked like so that people deur of the gran station. when a passenger would come, they would first stop at the ticket counter and purchased a ticket. then, they would drop their backs off at the baggage counter, or they would have a red cap help them at the curb, just like we have curbside check at the airports today. they would make sure people got where they needed to go as quickly as possible so they were on time. after you purchase your ticket,

you had time usually to enjoy the amenities of the station. union pacific major people had lots to do around here. they had a restaurant, there was a sitdown restaurant with tables, linens, china, and then lunch counter.a ca for people who wanted a sweet treat, they could visit the soda counter. beyond that, there was a , a usohop, hospital canteen that took up pretty much the entire fourth floor, where we have administrative offices today. stands.magazine if you needed to catch a cab somewhere, as a traveler, they

took care of human nature you could get everything you needed at the station. right now, we are on the lower level of union station. where we are standing on this brick area would have been where passengers walked to get on the train. you would have had baggage carts , luggage, passengers running to and from. it would have been really cramped quarters. this is where it all happen to get on track one. 1990's.losed in the that created an exhibit space for us. first, when union station was operating, this overhang nlyld have been your o protection. there were 13 tracks operating out of union station. here on track one, we have three passenger cars. those allow people to walk

through, get an idea of what it was like to travel on the see what, sleeping conditions would have been like, and get an idea of something we don't normally get to experience here in the u.s. very much. we are inside the southern pacific lounge car. this is mid-1950's, the type of car you would have come to to get a cocktail, read the newspaper, have a little bit of recreation while you were traveling on the train. this is an original car, original post early -- apple upholstery. the visitors, the older visitors , sometimes have memories of writing on trains themselves, and can reminisce about that. this is a pullman sleeper car.

there would have been open seating as far as sleeping areas. hs wouldr bert double as sleeping and beds. this fold down and becomes the lower bunk. along withwould come the key, opened it, and pull it down. it would have had a curtain across. some did have restraints like a net so you would not feel like you would fall out. this was a lower price point than others that are more individual rooms. this was also public bathrooms. it would have known one side, women on the other. a little bit of cramped quarters, but it was the way to travel back in the day. this is still in the pullman car, but these are the individual cabins you would have been able to purchase instead of sitting out in the public area. these would have been a little