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studying history. your research is looking at women on the margins. why? it has been interesting for a while, capturing the voices of women who -- you know, their voices have been lost. hidden in the cracks of u.s. history. i really wanted to excavate their stories. i wanted to help us better understand african-american history, the black freedom , the communist party. i won it to look at women most people had never heard of. paper -- what did you learn? ms. blain: so, that paper i shared based on the life of a

woman -- i spoke about her. she is a working-class white woman from detroit. i spoke about the way she engaged in this concept of lacking to nationalism. forging alliances with asian activists in particular. part of it -- this particular panel were trying to think about ways these actors who we talk about working-class black women or working for black women, can be thought of as key political shapers of the 20th century. steve: these are people who would not come to mind if you talk about this time or the civil rights movement. ms. blain: right. steve: how do you find out about them? where do you go? ms. blain: a lot of digging to

be sure. got inf these activists trouble for their ideas. i had to go through fbi records, for example to find more information. or they would write letters to each other area i would go through different archives to find them. articlesctually wrote for the detroit independent tribune. i had to go through that newspaper. steve: and this is pre-civil rights act. we're talking 1930's to 1940's. ms. blain: right. steve: what is black internationalism? theblain: in the context of united states, it captures african-americans global consciousness. it is understanding that the challenges facing all of african descent in the united states need to be seen in a larger context, and certainly they make

the challenges to the people of color possible. steve: give us an idea of who she was and why she was so motivated? ms. blain: she was from alabama. she was born in 1896. she was actually a member of the nation of islam in its very formative ages. she left that movement for her own. this was an antiracist political movement. comes into the movement, she is frustrated. for one thing, she is in domestic service. , and she isgling really frustrated with the united states, too, because she thinks the united states and certainly complicit in advocating or at least supporting in many ways white supremacy on a global scale. out of this frustration, she joined this movement looking for

solutions or strategies to combat white supremacy. and this organization becomes an interesting avenue for her. was she an advocate? were there people cheering her on? there had to be dark days for her. ms. blain: the movement had approximately 10,000 members. there were certainly black activist sin that area. but by and large, these were ideas that were generally not -- supported in mainstream american discourse. she clearly had to be very careful, too. that was art of the challenge. she was mindful she could get in trouble. her husband was elected and supportive because of these ideas. she had to work quietly behind the scenes in many ways to make sure she could maintain the

political movement and of course, it crumbled just about the early 1940's, not surprisingly, the outbreak of world war ii. steve: how long did she live? i. blain: that is a question can answer. i have been digging and digging. she just quietly goes away. and that surprising because of all of the attention surrounding her activism. she becomes very cautious that she might be arrested, as many other activists were. the last reference i have are her is early 1940's, there are references to her trying to for the japanese government and there is a letter where someone saw her. and they say, perhaps she is no longer doing political activity. that is the last i have a personal far. steve: did she have any children? ms. blain: she did. she had three children. right now i am in the process of trying to track down her family

members, and hope i can find great grandchildren are someone who can shed light on her area of -- on her. steve: if you had a chance to ask her questions, what would you ask her? ms. blain: i would ask what motivated her? we spoke about the challenge earlier. it such a difficult moment. african-americans were really shut out a formal politics in many ways, by and large denied the vote, and she was struggling to make in screen. oftentimes -- to make in's meat. oftentimes she did not know were the next meal was coming from. -- she was struggling to make ends meet. i would love to hear her words about why, what really motivated heard despite the odds. conferencere at this

in arlington, virginia meeting many of your peers. what kind of reactions have you had? ms. blain: it has been good. we think about foreign relations, state actors. actors really a nonstate using her own terms. she was not being backed by the u.s. government or any corporate entity or so on. people are fascinated by her story. no one has heard of her before. that was interesting. i have never heard of her, i have never heard of this organization. they were exciting to hear of new voices to add. there's so many commonalities dubois,her and w.e.b. and i want people to think of these women in the same canon as someone like dubois, even though she was lesser-known and working for black women. know any civil

rights leaders, dr. king, so forth, that were aware of her, followed what she did? ms. blain: so far, no. but i do think in many ways looking at her life and her ideas, we can see so many direct links to the black power era. indirect, to be sure, but i do see how her story helps understand by and large the black struggle of the 20th century. myve: let me go back to original question. why do you relate to this so much? why is this of interest? ways it isin many reflective of mild background. a working-class background. it is fascinating to capture these black women and their voices and show, regardless of socioeconomic status or education, that really we can be part of a larger conversation concerning improving the lives

of people everywhere. so, these women are inspirational. to be clear, there are still ideas i do not agree with. challenge that question. some of these actions frustrate me. i do think it is important to know their stories. steve: can you hear their voices in your head? ms. blain: sometimes. [laughter] canink other historians relate. as you go through their letters. what's really fascinating, when you get to a place where you come across certain documents i go, oh,name and that is that particular activist. i just got accustomed to a particular word she used or phrase. that has been exciting, to have empathy with them. even though there are limitations, you know, doing archival work. i understand there are dimensions i may be missing, but it's exciting. ande: in our age of e-mails

tweets and social media, letters have become a lost are form, and --ost opportunity for you reading from the 1940's, what has it been like? ms. blain: one of the letters i was reading, one of the activists, she was saying, you know, i don't think we will ever see a black president of the united date, and -- the united states, and the kind of chuckled you couldt, if only see this moment. it's interesting reading these women's ideas and how they imagine the future of the country. sometimes they were right and sometimes they were wrong. steve: so, why is it relevant today? ms. blain: we have so many special challenges at this moment. it's easy to drop your hands and say there is nothing i can do. i'm just an individual. i do not have material wealth or what have you.

but these women stories really help us understand it's not about these things. when you have convictions about something, when you know -- when you know what's right and you are fighting for justice, you just have to figure out how to move forward. and some of the strategies work. some didn't. but they never have the sense that they could not change the world and that is amazing to me. they were so deeply -- they maintain this conviction they could change of american society and i think we have to have that conviction today. steve: keisha blain, when you write this in your course or syllabus for your students, what is the mission? what do you want them to learn? ms. blain: what i want them to learn -- when they think about

political thinkers are leaders, sizesome in all shapes or or forms. i hope that will be instructive to students, so when they read the stories they can think, well, i can be whatever i desire to be. i can make a difference in this world. made a know, dubois difference and she made a difference in her way. of century topic, 20 black internationalism and the research your done for your dissertation. keisha blain, thank you very much for being with us. ms. blain: thank you. >> this week on first ladies, we learn about ellen and edith wilson. ellen oversaw the creation of the rose garden and the poor andnt of the washington, d.c. she passed away.

remarrieswilson edith. he suffers a stroke. wilson, onse c-span's original series "first ladies: influence an image," examining the public and private lives of the women who were first ladies and their influence on the presidency from martha washington to michelle obama. p.m. -- 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> i don't think any other people in america can take this kind of suffering. anybody would be a revolutionary. what do you think of the police? >> they are nothing but pigs, man. just picking me up because -- man, [indiscernible] the pig came. my aunt, buddy.

>> when you live in the community that is oppressed and people are living like we have to live in the black community, how are you going to handle all of these problems? create an awareness of a need for dramatic and rapid change in this community. >> washington's third police district. there is contrast here. from embassy row to devastated 14th street, a corridor of violence. districte week in this will bring 40 robbers, 16 of salts, and a high incidence of homicide, and arson. with drug abuse the source of half the crimes, babies this year will die of overdose. committee chose the

site for new opportunity. with high hope and more than $1 million, the plan was this. your road suspicion and fear among police and the people. find ways of helping the police force to be part of the community again. but there were those in the third district to whom the experiment was dangerously flawed. >> the overall goal of the project is try to get at what we recognize is now a pervasive distrust between the citizens and the police. when you talk about control, it falls short of a total citizen control of the precinct. there was no -- there is never any provision in the grant or in the planned for that sort of control. absolute control. black community see the police as enemies.

here i amnd everyone very wealthy as i walked out of that door if i anger some black police. i am aware of that. we want to control those individuals. >> everyone and his mother knows the police are the number one problem in america. if you all do not want to deal with that, that is your problem. at least let me have a say so in what we want. i do not think everyone understands that. many people are happy the mayor asked us to be here. i'm not. it's no big thing for me. the issue is how the committee uses its power. when i come out of your, more than likely i can do with the police. more than likely. the what we do -- what do we do for the black people out here who do have problems with the police? >> we just have to try to figure as old asto make sure i am that you don't have to live

in those conditions. i think that is what we are talking about. talking about how do you take a dude like this and make sure he grows up to be a man. he can stand tall. he can get the advantages and opportunities that other people get. trying to get some kind of control over our communities, right? how are you doing? so we have a say about what is happening in our communities, right? i think we can do that. don't you think so? >> right on. >> saturday, august 29 marks the 20th anniversary of hurricane katrina, one of the five deadliest storms in u.s. history . c-span special coverage begins live at 10:00 a.m. eastern at

the atlantic magazine conference in new orleans. that evening at 8:00, more from the atlantic conference with new orleans based poets, activists, and others. the 2006 tour of hurricane damage in new orleans and then a house hearing featuring norlin citizens describing the recs -- new orleans citizens describing their experience. towe went to get the seniors help. they loaded us up on these military trucks, and then they declare the city of new orleans, orleans parish, and jefferson war zone and it still did not sink and that we were prisoners of war. >> wednesday night at 8:00, c-span's 2006 tour of hurricane damage in recovery in saint barrett -- st. bernard parish and the louisiana. >> you can't describe it. house, buty your ural community. all of your friends.

the whole community. and now a year later, and you are still -- you do not see it the way it used to be. it's a hell of a feeling. you don't forget it. you don't forget it. you run for your life. >> followed by a town hall meeting from new orleans in 2005, moderated by then mayor ray nagin. >> i am calling on you -- state level, federal level, all levels. you.ed for so, represent me on the local level. i don't know where else to go. i don't know what else to do. >> thursday night starting at 8:00, more from the atlantic conference in new orleans with the new york times executive 9:00, we will show you president obama's trip to the region as well as recovery efforts 10 years after katrina.

click's history bookshelf features popular american attory writers every weekend this time. sam roberts discusses the history of grand central station which opened in 1913. he talks about public figures like the vanderbilts and jacqueline kennedy own asked -- onassis. hosted by the new york public library in 2013 this program is an hour. [applause] >> thank you. thank you for coming. 's memorial concha service, bill clinton came in with papers like ts,