impressed. -- run referred to santa rosa as the luckiest town in the west. kiest town and the rest. >> throughout the weekend, we are featuring santa rosa, california. learn more about santa rosa and other stops on our tour at c span.org/citiestour. weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. american artifacts takes viewers into historic sites around the country. a mexican-american cultural center in los angeles, open to the public and april of 2011. american history tv visited to learn about the history of mexicans and southern california.

ceo.am the president and this is really a cultural center that is meant to tell the story of the influence and evolving mexicans influence of and mexican-americans throughout the history of los angeles to celebrate the culture and educate people. is a brand-new institution in los angeles and we're hoping many people will come and visit and discover something new every time. do not collect objects, we collect stories. people will see different objects and listen to different stories or tell their own stories as well. los angeles is a city always

looking forward, always looking to the future. sometimes we forget the origins of the city and how it came about. native americans were here and they had been seen from afar from the boats and ships the spanish were sailing up and down the coast. 1780 one, the spanish government decided they needed to settle in view of the various areas around the coast and they went to mexico to look for some volunteers to track 1000 miles to come here to los angeles. a mission,o originally they were quarantined to make sure they did not have smallpox and then, finally, on they came to1781,

the los angeles river and that is the reason why the city of los angeles is called los angeles. , a fewanish explorer years back, had named the river. -- because a spanish explorer i feel years back, had named the spanish- because a yearser, a few back, had named it. of the original settlers, only two were spanish. the rest were native american or mixed breed. a mixture of spanish with american, sotive from the very beginning los angeles has been a diverse city made up of various ethnicities.

groundf all, on the floor is an exhibition of the history of los angeles from 1781 present time. it is seen basically through the eyes of the mexican and mexican-american influence and experience because that is one way of telling the story. it has been a very important story. another invocation of main street los angeles in the 1920's. existed 100e that years ago. this is one way of seeing how much downtown los angeles has evolved. we also have a cup and of the cramming that has music and dance and films -- we also have a component of public programming that has music and dance and films.

>> i am a curator. is helping put the stories together in a way and which we can tell them to a broad general audience. this is a general history exhibition. this is not the history of los angeles. it is a history of los angeles. among the most critical because it goes back to the founding as a municipality and city. it was founded as an outpost of the spanish empire. there were looking to convert the indigenous population to subjects of the king. some decided the two institutions were not enough and they decided to start problem is, several settlements. they tried to recruit a lot, but got only 44 terminal 2, on this arduous journey to found that

becomes los angeles. this was like siberia back then. imagine if you were a farmer, a government functionary tries to recruit you will, says are going to wrap hundreds and hundreds of miles through the desert hostile territory, you're going to be in the middle of no where. there will be missions and a few soldiers. job will be to build a mission little girls, who outnumber you genetically, that spanish is like. the mixture of -- and showk the locals, who outnumber yhou how great it is. it launches a precipitous decline of the indigenous

culture. this is the first known pictorial representation of southern california. this is from the early 1830 past. a time when the missions are starting to be closed down. the people who are creating the new society. you see the indigenous populations. soldiers, functionaries, in the background the san gabriel mission including the housing and labor in place. there is not a lot of records from back then, this is the earliest. people living site-by-side. a new culture being created. or positiveily easy by any means, but nonetheless, that was the context these people were living. this shows the handcrafted us of

many things. the emissions had large-scale labor force, primarily indigenous californians working there. a lot of handicrafts coming out of there. coming up.not very expensive and treacherous to send them. the overland route was essentially closed off by the new spanish government. they were in the middle of nowhere carving out a life for themselves. we are getting into the birth with the subsequent generations of people here of a distinct culture that calls itself california. sons of the country. second or third generation. ,escendents of the original particularly the soldiers that served at the presidio's and missions in the region. in 1821, mexico is born as in

and then generation. mexico achieves independence from spain in 1821. of mexico.part folks are self-reliant. they have been here for several generations. they look around and say, we are very up to be free man. they have great pride and dignity in that. this place is different. we are independent. are tremendous force men. we have tens of thousands of herds of cattle. stance of dignity and independence and forms a notion of california. what i find fascinating is decades later it is used mythically to build pastoral like.ies of what life was but it is a very regional identity.

californians to this day still of --.r it a place i love this rifle. is carved, long live the republic. there are a lot of adaptations and things that happened. at some point manufactured, but this was not manufactured by a major armament firm. this was manufactured in a town or village. someone put this together during the war of independence to achieve independence from spain. despite the fact this is probably not quite from southern california, that notion this is no longer new spain, they are free man up here is a powerful and critical notion.

these are california-style. tremendous detail work on the metal and on the leather. this is indicative of a population getting wealthier, that spends a lot of time on horseback. people who earliest show up here tended to be un-american and frenchman. and one of there first comments is sheer wonder at the horsemanship of the people, including the women. it is not unknown for a on horsebacko ride and overtake a tornado. they used those sorts of phrases. when the conflict breaks out between the united states and mexico and the intervention of the united states, we think of that as being in texas. happened in mainland mexico. but there is also conflict in california.

californians mount a passionate resistance that lasts for several months. they use their horsemanship to all ride to the troops. eventually, they capitulate and it ends the conflict in southern california. we talked about the ruggedness and self -- self-reliance. fresh beef has no value at that time. there are no refrigerators. how they make their money at this time is it is a barter economy. you knew everyone, you produced enough to get by. there was a surplus of cattle. they were the first wave of the intense animal husbandry. the teller a you could mount down and make candles and other

things had value. mexico.up to becoming during mexican time, they opened it up to trade. with citizenship. of the this out because contrast. the spurs and this type of clothing takes money. you need money to purchase this. nobody is making these dresses, they are being traded for. there coming in on ships from asia. they traded these dresses most likely for hide and tallow. canreason californians afford these luxury items is they got rich. how did they get rich? they had tens of thousands of heads of cattle and the gold rush happened. suddenly, there is a regional

market. their at hold on to all. three different maps super imposed on top of each other. changed,aphy has not in some cases it has with the river changing course, but on the left we have another map. from 1851. if you glance, it looks like a map, but closer there is a rigid grid. on the lower half there are crop fields that are much better. heritage. these are the fields. trace them back to 1871.

when los angeles becomes part of the united states and when california becomes a state, the hascipality of los angeles to give up access. they never had to do that before. this was pretty much a barter economy. how does a municipality raise money for tax? that was not the land system in spain and mexico. they had a different way. the map is simple when you look at it but what you have is to cultural ways of looking at the land. you also have the moment at which los angeles becomes a city that looks like a mexican city , not a mexican city. this is a fascinating man. watching this has

visited los angeles, you will see his name all over. a boulevard, and neighborhoods. he is symbolic in many ways transitioned with it from being a spanish public to the united states. he was born the son of a soldier in mission san gabriel north of here. child, whend, as a it became part of mexico in 1821. more active.g he has a store. he was getting to know people. his father was a soldier. mexican governor of territorial california. when the war breaks out, his brother takes command. he goes to baja, california, to do a politician for aid.

-- a petition for aid. like many californians, he attempted to navigate the new culture. to work with newcomers. he seeks to maintain his influence and dignity, really. he does maintain many of those things. he struggles greatly with property. he defends his land. very expensive to do so. he loses land because of drought, because he ever expanded as many did. the 1860'sdrought in basically wiped up the cattle economy and a person invested in cattle economy, it was a devastating blow for rancheros. he built a fantastic hotel called the pico house. time he was older, he

fell upon hard times. he retires and passes away nearly penniless. that he is very much associated with southern california. earlier on we talked about chrisman ship. this is loosely based upon the popular notice -- notion of an outfit. spanish gentry. this was worn by a member of a family renowned for hats. this was a parade suit. there was a series of fiestas and they were intended to heritage and history of this place as based in spain and mexico. current eyes,th they do not look like a celebration. there was other motivation.

party.a big they dressed up fancy. the new gentry of this place, inlos dressed themselves up a way they thought was symbolic of the prior gentry they had displaced. this collection of tourists is fascinating. from a historical monument across the street. this was compiled by in academic who was very interested in the labor force. that labor force was predominantly mexican. thosety was built by laborers. there were joined by labor is from italy, france, and a large asian workforce in agriculture. people come in and remember these tools. but there are also very remote

things. people say things like, i remember my grandfather or dad using that or we had that thing around the house and mom to let us, never touch that because it is too sharp and things like that. they evoke a time and place and contribution of people to the building of los angeles as we know it now. of eightnding in front case dedicated to the father of chicano music. the majority of pieces were loaned to us by his family and the university of santa barbara archives. he was a fascinating man. he recorded just about everything you could. children's records, fantastic of his balance is an unofficial anthem of mexico in mexico. as far as i know, any marriott she --and he marriott

any mariachi with his tips know song. he presented himself on stage in this contemporary way. he also did parodies in the 1950 us. he would make appearances on english-language tv in a stereotypical mexican outfit. ase people viewed it controversial, he did not like that he was making fun and embracing stereotypes for the commercial aspect. other people said, he is helping us build fun at ourselves or people who think we are that and we're winking and saying, you have it all wrong. pe means a lot of different things. guerrero left us a

great legacy. and here are some zoot suits. this became the first chicano play on broadway. that had was worn in 1978 by edward james almost. james-make -- edward almos. that was a star-making turn for him. here is an interpretation of events that happened in the 1940's. it becomes a movie and continues to be mounted it year after year after year. we could not find en original zoot suit. there are not many out there. it meant a stance of good times, getting out there. for some, it meant delinquency.

this is fascinating because this is a drawing by one of the younger man who was rounded up in what was known as the sleepy lagoon trial. children of mexican decent. teenagers pretending to be zoot suiters. they were rounded up and tried on scant evidence. this was eventually overturned, -- at was known as a very turning point for the mexican heritage community itself. a powerful symbolic moment. shortly after that, the suit suit riots happened here. a military servicemen and young teenagers here in the city that it is, whether or not they were in a suit suit became targets of this whitehaven scale anger and violence. a very destabilizing moment in a

way history. it was on the front page of the new york times, times magazine, saying, what is happening here? what was happening was not much of a surprise for those living here. we can look back at that and the interpretation of that is fascinating. it is a fascinating piece of history and merits investigation. whether or not there are parallels to the present or not. where things the same. where they different? what we are looking he had here is a short handled hoe. and use by then father of cesar chavez. small-scale farmers. lost that property and became migrant farmworkers. traveling field to field town to town for harvest. very simple-looking. it looks beaten, looks like it

was marked with, as it was. the short handle is the important thing to recognize. i heard a story from someone the , -- in a who said practical matter, for someone who worked in the field, making the hoe handle meant they would crippled for life, hunched over. was dominatedrnia by crops that tended to be very light and fragile, lettuces and things, the short-handle hope meant the crops were -- hoe meant the crops were less damage. overseers like to because they could see them hunched over and were working. over,nstant stooping

labor, left out a lot of workers with detrimental health effects. eventually, in the 1970's, it was outlawed in california. story is very critical here. cesar chavez realizes, we have to go into the cities to get our support. we can go to a city where there is a permanent population where we can invest in our mission. fund raise. get them to boycott stores. they actively organize. became an organization.

these kids are looking, the nursing cesar chavez and farmworkers standing for dignity, rights, equality. stand forng to dignity in our schools. stand up for the draft. not everybody does. not everybody is radicalized in this way. not everybody who calls themselves is a chicano is radicalized. but it is a powerful, mobilizing identity. hopes us to tell the story of the city and particularly of paper of mexican heritage which helps make the city what it is today. has twol section different men from different times and different sports but significant none the less. the honcho gonzalez, arguably the greatest tennis player in alez,orld -- pancho gonz

arguably the greatest tennis player in the world. he was born here in los angeles. o was not his birth name, it was a very diminutive name in some cultures. not they are of mexican heritage or not, would be surprised to know he was a champion tennis player of mexican heritage. that surprises people. and you cannot talk about the story of los angeles without valenzuela.t 19 80's ain the little bit. but he really becomes known in 1981. he had a magical impact. not just as a baseball player and his accomplishments, which were very striking. spanish here from a

spanish-language i announce her. all of a sudden, people wanted to learn about spanish and mexico. that, prior toto him showing up, that was something going on on a mass level. the dodgers, did not necessarily feel like they were a part of a single city. fernando came in and bridge that almost some berkeley. not saying it is all perfect or anything like that, but he is a powerful figure in that regard and brought in charisma. continues to bring in charisma but is very significant. people love to see the jersey, the material, and remember what it was like to see fernando. where we will post more content. now we're just getting going.

the sick information to get >> you can watch this program and others at any time by visiting our website. are watchingu american history tv, 48 hours of programming of american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter for information on our schedule of upcoming programs, and to keep up with the latest history news. announcer: next, author philip greenwalt talks about how at the end of the civil war, southerners grappled with the question of why the confederacy lost. he argues that many of their writings served as a foundation for the lost cause. the emerging civil war blog hosted this event. it is about 50 minutes. chris: the next gentleman who is coming up here is actually author of three books.