the first lady should be paid. but if i am paying i have to do what they want me to do. it is such a great opportunity. any first ladyse to do what you want to do. another thing i learned is that you are going to be criticized no matter what you do. -- had perceptions and i would have been criticized. criticized, ias had a lot of criticism but you , you to live with it expect it and you live with it. husband's her political partner from their first campaign. as the first lady, she attended jimmy carter's cabinet meetings, championed mental health issues, and even attended congress.

at 8:00 carter, tonight eastern on c-span's original series, first ladies, influence and image. examining the public and private lives who fill -- lives of women who fill the position. tonight, at 8:00 eastern on c-span3. all weekend, american history tv is featuring sacramento, california. -- was originally built in 1856 and is now a state historic park. sanford served as governor and establish stanford university in memory of his son, who died of typhoid fever. posted by our comcast cable partners, we recently visited

many sites showcasing the city's history. learn more about sacramento all weekend, here on c-span tv. [train horn] state railroadia museum is significant in its collection and also where he said. we sit at the corner of front closestreet which is very to the birth of the railroad. became a state very quickly because of the gold rush. it became a state in 1850. even prior to that, people had talks about a railroad spanning the american continent. really important to the united states to have a railroad connecting california because in the 1860's, the civil war was raging.

and california's goals and nevada silver funded a large range of efforts in the war. prior to the secession of the southern states, congress could not approve a railroad. southern congressmen thought it would give more power politically. congressmenorthern thought it would enable slavery to spread and give the south more power. weird results of the secession of the southern states is that it allowed a smaller congress to decide on a northern route for the railroad which came to california because they were capitalists here, building a railroad to sacramento. significant to us because it was the first in 1862, aselivered the railroad was beginning construction. here on the docks in sacramento in pieces and it was

assembled close to the spot where it sits today. stanford had been the governor here and part of his platform was an anti-chinese platform. yet, they did become the largest supporters of chinese. the chinese outpaced the white workers. they were very dedicated and they worked very hard. and even though it was still discriminatory and they weren't paid as much, it was for the time, a very fair way to treat the chinese. and the chinese felt they were treated well versus other parts of society at the time. if you research the railroad physically, you can find evidence of chinese habitation. you can find a particular kind of pottery called brown where that was only made in china.

chinese were all over the route during the building of the railroad. we are in the great hall of the california state railroad museum. this explores the idea of community development. in the 1860's, california might well have been hawaii, as far as the rest of the united states was concerned. west of the river, was just miles of nothing. culturally, for the united was a vast, unknown quantity. and several hundred miles down of california there was a 12 month growing season and a land of prosperity. it was important for the country, during the civil war, to have a collection with california. suddenly, instead of a

four-month journey back to united states, you could come back into the united states. . it has some of the richest growing soil in the world. and suddenly you had a reason for agriculture, fruit and wheat to be grown and now you have markets for it to be sold in. you can connect with the valuable markets of asia for different food items. suddenly, the united states goes from being a nation of the north american continent to really expanding the north american content and it is an easy way because there is transportation back and forth. but they did have to build stations for water and food. logistical things like that. communities developed around railroads and you started to see stores pop up. he started to have merchants and bankers because they could bring

crops home from market. they could buy manufactured goods and order from the sears catalog. they could get telegrams and learn the daily noon's. telegraph because the was instant. so the railroads caused this sense of community. they caused the nation to develop into the complex system that we have today. the collection of equipment that is inside the museum really 1862-1950's, from early 1960's. so you see a lot of different kinds of equipment. the 1870's, it is a beautiful piece of steam equipment. it is quite small compared to railcars today. that is aside of

pacific class locomotive that was a very large, high speed and powerful locomotive that was used to pull passenger planes. the one behind me is very beautifully painted. by the time you get into the mid-20th century, you are looking at lack, heavy, industrial objects. much less fancy but still beautifully compelling. in the empireare gallery. the exhibit that we currently have related to that is the pullman strike. this was a national strike ended paralyzed rail traffic in 27 states.

basically, george pullman, the owner of the pullman manufacturing company had to cut wages for his workers but he also owned the company town of pullman, illinois and he didn't cut rent for prices at the company store, so they felt unfairly treated at they stopped working. they went on strike. involved.ugene debs he was tight in with the american railway union. he managed to get -- in many places to sympathetically strike with the pullman company strikers. but where it was most prevalent was here in sacramento. this was the home of the southern potential shops. every piece of moving equipment on this line went through here for maintenance and repair.

this stopped real traffic out of many places. so to get a rail traffic moving again, the federal traffic got involved and they attached mail train, and they were federal property so the trains had to move. -- thery first train moved but wasin derailed by a broken rail and twoturned an engineer and people were killed in the process. so president grover cleveland brought in troops and they marched on the sacramento. they were here for two months. they walked on the lawns outside of the state capital. they had a significant contingent at the sacramento railyard itself.

it was a hot summer with many and eventually people got tired of the strike and service redo -- service resumed. the rails began and nobody really one or loss in the strike. cleveland signed a problem engine -- signed a proclamation announcing labor day as the official result of the strike. it is hard to imagine sacramento or california without the impact of the railroads. the gold rush made sacramento wealthy and politically important and because of the gold rush, there was capital building art railroad that connected california with the rest of the united states.

>> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring sacramento, california. our staff recently traveled there to learn about the history. learn more about sacramento and other stops on the tour at c-span.org. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. all persons having business before the honorable supreme court of the united states give their attention. >> bright core monsoon boldly opposed the interment of japanese during world war ii. after being convicted for failing to report for relocation, he was taking his case all the way to the supreme court. >> this week on landmark cases, we discuss the landmark case of

korematsu against the united states. harbor, 120,000 people of japanese origin who lived near military places were sent to internment camps. >> this is a re-creation of a barrick. they were 120 feet long and divided into six different rooms. they didn't have sheetrock or ceilings, they didn't have masonite on the floor, it would have been freezing, even in the daytime. the only heating that they had was a potbellied stove. but this would not have been able to heat the entire room in a comfortable way. >> challenging the evacuation order, he defied the order and was arrested and his case went to the supreme court. find out how the court ruled

with our guest, peter irons, author of justice at war, the story of the japanese-american internment cases. and the executive director of tsu institute. the policies during world war ii and we will follow his life before, during and after the court's decision. --t is coming up next on coming up on the next landmark cases. for background on each case while you watch, order your copy of the landmark cases companion book. it is available for $8.95 plus shipping. up next on american history tv, pulitzer prize-winning historian, eric phone or -- eric

finer discusses his recent book, gateway to freedom. program,our-long hosted by the museum of the city of new york, he talks about how -- onevered the story of of the key organizers of helping escaped slaves in the city. [applause] >> hello, everybody. good evening. i am happy to be here tonight with my esteemed colleague eric foner. research at the shoulder center and as i approached the library desk to retrieve some materii