news. that was a lesson i had to learn. bush'srge h w presidency, barbara bush made her way into the history books the second first lady after abigail adams to be both the wife and mother of a president. barbara bush on "first lady's: influence an image." from martha washington to michelle obama. on american history tv, on c-span 3. each week, american history tv's american artifacts visits museums and historic places. next, we visit the world war ii

museum. the world warr at ii museum. we have a special exhibit at the museum. it opened in july, 2015, and will run through may. we are particularly proud of this exhibit and the artifacts therein. there are some fantastic stories that i will tell you about shortly. we crafted a special exhibit with the help of a national advisory board. african-american scholars from around the country, including the smithsonian institution, helped guide the conversation in regards to the exhibit and the african-american experience in world war ii. in thinking about the importance of the story, and the importance of african-american stories during world war ii, the founder

of the national world war ii in "citizen biggest,," the world's democracy fought the world's biggest races with a segregated army. that is really the great irony of world war ii, or one of them, at least. those are some of the stories we are trying to tell in this exhibit. the mission of the world war ii national world war ii museum, is to tell the story of the american experience during world war ii. 16 million americans fought during world war ii. 1.1 million americans were african-americans. those stories are crucial to the american experience in world war ii. those are the stories we tell in this exhibit. is fashioned partially in a chronological way. , tellan before the war stories through the war, and

follow-up with postwar stories. when the u.s. is going into world war ii, many americans are living in a segregated country. ,hat is how we begin a story the segregated situation that african-americans were living under. the interwar perio sees a rise activity.x klan right here, you see an application for membership in the kkk. ke 1920's saw a resurgence in lan membership. then, you see tangible evidence -- segregated facility signs. colored, carryout only ," this is from georgia. another sign from montgomery,

alabama. bys is the life faced african-americans, many of whom would shortly volunteer or enlist in the american military. although african-americans served in every major american conflicts prior to world war ii, they were seen as second-class soldiers, second-class citizens first of all, and second-class soldiers. the american army produced ,vidence to back up this claim to back up the racist practices at the time. publication, "the inloyment of negro manpower war," which states, in past fair the negro has made a labor, but an inferior

technician, as a fighter, he has been inferior to the white man, even when led by white officers. these are the practices and u.s.t of the time when the was thrust into war and december 1941. the national world war ii museum's collection includes nearly 7000 oil history interviews with world war ii veterans. that is a program we continue to this day. it is an urgent program. no one can tell the story like those who lived it. those stories are very important in our collection. we feature several in this exhibit, including a story from harold ford. many of these stories can be seen on our website. and this exhibit, we feature snippets from the stories. is story that we feature

harold ward, who served aboard the san francisco. during adly wounded battle. he tells the story of how he wanted to serve his country. he served his country by shining shoes. he said he had to suppress his anger, or would have gone mad, and did up in the nuthouse. that is a very important story, the story of the african-american experience in world war ii. aboardwas wounded the san francisco, he was shrapnel.ith sc

the shrapnel, which had never been removed, would start poking out of his skin. that reminder of service was there for the rest of his life. one important thing about this exhibit, and i think, why it is important here at the museum now july, exhibit opened in last july, and we began to crafted earlier in the year. hence the exhibit opened, two of the members featured in the exhibit have passed away. harold ward died at the age of 94, in june. letter feature a from edward carter junior, a medal of honor recipient. anhas such a unique story, a credible one. he wrote this letter home to his

wife in 1942, when he is training in fort benning, georgia. many african-americans, when they went into service in the american military, if they had not been from the south, many of in thed to train south. their military training experience was often the first time that they experienced jim crow laws and segregation. that was a harsh welcome to the american military for many of those servicemen. edward carter wrote to his wife about an incident in fort benning. was killed,oy for not getting off the white buzz, killed in cold blood. porterter was -- al was framed, that is why i don't

go into town. we are fighting for a just cause, eighaint we? the campaign for democracy and freedom abroad -- democracy at home and abroad is referred to as the double victory, or double v campaign. one rallying cry for this campaign, spurred by the black d activists,y, an activ that came from a cafeteria n, when james thompso hebrew, would it be too much to demand full citizenship rights for sacrificing my life?

this piece that you see here is .rom a local new orlean this is his aviator bag. he trained with the tuskegee airmen. you will see here, it says, he is the last surviving tuskegee he passed away, at the age of 90 just last month . we are very sorry to lose him. he was a good friend of the museum. he's saying here -- he sang here on his 90th birthday. he had seen this exhibit, and was very proud of his service and the museum, and of the display. group, theighter teske airmen, has come to symbolize african-american

participation in world war ii. 992ver, only african-american men were trained as pilots. the majority of african-americans who served were relegated to labor roles, to support, supply, transportation, and labor battalions. you see that in the navy, taking .he form of stewards, cooks andhe army, transportation quartermaster roles. this is the dress blue jumper of connecticut native lawrence anderson. he was part of the crew of the uss lexington. see the rating insignia here

and the dress blue jumper here. anderson, he served meals, polished silverware, and performed duties that were serving -- polishing shoes for the military, similar to what harold ward said earlier, fighting for our country by shining shoes. ,nderson did receive, like ward was wounded, and received a purple heart when the lexington was torpedoed by a japanese plane. african-americans who served with the marine corps were trained separately from white marine corps recruits. the separate training facility within north carolina.

thus, african-american marines were known as monfort marines. this is a pioneering group. we are fortunate to have several uniforms in the collection from monfort point marines, the pioneers of the marine corps. this here is the uniform worn by charles allen. his son spoke recently at the exhibit opening and said, his father wanted his dress here. this was a significant achievement, not only for african-americans, but a significant achievement to blueve the just dress uniform. he was very proud of this. a donation of such a uniform to the museum's collection is a significant one. we are proud to have it as well. this item you see here, this

artifact is a bloodstained shirt with a piece of shrapnel there. smith. from dr. ruffin re objector.onscientious at the time, he objected the service on religious grounds. he was part of the church of latter day saints. many conscientious objectors served as medics because they were not -- they did not carry weapons, they did not carrying firearms, but they did serve their country, and many with craig distinction -- greatest hmp are he was attached to the infantry regiment of the buffalo soldiers. segregated

african-american outfits in world war ii. smith,mber 20 6, 1944, his unit came under attack in italy. barrage he was injured. this piece of shrapnel actually went into his shoulder. it wasn't removed until 1954. that's a pretty sizable chunk of shrapnel to walk around with for 10 years. when it was removed, he kept it. you can see where it entered his shirt. it's a fabulous display. after he was wounded in this barrage, he and a couple of other servicemen who were also wounded were left in this house, the rest of the unit had to

retreat or be captured. so smith became a guest of the third reich, a pow of the germans. and so not only do we have the piece of shrapnel that went into his shoulder, causing his injuries, but he became a pow of the germans. [no audio]

he had to return to civilized life and learn how to use a fork again. these items that you see on display, they are really the crown jewels of this exhibit. we have five medals of honor here, our nation's highest military award, highest military decoration. and this is the largest grouping of medals of honor awarded to african americans since the ir awarding in 1987. -- 1997.

1997 was not so long ago, it took until 1997 to recognize the achievements of these very unique individuals. so the stories that are associated with these awards read like something superhuman. they are really unbelievable, incredible stories of bravery. not only stories of bravery, but stories of bravery under very harsh conditions. when you have the system working against you. we talked about serving under in segregated units, being considered a second-class soldier, not receiving proper training, not receiving the support of your superiors. when these awards were given out by president clinton, when they were awarded by president clinton in 1997, only one of the

seven recipients was still living. that was vernon baker. at the time, he was awarded the distinguished service cross, it was said that he was not even recommended for the medal of honor because it was known that that would not even have been considered for him because he was african-american. >> first lieutenant martin baker baker distinguished himself by extraordinary service in action. 1945 lieutenant baker advanced as the head of his weapons platoon, along with three rifle platoons. moving more rapidly than the rest of the company, lieutenant baker and 25 men reached the south side some 250 yards from the castle within two hours.

while searching for a position to set up a machine gun, lieutenant baker observed to two cylindrical objects pointing out the slit at the edge of the hill. crawling up and under the opening, he stuck his rifle into this led into the clip, killing the observation post house -- observation post's two occupants. moving to another position in the same area, lieutenant baker came upon a well camouflaged machine gun nest. he shot and killed both enemy soldiers. after companies the commander joined the group, the german soldier appeared from the draw and hurtled a grenade which failed to explode. lieutenant baker shot the enemy soldier. lieutenant baker then went down into the draw alone. , he blasted open the concealed entrance of another dugout with a hand grenade. he tossed another grenade into the dugout and entered, firing

his submachine gun, killing two more energy -- enemy soldiers. as he climbed back out, enemy machine gun and more fire began to inflict heavy cast is among the group of 25 soldiers, killing or wounding about two thirds. lieutenant baker then volunteered to cover the withdrawal of the first group, which consisted of mostly walking wounded. and to remain to assist in the evacuation of the more seriously wounded. during the second groups withdrawal, lieutenant baker two machine gun positions with hand grenades. in all, lieutenant baker accounted for nine dead in her soldiers -- enemy soldiers, the elimination of three observation posts, and the dugout. the following night he voluntarily let a band through lead a battalion advance through enemy minefields and heavy fire to obtain the mission objectives. his fighting spirit were in -- an exhibit to his men and represent the highest military service.

[applause] kim: it was only 1993 that the

u.s. began to investigate stories of discrimination in the awarding of medals. 471, now there were a total of 471 americans who received the medal of honor for service during world war ii. seven of those recipients now, since 1997, are african-american. there's an ongoing investigation into discrimination in the awarding of medals, not just during world war ii, but during other conflicts as well. and those are still being awarded today. it's possible we will see more medals awarded to african americans over time, as the records and claims are investigated.

so we are very proud to have these five medals here on display, these are all on loan to the national world war ii museum. most from family members, then also from michigan's own military and states museum, and from the oklahoma history center. the u.s. army quartermaster museum. this was an effort really that was spearheaded by eileen carter, the daughter-in-law of edward carter junior. she really led the charge in the -- in elaborating on the story of edward carter and how miraculous it is really. he was raised in india, raised abroad by missionaries, in china. and really was -- font against a -- really fought against a

racist system. so she spearheaded the charge for his medal. he unfortunately passed away in 1963 at only 47 years old and he was long gone by the time that was metal -- metal -- medal awarded. but his family did accept this on his honor. >> staff sergeant carter six for -- was an example of the highest traditions of military service. accepting the medal of honor for staff sergeant carter is his son. [applause]

kim: the story of edward carter junior in his service during world war ii is really incredible. he was born to missionary parents in los angeles, the -- but raised in india and china. he ran away at 15 years old and fought with the chinese against japan, and then fought against fascism in the spanish civil war. when he got back to the united states, he joined the army. he was assigned to the role of cook. so again, we see an african-american who, although he has combat experience, and the spanish civil war, relegated to a servant's role. he volunteered for combat in 1944, and was assigned to the 12 armored division. on march 23, 1945, his unit came under attack while advancing. he led a patrol towards the town, but all of his men were

killed or wounded. all of them. despite being hit five times, carter destroyed to enemy two enemy positions, killed several german soldiers, and captured to others. -- two others. they also provided his unit with important intelligence information, so capturing those prisons was important. it allowed u.s. forces to advance. so this is the action for which he was decorated with the medal of honor, which was retroactively awarded a nation -- in 1997. seven. carter remained in the army after the war, but was denied reenlistment in 1949, due to unfounded suspicions that he was a communist. who this was related to his of -- this was related to his upbringing in china and to his service in the spanish civil war. again we see a postwar story that is not the happiest. so returning home to america didn't always mean a happy homecoming, victory and

liberation parades. by many african-americans, coming home -- homecoming was a bittersweet experience. a very disappointing experience to come back to an unchanged america. the one important element to the story is the postwar story. 1.1 million americans served, black americans served in uniform during the war. many hoped that upon returning home, their service record would mean something. it would mean something to fellow americans. and most were bitterly disappointed. we hear stories of people disembarking the ship, coming home to america and white

serviceman had to go one way and black serviceman had to use another ramp and go the opposite way. we see stories of african americans returning home after having served, had to ride in the segregated train car. of course, next to the: engine. coal engine.e that is a very different experience from white americans, who were returning home to tickertape parades and victory celebrations. black americans often return home to an unchanged situation. we had won the victory for democracy abroad, but that fight for democracy here and for civil rights here in the united states would take decades.

and his ongoing, some would say. the work of the museum focuses heavily on the personal story. it is my job to help bring that personal story to the public. you can read numbers all day long. 16 million americans served in world war ii. but who were these americans? who were these people? how can i identify with him today? how can i make my neighbor identify with this experience? and to make that experience, --, live -- to make that experience come alive is really important to me. and to the institution. >> all weekend long american history tv is joining our cable partners to showcase the history of syracuse new york. to learn more, visit c-span.org/