>> there were 18 mills within less than three miles of ville.wn greenland the obvious reason, cotton. there was plenty of cotton everywhere. these men who decided to go into the textile business had no experience whatsoever in the textile business. they just decided to invest in these gigantic mills. these men got together as a partnership, and that is so unlike anywhere in those world, because they competed with each

other yet they partnered with each other. they served on each other's boards. these men got together and decided to build an empire together. they also decided to build greenville. the history museum is a wonderful place. it is a wonderful place because it pays homage to where greenville really started. especially the textile industry. the exhibit behind appear to for people to understand our heritage, and where we originally came from. the first mill was started in 1873. the son, alexander, is the one who started the weaving process, the spinning process in the mill. they built a larger mill across the river. that was the beginning.

the huguenot mill, there were two mills right downtown. from that point on, through the 1925 -- in 1925, that is when the major mills were being built. ills were3 major m built. all of the huge mills, the five and four story mills were built. by 1910, it became very apparent that these large, vertical mill for efficient. -- vertical mills were in efficient. you are moving product vertically. originally, steam, and then electrical, but you are moving product vertically. the new mills 1910 were on two

stories, but that occupied more land. it became far more efficient to move products laterally. that started changing, and a huge vertical mills were efficient, and eventually they were abandoned. in greenville, and during the textile era, even through the 1960's, there were three distinct classes in this town. you had the business community, or white community that was the owners and doctors, lawyers, that kind of thing. and then you had the african-american community, who were occupied in various businesses. but they were not involved in industry early on.

then you have the text community, for a lot of people refer to them as the mill held eads.ha they are almost as segregated as african-americans. it was an interesting society. you can find, by world war ii, on the 75% of the population of greenville in one way or another the other was involved in the textile business and human mind -- keep in mind during 1945, this was the general motors of south dakota a -- of the south. almost 65% of all of the cloth for tents, were made right here. most of the uniforms for the army were made right here in greenville. it was pretty substantial and had pretty substantial impact on the war. it was hard work.

it was really hard work working in the mill. whether you were spinning, weaving, it was hard work. it was dusty, it was hot, because there was no air-conditioning. they had these big windows, but it was hot during the summer. it was very cold during the winter. the job itself was very tough. they call these people lint heads for good reason, because there was so much cotton dust floating around in the air that they would get it in their hair. i remember senator telling me -- someone telling me that when they were little, and they would be in line downtown, they looked over, and here's this woman standing in line, and she has this wife stuff in her hair, and he would not be allowed to talk to her. the operatives lived in a mill village. this was isolated. so, people have a tendency to segregate them, life for the

business that villages was very interesting. the mill owners provided them with their houses, but the built wayschools, that the operatives could live a reasonably normal life together. and they provided entertainment. baseball became a huge venue, and the southern league, which was created here, became an enormous textile baseball league. shoeless joe jackson grew up as a small boy in the mill village. years,rew into his teen he played baseball. he was so good, that the mill itself gave him time off so he could baseball. he was the star.

then he went on to play for semipro, and then of course professional teams. there were other things. provided golf courses and tennis. there was a lot for them to do to entertain social they were -- entertain themselves when they were not working in the mill. i'm a firm believer that greenville is where it is today, as far as a successful, growing, progress community. that foundation is in the exile industry. this was the first layer of real leadership that led to greenville growing. the sad thing about it today is in the 1970's, the town, the city made the decision to turn its back on the whole textile crescent, because the textile industry was in decline.

i think that if you really study history as people are doing, that they will understand how important the textile industry was. how important was the society to -- how important it was to society for the growth and prosperity of this area, especially. adversities to our staff recently traveled to greenville, south carolina to learn about its rich history. learn more about greenville and other stops on our tour at www.c-span.org/citiestour. [laughter] [applause] >> margaret oppenheimer talks about her work, a story of marriage and money in the early republic. jumel became one of the

richest women in 19th-century new york. the author describes her life coming quitting her marriage to aaron burr >> good afternoon, everybody. there has been a big resurgence in the past year of all things hamilton with the play on broadway going on. we are going to learn more about aaron burr from margaret oppenheimer. this is her third book. she has written extensive articles. she has her phd in art history from nyu and she volunteers as a a aa a