bit of context for why things ire some of the way they are people realize tha,, we have succeeded. >> this weekend we are featuring the history of grand rapids michigan with our comcast table partners. learn more about grand rapids and other cities on a cities tour at c-span.org/cities tour. , you're watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. "lectures in history," a class on african-american women doctors in the early 20th century. she describes their efforts on behalf of other african-american women in the areas of birthing practices and cancer prevention. these doctors thought a connection between race and health activision.

minutes. is about 50 dr. shakir: welcome to class. today we are going to talk about black women in medicine. we have spent quite a bit of time in her african-american history course this semester talking about the relationship between race and medicine. focus largely on black women in medicine. how ll give the background in the 19th cenutry like women laid the foundation -- black women laid the foundation for the work we will emphasize. black female physicians in philadelphia in a post-world war ii context. we will lay some of the

groundwork first giving you greater context in the ways in which black women in the 19th century had a significant to the development of you lived in medicine. most cancer prevention programs that were funded, operated and run by black women physicians, largely in philadelphia. one of the first black woman we have to discuss his dr. rebecca crumpler. in the mid-19th century african-american women used medical training as a form of racial uplift. we talked about the limitations of racial uplift. r was64, rebecca crumple the first african-american woman to graduate from the new england

medical female college. rumpler practiced medicine in richmond virginia after the civil war, focusing on issues of tuberculosis. working extensively with the freedmen's bureau. republication is sectioned into two parts and describes not only treating african-american patients is a form of social activism, but some of the limitations she faced as a woman physician working in richmond that the time. although wepler, know a lot about her and how she writes into the issues of african-americans into medicine, some of the other women we see

working notably in this area or .omen like rebecca called both of these women consider forms of legal practice as an aspect of social activism and racial uplift. rebecca completed her medical degree at women's medical .ollege in pennsylvania she had a diverse medical school in terms of issues of race and ethnicity. she practiced medicine in philadelphia. involved in the women's missionary society, but she was a very significant advocate of trying to promote

women'sctivism through collaboration. a periodical produced in 1896 highlighted this very specific issue of social activism, and more particularly emphasized rebecca kohl's relationship with trying to connect race and health activism. the society of women missionaries was one of the to hear aeties parliamentary version of w.e.b. dubois's the philadelphia negro. meetings, itese was suggested the report include not only broader constructions of these structural convictions that african-americans face, but how those structural conditions had definite health outcomes.

you are looking at a specific location from this women's era article based on these meetings with dubois. our color people largely forced to live in unsanitary districts? we must urge our men to continue to content for loss regulating the cubic airspace. people cannot be gathered together like cattle while landlords gather their investment. we see very early on that many african-american woman doctors are directly connected to using racial uplift as a form of social activism, particularly through the practice of medicine. the solidification of these critiques that call and problem were demonstrating, we see an

increase in those in terms of the formation of the national medical association. the national medical association was formed to eradicate the color lines in medicine, or be barriers that african-americans face, because they were not allowed to participate in the american medical association. was -- the, the mma formed not only to help practitioners receive full affiliation and hospitals, but also as internship and residency become a requirement, this is one of the major things that the nma begins to fight for, in terms of african-american membership. african-american women were a part of the national medical association, and some of the larger context that i have not mentioned up to this point, but we have discussed in our class, is the conditions that african-americans were facing in

terms of mortality and morbidity in the late 19th and early 20th century. end, the national medical association work to try to eradicate some of those conditions through the development of sponsorship of the black hospital movement. these things are happening simultaneously. black women are a part of this black hospital movement. many of you know that we blackly have a so-called hospital here on florida a&m university's campus that was one of the most significant in this region, but we are also looking hospital, which was one of the most significant black-owned and clinical hospitals in chicago, illinois. time wethen, by the

moved quickly across time, do we get to more african-american women practicing medicine? one of the figures we have to talk about moving out of the the -- by this time in early 20th century, it is really now around the period of the depression with dr. virginia alexander. an virginia alexander was african-american physician, a social activist, a quaker. alexander was one of seven african-american women practicing in philadelphia in 1931. she ran what we call the hospital run health home. some of you today are may be familiar with more holistic forms of health homes or birthing cottages. that is kind of what the health center was. it did not just focus on women's health care, and focused on -- focused on on -- it

basic health care needs, particularly in philadelphia. according to dr. virginia a "lying in" was clinic. she had probably delivered about 20 babies. this is significant only consider the rate of mortality and morbidity for african-american women in philadelphia at that time. 1931 to 1933 to 1934, alexander estimated that she had delivered birth, whetherf ages, at this time there were two black hospitals. 1933, in the crisis magazine, dr. alexander is really asking the very pivotal

and critical question about medical practice and women in medical practice. she asked, can a colored woman be a physician? in this article, she outlines for us what she is going to do speranto health home. we know that it is a lie-in clinic for women, but she also envisioned the home as a teaching home for maternity patients, for deliveries, and two-weight postnatal care, where nurses and housekeepers can be in continual attendance, where patients will learn not only how to nurse their babies, but how to schedule rest and food, etc. she also considered this to be a space where black women would medical the thread of experimentation or forced sterilization, which we have talked about extensively in our class.

husbands could also be a part of the birthing process byd the postnatal process visiting at will. this coverage of the hospira rantome -- of the aspi health home brought to the media the ways in which black women were working to eradicate some of the conditions that black women were facing around mortality and mobility. inxander did not only right the crisis magazine, she also wrote extensively in the southern workman about the changing opportunities for negro physicians in the north, but also, as an attempt to meet the needs of african-americans in urban centers like philadelphia. one of the major ways that she was that sheiranto

was constantly recruiting, seeking out other black women to work with her in this medical practice. her vision was to try to create a think tank, a thinner, where other black women could be trained, where they could go out into the communities of philadelphia and provide health obstetric and gynecological health care, but wholeo provide for them a range of services that would create a larger level of humanity that african-americans in some ofperiencing the other segregated forms of health care, namely forced sterilization. one of those physicians that came to philadelphia to work with virginia alexander was none other than dr. helen dickens. becomesn dickens interested in working at the

theth home because of personal letter that virginia alexander writes to helen dickens. letter, she argues that they could be a great team in terms of increasing health outcomes in philadelphia, particularly for african-american women. dr. helen dickens created her heration -- finished education at the university of illinois college of medicine. she was the third black female graduate. she, for the next two years, thought to gain additional -- sought to gain additional clinical internship and residency experience at provident hospital, the image of which i showed you at the beginning.

it was at that hospital where she meets and has another intern there with her who is a doctor from trinidad. dickens' path to eradicating the disparate conditions of black with delivering babies and unfathomable -- in unfathomable circumstances. she was so skilled that she delivered a baby in a home without electricity at night, conducting the entire birth by the glare of the streetlight. for the most part, dickens arrived to house calls that required the treatment of at least five people, and she often provided that care for free. in some cases, she may have received three dollars for treating five patients, but it was very rare that she received any compensation for medical treatment. in 1941, she entered radical --

graduate medical school as the only black woman in her class. the university required dickens to complete two additional years of residency and internship, and for was common african-american physicians. often times, they would have already graduated and what have to do additional residencies. this common discriminatory practice was no different for helen dickens and her matriculation. after she leaves provident hospital, she goes to harlem hospital, and dickens said the state for her to have -- set the stage for to have a career in preventing cancer. we will shift to talking about how in philadelphia she becomes really are major force for cancer prevention campaigns.

before we talk about that, i want to show you this image which willis -- which ofustrates how the practice medicine was for a black woman in philadelphia. image ofooking at an the philadelphia academy of medicine. this is from the mid-1930's. you see dr. dickens right there in the center, kind of as the only black woman doctor here in this setting of all men. academy oflphia medicine was considered to be one of the branch chapters of the national medical association, although there was a separate chapter in philadelphia. the academy of medicine worked to, again, fight against those internship requirements, and particular the extra requirements for african-american physicians. they were also working to

dismantle segregated hospital wards, particularly maternity wards. are there any questions? any questions? yes? student: could the establishment or initiatives by the nma be the reason that certain medical started pushing for african-american only doctors and things of that nature? very good question. the nma still does exist, and it actively involved in what we would call cultural competency, the idea that you , in medical schools and medical practice, people who, in terms of race and ethnicity, mirror the race and

ethnicity of patients, but that they are also aware of some of the issues and trying to reduce bias in medical practice. nmanitely yes, the mna -- is definitely concerned with that. any other questions, before we start talking about how dickens was working to try to help with cancer prevention after the second world war? any other questions? ok. we talked about some of the conditions that african-americans were facing as a related to health and healing in the 19th century. we also talked about some of the conditions that african-american women physicians were presented with in the late 19th century. we also talked about the collaborations that women like virginia alexander and helen dickens were doing to try to create this. particular,s, in

when she arrives in philadelphia , is immersed into health and , workingt aspiranto alongside dr. virginia alexander, who trained her and gave her specific experience that she had not gained in the hospital setting. but by the time we get to the end of the second world war, there becomes a lot more emphasis on the ways in which cancer in particular is going to become a disease that has to be , creating several metaphors to talk about this. when most of us talk about cancer prevention, do we think about african-american women as a major force for fighting cancer prevention? do, many of you think that is kind of a contemporary development, but we are actually going to show you how black

women like dr. helen dickens were working to create cancer prevention programs directly after the second world war, and in particular continue that work well into the 1960's, which kind of predates a lot of the cancer prevention that many of us may associate with the later period. we know that a lot of historians have acknowledged the contributions of lay and medical women and cancer prevention and awareness programs in the 20th century. many of the strands about literature had emphasized increasing significance of women as organizers, fundraisers, and administrators for the american cancer society, at least as early as 1944. while there has been a lot written about that, a lot of those models about prevention do race ands focus on how

gender can complicate our understanding of cancer education and prevention in the post-world war ii era. highlighting those challenges that african-american face the coming medical professionals, which we talk about some of those -- face, but coming medical -- becoming medical professionals, of which we .alked about some of those, some of the ways we see this occurring is through some of the metaphors of cancer that are being developed after the second world war. for instance, and a lot of the publications and literature of the american cancer society, a lot of the , we are using metaphors of war, but also metaphors of cancer. fromyou are looking at

"the philadelphia tribune" includes the slogan "fight cancer with knowledge," every three minutes, someone dies with to conquer cancer." these types of newspaper articles often suggested that cancer casualties were more significant amongst , and that theyns were greater than the war casualties of african-americans. a word about cancer. really up until about the second world war and after the second world war, the american association -- american medical association cannot not really believe that african-americans suffered more from cancer. there was a lot of debate about whether or not african-americans actually got cancer. one of the things that black women were doing with their cancer prevention programs were first trying to prove that african-americans did suffer

from cancer, and also that african-american women did suffer from cancer. dickens would use her rent media -- her print media, specifically newspaper. at a lot of to look different newspaper articles now. in "the african-american -- in "the philadelphia tribune," which emphasized cancer prevention. the first article we are looking at here discussed helen dicken'' talking aboutf breast cancers at a particular meeting that was specifically targeted to african-american women. this one that we are looking at is at the cranks school -- craig school of beauty culture. thats doing these meetings

we would not traditionally associated with prevention, although we associate the more with prevention today. through a series of newspaper articles, dickens sought to make the american cancer society of philadelphia more inclusive of african-american women's health concerns. remember that the acs chapter of philadelphia founded in 1945 again to work -- began to work with black physicians during negro health week and public health week campaigns, although some of the early emphasis had largely been about infectious diseases. the worldl end of war, we see more discussion on it is prevention, though limited in talking about specific cancers, and particular reproductive cancers. one of the things you are looking at here is how dickens served as a commentator at

so-called cancer night, giving various different lectures for the philadelphia academy of medicine of allied science, which you saw earlier. separateon, she held meetings to highlight concerns that were specific to women. in those types of meetings, she would have much more explicit language that refers to issues relating to reproductive cancers. unlike those broader lectures that she did, these would have titles like "cancer in the uterus," or "cancer in women." one of the major clubs that supported her was the pyramid club. in our class, we have talked extensively about like women -- organizing atmen

various different levels, but these are largely a mix of club women and various different organizers who are members of the pyramid club. as early as 1946, at least 250 women were attending a forum dickens thaten was discussing the topic of cancer of the uterus. of promotingte prevention, dickens worked to push the message that we are inng -- that would be used pamphlets and films and fundraising campaigns, to challenge some of the ideas that african-americans, in particular african-american women, did not get cancer. on april 6, 1946, she stated in "the philadelphia tribune" that

it is necessary that mothers have adequate prenatal care in order to raise physically strong and free from disease. dickens employed this gender language of self-help rather than to accept some of those metaphors of war that had used -- that had been used in early metaphors of cancer. some of those i mentioned before, about fighting cancer, a radically to an cancer. she did not necessarily support that vision of trying to create -- eradicating cancer. she did not necessarily support that vision. she also suggested we not do screenings, but women should have periodic exams throughout the year to help reduce the rates of cancer among african-american women. throughout her career, she thought of her skills as a physician and as a surgeon as a definedactivism that

nedican -- that defied african-americans' access to health care. in this landscape, it suggested that equitable outcomes were possible through many technologies. she wanted african-american women to have access through those types of technologies and largely began to shift much of her prevention campaign at this point to try to focus on document research cases of uterine cancer and provide early detection of uterine cancers for african-american women. foroffered this corrective treatment as a newly appointed chair of gynecology and at philadelphia's mercy douglass hospital in 1948. only twointment was

years after the passage of the hilbert and act, which called for the passage and construction andmerican hospitals, african-american physicians in the nma, and the philadelphia academy of medical science were very concerned with trying to connect the act to the expansion of existing black hospitals, although this it was the basis and platform for much of the black health movement advocacy of the expansion of black hospitals. for her part dr. dickens worked to make obstetrics and guyncology as modern as she could. and many of the articles that she was doing for the philadelphia tribune, she is talking the fact of having modern facilities. to her "modern facilities" meant faith in would be a

place for obstetrics and guyn -- gynocological care and much of the women were not medical practitioners. she provided underpinnings for cancer prevention but she also tried to target cancer prevention. under her leadership of the ob/gyn at mercy douglas, she started the construction for new spaces for reproductive healthcare on lumbar street in north philadelphia. after opening the ob/gyn center, she worked with the women auxiliary board to require additional medical quimet such as fertility machines which at this time could cost as much as $400. she used her success as the

chair to call for the establishment of a larger cancer detection center at the hospital. so by the time we get to 1953 and we're looking at an article establish dickens had as the director at mercy douglas hospital the cancer detection center. although staffers from the american cancer society were very limited in their support, much of the staffing was done by local church members and the promotion of the center was largely done by dickens through a series of speeches at local churches. in 1956, the article that we're looking at now demonstrates how african-american women are working volunteer for the promotion of the cancer

detection center at mercy douglas hospital. and remember, much of that funding that was received for the center was largely collected and galvanized by these efforts of african-american women in philadelphia. speeches at local churches and neighborhood centers but mainly churches are the spaces that she went most often to do this prevention work. her first speech for that year in 1956 was for publicizing -- excuse me in 1953 for public lie sizing the center was given at shiloh baptist church. more than like le she picked shiloh baptist church because the minister was dr. powell who was a physician and the center had also held the spaces for well baby clinics and stations for at least 25 years.

well-baby clinics were free clinics that were generally housed in churches where you could come and bring your baby and have basic kind of health stats done. but they were not just for medical care. and we could spend a whole lot of time talking about well-baby centers. so dickens discussed that cancer could be prevented if the conditions of cancer could be found early. in the series of church speeches she listed that the purpose of the mercy douglas clinic was to provide early screening and detection for uterine cancers. dickens wass was -- mindful of notions of respectbility. and was mindful in the way that many african-american women particularly in philadelphia because we have a study that was done in philadelphia that documents experiences of

african-american women and medical experimentation in the hospital system. many women were fearful of doctors and rightly so because of several things, like, the accepted medical wisdom that african-americans did not experience pain, right? we talked about in our class how a lot of those early experiments were done on african-american because of that belief, right? and in philadelphia in particular, there was extensive knowledge about which hospitals women of color should avoid if they did not want to experience forms of medical experimentation. we know that women often talked about if you went to certain hospitals that you could not have children anymore, right? so there was very extensive knowledge of medical experimentation for sterilization amongst african-american women.

dickens was very knowledgeable about this and really sought to help to bring some of those issues to the public about larger awareness of combating those conditions for sterilization and medical experimentation. she also in terms of the questions of how that had affected notions of how black women thought about their bodies more broadly, i was very careful and very vague in a lot of the language that she used when referring to the promotion of the cancer detection center. she wanted to be very careful to mitigation those fears as i said of medical experimentation and sexual objectfication while trying to place black women on pedestals that many of them have not been placed before in relationship to medical care. so in many of these private

meetings that she held with women in these church spaces, other local groups often supported her in terms of a lot of these meetings. so many of those groups included the junior business and professional women's league. of a icken was a member sorority and the pyramid club in terms of those 250 women from the mir mid club. so all of these groups are working together in a collaborative effort to really try to help promote uterine cancer prevention in philadelphia. now her secondary goal was for the cancer detection center to collect demographic and statistical data on the instances of african-american with uterine cancer to acquire

national funding if the clinic. although she starts off doing a lot of grassroots organizing, her goal, her vision was to try to receive and garner national funding for the cancer detection centers at mercy douglas hospital. she would go out additionally to start promoting film. dickenns was one of the first african-american women to produce and be very instrumental in using the medium of film as a form of prevention. so we have a lot of examples of those now. but in the latter parts of her career, much of this was done particularly by the time we go get the mid 1960's. she's moving away from just doing those speeches in churches, working on behalf of the mercy douglas cancer detection clinic and then she's

using the medium of film to promote some of these issues. so you're looking at an article now that talks about these films. so although she's moving out of doing the speeches in churches, a lot of the films are actually shown in church settings or either by some of those women groups that i mentioned before. so moving very quickly across time here, by the time we get to -- helensee dr. he len dickens using cancer prevention films. one of the most famous ones at the time was a film called "the save a life series." and that had been the name she used for some of the other church speeches. and so one of the ways in which we know that these were significant is because those films would promote not only technique for prevention but

also would promote when there would be local health days for free screenings particularly free pap smears and other tests for uterine cancer and they would be hosted at local charges. so in 1965 in south floiled, they held day-long sessions where she would promote these films and these films would be watched by women of the church, particularly women members and the tribune was significant because it publicized a lot of those particular films at st. bartholomew. we know that at least 250 women actually showed up to participate for the free health exam. much of the session were also run by local women organizers who were significant in these various church congregations.

so dickens would continue to for the remainder of her career and as you saw in that earlier side she lives for a very long time and practiced medicine for a very long time. but she would be significant in really promoting and escalating the causes for cancer prevention that dated back all the way as i said before to around the second world war and continue up throughout the 1970's. so we're coming to a very significant period of time. so while dickens wasn't the only one who is doing this, right, she's definitely the model for some of the later forms of cancer prevention that really take off in philadelphia. so hopefully after this lecture, you have some greater understanding and awareness, right, of how black women came to practice medicine and also some of the ways in which they

thought about their practice of medicine particularly as a site of activism and citizenship, in particular medical citizenship. so are think any questions about dickens about black women as physicians, about cancer prevention, anything, any questions that anybody has? yes? >> do you think those four sterilizations contributed to the cancer like the number of cancer situations in black women? >> no. but i do think that they contributed to a still very palpable fear that many african-american patients have, right, when they go to the doctor, particularly women, right? and we know sterilization continued well beyond the period that we're talking about. notably the cases in north carolina, right, you may crawl

-- recall those people actually trying to receive restitution from the north carolina government, right? there are lots and lots of examples. but i think the most significant point about for sterilization is that it created, right, amongst african-american women in particular an extreme and very real and palpable fear, right, about how birthing and having children and just receiving basic medical services, right, become in many ways an extremely fearful process. if you recall just recently there have been articles that have talked about how there are still a lot of bias amongst doctors when treating patients of color, right? in terms of pain thresholds, in terms of other ideas about or negative ideas of bias about

african-american patients. >> so i recently read the story. and in the book, specifically it mentioned when henrietta starts to feel sick how she's scared to go to the hospital and later found out that she had cervical cancer and things like that. but do you think that's possibly the reason why that people were saying that african-americans can't get cancer and things like that, that it stems from the fear of going to to doctor to begin with? because in the story she specifically explains that she didn't want to go to the hospital. and it's like the fear that she felt going to the hospital because of experimentation and, of course, later finding out that she was, in fact, experimented? >> so your question is were african-americans underrepresented statistically because they weren't going to the doctor?

ok. so there are two answers to this question. on the one hand we know after the second world war with increased migration that more african americans were going to the doctor, right? but prior to that, there was lready a very extensive theory in medical since that argued, one, that african americans were not civilized to get cancer. they were believed that cancer the civilizede of . a lot of stereotyping. they believe that cancer was a disease of the aging. she writes very brilliantly about this that cancer too had to cross the color line, right? that the idea as more african americans are migrating to these urban areas that they're becoming more statistically

visible and with groups like the n.m.a. and the organization that there are african americans like len dickens who are bringing greater awareness. if you go back and read the journal of american medicine really up until about the 1950's or so, you'll see a lot of these articles that are talking about or tried to categorize canser in the ways that the predictors for cancer are racialized and also how they are connected definitely to ideas of aging and as i said rate. and a lot of that, remember, people they're not looking for how women are suffering from cancer at that point. other questions? other questions? other questions?

other questions? >> ok. do you know the ratio black people to white people that have cancer, certain type of cancers and do you think that contributes to maybe the funding even today of certain cancer research? >> ok. so no, i don't know off the top of my head the numbers, right? but do i think that it has and no, funding, yes right? because a lot of funding currently for prevention campaign is not necessarily done by the federal government, right? so when we're talking about research, that's different. but prevention campaign are largely done even today, right? still through kind of grassroots organizing particularly for people to raise money. in terms of the amount of money that has been given, remember that we have the national cancer

institute, right? so we still -- we have a whole agency that's targeted to researching cancers and different types of cancers. any other questions? >> she used the stabilized series to promote african-americans so people could get screening. did she have to contribute like when you go to the doctor now, doctors are so like -- they want to -- they're so eager to give you like pap smear testing and all those different kind of testing, did she kind of lead the way for it for us to be aware of the kinds of things that would help with to detect cancer early? >> so yes, she definitely was e of the first practitioners who used the pap smear to try to show its connection to uterine cancer prevention, right?

i didn't mention this. but she had a mobile health clinic like we're very familiar with that idea today. but one of the things her mobile health clinic did was travel all over philadelphia to provide free pap smears and she also trained when she wasn't practicing medicine. she also trained other doctors how to administer the pap smear. there was definitely an awareness on her part. what she was trying to do is show if she could document kind of back to ebonays' question, if she could document of black women getting cancer, she believed that she could get more national support for that cancer detection center that she had at mercy douglas hospital, right? so that was kind of her idea. and i didn't show it here, but we have examples of a lot of her ersonal record keeping

information with cancer patients. she does garner some national funding from the national institutes of health. but that comes a bit later. much of this is done largely all through her self-help model of organizing black women -- establish black women's groups, grassroots organizers. and we talked a lot about that in our class. any other questions? >> is it safe to say that helen dickens that her initiative and her work was the establishment of modern day cancer prevention programs or were there previous records to think that we use today that were used back then, doing all the research and advocating for donations? >> right. so i definitely think that from

what i found that she's really one of the pioneers as it relates to african-american will. now, there were some other examples of women's groups that were doing cancer prevention because remember when we talked about a lot of those black women ether it's the nacw, a big part of their initiative was healthcare for black women because a big part as we've mentioned over and over again in our class that the questions about medical experimentation for sterilization even when we were talking about that that this was such a real deal for black women that much of their organizing was around, you know, trying to embed that into a lot of others things for social -- she's one of the first african-american women to do it, definitely. any other questions?

>> i was just wondering what ype of cancer was most prominent that they were to do research and study on? helen dickens. she was concerned with cancer of the uterine. that's what she wanted to target. that's what she wanted to bring awareness to and have less people who are suffering who are coming into her practice with those conditions. that's what her big thing was. that's what she was most concerned about. any other questions? anybody else? ok. so as you all know, we have this is our last week of class and we have our exam on friday. yay, exam, right? so i look forward to seeing all of you on friday. and hopefully you've had a very productive semester. and i'll see you friday for the

exam. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2016] >> join us every saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern as we join students in college classrooms to hear lectures ranging from the american revolution to 911. lectures in history are also available as podcasts. visit c-span.org/history/podcast. or download them from itunes. the c-span radio app makes it easy to continue the 2016 election wherever you are. it's free to download from the apple app store or google play. get up to the minute schedule information for c-span radio and c-span television plus podcast times for our popular public affairs book and history program. stay up to date on all the

election coverage. c-span's radio app means you lways have c-span on the go. announcer: next weekend here on american history tv, we'll be live at 8:00 a.m. eastern with the opening ceremony for the national museum of african-american history and culture. as final preparations continues on the national mall, we talk with african-american members of congress about this smithsonian newest museum. >> can you give us your view of the importance of the new african-american museum to the country? >> well, it means so much to the collective striking of african-american people who throughout the history of this country have been beleaguered by a lack of knowledge about our history. when you don't really know how great your forefathers or forebearers have been, then it's hard for you to capture in the

present moment how great you are and what your future potential is. and so what this museum will do to restore the ability of african-american people to reach back in the history to see how great we have been, our forebearers have been so strong and able and so accomplished. and so as each successive generation views those accomplishments which we're adding to daily, by the way, it does nothing but strengthens our people. it strinketens our culture and it strengthens the fabric of america which, of course, is comprised of a multitude of -- of threads. african americans being a major thread in the history of this great nation. >> the founding director of the

museum has said that he sees the museum as being the american story through the african-american lens. what do you think about that? >> well, i think that's a great observation. i would also add to it that it enables african-americans to peer into our own unique background and to be proud of ur accomplishments and to have hopefulness about the future based on what we have already accomplished in the past. and of course, the present moment is the most important phase of living be it past, present and future but to be able to look back on to the st, provides us with a clear hope and even guideline for our future. so if we've accomplished so much in the past, there's no reason why we wouldn't be able to cut through all the challenges that

we face uniquely as african americans and continue to build a tremendous, positive history as demonstrated by the election -- by the american people of the first african-american president eight years ago. he's been elected twice now. has served two terms and is leaving office with a very ratings or larity favorability rating. it says so much about what he and -- as a representative of us, what we have been able to accomplish despite the obstacles that were thrown in our way simply because of the color of our skin. >> can you tell us what the museum means to you personally? >> well, it means i have a home. -- ans i can go and saver

savor about the accomplishments of my past because we've been cut off. part of our challenge in this country is that we've been deprived of our history. it's been a systematic, calculated approach to handling the african-americans is to cut them off from their history, actually forbid them from learning about their history. and then what history has been has been skewed so as to not be accurate. and so this museum has the opportunity to recast our history from a -- from a long , restore a the past knowledge base about our culture that then creates a collective psyche that is much more healthy than the one that -- that we have right now.

let's face it, our collective psyche as a people is damaged right now. this muesleem go a -- museum will go a long way toward our ability to heal ourselves and also it shows others who decide to come to find out about our history who are not african-americans, gives them a greater appreciation of our role in making this country the great nation that it is today. >> congress johnson, thank you very much. >> thank you so much. >> is smithsonian national knew seem of african-american history and culture opens next saturday for the first time september 24th. american history tv will be live from the national mall starting at 8:00 a.m. with sights and sounds leading up to the 10:00 a.m. opening ceremony and will be live with the dedication which includes remarks by president obama and founding

museum director loni bunch. this is american history tv, nly on c-span 3. >> in 1945 harry truman, winston churchhill and joseph stalin met in pottsdam germany to discuss europe's reconstruction. next, military historian talks worldpottsdam, the end of war ii. he chronicles their personalities. the hopes of not repeating the mistakes of the peace conference in paris. the kansas city public library hosted this 50-minute event. [applause] >> thanks everyone for coming out tonight. i don't know if it was the air-conditioning or the free wine or what. i'm thrilled that you're here. i want to start