popularity to the museum itself. >> thank you very much. >> you're welcome. nationalithsonian's museum of african american history and culture opens his door to the public for the first time next saturday. american history tv will be live from the national mall starting at 8:00 a.m. eastern sights and sounds leading up to the 10:00 a.m. opening ceremony. we will be live with the dedication, including remarks from president obama and founding is in director -- and the founding museum director. adams was not a successful president. if his career had ended at the end of his presidency as his father's prayer ended at the end of his presidency, i don't think i would have written a book about him. >> on q&a, talking about the

book "john quincy adams -- militant spirit." >> the thing that strikes you, the guy is a politician. he is held elective office. he did whatever you did when. he did not form alliances or anything you would do in order to persuade people who otherwise might not go along with your agenda to do so. and so is four years of white house were just pain. just pain. every thing was hard. he achieved almost nothing. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." history,tures in teaches am professor class on african american women doctors. of theks about the areas

birthing practices and cancer prevention. she argues that many of the doctors saw a connection between race and activism peers -- and activism. classes about 50 minutes. prof. shakir: good afternoon, welcome to class today. today we will be talking about like women in medicine. you know that we have spent quite a bit of time in our african-american history course this semester talking about the relationship between race and medicine. today, we're going to focus largely on black women in medicine. we're going to give a bit of background in terms of the ways in which the 19th century, black women were working as physicians and laid some of the foundations for the types of work that we will be discussion --

discussing, particularly emphasizing the work of black female physicians in philadelphia in the post-world war ii context. we are going to lay some of the groundwork by first giving you some greater context into the ways in which black women in the 19th century definitely had a significant contribution to the development of the practice of health and healing and medicine more broadly, but most of the lecture we will largely talk about cancer prevention programs that were funded, operated, run by black women physicians, largely in philadelphia. one of the first black women dr. we have to discuss is rebecca crumpler. african-american women use their medical training is a form of racial uplift. we talked about some of the

limitations of racial uplift. rebecca crumpler was the first black woman to graduate from the new england fema medical college. -- female medical college. she focused on issues of tuberculosis and worked extensively with what we discussed the fourth person of the cap -- first portion of the class. she describes not only treating african-american patients in virginia as a form of social activism, but it also talked about some of the limitations she faced as a woman physician working in richmond at that time. crumpler, although

we have a lot of discussions about her and the way she is writing about medicine, some of the other women we begin to see working notably in this area are women like rebecca cole. both of these women consider their forms of medical practice activismect of social and more specifically racial uplift. rebecca cole, the second black woman to graduate from medical school, completed her medical degree at women's medical college in pennsylvania. women's medical college had a long history after rebecca cole graduated of having a very diverse medical school in terms of issues of race and ethnicity. practiced medicine in philadelphia, participated in religious reform through

medicine, particularly with the women's missionary society. only was she involved the women's missionary society, but she was a very significant advocate of trying to promote social activism through women's collaboration. women'st meeting of the missionary society of philadelphia, published in the women's era, a periodical produced in 1896, highlighted this very specific issue of social activism, and more particularly sized rebecca cole's relationship with trying to connect race and health activism. the society of women missionaries was one of the first societies to hear a preliminary version of w.e.b. "the philadelphia negro."

this brought about not only -- ofr discussions that structural conditions that african-americans face but how they had outcomes. you are looking at a specific quotation from this women's article. "are colored people largely forced to live in unsanitary districts? we must attack the system of overcrowding in the horror districts by urging our men to contend for laws regulating the number in one dwelling. we cannot be crowded together cattle."less candle -- we see early on, many african-american women doctors are using racial uplift as a form of social activism, particularly to the practice of

medicine. the solidification of these critiques that cole and crumpler were demonstrating, we see an ofrease in those in terms the formation of the national medical association. the national medical association formed to eradicate the color line in medicine or the barriers that african-americans faced because they were not allowed to participate in the american medical association. in addition, the nma was formed to help medical practitioners to not only receive full affiliation in hospitals, but also as internship and residency become a requirement. this is one of the major things that the nma begins the fight for in terms of opportunity -- african-american membership. women were members of the

medical association. one of the things i have not mentioned yet is that the conditions african-americans were facing in terms of mortality and morbidity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. the national medical association worked to eradicate some of those conditions through the development of the black hospital movement. these things are happening simultaneously. black women are a part of the movement. many of you know that we actually have a so-called black hospital here on our florida a&m university campus. it was one of the most significant in this region. you are also looking at in this particular image, provident hospital, one of the most significant lack owned -- black owned and clinical hospitals in

chicago, illinois. we are moving very quickly here across time. how do we get to more african-american women practicing medicine? one of the figures we have to talk about moving out of the late 19th and by this time the 20th century, around the. of the prussian -- around the period of the depression, is dr. virginia alexander. she is one of the african-american physicians practicing in philadelphia. she ran a health home. some of you may be familiar with more holistic forms of health cottages.irthing

that is kind of what percent or was. it did not just focus on women's health care, it focused on also basic health needs, particularly in the area of north philadelphia. the center, according to dr. "lyinga alexander was an in clinic." she argued that she had probably delivered about 20 babies. this was significant when we mortalityhe rates of and morbidity for african-american women in philadelphia at the time. 1931-1933, 1934, alexander estimated that she had delivered births, whether in ranges of settings, in those black hospitals that we mentioned, there were two black

hospitals at this time. 1933, in the crisis magazine, dr. alexander is asking a very pivotal and critical question about medical practice and women in medical practice. essentially, "can a colored woman be a physician?" in this article, she outlines for us what she is going to do at her health home. we know it is a line in home for in clinic.ying it is also a maternity home for patients and deliveries. two weeks of postnatal care where nurses and housekeepers can be in continual attendance, where patients can learn not only how to nurse their babies, but schedules, etc.. she also considered a space

where black women would not have medicald of experimentation or sterilization, which we have talked about extensively in our class. also where a husband could be part of the birthing process in postnatal process by visiting at will. esperantoage of the health home brings to the national media, particularly to the "crisis" magazine, the weighted black women were eradicate the conditions black women were facing with mortality and work to -- and morbidity. alexander did not just right for the magazine, she wrote extensively in the "southern changing theut needs of workers.

ways that sheor was using esperanto was she was constantly recruiting, seeking out other black women to come and work with her in the medical practice. her vision was really to try and , a centerhink tank were other black women could be trained, where they could go out into the community of north philadelphia and provided health obstetrical and gynecological care, but also provide a whole range of services that would create a larger level of humidity that african-americans were not experiencing in some of the segregated forms of health care, namely medical experimentation and forced sterilization.

one of those first physicians who came to philadelphia to work with virginia alexander was none other than dr. helen dickens. dr. helen dickens becomes interested in working at the esperanto health home because of a personal letter that virginia alexander writes to helen dickens. in this letter she argues that she believes they could be a great team in terms of increasing health outcomes for african-americans in philadelphia, particularly african-american women. dr. helen dickens completed her medical education at the university of illinois college of medicine in 1933. she was the third black female graduate from the university of illinois college of medicine. for the next two years, she sought to gain clinical and internship and residency

experience at provident hospital, i should do the image -- showed you the image of provident hospital. it is at provident hospital where she meets and has another intern there with her, dr. lealtad. the conditions for black women were filled with insurmountable. that sheo skilled delivered a healthy baby and a home without electricity at night, going to bed the window and conducting the entire birth by the glare of a street light. by the time dickens ally -- arrived, she often provided care for free. in some cases she may have

received three dollars for treating five patients, but it was rare that you received any compensation for medical treatment. in 1941, she entered graduate medical school at the university of pennsylvania as the only black woman in her class. dickensersity required to complete two additional years of residency and internship, and this was a common practice that was done to african-american physicians. often times they are graduated, had to do additional residencies. this type of discriminatory practice was no different for helen dickens in her matriculation. leaves provident hospital, she goes to harlem credentials iner obstetrics and gynecology set the stage for her to have a career in a cancer prevention

campaign. we are going to shift to talking about how in philadelphia she becomes really a major force for .ancer prevention campaign before we talk about that, i want to show you this image which illustrates how isolating the practice of medicine was for black women in philadelphia. the image ofng at the philadelphia academy of medicine. is fromticular image the mid-1930's, and you see dr. dickens right there in the center, the only black woman doctor in the setting of all men. the philadelphia academy of medicine was considered to be one of the branch chapters of the national medical association. chapters a separate nma

in philadelphia, the academy of medicine worked to fight against internship requirements, in particular the actual requirements for african-american physicians. they were also working to dismantle segregated hospital wards, particularly maternity words was what helen dickens was concerned about. are there any questions? any questions? yes. establishment or andinitiatives by thenma academy of medicine be the reason certain medical schools, not that they are pushing for more african-americans only? the nma does still exist. it is still very actively involved in what we would now

call cultural constancy. the idea that you should have in medical schools and medical practice, people who in terms of race and ethnicity, mirror in some ways the race and ethnicity of patients but that they are also aware of some of the issues of trying to reduce bias in medical practice. so definitely, yes. nma is very concerned with that. any other questions? ok. we talked about some of the conditions that african-americans are facing as they related to health and healing in the 19th century. we've also talked about some of the conditions that african-american women physicians were presented with in the late 19th and early 20th century. we also talked about

collaboration, that women like virginia alexander and helen dickens were going to try to create this. helen dickens in particular, when she arrived in philadelphia, is immersed into health and healing at esperanto working alongside dr. virginia alexander, who trained her and gave her extra practical experience that she is not necessarily gained in the hospital setting. by the time we get to the end of the second world war, there becomes a lot more emphasis on the race in which cancer in particular is going to become a disease that has to be fought in terms of creating metaphors to talk about this. when most of us think about cancer prevention, do we think about african-american women as

a major force for fighting cancer? if you do, many of you think that is a contemporary development, we are going to show you how black women like dr. helen dickens were working to trade cancer prevention programs directly after the second world war, and in particular continued to work well into the 1960's, which predates a lot of the cancer prevention that many of us may associate with the later. . -- later period. many of the literature has emphasized women as organizers and fundraisers and administrators for the american cancer society. this is at least as early as 1944.

while there has been a lot written about that, a lot of those models about prevention do not always focus on how race and gender can complicate our understanding of cancer and cancer prevention in the post-world war ii era. highlighting those challenges that african-american women face --oming medical professors professionals, talking about some of those. it really shows is the critical role of medical education and preventing -- prevention programs in the post-world war ii. . -- post-world war ii period. we see some of the metaphors of cancer in developed after the second world war. for instance, in a lot of the andpaper advertisements publications, a lot of the wording were using metaphors of

war and metaphors for cancer. , you are looking at the philadelphia tribune, they ,nclude slogans, fight cancer fight cancer with knowledge. every minute someone dies from cancer. conquer cancer. articlese of newspaper often suggested that cancer casualties were more significant amongst african-americans, that they were greater than the war casualties of african-americans. a word about cancer. really up until about the second world war, after the second , the american medical association and other associations to not really believe that african-americans suffered more from cancer. over was a lot of debate

whether or not african-americans actually got cancer. some 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. printkens would use her media, specifically newspapers. we are to look at a lot of different newspaper articles. "philadelphia tribune," to publicize the importance of cancer prevention and also the relationship between race and cancer prevention. the first article that we're looking at here, "cancer education topic of meeting," discusses helen dickens presentation talking about breast cancers at a particular meeting that was specifically targeted to african-american women.

this one that we are looking at is at the creek school of beauty culture. these meetings a lot of places that we perhaps were not traditionally associate with prevention, although we do 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. s inmber, the ac philadelphia began to work with black physicians in public health week campaigns. also some of the early emphasis was largely about infectious diseases. wethe tail end of the war, see more discussion about cancer prevention, but it is very

limited in terms of talking about cancers, and particularly reproductive cancers. served, and you can see here she served as a commentator at a so-called "cancer night," evening a lecturer at the philadelphia academy of medicine, which you saw earlier. in addition, she held separate meetings to highlight some concerns that were specific to women. meetings, she of would in those meetings have much more explicit language that referred to issues that were 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 clubs that supported

her was the pyramid club. in our class we talk about women unionizing a different levels. these are largely a mix of club women and grassroots organizers who are members of the pyramid club. as 1946 that at aast 250 women were attending forum hosted by helen dickens that was discussing in for thisr the topic lecture was cancer of the uterus. in this climate of promoting prevention, dickens worked very seriously to push methods that filmsoing to be used in and fundraising campaigns to challenge some of the ideas that african-americans, and in

particular african-american women, do not get cancer. 6, 1946, she stated in the "philadelphia tribune," that it is necessary that expectant mothers have early and adequate needle -- prenatal care, to ensure we are free from disease. dickens implored this gendered than theof help rather that had beenar used to construct earley metaphors of cancer, about fighting and eradicating cancer. she did not necessarily support that vision of trying to create a cancer prevention program. she also added that not just during health week should we do screenings, but that women should have exams and periodic exams throughout the year to help reduce the rate of cancer

in african-american women. sheughout her career, thought of her skills as a physician and surgeon as a form that defined african-americans access to health care, and in defining citizenship. in this post-world war ii landscape, it is suggested that equity and -- in medical outcomes was possible through new technologies, she wanted african-american women to have access to those types of technologies and largely begins to shift much of her prevention campaign at this point to trying to focus on documenting, researching uses of uterine cancer and provide early detection of uterine cancer for african-american women. she offered as corrective for

treatment, as the newly appointed chair of gynecology and obstetrics at mercy douglass hospital in 1948. disappointment was two years after the hill burton act, which ofls for the integration hospitals. members of the academy of american -- medical science were concerned with connecting the helper act with expanding -- the hill burton act with expanding black hospitals. it was a platform for much of the black public health movement , advocacy of the expansion of black hospitals. for her part, dr. dickens worked to make obstetrics and gynecology at mercy douglass hospital as modern as she could. that shef the articles

was doing for the "philadelphia tribune," she was talking about the need for modern facilities. to her, modern facilities meant that there would be a space and place for the expansion of obstetrics and gynecological care and that much of the money and fundraising was done largely by black late women who were not necessarily medical practitioners. dickens not only provided a theoretical underpinning for cancer prevention, but she also an established fiscal space for cancer prevention. ob/gyner leadership, and hospital, she reproductivece for health. center,ening the ob/gyn she worked with the women's

hospital auxiliary to acquire additional medical equipment such as fertility machines, which at this time could cost as much as $400. dickens used her success in obstetrics and gynecological medicine to establish a larger gynecological center. but it's how we get to 1953, we're looking at an article from 1956, dickens had established as the director of obstetrics and gynecological he at mercy douglass 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 are looking at now, it demonstrates --t african amendment demonstrates how african-american women are center.to promote the the of the funding for center was largely collected and galvanized by the efforts of african-american women in philadelphia. at locals speeches churches and neighborhood centers, mainly churches, those are the spaces she went into most often to do prevention work. her first speech for the year of --6 was for publicizing excuse me, 1953, publicizing the center was at shiloh baptist church. this churchhose

because the minister was a physician. the center had also held spaces for well baby clinics for 45 years. clinicsnics were free that were generally housed in churches where you could come and bring your baby and have , but health stats done they were not just for medical care. we get in a whole lot of time talking about well baby centers. dickens discussed that cancer could be prevented if the conditions of cancer could be found early. in a series of church speeches, she listed that the purpose of the mercy douglass clinic was to early screening and protection for uterine cancer. ofkens was very mindful notions of respectability and also was very mindful of the

ways in which many african-american women, particularly in philadelphia, because we have a study that was done in philadelphia that documents the experiences of african-american women and medical experimentation hospital system, many women were fearful of doctors and rightly so. because of several things. the excepted medical wisdom that african-americans did not experience pain. we talked about it in our classes how many of the early gynecological experiments were done on african-american women because of that belief. in philadelphia in particular, there was an extensive knowledge about which hospitals women of color should avoid, they did not want to experience forms of medical experimentation. most notably we know that women if you want about

to certain hospital, you cannot have children anymore. there was a very extensive knowledge about medical experimentation, forced sterilization, amongst african-american women. dickens was knowledgeable about this and sought to help to bring some of those issues to the oflic about larger awareness combating those conditions of forced sterilization and medical experimentation. she also, in terms of the questions of how it had affected notions of how black women thought about their bodies more broadly, was very careful and very vague and a lot of the language she used when referring to the promotion of the cancer detection center. she wanted to be very careful to of medicalose fears experimentation and sexual objectification and forced sterilization, by trying to

place black women on a pedestal that many of them have had not been placed on before in relationship to medical care. in many of these private meetings that she held with inen in the strip spaces, -- these church spaces, other local groups supported her in these meetings. many of those groups included the junior business and professional women's league. alen dickens was a member of sorority, and she received a lot of support from them. also the pyramid club, which we mentioned before with close to 250 women. all of these groups are working together in a collaborative effort to really try to help promote uterine cancer prevention in philadelphia. was forsecondary goal

the cancer detection center to collect demographic and statistical data on the ofidence -- incidences --ican-american american african-american women with cancer at the clinic. her goal was ultimately to try and receive an garner national funding for the cancer detective -- detection centers and mercy douglass. she would go out additionally to start promoting. she was one of the first african-american women physicians to produce and be very instrumental in using the medium of film as a form of prevention. we have a lot of examples of those now, but in the latter part of her career, much of this was done, particularly by the

time you get the mid-1960's, she is moving away from just doing those speeches in churches, working on behalf of mercy douglass cancer detection clinic, and she is using the medium of film to promote some of these issues. you're looking at an article now that talks about these films. although she is moving out of doing the speeches in churches, a lot of the films are actually shown in church settings or by some of the women that i mentioned before. moving very quickly across time here, by the time we get to the 19 -- 21965, we see dr. helen dickens using film and cancer prevention films. one of the most famous of the the "save film called wasfe series," and that

along the same lines as the church spaces -- speeches. those films would promote not only techniques for prevention, but would promote when there would be local health days for free screenings, free pap smears and other test for uterine cancer. and that they would be hosted at local churches. in 1965 in june south philadelphia, daylong sessions were dickens promotes these films and the films were watched by members of the churches, particularly women. wasthe "tribune" significant in that they publicized many of those films that saint bartholomew's. at saint bartholomew's, we know that 200 and 50 women showed up to participate for these free

health exams. much of the sessions were run by local women organizers who were significant in these various church congregations. dickens would continue for the remainder of her career, as you sheon that earlier's life, lived a very long time and practice medicine for a very long time. she would be significant in really promoting and escalating the causes for cancer prevention that dated back all the way to world war and continue to the 1970's. we are talking about a significant. of time. while dickens is not the only one doing this, she is definitely kind of the model for some of the later forms of cancer prevention there really take off in philadelphia. hopefully after this lecture,

you have some greater oferstanding and awareness how black women came to practice --medicine, and also how also some of the ways in which they thought their practice of a type of activism and citizenship. are there any questions about dickens, about women, black women as physicians? about cancer prevention? any questions? >> do you think the forced sterilization contributed to the number of cancer situations in black women? prof. shakir: no, but i think they contributed to a very palpable fear that many african-american patients have when they go to the doctor, particularly women.

we know that forced sterilization continues well beyond the. we're talking about. notably the cases in north carolina, you may recall people who were forcibly sterilized, people who were trying to receive restitution from the north carolina government. there are lots of examples. i think the most significant point about four sterilization -- forced sterilization is that it created amongst african-american in particular an extreme and very real and birthingfear about how and having children and just receiving basic medical services become him anyway -- in many ways if writing process. you may recall a lot of articles that are talked about how there is still a lot of bias amongst doctors when treating patients

of color in terms of pain thresholds, in terms of other , negative ideas of bias about african-american patients. read a story, and in the book specifically mentioned when harriet's stars to feel sick, she is too afraid to go to the hospital and she find that she has cervical cancer. do you think that is possibly the reason why people were saying that african-americans can't get cancer? because it stems from the fear of going to the doctor to begin with, because in the story she specifically explains that she did not want to go to the hospital, and the fear she felt going to the hospital because of experimentation and later finding out that she was in fact

experimented on. prof. shakir: so your question is, were african-americans underrepresented statistically because they were not going to the doctor? ok. there are two answers to this question appeared on the one hand, we definitely know after the second world war, there was increased migration, more african-americans are going to the doctor. but prior to that, he was theory a very extensive in medical science that argued african-americans were not civilized enough to get cancer, was believed the cancer was a disease of the civilized. we had a lot of negative racial stereotyping. but also that they did not live long enough, because it was believed cancer was a disease of aging. it was written for a brilliantly

that cancer crosses the color line. the idea that more african-americans are migrating to urban areas and becoming more statistically visible, but also with groups like the nma organizing through these prevention campaigns, that there are african-americans like helen dickens bringing greater awareness. so it is all those things working together. if you go back and read the journal of american medicine up 50's or so, you see a lot of these articles that are talking about trying to categorize cancer in the ways in which the predictors for cancers are racialized and how they are connected definitely to ideas about aging and race. people just are

not looking for how women are suffering from cancers at that point. other questions? >> do you know the ratio of black people to white people that have certain types of cancers, and you think that contributes to the funding even today of certain cancer research? prof. shakir: no i don't know off the top of my head the numbers. do i think that it has impact on funding, yes and no. because a lot of funding currently for prevention campaigns is not necessarily done by the federal government. if we are about research, that is different. prevention campaigns are largely still throughy,

grassroots organizing, petitioning for people to raise money. in terms of the amount of money that has been given, remember that we have the national cancer institute, so we have a whole agency that is targeted to researching cancers and different types of cancer. any other questions? , how she usedg the theory to promote african-americans getting screenings, did you help to contribute how when you go to the doctor now, doctors are so -- they are so eager to give you pap smear testing and all of those different, did she read the way for us to be aware of the kind of things that would help us to detect cancer early? prof. shakir: yes, she

definitely was one of the first practitioners who used the pap smear to try and show its connection to uterine cancer prevention. i did mention this in the lecture, but she did have a mobile health clinic, we are very familiar with the idea today. but what her mobile health clinic did was travel all over philadelphia to provide free pap smears, and she also trained when she was a practicing, she trained other doctors how to administer the pap smear. it was definitely awareness on her part. which he was trying to do was show that if she could document that there were cases of black women who were getting cancer, she believed she could get more cancerl support for that detection center that she had mercy douglass hospital.

that was kind of her idea. i didn't show it here, but we have examples of a lot of her personal recordkeeping on patients, the number of patients with uterine cancer, the stage or level of cancer. notmately, and i did mention this here, she garnered some national funding from the national institutes of health. that comes a bit later. much of this was done largely through her self-help model of organizing black women, establishing black women's groups, organizing with grassroots. we talked a lot about that in our class. any other questions? >> is it safe to say that helen dickens, her initiative and work was the establishment of modern-day cancer prevention

programs or were there previous records of things we use today? research and advocating for donations and things of that nature. i think from what i've found that she is one of the pioneers of that as it relates to african-american women. there were some other examples of women's groups that were doing cancer prevention. remember when we talked about a women, aose black club big part of their initiative was health care for black women because of the part we mentioned over and over again are the questions about medical experimentation, forced their -- forced sterilization. organizing was around trying to indent that

into other means of social activism. yes, was she one of the first african-american women to do it, definitely. any other questions? >> i was just wondering what type of cancer was most prominent that they were to do research and study on? prof. shakir: before helen dickens? helen dickens was just concerned with uterine cancer, that was her area and what she wanted to target. that was what you wanted to bring awareness to have less suffering for people who were coming into her practice with those conditions. that was what her base concern was. any other questions? anybody else? ok. as you all know, this is our last week of class and we have our exam on friday. yay, exam.

i look forward to seeing all of you on friday and hopefully you had a productive semester. i will see you friday for the exam. join us every saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern as we join students in college classrooms to hear lectures on topics ranging from the american revolution to 9/11. lectures and history are also available as podcasts. , or downloadsite them from itunes. next weekend here on american history tv, we will 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 continue on the national mall, we talk with african-american members of congress about the smithsonian's newest museum. in his then 50 years since the passage of the civil rights act. what is the significance of the new african-american museum for the country? >> this museum is so important. first arrival the of africans from the continent of africa to virginia, before the pilgrims, anything about the emancipation proclamation. the significance of that for black texans, i am a texan. the civil rights movement in the 1960's, barack obama today. this museum is going to mean so much for the african-american community all around the country and around the world. i'm just really proud that i'm going to have the opportunity to represent my constituents and the part of that.

you think youo think museum can play in our national conversations about race? >> i hope it will have people to more comfortable conversations about race. rather people would pretend that none of these things happened. some of the things i mentioned, that they never occurred. i think by having you meet him here, people will bring their families, people of all races. we can finally begin to have that conversation and begin to heal some of the wounds of the past and we can move forward as a great country. >> the founding director of the museum says that he hopes to meet them can be a place of reconciliation as well as telling the story of resilience of african-americans. his view is that the american story is being told through an african-american lens, do you see it in a similar way? >> absolutely. i hope again the people of all

backgrounds, all states, all races, see it that way. the people engaged in neighbors and coworkers, engage their family members and really talk about how we can start having a conversation about race based on at the the things museum. >> what your thoughts about the location on the national mall? >> i think it is awesome. it is long overdue to have something that is about african-american history on the mall. i'mink it is something that going to be proud of, that's only african-americans will be proud of. i think particularly for young people like my son, i have a fifth grader, in a talk about to about these things, but see up close and personal, he's even further removed from segregation, from the past.

for the young people to be able to have that experience and never lose that is really important. >> do you have a sense of a congressional support for this museum and how that has a fault in your time in congress? >> will be very interesting to see how many different members -- expected to be a large turnout from the congressional black caucus. it will be interesting to see what cross-section members would get. i hope again, we were talking about having the conversation, i , otherat my colleagues democrats and republicans, freedom caucus members, moderate republicans, i hope they will go to the museum and i only talk with their african-american constituents about what they saw, but talk with your conservative constituents about

what they saw the museum and what it meant to them, and encourage them to come to washington dc and put it on their list of things to do. >> you mentioned being born in the 70's, so you were born after the last great push for civil rights. we think about congressman john lewis of georgia, for example. what does this mean for you personally? >> for me personally, i have a grandmother who is 104 years old. my mother lived through jim crow and segregated schools. all of my mother's brothers and sisters with the exception of youngest ones, excuse me, they all went to segregated schools. because of that, that really makes it extra special to me knowing that background of having that history to be able to talk about this thing. >> thank you very much.

>> the smithsonian's national museum of african american history culture opens its doors to the public for the first time next saturday, september 24. american history tv will be live in the national mall starting at 8:00 eastern with sights and sounds being up to the 10:00 a.m. opening ceremony and we will be live with the dedication, which includes remarks of president obama and founding museum director. this is american history tv, only on c-span3.