children? how did they do this while desegregating a third of the country in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and places of public accommodation, and fighting the war in vietnam? announcer: sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. this weekend, american history tv is joining our partners to showcase the history of shawnee, oklahoma. ,earn more about the cities visit c-span.org. we continue now with our look at the history of shawnee. a i like to describe it as match only god can make in heaven. the original monks arrived in new orleans in 1872, thinking they had an invitation for the catholic ship of new orleans to establish a monastery there, but

when they arrived, what are you talking about? i'm looking for missionaries, not monks. so for three years these two monks were looking for a permanent home, but could not find the right situation where they were really wanted, for what ever reason, very complex. at the same time the american indian peoples were being removed to this territory because the increasing white population did not want them in the land where they were trying to expand, and so they were being removed. this territory, i suppose, was chosen because to put it bluntly know why people want to this territory yet. the monks that nobody wanted went to atlanta that nobody wanted to serve a people that nobody wanted, so it was a match made in heaven.

today we are at st. gregory's abbey, shawnee, oklahoma, 21 monks. st. gregory's abbey has been in shawnee for a little over 100 years. we have been in what is now oklahoma for 142 years. it was indian territory in 1875. our founders were from france, and after the civil war a larger number of native american tribes and peoples were being relocated to indian territory. a good number of these tribes and nations were catholic and needed catholic ministry, catholic education, but there was no structure of the catholic church in the region. two monks monks -- were looking for a permanent location to establish our community, so when the bishops of the united states established the indian territories its own

region of the church, they asked us as monks to come and provide that ministry and education programs to native american we explored the whole territory and eventually entered into an agreement with the pottawatomie nation that had recently been moved into the territory and establishment sacred heart abbey, academy, and mission. base for us, and we ended up actually establishing some 45 catholic church communities around what is now oklahoma, and we also established interestingly enough three schools for african children who were the children of persons who had been slaves of indian tribes, so the original sacred heart, which was a monastery,, had

a school for boys of all ages from elementary through college, a school for girls similarly, a convent where sisters of mercy lived to teach the girls. farm, a whole working like a small village, and all of it earned one night in 1901. people, miraculously there was no loss of life or injuries in the whole complex. it burned for about 30 minutes. don't always remember that we rebuilt sacred heart, a second school, monastery convent, but we moved to shawnee two after rebuilding sacred heart. i am proud of my community in the sense that that first generation of monks closely identified with the indian people.

the 1800sland run in that opened our settlement, one monk was from france, preached a very fiery sermon to the non-indian people who had lined up on the banks of the river waiting for that land run, and he was reminding him that the land they were entering was not in the room at that it was inhabited with people there, and he used language and the story of exodus and the bible, saying if you treat the people here cry will reach the ears of the lord and there will be consequences, and so i am very proud of that advocacy that our monastic community had for the indian people at that time. >today st. gregory's abbey

has 21 members in the community. our months range in age from 34 to 95. we all have different personalities, interests, skills, abilities, and in our different stages of development in life, and really that is what makes for a healthy community, our monks have been dedicated to manual labor, the grounds, the gardens, taking care of our campus, working in the greenhouse, taking care of liveacilities, but we all in this community and follow the same pattern of life each day in terms of our schedule. our daily schedule does not very y much. var through the course of the day we gather for communal prayer five times a day. atwe gather in the church

6:00 a.m. for prayer service that lasts about 35-40 minutes, then we have a break for about 30 minutes, during which time one can eat breakfast, which we eat in silence, then at 7:15 we gather in the church again for our morning praise, which lasts about 30 minutes, then we have a noon,eriod from 8:00 to then a 12:0 five we gather again in church for our midday prayer, which lasts about 10 minutes, followed by lunch come in during which we can talk at lunch, then fromve another work period 1:00 to 4:30, then we gather for followed that we with her evening meal which we eat together in silence. we start together and stay at the table until the last person finishes, then fries and deal

with prayer. nourished notg only physically, but also mentally and spiritually. we followed that by a period of -- recreation, which is something that can be lost in our culture, about 45 minutes where we gather in our community playand some monks dominoes, some cards, some read the paper, some watch the news, then the first part of wheel of fortune, then sometimes squeeze in a nap, but we are all there together affirming this value for each other, then we gather one last time in church at 6:45 for our evening prayer, and that lasts about 30 minutes. evening isrs, the

open. there is still sunshine to do outdoor tasks. there is no curfew or bedtime, but that bell rings at 5:30 in the morning to start that cycle all over again. that is a way of life designed to promote a balance between prayer and work and study, a balance between , aitude and community balance between dialogue in silence, and we strive for balance. i suppose what i would want people to know and realize is that from the earliest centuries, monasteries welcome people to , to, a place of hospitality experience our way of life, to find some kind of meaningful assistance wherever they might that weeir lives, and

also can benefit from their visit to come to see god at work in those around us, and that is , tole of faith and no faith be able to share this life together in this place that is set aside for this journey, so i would want people to know the abbey is a place of hospitality, and the values we try to live our human values that perhaps rapid, shortected, attention span culture, that is filled with all kinds of noise, could benefit from, so to step aside to experience the healing that can come about in a lifestyle of balance, of silence, of reflection, and attentiveness to what is happening in the world around us.

you are welcome. come and visit. our staff recently traveled to shawnee, oklahoma to learn about its rich history. learn more about shawnee and other stops at c-span.org/cities ttour. you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. announcer: monday night on the communicators, fcc commissioner discusses the fcc's rejection of net neutrality, spectrum auctions, and how to expand broadband throughout the u.s. she is interviewed by a technology reporter for politico. >> you brought up the federal trade commission, and this week there was a big decision involving the ftc's authority and whether or not it can sue at&t for its alleged

misrepresentation to consumers about unlimited data. what lessons do you draw from that court ruling, and particularly about this loophole involving the common carrier -- >> on the positive side, there are, is one less loophole, meaning the court gave some clarity as it relates to whether or not there is authority under, whether there is a mix of common orrier or non-common carrier not, so there was some clarity is alsoeir, but what clear and what is still troubling to me is the ftc is still not the expert agency. it is still not the agency that has any background when it comes to common carrier or net neutrality regulation. the sec is still the agency that is still thefcc

agency that does that. those are high >> watch the communicators on c-span two. next, on american history tv, we learn about muslim and arab culture in detroit. sally,, center for arab american studies. we recorded this interview at the american historical association annual meeting in washington dc. it is just over 15 minutes. sally teaches history but is also the