takes c-span cities tour the show on the road. here is the recent program. this college is known as being the oldest educational institution for girls and women in the united states. 1772 andarted here in was known as the little girl school. over the years, it added high school classes, more rigorous classes, and college classes and it is still going strong with a 200 years later. the school itself was founded by the town of salem which was a congregation town. they originally came from europe and established churches in pennsylvania and came down here in the 1750's to carolina.

they believed in education. not just for voice. -- boys. the first girl school in 1772, was devoted to teaching the girls how to read and write and so and understand the bible. the first teachers were girls who were late teens who had come down from bethlehem, pennsylvania to help start the town here. they had, a few years before the school was established and so, when the school was looking for teachers, they chose older girls who knew how to read or write. a teacher stayed until she was married. the single sisters building was built in 1785 to house the single sisters. they did not just live here, they took me years -- meals here. religious activity was very

apartment to them. they would have their own services to the -- and on sunday, they would join the rest of the service. if you be saying here are 10, 11, or 12. the idea is that this is the next step for you to become an adult and learn something that you can use to help the community. it has different names over the years. it starts as a girl school for local kids. the news travels pretty quickly through north carolina. people actually sent their school -- girls here to become students. when the town decided they would accept borders, they found that people were showing up to come to school here. the town had discussions within their regular meetings on

whether they would allow this to happen but essentially, they do not want to say people who would raliegh thatly -- they would just have to go back. finisheding school was in 1805 that allowed people from all over the region to come. one student was well known from the county and college was sarah's childress polk. she became the wife of president polk. she is a first lady that we are happy to claim. the family was very unusual. they do not have the same view of slavery as north carolinians. in fact, if you are a slave in this town, you are technically owned by the town. if you became that ties, you

would become a full member of the religious community. very unusually, blacks and whites sat next to each other in church. they exchanged the kiss of peace. they could eat together as well as work together. african-americans who were enslaved could be married within the church. educatedldren could be within the schools here. we very famously have two students who are slaves but were also members or educated by the teachers here here one of those girls was hannah. she was on buddy shoemakers. she actually lived in this building when it was built in 1785 and she lived here in the 90's as a full member of the single sisters choir. she slept and worship with the girls and took classes with them. there was a connection or focus

to being open to all girls regardless. it was there since the beginning. losts lost as moravians the diversity and openness. then, in the 20th century, they again started being open to other people and not just to white southern children. the school did grow very quickly because it was so successful and because it was the only school for girls in not just the state of the region. they added college courses in the 1800s and by the beginning of the 1900s, they officially change names to salem academy college but today, there is still a high school for girls and we like to think we still have that diversity because we have girls from all over the world for international boarding students and we are also a collegefor traditional

students and we have graduate courses. i think it is very important for there to be a school like salem academy. i think it is a great opportunity for girls to be in a safe surrounding where they can take risks and can try out for things. for example, we have a robotics team and a debate team that has won a north carolina debate. they have come out on top. i do not think necessarily that they would have those opportunities in a coed school. i think it really does encourage and foster girls to take a chance. certainly, they have a great deal of support. one thing that they learned is that women can be the leader in a school community. women can be the leader in government and come up with solutions to problems. i think that helps them grow in confidence.

salem has a wonderful history and being open in a way that you do not see that and other places in our country in the late 18th century. we are still proud of that early openness and diversity and respect for each other as equals in christianity. >> you can watch this and other programs on the history of communities across the country on c-span.org, cities tour. this is american history tv only on c-span3. >> sunday night on afterwards. journalist david corn and michael put their book, russian roulette, the inside story of prunes war on america and the election of donald trump. they are represented by a democrat from texas. >> the start of the book is the

2013 miss universe pageant in moscow. >> if you are looking for a russiathat the trump story comes together, it is really there. you have donald trump in moscow and he is there to preside over the miss universe pageant. agenda/is his real -- agenda? >> it is to build the trump tower and meet vladimir putin. to build a tower, you needed utin's- cubans -- p position. >> he is already in bed with us corrupt regime. he starts tweeting immediately -- putinf you tend will be my new bff.

>> watch afterwards on c-span tv. next on american history tv, for prominent figures in american law including supreme court justice, only to take in, recall there experiences working for clerks and thurgood marshall. they discuss marshall's personality and his skills as a storyteller and his impact on their careers. the historical society hosted this event in the chamber. it is just over an hour. besince nobody else seems to here to do it, i will introduce the panel for this evening. of justicek back thurgood marshall. >> to my immediate left is just as alayna kagan.