here. there were those who said we would get here only over their dead bodies. talk.k, >> all the world today knows that we are here, that we are standing before the forces of power in the state of alabama gon'let nobody turn us around. >> we continue our feature on someone with a visit to the brown chapel ame church church, the church martin luther king used as a gathering place leading up to the civil rights march. >> i have a huge responsibility to appreciate and value the past, the contributions, the people who made those contributions to not take any of that for granted, but it also means i have to connect that to the present in a way that allows the transition of that vision,

those values into the present a trustee orrve as of all of the sacrifices, the contributions that others were willing to make and let that fire ignite, inspire me and others here in the present. the church has received two major preservation restoration , national restoration service civil rights awards. ,ne of our own members congresswoman terry sewall, plays a part in the legislation being offered and passed in congress that led to the creation of those awards. this church has received two grants, one for $500,000, about

probably a little more than a year ago, and here recently, a couple of months or so ago, received another for about $300,000, and that is for physicalg, restoring of this church -- this church was built in 1908, so obviously, this is original equipment. everything in here was from that time when it was built, so, obviously, there's a lot of maintenance, a lot of deterioration, and we thank god for those grants and those awards. the irony of that for me is, of course, the nps is a governmental agency. congress approved that, but here and 2018, and this church is receiving from

the federal government those kinds of awards and grants for the restoration, preservation and obviously the church is on the national and federal historical registers, but think of it -- because of the role the church played in opposing state government edicts that were issued by governor wallace, now the government is awarding grants for the perpetuation of a physical entity that provided a sanctuary for persons who were determined that they were going to be obedient to the voice of god rather than to the voice of the governor at the time who said that no more than three black persons could assemble in any one place at one time.

i just see a tremendous irony. i do know that we have some tremendous hurdles to overcome. i do know that i was , having had some sense from a historical perspective, of the role that selma played in the voting rights drive. i expected things to be further inanced and further along terms of racial interactions, but in terms of here, you know, you've had several african-american mayors. you have african-americans in positions that we can even vote points, and now, here we are. i think that is part of the

, and that's why i think it is so important to not just be focused on the history and the historical, but what was the mission, what was the vision of persons who were willing to lay it all, life included, on the line? i think they were looking beyond where we are right now. >> our cities tour staff recently traveled to selma, alabama, to learn more about its rich history. learn more about selma and other stops on our tour at c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. 7, 1930 seven, the american battle monuments commission held a ceremony on a hilltop overlooking the