racial issues. thursday, a discussion on liberal politics. friday, conservative politics. "1968: america in turmoil or co- programs are available on spotify as podcasts or watch any time on our 1968 page. >> this weekend, american history tv features las cruces, new mexico. 1849.ty was founded in learn more all weekend here on american history tv. the americane

soldiers got to this part of the world, this part was already old. >> we took a driving tour with a park ranger. >> thank you for showing us the las cruces area. you were born and raised in this area. right? ranks yes. my family is multicultural, bilingual. like a lot of the people on the border area, i'm native american. i interact in my job with people from all over the world. >> we will visit a lot of places. where are you taking us today? tracks we will see the state park area. we will travel closer to the village. the native indigenous community. we will see the part of the

community that dates back to the 1850's. >> let's get going. we are overlooking leesburg park. tell me more. >> this is an old area. ande start with the geology terrain, the rio grande, the river right below us is one of only five rivers on the entire planet that is in a valley that we did not create. it was there because it sits atop a rift. as a result of the rio grande rift, underneath the valley and parts of the river there is actually geothermal activity. there is magma. the river water comes into contact and he gets pushed up. so these springs, in additional

to being hot and being geothermal, they also contain radium which has a radioactive half-life. it is reputed to have healing and medicinal properties. this is what has attracted people for thousands of years to this area. watch her in the desert and -- the water in the desert and hot springs. area as we are mountainst, there are in the right hand mountains in the distance. they are the highest in the area. between here and those two mountain ranges are villages and artifacts of people from the last ice age 10,000 or 12,000

years ago up to people from the archaic. -- 4000 6000 years ago or 6000 years ago. then of course, we have the spanish history. familiese old hispanic you find in northern new mexico, all of them, their ancestors came through this path of this area. this is the immigration route. what year are we talking about? 1500s, 1530, 15 40, the first spanish explorers and conquistadors came through this area. , it predates. it predates most of what happened back east.

it predates the american colonial time. this all happened before all of that. >> we're talking about immigration to the area. you are very close to the border. what is the relation to the u.s.-mexico border? like to joke to iurists and visitors that have heard about these borders but i have never seen them. they show them to me on paper but i've never seen them. if you are born and raised in this community, this border community, anglos and hispanics interwoven,e so interlaced, interdependent and intermixed. we are really tight.

it is a cross-cultural cross-border community. movement between the two countries has always been pretty easy historically. pretty fluid and easy-going. a lot of people are family on both sides. the people of been her longer than the borders have been her. the ties and relationships go back. andborders have been moved changed. the people, pretty much their relationships are the same. you have families in the community that -- and we are talking hundreds of years ago -- language,ected in the our border language is a mixture of english and spanish. primeod is another example. mexicanfluence of

culture and our food. >> as wewe turn -- turn left, we see a lot of piquant bushes. bushes. >> the primary reason is to all of these the countries. >> you are also known for green chile in this area. >> is a matter of fact, the community of hatch valley has gotten it copyrighted. no one can legally called her chile hatch chile unless it is from this valley. they have gone to court over that. it is a big deal. chile's king. now?ere are we headed

ands we are headed north going to the center. close to the river -- >> we are going to the north headed to the river. monumenting to go to a to the signing of the jackson purchase. >> we have pulled off literally into the dirt to see this small marker. although it is tiny, it has a big role in american history. loses the48, mexico war. the moment they decide to move up, was right after a battle in a little community to the south of us near el paso. they had to decide where does

mexico and and the united states begin. hadmeasurement tools they at the time, as good as they were, were still off. grandeese side the rio has a role in this. the problem is the river moves back and forth. they made this corner, this at that time,is 1848-1850, the beginning of mexico and the end of the u.s.. there are about 50-60 families at this time that do not want to become u.s. citizens. it is one of those instances in

history we can say, not all mexicans what to be americans. these folks jumped out of the united states into mexico. entered the town limits. it is common to find cars driving or parked in and around and hispanicsglos alike that have bumper stickers -- i amproud missing in mexican." about 40-50urchase, primarily hispanic families

literally pick up their belongings, load up their andns, see a little hill say, that is where we are going to move to. history, one year or two years ago when they do the gaston purchase, they end up back in america. this is the old, historic plaza. if you notice that gazebo, it has both the u.s. and mexico flag. corner right here is the courthouse. adobeare all old buildings.

brick.eet is even rights the tourism center here. this is the hub for this area. >> we're leaving the plaza. where we heading? >> we're heading to a place not as old but still very unique. about this area. -- poor to -- "tortuga" means turtle. when they flee new mexico as a result of the revolt, there are two groups. one group is about two weeks ahead of the other groups.

it is a mix of mexicans, spaniards, and you blow people revolt.the result -- , the otherer group groups complain and say they are moving like turtles. so this, to the left, kind of terra-cotta color, this building and that are kind of the same terra-cotta color. these are buildings for religious and ceremonial events. of the year is when tourists and family members come that have moved away, they come here during the week of december 12. they have events at these buildings. dance allcandles and

night long. they have ritualistic prayer and dance. a mixture of roman catholic and indigenous beliefs. the people here are unique microcosm example of a lot of new mexico. mexican-indian, and native new mexicans. >> it shows the diversity of the area. see the downtown? >> yes. >> we are entering sort of the modern downtown. >> right. one of the things the city of las cruces did several years ago was it consolidated the museums to be shoulder to shoulder on main street. it took several years to renovate this district.

it is ultra-modern. everything is brand new. it itrking, the lighting, tried to keep the feel of a certain time, but everything is within walking distance. theater, thethe bookstore. you can walk to all of the museums. >> we have been all around the las cruces area. we talked about the history. saw where the earliest settlers settled. what would you like to see next? make anext thing is to reality. destination for specifically cultural and eco-

tourism. heritage tourism. i think there is a place for that. i think there is greater potential for that can anything else. >> thank you so much for showing us around today. our cities tour staff travel to new mexico to learn about its rich history. learn more about our stops on .org/cities c-span tour. you're watching american history tv all weaken, every weekend on c-span3. on lectures in history. suffolk university professor ofches a class on the role honor and dueling in the lives of slave masters in the antebellum south. he explains what actions would of given the most -- most defense during this peri