eastern. we are live from chicago's museum of science and industry. with an taking your phone calls. the 1999 interview with apollo commander and at 4:30 p.m. eastern, ain't interview with the apollo eight command module pilot. watched the 50th anniversary of apollo eight. on american history tv on c-span3. american history tv is joining our partner to show the history of lawrence kansas. we continue with our look of the history of lawrence, kansas.

on ance was founded principal and on conflict. that characterizes lawrence. a we took a driving tour with john brown interpreter. >> john brown, thank you for joining us today. or should i say carrie altenburg, john interpreter here in lawrence kansas. for those who don't know, who is john brown? ? >> john brown was an evolutionist, he came to kansas in 1855, left for the last time 1859. it had a major impact on the state. >> how long have you been portraying him? >> i started betraying john in 2006.>> are given new meaning to this root term riding shotgun. this is a period copy, which

means it was done about the time the originals were done about 1853 slant reach chart, this is something that john brown would need to carry. show less text >> where the three of us going today? >> we are going down around downtown lawrence and then we will be taking a few excursion trips to other important sites in lawrence history. >> let's hit the road. all right. we are starting up here at the watkins history museum. tell me about this building. >> it was originally a bank building, jd watkins was an entrepreneur that in the 19th century he became very wealthy, land speculation, railroad, banking, and he built this building here. this 1975 i think it is it's been the headquarters of the douglas county historical society and it's a museum, county history museum. >> is a great place to come in and learn about the history of lawrence including the raid. >> for those who know about leading cans it would be the beginning of the civil war but

it started before the civil war. and for 1850s. it drew a lot of people in on both sides of the slavery issue. deciding whether kansas would be proslavery or not. lawrence was bin 1850 after the civil war began in 1863 the confederate guerrilla leader led about 400 450 men into town at dawn on 21 august of 1863 and massacred at least 200 men and boys and burned a significant part of the town. it was the worst civilian massacre in the civil war. and it happened right here on downtown lawrence where we are. it's massachusetts tree because lawrence was founded by the new england immigrant aid company, which was in boston. that's where they organized it to bring supplies to kansas after the act was signed in 1854. that opened kansas up to

white settlement. and started off the problems that became bleeding kansas. prior to that, the decision on whether the state would be slave or free was up to congress and the campus made it up to a vote of the people. which brought people in from both sides and that's where the came from.>> today what is massachusetts street? >> is the main street of town it goes right down the middle of downtown lawrence. >> i'm seeing a lot of shops and restaurants and a lot of dependent business. is it kind of the spirit of lawrence? independent spirit?>> yes and there's been a lot of effort to keep the downtown. >> where we headed now? >> we are headed toward oak hill .emetery oak hill cemetery was founded in 1863 after quantrill dray, the cemetery didn't have the space for all the people in it. that

many people dying at once you have to really look for places. if they wanted to have a nice beautiful cemetery. how many people who passed the >> quantrill's radar buried here? >> most of them were buried in the cemetery here. there was actually a mass grave of the ones that could be identified. up here on the right was the grave of jed lewis carpenter, probably would've been governor of kansas, maybe even president of the united states if he hadn't been murdered in the raid. and up here is only right that will be in the list. james lane, who was a well-known figure in the early kansas history the first senator from the state. probably the first that caused lawrence to be massacred by quantrill. he rated a town called ocl in missouri. in 1861. and the quantrill raters could be heard calling

out, remember ocl osceola during the raid. when he heard the noise he jumped out of his window in his nightshirt and they hid in the cornfield. the raters came by. then he hopped on a horse and pursued the raters all the way back. this is the grover bar. it was built in 1858 by joe and emily grover. who homesteaded on this land. they were both abolitionist. they were station masters on the underground railroad. this was a station on the underground railroad and escaped slaves stayed in this barn. john brown is most famous raid outside of harpers ferry was the bergen county raid in december 1858. because a slave who was in kansas legally he was selling brooms came and asked if he

could help liberate his family because they were about ready to be split up and sent south. he said yes so he and the county liberated 11 slaves and brought them to kansas and brought them up to kansas during the winter and in late january they came here. they stayed in the barn at least one night, maybe several nights. accounts vary. there was a man living with the drovers he wrote a diary and he wrote letters and we have documented proof at the time of what was happening. of them coming through here. he mentions this. so this may be the most well-documented underground railroad site in the country. >> you are devoting your life these days to telling the story of lawrence, of john brown, of fleeting kansas, why do you think it's so important for people here in lawrence to know their history and have a reference for that? >> the civil war was a seminal event in american history. it changed america.i've been told that before the civil war,

before lawrence, it was called the people said my country or they were talking about their states. or actually the united states was plural. it was the united states. there were a number of each state was individual. united states as a term is a plural now. after that it was a singular. the united state is as opposed to are that's what the civil war didn't lawrence was a player in that. this is a special place. it has a special history. it needs to be honored and recognized. the more that can be done, the better. >> thank you for showing us around.

recently traveled to lawrence kansas to learn about the history. learn more about this and other stops at c-span.org. you're watching a medic -- american history tv. all weekend every weekend on c-span3. retired los angeles superior court judge lance ito discusses internment camps and world war ii including stories of his parents who met in wyoming. the ucla political science department hosted this 75 minute lecture. >> we are delighted to have judge lance ito to speak to us about lessons lost, the world war ii incarceration of japanese americans.