enjoy the rest of your day and evening and we look forward to seeing you again next year. [applause] >> you're watching american history tv. 48 hours of programming on history every weekend on c-span 3. twitter, on @cspanhistory for information on our schedule up with the latest history news. [birds cawing] [traffic humming] >> our look at rochesters, continues. up next we drop by the history center of olmsted see its recently launched traveling while back exhibit.

>> well, the history center ands at history providing people to have a better understanding of environment and circumstances at different times. we can learn an awful lot by looking at our history, and don't have to repeat the same things. aboutoften hear modern travel, we don't hear about travel in the 1950s, ofecially the story african-americans during this time as well and the theyional hardships faced along with hardships traveling in cars at that time. st. louis and i had grandparents who lived in mississippi, west point, mississippi. us my dad would take down to the south to visit our relatives and when i was my mother died and the year, a gentleman was

killed. he was a year younger than i was. he had traveled into the his grandparents. and so he was told there was should things you not do, like i was told there was certain things not do.hould and i learned that the color of your skin could make a in whether or not you were killed. >> the green book is a guide. you think about travel guides nowadays you think about maps, things like that. littleen book goes a further. and it shows african-americans where they service, and where they couldn't get service. this was important during 1950s jim crow laws which contributed african-americans from going places,in segregation was in effect at the green book offered a guide to give people advice of where they could go. green book started off in new york city.

victor hugo green is the publisher of the green book and founder of the green books. he kind of got the idea of just traveling himself in the new york city area and just trying to figure out the best locations he could have and realized that african-americans were places recording the they would go and so this just became a more formal, version of that. >> so the green book lists different places that african-americans could get service, anywhere from hotels to gas stations to restaurants, different type of services you would need when you're traveling and these -- and the green book them by state and area, and then most people would use the green book in their trip and plan out a route that would allow them to stop at certain sites, go to certain stations, kind of a pre-travel planning. have it with them on the trip so they could make adjustments on their trip. >> it's frankly a matter of survival. you were told that you didn't go certain places.

white place, a you didn't go anyway, they sure you didn't go. there were signs on the door that said white only. you tried to prepare because they knew people were very, very serious about -- i mean, this was in mississippi. you were told that it's not a good idea to do it and you didn't do it. >> during the late 1940s and going to the early in americael kind of took off and nationwide travel became a thing that most americans could do. up until this point, the only type of travel you do was either by train or boat across america. 1950s, you started having airplanes and cars, and cars for most americans became the major way you could travel. the new highway system americans to travel anywhere. cars ran a little bit slower back then and there were challenges with cars.

overheated, you would get flat tires, the roads themselves usually had would causech more flat fires and so the reliablen't very and this was for all americans, white and african-americans but african-americans also then had additional challenges in that they weren't welcome in many places due to jim crow were alsohere whole towns called sundown towns which african-americans weren't allow in at certain times. >> when i was growing up, my father, he was working two or three jobs and i thought he knew most things and so i said to him dad, why are us?e people so mad at and he said george, that's is. the way it and i thought wow. well, you know, until you do something to me, i'm not upset enough to hurt you or to do bad things, i didn't saidstand that and he that's just the way it is.

that was society at that time. way thingse happened in the south. have toaid you learn to do what is required, so i never -- and question.k that i still don't know why people are so upset that walk byld see you and want to hurt or kill you. >> african-americans often in theircult times travels and it wasn't just in the south as most people think. the north. in many times, they would be pulled over and questioned about their vehicle or about why they're traveling and if vehicle.en their and this was by police officers, not just random civilians, by police officers pulling them over asking them is this your car? did you steal this? why do you have this car? and then they would also be pushed out of town or not welcomed or just refused

service. a lot of places would just ask for service and they would be told no, that we don't offer service kind.r so the green book showed lots of different types of toinesses that were open african-americans. a majority of the hotels and ownedrants were often by african-americans, and then they would allow other african-americans to stay there. and a lot of the hotels were homesometimes just that allowed people to stay there, but along with that, would sometimes allow african-american service. and pureluded s.o. which were known as two of the more friendly african-american gas stations. usually, when we think about it's often tied to the southern states time.ally during this this is often because northern racism was much subtle and less out front and open. necessarily see the whites only signs

hanging in northern shops. people behind the counter would just say they can't serve african-americans. i first came to rochester, there was a ibm,nnel manager in and he asked me if i would come and speak to his church, just to let them know what it was like to be a black person in this community. me torhaps recruit the church. he didn't say that, but spoke to the church and i explained what it was like to bring your a community where there weren't very many people who look like you. people smiled, but after i explaining about bringing products into rochester, like hair products, the importance of that, finding things for family to do, they dispersed and the lady came said i don't know why you folks come in

and taking the job away from the well-deserving white man that's trying to take care and educatey his kids and you folks are welfare and i don't understand why you dol like it's okay to that. shocked. and i thought i also went to school to get an education, bring my family here and them and ie of said i thought i needed an opportunity at a job. you folks are already -- you get 10% because that's the quota and why youunderstand take that away from other it.le, they deserve at any rate, i didn't have anything else to say. speak to people on that again in that another 20 for years. >> the green book extended

into the north and this minnesota, and even rochester. hotel is the first place in rochester that is included in the green book. the avalon hotel started off life as a northwestern hotel was bought by vern manning and renamed the avalon. vern manning needed to when histhe avalon wife came to rochester to be treated at the mayo clinic, get a roomd not at any of the hotels in rochester. place to needed a stay. he ended up buying a hotel, turning it into a hotel for african-americans and allowing all african-americans to stay there. verychester's changed significantly since i've been here. it started small, but it now has a very diverse population, of not only african-americans but africa, people from people from mexico, a

variety of many people, chinese, japanese. probablyic is responsible for a lot of diversity work, bringing they also work with the diversity council, when they first started to help to create an environment that everybody would want to come or that come. would want to >> green book stopped its publication in the mid-1960s in the lead up act.e civil rights at this point in time, businesses could no longer services to african-americans and bookfore, the green necessarily wasn't needed at this time according to the the law.er of >> i hope people come to the exhibit to learn a little bit about each other, to learn a little about what it was like then, and to learn all work together and so we don't ever need a green book.

>> rochester, minnesota, is one of many cities we've toured to explore the watchan story and to more of our visit to rochester and other cities across the country, go to cspan.org/citiestour. you're watching american weekend,v, all every weekend, on c-span 3. >> tonight, on lectures in history, american university professor w. joseph campbell teaches a class on myths randall hurst, yellow journalism and the lead-up to the spanish-american war at the the 19th century. here's a preview. >> this tale, you furnish the pictures and i'll furnish the war, lives on despite a nearly complete of supporting documentation as is mentioned in our core text this semester.

absence ofmplete supporting documentation. the debunking. denied that there was ever such an exchange, that he sent such a message to remington. himself apparently never spoke about it. never spoke publicly about this. and the telegrams artifacts, the that are central to this whole story have never up.ed the artifacts have never up.ed but there are other factors. another factor is that it's whole talethis is illogical on its face would hearst davis,mington and why would he have sent a telegram to remington vowing furnish the war if war,

the rebellion on cuba was very reason he sent them, remington and davis to cuba in the first place? it's illogical. given the context of what's cuba at the time, hearst's vow to furnish the war makes no sense. it's illogical. it's illogical. >> learn more about william yellow hearst, journalism and the lead-up to the spanish-american war tonight at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern on lectures in history. you're watching american we bringv, where the classroom to you. >> during world war ii, the u.s. marine corps recruited thejo indians to help military secretly communicate their operational plans. in a few minutes in a series of interviews we hear from albertcode talker smith who talks about

witnessing japanese suicides, his decision to stay silent about his war experience and his spiritual practices. between 2004 and 2006, the interviews took ince at mr. smith's home new mexico and on the islands where he served war.g the first, we hear from filmmaker and historian george colburn who conducted interviews for his documentary. navajo code talkers, journey remembrance. >> george colburn is a filmmaker and historian and your work on the navajo code you traveled all over the world. what was this like for you? >> it was the adventure of life. it's still hard to believe there was actually with these heroes of arld war ii who made