fraser on the life and work of "little house on the prairie" author laura ingalls wilder. >> when mary fell ill and nearly died, laura was really forced into this role that she had never contemplated for herself, which was to become a teacher. and it 8:00 on "the the worky," we look at of a cartoonist with cartoons from presidents bush to obama. explore our nation's past on american history tv every weekend on c-span3. is in charleston, west virginia learning about the city's history and literacy seen. up next, folklorist emily hilliard discussed the ways the

program is documenting appalachian heritage. ♪ emily: we have a lot of people across the state who may not identify as artists, but are extremely creative and important in their own way how they are preserving the traditions in their community from storytelling to fiddling and we really want to help these people do the work they are already doing and practice their artform. with the west virginia folklife present,we'd document, preserve, and support traditional artists, cultural communities across the state. i travel all across the state and do oral history and documentation of anjo players, fiddlers, sign ,akers, independent wrestlers

ramadan fast breaking dinners, serbian chicken roasts, any kind cultural heritage or artform or some kind of practice of folklife in the states. -- in the state. there's so much to document, so many people to talk to. and sometimes, when i hear about a woman who is in her 90's, that will be a priority. someone who is very old and has a lot of stories to tell. that complicate narratives about west virginia. stories that help community

cohesion. i work pretty intensely over a year, documenting their food waste traditions and their ismunity festivals, which their version of mardi gras with papier-mâché masks where they parade from one part of the town to another and carry lanterns of old manis effigy winter and a midnight they cut him down from the rafters and burn him on a prior and they all sing. so, how can you not document a story like that? the termk about appalachian, i think we often think -- and this is inside the region, too -- we often think about whites, and doing the work i do, people think, these are the old time he ways of white

folks in the mountains. of actually, there's a lot diversity here. maybe not statistically, but when you are looking at who is reserving and maintaining cultural heritage, their own cultural heritage, we have serbian communities, lebanese, muslim, african-american, swiss, it runs the gamut. i think the narratives about this place being homogenous lee whites, we have internalized, too. we need to think about what that might be a code word for and how we can shift it to an inclusive moment. notael, for my audience, is .ecessarily outside

i really want the community to say, you got this right. there is the perception of the place that you got it writes -- right. >> ♪ i'm proud but i ♪[singing] staff cities tour recently traveled to charleston, west virginia, to learn about its rich history. to watch more video from charleston and other stops on visitur, c-span.org/cities tour. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend,

on c-span 3. >> next on history bookshelf, authors talk about the presidency and assassination of kennedy. of "novemberthor 22, 1963: reflections on the life, assassination, and legacy of john f. kennedy," and scott author of "kennedy and reagan: why their legacies endure." their remarks at powell's books in beaverton, in november 2013, 50 years after the j.f.k. assassination. [applause] renee.k you, and thank you to powell's books in beaverton, oregon for hosting scott and myself. it's an honor to be here this evening. here thisf you evening, who are 60 years or remember where you were when you heard the news

that john en