>> see the biggest picture for yourself and make up your own mind. with campaign 2020, brought to you as a public service by your cable television provider. almost campus of unc chapel hill. we are learning about the history. nation's oldest

public university. up next, we learn about its founding. oftoday we are on the campus unc chapel hill. first state university of north carolina. the university of georgia was chartered first. the unc charter came years later. the university and the city were founded at the same time. selected,area was there were a few farms. there was no town or village here. there war few neighboring farms. there was an anglican chapel but there was no town to speak of. so on the day that they laid the cornerstone for the first university building, they also had an auction of town lots. so that -- they understood that if the university was going

to succeed, there needed to ba town around it to support it to provide businesses, places for people to live. so the town of chapel hill university were born on the same day the university was chartered in 1789. the ground broke in 1793 and a year and a half later in 1795 when the university open, they held a opening ceremony and they had, you know, events on campus here no students showed up. it took another few weeks before the first student arrived. he came over 100 miles from near the coast of north carolina and he was the entire student body for about two weeks before more students gradually drifted on to campus. so for its first

century, it was a school for white men only. until the 1890's, women were first admitted and in the 1950's, that's when african-americans was allowed in. enslaved people were involved in the construction of all the campus buildings. the earliest building the south building in the construction and renovations. we also know that slavery played a role in the financing of the university and this was due to the fact that the state legislature did not originally allow funding for the university and they provided funds and this meant that any unclaimed property. so if somebody in north carolina died without a legal heir, that property would sell it and take the proceeds so it is usually to the form of land but there are a couple of cases where the university inherited and enslaved people and immediately ordered them to be sold to finance the university. so leading up to the civil war, slavery was an

integral part of life in the town of chapel hill and at the university of north carolina. and students and fault were overwhelmingly -- facility were overwhelm fully on the side of the confederacy. campus life dwindled. a lot of students left to enlist. the university state opened but barely. only at the end of the war did troops make it into the village of chapel hill and the university administrators and other state leaders managed to negotiate to prevent the university from being destroyed. but there were, you know, soldiers from many united states regimen, housed on campus and nearby towns. so things really began to change for the university and the town in 1880's and 1890's. in 1880's a branch of the railroad came to town west of chapel hill. a couple of textile mills developed there. so finally, industry for the town and nearby communities begin to develop outside of the university. in the 18990's, the university really began like a drive toward becoming a modern research university. so this meant expanding enrollment, developing you your graduate school and making a concerted effort to be involved if a positive way for the entire state of north carolina. so the university really began to grow in prestige

and in national reputation. i would say in the 1920's and 1930's and this was when it was embarking on ambitious before building and growth campaign. in some extents, inspired by state universities in the midwest and other parts of the country. but university really begin to engage with not just the state of north carolina but also the region. and those kind of academic programs attracted students from all over the country and they brought a lot

of attention to university facility and begin to develop this reputation as a regional leader, certainly, but also a national leader and also in public higher education. the university today was different than how it was founded. some of the buildings is still here but it is hard to imagine the rustic isolated place from 200 years ago from what it is now. what u.n.c. is now is a modern global public university. has deeply commited to the state of north carolina but also has ties to programs and research facilities all over the world. so it's still located in the heart of the state and it is at the center of public life in north carolina. and that's something important. you are watching american history tv all the weekend every weekend on c-span3. exploring our nation's past

every weekend on c-span3. next, our series the civil war. a scholar details the movements of a general and union forces from july to december 1863 as they followed confederates through virginia. on lectures eastern in history, we visit the university of minnesota classroom of a professor who teaches about neutrality and what that concept meant in world war i america. eastern, a man talks about his book black cowboys in the american west on the range, on the stage, behind the badge using images he discusses the experiences of black cowboys on the early 19th century to the present day. 7:00 p.m..m. eastern, pacific, a 1948 army documentary uses nuremberg war crimes trial

testimony, documents and nazi and allied films to chronicle the rise of nazi germany. it's annexation of neighboring countries, military invasions, war crimes and death camps. that's what's coming toi am very pleased introduce our last speaker for the afternoon. of the texasector military forces museum. adjunct professor of history at austin community college. he is an author and a contributor to essential civil war curriculum. his last work as a trilogy covering the civil war in