quick's if you like american history tv, keep up -- >> if you like american history tv, keep up with us on youtube. see preview clips of upcoming programs. follow us at c-span history. >> the c-span cities tour travels the country, exploring the american story. since 2011 we have been to over 200 communities across the nation. like many americans, our staff is staying close to home because of coronavirus. next, a look at one of our city tour visits. >> are at unc chapel hill. the first university in the

country. a contested claim that we argue with the use of -- university of georgia about. it's argued that georgia was chartered first. that our charter came a few years later and was first to open, having graduated a couple of classes. the university and the city were founded at the same time. when this area was selected, there was no counterculture. there were neighboring farms. there was an anglican chapel where there is now the carolina inn. there was no town to speak of. they had an auction of town lots the day they laid the first cornerstone. they understood that as the university was conceived, it would need a town around it to support it, provide businesses and a place to live. it became chapel hill and was born on the same day. the university was chartered in 1789. ground broke for the first

building in 1793. a year and a half later, 1795, the university opened. they had an opening ceremony in january of 1795. they had events on campus here. no students showed up. it took another few weeks for the first student to arrive. he came from over 100 miles and he was the entire student body for two weeks until more students gradually came to campus. for the first century it was a school for white men only. 1890's, women the came. and then it started integrating in the 1950's. enslaved people were involved in the construction of all the early campus buildings. they were all involved in the construction and subsequent renovation and we know that slavery played a role in the

financing of the university due to the fact that the state legislature did not originally a lot funding at the university and instead provided funds through what they call the seats . meaning that unclaimed whereties, anything someone died without a legal heir, the property would come the ownership of the university, the university would sell it and take the proceeds. usually it was a form of land but there are a number of cases where the university clearly inherited enslaved people and immediately order them to be sold. meeting up after the civil war, slavery was an integral part of life in chapel hill and at the university of north carolina. students and faculty were overwhelmingly on the side of the confederacy. theus life dwindled in years up to the civil war. the university stayed open, but barely. only at the end of the board did

they make it to chapel hill. the university administrators to negotiatenaged to prevent the university from being destroyed. fromhere were soldiers many regimens housed on campus and in nearby towns. things really began to change for the university and the town in the 1880's and 1890's. a branch of the railroad finally came to town just west of chapel hill in what we now know as carrboro. textile mills developed there and industry for the town and nearby communities began to develop outside the university. in the 90's university really began the drive towards becoming modern, a modern research university, meeting expanding enrollment, open to graduate school, making a more concerted effort to be involved in a positive way. the university really began to grow in prestige and national

reputation, i would say, in the 20's and 30's. when there was a lot of ambitious building and growth. to some extent inspired by state universities in the midwest and other parts of the country, but the university began to really engage not just with the state hadorth carolina, but academic programs that attracted students from all over the country and they got a lot of attention from university and faculty and began to develop this reputation as a regional leader, certainly, but also a national leader in higher education. the university today is dramatically different from how it was when it was founded. some of the buildings are still here, but it is hard to imagine place.ugh, isolated ,hat it is now is a modern global public university, deeply

committed to the state of north carolina, but also has ties to programs, research facilities all over the world. it is still located in the heart ofthe state, at the center public life in north carolina and that is something that is really important. >> you can watch this and other programs on c-span.org/citiestour. this is american history tv only on c-span3. announcer: to mark patriots' day, a massachusetts state holiday commemorating the battles of lexington, concord, and menotomy in april of 1775, monticello hosts a conversation with president thomas jefferson, portrayed by bill barker. he recounts the events from the time of the battles to july,