bucks this is american history tv on c-span3, for each weekend we feature programs exploring our nation's past. >> the c-span cities stewart travels the country, exploring the american story. we have been to more than 200 communities across the nation. like many americans, our staff is staying close to home due to the coronavirus. next, a look at one of our city stewart visits. -- cities tour visits.

>> today we are on the campus of the university of north carolina at chapel hill. unc chapel hill is the first state university in the country. this is a contested claim we argue with the university of georgia about. both have a claim. unc's charter came a few years later. it had already graduated a couple of classes. the university and city were founded at the same time. so, when this area was selected, there was no town or village here. there were a few neighboring farms. there was an anglican chapel on inn.ite of the carolina an auction of town lots. they understood that if the university was going to succeed, there needed to be a business around it to support businesses, places for people to live.

they were in essence born on the same day. the university was chartered in 1789. the ground broke in 1793 and it was about a year and a half when the university opened. they had events on campus here. no students showed up. it took another few weeks before the student arrived. firsthe came over 100 miles off the coast of north carolina. he was the entire student body for two weeks before more students drifted onto campus. for its first century it was a school for white men only. it was only until the 1890's that women were admitted to the university. it's really impossible to talk about the history of the university without talking about slavery. slave people were involved in the construction of campus buildings. the earliest building, the one behind me, the construction, the

subsequent renovations. we also know that slavery played a role in the financing of the university. this was due to the fact that the state legislature did not originally a lot funding. instead they provided funds through escheats, which meant if someone and north carolina died without a legal air they -- hei r, the property would revert to the university, the university would sell it and take the proceeds. this was usually land. there were a number of cases where the university inherited enslaved people and immediately ordered them to be sold to finance the university. leading up to 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. campus life dwindled in the years after the civil war.

a lot of students left to enlist. -- the university stayed open, but barely. the university administrators and other state leaders managed to negotiate to prevent the university from being destroyed. but there were soldiers from many united states regiments housed on campus and nearby towns. things begin to change for the university and the town in the 1880's and 1890's. in the 1880's a branch of the railroad came to town. a couple of textile mills developed there. communities began to develop outside of the university. in the 1890's the university began a drive to becoming a modern research university. this meant expanding enrollment,

developing a graduate school, and making a concerted effort to be involved in a positive way with the entire state of california. the university began to grow in prestige and national reputation, i would say in the 1920's and 1930's and this is when it was embarking on really -- a really ambitious building and growth campaign. in some extents inspired by state universities in the midwest and other parts of the country. but the university really began to engage not just with the state of north carolina, but the region. and those kind of academic programs attracted students from all over the country and they brought a lot of attention to the university faculty and began to develop this reputation as a regional leader, certainly, but also a national leader in public education. the university today is dramatically different. some of the buildings are still here but it is hard to imagine this rustic, isolated place from

200 years ago. what unc is now is a modern, global public university. it is deeply committed to the state of north carolina, but also has ties to facilities all all -- all over the world. it is still located at the heart of the state and is still at the center of public life in north carolina. i think that is something that is really important. you can watch this and other programs on the history of communities across the country at c-span.org/citiesto her. this is american history tv, only on c-span3. >> learn more about the manhattan project this sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on american history tv. had three.we only

we had done the test at alamogordo, then we had the little boy, which we used on hiroshima. and fat man, on nagasaki. little boy being uranium and fat man a plutonium bomb. i think we had one more. and i don't know, as much research as i have done, the plan was. i know grandpa was exhorted by senator russell, i want to say alabama. senator russell wrote a long telegram that said, use those bombs. and if you run out, use conventional bombs. bomb the japanese until there is nothing left. he was very angry and grandpa did not want to do that. and responded to center -- senator russell that he did not like having to use those weapons, did not like the idea of destroying japan. he was taking steps he thought he had to take. his plans beyond -- i know he

was a bit taken aback that the second bomb had been used as quickly as it had. he was then that grandpa took control of the atomic weapons. it was after nagasaki that he took control back from the military and put it in the office of the president where it resides today. his flippant comment was, i don't want some lt. col. to be the person to make the decision. it was a serious weapon and a horrible weapon and he wanted a lot of thought to go into that. i honestly don't know -- maybe paul does -- what the plan was if they had had to use the third one and the japanese had resisted. >> learn more about the manhattan project this sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on american history tv. ♪ >> american history tv on c-span3. exploring the people and events that tell the american story

every weekend. today, at 6:00 p.m. on american artifact, we will tour fort monroe museum. the largest stone fort in the united states. here about how the fort served as a beacon of freedom for enslaved people who were protected at the union stronghold and how it helped former confederate president jefferson davis as prisoner after the war. at 7:00 p.m., a look at fdr, truman, and the atomic bomb on the heels of the 75th anniversary of the bombings at hiroshima and nagasaki. with president truman's grandson. fdr presidential library director paul pharaoh and historian edward l'engle. at 8:00 p.m., on the presidency, ronald reagan, 1983 interview with reader's digest in his 1988 interview with the bbc's godfrey hodgson.

both were conducted from the oval office, with reagan discussing a variety of issues including his hollywood days, the 1983 bombing that killed marines, his vision for u.s.-soviet relations, and the assassination attempt left him wounded. exploring the american story. watch american history tv today on c-span3. >> coming up next, an oral history interview with thomas gaither. he talks about attending flatland college, taking part in the desegregation sit in movement, has worked for the congress of racial equality, and helping to organize the 1961 freedom rides. this interview as part of a project on the civil rights movement initiated by congress in 2009. conducted by this sicilian national museum of african-american history and culture, the american folklife center, and the sev