, the ones on mother earth will have something positive to look forward to in their life. >> you can watch this and other programs on the history of communities across the country at c-span.org/cities tour. this is american history tv only on c-span3. >> grant quertermous talks about his book. about tutor place. she was the great-granddaughter of marcia washington and throughout her life was connected to the important people in the events of 19th century washington, d.c. and the national archives hosted the event and provided the video. david: grant quertermous is the curator and collector of the preservation. as the former curator of the tutor place historic house and garden, he

spent five years researching the family and using the collection to interpret the nearly two centuries of ownership of that landmark property in georgetown and the familial ties to george and martha washington. prior to their arrival, he was the assistant curator of collections at the james madison month earlier, where he worked for nine years on the mansion interior initiative to research and furnish the mansions following architectural restoration. let's hear from grant quertermous, thank you for joining us today. grant: thank you. it's a pleasure to be here this afternoon and i'm going to focus on how britannia's reminiscences were created. let me get my power-point going here. when subscribers to the century

illustrated monthly magazine received their current issue in may of 1890, they would have been presented with a variety of reading options. a new poem by walt whitman, a treatise on agricultural irrigation for the desert southwest by john wesley powell, then director of the u.s. geological survey or a collection of relics that was associated with george and martha washington that was owned. as the article noted, mrs. kennon was at the time the closest living descendant of martha washington. her only surviving great granddaughter. the article described how

britannia lived at tudor place surrounded by a collection of objects that had been used by the president and mrs. washington at the executive mansion they inhabited in new york as well as the one in philadelphia and later during their retirement at mount vernon. the article also described the important archive of family papers that britannia owned including two of the only known letters written from george and martha washington. at the time the article was published, britannia was 75 years old. aside from her importance as a member of custis washington family, she was a lifelong resident of tudor place and the georgetown neighborhood of washington, d.c. during her long residency, she bore witness to many of the significant events that occurred and into the first decade of the 20th century. the article in the century magazine made britannia somewhat of a celebrity, three years later, she was invited to attend virginia day at the 1893 world's columbian expo position where -- exposition where the state of

virginia had an exact replica of mount vernon. britannia was also an early member of the colonial dimes and the d.a.r. the following year, britannia's grandchildren recognized the importance of their grandmother as a source of collective family history, a living link to the ancestry. and for this reason, they began conducting a series of interviews with her prompting her to share recollections of past events as well as her vast knowledge of family history. as she spoke, they began to write, capturing all of the information she provided and the memories exactly as she had recounted them. some of the notes appear on neatly lined notebook paper like these you see here whereas others are on the backs of envelopes or any scrap of paper that was at hand as the notes were being taken and they were later recopied. the compilation of these notes from these conversations form

the manuscript known as britannia's reminiscences that is found in the tudor place archives. the document that i have edited and annotated in my book accompanied by essays where i contextualize britannia and how these were created. but before i delve too far, i want to provide an overview. born in tudor place in 1815, she was the youngest child born. it was through her mother martha that she was descended from the custis washington family, born in 1777, martha was a namesake for martha washington and the only one of her four custis grandchildren to be born at mount vernon. in 1795, 17-year-old martha married thomas peter, eldest son of georgetown's first mayor robert peter. in 1805, thomas and martha

purchased the tudor place property asking their friend to design a suitable house for the 8 1/2 acre property. this is the presentation that he provided to the family and found in the after chive. -- in the archive. this is a good time to mention that thomas and martha peter were ardent federalists, one possible reason why they had the names of columbia, america, and britannia on their three daughters. unlike her older sisters, britannia was educated locally in georgetown, spending four years at the young ladies academy at the convent, the school is known as georgetown visitation. in 1842, britannia married beverly kennon, a naval officer who was command dent of the washington navy yard.

tragically, their marriage was 16 months. during those 16 months, before tanya gave birth to the couple's only child, martha, who she called markie who was only 4 months old at the time of commodore kennon's death. newly widowed, they returned to tudor place to live with britannia's mother. except for a brief period at the on set of the civil war, she made tutor place her home for the rest of her life living there for 67 years. as i mentioned earlier, beginning in 1894, britannia's grandchildren started prompting her to share her recollections of past events and her vast knowledge of family history. this undertaking allowed the grandchildren to commit to paper the stories they had grown up hearing from her about lafayette 1824 visit to tudor place or her recollection of attending parties at the president's house during andrew jackson's administration or about

interactions with notable political figures of the era including daniel webster and vice president john c. calhoun, a neighbor who actually lived across the place from the tudor place property at the estate known today as dunbarton oaks. her daughter was a friend of britannia and they attended dancing class together. another story that britannia recalled or another information that britannia recalled to her grandchildren was her role as a "bridesmaid" in the june 30, 1831 wedding to a young army officer named robert e lee. she talked how the minister got caught in a summer rainstorm and arrived at arlington house soaking wet. he ended up having to borrow a pair of trousers, the reverend was tall and lanky and uncle custis was short and stout. this gave the minister a comical appearance in the trousers whose

hem was a couple inches above his boots. another fascinating person who whom britannia interacted was elizabeth schuyler hamilton. more tumultuous memories are also described in her recollections like her decision to take on union officers as boarders during the civil war in an effort to prevent tudor place to be seized by the federal government. another instance she recalled was the hanging of her cousin and nephew after they were captured and accused of being confederate spies in tennessee in 1863. this image of their execution actually made the front page of harper's weekly on july 4 of 1863. in addition to her own memories and experiences, britannia shared anecdotes and information passed on by her mother. this information recounted

second-hand included the tales of martha's childhood visits to mount vernon and accompanying george washington to the laying of the cornerstone in the -- and someone with whom they frequently corresponded and visited whenever possible. it was britannia's grandson, armistead peter jr., who was the primary force in ensuring that his grandmother's recollections were preserved for later generations of the family. a majority of the notes are in his hand. other notes are also in the hand of his younger siblings, freeland and agnes peter, who both lived with britannia at tudor place until the time of her death in 1911. in addition to his role as the unofficial family historian, armistead, jr. followed his grandmother's example of adding labels to important objects in the family collection, and, like his grandmother, he compiled his

reminiscences in the mid-20th century after he reached old age. his reminiscences contain additional stories and information passed down by his grandmother, as well as other members of the family. now, britannia recognized her grandson's interest in family history and frequently gave him objects from the family collection as well as bundles of old papers that were left in the tudor place attic. he went on to note that britannia said he was the only family member who took the slightest interest in them and she knew that he would preserve and care for them. each time armistead returned to georgetown to visit his grandmother, he continued to conduct oral history interviews with her. after spending the day with her on may 13 of 1899, he confided to his diary a desire to write down all she tells me of the past, the most interesting volume it would make. armistead carefully preserved the notes from his conversations

with his grandmother, and today, they're found within his personal papers in the tudor place archive. when armistead was interviewing his grandmother and was actively engaged in his research on the custis peter family in the final decade of the 19th century, there were few repositories to house public records. thus, his grandmother's memory and the collection of peter family papers at tudor place were valuable and accessible research tools. in much the same way, earlier 19th-century historians such as jared sparks, seen here, and benson lossing saught audiences with britannia's mother, martha custis peter, eager to hear her memories of george and martha washington, and utilized the same archive of family papers. sparks recounted his february 28, 1828 visit to tudor place in his diary, summarizing a conversation he had with martha peter about martha washington's decision to burn much of general washington's correspondence and the eventual discovery of those two surviving letters by mrs. peter behind the drawer in mrs. washington's writing table. prior to her 1911 death and division of her estate,

britannia possessed a large collection of family papers, including the two george washington letters sparks mentioned. she also owned letters of condolence that were received by martha washington from president john adams and other former members of her husband's cabinet. since britannia's father, thomas peter, served as one of the executors of martha washington's estate, the archive held important documents about the settlement of the estate, other correspondence, including some letters between thomas peter and george washington about the sale of tobacco, and letters from britannia's siblings written while they were away at school in philadelphia. in contrast to the archive of family papers and objects that britannia possessed in the 1890's, the bulk of george washington's correspondence was not publicly accessible, as it was held by the state department. originally purchased from george corbin washington, the president's grandnephew, the personal papers and diaries of the president, as well as state

papers from his administration, were not transferred to the library of congress until 1904. as part of the library's institutional reorganization in 1897, the manuscript division was created to house important papers, including those of former presidents, after they came under the ownership of the federal government. and most important for our discussion today, the national archives and records administration was not created until 1934. prior to that time, each government agency or branch was responsible for keeping its own records, and they weren't always stored in ideal conditions, either. washington, d.c. of course had its historical society, but the organization was in its infancy. founded in 1894 as the columbia historical society, its role at the time was to serve as a forum where its members presented papers of historical research, many of which were then published in its journal. up until the late 20th century and the advent of census databases and online

repositories like those i utilized for my research working on this book, individuals like armistead peter, jr. would have needed to spend hours in courthouses searching probate records or climbing into church attics to locate old vestry books and baptismal records. now, don't get me wrong. i've spent my share of time during this project in various archives in tracking down sources and documents, but being able to do a search across multiple census years or find a digital copy of a family member's will certainly speeds up research and makes it possible, especially now in the era of covid, when so many repositories have been temporarily closed. birth and death records found in the leaves of bibles like martha peter's bible also acted as another important source. britannia inherited her family bible in 1854 and added records to it, carefully noting every birth, marriage, and death of an

immediate family member. here you can see where she has added the names of her mother, her brother, and her own daughter. the other thing to keep in mind is that elderly members of the community who served as firsthand witnesses to significant historical events were often sources for historical research. many of the 19th century histories of washington, d.c. and the articles that appear in the early volumes of the historical society's journal contain the same type of personal recollections as those britannia kennon provided to her grandchildren. washingtonians such as christian heinz and marianne, seen here, even wrote and published memoirs of their lives in the nation's capital during the 19th century. in contrast, she appears to have had no interest in writing or publishing a memoir. she frequently granted interviews to local reporters to

whom she recalled visits like lafayette's visit in 1824, but it appears to be written for her grandchildren and other family members as the primary audience. britannia kennon died on the eve of her 96th birthday in january of 1911. according to the terms of her will, the whole estate including her possessions and the 5.5-acre tudor lace property were divided equally between her five grandchildren. -- among her five grandchildren. the siblings also devised a way to equally divide the collection of objects and papers that had been at tudor place since george and martha purchased the property in 1805. i should also say that the obvious solution to splitting the entire state five ways would have been to sell the house and just split the proceeds. fortunately, armistead jr. was able to buy out his siblings share and by forfeiting his share of another family property, he was able to do that. the siblings also divided, like i said, the collection and took an inventory because the collection included furniture,

jewelry, and clothing and decorative objects, including numerous objects formally owned by george and martha washington. to ensure that the collection of washington objects and everything at tudor place was equally divided, armistead, junior and his siblings began the task of inventorying family possessions, each object was given a number and a small sticker and objects associated with george and martha washington were given an additional mount vernon label. the siblings identified more than 500 objects, ranging from martha washington's writing table to a piece of soap that formally belonged to george and martha washington. and, yes, the piece of soap is still in the collection today. the 1911 inventory is an equally important historic document, describing each object in noting its location within tudor place. the nucleus of the collection at tudor place historic garden

today are objects and papers that were selected by armistead , junior during the 1911 division of his grandmother's estate. some of the objects that left tudor place as part of the 1911 division, objects that went to his siblings, have since returned to the museum collection, while others can be found in the collections of the smithsonian's national museum of american history, the philadelphia museum of art and , of course, mount vernon. here you can see a plate from the collection at the philadelphia museum of art from the washington french porcelain service that has its 1911 tudor place inventory number and mount vernon sticker affixed to it. the archive of family papers was equally divided in 1911, although armistead, junior claimed it was the intention for him to receive the bulk of the papers. however, his siblings were adamant that the family papers be divided equally as well. in the division, armistead received his grandmother's account books, a portion of her

correspondence related to his grandfather's military naval career, as that june, 1775 letter from george to martha washington. today, the family archive that existed at tudor place is split among three institutional collections. a portion inherited by armistead , jr. is found in the tudor place archive with mr. peter's papers and those of later generations of the family that lived at tudor place. other portions of the papers are found at mount vernon at the fred w. smith national library for the study of george washington and at the university of virginia at the albert and shirley small special collections library, two institutions that i visited numerous times to utilize those portions of the family archive for my book project. in addition to keeping original notes, transcribing the conversations with britannia

about the family's history, armistead, jr. compiled a handwritten version, seen here, where he anthologized a portion of the notes into a single document. around 1920, he created a typed script version. however, i learned during the process of my project that not all of the notes were included in this anthology that he made, so that was a great process of discovery, finding these additional notes that did not make it into these drafts he compiled. given that many of the reminiscences were committed to paper in or around 1894, when britannia was in her late 80's or early 90's, and was recalling events that had recurred 60 years earlier, her accuracy is impressive. in many instances, receipts or papers found in the tudor place archive or in the other collections i mentioned made it possible for me to precisely date an event that britannia described to her grandchildren

such as the funeral of her maternal grandmother, elizabeth scott peter, receipt for which from the undertaker survives in thomas peter's papers. in fact, one of the best clues to help me determine the date of an event she described during her civil war travels came from materials held in the national archives in one of the collections. the records of the provost marshall at fort monroe, a union -held fort in hampton roads, virginia. to provide a bit of context, britannia and her daughter were traveling when the civil war began in april of 1861. they first settled in stanton in the shenandoah valley of virginia for several months and -- months then moved on to richmond, petersburg and finally norfolk. britannia and markie were able to leave confederate held norfolk aboard a flag of neutral ship that took them to fort monroe. at the fort, all all passengers

-- at the fort, all passengers aboard the boat were registered and luggage was searched. she described the event to her grandchildren. the mention of a mrs. beverly kennon and a ms. kennon helped me establish an exact date for this event, december 6 of 1861. following the inspection, britannia and markie were allowed to remain on the boat which traveled up the chesapeake bay to baltimore. from there, they made their way to their brother's plantation in maryland, and then on january 1 of 1862, britannia returned to tudor place. later that spring is when she decided to take in boarders as part of her effort to prevent the house of being seized which -- the house from being seized, which is an equally interesting facet in the tudor house story given the southern sympathies. as i suggest, when reading this historical document, the reader needs to keep several things in mind.

first, that britannia's primary audience for this document was her grandchildren and other members of her immediate family. thus personal opinions are frequently included and information that was sometimes of a rather gossipy nature makes its way in there. always proper, britannia undoubtedly would not have made some of these comments if her intended audience was more public. second, the reader should also understand that britannia was a product of the time and place in which she grew up, the antebellum south, and that her family owned numerous enslaved individuals and used their labor at tudor place and on their agricultural land in the district of columbia. an unapologetic southerner, britannia herself was an enslaver and due in relative comfort due to enslaved labor force to cultivate tobacco and other crops. britannia's mother received two large bequests of more than 100

dower slaves from the custis estate, the first group in 1795 at the time of her marriage, a number of which were sold the following year in 1796 by thomas peter, noted here in his account book, something that actually displeased george washington and a second group in 1802 after martha washington's death. now, according to 17th century virginia law, any child born to a female dower slave became a slave themselves regardless of the status of their father. they owned multiple generations of custis dower slaves. they were inherited by britannia or her brother at the time of martha's death and remained in their ownership until the eventual abolition of slavery in the district of columbia and maryland. following her husband's death and her move back to tudor place, britannia hired out a number of the enslaved individuals previously used in their household.

meaning, for lack of a better term, other washingtonians literally rented these slaves from britannia paying her monthly for their labor. and in her role, she approved the sale of some 50 enslaved individuals from her late husband in virginia plantation, here is the newspaper advertisement for that sale. "her attitude towards slavery is -- her attitude towards slavery is apparent when she discusses several of the individuals at tudor place prior to the civil war. in an aside about hannah, the daughter of her enslaved lady's maid, britannia recalled to her grandchildren that hannah "belonged to me, of course." her statement is especially interesting because hannah was likely fathered by one of britannia's brothers. so, in addition to being owned by britannia, she was also a blood relative. britannia's attitude toward slavery was clearly one of matter-of-fact acceptance as it was an institution that she had been known and surrounded by for the first five decades of her life. her surviving letters, as well

is information she provided to her grandchildren, suggest that from her point of view, she was kind to the individuals she owned. however, we're only hearing one side of the story. we don't have the perspective of the enslaved on working at tudor place or about britannia as an enslaver. however, it should be noted that she maintained relationships with her former slaves more than three decades after the abolition of slavery in the district of columbia. her account books include notations of charitable gifts to former slaves and in the first passage of her reminiscences, she discusses hannah and the man who would become her husband, alfred pope. both alfred and hannah remained in georgetown following their 1850 emancipation and britannia described them to her grandchildren as a most respected couple. one of the most intriguing relationships of britannia's life was her role of employer to long time tudor place gardener, an escaped slave from virginia who she hired when slavery was still legal in the district of columbia. luckett remained in britannia's

employ at tudor place for more than 44 years until his death in 1906. in 1899, luckett recounted the story of his escape from slavery to armistead peter, jr., who wrote about it in his own reminiscences. while residing on a fairfax county plantation, he and others were seized by the union army as contraband. not wanting to drive the army supply wagon he was assigned to drive, look at, crossing -- drive, luckett escaped, crossing the bridge from virginia into the district of columbia. while walking down the street in front of tudor place, he saw britannia kennon in her garden, called out to her and asked if she needed to hire anyone. it appears their relationship evolved from employer and employee to friendship and a mutual respect garnered by a lengthy association of more than four decades. luckett was called upon and he attended important events including graduations.

and ordinations. upon hearing the news of the birth of armistead peter, jr.'s son, seen here with john in 1898, luckett asked britannia to pass along the message to say he felt proud that armistead has a son and i live long enough to drag him around as i did armistead, jr. despite numerous offers to secure housing for luckett and his family in closer proximity to tudor place, he always declined, stating that his wife preferred where they lived on capitol hill. at the time of luckett's death in 19 026 -- in 1906, britannia is grandchildren wrote an obituary. britannia is quoted in the obituary saying if i was asked to name a fault in john, i could not do so. it's a pity there are not more like him. in the late winter of 1911 when the contents of tudor place were inventoried after britannia's death, the list of objects included a photograph of john, the only photograph in that room

of someone who was not a member of the extended peter-custis family. for all of the wealth of information that britannia provides to her grandchildren in these reminiscences, she is relatively quiet about the transitional period in 1862, 1863 when enslaved labor was no longer used at tudor place and she began employing paid servants. in the district of columbia, the emancipation of slavery occurred in april of 1862, when president lincoln signed the district of columbia is compensated -- columbia's compensation emancipation act. this act provided for compensated emancipation whereby slave owners who made an oath of loyalty to the union and voluntarily emancipated their slaves would receive financial compensation, up to $300 for each individual they emancipated. the act was passed nearly nine months before president lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation on january 1 of 1863. it's not surprising that

britannia kennon's name cannot be found among the surviving records of district slaveowners who sought emancipation as it is doubtful she would be willing to sign a loyalty oath to the issue given her southern sympathies. after she made the decision to take in boarders in 1863, she hired two irish immigrant servants, a maid and cook. another tragic episode that britannia does not directly address in the conversations with her grandchildren is the death of her husband, beverly kennon, when she was 29 years old. commodore kennon was one of the six victims killed when a gun exploded during a firing demonstration on the uss princeton on february 28, 1844. britannia herself was onboard the boat, as were a number of very important individuals, president of the united states john tyler, former first lady dolly madison, a number of other cabinet members, but britannia did not directly witness the explosion that killed her

husband. she was likely below decks enjoying the dinner, the food that was served as part of this day sailing excursion. the funeral for the victims was held two days later in the east room of the white house. one can only imagine the loss that britannia must have felt after just 16 months of marriage. thus widowed, she was also a single parent to her infant daughter. she spent nearly two weeks confined to her room after the loss of her husband. it's possible that the events surrounding the february 28, 1844 disaster on the princeton represented such a dark and painful time of her life that she couldn't even bear to speak of it more than 50 years later. another incident from february of 1904 further illustrates the lasting effect that her husband's death and funeral likely had on her. that month, britannia received

an invitation from president and mrs. theodore roosevelt to attend an event at the white house. this invitation, now in the tudor place archive, does not have a response card, suggesting that she did not return them or attend the event. while she was quite advanced in age by 1904, 89 the previous month she was spry and in excellent health, it's likely she had other reasons for not attending. the event to which she was invited was a reception held in the public rooms in the white house. now, i think it's very possible that britannia associated these spaces, especially the east room, with that very dark time in her life as it was the location for the march 1, 1844 state funeral held for her husband and the other cabinet members who died aboard the princeton. in 1893, "washington post" reporter george alfred townson visited britannia at tutor place. in the course of her interview, he asked her whether a clever

woman should submit to an inferior husband. to this, britannia replied, "i believe that women, by putting themselves forward in the world do not elevate but degrade themselves. it's a woman's part in life to live and serve where she loves." now, while this statement might be construed by historian today as anti-feminist, it further illustrates the mindset in which britannia kennon was raised and the philosophy to which she adhered. the statement is especially ironic considering britannia never remarried after her husband's death in 1844 and during that 67-year period of her widowhood, she was afforded rights and privileges not typically granted to married women during the time. and her son-in-law later recalled that, as a widow, she received no less than three proposals of marriage. britannia kennon has been called the first curator of tudor place and it's a title well deserved. in addition to providing these reminiscences to her grandchildren, she painstakingly

arranged and labeled many of the objects in the family's collection, especially pieces that her parents acquired at the 1802 sale following martha washington's death. during the five decades she owned tudor place, britannia carefully displayed these objects in the house and lived among the various heirlooms and relics. for her daily correspondence, britannia sat at the writing desk formally owned by her great-grandmother, martha washington, something that astounded reporters and writers who came to interview her. this was a piece of furniture that george washington originally purchased in new york city from the outgoing french ambassador. mrs. washington used it at the executive mansion in philadelphia and in mount vernon, leader bequeathing it to her dan taught her -- her granddaughter come from whom britannia inherited it. here you can see britannia's grandson seated at the writing table where it was placed in the tudor place parlor and an image of the piece that is now back in mount vernon's collection. in britannia's reminiscences, she provides a fascinating

insight into life not only in -- on the tudor place property but in georgetown surrounding the estate. she included histories of some of the adjacent houses and properties and some of the fascinating individuals she had interacted with, such as the former empress of mexico who after her husband's abdication and execution, brought her large family to the united states, eventually settling in georgetown. britannia actually recalled that she attended visitation with several of the express's daughters, the former royal princesses. another interesting person she discusses is harriett williams, who, as a schoolgirl of 16, married the much older widower russian ambassador in 1840. britannia also focused on 19th -century washington. she discusses the early infrastructure of the city, describing pennsylvania avenue as a mud hole prior to its paving and going on to discuss several variations of road surface materials used on it

during the 19th century. she also talks about early public transportation simpson -- systems, including the horse-drawn omnibus line that came through georgetown until it was replaced by horse-drawn streetcars in 1862. in the five years i was curator, britannia's reminiscences offered a wealth of information to me about room use within the house and other important facts for interpreting tudor place. in addition to the basic information, she includes more macabre details, such as specific rooms in which various family members passed away. a clue as to which rooms that are no longer bed chambers were formally used as bed chambers earlier in the 19th century. she provided details about the landscape for the tudor place property and what plants were found in the garden and in the conservatory during her childhood. these clues, along with materials found in her papers in the tudor place archive, continue to give

staff a more complete picture of life at the estate during the 19th century. following britannia's lead, each subsequent generation of the peter family did its part to further ensure the survival of tudor place. armistead, jr. conducted a sympathetic restoration of the house in which he addressed several decades worth of deferred maintenance and added modern conveniences such as electricity and bathrooms , bringing the house into the 20th century. his grandmother had largely shunned those modern conveniences, preferring to use gas lighting throughout the house. armistead, junior continued the tradition of making notes about the provenance of objects, including this about the dinner one service that he received from cousin mary lee, whose grandfather had received the service after the washingtons

death in 1802. following armistead jr.'s death in 1960, his only child, armistead peter iii, was the -- became the owner. he was britannia's first great grandson. she was always eager for news of him or when he visited tudor place as a young boy. he in turn was captivated by his great-grandmother, the stories she could tell and the family's long time ownership of tudor place. here they are out in the garden a few months before her death in 1910. this is one of my favorite images because you see britannia, a woman who met lafayette as a young girl with her great-grandson, armistead peter iii, the last owner of tudor place and lived there until 1983. in addition to preserving the house collection and 5.5-acre property, he further documented the family's historic ties to the house and garden with a publication of his book, "tudor place" in 1969. and, as a further measure to ensure the preservation of tudor

place, armistead peter iii had placed the entire 5.5-acre property in a conservation easement with the national park service in 1966. this action ensured that the property would never again be reduced in size as it had been when portions were sold off by britannia in 1854 and 1866. president johnson's secretary of the interior, stuart udall, seen here, called the easement a gift to the nation. in 1972, armistead peter iii wrote about the first time that he came back to tudor place after his great grandmother's death and the division of her collection was completed. then 15 years old, he found the house stripped of every picture, every stick of furniture, everything that i had known and only a lone packing box empty in the center of the living room. i said on this box and looked around me and i believe that at that moment was born the resolve

>> ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children, and our children's children, and as we renew ourselves, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. we will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom. as for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the american people. we will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will not surrender for it now or ever. >> watch both programs sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, five :00 p.m. pacific, on the presidency here

on american history tv. >> this is c-span's new online store at c-spanshop.org. with the 1/17 congress in session -- every purchase helps support c-span's nonprofit operations. shop today at c-spanshop.org. next, stamper university professor clayborne carson talks about civil rights leader martin luther king jr.'s upbringing and chronicles his early career as a reverend. professor carson's class took place at ebenezer baptist church in atlanta, where martin luther king and his father were both pastors. the class was part of a three week seminar that included field trips to visit civil rights historic sites. this is about an hour. mr. carson: who is martin luther king? when we look at martin luther king, there is one side of him that is a famous indivl.