tv, a look into a supreme court landmark case, plus you versus ferguson which solidify the separate but equal doctrine and provided equal doctrine to the -- scholars look at its impact on education and housing and how we still live with a legacy of the decision. we also look at the life and legacy of the first african americans supreme court justice, there were good marshall. and his impact on u.s. history. watch tonight, beginning at 8 pm eastern. >> weekend on c-span two you are an intellectual. feast

toledo is known as the glass capital of the world because from that one company that came >> came all of these tertiary companies that have built this economy of glass here in toledo. so we are standing in the glass pavilion, which is part of the toledo museum of art. well, the purpose really is to showcase the glass collection, which is one of the significant parts of our collection here. it's actually almost a third of the overall collection here in toledo. it's also one of the larger collections of glass in the united states and the city has a wonderful history of glass both in terms of the industrial contribution in toledo and also in terms of what the museum

presents edward german libby was our founder and edward libbey was the proprietor of the libbey glass company and it was through his ties with the libbey glass company that he made his fortune and because he and his wife had no children. he left that fortune to the museum and he also gave us a large both glass collection and paintings collection edward german libbey. he was born in 1854 the new england glass company, which was the precursor to the lily glass company started in 1818, edward drummond libby's father william langdon libbey became the agent for the new england last company in 1872, and so he learned the glass business from his and so, he learned the glass business from his father and in 1883 his father suddenly passed

away unexpectedly. and he took over the business. in 1888 he brought the libbey glass company to toledo because number one there was natural gas in nearby finley, there was sand available, which is a component of making glass. plus the toledo -- they gave him the site for the factory, as well as site for to build houses. once they were here in toledo, it faltered a bit. workers were not happy because they did not have family around. and it was not a highly developed area. all of the amenities that they were used to in the boston area were not available in toledo, so, he lost a bunch of workers. he went out to west virginia to recruit more workers. and not only did he recruit the

workers that he needed, but he also recruited a man named michael owens. and in those early days, michael owens ran the factory, and libbey was the one who led the marketing campaign. he was able to a places like the world fair in order to put the libbey glass company on the international stage. and the place where he did that first was the 1893 chicago world's fair. and he built this whole pavilion, a whole glass furness, and studio so that from soup to nuts they could see glasses being made. and of course a gift shop at the end and the purchase of pieces of glass. this turned out to be wildly successful. and not only do they have the opportunity -- they also were able to see they

have this wonderful novelty that nobody had seen before which was something called the glass trust. they got this technology where you spun glass threads very very thin so glass is very valuable and you can stretch it and structured and stretch it to the point that it is the thickness of a thread. what they did was they pulled all of these threads and they will get into fabric. then they made this fabric into literally a dress that could be worn. and it is a phenomenal dress. >> we are in front of one of the best known works in our collection. one of the most beloved works in our collection. it almost needs no introduction. this is known as the libbey punchbowl. it was made in 1904 by the libbey company. specifically for the world's fair that was happening in st. louis that a year. oftentimes, companies would make a really grand works for

the fair as a way of showcasing their greatest abilities. and what they could really do. so, this is a pete serve cut glass. it was first blown as well was called a bland -- a blank with -- glass blowers within pass it off to colors, that would've gone through several stages of cutting where they first drew out a design and then you go in and you really make the cuts deep and precise, more precise. the wonderful thing about cut glass is that it has this really brilliant look to it. so, when the light shines on it it reflects and refracts and makes this beautiful brilliant look. >> the type of glass that libby was making here, at that time period, was brilliant cut glass. it is what you think of as that very heavy, sparkly, with the beautiful designs that just

look like diamonds when the light hits it. so, from the 18 eighties until probably the 19 twenties, was the era of brilliant cut glass. that was really the time that i libby was a marketing his wears. they were marketed to the higher class of people. so, they were sold in jewelry stores. and they were in catalogues that people could pick out what's item they wanted. and it would be sent back to the factory to be made for the client. as time went on, a change what libbey glass created. there were a few high-end things that were hand woven, hand-cut, hand engraved, but they quickly switched over to things that would make a profit, and to continue the company going. and so, it became a much more mechanized process in that time in between at the death of mr.

libby in 1925 and then the start of world war ii. when you think about glass in toledo and the phrase, at the glass city, it is because the libby glass company outgrew the, not just a libby glass company, but in illinois to which was a bottle making company. and it grew out of michael owen's is inventions for the automatic a bottle machine company. out of the roots of the levy company comes -- a flat glass company. then there is fiber glass. so, fiber glass was another way of using glass in an industrial setting. so, it grew and it wasn't just the lobby glass company, it was all of these other glass companies that were outcroppings of that one company that came here in 1888.

>> toledo has a long history of glass making both in terms of its industry and then in the 19 when a series of spearheaded professor harvey littleton -- this was a case of works by what we would call pioneers of the early studio glass movement. toledo as a city and the museum played an important role in this watershed moment in the history of studio glass, which really takes us back to the early 19 sixties. in 1962, there was a man who cut ceramics at the university of wisconsin in madison, who really wanted to experiment with glass. he worked with a director then, a man named otto witman, to initiate a series of workshops. and the first one happens in march of 1962. and harvey sent out a letter to

a group of other ceramic professors around the countries and invited them to come to toledo and participate in a glass blowing workshop where they would experiment. and so, they came here and built a furnace. they did not know how to not glass, so they went to a local scientist who worked at a company called john's man field who made fiber glass. and they began to experiment. there was a tire glass blower who worked at libby, he came in and helped them get the hang of what one does with the glass, and they blew things like these three drugs that you see weighing on at the deck here. they might look like they are rather primitive but the idea here is that these people were experimenting with glassmaking. harvey would go on to develop a very sophisticated bodies of

work. and other artists that you see represented in the case were also making glass in the 19 sixties and 19 seventies. so, when harvey had these workshops, he had the successful moment in experimenting with glass in his campus in wisconsin where he set up the first university still see in many people's work the focus on the traditional glass form like the vessel. you also see this tremendous range in which people are working today in very sculptural way and abstract ways. i mean the possibilities with glass of really just kind of loaded in the last 15 almost 60 years from its beginning until now the glass industry has diversified. however the base is still here. we still love our libbey glass and this beautiful glass pavilion that i'm standing in is very much a monument to the

marriage of industry and beauty it's a wonderful testament to our toledo's history and that fundamental history of glass. tonight on american history tv a look into a supreme court landmark case plessy versus ferguson which solidified the separate but equal doctrine and provided legal protection to segregation laws passed by the states. scholars look at its impact on education and housing and how we still live with the legacy of the decision. we'll also look at the life and legacy of the first african american supreme court justice. they're good marshall and his impact on us history watch beginning at 8pm eastern.

here on may 18 1896 the supreme court decided the landmark case plessy versus ferguson ruling that state segregation laws were constitutional and solidifying the separate but equal doctrine it wasn't until the 1954 brown versus board of education decision that the separate but equal doctrine began to unravel in this conference to commemorate its 125th anniversary scholars. look at the decisions impact on education and housing and the challenges moving forward the university of minnesota humphrey school of public affairs provided the video of the symposium, which it c