our cities' tour visits richmond, virginia. for five years we traveled to cities across the u.s. to explore their literary and historic sites. watch more of our visits at c-span.org/citiestour. >> the master scans the would he

haven score of several harmonies before a note is started and nature is now pondering the title symphony of spring as yet unheard. this is a poem by an american et buried in hollywood cemetery. we are anticipating the coming of spring. now, many of the trees are dormant, but soon they will break forth with tremendous color and life. hollywood cemetery was established in 1847 just beyond the city limits of richmond, virginia. the founders of hollywood hired a landscape architect to design and lay out the grounds. and the growth of hollywood trees on the grounds and he transformed this wooded area nto one of the most greatest

rural cemeteries. but the middle of the 19th century, america's cities and towns had grown to industrialization and the city church yards and burying grounds had become overcrowded. the rural cemetery was created outside the rial city limits and provide park space for the citizens of the city. john knotman came to hollywood and found this area to be very damp and built an english landscape and the trees he found he found native are hollies, poplars and elms. he added many more trees and creates a english landscape.

the rural cemetery is a place for the living. it is a park. is a garden and outdoor art museum. there are many notable tenants resting in hollywood including presidents, supreme court justice ms. esty:, generals, captains of industry and writers and many of their stories are told through the artwork and symbols on theirmon youments. as we walk today, we'll understand why hollywood received visitors from the world over. we are now in the confederate section of hollywood. originally, this was city land. this was not part of hollywood. but in 1861, the confederate government confiscated for the burial of confederate soldiers.

the president of hollywood at the end of the 19th september richmond is a. they are representatives of all the late confederate states. there are approximately 18,000 confederates buried. 3,000 of them were removed and brought to hollywood from the getties burg. all of the graves were marked with wooden headboards. some of the families are coming back and marking with a new military-style stone. the centerpiece is the pyramid. it was built in 1869. it's 90 feet tall and made of james river granite and you will notice there is no mortar. this is a dry lake. and the hollywood ladies who had

this built wanted this to be the first thing you see when u came to the grounds and forany years it was because when itas built in 1869 there were no trees out here. lso buried is general george pickett.

d two years later fataly wound. s monument an egyptian style monument.

and grave marker and means that person was a very fruitful and successful life. he was only 31 years old when he died. .is wife is buried here and some members of the stewart family continued the 19th century family tradition. some years will come out and find a tent with the family members having their family reunion. xt to the grave is ellen glassgow and won a pulitzer and she was a student of the enlightment and wrote about the oppression of women in the south. and also very critical of the alse sent meants of southern

society. richmond didn't read her book and she was disappointed because she was worried that richmonders were going to lose in the life of the mind and said richmonders partygoers.of e are at the grave site of a writer who won a pulitzer prize. about a book called military tactics and was stud yesterday when they planned hworld war ii campaigns.

and he is buried next to his wife. here are some of the maintenance going on. all of the trees are maintained and they are doing a little bit of maintenance on the trees. that's the noise we are hearing in the background. artwork are cast iron, stone and glass. d -- stained and this was a dog that was cast in baltimore. it was placed here in 1865 to prevent its confiscation by the confederate government and sent down to the treasurer and melted down. during the civil war, the confederate government confiscated all of the iron work in the city of richmond.

people had fences around those homes, those were sent down and melted down. all of the church bells in the city were surrendered. one church bell survived because one of the parishners paid in gold to save that gold. mr. reeves didn't want thgold to be melted down. dog.r. reeves placed the and his daughter died of scarlett fever and only 2 1/2 years old. is is a cradle stone and reinforces the sweet met for of death. we will see tokens of member brans. a scallop shell which is a pilgrimage of our life and remembrance stone.

this comes from the desert culture. and that tradition has evolved into a tone of remembrance and sometimes we will find a coin left from the grave. at represents us to go the underworld. we are at the grave of jefferson davis and his family. jefferson davis was a graduate of west point, a mississippi cotton planter and member of the united states house of representatives, a u.s. senator, secretary of war to franklin pearce and the only president of the confederacy. he was married. his wife was from the north. her grandfather was four times governor of new jersey but she was from a large family and one of nine children and her father

had difficulty supporting the family. so when she was 18, she was engaged to jefferson davis. she was 18 years her senior. they had four sons and two daughters. none of the sons lived to their adult years. the two daughters is winey. she is the youngest, the first daughter of the confederacy and march rett. margaret is the only child who married and had children and her descendants continue to be buried. jefferson davis died in new 1893 and reburied in after mrs. davis chose this site. the first saturday in june each year, the sons of confederate veterans celebrate the birthday

ith cannons, guns and flags. we are finishing at the president's circle. the centerpiece is james monroe. he was born in virginia. had a horm near charlottesville and was a veteran of the american revolution. the tomb of james monroe has been out for a year and-a-half being restored. assembled in 1858 and over the years, it had deteriorated and had to be taken down because 40% of it had to be recast. we are watching the re-adem bladge. this was designed by a richmonder and originally built

in philadelphia. james monroe, our fifth president, was re-buried in hollywood in 1858. he would die 27 years earlier and buried at marble cemetery in new york. the general assembly of virginia was trying to honor our statesman by bringing him back to virginia. they gave his permission and in a very large ceremony, july, 1858, monroe was removed from marble cemetery in new york and reburied in hollywood cemetery. untyler is buried. he was the 10th president of the united states. ile he was the president, he read an impeachment speech. he thought he was too supportive of states' rights. tyler renounced his american

citizenship and three weeks before he was died he was ected to the confederate citizenship. the state put up a small headstone and the federal government erected themon youments that we have at his site. this is a shaft that has the bust of tyler at the top there is an urn surrounded by two eagles and on the right side of the monument is a figure of memory which is called a laurel leaf and they are symbols. and on the left side there is a figure of the republic with the seal of virginia on there and pheres representing authority and government. he was born in charleston

county, virginia. died in richmond and left his home along the james and moved to richmond so he could work for the confederacy. all seasons of the year, visitors can be seen walking, taking photographs, sketching and painting the landscape and enjoying the landmarks. we renew our acquaintance with our men and women of american history. the men and women who built our ities, state and our nation. >> we are inside a working public building that hosted the long elft legislature. i think in terms of

architecture, since we are the first american state capital to open after the receive nutionary role and roman style building in the modern era, its influences on county courthouses and public buildingsnot can underestimated. in fact, i heard our historian describe the buildings in washington, d.c., as the sequel for the virginia state capital. we started off with our first political center in jamestown which is the oldest english-speaking settlement in north america. and there were multiple buildings. and then when we moved to williamsburg, we built a capital which burned down in the middle of the 1700's and rebuilt the

second one and second capital in williamsburg that we left behind. and interestingly, mr. jefferson, who introduced the bill to relocate to richmond, he was serving as governor and got to oversee the process. if you think of the capital as anes a in architecture, it was thomas jefferson. we were getting ready to break ground in richmond in 1785, jefferson had left state service and was american ambassador to france and was living in paris. and authorities reached out to jefferson asking for his help as absentee advocate for a building and turned to the architecture. was able to meet with a

french architect who was a published authority. and thoseoe men got together. and i like to think of jefferson as the author. and he followed the advice of people who studied the architecture of and particular quit and put the capital on top of the hill and became the centerpiece and the first thing you would see that would make an impression on you would be this temple on the hill and faces south with a great view back in

the old days of the james river. and the front of the building has eight columns that are over 40-feet tall and try and did you the nd portico and southport cow of our virginia state capital is like a piece to all virginia. the records we have today are incomplete, but we know in the course of 13 years of construction, there was a combination of free labor and slave labor involved in making the capital. skilled and unskilled workers, local art is ands and traveling art is answer some of whom who worked on the virginia capital went north to washington, d.c., and became working on the united ates capitol. when you have a good building that is accumulating good

history, you don't give up on the building. for over 100 years we used the capitol as first built and it was a roman building. by 1904, we realized the building was getting old and needed renovation plus it was too small for 20th century urposes. we gave it a new roof and front steps and we added two balancing classicically styled wings. the west wing became a senate wing and east wing became the house wing. we are presently located in the 1906 era entrance hall. and before the 21st century, the general public could come up and enter through some bubble doors that are in front of me and walk

down the entrance hall and be greeted by george washington himself that was placed here in the center of the capitol. it's the only full-length statue of washington that he posed for. after the rolution, he was 53 yeerings old and voluntarily resigned to go home to private life and the statue that they e is the most accurate depiction of george picks. there are marble busts of the vay-born presidents. there is a statue of lafayette. and he was fighting on our side against the british. a side our building, we have

temple style a-line roof. once you are inside the building and enter the hall of presidents, you see a dome. and the dome inside our building is a skylight and above that an additional skylight on the outside roof. we are now inside the old hall of the house of delegates. usually referred to as the old house chamber. this room is filled with memories, rich and wrare and filled with statues that honor virginians who were legislators, jurists, leaders, military, scientists, inventors and so on. in this room, this is where the public pulse of the capital came

to life when the house of delegates convened here. nd for 116 years, this was the historic settings that would shape the destiny of virginia and the virginia state capital and constitution of the united states were bosh in 1788 and the constitution is just a few months older than the virginia state capital. the america can revolution put rich nond monday on the map. then in 1861, the american civil war put richmond on the map as a new national capital for the confederate states of america. and the people of virginia took a long time to decide whether or not to secede from the union. we are standing in the room where virginians changed their minds and voted to secede from

the union. once that decision was made, the confederate congress was brought to richmond from alabama and for the next four years between july 1861 through march of 1865, the virginia state capital was multi tasking and hosted not only the meetings of the general assembly and meetings of our legislate to tors but the confederate congress. the american civil war came to an end right here in rich nond in spring of 18 of 65. the confederate government decided to aevacuate the city and they both pulled up stakes and left richmond in a hurry and in the confusion of these evacuations of the federal government and virginia state government, orders were set to

selective fires at government warehouses to destroy naval property and purn their property behind them. the selective fires set by confederate soldiers got out of control and within hours, you had a large porti of the financial and commercial and industrial waterfront going up in flames. the descriptions of the great re of 1865 were harrowing sm the historic capitol building nd the governor's mansion were situated were here in this park and protected the buildings from the raging fires that came up to the south border of the capitol square. when union troops came in in

1865, they were able to come into the grounds of capital square and replaced virginia flags and confederate flags with united states flags and the virginia state capital became the perfect office building. the federal troops wasted no time for organizing volunteering firefighting companies to stop the flames. there is a historical irony that confronts people. on the 17th of april, 1861, this the room where elected virginia leaders chose to secede from the union. even years later on the 7th of april, a new group of virginia leaders put their finishing

touches on a new vaconstoogs written during constitution. and the purpose was to get virginia re-admitted into the union. whatade this constitutional convention interesting was for the very first time you had a buy-racial constitution. the suffrage had been extended and there had been an election in 1867 among the white and black male voters of virginia to decide should we hold a constitutional convention and get virginia back into the union. on the power of the enfranchised black vote, that question carried in the affirmative and possible for white and black men to craft a new constitution. and there were 104 people who

sat here in this very chamber, 24 of them were african-americans and once they finished their handy work on a new constitution, 10 of those african-american dell gats went on to service in the house or the senate in the virginia legislature. it was all over the newspapers and full range of opinion that was happening. but the results are important and indisputeable. when the constitution was submitted to congress, it was approved and in january of 1870, virginia was re-admitted to the federal union over the signature of then president grant. when people come inside the hall of the house, they are struck by the presence of an unusual object and staged front an center. virginia has an honest to goodness an authentic mace.

the mace is made of english sterling silver and 24 carat-gold finish and made back in the 1830's and presented to the house of delegates in 1974. and in keeping of the tradition of maces, we deploy our mace during each day of session on the house of delegates. sergeant of arms of the house will come into this chamber and put on white gloves and take the mace out of its display case and carry it and make a left turn and head down to the east wing where the house of delegates convenes and the speaker gives the nod and the sergeant at arms holds up the mace and he says the virginia house of delegates is now in session.

right now, we are standing on the floor inside the virginia house of delegates' chamber. we are located in the east wing of the virginia state capital. and ever since 1906, this meeting room has been the meeting place. and the lawmakers in the house of delegates have a two-year term and eligible for re-election. and this is the room where we have joint sessions of the virginia general assembly and have one every year where the governor presides and delivers his state of the commonwealth address. >> and to thpeople of virginia who are with us tonight or watching from home, thank you for the honor of serving as this commonwealth 72nd governor. >> that's an interesting praise. we have a state of the commonwealth address in virginia because we refer to ourselves

officially in our constitution as the commonwealth. get asked questions about that all the time. a commonwealth according to webster editionary is a form of form that relies on the consent of the people and on rule of law and law making for the greater good for the population at large. every year in january, we will have a joint session. 40ur78 senators are given seating. 100 members of the house are seated here at the desks and their chairs and we listen to the presentation of the governor of virginia. this is also the go-to room for other legislature when we receive things from important countries of the world. held a joint session to receive sir winston churchill and made very well received

address that was just two days after his very famous speech in missouri about an iron curtain descending on europe after world war ii. > we can stand together. wener defense of those which hold dear, not only for our benefit, but that is the honor and happiness of long generations of men. >> and more recent years, we ha received in joint seson margaret thatcher. >> mr. speaker, mr. president, governor allen, members of the general assembly, thank you for that splendid reception. it is one one rarely receives in

country. >> first female prime minister united kingdom. and her majesty the queen of great britain was here and gave a very well received speech. when you look up, you see the original 1906 oval skylight. gold metal paint and you see the use of what's known as -- the different panels hat are pan ellings or flocked velvet that have been carefully paneled and you see in the house a sort of navy blue and

gold-colored-scheme. and the senate of virginia in the opposite wing has similar decorations but they distinguish themselves with the burg undifficult and gold. we have moved through the rotunda of the capital and west wing of our willeding. this is a chamber that is used by the senate of virginia. we have 40 members of the senate who start every january. our legislature is a part-time legislature and in odd-numbered years, we have a short session. they don't have to pass a state budget. and even number years we pass a state budget and on the floor of the actual senate chamber and surrounded by op pew lens. the walls and the ceilings are not guilty of understatement.

the style and decor and color scheme has been restored to resemble its appearance. when people come into the senate chamber on guided tours and see an jofeal skylight which is part of the 1906 design and see small and painted paintings standing for virginia in each corner and hey see the 1908-1910 wall designs with the dutch metal paint. they will see plass terse wrapped around the chamber. if they are coming to the chamber during session, they wouldn't be on the floor but they would be in a spectators' gallery. there is a circular gallery for he publi

and jefferson wan people to comeo this capital building and he said wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government. this chamber began in 1906 and continues functioning today. there is 1906 wooden dais with an elevated platform for the clerking staff and the lieutenant governor who presides over our senate. and our members of the senate have a four-year term and eligible for re-election. they represent upwards of 200,000 constituents per senator. and one of the interesting features which states back to 1619, it has always been by conscious design a part-time legislature. is chamber in terms of its

visual takes you back to the 20th century. it is a valid place every single year when the lawmakers come to do the public business and i'm remembering that we had in this chamber lieutenant governor by the name of lawrence douglas wilder, who as lieutenant governor presided over the senate and ran for successfully the governorship of the commorn wealth of virginia. in the 1990's, outside on the grounds of capital square, he was sworn in as the first elected african-american state in the nation. >> i will support the constitution of the united states. >> that i will support the constitution of the united states. >> and the constitution of the commonwealth of virginia.

and i will faithfully and impartially discharge all of the duties incumbent upon me as governor of virginia and will to he best of my ability. so help me god. >> whe wilder took his oath of office and made an inaugural speech it was known that he had been a descendant of slaves in the 19th century and had this evolution within his own family of people living in slavery to people assuming the chair of the governorship. the virginia state capital is a symbol of not only virginia, but of virginia people that served

in public service and of virginia principles that have gone on to inform american principles of self-government. and you walk into this building every january and you feel the pulse with its newer legislative wings and brand new underground extension that welcomes visitors to the capital. the capital itself is on one level a pretty good fine arts museum with a sizeable collection of paintings and of consult -- consultp tur and a civic classroom. we get 118,000 visitors each year coming to see the capital building. they are coming to see it for all reasons. they want to see it for a historical and civics education

and some of them are coming here to participate in self-government and all of them will gain a hope in appreciation or a time-tested workplace for enduring american principles and some of those he geared in the virginia going all the way back to to on jamestown. we have been exercising the rights and responsibilities. for nearly 400 years and that's something worth wooching. -- worth watching. >> welcome to the virginia historical society. this is our long-term exhibition that covers all of virginia from pre-history to the present day. this is an exhibit to show

visitors how virginia plays into the broader narrative into national history. a are going to look at 300-year-old piece which is the collision of two cultures that make up the early cultures. is piece is european and native american cultures. but in reality, the history of man has beentation is from 16,000 to 20,000 years. the can ue we have here is the way in which these two cultures sometimes clash with one other and fail to see eye to eye but we are learning from one another. so the can ue is made in the traditional fashion where you have a log and it's traditionally scraped out by

setting a small fire within the log and the small fire is controlled and the ash is -- and the type of it would have been accessible to the indians. what is unique, the markings you are able to see within the interior of the can ue, they were made by a sharp tool. and these markings were made by a metal tool, which would not have been available were representative of a native american culture in virginia. this collision between european settlers that arrived in the early 1600's and the native-americans that were here for centuries before. we moved into one of the main galeries into the history of virginia and at the moment where

we have the arrival of the third group of people in virginia representing a very distinct third culture. so we are looking at a pair of shack wills that represent enslaved freezing rain-americans and this is a turning point. so many subsequent decisions and events in history are tied to this decision to invest in slave labor. tobacco is an industry, a massive amount of labor to basically succeed and what happens is that servants that initially populate these plantations are transitioned out because of the lower costs for that type of worker. so these shack wills represent these people that become linked to virginia history and represent a continue youation of

this -- continuation of people merging their culture with virginia culture. this will pile of metal is actually a fragment of what was called jack of plate arm our. individual metal plates that would have been cross jumper that would have been worn as a shirt of arm our and what has happened because this has been jub covered from underground and the cross eroded away and these metal plates are fused. what this tells us about the fe of colonial people of virginia, these people were afraid of attack. these are individuals who were coming to virginia with the idea of establishing a new life and investing in a new economic

future and people who are conscious of the tensions between the english settlers and the nat i have people of virginia. and this and all the other evidence we have on the wall is the material culture we have is to understand. everything from ointment pots to farm tools, even to chamber pots that would have been used by the colonyial people of virginia. we have moved into the receive revolution period. this was a period in which we were among the front lines of opposition to the british crown. i'm standing next to one of the pieces that is one of the most beloved by the visitors. these are patrick henry's

glasses. and these are here as part of the display that features pieces are called the voice, pen and sword. . easily three >> what is really lovely about artifacts like patrick henry's individuals like patrick henry or george washington become almost like untouchable figures when we look at them in history. when you think about something as human as a pair of glasses that sat on patrick henry's face, it made him seem like a three-dimensional person. especially when we are working with visiting student groups, this makes it personal. this was not a cause that they supported lightly. this was a cause that carried

with it the commendation -- condemnation of being a traitor to the crown. tois one of the best tools turn patrick henry into a individual that lived and breathed. we are sitting next to one of the only artifacts to be sound -- found in italy after the civil war. this is a powerful symbol of what slavery look like. -- looked like. this was sent to people in new york to show new yorkers what it meant to be living in a place where slavery existed. the institution of slavery had spread into all corners of the nation in the sense that it was a debate that was being hotly discussed. you had a strong population of abolitionists and proslavery supporters that were contentious late arguing over whether or not

slavery should still be a part of our nation's reality. at theu are looking public debate about slavery, sometimes, it is easy to forget the actual human reality of being a slave person and virginia. this was in portsmouth virginia. this is where individuals would have been chained. they would've had their backs struck with someind of leather strap for a punishment. virginia, while it was not a place with the highest population of slave laborers in the nation, it was the hub for the domestic slave trade. this was home to numerous auction houses in which a person slave hoping to buy laborers would come to richmond

with the purpose in mind of buying these people to take back to their respective plantations. the artifacts that we have in this section focus on that industry which profited very much in the mid-1800s from the domestic slave trades. there is a cane here that was owned by a slave auctioneer. the person who actually won an auction. the column that was below it would have been worn by a slave in virginia. these pieces really do highlight the humanity of an institution that was indelibly late to virginia positive economy. virginia's economy. it was a major part of how virginia saw itself in the 1800s. we are looking at a sword.

unlike robert e. lee who as aved in his identity virginia first, thomas believed in his identity as an american first. they gave him this sort for his service in the seminal and mexican wars. and mexican wars. when the civil war broke out, he wrote on to his family asking or this sort to be sent to him. he was a well-regarded military figure and felt it was his duty as someone who had taken an of to uphold the constitution and defend the nation to basically report to duty to serve the nation as a human army.

rebecca in no uncertain terms that he would be receiving his sword and consider them no longer related. theirhey were dissolving relationship with their brother over the issue of the civil war. this is a reminder of how divided the nation was at this important turning point in our history. also, how divided virginia was. it is the home to the confederacy. likewithin a city richmond, the population might clash over the confederacy or the union. you see the stars that robert e. lee had on his collar the day that it was signed. he cut the stars off and kept them as a keepsake. a major turning point in virginia positive story. -- virginia's history.

virginia saw both massive forward movement in terms of the liberties afforded to enslave virginians. also, it steps backward into a system of segregation that essentially divided virginia's population into two groups. we are looking at a purse that was used by the funeral home company. ward is sometimes referred to as the harlem of the south. this is an example of the two parallel economies. the white population that was her at the white only businesses and companies that existed in a place like richmond and the black-owned businesses that serve the african-american communities.

because of jim crow laws and segregation, these economies were essential. people like maggie walker. specifically for the black community. even if an african-american wouldn't be ableo be served by the white companies or infr existed, they would be some type of in place to allow them to save their money somewhere, purchase anything they need or even use it in their own newspaper. we are looking at a very enthusiastic group of ladies here who have just gone to the state capital to petition the state government for the right to vote. many people seem to forget that women were not franchised -- in franchised with the right to vote. virginia women were very local -- vocal about their desire to have the right to vote.

in many cases, virginia women who supported suffrage were in the minority in their community. the united states was very enthusiastically behind the movement toward women's rights to vote. despite the fact that it passes nationally in 1920, virginia doesn't decide that they want to ratify that until 1952. the motion that virginia women are genteel southern ladies who don't want to be troubled with politics sort of reinforces this notion that suffrage for women isn't an important virginia priority. more women would address that we see here. it is generously unloaded to us from the valentine's day using here in richmond. she would be able to counter that argument with quite a great number of arguments of her own. that is part of why pamphlets that we have on display here explained the reasons for why

women should have been given the right to vote. they were such an essential tool for the 20th century separatist. ists.ffrag they were spreading ideas among large group of people. into the 20th century. we're looking at lapel pants that were owned by one of virginia's civil rights heroes. onwas a lawyer who will take one of the brown versus board of education cases which asked the highest court in the country whether this was unconstitutional. was frommebody who virginia, richmond, he thought it was an important cause for him to lend his services to. the supreme court decision to integrate schools was partially tied to his and other lawyers's

contributions to the supreme court cases. tois someone who continued serve the african-american community in virginia for the rest of his life. this right of stuff that you see in front of you is our made in virginia law. this represents people, ideas and things that were made in virginia in the 20th and 20 for centuries. virginia asthink of a place that relies on things like tobacco or agriculture to keep its economy afloat. in fact, virginia has invested in a very wide diversity of industry. also, the start of the 21st century. everything from recording from virginia.lf the movie and television industry has grown rapidly here in the commonwealth. nasa's presence here with places like langley,

language station. aluminum, this is a household name to many americans. it is iconic virginia industry. it is a fun opportunity to look at all of these fun products. you can think about how virginia as a place has changed in terms of its identity over the last century. and have virginians themselves might look different from the way they may have looked half a century in the past. the notion of virginia as a place that will close people all over the world. it lays back to this notion in the colonial. that virginia is a place that has accepted people for centuries. it is a fun place to look around thatee different things might be a thing you would find

in your own backyard. >> we are very privileged to be in a house that was destroyed to the way it looked around the 1930's. the owner has lived here around 30 years or so. the pieces we will see are a reflection of maggie walker and her journey to being one of the of aknown women, leaders fraternal organization and one of the first women to open a bank and the first african-american woman to be a bank president during the height of jim crow segregation. here is the home of maggie l walker, restored by the national health service.

to 19 are before, however, she lives in his home beginning in 1905. after purchasing the house in 1904. she took time to have the house renovated and to take it vantage of the most modern conveniences. to do these kind of changes is -- kind of changes throughout. they prefer to show what could be done with determination, perseverance, education. if you work hard, you can achieve the same kind of things that maggie walker did. house, come into the when you come to the fourier and into the parlor, the front room here, when you look around, you see a big piano. you see furnishings that you

might not have expected. they belonged to an african-american woman. what she would do in this issue would show what could be done if you apply yourself. she wasn't born wealthy at all. whomother was a laundress was raising maggie and her aunt, her younger brother johnny on her ow andstepfather was killed from that, maggie walker had to work hard alongside her mother to help make ends meet. her mother made the point to make sure that her daughter maggie got a great education school.the richmond she graduates from that school in 1883 and then goes on to be a teacher. her whole career is cut short because of the loss in virginia. single ind to be

order to be a teacher. she had to leave the teaching profession when she got married and all the training that she had gotten. she redirects all of her energy, all theer knowledge, knowledge of working with young children, her work with young children to direct that toward her organization. that she begins to rise and become well-known as a leader in richmond and also across the nation. luke, the order of saint she takes the head role in that. it is the grand secretary of the independent saint luke. she tries to mull the organization so that it is one that benefits women.

mainly black women. as a black woman herself, she knew exactly what it was like to be hand in by people who were prejudiced against you because you are a woman and people who are prejudiced against you because you were black. that became her life's work. using the tools that were available to her, economic tools, create a black bank, great opportunity for working at a place that white society would not have allowed you to work. we are very fortunate that we items here that belong to maggie walker and her family. when you go through that, what you are seeing is that about 90%

to the family. you get to the grand piano that her children were play. walker'sot of mrs. story isn't -- is the hardship that she had been facing her life. she had many personal tragedies throughout. one that i would like to focus on is the story of this rolling chair. this chair is based off a portrait that you see on the wall just above and behind it. you see mrs. walker sitting and working very hard. you can mother tell that in that photograph, she is paralyzed from the waist down. suffered from consequences of diabetes.

fleet -- theost use of her legs. that did not stop her from working as hard as she ever did. portrait, shethat was writing her speeches, keeping a smile on her face. she was inspiring others to work as hard as they ever had. she had the chair adapted with the foot rest on the bottom and also handles. let's go to the next room across the way. one whoalker was inspired others. there is time when you need inspiration yourself. the one we are coming to now is the library. she brought from a physician. he used it as his office. his examining office. the maggie walker over the years

turned it into a place of study and reflection and inspiration. several hundred volumes of books -- inal to maggie walker it shows how much she enjoyed reading. if you look up a little further, the one with the blue-ribb is e one with the diploma. for she got married. it imaggie mitchell. she had two sons russell and another one who graduated from

the school as well. she graduates from shell university. here are some of the recognitions that people had given her over the years. one thing that strikes people and they walk in this room for the hundreds of photographs. these photographs show people that mrs. walker worked with. i like to look at this photograph of this poster here. 101, color people. 1905, 101 liters, black leaders and mrs. walker is part of that group. here she is. right beside booker t. washington. .nly one of 10 women

that maggie walker was being recognized for the work she was doing in the community. particularly because she started the savings bank in 1903. that is after becoming the first african-american woman to become president of a charter bank. that was the only thing that she did. she was writing, reading. she was forced to become the editor of the newspaper. the same carol. people and the organization were communicating with each other. i like to think of her sitting at his desk. we have photographs of her sitting at the desk, writing.

she was reflecting in this very room. herwould often have daughters come to visit with her. the places they would go would be right in the dining room. we are very fortunate that the house has come to the national park service group -- through mrs. walker's family. they were keeping things in place because she knew this would be a museum. she knew it would be a museum honoring her mother-in-law. transfer the home to the national park service. 1978, it becomes a national park. we restored it. opening the house to the public in 1985.

as they were working on restoring the home, we were able to speak with mrs. walker's grandchildren and get inside about weathermen murders about being in this home with their grandmother. the diningere in area, we can see how formally it is laid out. we can recall that they are coming here for special occasions. for holiday meals. and how they could gather right in here. not only as showplace, it was a family home. let's go upstairs to mrs. walker's room. around, we can see mrs. walker's room. she had major renovationdone in 1922. she turned this area into a

sitting room for herself. there is the bathroom there. she would've had to figure out a way to avoid all of those stairs. she was coming in from the back of the house. they would bring her upstairs and she would come through the sitting area here. then into her own room. mrs.firm really reflects walker and all of her causes and interests and her passions. room,ou look around the you can see on the walls, autographs. they are not just photographs, they are photographs of people very close to her four grandchildren. there are programs offer some muscle, of her mother on the mental peace there. my favorite image of maggie walker is at saint luke.

wall, herk around the deep faith is a way that she could keep going when times were rough. also, when obstacles were coming from all sides. had a fortuneso close. she could go out and be very close to her community. porch, the front of the house, she could look out at her beloved community. she was the grand matron of the department. up as she even stepped leader of the entire organization, she started the organization division of youth. when she was more confined to home and cannot get out to see

the parade, they rerouted the parade to come under her window so that she could still be a part of it. maggie walker dies here in her in 1934.mber 15 she was surrounded by her family. she fell into a diabetic,. to onemunity pours out maggie walker and to honor maggie walker. everyone came out to the funeral of maggie walker because of the impact she had on their lives. she was a sample of determination, perseverance, she showed that throughout. people were an example, not only here in richmond, not only in virginia but throughout the

death,states after her maggie walker's organization did achieve what she wanted them to do. havef her last words was faith, have courage and carry on. that is what they did do. on, theyaper cap going kept going on until the late 1990 80's -- click next and 80's. the bank is the one that is the most incredible. the bank that she started in 1803. this is the bank that she tried to lower with two other black on during the great depression. they continue to go on for 100 years. when visitors leave this place, i would hope that the main thing they come out with is a feeling of inspiration.

that is what i walk away with. if maggie walk and her mmunity, the people who were in this community, if they can survive some of the things that were thrown at them in their -- , i could do it too. >> this is an iron company that operated in richmond on the banks of the river in 1830 72 1957. the greatest claim to fame was the chief of our. -- as producing

richmond had a lot of infrastructure that no longer existed from battlefield hospitals to develop this themselves. few remaining the structures that exist before the civil war, played a prominent role and existed for decades afterwards. 1800 andally dates to southeastern wales in the united was the there ironworks, it was one of the main suppliers of iron for the british industrial revolution. wantedchmond businessman to begin in richmond, they dayacted them over at her or two come here and design their rolling mills and their ironworks here. had as who started it good imagination but he wasn't a very good businessman, the company was founded in 9037 was running into financial trouble. they hired a native. he was brought in in 1841 as a

purchasing agent, a sales manager but also running a lot of their financial books. within a couple of years, he had started to lose the entire operation from the stockholders. the areahe purchased out right. richmond was a small industrial town. it had some industry. richmond grew as an industrial 1860,the point that by this was one of the third-largest i worked in the state. richmond was the industrial of of what would become the southern confederacy. the primary workforce where the welshman who came over to help designer. were --so they workforce was also industrial slaves. sometimes the owners would purchase slaves in their name. sometimes the company as a

corporate entity would on their own slaves. they had foreigners and some irishmen working here alongside native born american white and enslaved african-americans. in a lot of ways, this was a family operation. everything from the owners of the site. it was in ownership of the site from 18 49 -- 1849, up to the civil war when it became a company run by stockholders again. sonr he died in 1892, his archer anderson took over and died in 1918, his son took over. it stayed in the family as far as anderson goes. ,fter a while, the workers you'll truly ledges and you see the same names over and over again. -- theily in particular patriarch of that family came here in the early 1850's.

his last descendent retried in 1953. was just one example of the family fest a few generation after generation. originally, they were making small iron implements. the railroad industry was just arti in america at the time. they were starting to make railroad spikes. in 1841, when this man got here, , heg to his connections talked the stockholders into purchasing the equipment needed. they start producing them for the federal government. from 18521855, they produced 40 locomotives here. by 1860, the ironworks words the biggest i was in the southern state. it was the largest employer in the richmond area.

the industrial of of the southern state. that was one of the reasons why the confederate government relocated the capital from montgomery to richmond to be close to all of the industry and infrastructure that richmond offered at the time. when the civil war actually they refused.ally they saw him as a capable manager. largely switched over to a wartime production of canon shell,d shot and anything that the southern railroads needed to keep the war effort going. he faced several challenges during the civil war to carry on their operation successfully. for one case, you have a lot of the skilled workers being drafted in the confederate army. unionr problem was as the address, a lot of the routes werethey were able to keep

quickly trembling. early on in the war, they actually lost a good source of tin and copper in order to make bronze cannons. work, thef the ability to ship the product out was affected by the inventors in the union army as far as territory goes. some parts of the canal were able to ship supplies. the southern railroads were a major link to the southern states. as the union advanced, it blew apart of the canal. it looked part of the railroad, and the structure of the south. they were fighting the civil war. in march of 1865, trigger ceased making operations. in april, when the union army was advancing, he was spared any

destruction. windows were blown out. by and large, the machinery was able to resume operations immediately after the war ended. joseph reed anderson and his uncle, his son and his they were working at the site as well. they had to receive pardons from andrew johnson. they had to gain ownership back tredegar. tredegar was given back to them. tredegar was able to pick off from where they left off. they were able to order more

northern, advanced equipment. they had investors investing in the operation. tredegar was able to get back into operation very quickly. they never produced canon rate after the civil war. this was between ages 65 and 1873. tredegar became one of the main suppliers of the railroad industry at the time. reducing everything from railroad spikes to cartwheels to railroads themselves. the entire complex band about 23 haters. that included a number of machine shops, or shoe shops. that was some of the big sellers. as the 20th century advanced, railroad hard wheels became one of their primary sellers as well. they had several hammer and steve forages. several boundaries. to store a lot of

the excess material that they were waiting to ship out. there was such a demand for what they were make. as the 20th century advanced, they were still making a lot of railroad equipment, wheels, cartwheels, where will spikes. they weren't making cans anymore. and898, they started making diminish for the american government. into world waron i and world war ii. from the beginning of world war i and onward. their primary source of income was government contracts. tredegar never converted to steal. when ever any of the successors thought about installing steel furnaces, there was it economic climate -- panic for something else to happen. tredegar became somewhat

obsolete. there was a shrinking market for them. tredegar remained in operation. the paper manufacturing company which owns several paper mills around the tredegar site bought the tredegar property. a lot of the machinery went to the south of the james river. on a smaller scale, iron & steel implements. 1957, they produced the site and shut down the entire property. they did use the buildings for storage of their paper products, one of the old tredegar opposites. in 1962, they got out of the paper milling business and more into chemicals and they didn't have a set for the paper mills

anymore. by the mid-60's, the site was largely abandoned. of all the buildings on the tredegar site, only five buildings remained. you had the 1861 gun foundry. the 1868 company store, the treader offices were actually the foundation state back in 1814. the former pattern storage building. we have around us, the ruins of the central tredegar foundry. this is where the first produced their -- they first produced their iron and permits. this is the home of two civil war museums for the richmond area. the best apart services opened up the main visitor center. in 2006, the american civil war center opened up in the 1861 gun

foundry. that was a private museum that was there. iron workst tredegar has a significant legacy in many ways. the cam is that were produced confederacy -- propelled the confederacy to a number of victories. primaryne of the engines of the city. history.has a lot of we are in richmond virginia. they, we are focusing on flag collection. this is the largest collection of civil war related lies in the world. we have more than 700 flags. civil war eraare

flags. a majority are confederates. the confederate states of america formed in march of 1861. one of the first orders of business was to select a design for the national flag. the flight we are looking at here is an example of that flight pattern. this is known as the first national flag because the better said this confederacy would go through three different designs. very reminiscent of the united states national flag. that was done on purpose. many southerners served in the united states. there was strong affection for the old union. they didn't want to the blue dispense with the emblems of the united states. rather than having 13 stripes, they had three, red, white, red. werese southern states leaving the union and joined the confederacy throughout the

1861, it let up to 11. they would include sometimes as many as 15 or 13. this particular flag was a battle flag. this flight was carried by company d. athe outset, every company that was part of the regiment did have their own flag. companies had a wide variety of the different types of flight patterns. it was ultimately decided after the battle in july of 1861. i love the company fights were to be sent home. each regiment would be issued one official battle flag.

each confederate army selected a different design as the flag it would carry. this particular design was known as the army of northern virginia flag pattern. this would have been carried by every frenchman that was fighting under robert e. lee did -- throughout the war. they can pick whatever flag patterns they wanted. another version of this has become what most of us today, consider the confederate flag. at the time, this wear pattern was the one that would've been carried only by regiments serving under generally. this particular one was chosen by the army of northern virginia. it was actually submitted by someone who had studied flag design and elements of good flag design. for instance, the fact that there is a white edge that goes in between the red and the blue portion which helps get a little bit of a visual distinction.

important.ry this particular flag has been marked in the center with what we call a unit designation. this was carried by the 47th virginia in -- infantry. each of the red areas on the flag have battle honors. the regiment would have decided which battles they felt were worth remembering. these were the notable battles for them. the thing about a lot of the slave is that they were often captured by union soldiers. the number you see stenciled on the part of the flag that would've been attached to the flagstaff is the war department capture number. captured was actually in battle. it was captured after the battle of gettysburg in 1863. it was turned into the united states because capturing a flag was one of the ways that a union soldier could receive a medal of honor.

the war department cap record of all the flags that turned into them. he would often capture such information. >> on the union side, they carried to flags. example ofere is one one of the regimental flags that could've been carried. they would sometimes carry a large version of the state flag. this became the much more common version with this federal eagle grafting the arrows and the olive branch. regiment carried it for very much longer, they probably would have had their regiment's name written on this red better. we know they didn't have a chance to carry it for very long. this was captured by soldiers in the confederate army. this flag remained in private hands in the south until it was

donated to the museum in the early 1920's. in the case of the south, capture flash would have been for richmond. richmond burned in the evacuation fire in april of 1865. any flags that have been captured by confederate soldiers confederacynto the war department were destroyed in the fire in 1865. it was normally flags that were captured and not sent in officially. things that were sent on. this is the example of the united states national flag that would have btal banner. this particular one is kind of inresting because it was issued from the first regimental volunteers. maryland had regiments that bought for both sides during the war. that the only state actually had a burst maryland united states and confederate state regiment.

that will battle in which they faced off against each other. that was the battle of front boil and 82 22. that is where this flag was captured. -- 1862. you couldn't really carry a weapon simultaneously. you are essentially making yourself a big target. there are numerous battles where we have these color bears who are shot down. they take the colors and carry them forward. having if i captured was basically a terrible thing. if there was virtually any man left in the regiment who were able to pick up the colors and carry it forward, they would. having a flycatcher became a symbol that the regiment had during abut decimated

particular battle. this is another fly with a very interesting story behind it. you probably noticed that there is only half of the flag here. this flight was donated just a few years ago by a woman who was a descendent of a union soldier. they were serving in the 43rd indiana and that indiana industry. people have been going through georgia, south carolina and in 1864, 1865. the story was passed down through the family along with the flag is that he and another went into a barn and they believed it was in south carolina and found this flight hidden there. they proceeded to argue over who was going to get to keep the flag. their solution was to cut it in half. each of them was going to keep one half of the flag. the portion that her ancestor cap has a partial unit nickname

or designation on it. it has light infantry on it. through our research, we have been able to determine that that was the company of the south carolina infantry. it is really unfortunate that this beautiful flag with his very nice oil painted design actually features a flag itself right there in the center. only half of it survived. the descendent of the other union soldiers will have the other bottom half of it somewhere. this is a flag that is a completely unique design. this is the only surviving example of a flag. there was probably another one made that quite looks like this. from the town in georgia may dislike and presented it after that battle. they had captured several union soldiers to tell them that they thought that the unusual design of this flag meant that the

confederate troops meant to fight to the bitter end. essentially meaning that they did not intend to take any prisoners. that was not the intent of the confederate two were carrying the flag. theon't know if it was exodus bluefield or the starburst or what it was like give the impression that that was what the flag meant. it was certainly a message that made the union troops played really hard during that battle. since the confederate hadn't intended to send a particular message they wanted every other regiment to think the same thing. they set this aside and not use it again. the museum strives to preserve all of these flags for future generations to be able to study and enjoy. one flag can be conserved professionally. the first that there to preserve them as they currently exist.

in the case of these flags, this is a fabric that will essentially start to fall apart if you bolded. you certainly don't want any sharp creases. the best way to store these is under glass. given that a lot of them are quite large, storing them off flat is not a quite -- not an option. we try to keep it stored as flat as possible and we keep this incredible plastic called mylar. this allows us to store the flag on a flat panel. this allows us to pick up the panel itself and not the actual flag. in the case of a flight that is too large, the mylar gives it a nice gentle roll, rather than a sharp crease. as you can see with this particular flag, the felt as a lot of previous damage to her.

you can see the so that is shattering and disintegrating. sometimes, the dye is applied to the fabric when it was first made. all kinds of chemicals and a wide variety of places where this came from and how it was traded. in this case, there is a little standing on the flag itself. havingt we can do before to take us to a professional textile place and having them begin their work is to keep it stored as carefully as possible in a stable environment. we are looking at a virginia state flag carried by a unidentified virginia regiment. some of us, for working in museums today, the work of conserving a flag start with the undoing that the legs have done in the past. closely, you'll notice the zigzag stitching. that is most notable on the dark portions. it goes right through this

hand-painted feel. two different colors of blue fabric on the ag. the is a darker blue and then there is an and here on the far right side and a much lighter blue which then comprises the entire far right end of the flag. 1940's, a very well-meaning group of people who were the text of conservatives of the day decided that the flag nude to be fixed up and stabilized cool --. they put the remaining flight onto a backing. then, to run the entire thing back and forth through a sewing machine. sewing machine needles tend to be fairly large. and they do all

of that stitching. that is problematic. the needle was also passing through paint. what we would do is we would remove all of the sewing machine stitching from the flag. as well as to remove the backing fabric to which it had been attached. we do not want the blue, modern fabric to be standing or discoloring the back of this virginia state seal. portions of the original flag itself. this is a painstaking process. this is one level of conservation that we will actually do here at the museum in house. it can save quite a lot of time and money from the overall conservation process once we take it to the conservator. it is a very mentally and physically grueling process it requires taking a

tiny pair of scissors and tweezers and cutting the sewing machine thread all the way across for each row of stitching and then pulling them out. you have to be very careful when you are doing it. the goal is to not cut any of the original fibers of the flag but only the modern sewing machine stitching. because this is a variety of ways, the best thing to do is put the flag over -- ip the flag over. want to actually go through and cut the lamp stitches, you flip the flag back over and pull all of them out. it is easier to work on the back of the flag because the fabric i am working from is a backing fabric. that is the modern fabric. not the original fabric of the flag. they are moving the stitches row by row.

a lot of times, these threads are very brittle and they are dry rotting. -- go andasy to come pull them out. you can get nice little runs of the stitches that you can start to pull out. you can cut them all in the back. this becomes the first step of conserving the flag that has been treated in this way. once you have all that done, you can start to arrange and flatten all of the original portions of the flag and really start to get back into the original shape. we try to be very cautious about the treatment methods in which we employ to conserve these flags because we want to take a long-term approach to it. ensure that what we are doing now is not something that will cause permanent harm to the item over time. we hope that people will want to

learn a variety of things from these flag collections. the flag can certainly be used as a work of art. there is a lot of artistry behind these. whether it is a quality of a painting or the beautiful way that it is some together, these people were fighting and dying for these flags in a very literal way. it makes them very powerful for the historic messengers -- messages to us. >> our visit to richmond, virginia is an american history tv exclusive. we showed it to introduce you to the c-span cities tour. for five years, we traveled to cities across the u.s. to explore their literary and historic sites. you can watch more of our visit at c-span.org/cities tour.

>> this weekend, the c-span cities tour will explore the literary scene and history of wilmington, north carolina. eastern, at noon arthur philip gerard discusses his book cape fear rising. in 1898, wilmington was one of the largest hit is in north carolina and of the 17,000 or so citizens, to -- to a them were black. coming out of bondage and not theirn in the clothes on back. they have achieved the status of middle-class and some political leadership and power. they achieved economic wealth to a large degree. >> then we will travel to fort fondle. with chris and what happened at this place. fort anderson and the battle for wilmington.

>> wilmington's importance was so great that it became known a robert e. lee's lifetime -- lifeline. >> visit what remains of fort fisher which was once the largest port in the confederacy. this was the largest amphibious operation taken over by the united states up until june 6 1944. and toward the missile defenses on the battleship uss north carolina. memorials the official to north carolina for world war ii. i am awestruck with what was 1940 in terms of technology, training, dedication to the mission, you can say the last one that everyone agreed on. tourtch the c-span cities

of wilmington, north carolina. in sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. on american history tv in c-span3. working with our cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. working with our cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. coming up on c-span, the joint news conference with president trump and the german chancellor at the white house. after that, a look at the legal and plan to replace the affordable care act. there are people from the middle and the right to have very ccern were trying to make sure we address is any of these as possible without destroying the

bill, violating this rule that it can be filibustered, and without losing votes but adding roads. we are really doing away -- doing well with this. were held today, even with some minor, as i hear, , based ontial tweaks that there is not the votes, not anywhere close, and i can tell you the width has been working very hard on even the undecided hip has been working hard on the undecided. it needs to work hard to pass not only the house but the senate as well. >> we will show both of these programs in their entirety over the next couple of hours. live coverage starting at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span.