what was important to them. a c-span opened the doors to washington policymaking for all to see. ringing you unfiltered filtered content from congress and beyond. this was true people power. in the 40 years since, the landscape has changed. there is no monolithic media. the stars are a thing. c-span's big idea is more relevant today than ever. no government money supports c-span. it's nonpartisan coverage of washington is funded as a public service by your cable or satellite provider. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. so you can make up your own mind. next, a book tv be exclusive. our cities tour visits cedar rapids, iowa to learn about its unique history and literary life. we have traveled to u.s. cities for eight years now bringing the

book seem to our viewers. you can watch more of our visits on a c-span.org. c-span cities tour is exploring the american story. this weekend, we visit cedar second-largests city. with a population of 132 thousand, is located in east central iowa. with help of our cable partners, we will visit the museum and library and speak with local authors and reporters to learn more about the city. we begin our special look at cedar rapids on a tour with an author. originalirit of the people in cedar rapids in the 1840's still lives on today.

the innovation, the spirit, the attitude, the optimism. we were always striving to make it better. >> we took a driving tour of the city with a historian. tothank you for joining us show us around cedar rapids. >> i am so excited to do this. i live and breathe cedar rapids history. >> you are an expert on historic preservation but you are also an expert on the hidden history of cedar rapids. >> i love the weird and the wonderful. the nice layers of history that are underneath the basic facts about the history. >> we are going to see all of that today. where are some of the places you will take us? >> we are going to go downtown. we will look at the largest cereal mill in the world, quaker oats.

we will look at the unique neighborhoods. we are about to go out onto the lincoln highway. it takes us from new york to california. >> what would this have looked like that can the early days of cedar rapids? >> this would have been a collection of large victorian mansions. just like you would see in mississippi river towns. nows hard to picture that but you would have seen people living in large houses up here and this hell we are going down was a favorite sledding hill for kids. snowy.s very we could go sledding. >> i am tempted to do that. [laughter] that would be in keeping with what people did. >> you can't come to iowa in the middle of winter and not address that it is so cold here.

>> it is very cold. we have to have a lot of endurance because we are super cold right now. we get wind chills but then in the summertime, we get heat indexes of up to 120 degrees. >> you are a party people. >> yes. >> that came into play during the flood. we were driving down this street 11 years ago, this car would be completely engulfed in water. it was that deep through here. it went over the bridge. cedar rapids was covered by the flood. we have never had such a major natural -- natural disaster. it took the better part of five or six years to get the flood damage properties removed. 1500 homes that had to be destroyed.

all of this new high-rise housing is not exist before the flood. that is post-flood redevelopment. why is this building so important? >> grid would is the artist second-most recognizable painting in the world. the american gothic painting. we all know that is the mandate with a pitchfork and he has the bald head and the glasses. the woman next to him. great underlying story behind it because those are cedar rapids people. the man is great would. it is his dentist. there is an actual person. the joke is on all of us because when i started studying history, i used to talk to that doctors former patients.

they said he was the funniest guy they ever knew. when you look at him in the painting, he is very grumpy looking area that's the joke of the painting. he was a funny guy. the woman is actually his sister who was only 28 years old when i painting was done while. she was ok with it. will will the artist was not meaning to depict her as an older woman but that was how it happened. upstairs in the hayloft of this building. we are very proud that we have preserved this place and we are the home to american gothic. it came from here. we are going to leave the history center. it started out as a house. for the two families that were synonymous with cedar rapids history. .he douglas is

we have had oatmeal being made in cedar rapids for over a hundred years now. we should go check it out. >> a beautiful view of the factory. when i was growing up, good take tours. all the cap'n crunch in the world is made in cedar rapids. >> is it true that the air sometimes smells like crunch very? >> just want to go outside and eat the air. it smells ago. a huge economic driver. this was a major crop in this area in the early years, and now it is more soy these. this is a school on the right. we were a count of mostly scottish, and irish immigrants.

a family came here and they wanted to build the largest pork and beef processing plant in the united states, and they started in this neighborhood. the packing houses stink. people from the region of bohemia come he from the desk came here, and we were completely welcoming to that group. >> what year? is when the huge diversity of cedar rapids changed dramatically and the existing population fully welcomed the bohemian population. they populated this area around the job source. and the result was they built their own little mini downtown. like other cities, like little italy, we have little bohemia. there the only city in united states that has went. as it became more industrial in the mid-20th century, the folks

shifted to the west side. movies a former bohemian theater, a former hardware store. this is the oldest restaurant -bar in cedar rapids. it has not changed at all since 1934. the african-american music. because of the bohemian europe, thatastern opened the door for all other 1880'sto see us in the and 1890's. they were followed by the influx of russians, italians, greeks could. middle eastern muslim population coming here in the 1890's, a small chinese population, and different backgrounds of feet were well compare. a reputation of being a very diverse area in cedar rapids. ofwere such a focus czechoslovakian-ethnic history.

first, a renovated because this was seen as the older area. as more early to mid 20th century architecture. it continued the pattern of bohemian commercial neighborhood that got its start on the east side of the river. we are passing through the neighborhood -- >> the wright brothers lived here? >> yes. they traveled with their father. at one time they had a home. their father was a bishop in the church. rapids forgned cedar years. they lived in this neighborhood in downtown cedar rapids. they lived in three different homes. have documented where they were. they went to the school list it on the site where the public library is now, and orville wright wrote in his

autobiography that when they were children in cedar rapids their father brought home a flying toy that inspired them to study flying. so the inspiration for flying happened in cedar rapids we loved that. this is one of the early significant sites of the wright brothers. >> not only did they live here in cedar rapids, but former first lady mimi eisenhower. >> she was well known in iowa state history, that may me dow amie was born and i will come and she lives here for 10 years. she was here because their g as a was workin as buyer. she spent the first 10 or 11 years of her life in cedar rapids. one of the home she lived in is still standing. it is one of the great secrets. home is right here on the right.

it is the second home on the right. the white squarish looking house with the porch. miethe childhood home of may m eisenhower. >> why do you think it is important for people to know about the midwest history and specifically about iowa and cedar rapids history? >> the midwest and cedar rapids in particular is at the crossroads of the entire national development movement. we established railroad connections to the east and west developmentshad all going back. the people in stories that we have developed have relevant links to the rest of the country and the rest of the world. throughedar river runs downtown cedar rapids. it is named after the red cedar treatment which is native to the region. city hall sits on an island in the middle of the cedar river.

up next, we speak with a political reporter from the cedar rapids gazette about the 2020 presidential campaign and what is new for the upcoming iowa caucuses. because as much as my story has all been about new jersey, the reality is my roots are right here in des moines. >> i have learned quickly that people in this state take the early states that as you have very seriously and show up with curveballs and a smart, difficult questions. >> that direction we go will be set here in iowa. >> what happens in iowa and what you pull county democrats do will not only affect this county and this beautiful state, it will affect our nation. >> it seems like we're almost a year away, less than a year way, but it is already busy. amy klobuchar is in the state.

kiersten gillibrand, john delaney, probably leaving out somebody, but it is ramping up quite quickly. >> the nomination process involves both primary and caucuses across the country, and they are different animals. becausei will caucus, it is first come that proving ground for candidates. february 3, 2020, is the scheduled day. that could move depending on what other states do. it has moved in the past as other states have tried to move their primaries or caucuses forward. february 3, 2020, is the schedule data. -- scheduled day. some people say it is a fluke that the caucuses were around and nobody took a and of them -- 1972 when he

figured out we can use this system to our advantage. they were here in iowa. mcgovern was from south dakota, and they seized on this, and part of it was these caucuses which start early, people would take care of the usual party business. and a lot of people that leave, and they encouraged a lot of mcgovern supporters to stay until the end, and the elected delegates and elected george delegatesecca gets -- , instead of others were other candidates. since then people saw what happened and how it worked, and so everybody has tried to replicate that in one way or another. one of the starts to the campaign or to our coverage is the iowa state fair, whether an election year or not. you look for who is coming to that fair, who shows up. then you look at the democratic and republican party events,

lincoln day dinners, jefferson-jackson dinners, those sorts of things, who are the speakers from who are showing up, and you get an idea who is checking out iowa and checking out iowa voters. this cycle, it is mostly democrats, as we do not expect anybody to present a serious challenge to the president. can you look at who is coming, who shows up now. last fall with the 20 18th, who was showing up to campaign for congressional candidates, who was showing up to campaign for legislative candidates, so we saw a number of people come out here and, we always suspect they are not doing it just for all touristic region -- reasons. the caucuses have changed in that then a lot of the , livinging was intimate room, copy shop sort of campaigning. there is still some of that today where a candidate will do a house party.

some of that is for optics because it looks good. but the crowds of gotten much bigger. in the 2016 cycle, it was pretty much all rallies. 500 eagle at a0, rally, so it has changed in that regard. i think one thing that is important to know about the caucuses is that all the cliches about iowans kicking the tires and looking under the hood, cliches are true. iowans get up close and personal with these candidates, they ask them questions, they look them in the eye. the other half of that is it gives the candidate the opportunity to get up and close and personal with real voters to as the real questions, not necessarily the questions that are in the headlines in the newspapers and on tv. and you get questions where i have seen candidates were totally unprepared for a question. i am sure no political

consultant told john edwards you are going to ask questions about canadian pork imports and whether or not those hawks should pass the same tests -- hogs should pass the same tests as american-produced hogs. you get these questions, and people have an issue on their mind and they really want to ask it even if it is not important anybody has. at this point roughly a year out of the caucuses, a lot of what i am looking for is what theme a candidate is trying to get across in their speeches when they are at a rally. also the reaction from voters. we joke about iowans will not commit to a candidate until i have seen them for or five times, and at this point, democrats are going out to see all the candidates, and they are comparing them. and i was at an elizabeth warren rally in talking to people, and they had gillibrand rally

in couple weeks earlier or had seen cory booker. so they are taking out everybody. and so i am looking for that reaction. who do they like, what strength do they see in a candidate? they may say elizabeth warren is very strong on these financial issues, economic inequality, while someone else is stronger on national security or immigration. and the voters are sorting, they are comparing. >> on day one if you have a democratic house and a democratic senate, what can you do to get gun control to congress? >> i wanted to see what your perspective what that means to you and what your vision is? >> candidates are going to get all the usual questions health care, immigration, the border, national security, terrorism, guns, and i think it is not only

the content of the answer, but also how they handle it. are they comfortable talking about it? do they make themselves clear? are they sort of where are they on the spectrum of the answer, are they to the left or right, are they somewhere sort of maybe you would say in the common sense middle, they are not too far one way or another? in the 2020 cycle, i think there is a lot of appetite to seek progressive ideas and answers. iowa democrats seem to be looking for that. there are questions about medicare for all, for example, and sort of searching for those progressive answers and solutions from candidates. obviously, the regrets are looking for somebody who can beat donald trump, and that is a frequent question. how are you going to beat donald trump? it is probably not the number one question you with your most often, but a lot of people are

asking that. what is it about you that can beat donald trump? the iowa caucuses have not been great at selecting the next president. in 2016, ted cruz one the caucuses. donald trump was very close behind. hillary clinton won the democratic caucuses. less 10 8%ers was from her. barack obama won the democratic caucus. it is sometimes it works out and sometimes it does not. it seems the caucuses really perhaps, their best or highest function is winnowing the field. if you cannot make it here, you are probably not going to make it somewhere else. and we talk about three tickets out of iowa. the top three finishers in the caucuses can move on. that is not always the case.

but it is kind of a good role of thumb that if you do not finish strong in iowa you will not be able to maintain a winning campaign. winning iowa does not necessarily mean that -- rick santorum did not go on to get the nomination. ted cruz do not go on to get the nomination. so winning in iowa is not a guarantee of getting the nomination. but it is a sign of organizational strength that you can put together a campaign that delivers people to the caucuses almost in the same way you will have to deliver people to the voting booth. it is a good test in that way. bernie asks for a progressive economic agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment, and provides health care for all. >> my name is charlie, and i'm here to vote for rick santorum. husband, a

home-school dad of seven children, and a former u.s. senator. >> at a caucus, it starts up like a meeting people tying in. they usually have a temporary chair who calls things to order, and they call a permanent chair. the unlucky person becomes the permanent chair. and then there is a difference between a republican caucus and the democratic. hopkins have a straw poll. they pass out -- republicans have a straw poll. they pass out talents. it can happen quickly. they are not interested in the party organizing part of that. at the democratic caucus, it is -- there is a lot more to it. they form preference groups and a candidate has to have at least 50% of those present to be viable, and if they are not viable, they can reform groups,

and if you are in a group for a candidate that is not viable, you can join another group. it used to be that you could try and convince people in a group to come over to your side so you would have enough to let the democrats. the democrats have changed the rules so they will not do that. and then they select delegates based on the size of those preference groups. it is open to everybody in the party. you have to be registered as a democrat or a republican to participate. it is not open to independents, though some people will change their registration to prices paid. it is people who want to participate who show up. i would not expect huge numbers on the inside. but participant is on the democratic side will be very high. it possibly could exceed 2016. we will see probably a couple hundred thousand immigrants couple up at the --

hundred thousand, crests that will show up at the caucuses. if everybody brings along a few thousand supporters, a few tens of thousands of supporters, thinkit will be -- i anticipation now is it will be a massive turnout. you have to physically be at the although participate, in 2020, the i would democratic party is going to have six virtual caucuses to make the caucuses more accessible, to shift workers, people with disabilities who might have trouble getting out, coparents who might not the -- single parent two might not be able to get to the caucus easily. they are trying to make it more accessible. my understanding is the virtual tocus will you will law on them -- log onto a website, a secure website, and then the

democratic party says it will be run just like a physical caucus will do there will be a temporary chair, like a permanent chair. they will go through a process of performing -- of forming preference groups, if you are a war booker or elizabeth ren supporter, you will get into preference groups, and they will measure strength of candidates that way, and that will be interesting to watch how those virtual caucuses that can account for up to 10% of the delegates selected in the caucuses, how that plays out, how many people participate, and how the campaign tries to take advantage of that. is criticism of the caucuses i'll is too old, too white, too liberal, and i think all those things probably hold true again this cycle. there is that criticism.

the counterargument is it is what it is. it is first. so it gets a lot of attention. i will remain first for as -- there is a process. that is a theme, as long as the party nationally thinks the candidates are getting a fair shake here and candidates are willing to come to it, it is party rules. the party sets the calendar. part of it is tradition. but we have seen the parties at south carolina and nevada, and now there are four early states. there's always talk about why should i walk go first, why should new hampshire go first, shouldn't the state be representative of the nation as a whole, looking for more voters of color, hispanic voters,

younger, more urban voters? but, yeah, as long as i am a can do it -- one of the things that is overlooked is anybody can be first, but to do it well takes a lot of work for the state parties. there is a lot of work for them, and part of what makes iowa caucuses successful is there are a lot of islands who have been through this -- i want to of been to the caucus process, who understands what the campaign and the candidates need to be here and to run successful campaigns. is a lot underlying infrastructure that makes iowa caucuses successful, and if you move that the next state for years from now, they want to know where to start. i think the top finishers in iowa -- i do not want to call it a field approval -- but it is

somebody has recommended them in a way that you would look for a recommendation for somebody who you are hiring for a job. in iowa talk about winnowing the field, whatever you want to call it, but it helps narrow the focus, especially in 2016, we running.8 republicans this year who knows how many democrats will be running, and that helps never the field, and that is why it is so important to finish welcome to get one of those three tickets out of iowa. cities tour is exploring the american story. with the help of our mediacom cable partners, we visited a college in cedar rapids to speak about an author about her book "and it begins here." >> there is a constant refrain

in here. the story have to tell you, begins like this -- resistance -- the ways in which our understanding of today and how we think of ourselves today is connected to the past. there is this -- of how we got here. "and it is called begins here." a couple things -- first, when i was younger, my mother told me this story about the origins of my family, and she was telling a story about how my great-great name to bedford brown. this is a story.

she was a slave to this senator from and she had this relationship with this man at a nearby farm that produced at least three children. one of the children was able to thatow make it so that child had the surname of their father. with aave a relationship white men, they had children, and one of them, the male, takes his name, and this is during the reconstruction era. i have always had this kind of story in the background of my life and wondered about the truth of the origins of that. that is the first thing. i wascond thing is when in college, my mother died, and i think part -- when somebody

dies, someone who was important to you guys, one of the things you do is thinking about who that person was. -- there was a lot of for me there were a lot of questions of who my mother really was and why she was very troubled and somebody who there was a lot of questions surrounding, who she was and why she did some of the things she did in terms of my upbringing. when a person dies, start thinking back on the past, and the relationship to that person. i had questions. my family had a lot of questions, and we could not ask her because she was gone. and also as a society, as a culture, we do not talk about grief, and so for years afterward, i was still going

through grief and i did not know how to talk about it. that was the second thing. and the third thing was i did my phd at the university of missouri. it was a place where for the first time i was recognizing my difference in a way that before about ors in denial trying to ignore. i was there, too, at the time -- i first got there , the community not just with the town i was out, but also within missouri, was having a conversation about police brutality, michael brown. [chanting] that was happening in the background. and so i was struggling to kind

, in thistand who i was environment that was hostile, -- my grandmother passed away, and when she passed away, it had me cycled back again thinking about my mother and who she was. eventually that made me go back further to thinking about this original story. and so for me it was important to try to kind of understand the context of that story, because i felt like who i was and how i understood myself, to my mother was, how she understood herself, all that for me i had to trace back to that story in some way. as an started attempt to understand my mothe . find the truth of the story, but also in the process to come to terms with my own racial

identity. there is a story i must tell you, but in order to do so, i must tell you as another one. the slave's dr. -- after slavery ended, the wife had gone. perhaps she was full of shame cause of her husband's indiscretion, or jealousy, or spot. she diminish her husband -- where she lived on his plantation. he admitted to his wife a woman who found herself nowhere to live, nowhere to go, turn to the -- in north carolina the dastardly laws required every unmarried woman with a child to name the father within these years of the birth of the child. in her case she had been an sleep during her child's infancy and was not able to testify to the parentage.

[indiscernible] she had been a title to the same rights as a white one. eliza took him to court and forced her to sport her and all her gender. within my family, there's a story handed down from black womanthat a had a relationship with a white man. the relationship produced possibly three children, and in 1880 she was living on the farm with her children. on the census each of the children had her less men. but then a peculiar thing happened. eliza's case brings forward the possibility that liana did take the father of the children to court. it is possible she showed a sense of agency when the world wanted her to have none.

it is possible that he did claim them. is what i start to think but then i remember the rest of eliza story. the court argued it didn't apply to her situation and didn't fall under the jurisdiction of the court. it refused to hear her case. alliesfected oliva -- and the children. there are two threads. liana, tryingout to understand that story. it deals with me grappling with some racial issue. the ways in which black people have had to constantly forgive. in thinking about that idea, i and what back to liana possible harm was done to her.

about whether or not she for gave this man and what that would've looked like. that's one essay in here centers around the university of missouri. there are two dueling narratives. is framed as a tour guide, if you were to take a tour of the campus. bullet points that -- of things that you would see. , myfootnote story is things own experiences being there. there is a lynching that had happened on the campus. there, one of the groups was trying to do a memorial to recognize that this happened. there's another fraternity that

is housed within what was once a plantation. whichng about the ways in the town is segregated, how that has come to be. so, when i was there, we had to learn more about the history of the plantations and how it shaped the culture, how it shaped the institutions of the university of missouri. its existence. so there is not a recognition. of the things that happened. there is not as much recognition is there should be. it is a book that is for me trying to understand my own sense of self.

it's for those were grappling with that, the sense of self. it's an attempt to do that. trying to understand the connections to the past. i think it is important when we think about racial tensions the political upheaval we are having today. -- in order about to understand all of that, you have to look at history. there are patterns. -- it has shaped so much. the ways in which our country has been shaped. we think about ourselves and how we navigate this world.

>> the czech village in cedar built is a historic area by the large influx of czech and slovak immigrants to the reason -- region in the 1850's. the district suffered economic decline and was nearly destroyed by flooding in 2008. next, we visit the national czech and slovak museum to see what attracted european immigrants to cedar rapids. >> we are in cedar rapids, iowa. we are the home of the national czech and slovak museum and library. people ask is, why cedar rapids? that's a legitimate question. there were czech immigrants coming here to the united states and iowa in the early 1850's. iowa had just become a state in 1846. there was a lot of land that was available for settlers who were

migrating to the united states from other european countries as well as internal migration from further east. this areaants found to be similar to their homeland in central europe. they felt very comfortable here. it was a handful of settlers that came here. as early as 1852, to the cedar rapids area. the early settlers that came here were interested in land. land in europe was a scarce commodity. here in america, they were able to find vast amounts of land available to them and their families. that was the initial draw. as those farmers became more established, and gained a foothold here, they started writing back home saying, there's land. there's opportunity here. which attracted more immigration to america. to go we are going through our examples of our

collection here. it helps us walk through about 150 years worth of czech american history in the cedar rapids community. a couple of the primary sources we refer to our originally written in check. one of those has been translated to english. that is an item called the history of checks and america. recently, translated into english. doing boon for people family history research. this is the original czech version here. they had some fun illustrations immigrant started a patent medicine company here in cedar rapids. they are talking about now the various community organizations here. these are pictures of the check catholic parish. the priest at the time. there were various religious affiliations.

about half of the czech population affiliated with the roman catholic face -- faith. 10% were bohemian reforms, protestant. eithern affiliated with of the presbyterian or methodist church. then there were those known as the freethinkers. they were the ones who were not religious. they were not actively affiliated with any religious group. they consider themselves the progressives of the time. instead of having churches, they were affiliated with certain fraternal groups. those halls actually took the place of a church. similar -- they had congregations in a way similar to a church. they had monthly meetings instead of church services. the next collection i want to show you here, it's from that very early time. immigrantse czech

coming in the early 1850's. what was interesting was, the american civil war occurred in 1861. that a numberis of czech immigrants fought for the union during the american civil war. this fellow here, his name was john. hereve a set of letters that were written by him to his family back home in a small community called bin or valley, south of cedar rapids. this was the first letter here. you look at the letterhead. victory and liberty. that must'veionary been distributed at that time. it's interesting, the paper throughout the course of his letter writing changes over time. basically what's available at the time. this letter in particular is dated april 18, 1865.

i'm going to read from it in translation here. my dear parents, i received a letter from you today which i had awaited with great eagerness. learn how are and to you yourselves are in good health. that gives me further pleasure. we have many important news. generally is permanently disarmed and his captive. not -- it will not take long before he is brought to where lee is because it is apparent that the end has come. on the other hand, there is sadness. on the 16th we received news that our president is dead. that was like a knife stabbed in the heart. nobody wished to believe it, preferring to wait for morning. the flags on the master at half mast as a sign of the loss of our highest mr. president abraham lincoln.

he is now in cold blood. he was killed in washington at a show in a theater. murder ismitted the shouted, bus has old virginia revenged itself. they brought him to the city hall police asian -- station. one would expect this. i help this mad rebellion will pay dearly. enough about that. he goes on on other things. here's one of the most critical events in america will history -- american history described to his family back here. this is from a to set volume called history of the county of iowa. ,here's a whole section here the bohemian element in the county. it describes how these are the

largest ethnic group coming from europe to the county. how they are hard-working and all that. the fact that it made it into , that itsays something warranted publication. the publishers of this were not checked. outsidewere looking into this immigrant community. the fact that they spoke well of it says a lot. one of the things that was interesting about the czechs coming to america was that they were highly literate. that is reflected in our collection here. there are hundreds of publications that these czech american communities published. there were two newspapers published in cedar rapids.

both of these were published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. there was a community of native czech readers that could support these obligations. representative of when you start seeing a shift in the linguistic capabilities of those who are now descendents of these immigrants. english becomes a prominent language. what's interesting about this community from the early 20th oftury, the preponderance amateur theater. this is before the advent of television. groups, they stop their

theater productions in that mid-1950's time. that reflects the rise of television. also the decline of people who were speaking czech. these theater productions were in the czech language. the audience then who would've attended these was starting to drop off by the mid-1950's as well. this was one of the earliest in our collection here. the translated title would be "from the czech mill." a pastoral, agrarian story. by theuld've been done reading society here in cedar rapids. that was a literary group. they also sponsored theater productions. a formal dance. it dates from 1897. it's definitely one of the earliest in our collection.

indicates that the czech community here in cedar rapids was highly interested in the arts. the performing arts. in theater but also in the form of music. another majoras form of entertainment. this goes back to the social halls, these paternal halls. they were places where traveling and brass band would play. this was a major form of entertainment for people at that time. going to move forward in time into the mid-1960's. the czech american community was in decline perhaps. the language was being spoken by fewer and fewer people. towardstudes perhaps the czech american community here in cedar rapids perhaps was not as highly regarded.

in this curious population, a parity or derisive view of the czechs here in cedar rapids. here and lookugh at the way that the czech americans were portrayed here. many of these were cultural identifiers that had been passed down from one generation to another in the community here. the referring to certain things like mushrooms. mushroom hunting is a very important activity amongst the czechs. it is today. that practice was brought here to america. ,hey have the national pastry that's a cultural identifier. the net -- national fish is the carp. in europe, it is considered a

delicacy. the czech americans used a fish out of the cedar river for carp. they would smoke it and make their own smoked carp which is very good to eat. written bysly was somebody who was not of czech heritage, an outsider looking at this community from afar. really arese things pretty demeaning. this in a local newspaper here. it's a response to that. saying, is a tempest in a teapot. that thisdge publication is rather demeaning and everything but maybe people shouldn't take it so seriously.

early 1970's, we see something else going on here. this is something that manifests itself in an exhibit called a festival of czech arts. this is them owning their own czech american identity. so this catalog then talks about the history of the czechs in cedar rapids. the immigrants coming, the czechs in recent years. the mid-20th century. and then also going into the items that were featured in this exhibit. we are talking about fine arts. paintings and prints. glass. .ther items ceramics. wood, textiles.

czech american community asserting itself. telling its own story. i believe this effort here was really the revival of the czech american community here in cedar rapids. wet we find here is that have the establishment of two organizations. the czechlled heritage foundation. the other was the czech finance foundation. that was the precursor of armies he him. reflect whatters their intentions were, bringing the czech american community here into the cedar rapids area. and what they could do. one of the things they established early on was the need to start some sort of a museum in the library. that is the driving force for what became our museum here today. they talk about donations to the heritage. people tooliciting

support these organizations, not only with money but also cultural items. artifacts and library materials. in this issue here from 1978, it's the culmination of that effort. we have come for museum. come to the museum. this was established in a small house just a few blocks from us here. was the start of what we have here today. the donors were descendents of these immigrants to america. what they were giving us at the time were those things that were passed down to them. were very concerned about the preservation of their heritage. that comes oute is that they wanted the past, their history and culture onto their children and grandchildren.

institutionalizing that history and culture, preserving it as an organization that could interpret that history for them, their children and grandchildren and the greater community. amount ofoutgrew the space that we had available to us. that led to the construction of a new facility on the banks of the cedar river. by as dedicated in 1995 huge event here in cedar rapids for the museum and the czech community at large. by dedication of the museum presidents. clinton, one from the czech republic, and one from slovakia. this really cut the museum on the national and international map. this was a source of immense local pride. that this museum, this national museum was based here in cedar

rapids and that there was a fine new building to house all of it. this is something that those initial people were really hoping for, a place that could preserve that history and culture and celebrate it and explain it to those who are not of this heritage. >> the mother mosque of america is the oldest standing purpose built mosque in the united states. construction on it was completed in 1934. due to its small size, muslims worship and other mosques in the area but still preserve the mother mosque which is on the register of national historical places. --ing up, we speak with about the history of the koran. >> it is the last testament.

if there is such a thing. the koran in that language would be the last testament, the final. the final revelation from god to humanity. mohammed received a message from god, this message is called koran. not reading or writing. it was dictated to him through the angel gabriel. we say that the coronas the final -- carron is the final message that god gave to mohammed through the angel gabriel. , whetherms who are they are sunni or shia, they use the carron. another one,find

it's the same. , they haver neighbor a catholic bible but they have a protestant. that's why you will find the exact koran all around the world. no other edition. no other thing about it. it's unique. 23 in the city of mecca. 10 years in the city of medina. for 23 years it was sheltered. the prophet was dictating them to his companions.

they wrote it down. they memorized it. the koran is one single book. the koran is one value. it has 114 chapters. the smallest chapter could be three verses. like, 15 words. that's all. and it is in arabic. it remains like that because bookwas the miraculous improved.med no other translation is considered to be the koran. english, we have over 30 translations in english. none of them is around. -- koran. it is a translation of the meaning. the one we use is in arabic. we are universal message.

we don't belong to arabs or america. we belong to all. arabs are a minority in the muslim world. they are only 20%. anyone who wants to become a leader for a muslim group, he needs to learn arabic. he needs to recite the koran accurately. the way it was revealed to mohammed. namest comes to spelling and the book of god, you will occupation,er the there has been a shift of meanings. didbritish and the french enter the name. they say islam, muslim.

this is offensive to us. be correct pronouncing would islam, muslim. the koran, they spell it wrong. is not the right spelling. that is how we spell it. the message is there in the text. community develops some kind of ideology that fits their .nterest they squeeze it to fit their agenda. i was there recently, in the early 80's. there was no attack on afghanistan from russia. the cia and other entities came

and develop something called isis. not isis, al qaeda. isis came later. these people were trained in pakistan and were given money. from saudi arabia, other areas tried to squeeze the fit fortext and make it them to do jihad. struggle against the nonbelievers. especially russia. yes, there are verses that spoke , especiallyng during the profits time. whom he had enemies. especially in the arab world. them, if theys

fight you, fight them back. been theover, that has end. it has spoken about history. but the quran speaks about humanity, peace. to be humble. to extend your hand in harmony to your neighbors and so on. in the contextme of historic context. beenhose arabs who had fighting the muslims. there's a bloody history there. it's like the vietnam war. when the commanders are telling the sergeant and other troops to kill the vietnamese, for example. now, it's over. now we read that this command was given. it's not anymore applicable.

today. be welle, we need to aware of the meaning of the koran -- the quran. there is not one verse that says you must kill the christian or the jews. i have been a leader for almost 40 years. i never read a verse in the quran saying that you should kill jews or christians. can prove can it -- me wrong, i welcome them for debate. , theyople in the streets want islam back. justice, oflam of love, of harmony to come back. that's basically what the messages.

>> our visit is a book tv exclusive that we showed to introduce you to c-span's cities tour. we have been traveling bringing the book seem to our viewers. you can watch more at c-span.org/cities tour. >> next, joe biden speaking to the international brotherhood of electrical workers. onn, president trump taking a roundtable discussion in california. later, newsmakers with representative jim jordan of ohio. a conference at the international brotherhood of electrical workers in washington dc, former vice president joe biden talked about his commitment to unions and labor issues. union represents more than 700,000 workers and retirees. this is 40 minutes.