♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i am geoff bennett. more outdoor events are canceled and millions of americans are warned to stay indoors as eastern states are blanketed by smoke from canadian wildfires. amna: president biden meets with the prime minister of the united kingdom amid challenges on ukraine, artificial intelligence, and a host of other matters. geoff: the head of unicef on the devastating impact wars are having on children around the world. >> there are about 400 million children living in some situation of conflict, so it is a staggering problem for children in so many parts of the world. ♪

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carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement , and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting at a by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. a heavy pall of polluted air still blankets much of the eastern us tonight. it may not dissipate for days as fires in canada send vast

curtains of smoke drifting south. amna: the bad air has officis warning -- in effect -- that breathing can be hazardous to your health. it's also scrambling schedules from airports to schools to the white house. stephanie sy has our report. correspondent: a huge swath of the country spent another day shrouded in haze. this morning smoke still obscured parts of the manhattan skyline. >> it is obviously not a passing phase of wind changes, but serious pollution in the air. correspondent: as hundreds of wildfires rage out of control in canada, the winds have carried the smoke farther south all the way to raleigh, north carolina, which woke up to hazy skies. and in the nation's capital, a blanket of smoke lay over the white house, blurring the washington monument in the distance. white house officials postpone today's outdoor pride festival

until saturday. millions of people were under hazardous air quality advisory today from the northeast of the south and parts of the midwest. authorities advised people to stay indoors, especially young children, the elderly, and those with respiratory issues of. allergy and immunology specialist described the health risks. >> wildfire smoke as particulate matter that is very small, and to small matter can get lodged deep into your lungs, so it can cause more lung damage in the short-term and long-term. in addition to these particles, wildfire smoke has a variety of gases that can be harmful to breathe in. correspondent: new yk state is making one million n95 masks available to the public including 400,000 for new york city. >> make sure we are being a safe as we can to protecour health.

correspondent: the city's mayor eric adams has gone door-to-door disturbing masks to residents. he says the worst of the air may be behind the city. >> the smoke models are not indicating another large plume over the city, so there is a chance for significant improvement by tomorrow morning and throughout the day tomorrow. correspondent: even so, new york city announced public schools will teach remotely tomorrow. meantime, poor visibility prompted the federal aviation administration to cancel or delay flights into new york area airports and philadelphia's international air word. the dangerous air quality also canceled or postponed more sporting events, from racing at belmont park in new york to the washington nationals home baseball game. new jersey governor phil murphy says the harmful impact of the fires is further proof we must do more to tackle the climate crisis. >> climate change is here, and

unfortunately this is our new reality. that disturbing orange haze in the sky, the smell of smoke and burning in our throats, those are clear warning signs at the status quo cannot continue. correspondent: a professor of regional climate modeling at uc davis agrees. >> we are experiencing warmer conditions and more extremes every year. we have some manifestation of that, whether it be extreme tropical cyclone six, extreme wildfires, tornado outbreaks or other forms of extreme weather, so the evidence is continuing to pile up that we are having a clear impact on the climate system, and as a consequence the climate system is having an impact on us. correspondent: with more than 400 wildfires still burning in canada, forecasters worn the smoke could linger over the eastern u.s. through the weekend. ♪

geoff: in the day's other news, ukraine charged that russian shelling disrupted rescue efforts for victims of the dam collapse. the attacks struck in and around the southern city of kherson. stark new drone footage today shows the catastrophic flooding that's killed at least 14 people and forced more than 4,000 others to flee. >> i live on the third floor, the water covers the ground floor. this morning, when it was up to my knees, i was afraid that if it rises even more i will not be able to leave at all that's why i decided to evacuate. geoff: meantime, ukrainian president volodymr zelenskyy toured the flooded western bank of the dnipro river. he called for a swift global response. the biden administration today dismissed reports that cuba may let china set up an electronic eavesdropping base on the island. "the wall street journal” and others reported the facility could gather intelligence on

military bases across the southeastern us. both the white house and the pentagon challenged the reports. >> i can tell you based on the information we have that that is not accurate, that we are not aware of china and cuba developing any type of spy station. separately, i would say that the relationship those two countries share is something we continuously monitor. geoff: cuba called the reports "unfounded." the "journal" account said china had agreed in principle to pay cuba several billion dollars, to let it establish the spying post. taiwan scrambled fighter jets today as dozens of chinese warplanes flew near the self-ruled island. taipei said 37 chinese aircraft entered a defense zone that it monitors- crossing the southwest corner. they included nuclear-capable bombers. it was china's latest mass flight into the defense zone in recent years. beijing claims taiwan as its own. in france, a man with a knife stabbed four young children and two adults at a public

playground in the alps. the children -- 22 months to 3 years old -- were critically wounded. it happened in a lakeside town south of geneva. emergency workers cordoned off the park and local residents expressed shock. >> it will take time until parents again takeir children to forever in the town of annecy. everyone expects this to happen in big cities like marseille, paris or lyon, but now, the target will be places where no one expects it, to put fear into people. geoff: police arrested a 31-year-old syrian refugee as the attacker. a local prosecutor said his motive was unclear, but did not appear to be terrorism. back in this country, the us house of representatives shut down as a republican revolt blocked any action. house speaker kevin mccarthy called off the week's remaining sessions as he tries to end a standoff with hard-line party conservatives. the rebellion focuses on budget compromises in the debt ceiling deal.

and, on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 168 points to close at 33,833. the nasdaq rose 133 points, 1%. the s & p 500 added 26 points and entered bull market territory - 20% above its low last fall. still to come on the "newshour," the supreme court forces alabama to redraw congressional districts that advocates say discriminate against black voters. we look at the cultural and political influence of the late christian broadcaster pat robertn. and legendary broadway composer john kander on his latest musical that's a love letter to new york. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: president biden hosted the british prime minister, rishi sunak, today at the white house. it was sunak's first oval office

visit since taking office last fall. the two leaders discussed continued support for ukraine and the potential threats posed by artificial intelligence. our white house correspondent, laura barron-lopez, was there, and joins us now. we note military aid to ukraine was a top agenda item that eating. there is no a very public rift among republicans on capitol hill about whether or not to continue supporting providing additional super eight -- support for ukraine. correspondent: they did talk about that. this meeting was have been as ukraine's counteroffensive begin in earnest, and britain's prime minister talked with ridley about what britain has done to date, specifically they have helped ukraine train troops, they are one of the most helpful european nations in terms of giving ukraine aid, but this is happening as republicans on the

hill are very split about whether or not they want to vote in support of more aid to ukraine. president biden was asked about his confidence and whether or not he has the votes were more aid. pres. biden: i believe we will have the funding necessary to support ukraine as long as it takes, and i believe that we are going -- that support will be real, even though you hear some voices today on capitol hill about whether or not we should continue to support ukraine. correspondent: president biden voicing a lot of confidence, that also is in addition to the fact that the prime minister rishi sunak visited the hill and met with congressional leaders, republicans and democrats, and spoke to some chairs on committees about the need for more u.s. aid to ukraine, and at that press conference he specifically said u.s. resources, aid to the ukraine is a decisive contribution that

helps democracy prevail. amna: prime minister sunak made artificial intelligence a key part of this visit. you asked him about how to responsibly regulate the technology. what did he say? correspondent: he did not give specifics about how exactly the u.k. or u.s. would regulate this technology, and he acknowledged on one hand that it rings benefits to the economy, and also acknowledged the great dangers ai poses and fears -- and he appears to want to create a governing body around ai. he will be holding a global summit later this year in the u.k.. president biden added a bit of specifics, saying he thinks there is potential for the administration to look at how watermarks on everything reduced by ai could potentially be a part of this, and we spoke to an expert about whether or not that is a real possibility, and they

said it is not given the fact that the software is out there so much that it can be essentially manipulated by a lot of people that have access to it. amna: a lot of shared concerns. you had a chance to rest president biden a question and he made some news when you asked him about the ramping up of republican attacks on lgbtq rights here. what did he say? correspondent: i mentioned to the president that across republican states in this country, there are bans being passed on gender affirming care and also noted the protest occurring in states like california, anti-lgbtq protests, and i told president biden about the parents of a transgender girl in texas that i recently interviewed and their fears and the fact that they are considering they made need to move not just out of texas but also out of the country. i asked the president why he thought this was happening and what he would say.

pres. biden: when we finish this, you can give me the number of that family, and i will call them, let them know that the president and this administration has their back, our fight is far, far from over because we have some hysterical, and, i would argue, prejudiced people who are engaged in all what you see going on around the country. correspondent: that is some of the harshest comments you inferred from the president to date about anti-transgender efforts. his administration announced some actions they are taking today, including a new education department official who will be helping communities confronting book bans about gender identity. amna: great reporting is always. thank you. ♪ geoff: the u.s. supreme court today struck down republican-drawn congressional districts in alabama that civil rights activists say discriminated against black

voters. the ruling was a surprising departure from court opinions over the past decade narrowing the scope of the voting rights act. chief justice john roberts wrote the majority opinion and was joined by the three liberal justices as well as conservative justice brett kavanaugh. to help us understand the significance of all this, i'm joined by newshour's supreme court analyst marcia coyle -- and redistricting expert, david wasserman of the cook political report with amy walter. welcome to you both. marsha, we will start with you. the chief justice wrote there were legitimate concerns the voting rights act may impermissibly elevated race and the allocation of political power within the states but added our opinion today does not diminish or disregard these concerns. it simply holds a faithful application of art precedents and fair reading of the record do not bear them out here. what is the court saying with this ruling? >> i think the chief justice is

saying the majority is aware that whenever you deal with racial classifications, whether it is in redistricting or other contacts, there is that concern that race may dominate, and so he is reassuring everyone there really is a totality of circumstances, test for section 2, and the court's precedents have imposed limitations that protect against race actually dominating into redistricting, and that is been the case for some 40 years. section 2 claims are extremely hard to win and federal courts and they have not been awaiting. he is saying -- winning. he is saying there are safeguards here. geoff: this ruling was seen as a surprise given the conservative makeup of this court and the

ways in which the court as we mentioned in previous rulings has hollowed out the voting rights act. naacp legal defense fund and an attorney argued the case before the court and in a statement today, the organization says this decision is a clear message to lawmakers that their responsibility as not changed. they must ensure voters of color are not denied an opportunity to participate in the electoral process. what are your takeaways from this ruling? >> i am somewhat surprised, i cannot say i am shocked because the initial decision to strike down alabama's congressional map was handed down by two trump appointees on the panel. at once, this is an application of longtime precision -- precedent, but it is a seachange politically because alabama as only had one black since 2002, and it was only in the last

decade black politicians begin to question this kind of configuration of districts. now we are likely to see additional more proportional maps and acted louisiana as well. there will be cases that play out in georgia, potentially south carolina, texas that could net democrats and additional 2 to 4 seats in the house and that can put them in closer contention for control given how narrow the republicans margin is today. geoff: we have a map that shows the number of states where there are congressional districts that are being dedicated, and this decision is going to force many of these estates, force every state to think about how they redraw congressional lines and areas that have a significant black population. >> not just black voters but hispanic voters in some cases as well. keep in mind republicans thought they had a bit of an insurance policy heading into 2024 in the house, because they captured

control of the north carolina supreme court, which is clear the path for the republican legislature to re-gerrymander the state's boundaries. this ruling offset to that and could actually impact republicans' thinking in north carolina and make them more risk-averse to the threat of a voting rights act lawsuit. that but it forces them to draw a less ambitious plan. at the same time, new york democrats believe the judiciary in that state has turned in their favor, and some of them are pushing to redraw the state's political boundaries that are advantageous to democrats. we could see a net benefit in redistricting for democrats prior to the 2024 election, and that is different from what we thought would be the case a couple of months ago. geoff: looking at thise e the significance if it all of chief justice john roberts and brett

kavanaugh siding with the liberals? >> i was not surprised the chief justice ended up in the majority or that he wrote it, because he has been out front on all of the court's major race related decisions, not just redistricting contacts. justice kavanaugh hedged a bit in that decision last year, so we were not really sure where he would come out, but i think the chief justice is -- justice's ability to put together majorities and closely contested cases does seem to hinge more and more on whether justice kavanaugh will join him in taking a more restrained opinion than the other conservatives in the majority or just to join with the court's three liberal justices. it is sort of a plan perhaps from the future that justice

kavanaugh becomes the median justice and the key to whether roberts can get what he wants when faced with five conservatives who may not want to go along with him. my thanks to you both. >> thanks. >> you are welcome. ♪ amna: famed religious broadcaster pat robertson has died. the tv host and one-time presidental candidate left a lifetime of achievements, and controversies, behind. lisa desjardins has our look at his life and legacy. >> in jesus name. [cheers] correspondent: a pioneer, pat robertson was one of the nation's mosprominent televangelists -- and shaped conservative politics and controversy for decades. few people were more influential in the rise of the religious right. >> even as the framers of our constitution, our forefathers a new land blessed with liberty,

i would like on this special day, a hold out for a new vision for america. correspondent: robertson was born in virginia in 1930 and saw politics early, his father, a conservative democrat, spent decades in congress. after serving in the korean war, he went to law school. then, a turn. a religious awakening took him to ministry. and he uprooted his wife and young family for a leap of faith. in 1960, he purchased a small tv station in virginia beach -- saying the lord told him to start the christian broadcasting network or cbn. >> he was a towering figure. >> the 700 club. correspondent: where robertson's 700 club named for 700 original pledging viewers is still the flagship. robertson created a global network but did not stop there.

he looked to shape minds - and in the 1970s founded the private, christian regent university as well as a national legal foundation. >> it shows his business acumen to a certain extent. you know, he was someone that i would call maybe a serial entrepreneur. >> it's pretty early to be talking presidential politics for 1988, but the people who do have started including the name of pat robertson in the list of possible republicans. correspondent: his white house bid was a longshot, but he found his base, christian conservative voters and finished second in the iowa caucuses. >> i entered the race so i might speak out on great moral issues confronting our nation. and i entered the race to win. i did not win. correspondent: robertson turned his failed presidential campaign into a movement launching the christian coalition, reaching directly to churches that reshape politics in america. and was pivotal in the 1994 gop takeover of the u.s. house.

>> pat robertson was crucial to building the evangelical movement into a political constituency. correspondent: jon ward is chief national correspondent for yahoo. he knows robertson was a figure ually contrsial d se but he was as fling hatred at times with anti-lgbtq rhetoric and attacking other religions as demonic. robertson implied that hurricane katrina was punishment for abortion in america, and he publicly agreed with the idea that september eleventh was god's rebuke for america moving left. >> those comments that he made, i think, came from in part that sense of wanting to be an all or nothing type of believer, as well as wanting to interpret or just coming from a corner of christianity where the bible is interpreted in a quite literal fashion. correspondent: robertson also claimed god would intervene after president donald trump's 2020 election laws. >> we declared on this program,

and you joined with me, that god almighty was going to do a miracle and stop the theft of our election. correspondent: but shifted gears a few weeks later. >> the president still lives in an alternate reality. i think it would be well to say, you ephedra day and it is time to move on. correspondent: he was not always predictable as when he teamed up with democrat al sharpton for a message about climate change. >> we strongly disagree. >> except on one issue. tell them what it is, reverend pat. >> our planet. correspondent: robertson stepped down from hosting the 700 club in 2021 after a series of health issues. but he continued to comment on politics and religion until his death. pat robertson was 93 years old. ♪

amna: a new report released by unicef, the united nations children's fund, contains an appalling statistic: each day, 20 children are killed or maimed in conflicts around the world; that's since they began recording data in 2005. a staggering 315,000 grave violations against children have been verified by the u-n. thousands of children have been abducted, recruited into armed conflicts and subjected to sexual violence in global conflicts over the last two decades. this is a very tough subject, and we should warn, some viewers may be disturbed by some of the details in the conversation i had earlier about this report with unicef's executive director catherine russell. help us understand the context year. how do you gather these numbers, and are these conservative estimates or worst-case scenarios. >> these are quite conservative estimates. these are cases where we can

actually verify what happened, which means we are sure there are many more children who are suffering, and these grave violations are everything from children who were killed or seriously injured to abducted two sexually violated. it is a horrific list of challenges that children face around the world, and i have to say our estimates now are there are 400 million children living in some situation of conflict even today as we speak, so it is a staggering problem for children in so many parts of the world. amna: the stretcher for 20 years that you looked at. have these numbers be getting worse or have they remained steady? >> somehow the number of conflicts that keeps increasing. the thing to get the most attention is the conflict in ukraine, but the problem is none of the complex ever seemed to go away, so we are still looking at challenges in syria, yemen, at these places are persistent

challenges, and children in every situation of war, children suffer the most. that is the reality we have to deal with, and some of it is direct suffering where they are injured directly, landmines, attacks, things like that. in other cases they suffer because the systems that they rely on, education, health care, water are destroyed so often in conflict. amna: you yourself have traveled to ukraine and syria and yemen. tell us about the children you have met and what they are facing there. correspondent: almost everywhere i go i see children who desperately want to be children. you see them and they will start playing a game or playing tag, but i have also seen so many horrific situations and heard so many terrible stories. i remember one out of a hospital in the democratic republic of the congo where they treat children and women who have

suffered some sort of sexual violence typically, and they have a physical problem that results from vicious rapes, and i saw one little girl who was playing, i assume that she was a child of one of the women they're being treated, and i talked to the doctor there. she was a patient. he said it was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do was put her back together after she had been viciously sexually violated, and you have to wonder why? how could anyone do that to a four-year-old. i have seen children in ukraine that are suffering from the aftereffects of the constant shelling. i met a family where the stud was disabled, and every time the sirens were to go off he would completely fall apart. the family, because he was

bigger, he was sort of childlike, they could not get him into the bomb shelters, so persistently the family was trying so hard to protect this child, but also unable to do that given what was going on. i have seen countless stories like those, and it is a situation where you see just how horrific human beings can be to each other, and when that happens to children it is particularly hard to deal with. amna: it is unimaginable what you're describing children are enduring around the world. you project an alarming funding gap, a projected shortfall of $835 million and nearly $1 billion by 2026. in these circumstances, how is it that you can support these children short of ending the war or the conflict? >> you put your finger on it. the worst thing that can happen to children is a war.

children do not start wars and are unable to end wars. they just suffer. in the context of something that is already terrible, we try to help put them back together in a sense. we give them psychosocial support. we give them physical, ethical support if they have suffered, which many children have. i saw a child in yemen who had lost both of his legs. we help on that side to. we also tried to make sure these children are so getting educated. a lot of times in a conflict, the services are not happening, so children in addition to being in the middle of the war are not getting an education, which sets them back so far, so we provide education services, water, sanitation, all of the basic needs we possibly can for children, but at the end of the day, once they are in that situation it is already horrible for them. we are trying to make the best of a bad situation and trying to help them recover from a

situation that they should not have been in in the first place. amna: the growing number of children in these situations, if this kind of support is not provided for them, what do you worry will happen for this generation of children? correspondent: you can imagine i have seen in some situations these children get lost. they are not getting educated, they have terrible physical problems. they end up -- in many places it is hard for children who are disabled whether from war or otherwise. a lot of times even as the society comes together, these children are not included in hools or other activities. it is challenging to raise resources for issues like this, because i think in a way the world community looks at it and they think this is just what happens, and it is not -- of these conflicts go on for so long that people tire of it, and it is important to remind the world, and that is why this report is important to say do

not forget these children. they are blameless here, and they deserve an opportunity to live a decent life. amna: children should not pay the price for the wars of adults. that is the executive director of unicef joining us tonight. thank you so much. ♪ geoff: broadway's big night, the tony awards, will be held this sunday. the new show, “new york, new york” is a top contender, nominated in nine categories, including best musical. the composer of its music, john kander is separately being “lifetime achievement in the for theater.” quite a life extraordinary achievement, which continues. jeffrey brown joined kander at the piano in his new york, new york home for our arts and culture series, canvas.

♪ correspondent: the new broadway musical “new york, new york”, since shortly after world war ii, opens with a song called “cheering for me now”, in which we meet characters who've come to new york with uncertain futures, but big dreams. the show is a love letter to a city. and, for its 96 year old composer, john kander, it captures the wonder of working with others to create something new. >> i've lived a long time. and one of the good things i can tell you about living a long time is that you keep finding out things and learning things about, not just your own life, about life itself, or what really matters. and i found myself at the end of the workshop of “new york, new

york” saying to the company, in thanking them, that one of the greatest pleasures in life was making art with your friends. ♪ correspondent: kander, who grew up in kansas city, was himself one of those people who came to post-war new york to make it. he did, big-time, and it was through the collaborative process, as half of one of musical theater's greatest teams. music by john kander, lyrics by fred ab -- ebb. ♪ creators of such blockbusters as “chicago”, which premiered in a 1996 revival is now the 1975. longest-running show on broadway. another classic, gammaray --

cabaret from 1966, later a film starring liza minnelli and joel gray. they wrote 16 broadway musicals and all and thousands of songs, including a certain anthem that pretty much everyone on the planet must've heard. ♪ correspondent: it was originally written for the 1977 film drama directed by martin scorsese, and as the story goes, when star robert deniro didn't much like the first version kander and ebb brought them, the two went off and did what they did best, sat at the piano and got to work. >> we went home pissed off. >> yeah, about, deniro didn't

like your song. >> it is true, and we went into this little room where we work with freddie and sat down and said, 'well, let's do it again.' and my hands while, probably what we were talking went -- ♪ and with fred, immediately inside of that vamp is -- the very first lines. ♪ correspondent: in fact, kander says, music is always playing in his head, even as we talked. his job, improvise until he finds the good parts, while fred ebb, who died in 2004, was doing the same with an endless string of words. >> she could -- and this is

brilliant. i do not know a lot of people who could do this. he could improvise in a rhyme and meter in the same way that i could do -- ♪ without thinking, seemingly without thinking. correspondent: you're improvising at the keyboard and he's improvising with the rhymes in his head. and somehow it comes together. correspondent: -- >> right, it is mysterious, because i think it is so deeply unconscious for us. ♪ correspondent: the new “new york, new york” musical, directed and choreographed by susan stroman, another longtime kander collaborator, is loosely based on the earlier film, with new characters and storylines. ♪ at its heart, a young musician, played by colton ryan, who lost his brother in the war. and a singer, played by anna

uzele, facing racial discrimination as she struggles for opportunities. many of the songs are older ones by kander and ebb. seven were written with a new partner and friend, contemporary broadway giant lin-manuel miranda, who joined the cast and production team in a rousing 96th birthday song for kander. ♪ >> we have a good time working together, and it reminds me a little bit of freddy, because is, lin is very fast and i'm very fast. correspondent: fast is in the ideas are coming quickly? >> yeah, and again, the ideas can be terrible. and nobody is a bad person because they have it, but so you write it, and then you change it. correspondent: there is a lot of craft to songwriting, right? >> yes, and that is the word. i think we are all carpenters. correspondent: knowing how to

put it together. >> yeah, it is one thing to want to make art. it is another to do it, and that is craft. you get better at it, hopefully, as you work, or not. the rehearsal is for me the safest place in the world, because you can do anything. you can be so terrible, but it is private. corresponden yeah. >> and eventually you end up in the rehearsal room with something that's as close as you can get to what you intended correspondent: even with “new york, new york” now on broadway, kander, who lives with his husband albert stephenson, was about to leave after ouralk to join a workshop session for a potential revival of the kander and ebb 1990 musical, “kiss of the spider woman.” he is very much still at it. >> my mother had a great phase which no, none of us understood

until later in life. she said, you do the best you can. a horse cannot do any better. correspondent: a horse can't do any better. >> and i understand now what that means. in other words, if you're writing a show, you do the best you can. sometimes without thinking of the ramifications. correspondent: you are 96 and still working. what is the secret? >> well, are you supposed to stop doing the things that give you pleasure? who wrote that rule? correspondent: no one wrote that rule, certainly not for john kander. ♪

♪ geoff: wow! amna: and we'll be back shortly with some words of advice from college graduation speakers. geoff: but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like this one on the air. ♪ amna: for those staying with us, we revisit a piece of complicated medical history. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has our encore report from alabama's capital, montgomery. it's part of his series, agents for change. >> welcome to more than a tour. correspondent: for some years, michelle browder has conducted trolley tours of montgomery. >> this is her apartment, so i would invite you to get out. correspondent: from rosa parks'

home to the bus depot that is now the freedom rides museum. >> this is where they were beaten and bludgeoned right here. correspondent: alabama's capital is a living history museum of the civil rights era, with so many iconic events, people, and places. but, for browder, artist by training, activist by leaning, there is one chapter of an earlier history that she is working to rewrite. it has manifested in a monument on the capitol grounds to james marion sims, he was a physician who practiced here in the 1840s, developing tools for pelvic exams and a technique to suture vaginal tears called fistulas. to michelle browder, that is only half the story. there is nothing on the monument now that says anything about the women that he worked on. >> oh, absolutely not, nothing of these 11 enslaved girls of african dissent that were tortured, mutilated without

anesthesia, nothing that talks about what they contributed, forcibly, of course, correspondent: no mention of them either in a well-known paintings immortalizing sims as the father of modern gynecology. michelle browder first saw it as an art student three decades ago. >> i was triggered. from there, i promised myself that, one day, i will change that narrative. got the welding station. correspondent: a promise renewed years later when she moved to montgomery and discovered the statue at the capitol. >> i was horrified. i still am. if he's the father of gynecology, the father of modern gynecology, then where are the mothers? correspondent: browder decided she'd do something about it. relying heavily on sims' own notes, she focused on the only three women actually named in his writings. today, about a mile from the sims monument are soaring wrought iron tributes to the women she calls the mothers of gynecology, anarcha, betsey, and lucy. >> they didn't have autonomy, so

it just makes sense for them not to have arms and feet. correspondent: the young woman endured months of trial and error as sims honed his technique to repair their fistulas. the humiliating vaginal injury usually caused by obstructed labor renders women incontinent and unable to bear children. >> if you see around her legs there, that wire represents the silk suture, sutures that he used to basically torture them. and then, of course, betsey, her crown is made up of the speculum. >> the first time that i ever viewed the monument, i cried. and i didn't know exactly why. correspondent: lauren marcelle and alana taylor are local artists and recent transplants to montgomery. they were on the day's tour. >> just seeing that work erected in such a way as a healing device was beautiful. >> the only thing that

differentiates us from these women is time. >> if it's outlawed in 1808, that we cannot go back and traffic folks from africa, then where are we getting these people? from the neighborhood? reading plantations. reading. >> black women's - their wombs are the engines that maintained the institution of slavery. correspondent: deirdre cooper owens is a medical historian and author. as for anesthesia, she says, it was not commonly used in sims' day. but his reason for avoiding it rested on a widely held stereotype, that black people do not feel pain, something contradicted, she says, in his own work. >> i call it racial cognitive dissonance. he holds on to the ideologies or sets of beliefs that are swirling in the 19th century, that black people are somehow different than white people biologically. but he will write, this patient lost sense of herself and struggled violently as we had to restrain her during surgery.

why would you need to restrain a black patient who is insensible to pain? >> and you look at today, but even with all the advancements that we have, that african american women tend to have higher mortality and morbidity, and i think it's just a trickle down from the - from the troubles that our ancestors had to endure. correspondent: latoya clark, a montgomery obstetrician-gynecologist, says anti-black stereotypes have endured through the years. even today, she notes, studies find many providers believe african americans feel less pain, that their complaints are exaggerated. the flip side, she says, is deep distrust of the health care system. do you have patients who actively want to see you because they think you're more culturally competent, because they think that you would better understand their predicament? >> yes, i have had numerous patients i would say that i have

seen a man gynecologist all my life, and now i want to see a female gynecologist, or i wanted to come to an afro-american gynecologist. correspondent: browder says she's faced occasional pushback in this deep red state, where sims is revered for work that was indeed groundbreaking. >> i have had some doctors say that i'm actually trying to stain this man's reputation who's actually done something good, he was a man of his time. in any case, whether or not he was a man of his time, then his time was barbaric, and, therefore, he was barbaric. so let's start there, and then seek out ways to help and repair what is broken. correspondent: and then there have been moments of grace, notably after she explained her plans for the new center to the white owners of the building. >> she says, "oh, michelle," just little ms. gone with the wind. she was like, "we're just so proud of you. and if you're going to do all of that, we're going to let you have that building for $35,000."

correspondent: not what you expected. >> just don't judge the book by the cover. correspondent: for the "pbs newshour," i'm fred de sam lazaro in montgomery, alabama. ♪ geoff: it's graduation season, and that means politicians, actors and even someone from the newshour you might recognize are imparting sage advice -- and encouragement -- to college graduates around the country. here are some of the life lessons this year's commencement speakers passed on 2023 grads. -- graduates. pres. biden: few classes, once in every several generations, enters at a point in our history where it actually has a chance to change the trajectory of the country. you face that inflection point today, and i know you will meet the moment.

i just think about the many ways you already have. patton: everything extraordinary in my life came from the wandering. and that's not to say i didn't work hard and that you shouldn't work hard, but don't work hard to acquire things. work hard so that you can buy yourself the time to wander easy, use whatever skills you have to carve out days of randomness and adventure. justice brown jackson: when you find yourself in unfamiliar situations, taking on new responsibilities, perhaps under challenging circumstances, find a way to do that thing outside of the law that grounds you, whether it's ultimate frisbee or painting or going to the theater. oksana: love is always about taking action, not just words. love is about support and help. never ask yourself, shall i help? ask yourself, how can i help? mae: we forget that happy is not something that is given to us by

others. it is that we get to make every day. so why i ask you to look up look up at the sky, the clouds beyond the sun, the moon, the stars, when you need to recharge your spirit, let the gravity of earth give you a warm hug when you're feeling low. amna: hope can feel like a wishy-washy word. all rainbows and butterflies and big dreams. i'm here to tell you, it is not. hope is a verb. hope his strength. hope is resilience. i see it every day in the stories i cover, in all parts of the world and corners of this country, in moments where all seems lost. hope is the bridge between what is and what will be. liz cheney: when the path ahead is obscured and unclear, you can find your way by resolving to do the next right thing. [applause] and you will -- and you will

almost always know what that is. there was a small voice inside telling you it is your conscience -- listen to it. >> for the sake of this world, become peacemakers. it is better to be at peace than to prove to anyone that you are right. work with peace in your heart. find peace in your soul, and everything else will follow. angela: it's your time now to leave this home and to begin to create a life that you will call your own. it's all about carving out your individual paths as purposeful, hold human beings -- whole human beings. so now, if someone says to you

that you are doing too much, you tell them, i am just getting started. [applause] thank you begin for this tremendous honor, and congratulations. geoff: online you can also hear from students who are graduating high school about their hopes for the future. that's at pbs.org/newshour. amna: and that is it for the newshour. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i am geoff bennett. >> major funding for the newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour. >> qnod is a proud supporter of public television. the world awaits, a world of

flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of entertainment and british style. all with white star service. ♪ >> 420 five euros, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to what people do more for they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plaintiff it's you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front line of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ and friends of the newshour.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & company." here's what's coming up. >> we can turn this country around but different times call for different leadership. >> out to beat his former boss. former vice president mike pence makes it official. i asked former gop representative will herd if anyone has a shot at beating donald trump to the republican nomination. also ahead, just how fast is definitely shocking. and the fact nobody knew this was coming. >> the pga tour is accused of sacrificing morals for money. then -- >> we are here ourselves. >> situation critical. the top doctor at