i learned that fighting bob lafollett sr.ad given his maiden speech on opposing a railroad regulation bill because it didn't go far enough. he was known for fighting the monopolies of the day. his maiden speech went on for three days. he in fact, let's say antagonized some of his colleagues by taking such a long time. he wasn't filibustering, but he was making his point. the galleries were filled. of course, they wouldn't be at -- of course, they would be at that time. so when i started, noting some progressive and populist themes, i promised my colleagues that it would not take three days. brian: so a progressive you are. what does that mean? give us a couple major issues. that a progressive would be for. sen. baldwin: i do think of a lot of overlap between populism and progressivism. i think it really is about restoring power and a voice to the citizenry and having a check on unfettered power, unregulated power, especially of monopolistic like entities. lafollette went after the railroads. he went after the power plants, th

. >> bob lafollette sr. helped shepherd the change whereby senators were not appointed by the legislatures, but demanded elections. so i guess those, i don't know if it was the first but the idea that it wasn't going to be the party bosses who made the decision of who the nominees were in smoke-filled back rooms but rather the people who were you know, going to get a chance to vote in free and fair elections. >> sunday night. >> now, professors and authors talk about the opportunities and challenges for the african-american community in the south and west during reconstruction. they discuss topics such as the role of black lawyers, participation in local politics by men and women, and race relations in the western states. the university of south carolina's history center and historic columbia co-hosted this hour and 15-minute event. >> the an exciting day. finally, after four long years of the civil war, we can finally go on to the really important work and talk about reconstruction. [laughter]