>> i know it is. and they fought at the alamo and everything. we don't get credit for it. >> you're right. >> only thing they think of is slaves. >> well, and to me the wonderful story about the war of 1812 is how african-americans used that as a way to secure their freedom. now, one of the great stories -- >> they didn't come here as slaves. some of them came and helped discover america. >> you're right. some of them did. exactly. and yet what we see is that we tend to create in the narrative of american history we tend to put people in certain groups or categories. and we generalize those categories. we can say that within any group of people there are exceptions to those rules. >> yes. >> and in the process of trying to make it a narrative flow that goes from point a to the end, we talk about the generalizations rather than the exceptions.