amy: bernice johnson reagon's daughter, toshi reagon, also an acclaimed musician, shared the news on social media wednesday, and included a quote from her mother: "i was here before i came and when i die, i am not leaving." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org. war, peace and the presidency: breaking with convention. coming up, ohio senator j.d. vance formerly accepts the republican vice presidential nomination to run with donald trump and takes the rnc stage. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "joanne little" performed by sweet honey in the rock, with bernice johnson, one of the group's founders. she has passed away at the age of 81. this is democracy now! democracynow.org. war, peace and the presidency: breaking with convention. i am amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. the republican national convention is entering its final day. donald trump will accept the parties nomination tonight. on wednesday night ohio senator j.d. vance accepted the republican vice

stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "give your hand to struggle" by bernice johnson reagon.ounder of sweet honey in the rock. she passed away at the age of 81. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, war, peace, and the presidency: breaking with convention. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. on wednesday night, ohio senator j.d. vance formally accepted the republican vice-presidential nomination two days after he was picked by donald trump. the man vance once described as america's hitler. prior to his embrace of the maga movement, vance was a vocal critic of trump. he once described trump as "reprehensible," an "idiot," and "noxious." j.d. vance first gained fame as the author of the best-selling memoir "hillbilly elegy: a memoir of a family and culture in crisis" about growing up in appalachia. the book was also made into a movie. vance is a graduate of yale law school who served in the marines and became a venture capitalist. he won a close republican senate primary

bernice johnson reagon was 81 years old. amna and geoff, back to you in milwaukee.a convention unlike any other, with the assassination attempt against former president trump lingering over the week. but this moment is just the latest on the long timeline of the republican party. amna: our lisa desjardins is back with a look at the birth of the gop and what it means for today. >> did you hear about the birthplace of the republican party yet? lisa: just outside the republican national convention in milwaukee, mandy kimes is giving history lessons to anyone who'll listen. >> it happened just 1.5 miles away from here. lisa: she's traveled almost 100 miles from the small town of ripon, wisconsin, bringing a replica of the original little white schoolhouse, where the republican party was born 170 years ago. >> i really think people are kind of surprised when they're learning about history. and i think because this is the story of the republican party, we have kind of like a hook to draw them in. and then all of a sudden they're learning something even deeper than what th