we have a program entitled civil war to civil rights, intended to do this very process of taking this and carrying the discussion forward, which we hope to do. but reconstruction is maybe if you think the civil war is a contentious issue, wait until we talk about reconstruction. there are you issues that have more widely diverse views on them then reconstruction. by the way, that was craig swain, who runs one of the best civil war blogs in the country. if you want to follow his intellectual footsteps through his discovery of the war, it is a great place to start. >> i never thought i would live to see the day when thousands of americans in new york city were marching this summer chanting, what do we want? dead cops. when do we want them? now. we are a very divided country today, with racial relations. president obama has weighed in on ferguson. he has weighed in on selma. he has weighed in on trayvon martin in florida. i wonder how the parks service feels about his lost opportunity to unite us by going to vicksburg or going to gettysburg or going to appomattox next week , and celebrat

so he remains here as a central part of the museum's exhibit on civil war medicine.s i said, it is one of the most frequently asked-for objects on display by visitors to the museum here in silver spring. in this part of the exhibit on civil war medicine, we also have on display this bone specimen on the shelf here in front of us . the bone belonged to a private cunningham. but it's notable because this bone was something that was recounted upon and the story around it by walt whitman. he was a nurse and served in hospitals in the virginia and at before and after the civil war. at some point, the museum staff was able to associate his writings in poems and stories from that time with specimens that were held in the collection here at the museum. here is a case where we are able to associate a bit of a story from walt whitman with the actual bone of a person he cared for in a hospital during the civil war itself. our final stop today is an exhibit on the assassination of abraham lincoln and features artifacts that were collected during those hours that surgeons were tr

civil war medicine also taught the army the navy, about medical evacuation. this was a time where it became pretty clear to those involved that removing a patient from the bltfield returning them to a treatment facility increased their chances for recovery and returning back to some quality of life. that lesson alone and the country found itself involved in the spanish-american war and lessons applied in world war i, just 50 years later. the story of dan fickles. he will be a familiar name to many viewers and is this specimen on display is one of the most frequently requested objects by our visitors here at the museum. dan was infamous before the war. his activities during the war elevated his stature, in a sense. and he went on to live a long life amazingly despite the events of the battle of gettysburg. before the civil war, dan fickles, as a congressman, was involved in a duel of sorts with the son of francis scott key. francis scott key's son had been engaged in a relationship with fickles' wife and he took issue and called him out on lafayette square. fi

civil war medicine also taught the army, the navy, about medical evacuation.his was a time where it became pretty clear to those involved that removing a patient from the bltfield, returning them to a treatment facility, increased their chances for recovery and returning back to some quality of life. that lesson alone and the country found itself involved in the spanish-american war and lessons applied in world war i just 50 years later. the story of dan fickles. he will be a familiar name to many viewers and is this specimen on display is one of the most frequently requested objects by our visitors here at the museum. dan was infamous before the war. his activities during the war elevated his stature, in a sense. and he went on to live a long life amazingly despite the events of the battle of gettysburg. before the civil war, dan fickles, as a congressman, was involved in a duel of sorts with the son of francis scott key. francis scott key's son had been engaged in a relationship with fickles' wife and he took issue and called him out on lafayette square. fic

many people are interested in the civil war. the problem is that not enough are interested in the civil war. every american should be able to find the gateway into the story for engaging the civil war as part of not only the national experience, but the framework of their own lives. yet, for a hundred reasons, many not within our control, they do not. as i conclude here, let's think about that list of names. the civil war. the war of rebellion. the war for the union. the war for the southern independence. the second war for independence. each of these names speaks to a certain perspective on the war. it is easy to see why southerners would see the war as a war of northern aggression. i get that. we all get that. or the war for southern independence. lord is easy to see too why former slaves would see as the war for emancipation. or northerners as the war for rebellion. i think you can see that. some might see this as a bothersome debate. maybe it is a symptom of why so many americans are put off by the war. why do argue about st

many people are interested in the civil war. the problem is that not enough are interested in the civil war. every american should be able to find the gateway into the story for engaging the civil war as part of not only the national experience, but the framework of their own lives. yet, for a hundred reasons, many not within our control, they do not. as i conclude here, let's think about that list of names. the civil war. the war of rebellion. the war for the union. the war for the southern independence. the second war for independence. each of these names speaks to a certain perspective on the war. it is easy to see why southerners would see the war as a war of northern aggression. i get that. we all get that. or the war for southern independence. lord is easy to see too why former slaves would see as the war for emancipation. or northerners as the war for rebellion. i think you can see that. some might see this as a bothersome debate. maybe it is a symptom of why so many americans are put off by the war. why do argue about st

known for the gorgeous beach, great surfing, it was also last confederate part city to fall during the civil war, i am here to meet an heir whose a ancestor became famous at high watermark. >> i am george pickett ir irk *. i. >> george, who goes by his name ed, has invited me to his home. >> high, ed. >> you must be jamie. >> i am. >> when 59-year-old is not work ofing as a surfing instructor oden joys doing yoga, playing guitar, a far cry from his famous great-great grandfather who fought in gettings gettysburg. gettysburg. >> i yo knew about it. i was not that interested as a little kid. >> some people said, didn't he lose, wasn't he a loser? that is the way a lot of history books talked about, pickett's charge. >> did you bury your head. >> i did that one time, i didn't know enough to defend him. >> someone that knows a lot about general pickett, civil iar historian earl earl coats, i mem on the battle feel. >> you are one of the icon excites of the civil war. >> what was pickett's contribution? >> general pickett to that time was known as a confederate commander, but after the charge he

civility. a veritable sweet sweet tea that certainly has consequences to the body of as a whole, should it be ingested. so different is his autobiographical account. this goes to the point from yesterday. as you get older, do you really only remember what did happen? can you remember at all? so different is this account, three decades after. it was issued as an appeal to the daughters of the southland. according to the local net, adam son did not leave after she decorated the graves of the union dead. depending on the accounts, it makes you think that there were hundreds of union stones. if you dig a little deeper -- no pun intended -- you find that there were four. for union stones. none of those i mentioned in the delightful, rich and gorgeous, transformative account that vau ghn gives us great at the time she was saying, i will garner those with pink roses for the mothers and sisters who sobbed prayers as they marched away. this is not recognized many -- by many as the earliest de decoration

this is one of the iconic sites of the civil war. >> what was pickett's's wate contribution? >> general pickett to that timet was a certainly known as a confederate commander but after the charge he was known the n world over. >> pickett serves under general james longstreet in july, 1863 here at gettysburg in the army of northern virginia, commanded by general robert e. lee. >> general lee was looking for a great victory on union soil. great victory on union soil. l a high ground. after twottac days of failing t break through, lee orders a controversial attack -- ange assault on the center of the union line. general picketts' troops are te assigned to break through the et middle. we're on the 's confederate side. >> yes,visi in fact, you're mov ho pretty much along the ground that pickett's division came across. you'll see how the ground slopes away here. then you start up a steady slope. the reunion cannon along the whole ridge line. they're high, they're elevated. they can see what's coming and g they can sweep the ground ine. front of them. >> they had the zblej they had

one of those critical stories is the journey from civil war to civil rights.independence hall in philadelphia, you can tour the place where the authors of the constitution left the question of slavery for a future generation to solve. at jefferson national expansion memorial in missouri by the gateway arch and what we know as the dred scott courthouse, you can stand on the courthouse steps where slaves were sold like cattle and families were torn apart. as husbands, and wives, and children were separated, sometimes never to see each other again. a few miles from here in the maryland countryside at the area tenement underground railroad national monument, you can learn about the desperate attempts by so many to escape -- harriet tubman underground railroad national monuments, you can learn about the desperate attempts by so many to escape their bondage. this weekend, our nation turns toward the selma trail where more blood spilled in the fight against injustice. where my boss, president obama is this very day. these are difficult chapters in our nation's story

one of those critical stories is the journey from civil war to civil rights. in independence hall in philadelphia, you can tour the place where the authors of the constitution left the question of slavery for a future generation to solve. at jefferson national expansion memorial in missouri by the great arch, you can stand on the courthouse steps where slaves were sold like cattle and families were torn apart. a few miles from here in the maryland countryside at the harriet tubman national monument , you can learn about the desperate attempts by so many to escape their bondage. this weekend, our nation turns toward the selma trail where more blood spilled in the fight against injustice. where my boss, president obama is this very day. these are difficult chapters in our nation's story but they must be told for generations to come. we cannot forget our past. i'm proud to work for a president who gets this and he is making sure that we are telling a more inclusive story of our nation through additional sites. the fort monroe national monument provides a sanctuar

there are certainly no better place for a discussion of civil war and civil rights than right here atemorial. this national memorial truly embodies the civil war and the civil rights theme as it honors a man who dedicated his presidency to the reunification of the union, and he campaigned vigorously for the 13th amendment, and his dedication in 1922, dr. robert voting of the tuskegee institute focus on lincoln's vision for a new birth of freedom rather than a reunification as the focal point of the memorial up to that point. from that point on, however the lincoln memorial became the national stage for those that -- for those fighting for civil rights. others who followed in those with that include marian anderson, who held her in her sunday concert here at the lincoln memorial in 1939 when she was barred from singing at the segregated constitution hall. and of course, dr. martin luther king jr., who gave his famous "i have a dream" speech here during the march on washington for jobs and freedom in 1963. two years later, dr. king took his struggle for civil rights to selma, alabama, a

how do you define civilization? well, it was part of the our of my book is to argue that is actually very difficult and the people who tried to define civilization get into trouble. many people have within on civilizations but can never agreen what they are, how long they last or how they interact with each other or not. it's a very powerful term. it's a very resonant term and part of the chapter was to say we taught be careful about using these collective categories because they are very unrebuffed and we should certainly be very careful about supposing that there is a world in conflict built around these categories. for example in the huntington book he has this notion that india is a hindu civilization. well actually there are more muslims in india than almost any country in the world with the exception of indonesia. so these carting to graphalling luigss are powerful buts think misguided and mistaken and can be put to very pernicious issues. >> host: when it couples to religion -- you open the book with religion

without this document, there is no civil war. no other state was going to succeed in less south carolina seceded first. a convention of the people of south carolina decided at the end of the first day unanimously to secede from the union, and the convention moved in whole by train down to charleston. the decision to secede, the decision to fracture the government was made here in columbia, south carolina. we are fortunate that the original ordinance of secession is surviving here. it is a wonderful document and we took it around during the centennial in 2010. the people of south carolina could see a document that represents hundreds of thousands of lives lost and millions of dollars in property damage and the emancipation of millions of african americans that came about as a result of this document. that is the husband -- everyone on here would lose everything they had. they would end up any less at the end of the war. many of them would die during the war. many of them would lose children in the war. i don't believe that many of

a mark in the civil rights movement.dmund pettus, he was a confederate general in the civil war, pettus was also a virulent racist and ogrand dragon of the ku klux klan. there is now a petition to rename that bridge. >>> one of the fiercest opponents of civil rights in the 1960s was alabama governor george wallace. wallace had vowed to stop the march. sat down to speak about her legacy. >> my father never built a bomb or hit anybody with a billy club but he created a climate that allowed other people to go and do those things. >> peggy wallace kennedy is the daughter of george wallace the alabama governor who built his reputation fighting against civil rights. >> and i say segregation now segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever! >> so when you listen to your father say segregation now and all of that, and -- >> that's probably the most racist thing i've ever heard him sais. >> that wasn't the only time her father's words and actions betrayed racial bias. wallace stood in the door of the university of alabama, to de

of us would participate in the struggle for civil rights, civil liberties to be smeared and to be called names, but it requires much more than that to deter me. >> he stood up at selma and at the side of dr. king. now he shares the stage with the next generation. >> that's what's happening. >> an america tonight special, young revolutionaries. >> it began that day on the bridge, our nation is still traveling. bloody sunday, when hundreds tried to march from selma, alabama, to montgomery. seeking voting rights and greater justice for all. this marked a turning point as great leaders of the movement see a new generation rising. a fitting moment to bring together two key voices of their time, entertainer harry belafonte, and a new young revolutionary, philip agnu. >> good to see. >> you you, too. >> i'm delighted for a long time people have been asking what has happened to our youth, where is the next generation going. for a lot of people there has been manied guy suggesting that young people are different. nothing seems to motivate them. of course, we've seen the murder of young like trayv

on december 21st, 1864, during the civil war, u.s. forces under general william t. sherman captured savannah, completing the march to the sea. a military campaign devised to destroy the confederacy's ability to wage war, and break the will of its people to resist. after destroying atlanta's industrial and business but not residential districts, sherman's 62,500 men left that city in mid november and marched over 250 miles, reaching savannah by mid december. contrary to popular myth sherman's troops primarily destroyed only property used for waging war. food railroads, train depots factories, cotton gins and warehouses. abandoning their supply base, they lived off the land destroying food they could not consume. they also liberated thousands of enslaved african-americans. sherman's hard hand of war demoralized confederates hastening the end of slavery and the reunification of the nation. erected for the civil war 150 commemoration by the georgia historical society, and georgia battlefields association. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> good job, as always. >> thank you.

of us would participate in the struggle for civil rights, civil liberties to be smeared and to be called names, but it requires much more than that to deter me. >> he stood up at selma and at the side of dr. king. now he shares the stage with the next generation. >> that's what's happening. >> an america tonight special, young revolutionaries. >> it began that day on the bridge, our nation is still traveling. bloody sunday, when hundreds tried to march from selma, alabama, to montgomery. seeking voting rights and greater justice for all. this marked a turning point as great leaders of the movement see a new generation rising. a fitting moment to bring together two key voices of their time, entertainer harry belafonte, and a new young revolutionary, philip agnu. >> good to see. >> you you, too. >> i'm delighted for a long time people have been asking what has happened to our youth, where is the next generation going. for a lot of people there has been manied guy suggesting that young people are different. nothing seems to motivate them. of course, we've seen the murder of young like trayv

particularly during the civil war years.he runs for congress in the he is accused of being an 1840's, infidel and an atheist. by 1865, you get this inaugural address filled with biblical allusions. i honestly don't know. he may have been a prime mover behind getting that on the coinage. is that a question coming up? sure. i thought it was off the hot seat very [laughter] >> you talk about how the nation in trauma disorder to dreams for solace. our nation after 9/11 seemed to resort to conspiracy theories. can you talk about the psychology of the nation during the civil war and why they were more likely to turn to dreams? dr. white: sure. i should say, i'm not a licensed psychologist. i am just a historian. i will approach it from that perspective. i am looking at sleep and dreams during the civil war. no one has written about sleep during the war. i worry that it's because it might make for a sonnooze of a read. [laughter] i hope that my first chapter one -- first chapter will not put people to sleep. soldiers wrote about sl

begun foundry which is now the american civil war museum. the merger with the museum of the confederacy. the unfinished roof, that is where i work. it is cool to see a place you are familiar with in an 1865 photograph. that is chock of exhibits and displays. this one like i say, kind of annoys me. i prefer this one, up on the richmond and petersburg embankment. this thing here is a burned out gate onto a bridge which is burned out as well. you are looking over the ruins of the confederate arsenal or armory. this is essentially be warmaking heart of the confederacy. without this, without what you are looking at in this image, there is no war. it is that simple. now you are overlooking these ruins after the fire. i like blowing things up. that's on it wrong, didn't it? -- that sounded wrong didn't it? [laughter] you know what i meant. now you can see the laboratory buildings. you really get a sense for older leanness -- orderliness cleanliness. to show you how almost insanely clear these things are, remember these negatives are about this big.

of us would participate in the struggle for civil rights, civil liberties to be smeared and to be calledes much more than that to deter me. >> he stood up

before the civil rights movement, it most surely was.do a disservice to the cause of justice by intimating that bias and discrimination are immutable, that racial division is inherent in america. if using nothing has changed in the past 50 years, ask somebody who lived through the selma or chicago or los angeles in the 1950's. ask the female ceo who once might have been assigned to the secretarial pool if nothing has changed. ask your gay friend if it is easier to be out and proud in america now than it was 30 years ago. to deny this progress, this heart-won progress is hard-1 -- this hard-won progress -- of course, the more common mistake is to suggest that ferguson is an isolated incident , that racism is banished, that the work that drew men and women to selma is now complete and that whatever racial tensions remain are a consequence of those who played the race card for their own purpose. we do not need the ferguson report to know that is not true. we just need to open our eyes and our ears and our hearts to know that this nation's r

american civil war." i'm going to make a few comments from outside the nation about the international context of this event. but i want to spend some time just before introducing the speakers this morning to talk about the historical context of this day. february 17 was a day of terror and destruction of disaster and vengeance. it was also a day of liberation of emancipation and the beginning of peace. it was a day of reckoning for the birthplace of secession. it was here the winter of 1860 that the south carolina secession convention initially met before they moved to charleston where they passed the resolutions to withdraw from the union. many of the speakers will be addressing the legacy of february 17. allow me to take a few minutes to provide historical context for the events leading up to that day and surrounding it. after lincoln's stunning victory in november 1864, it was clear to everyone that the union was going to sustain the war to its bitter end. not only to defeat the rebellion militarily, b

he played a major role in this civil rights act.esting snippet about what he said. >> the south is set on not moving forward. some are set on moving backwards. not just the status quo but backwards, taking away things that we've already gained. and as i say the reason for that is because they feel they have lost something. and some people who really resent the fact that we have an african american as president of the united states. and that's just one person. >> you know he also went on to say a ferguson he thinks in his words could be the new selma that it's a place that a discussion should begin a serious discussion about how much we've come since the 1960s and what's going to happen in the future. so i think that's going to be a very important hot topic this weekend as the celebration begins tomorrow steph. >> yes since the enormous stride this country has made since selma there's a pocket of defense to change what happens in the south. is this celebration being welcomed in that part of the country? >> reporter: well, you know, i

the civil rights amendment that had been sumner's baby would go on to become the civil rights act of 1875, which was struck down by the supreme court in the civil rights cases. the implementation of this disqualification and the mandate of section three had substantially eroded public confidence in the north and south, and by now also west, so by the time of the enactment of the amnesty bill, democrats had regained control in 4 state governments formally part of the confederacy and were on their way to regaining the entire region. at the same time that the republican party saw its influence in the region dissipate, the import of section three dwindled almost to nothing as only a trickle of petitions were still to be heard. most of those 500 people who were excluded from the amnesty bill would go on to hold public office in democratic-controlled states and local governments and in other words, as the disqualification itself, noncompliance with the amnesty bill by the people frustrated the purpose and the intent of the congressional experiment. interestingly enough, the arguments of th

the american civil war." i will make a few comments about the international context of this event. but i want to spend some time before introducing the speakers to talk about the historical context of this day. february 17 was a day of terror and destruction, of disaster and vengeance. it was also a day of liberation, emancipation. and the beginning of peace. it was a day of reckoning for the birthplace of secession. it was here in 1860, that the south carolina succession convention met before they moved to charleston to pass the resolution to withdraw from the union. many of the speakers will address the legacy of this day. i will provide some historical context for the events leading up to that day. after lincoln's victory in november, 1864, it was clear to everyone that the union was going to sustain the war until its bitter end. not only to defeat the rebellion militarily, but to destroy slavery, which the republicans saw as the root cause of the rebellion. the stakes of war had heightened tremendously. a

when you have civil rights, you have citizenship. it's automatic. white people don't need laws to protect their citizenship because they are citizens, but they want -- they don't want to tell us we're not citizens, and at the same time they don't want to pass laws that are meaningful enough to protect us as if we were citizens, and the supreme court desegregation decision is the best example i know. that's a law from the supreme court. ten years have gone by. no desegregated schools. it hasn't been implemented beyond, i think, 9% in ten years. this shows you the hypocrisy of the american white man. they talk out of both sides of their mouth. for this reason, as muslims, we don't believe that black people will ever get any laws, get any problem with laws being passed or new persons being put in office, white liberals being put in office. there is nothing that the white man will ever do to bring about true, sincere, citizenship or civil rights recognition for black people in this country. nothing will they ever do. they will always talk it but they wo

the 50th anniversary of the civil rights civil rights marches in selma was held on saturday with obamaeading the charge. look at the cover of the "new york times." this is so powerful. look at this picture. this is the a-team of civil rights. wait a minute. someone from the b-team is trying to worm their way in. zoom in. is that sharpton? how did you get there? weren't you just in seattle marching for black coffee? sneaking over obama's shoulder. well, you know what they say -- the arc of history always bends towards justice, and al sharpton's face always bends towards the camera. just one of those things. all right, obama, give me some of that good hussein speech-ifying. >> we are lewis and clark and sacajawea -- pioneers who braved the unfamiliar, followed by a stampede of farmers and miners, entrepreneurs and hucksters. >> larry: we're the drug dealers. we're the dead-beat dads. we're the fugitives from justice. we're the people that are still on aol. we're the amway salesmen. we're the people who sell amway to the amway salesmen. because, you know, it's a pyramid scheme. >> we hono

the civil rights leader, dr. bernard lafayette, i had an opportunity to speak to him. >> he's terrific. >> he was great. he felt that the conversation needs to be enhanced, he feels that especially in the south we've gone back in time a little bit in the past decade or so. >> that's interesting. one of the things, certainly ferguson helps to frame the discussion that we'll have today with all the people that will have an opportunity to talk to, and the president says as well you were there in ferguson. i was there in ferguson, and what comes to mind and what you remember from ferguson when you join in on an occasion like today is the militarization of the police. back there it was ferguson police of 50 years ago. it was the state police here in alabama. and we're talking about 600 people on that day 50 years ago march 7th, who peacefully marched across the edmund pettus bridge demonstrating and protesting right behind us right there for voting rights, and they were met by an alabama

we have more on the event of the civil civil rights movement. >> our country will never be the same becaused on that bridge. >> now u.s. congressman john lewis sits down with al jazeera's john significant about his life-long fight for civil rights. >> an al jazeera special report "race in america: selma." >> here is look at our top stories at this hour. marking 50 years since bloody sunday. that day in 1965 was when peaceful civil rights protesters were attacked. some survivors of that day in today's crowd and heard the president's speech in which he said that racial history cast it's long shadow upon us. more than 50 people are dead. the bombings caused another 140 injuries. it comes a day when boko haram aregioned pledge. >>> now back to our top story the 50th anniversary of selma. one of the leaders of that march on bloody sunday 50 years ago was john lewis now an u.s. congressman, who has been serving on capitol hill for three decades. he's also the only surviving speaker from that march in washington where dr. martin luther king gave his "ii have a a dream speech." >> i was arrested, 4

civilization is important. there is a problem there. >> when did you start thinking about history in this way and what are some of the categories that you left out the? >> i started thinking about it and i read a book called class in which i tried to look at the different ways in which the british had conceived their social structure and it turned out they there were different ways they thought about it to the lovely people at the bottom in the seamless web of the social fabric you couldn't make any famous lines cutting off some groups from others that there was upper-class middle-class lower-class and i was interested to play with the idea but there was no one prevalent view of how they had seen this idea at the time and there wasn't one prevalent way and that sent me into this notion so that is one way that i began to think about the issues. second, palmer of the things i was interested in doing there is to look at the way between britain and the entire and that often be stabilized and they got on with the st

on the eve of the civil war robert e. lee is managing states that include slaves the george washington had wanted to but could not free. it was the unresolved question of slavery, the personal legacy robert e. lee received from george washington. to see the unresolved question of slavery began turning to violence, 50 miles upriver from arlington, 60 miles up the potomac river to a little town called harper's ferry. george washington decided to put an armory in harpers ferry. his advisers thought this was a terrible idea. you can see why immediately. it is surrounded by three busts in the blue ridge mountains. george washington thought that would make it easy to defend. it made it completely indefensible. in 1859 group of abolitionists led by john brown crossed the potomac river seized the armory and took a number of hostages and one of those hostages was a man named louis washington who was george washington's great grandnephew. he took something else from louis' washington's house not him personally his accomplices did.

so while african-americans were getting full civil rights era the majority of humanities -- civil rights here the majority of humanity became for the first time its citizens. mr. matthews: he mentions africa. speaker: he goes to africa and other places in particular it in the context of the greatest freedom struggle the world has ever seen. of course i would want to be there even though he says the world is messed up, i would rather be here than in the renaissance or reformation. speaker: i would rather be here in memphis on the eve of the sanitation worker's strike them soon martin luther pounded the 99 theses to the door. he has this wonderful way. i am not a king or lincoln scholar but i have read a lot. i think people, the ways in which the i have a dream speech has become the standard by which people think about king, they forget the depth of his intellectual and theological sophistication, the public does. when you read the letter from birmingham jail and you see the depth of his learned this -- learnedness and the sharpness of his theological insight. where lincoln was a lifelong

the civil rights movement was very well completed by 1965. if you look at his papers, which i have done for the last 30 years, you find that his agenda went much beyond civil rights reform. and he makes that clear in many of his early papers and he certainly makes that clear after he gets the nobel peace prize , that his agenda is partially racial justice but also ending poverty throughout the world not just the united states, ending war throughout the world. that is a pretty ambitious agenda. and what happened during the next few years is that all the popularity that he gains from the "i have a dream speech," from getting a nobel prize and the success of the civil rights agenda, he is a normal sleep popular. he is enormously popular. and he spends that popularity quite fast, as he moves to chicago and takes on the war in vietnam, as the launch of the poor peoples' campaign and goes to memphis, which is opposed by even members of his staff who think why are you going to , memphis? we have a poor peoples' campaign you're getting distracted by

it does not mention civil rights.o think of what he is doing 20 years later in memphis, he is dealing precisely with this kind of economic issues. in a way, what happens is that he comes back to his original mission, but he the will not be popular. the biblical prophets he modeled himself on were not popular in their time, they were not saying what people expected them to say. most of them are challenging the religious establishment and insisting that they had wandered from god's will and they were there to remind them because they had spoken to god and that was not the way god wanted them to go. mr. matthews: i want to ask you about security now and security then. they challenge the country. dr. king was facing, well conservative whites, if you want to generalize. he had no security at the time. did he have any security in memphis? >> very little. one of the things you realize when going back and looking at that, you realize how little security there was, there is more security within 100 yards of here then there was

became an iconic image of the nation's civil rights movement. the march 7th, 1965 march from selma to montgomery was marred by a violent police reaction and extensive television coverage brought the civil right into nearly every home in america. in just a short while president obama will address the crowds gathering today in selma. termain lee joins us in selma. how is the 50th anniversary of the march being remembered where you are? >> i'm down here by the edmund pettis bridge and almost to a person, folks say this has to be more than just a commemoration and more than a celebration. there needs to be some action taken afterward. especially when you look at the state of voting rights. they keep saying a renewed fight as legislatures across the country pass stricter voter identification laws and making it harder for people to vote. when you talk to folks on the ground who have family members here. i spoke to a man named billy engram who said his family grew up in nearby marrium where the shooting death of jimmy ray jackson protecting his family

this means speaking out for the civil rights which everyone in his country is entitled. it means calling attention to persistent disparities and inequities, and it means working tirelessly to safeguard and to exercise -- exercise! -- the right to vote. [applause] the people whose names you see on that plaque over there did not die for the right to vote so that people would not exercise that right. right? as you leave this chapel today you look at those names, and you think about those people. and every time is a little too windy, little too cold, a little too rainy, you have got something else to do, you think about them, and you think about all the other people who gave so much so that we would have the right to vote, and you get out there and you vote. >> amen. [applause] >> at the conclusion of the final march to montgomery on the steps of the alabama state capitol, dr. king called for a society at peace with itself. we have made once unimaginable progress in the half-century since he spoke those words, and the to acknowledge that is an insult to those we must always

egypt will be a model of the arab and islamic civilization with the great values of this civilizationegypt is a state that denounced violence and extremism. egypt is a state that respects the neighborhood. egypt is a state that defends and not commits any aggression. egypt is a state that believes in equality. and egypt is a state that believes in great effort to improve the human civilization. i will repeat this again. egypt is presenting itself as a model of islamic and arab civilization with all of the good values with all efforts against violence and extremism. [ applause ] >> translator: a state that boosts -- the region's stability, respects the neighborhood. [ applause ] >> translator: a state that defends and not commits any aggression a state that respects the other, a state that believes that the difference is a way to more knowledge and to enrich the human civilization. ladies and gentlemen, the egyptian people all over the history, has been playing a role in defending its nation in defending its arab and islamic nation. egypt is and will be the first line of defense agains

civil rights legislation. he doesn't mention it in that speech. you think you are here for one purpose, i am here to tell you you are fighting for something much deeper than that. much more important than that. and it has transcended meeting. so i think that is what you wanted to do with that speed. >> i remember the time when he moved from being a civil rights leader, in the eyes of most people, and became a critic of the war. remember, in 1968 was the issue. he had the hardhats, those college kids, every generational struggle of every family in america, and a lot of people felt at the time that he had gone out of his lane. that his language civil rights. he was pushing this thing. he knew that, right? >> oh, of course he knew it. and i think that at a certain point, he had the fatalistic kind of notion that that was a prophetic mission. that is why i call him the social gospel or -- gospel minister who got distracted by civil rights. he is very clear about his mission. in one of our volumes, we publish a pap

>> yes. >> until deep into the civil war. didn't go over until 1812. >> the depth of race prejudice i want to suggest the way race and nation are synonymous terms, and he's -- jefferson's really thinking geo politically about warring nations, and all the things he says about slavery grow out of his wartime experience. slaves are dangerous to the fut turt of the republic, because they're a fifth column, because when they have the opportunity and this is how slavery is ended throughout the world, in wartime, they will seize it. >> nothing is more -- nothing destabilizes swlavry the way a war destabilizes slavery. >> whether it's the revolution or the war of 1812 along the chesapeake or the civil war where the armies are great engines of emancipation. it's the worst thing that can happen to a slave holder's world. >> jefferson does believe in the separation of races for native americans, they can become civilized they can become white in other words, and they can adopt farming ways, and become effectively whites. after all, all

may, 1861 prior to the first battle of the civil war. this woman envisions lincoln as a savior to the nation and liberator to the slaves. she hoped the dream would be a comfort to mrs. lincoln. this woman was not alone. illinois republican declared in 1864 that the great man is a special gift from god almighty and if we reject him, we reject god almighty. lincoln almost universally assumes the status of a martyr. the timing of his death could not be more prescient. he died the following morning after being shot on good friday. from the moment of his death americans began to process the mythmaking about lincoln, making him the most exalted secular american saint. that is the voice of god speaking to the lips of abraham lincoln. in 1890, shelby cullum praised the great hearted patriot. he continued, never was a nobler man born of woman and never throbbed a purer heart. no man has ever existed on the american continent superior to abraham lincoln. lincoln had one immortality when he died with a crown of glory upon his brow. a senator from i