grusheski: philadelphia was the first american city to develop a water system and to take on as a municipal responsibility water delivery to all of its citizens. when william penn laid out the city, he actually chose a spot of land that had a lot of groundwater. however, by 1730, 30,000 people lived within the first seven blocks of philadelphia, next to the delaware river. well, 30,000 people caused filth in the city and polluted their water sources. the groundwater was not potable. and in one year, 1/6 of the population died of yellow fever. now, they didn't know at the time that yellow fever was carried by mosquitoes. but the health issue was major in that first movement to build a water system. narrator: so they set out to find the cleanest source of water. although the majority of philadelphia's water now comes from the delaware river, early engineers found that development along the waterfront was causing pollution. so their search led them to the nearby schuylkill river. philadelphia developed technologies to pump water from the river into the city. these technologies established engi

hopefully next tuesday, will be approved by the board of supervisors to become the first african- american, first woman as cityinistrator. we all hope for that. not just because she is the first african american. not just because she is a woman. but because she is absolutely, by far, the best person to do that job. and our experience with her was that she -- [applause] and as evidence of the wisdom and great insight of san francisco african american historical and cultural society, we invited her to be our keynote speaker before she was nominated, so we knew what was coming up. we would like to welcome to further introduce our keynote speaker, mayor lee. [applause] >>(z

as we celebrate meeting the first african-american city administrator in san francisco.ads of the tapestry are equal in value. special thanks to my husband. >> whoa. [laughter] [applause] he has >> been my biggest tavon, along with my mother, my sons, my family. antiwhite to mayer brown, whose job potential in me when i was right -- and thank you to mayer brown, who saw potential in me right out of college. i would like to thank allçççu have assembdee hereççç raisee from the beginning of my career to this juncture. you supported me. you shared with me, you laugh with me, you stood by me. and because of you, and i am committedç long ago today whats right and defied the goodçq forç the city of san francisco. çtogether weç have plenty ofxk ahead of us, a

soldiers have been killed in this region one third of the american casualties and iraq. saluja was the first city to fight back against american occupation. they found fame by throwing them out of town and inflicting great loss of life. so much so that the people wondered how a small city like fallujah could resist against the world's most powerful army yes i knew. in march two thousand and four four mercenaries under contract to the us army were killed in their vehicle on the outskirts of town their mutilated bodies were dragged through the streets then hung under this bridge as true things it was one of the very first acts of violence against the united states these pictures were soon seen all over the world it was the start of an escalation that culminated in the battle of fallujah in november two thousand and four the death toll listed one hundred thirty four g. eyes and thirty five hundred iraqis saluja became a symbol of the revolt accordingly the army imposed very strict checks on the city of fingerprints and retina scans of every last inhabitant or recorded in the u.s. army files never ha

she was the first asian-american woman to chair a city commission in 1979, where she served on the national committee. please join me in congratulating her. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. first of all, i would like to thank shelley and the global arts and education organization. when you do advocacy work, you do not do it alone. i learned most of my values from my parents, especially my mother, who just turned 99. [applause] she still lives in her own home. i want to thank my friends and colleagues who are here today, because they are the ones that i have worked with all these years, supporting senior issues, dealing with japan town cultural preservation issues, we have all worked together and that is what it takes to get things done. this award is very special to me. not only did i know norma, because she succumbed to the health commission to testify and advocate for her beliefs and goals, also another reason why this is special is because the first person that got this award was one of our health commissioners. [applause] i knew norma as a very inspirational woman who was very co

it was the first african-american presbyterian church in the city. it was founded by the educator and pastor john f. hook sr. and its first meetings were in his home located at 14th and 8th street northwest. do you know where that is? where are we now? we're at 16th and 8th street. go down two blocks and you'll know where it was. all these institutions were critical, i think, to the vitality of the african-american community and they provided both religious guidance for the congregants who went there and community service for residents. these churches fulfilled a lot of roles within the community. they're also the locations for schools for black children because many of the schools in washington, d.c., were closed to them. together, what they represent -- these businesses, these institutions, these schools -- are an intricate infrastructure that's beginning to come together, knitting together the free and enslaved community in washington, d.c. what they're tryinto

here in the city of san francisco that these challenges wrb certainly ones we are confronted by every day but amazing things are happening here. we have just now selected our first chinese-americann francisco. [applause] on the board of supervisors, 11 of us, eight of us, eight members of the board of supervisors are people of color. this is true representation. but what has laid the foundation of the great muscle that has made san francisco well known in its reputation as being forward thinking also obligates us to answering the other questions some of the chals that i remarked on especially as it concerns the african-american population in after. i'm not so sure that the numbers really have dropped to 3.%. that's a quick drop from 6.2 two years ago. but whatever the case is, that decline in population is a healthy reminder that even the most forward-thinking cities have incredible work to do. thank you, everybody, and happy black history month. >> thank you, supervisors cohen and mirkarimi. just want to announce also that thanks to the efforts of lamont bishop and others, we do have for the kinseys proclamations or certificates of recognition for shirley and bernard kinsey fro

is a mostly poor city and mostly african-american and the first city in michigan to have the local electedipped of their power. last year by the state. under rick schneiders souped up emergency manager law your vote to who you want to run the town can be overruled. the state said that benton harbor is too broken to be allowed a democratic form of government anymore. governor schneider turned the town over to a single unelected manager who has unilateral power to do whatever he wants, no matter what the voters say. the manager says the elected mayor and the elected commission are not in charge anymore. so they are not in charge anymore. in rick schneider's michigan, democracy is considered part of the problem n places like benton harbor, at least, democracy must go before progress can begin. accordingly what counts as progress in benton harbor is up to the emergency manager guy now. under rick schneider's law, this unelected emergency official can fire the elected officials, can cancel contracts, can dissolve the whole town itself. can sell off the town's assets. benton harbor did not have

when he became the first asian- american to be in that position in this great city, again -- that was less than three months ago that when the mayor was sworn billion, he took every opportunity he had to advance women. when there is an opportunity to appoint a member to the board of supervisors, and for those of you who do not live in san francisco, that is our city council. among the list of qualified candidates, he elected christina olague . i believe supervisor olague is with us today. [applause] and in a short three months when he has had an opportunity to nominate and appoint somebody to the very important position which he firmly held as the chief administration officer of the city and county of san francisco, and again he immediately nominated noami kelly to be our cao. [applause] we're living in a city that we're very lucky, and we know that women around the world and in many other cities are not as lucky. when i look around their room, i see that we have many city departments headed by women. of course there can always be more. but i see melanie, miriam, emily. i mean, there

] he was sworn in on january 8 of this year as the 43rd mayor of the city and county of san francisco. lee is the first asian-american mayor in san francisco's history. prior to his election, while serving as interim mayor, he championed balancing the budget, keep sanford cisco safe, solid, and successful by reforming city pensions, focusing on economic development, job creation, and public safety as his top priorities. they year lee -- mayor lee has worked hard to keep the economy and economic recovery on track, to create jobs for residents, and everything to support a thriving economic climate. during this term, he has said that he will keep his focus on economic development and job creation, taking responsibility for building san francisco's future and making city government more responsive, efficient, and accountable through innovation and technology. .wr? in 1989 as an investigator for the city's first whistle-blower ordinance. he also served as executive director of the human rights commission, director of city purchasing, director of the department of public works,

american mayors in our regions of two biggest cities. what has that meant to your city? what benefits has a broad backs either of you can take the first crack at that. >> obviously, being the first chinese asian american mayor in san francisco is significant. as mayor quan knows, we have generations of his stories were we had the local laws that literally prevented our population from voting. it is significant for so many fronts that i think are all well spoken of already. having said that, i have been working in government for 22 years. i have seen what it takes for a mayor to be successful. i have supported for may years. i have run five different departments. for me it is good to not only celebrate this historic vote, but recognize how important it was with communities that have suffered for many years, but to take that and share it with all the other communities of san francisco. we could be a jeremy lin. to be able to lead an open opportunities for african- americans and gays and lesbians to work with labor as strong as other mayors have and to make sure there are linked with the big decisions, to unite the city in the wake -- in

tomorrow, tomorrow is going to be the first end of the iraq war parade in a very large american city.argest city in america. tomorrow houston is hosting a parade honoring iraq war veterans and their family. it will end at minute maid stadium. there will be a ceremony on the field before they play that night. the welcome home events in st. louis and tucson were great. those were individual citizens in local unofficial groups of civilians that worked hard to organize them. tomorrow's parade in houston will be the first parade organized by the city itself which means the person in charge is an elected official. joining us is the mayor of houston texas. thank you very much for being here. it's nice to have you here. >> glad to be on. now i'm a little intimidated. this is the first parade being hosted by a city. i find that hard to believe. we're ready for it. we're excited about it. >> where did the idea come from that houston should do this and houston should do it in the way that you have decided to do it? >> it came just as it has in all the other cities from our citizens. it bubbled u

lee was sworn in on january 8, 2012 as the 43rd mayor of the city and county of san francisco. ed lee is the first asian- american mayor in san francisco history. [applause] mayor lee was elected on november 8, 2011 by the people of san francisco while he was serving as interim mayor. appointed unanimously as successor mayor by the board of supervisors on january 11, 2011. while serving as interim mayor, mayor lee championed balancing the budget to keep san francisco safe, solvent, and successful. reforming city pensions, economic developments, a job creation, and public safety as his top priorities. mayor lee has worked hard to keep the economy and economic recovery on track, create jobs for residents, and everything that supports a thriving economic climate like parks, transit, housing, quality of life in the neighborhoods, and public safety. mayor lee's focused on job creation, taking responsibility for building san francisco's future. for helping each other and that government more efficient and accountable through innovation and technology. here to talk about the priorities, please welcome our 43rd mayor of

first chinese american mayor of san francisco. [applause] a round of applause, again. san francisco is well known for its cultural diversity, which makes this citye very glad to see the chinese communities in san francisco have gotten along with other ethnic groups, taking part in the economic and social life of this city. they have made a great contribution. the have also made contributions to the friendship between china and the united states. on this occasion, i would like to extend my warm congratulations to the great people of san francisco. i appreciate what you have achieved in the past year. i believe that under the ministry of the dragon mayor, edwin lee, and the support of the first chinese american president of the board of supervisors, mr. david chiu, san francisco will maintain prosperity, and gain more achievements in the year to come. and also, integration with china. a token of our congratulations. i would like to present a dragon to my elder brother, edwin lee, the mayor. i am a younger dragon. [applause] mayor lee: thank you very much. thank you. >> thank you, mayor. thank you, counsel general. the board of supervisors reflects

. >> 2012 local content vehicle cities tour takes our book tv and american history tv on the road the first weekend of each month. this past weekend featured little rock. with book tv at university of arkansas. >> he collected photographs and was interested in the 19th century, the civil war in particularch these are two friends, union and confederate who knew each other prior to the civil war, who fought against each other at the battle of pea ridge in 1862, survived the war, came out alive, and remained friends after the war. here they are at age 100. sitting on the porch talking about the old days. >> american history tv looked at life in a world war ii internment camp. >> a wonderful book, the art of surviving the unsurvivable sort of. and she talks a lot about how the arts and the crafts were sort of how they kept their sanity. and it gave them something to do. and about how depression was so bad in a lot of the camps. people, there was high incidence of suicide. so people would make these little things, of beauty, to give to each other just as a way to say -- you know, we support you.

it was the first time, of course and all african american cast with a couple of white people. you know, then watching the new york city ballet and then the young lady in the ballet. and then it was the dance theater for harlem which was an all black company with a couple of white people. it was a token of courtesy, i would say. unspoken, and yes, in my view from being a foreigner, it was an unspoken etiquette that it is not just all black company or white company. we are moving toward a kind of, art is art. yes, this is npr by history. -- black history and the human rights programs. more and more we speak politically integration over society in any spheres, education and politics, struggling for justice, etc. in art, somehow it is the slowest. look at hollywood. every second year or the academy awards or the new york film institute, it is almost -- always where are the rules for african american women and men? it is more conversation than actual action. kill me, i do not know why. tavis: art lags, but it seemed to me it should not be that way. you listed a number of examples. arthur mitchell, etc., and there is no rea

c-span's 2012 local content vehicle cities tour takes book tv and american history tv programming on the road the first weekend of each month. he collected photographs and was interested in the 19th century. the civil war in particularch these are two friends, union and confederate who knew each other prior to the civil war. who fought against each other at the battle of pea ridge, 1862. survived the war. came out alive. remained friends after the war. here they are at am in 100 on the porch talking about the old days. >> american history tv looked at life in a world war ii japanese internment camp. she talks a lot about how the arts and crafts were how they kept their sanity. it gave them something to do. and how depression was so bad. that a lot of the camps, and the people, there was the high incidence of suicide. and so people would make these little things of beauty to give to each other just as a way to say -- you know, we support you and we care about you. next, author, david hacket fisher discusses tactics and strategies, george washington used to complete challenges. he spoke on the founding o

first ethos, if you want to use that, is the importance of being an immigrant. you came to this america because of the unique opportunity. you came to chicago, the most american of american cities, because of the opportunity to give your children something they could not get. >> how does she define the opportunity to you at the time? >> well, first of all, there's a couple things. and it's not -- it's hard to reduce. one of the things my parents had in our family, on our family room, were pictures of relatives who never made it to america. and in the middle of that were the passports of my grandmother and my two great aunts, which was their way of reminding us you're lucky. now use it. second, and you know, something i actually try to learn from, and i think this -- and i say this as a criticism of my generation. i think we're overinvolved in our kids' lives. we need to leave our kids more to fail. we try to protect our kids too much. and i think my parents allowed each of us -- >> i totally agree with this. >> -- to fail -- >> modern kids aren't encouraged to understand losing. >> to fail. and because if you look at one of the things i say at graduations all the time, while th

. >> c-span's 2012 local content vehicle cities tour takes our book tv and american history tv programming on the road the first weekend of each month. this past weekend featured little rock, arkansas, with book tv at the collection at the university of arkansas. >> the high school collected photographs and he was particularly, again, interested in the 19th century, the civil war in particular, these are two friends, union and confederate who knew each other prior to the civil war, who fought against each other at the battle of p. ridge. survived the war, came out alive and remained friends after the war and here they are at age 100 sitting on the porch talking about the old days. >> american history tv looked at the life in a world war ii japanese internment camp. >> a lady here wrote a wonderful book called the art of

. >>> c-span's 2012 local content vehicles city tour takes our book tv and american history tv programming on the road the first weekend of each month. this past weekend featured little rock, arkansas. with book tv at the high school collection at the university of arkansas. >> he was particularly interested in the 19th century, the civil war in particular. these are two friends, union and confederate, who knew each other prior to the civil war, who fought against each other at the battle of pea ridge in 1862, survived the war, came out alive and remained friends after the war and here they are age 100, sitting on the porch talking about the old days. >> a lady here wrote a beautiful book called "the art of gaman" and that meant surviving the unsurvivable sort of. she talks a lot about how the arts and crafts were sort of hough they kept their sanity and it gave them their sanity and how about the depression was so bad in the camps and there was a high incidence of suicide and people would make these little things of beauty to give to each other just as a way to say we support you and care about you. >> our tou

california's first asian american districts and the sandia bow valley district, state assembly district 49 on your screen. in this area in the united states is the first majority asian-american city, miley park and surrounding majority or near majority american cities including hamburg, proceed at saint gabriel. interest in me this region of alley is also very latino. in fact, it is cradled by a majority latino districts, including as you see in your screen, status and the districts of 51 to the west, 58 and 572,048 to the east. so establishing 8049 as a section to protect district and demonstrating how it could be john roberts that he and the voting of latinos is a major achievement. okay, growth in latino population over the past decade also presented new opportunities for greater latino influence. one area in which advocates were exploring possibilities was in the central valley were already in place advocates here were looking to protect the voting rights of growing latino communities, a model american of their community should be outlined for a rather small -- make sure you've got the good picture here. the community argued a shared much in the poverty rates of unemployment,

. >> c-span's 2012 local content vehicle cities tour takes our booktv and american history tv programming on the road. the first weekend of each month. this past weekend featured little rock, arkansas. with booktv at the high school collection at the university of arkansas. >> collector of photographs, and she he was particularly, again, interested in the 9th century. -- 19th century. these are two friends, union and confederate, who knew each other prior to the civil war, who fought against each other at the battle of pea ridge in 1862, survived the war, came out alive and remained friends after the war, and here they are at age 100 sitting on the porch, talking about the old days. >> and american history tv looked at life in a world war ii japanese interment cap. >> a lady wrote a wonderful book, and gaman meant surviving the unsurvivable. and she talks a lot about how the arts and the crafts were sort of how they kept their sanity, and it gave them something to do. and about how depression was so bad in a lot of the examples and that people -- there was a high incidence of suicide. so people would make these