everyone repeats that george washington was 6 foot 3-1/2. and i discovered as i looked at this that all rested on a single piece of evidence which was after washington died and he was measured for casket which was 6 foot 3-1/2. that seemed to settle the controversy. wrong. i want you to do an experiment when you go home tonight. lie down in bed on your back and relax. your feet will fall forward. your toes will point out word. rigor mortis will set in. doing the book i collected about 40 quotations from contemporary letters and diaries and people who commented, 35 of them guessed correctly. that he was 6 feet tall. then came the real clincher. washington like most virginia planters, from london. he always described himself as a man who was 6 feet tall. one person you can't lie to about your height unless you want to end up looking like a laughing stock is your tail. we can consider the case closed. george washington was 6 feet tall which of course it was relatively tall for that time. we tend to associate washington with the revolutionary war

>> i've been working with george washington for 15 years now. m now editor-in-chief of the washington papers project at the university of virginia, and working all of those years with washington's letters and learning more about how washington thought and what type of a man he was i became fascinated about all of the stories that surrounded him, all of the legends. and at the washington papers we get so many queries from people, from the general public. many of them are, you know, very interesting and serious queries about what washington did or who he was. but we also get the occasional wacky e-mail or phone call or piece of correspondence that asks about whether, for example, somebody e-mailed me and said did washington really die on an engineering expedition many russia. [laughter] and, or questions about did washington really say this, did washington really say that? i began to wonder, where does all this stuff come from? where does all of the folklore and all of these legends work mate? -- originate? so i thought it would be fun to take a so

he had known george washington as a child. george and martha spoiled him terribly. he got kind of overweight and they called him wash tub. he was kind of a spoiled kid. as he grew older, he become an eccentric, and filled the home with washington memorabilia, and wore his uniform and get people to look at him. he published the memories of george washington with all kinds of stories with washington wrestling the strongest wrestler in virginia and throwing him to the ground or riding the horse, the most vicious horse in the county, until it died. he developed the indian myth. many other legends, however, they may have had some origin in truth. and, yeah, he contributed to the ongoing washington mythology. many people still quote him today. >> host: i wanted to talk about some of the other people that you are harsh on and i think perhaps more harsh than the facts -- than the facts warrant. two that i wanted to get your take on and take a little bit more about. rupert hughes and james thomas flexner. flexner, most people would say if you are talk about washington's stud

>> guest: i've been working on george washington for 15 years now. i've been working at the university of virginia and working all those years with washington's letters and learning more about how washington thought and what type of man he was, i became fascinated about all the stories that surrounded him, all the legends. at the washington paper we get so many queries from the people and the general public. many of them are interesting and serious queries about what washington did or who he was but we get the occasional whacky email or whacky phone call or piece of correspondence that asks about whether -- for example, somebody asked me did washington really die on an engineering expedition in russia. or another question, did washington really say this? did washington really say that? i began to wonder where does all this stuff come from? where this all this folk-lore and legends originated and i thought it would be fun to take a somewhat lighthearted look at the washington legends. >> host: uh-huh. did you have a particular goal in mind in addition

in this panel, we have a depiction of george washington moving west. what is interesting about it is the image of lewis and clark here is in black and white, something that is occurring in the future, painted as though it was in the past. what is interesting about it is the very obvious conclusion of slavery. the number of students were expressing unease around some of the themes. the additional mural would be placed in the school, one with more positive representation of the student body. in 1974, they completed three panels that were placed in the library -- in the lobby. they depict native, latino, asian american, and african- american heritage and culture. >> that artist was talking about the history coming alive. that is what we want for the students here. i also think they might share that with past alumni and the community, so they could no the treasure that we have here in the schools. many people have the same experience i did when i first walked into this building three years ago, being the new principal. the grandeur of these murals is fanta

he was an artist from rhode island, and it's the most famous portrait of george washington. but there were brothers who were put in charge of creating the image for the flag, and they went about designing it, coming up with all the different lettering, and they had it perfect -- except for the image they had of george washington came from a box of cough syrup. and it just wouldn't do. and in the 11th hour, they found gilbert stuart's portrait of george washington, put it on the flag, and it was accepted by the legislators in washington, and we still have the flag today. >> with flag facts, i'm kristen. color day after day? not me. new revlon top speed™ nail enamel. cool color with a built-in topcoat that sets in just 60 seconds. with revlon you can change your mind again, and again, and again. new revlon top speed™ nail enamel. >>> peter and caroline davis have been playing tennis since they were old enough to hold racquets. but it's not just their athletic ability that makes this brother and sister team special. they are using their love of tennis to help change lives halfw

in this panel, we have a depiction of george washington moving west. what is interesting about it is the image of lewis and clark here is in black and white, something that is occurring in the future, painted as though it was in the past. what is interesting about it is the very obvious conclusion

michaels served as professor of embar metal held at the george washington school of public health where he was a nationally recognized epidemiologist. previously he served in 1998 as

ec bridges that make the george washington bridge look like a toy. you see the most unbelievable things and you come home -- we are like a third world nation. you land at what guardia -- la guardia. it is broken. it is dirty. i do not mind going over potholes' in my car, but i do mind in planes. but would not be there except for us. libya, saudi arabia, and the others say, "we do not like gaddafi. we would like you to take them out." obama said, ok." we formed a group -- nato is us. nato is largely us. we do not even have control over what the hell we are doing. gaddafi is driving down the street waving at everybody. can you believe this? listen to this one -- do is the leader of the group? france. france wanted to go in first. of course, we have not seen them sense, but they were there the first day and they got all the glamour. [applause] they form a group and they go in and at obama talks about the regime -- we do not want to kill or hurt anybody, we want to change government -- nobody knows what the hell he is talking about. you know the other th

george washington. hollywood high school. they have english, latin and greek. this is a middle school in long beach. it wasn't centralized authority. they chose the architects. the main constraint is there had to be an engineer on site. there there is berkeley. and piedmont avenue in oakland. this is in nevada city. these schools, like so many of the new deal are beautifully built. this is the school you just saw. teaching, they employed tens of thousands of teachers and librariance. new nutritionist. starving children don't learn well. they give them lunches. this is an art class in san francisco hospital. art class for crippled children. the photographers that i find of san francisco indicate that schools were integrated at the lowest level. you could mitigate the racial problem from the bottom up. there was also adult education too. this 1 learned one learned to read as many did. many of the community colleges were a result of the new deal. sacramento. i gave a talk at santa rosa and the city college in san francisco was largely a product of the pwa and has

i chose george washington high school because i heard it was a good school. there might be as many as 10 teachers cut from our school next year. i am asking you to keep washington a grade school. this program gives me extra help with math and other subjects. i am planning to go to college. please don't let budget cuts affect my education at washington. [applause] >> my name is kaitlin. even though we have a large number of students, my teacher gives us one-on-one attention. they make sure we understand the curriculum. if our class's get bigger, it will become more difficult to understand the material. this will result in lowering grades and test scores. i heard that washington might have 200 fewer students at schools next year. this will really hurt our school budget. i don't think it is fair to deny a sentence to washington if a student wants to come to our school. i am a good example of that. there are more applicants than openings. if i was to apply to high school next year, i might be one of those that are denied. in the short run, it affects my education

the governor virginia said 21-year-old george washington who became the site of present-day pittsburgh before the steelers started playing football there. washington ordered in the french refused and returned with troops and attacks are most americans don't know the story, but washington fired the first shot in what became the true world war. a conscience a western pennsylvania wilderness. take global conflict in the last seven years in england, france, austria, russia and a dozen other nations fighting for control of colonies in north america, africa, asia and the season between. the seven years were change the map of the world, chipping national borders, europe and india and elsewhere. he's level thousands of times and villages in europe, still remains more than a million soldiers and civilians and encrypted nations including england and france. now remember it started in britain's north american colonies in the british government and british people naturally got her to subjects and british nor make a pentecostal door with their fellow citizens in britain. in fact, the government had

it was george washington. yes, sir. >> you mentioned the name john hancock in connection with the boston tea party. john hancock, i take it, was the leading merchant perhaps in the colonies. what was his part in the boston tea party? >> well, he was, he wanted no part of it. [laughter] he wanted to continue smuggling and making money. he was, arguably, the wealthiest merchant banker in america. there was no hard currency in this hemisphere at the time. so merchants often, everything was on barter. and merchants, large merchants like hancock would provide seed or tools to, say, a farmer or a smaller merchant against, for example, the farmer's crop in the spring. futures. and that's why they were called merchant bankers, because they were lending money, and they were doing -- they were fulfilling the role of a modern banker as well as the modern merchant. and he was the largest. his uncle had built the business, and the house of hancock was the largest merchant bank in america. now suddenly these rioters are all

george washington carver. last year, we were told that our principal was going to be fired but now -- 50% of our teachers. why are we getting rid of 50% of our teachers but you save our principal? thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name is imman robinson harris. i have plenty of hats but my hat tonight is carver, volunteering there since she's been in kindergarten. this is my niece. early 2010, maybe around this time, i was told that carver would be a transmission -- transformation school and we'd be getting rid of our principal. got news before the school started that we became a turnaround school. i was very surprised because here at this board meeting me, my niece right here, and my mother were the last ones here and i was told we were going to be a transformational model, not a turnaround model. i'm very confused about that still. our current principal has made a lot of promises. and i have yet to see him live up to any of them. can i trust the sfusd board to come out to carver and examine our strug

we represent the black student union have the george washington university. the stop the hate campaign addresses an issue that has been persuasive throughout american history. based on the idea that we cannot coexist with what is different. essential tenet of the bsu has been and always will be to create an environment where differences can be embraced. in 2007, the bsu led a collaborative campaign entitled stop the hate. back then we faced the university campuses, the incarceration of the jena 6 and rising anti-islamic sentiment in america. the bsu create a student voice to be heard through social media and traditional protest methods. >> today the bsu has continued in that spirit of unifications. when faced with an antiaffirmative bake sale we felt while the first amendment guarantees the freedom of speech, it does not guarantee that all voices in the conversation are heard. in addition to holding a nonviolent educational protest, we facilitate the opposing size. disagreement can no longer divide. but it must always call us our collective american heritage.

now, george washington initially said he wanted white europeans. and they put the call out, but there were not a lot of white europeans who wanted to get over in a boat and come over to the new country and dig trees and throw rocks out on the side of the road. so they had very, very, very little success in recruiting, so they turned to who they usually turned to who built most of the grand buildings in the country in that period, people who were enslaved. and, actually, we have a great deal of information now on the individuals who worked and built, built washington, d.c. and built the white house and built the capitol. for example, we know that there were people who did unskilled labor, for example, washington was basically a jungle. it was just trees. somebody had to cut the trees, somebody had to drag them out, somebody had to lay -- build in roads. dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, hard, hard, hard work. this was mostly slave labor. but there was also skilled labor that was carried on by people who were enslaved. for example, we know at least five

i thought it began on wednesday when he was giving his speech at george washington university. he completely brought any skeptical democrats to his side when he mentioned medicare. he said he was going to protect it. he mentioned things we haven't heard him talk about that much. gwen: like the poor. >> like the poor. and he was absolutely -- and this is all following this script that almost seems too perfect. it's repeating 1995-199 . i'm not suggesting it's going to end like that. but without a doubt, this white house has everyone, i think, where they want right now. the liberals are sort of quieted down back on their side. the republicans are on their heels. and 2012 republican presidential candidates are worried about this now. how do they campaign for votes in florida, for example. mitt romney was there today. at some point he's going to have to say up or down on the ryan plan and all of them to a person came out and said we praise them for their boldness but no one is signing on to this because it's trouble for them. >> while hitting hard at paul ryan, he did invite republ

i'm a senior at george washington high school. our school is very fortunate to have like such a great music program and we want lincoln to have the same opportunity as we do. the students in our band get the opportunity to play at solo ensemble and all city. we get to learn from college professors and professional musicians. and the japanese embassy heard of our band and asked us to play music to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first ship from japan to come to the united states. we also play in small groups at the cliff house hotel lobbies and restaurants sometimes and we get donations from people and we were able to raise $20,000 for our marching band uniforms and we are able to put the marching band for the first time in over 30 years from public school. thank you. president mendoza: thank you. >> good evening, board. i'm the instrumental music director at george washington high school. i'm here actually on a different capacity. i'm here representing aim and in the very large shoes of dan ryan whose name i know you all kn

tonight, we continue our series "planet forward," a partnership with the george washington university social media project using your ideas to power our future. frank sesno discovered high hopes for the green gunk as part of "planet forward's" pbs special, "the energy of innovation." >> reporter: who knew algae was hot? "planet forward" received a surprising number of algae-based biofuel ideas for our recent pbs special. one of the most notable, from george washington university students lauren hoenmeyer and kimberly kroll, reported on algae to power a navy river boat. but that was just an experiment, and didn't answer the question: can algae get to scale and start to fill the world's gas tanks? "planet forward" member mike mendez answered, "yes, it has to." >> it's overwhelming, the energy situation. you know, we use 18 million barrels a day. our whole economy-- everything in life, is based upon this liquid fuel. i have three boys. what's their future going to be like? >> reporter: mendez and his company, sapphire energy, brought us an algae-to-fuel idea they say can have real world

george washington neatly summed up the nature of government when he said government is not reason it is not eloquence it is force like fire it is a dangerous servants and a fearful master unfortunately most commonly used definitions of government are useless and amount to little more than the people in charge of providing precise definition would look more like this government's fictional and city used to describe the group of people who have been granted by consent of the population a monopoly on the use of force in a specific geographic area the founders of this country and i don't say founding fathers to honor the essential role that women played i understood this and set out to form a government based on the ideals laid out by thomas jefferson and the declaration of independence by virtue of our humanity we are by our nature free and independent . any use or threat of force against you be it by a mugger or a tax collector is a violation of your freedom and joining us now from ontario canada is philosopher sofar knowledge host of freedom in radio dot com the most popular philosoph

that george washington cut down the cherry tree and did not tell a lie. nothing could be further from the truth. because if we were taught history we would know about the great and wonderful people called african-americans and how much they gave and sacrificed to build this country and leave a rich legacy of -- to all of us. not just black folks, to everybody. this country was built by africans, yngsdz and americans. we came here in 1619, one year before the mayflower. we did not come here as enslaved people. we came as indentured certify vanlts just like whites did and the people of jamestown were starving until black folks came there in 1619 and showed them how to grow tobacco. any time y google it, because we're in that age. do you know in 1624 euro and isabella johnson had their first child. it wasn't out of wedlock, they were married. william tucker, 1624. i want you to know that we are just full of myths. we are full of myths and we bought them all and what we have do is to say that we're not going to deal with it. how many -- who told the colonies

i'm a seen juror at george washington high school. i've met many teachers who have helped inspire and guide me. they've helped keep me safe. if these features get cut, we wouldn't have the classes nesterovic to meet california's university standards. i was told when i was younger to go for the american dream. this is where the power is. people are coming up and expressing communication problems expressing frustration with this scenario that is totally unrealistic. i would like to know where the power is with this board and with you? basically, we need to hear your voice. we need to hear on the radio in the news everyday. it has to be if we want to promote what we are doing here in san francisco. we are looking here to be the leaders. just because the district amount hands over money and you ask them to decide how to skin their own hides. that doesn't mean they have autonomy or equity. people are coming to you to try to see if they can get a reasonable decision and definitely some powerful voices here about what we need to do as citize

this is what george washington comes into with his household of at least nine black slaves. the other problem he had the ways in 1780 the pennsylvania state government passed what was called the gradual abolition act, and they said that anybody come any person that was enslaved that came into the states if you stayed for more than six months, you could be freed. this was a good deal. washington apparently didn't notice before he moved to the states and realized he had a problem. and so -- and we have evidence. he wrote letters to his staff saying i have a problem coming and he tried to get around this because there was initially a loophole in the law that said if the person left within a six month period when they came back the six months would start all over so washington can up with a plan to rotate people in and out of pennsylvania to try to get around the wall. eventually they closed the loop, but washington continued to rotate people in and out. now there were protests against washington and others who kind of petitioned him. this is where it really gets interesting. on

we live 11 blocks from george washington. she went sent to an unsafe school. she said she is not going to go to this school. please consider it from the bottom of my heart. please reassign my daughter. it is equal to be thrown in the lottery for the kids who careless. why do my daughter have to be punished. we live in richmond for a purpose. i'm a nurse. i'm working in a hospital saving other people's live. i'm asking you, maybe you could give me an opportunity to learn. she is there to learn. thank you. >> good evening. my name is nancy and i am here on behalf of the bay view community. i have always been here the reason why i am here is because i feel i need to stand up for my community. if no one speaks up, you will never hear our voices. they are not complaints but they are concerns. historically, the bay view community has been under served. that did not begin in august of 20 2010. i received a disturbing email. maybe that's what it will take for the board to come out and hear what is really going on. we lost a stu debt at thur good marshall high school.