narrator: this one is known as the hiawatha belt.the hands of the state of new york. the tribe fought to get it back, and today, for the first time in over a hundred years, it returns to onondaga lake. ♪ ♪ porter: if you hold it like this, you see how heavy. see? oh, heavy. ♪ ♪ whenever you touch this belt, you're greeting your ancestors. narrator: tom porter is a mohawk spiritual leader. our great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother made this belt, and they made it so that we won't never forget what they did, the law they made. (woman singing in native language) narrator: the hiawatha belt tells the story of a prophet of peace who arrives in a white stone canoe: a grieving warrior named hiawatha, who has to choose between bloody vengeance or a message of peace... (woman singing in native language) and a powerful clan mother who must overcome an evil warlord. (fire crackling) together, they establish america's first democracy. ♪ ♪ haudenosaunee democracy grows out of a long history of people living on this land. ♪ ♪ more th

. >> reporter: a new day for the old building at 45th and hiawatha >> this is an amazing opportunity.efighters. >> long time coming. >> reporter: following in others' footsteps. >> the old staircase, that's all original. >> reporter: more than a century has passed since the building they're seeing for the first time was built to be minneapolis's first and ultimate i will only all black fire station. >> opened in 1907. >> reporter: joseph waters is the firefighting historian who has been doing the research on the men who served here. >> oscar clark, archie spence and james cannon. >> just three found in the records so far. >> served this station their entire career. >> reporter: but joseph says potentially dozens of african americans worked and lived in this space over the 34 years station 24 was open. charles rucker joined the minneapolis fire department 21 years ago. >> this is what ewould be called the engine. >> reporter: where he has rhode island risen to the rank of fire motor operator >> the system was in place back in the day, i would have been in control of the horses. this ar

. >> a new day for the old billing at hiawatha for the african-american firefighters, following in othershat's all original >> for the first time was build to be minneapolis's first, and ultimately only all-black. fire joseph waters is the fire fighting historians doing the research for the men who served here just three found in the records so far. >> they served this station their entire career. >> joseph says potential dozens actually worked and lived in this space over the 34 years state 24 was hope. >> they brought the ground for you are. >> charles rucker joined 24 years ago, where he's risen to the rank of fire motor operator. >> if the system is in place how it was back in the day, i would be the one controlling the horses. >> reporter: tours, reminders of another time when white firefighters refused to sleep in the same beds occupied by black firefighters during the shifts before them. >> that's why there was a segregated black fire station. >> reporter: whether that station closed in 1941, things got worse. >> basically since this station closed, there weren't african-americans