john willis menard was elected to congress in 1868. up next we hear more about him from phillip magnus. this is about an hour from the u.s. capital historical society. >> before we begin, before i introduce the speakers, let me introduce congressman danny davis. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. and let me just say how delighted i am to be here. as a matter of fact, the last time i was at a meeting, i was so inspired by a woman who made a presentation of a book that she has written that i have been trying to get that book into school districts all around illinois and other places throughout the country. and actually had her at my home in chicago for the kwanzaa celebration that we do each year to present to our guests. so it is always a pleasure and looks at the development and evolution of our country. and to think of how it really is when we go back to where it was when it started. how it got started. all of the different people who have come from places throughout the world. all of the challengeths that we have had. is so many di

in new orleans, john willis menard, early with the fire in his chest, to fight this injustice, enters politics and decides that after all, maybe we should continue to stake out our claim in the united states for a fair and equal-minded future where we have access to the political system, where a black man and a white man can run for congress on equal terms. he obtains this ownership of a newspaper in new orleans in 1866 and uses this as a springboard that gets him elected to the united states house of representatives. two years later, on a special election. i'll conclude here with a picture of menard's arrival in the united states house of representatives in 1869. it was an international media of an african-american arriving on the floor of the house. this was taken out of frank leslie's newspaper. weekly harper also covered it and london "times" covered it. his international stock contributed to the media event around this. the last and final remarkable thing about menard's life is, when he arrived in congress, in 1869, he was only 30 years old. he accomplished this entire career of

i'm here to talk about john willis menard. he is somewhat of a familiar name for some. his main claim to fame was that he was the first african-american elected to the house of representatives but was denied a seat in 1869. we'll get into a bit of the reasons behind that. i'm here to talk about his life, background and history up until this point because he was actually an accomplished individual who sat at the crossroads of two major events in american history and international surprise. the american civil war right here in washington d.c. but shortly after the war he my migrated to jamaica and was a participant in a major event internationally, the morant bay rebellion of 1865. both of these events were tied to the end of slavery and greater freedom and civil rights for the african population, both in the british so, he had a front-row seat to two intersecting events at a troubled time in u.s. history. we don't know too much about his early life other than he was born in illinois. in 1838. he came from a family that was believed to have been french creole, possibly ha

served in the house shortly after menard's contested election. 143 years ago this february 27th john willis menard broke one of congressional history's long running color barriers. like so many later moments in which other congressional pioneers eclipsed racial barriers, that moment was both triumphal and also circumscribed. menard stood in the chamber of the u.s. house of representatives to make his case unsuccessfully in the end to be seated in the house, and the "new york tribune" reported the galleries were crowded and the house gave him his undivided attention, he being the first negro in the history of the country to whom the privilege was granted of addressing the house of representatives. now, we might be content to relegate menard to a curious historical footnote. after all, there were other earlier curious footnotes in terms of house history. in february of 1865 house chaplain william channing invited the black preacher henry highland garnett to kmcommemora the house's approval of the 13th amendment banning slavery to deliver a sermon in the house chamber. that was a unique moment

john willis, you know, a member of the family, buried here in 1811, so this is the earliest marker in this chemistry. that is the most recent stone, and that actually was placed here to replace an earlier stone, but you can see the willis name. it included madison's sisters and their children. there are only two non-madison family members buried here. one of them is the son of winfield scott, the great general from the war of 1812 and the mexican-american war and even the civil war. he was visiting madison in the 1820s with his son. his son became ill and died, and the family extended to him the privilege of having him buried here in this chemistry. his son became ill and died, and the family extended to him the privilege of having him buried here in this chemistry. the other individual buried here actually was an owner of montpelier in the later 19th century. there's a madison family association, and every three years they have their reunion here at montpelier. we're delighted to have them come, but it's no longer an active chemistry. there are no burials in this chemistry by the fam

african-american who ever spoke on the house for while it was in session was a man by the name of john willis menard from louisiana and in 1868 in a special election he was elected with 64% of the votes to a district that encompasses greater new orleans. that the election was contested by his opponents and when it came before the house elections committee the elections committee decided to see neither of the gentlemen. so he could have become the first african-american in congress by a full year, lost that. didn't take his seat. african-american representatives in the 1890s, the few is relegated to on the shaped districts. as political scientists say, to dilute and disperse black votes in 2 other districts and conversely pact to contain most african-american votes in one district to open up more districts for white candidates on the state delegations. where law and legal challenges failed, there was the imagery, fraud and violence that marred a lot of these elections in which these individuals were involved. going back to the district was an adventure to put it mildly. one man who served in t

willis will start. >> thank you very much. do not forget john payton has been suspended for the year. that today. it looks to me like the tuna will be back. bill parcells says he will be the interim coach. my dad was a union electrician. sometimes i'd tag along to a work site carrying his lunch or tools. it was good, honest work. i went to college with the help of a union scholarship, then started a maryland business, creating jobs by providing financing to small companies wall street ignored. today, congress is ignoring our need for jobs. my dad the electrician taught me, if something's broken, get in there and try to fix it. i'm john delaney and i approve this message. >> 35 students in fourth through eighth grades took part of a geography bee. a seventh grader won the event. he will represent d.c. at the national geography bee in may. congratulations. >> next week's facebook giveaway is a fan favorite. we are giving away a new ipad. just go to wjla.com/facebook to sign up and we will announce the winner next week at 5:00. >> how about a winner of a forecast for the weekend. >> we m

joining us now by phone, national affairs editor for "new york" magazine john heilman, how are you doing this morning? >> good morning, willie, how are you? >> i'm doing well. let's talk about possible outcomes, zero in in ohio, mitt romney ends ohio in his back pocket means what for the race? >> i think it means he's in a position to start convincingly making the argument the nomination fight is over especially if he puts one of the southern states or western state in his column in addition to the ones that everyone expects him to win, massachusetts, vermont, and virginia a convincing argument it's time to shut the sucker down. >> another scenario, rick santorum running neck-in-neck, he wins ohio, what does that mean? >> we go on and march on to illinois and rick santorum points to michigan and says that was a home state fluke for mitt romney and that he is demonstrating, rick santorum is demonstrating strength in states that will be important battle grounds in the general election, he takes the fight to illinois as long as foster friese keeps writing checks. >> there is no knock out punch but rick santorum will carry on? >

few minutes ago they did a fantastic job honored with the processes el's rag time john henry a convict's mirror, rw willis'sa biography. in the 37 years since those first awards the nbcc has grown to include some 600 member critics and editors of book reviews from across the country and the number of judging categories has expanded from 4 to 6. we also have added two honors to show our appreciation of individual critics and distinguished institutions. each was noted as influence and honoring by the nbcc for their work and the lifetime achievement of worked is known for the body of work for our literary and critical culture. the various activities, panels and events that the nbcc sponsors has grown far beyond what the original time might have had in might but we want to thank the great work of our forebears of the brilliant titles published each your. as expressed but in our simple but succinct statement it's to honor outstanding writing and foster a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature. tonight is a substantiation of that year by year mission. before the phrase diy entered our lexic

msnbc and time magazine senior political analyst, mark halperin and editor affairs, john heilemann along with williejoe and me. >> we have the team back together. >> we do. >> we do. >> the family is around the table for breakfast. >> all we need is mike barnicle here. >> no. >> he's on administrative leave after what he wore on friday. >> he's been placed on it. >> i like that. >> mika, as you know, this goes all the way back, if you can go back to the old nfl area -- >> right. >> orange footballs. >> with the orange footballs that when ever sports writers wanted to get input on what happened on a story based on a christ centered quarterback, they go to willie geist. can you believe this happened? >> yes. yes, i can. >> he said i'm going to get a guy that is as old as me. because this young kid, he's crowding my space. >> he had to grit his teeth and watch tebow win game after game after game and take the team to the playoffs. then along came peyton manning. elway wants him from the beginning. it came down to san francisco, probably and denver. manning felt he had the best chance to win and a syste

willie geist made the story number three in his weekend review. >> i called john elway monday morning letted him know i wanted to be a denver bronco. i'm thrilled to be here and proud to be a denver bronco. >> at number three, tebow mania moves east. >> tim tebow is a great kid. and i said that, he's the one guy -- if i want someone to marry my daughter, it would be him. >> if he was going to marry john elway's daughter, it will be a long distance relationship because the arrival of peyton manning in denver pushed tebow into the arms of the new york jets. the current jepts jets quarterback put on a public happy face, but the greatest jet of them all, joe willie nay mut could not bite his tongue. >> i just think it is a publicity stunt. i really think it is wrong. i can't go for it. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the propert

willis shave. the phil specter rug, the elton john plugs, or the big ern mccracken, beloved by politicians all over the world. but they're not really cures. regain, rogaine, propecia. >> i'm not just the president. i'm a client. >> reporter: could be be on the verge of undisputed elixir of furry youth? >> this could be the beginning of hair loss for men and women. >> reporter: you may remember the day, my balding-headed brothers, as a great day for mankind. you know, this might change my career trajectory massively. if i rub in this lotion, i could be on tv for another 10, 15 years. i'll be sitting here like rod blagojevich. maybe get a little bit of michael bolton action going around the back. no one can stop me. josh, i'll be unrecognizable. >> i have to recuse myself. i'm just saying. nick, terrific stuff. i should stop. >> in the words of india.arie, i am not my hair. >>> coming up, chris cuomo, one-on-one with the young man convicted of a hate crime in the rutgers bullying case. speaking out for the first time since a guilty verdict. >>> and the battle of the sexes captured on camera. a husban

john tower, has a couple of answers. >> joe writes i'm preparing for science fun night tonight at school 19 in buffalo, we'll be making lava lamps from scratch. willienot coming up in the primary season too soon, otherwise we'd have mitt romney come by and compliment you on your lava lamps. this tweet comes to me. woke up at 4:00 a.m. to burning smell in hotel room. air condition blew out, the air conditioner fan blew out. that's another one we can chalk up a new demographic, john tower, people waking up because of burning smells in their hotel

john seigenthaler. there are two million people behind bars in america. we open the gates, lockup. >>> jail is hell. jail is hell. >> willie! can you come to the door, sir? >> a lot of the mental state hospitals have closed down and the only options to the police agencies are bring them to the jails. >> dirty. shower is dirty, toilet dirty, floor dirty, pointblank, dirty. >> anything can happen at any given time at any moment, very fast, very quick. >> head psz up, let's go. head's up. >> i'm not looking for shanks, i happened to stumble upon this. >> you never know what to expect all we do all day is sit like a time bomb waiting for something to happen. >> this is as close to living hell as i think i ever want to come. >> when someone breaks the law there is a distinct difference between going to prison and jail. prison is for convicted felon, many with long term sentences. jail is where suspects spend a short time either while waiting for trial or before being transfer to the another facility. it's also where convicts serve short sentences. but any time behind bars can have a lasting impact. in this hour of lockup we'll

willis, i think most importantly of my high school history teacher, john f. mccune, who introduced me to history, introduced me to the study of history, the study of historical writing, historiography, very important figure in my intellectual development. >> host: how much african-americans attended that school when you were there? >> guest: not many. in my graduating class of 70, there were probably seven black american students. when i began there were fewer, but more came over time. so there were not that many -- there are more now, but when i was there, there were not many black students. it was an extraordinary intellectual environment. absolutely extraordinary. the st. albans inculcated a motivation of public -- mindedness. we debated all of the public issues of the day. there was a wide range of ideological positions that peek took. we were encouraged to speak out. we were encouraged to write down our views, and to this day i have very fond feelings toward st. albans, and again, very fond feelings towards my teachers. >> host: princeton? >> guest: i we

talking football with john, with coach fox and his staff helped me realize this is a great place to be. >> o's continue to tinker with their roster signing dontrelle willisleague deal. it is later than you think. opening day just 11 days away. i'm gerry sandusky. hope your day is off to a fantastic start. >> the mayor unveils her new budget proposal, and it does not include a pay raise for city employees. i'm jennifer franciotti. details are next. >> the pope leads balre

so it's time for willie's week in review. >> i called john elway monday morning and let him know thater bronco. i am thrilled to be here. >> at number three, tebow mania moves east. >> tim tebow is a great kid, and i said that. he's the one guy -- if i wanted somebody to marry my daughter, it would be him. >> if tim tebow is going to marry john elway's daughter, it's going to be a long distance relationship, because the arrival of peyton manning in denver pushed tebow into the arms of the new york jets. >> jets jets jets! >> the current jets quarterback put on a happy public face, but the greatest jet of all, joe willie namath, just couldn't bite his tongue. >> i can't agree with it. i just think it's a publicity stunt. i really think it's wrong. i can't go for it. >> at number two, another indonesian smoking kid. an 8-year-old in indonesia is trying to kick his two pack a day habit. his mother says he doesn't even go to school anymore because they won't let him smoke there. >>> bad news for sure, but not quite as bad as that indonesian 2-year-old from a couple of years ago who crushe

john? >> thank you, cole. i learned that i will try to spend most friday mornings in ft. lee. good coffee, willie geist is here, so these are things that you can't -- >> tell him to wrap it. >> harold? >> you've got to be gutsy if you're going to get education reform done, because we want your future to be -- >> keep it going, cole, wrap it up. >> i'll pass my time to melissa harris-perry. >> i think part of what i learned today that education is not for snobs. education is for everyone! >> i learned that harold ford is a champion of big oil. what did you learn, jose? >> i learned two things. my daughter lost her front tooth fairy and the tooth fairy's been giving a lot more money than i thought recently. that's what i learned. >> now ask willie, if it's way too early, what time is it? >> if it's way too early, what time is it? >> good job, my man, cole. it's "morning joe." >>> four days to go before super tuesday. mitt romney, not even campaigning in a super tuesday state. why? he's learned from past mistakes. he's focused on washington's standard caucuses, even though no delegates are awarded.

willie. and of course george w. bush, in 2004, got what percentage? he was like in the 40s. >> that is a potentially fatal number, john>> you cannot win -- and you cannot win -- >> you can't pick up 100 electoral votes! >> that's what all three of those guys have right now. obviously, all of them have worsened their situation with latino voters over the course of this primary. they can obviously make -- they can do some things to fix that, but that is a bad place to be starting from. again, it's almost fatal. if they stay there, it is fatal. you can't win. >> and you know, willie, it was interesting, looking at these numbers. a couple of weeks ago, people were talking about jeb bush parachuting into the race. and people on the right -- i won't mention any names -- started saying oh, he's mr. amnesty. he's mr. amnesty. he wants to open the floodgates and let mexicans take over america. >> i can't tell who it is based on the impersonation. >> it's a crazy right-winger. >> jeb bush in 1998. and what made him such a dangerous republican candidate for democrats, just horrified him, he had people around him in miami at this

willis, most importantly of my high school history teacher john mckeon who introduced me to history, introduced me to the study of history, study of historical writing. very important figure in my intellectual development. >> host: how many african-americans attended that school? >> guest: not many. in my graduation class of 70 there were probably seven black american students. when i began there were fewer but more came over time. there were not that many. there are more now. but when i was fair there were not many black students. it was an extraordinary intellectual environment. absolutely extraordinary. st. albans really did inculcate a notion of public mindedness. we debated all of the public issues of the day that were the wide range of ideological positions that people took. we were encouraged to speak out. we were encouraged to write down our views. to this day i have very fond feelings toward st. albans and very fond feelings towards my teachers. >> princeton? >> guest: i went to princeton university between 1973-1977. gained a wonderful experience again of a host of teachers

willie's the caddy for jim harbaugh. damage control at night headquarters coming up. neighbors say any writings staircase kill the san francisco woman. today city building inspector called her death stopping to watch johndoes and says moments ago the first official violation was issued. following our meeting with bill the inspectors today the city has ordered all work here stopped. this notice of violation sites previous repairs to the stairs down without the proper permits residents here say they contribute to the death of one of their own. >>> to be ball have fallen deer riding stairways and this there's a better place. have there been any explanation for that? your the management company. this is what urban planner property is responsible and managing. for writing staircase is. outsells sambaed his apartment building had been company about for years. eight years yoshida is beside himself. his beloved neighbor died this weekend. the first person to be fatally injured buddy says the third person to fall to the stairwell and as many years. did weight and have been notified by residents. >>> and ms. and companies affiliated with the family target of many lawsuits tenants say the company was repeatedly w

. >> willie geist gets up way too early to do any good. john thinking about this health care situation. and alex weprin, that's why they won't update it. he's in last lays. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefu before investing. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool

willis, i think most importantly of my high school history teacher, john f. mccune, who introduced me to history, introduced me to the study of history, the study of historical writing, historiography, very important figure in my intellectual development. >> host: how much african-americans attended that school when you were there? >> guest: not many. in my graduating class of 70, there were probably seven black american students. when i began there were fewer, but more came over time. so there were not that many -- there are more now, but when i was there, there were not many black students. it was an extraordinary intellectual environment. absolutely extraordinary. the st. albans inculcated a motivation of public -- mindedness. we debated all of the public issues of the day. there was a wide range of ideological positions that peek took. we were encouraged to speak out. we were encouraged to write down our views, and to this day i have very fond feelings toward st. albans, and again, very fond feelings towards my teachers. >> host: princeton? >> guest: i we

they were ready to beat syracuse because john jenkins can shoot threes and that's very important to beat that zone. you've got to be careful with turnovers, willienovers, cleveland state got 22 points and that's why you lost. but against kentucky, only had 11 turnovers, that's a good sign. shooting threes is big against that syracuse zone. >> absolutely. and we know they can do that. florida state coming out of the east. who is florida state going to play in the semifinal? >> well, when i look at the midwest, and everybody's talking north carolina being a one seed. kansas, hello, kansas is playing there. and they should get to st. louis. and i should see kansas upsetting north carolina. >> sure. >> and yet in that region, if you're looking for an 11-6 upset, it's north carolina state over san diego state. jet lagged, three-hour change. but north carolina state played very, very well in the acc tournament, lost by two in the semifinals in north carolina. i think this team is playing very well. lorenzo brown is a great guard that can score. but when you look at kansas and thomas robinson and taylor, i think carolina hasn't played well on the road.

john heilemann. "game change" boys. and former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele. perfect morning to have you all onboard. williehello. >> wow. >> a couple of things went down last night. we -- mitt lost to rick santorum and to newt. right? >> third place in both states. >> that's not good, michael. >> not good. and they keep crying about the numbers, we've got the delegates and i think willie had the perfect quote for the day. you know, it's like you know, vote for me, i've got the math. it doesn't work like that. >> the math -- >> something like that. >> they keep talking about the math. >> well, they do, and the reality of it is, you're not going to waltz into the nomination with the votes in the back pocket. give all that to romney, fine, you're close to somewhere around 400 delegates short to actually the get the nomination. and with proportional voting coming up with everything else, unless he's pulling 50% to 60% of that vote, i don't know how he gets there. the only way it happens is if newt or santorum drops out of the race and that changes it. but as you can see from last night, i don't think anybody's

john kerry. >> and then it's this bomb from arkansas. >> i think he won. >> did he won? >> i think he did all right. >> they made fun of him, willie. and so i guess the big question, and you could also say it's like '91, also like 1988 when george h.w. bush was absolutely skewered by the medias, skewered by conservatives like me. and george will didn't have a lot of nice things to say about george h.w. bush in 1997, 1998. >> so which of those candidates is going to do so much better than mitt romney that it's worth turning the whole race on its head? >> let me also say this, too. it's not just about winning. it's about winning and then advancing the conservative cause. we all remember when chris christie came in here. he was a new governor. his approval ratings were in the low 30s. and you would ask him offset, hey, it's looking bad for you. he was like, i don't care. do you remember that? >> oh, yeah. >> do you remember all the times, you're at 30%. you better change course. he said, i don't care. i'm going to do this. they want to make me a one termer, i'm a one termer. i don't care. mitt romney did just the opposite when he had

john carter of software. >> netflix last week, the talk was the cable deal. >> they put out cable? not a single cable company has come close to thinking they should do a deal. why? because of willie >> home away, underperform? >> internet backlash. carl, people are saying you got to get out of these stocks. i use homeaway, i like the product very much. >> green mountain coffee. >> unbelievable, friday night surprise. i'm going a little bit longer here because i got 60 in 180. starbucks, remember, it turns out they did ambush green mountain. a release came out where they said they didn't know anything that starbucks was going to go against them. green mountain still a sell. we've got to go back to disney for a second. we made a lot of jokes about it but the stock is up. that's the bathroom meter of the unimportant or the idea that this movie has been tested overseas and it turns out that the people in asia love it, which is now the way you make these broad movies. people make cable, these really great cable shows, carl, because they're american. right? they don't have to send them over seas. >> sure. >> a lot of people -- i've not been watching "walking dead," i'm saving it to bin