but in langston, oklahoma, they got a university there. let me tell you what they doing in bowling, oklahoma, they got a railroad station there. oh. ain't nothing like showing you're somebody. you're beyond the situation you currently in. you're struggling now, but boy, there's a goal, there's an aim, there's an ambition that goes beyond, far beyond where you currently are. >>> hosted by our cox communications cable partner, cspan's local content vehicles recently visited many historic sites in oklahoma city, the capital of oklahoma. learn more about oklahoma city all weekend long on american history tv. >>> my name is bill clark. welcome to the state capitol of oklahoma. spend a little time taking a look at a very beautiful building. start here with solomon laten, the principal architect on the capitol. this is a 1915 drawing of the capitol, and i show this to folks just so they understand the dome really was a part of the plan in the beginning. the building was built without the dome between 1914 and 1917. did not build the dome then bec

came here to langston. he came here to langston and covered a football game in the fans in the stands. first recording of that anywhere, that's unheard of for a former slave, a person born into slavery to have that kind of foresight and wisdom to record a story that very few whites were recording let alone somebody black. i've been a collector of african-american black history for over 30 years. i've been very fortunate to gain quite a name in the collecting community. so i received a phone call on my cell phone from a white dealer out of tulsa. and the gentleman said over the phone, are you curry ballard? i said, yes. he said do you collect that black stuff? and i said, yes, what do you have? and he proceeded to talk about these canisters of film. he says his grfr was a large landowner in the city of tulsa owned many homes. well, part of his inheritance was this particular home in which he went into the attic and found all 27 canisters. so we met halfway between tulsa and langston in a community. and i loo

she was an honor student at langston university. the president of the local naacp knew my family. my mom happened to be in the room when they were discussing it. so she agreed to be the plaintiff. they went and applied for admission on january the 14th, 1946. and she was rejected. they began the legal process. that legal process took from then until january of 1948, two years, to actually work itself through the legal process. the case was first started in norman, oklahoma at the county level, and she lost there, tan was appealed to oklahoma supreme court where she lost there. and then they appealed that to the united states supreme court. the supreme court ruled unanimously that she should have that opportunity in oklahoma. my mom was real excited about that, she was at the supreme court when they had the arguments. and so she came back to oklahoma, real excited, thinking she was getting ready to go to law school. within seven days, the school, admission period would end, and she gotta tell gram in the mail that said that oklahoma had just opened the langston university school of

mercer langston left virginia and went up to your state, madam chair, you know what was said? a black brother said, we came from virginia to ohio thinking this would be the promised land, but the only door that was opened to us was the prison door and the penitentiary door. as long as we got this white privileged mentality in this country, and we got this issue of race, the struggle is on. so i say, don't become discouraged. just use what you've got and energize the crowd that you've got and work like hell because as long as you got people around who don't look like us, they're going to forever be trying to be in control of us. and that's the reason why we cannot deal with this issue right now of same-sex marriage because many of us have been conned and used by white euro centric theology. we have not thought for ourselves. i don't perform those same-sex marriages. that's not a part of my tradition but it's time for black people to think for themselves and stop letting those other folks think for us and stand up and hang in there and use what you got and stop looking at what y

and she got a telegram in the mail that said that oklahoma had just opened the langston university school of law. so within seven days, they created a law school, a separate law school, just for her. the school was located in the state capitol building. and they hired two part-time attorneys, and a part-time dean. and that was to be the separate but equal law school for her to attend. and she did not attend that law school at all. but the law school stayed open for a full year. in the meantime, the head of the oklahoma state naacp, rascal dungy, came up with another strategy. he said, all right, i have six other students to apply to the university of oklahoma, one in engineering, one in medicine, one in architecture and geology. and he said let me see you build those schools overnight. so oklahoma basically knew at that point that the deal was up. that they could not afford to have a dual separate educational system in oklahoma. not only oklahoma, but every other state-supported university of higher education in the united states, knew the same, they had the same problem. you see, up unti

our celebration began on february 24 with a look at langston hughes and zora neale hurston. one week later, the grenne space presented the american premiere of the richly powerful radio adaptation of grenne arthur yor. rubens passion for this continue to inspire millions. he is sitting in the front row. also, please stay tuned for the radio broadcast in september 2012, up on wnyc 90 at them. it will feature so many people of great interest. [applause] [applause] my take away from the last 30 days, just pure gratitude. please bear with me as i think the people behind the scenes for this project. my sincere thanks to the zora neale hurston group and an individual whose group has made all the difference. [applause] i would also like to have knowledge edward hurston, who has joined us for several events, he will be joining us later this evening. my colleagues, who have allowed this project to take flight and reach a widespread audience through their creative process and pressed, community engagement, and marketing efforts. if you are here, can you please wave. [applause] [applau

langston from the luther volunteer fire department is one of the first on the scene. >> it was goingfire was going pretty hot and heavy there when we got there. >> the fire department doesn't know what the train cars are carrying, either. >> i didn't know what was in them or how bad it was at that point in time. i just knew that we needed to get on it pretty quick or we were going to have trouble. >> luther fire chief brian martin is faced with the most dangerous situation of his career. his small department isn't trained to deal with hazardous material. >> that requires specialty training. a lot of that training isn't available sometimes. and my biggest issue with everything was always keeping my guys safe. we wanted to know what we had, what we were going to do, before we sent anybody in. >> the fire department is outmatched. >> i think it scared us all because it was, what are we going to do and how are we going to do it? >> the fire department calls in reinforcements as the toxic blaze spreads to a nearby oil pump. >> it caught an oil well on fire with a horsehead pump that was s

you had duke ellington and langston hughes. that's what's going on today and we're connecting that and you wouldn't have the civil rights movement if it wasn't for the harlem renaissance and frankly you wouldn't have you know this kind of conversation in our community if it wasn't for the civil rights movement. and so we connect these and then we figure out then how we building community today and what better way than to celebrate the renaissance. >> all right, particulars where's it going to be and free? from it's free. >> that's the best part. >> just walk in the park, it's free, it's at 2400 pine brook avenue in landover, maryland. at the columbia park gatlin community center. >> from 10:00 until 7:00. you're going to have a great time. david thank you for being bus. >> thank you for having me. >> jess? >> thanks andrea. we've been combing through the day's daily deals emails and retailer websites to find you some deep discounts. rack them up. google offers has this deal with bedrock billiards that's a pool hall in adams mor

langston hughes, a poet and civil rights activist news in tough times, he was born here in joplin. in a poem called "youth" he youth"we have tomorrow bright before us like a flame. yesterday, a sundown name and dawn today brought park above the road weekend and we march. " to the people of joplin and the class of 2012, the road has been hard and the day has been long but we have tomorrow so we march. we marched together and you are leading the way because you are from joplin. congratulations. may god bless you. may god bless the class of 2012 and magaw bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [cheers and applause] >> the senate energy and natural resources committee is looking for energy innovation and policy this morning. you can see that on our companion network, cspan 3 at 10:00 eastern. in a few moments, today's headlines and your calls, live on "washington journal." also at 10:00, right after a show performer session of the house, the head of the se

based on a langston hughes poem called dreams. ♪ hold fast to dreams ♪ for when dreams should die ♪ life's cannot fly ♪ ♪ hold fast to dreams ♪ for when dreams should go ♪ life's a barren field ♪ frozen with snow >> beautiful. that's just gorgeous what did you sing when you auditioned? >> well we went over some just singing stuff. so we didn't actually sing a song. >> i heard that you did some shirley temple songs. >> yeah. >> what was one of them? >> we did "on the good ship lollipop." >> and can i have a little taste of that? >> and "animal crackers." >> okay. ♪ animal crackers ♪ in my soup ♪ monkeys and rabbits ♪ loop the loop ♪ gosh oh gee ♪ how i have fun ♪ swallowing animals one by one ♪ ♪ in every bowl of soup i see ♪ lions and tigers watching me ♪ i make them jump right through a hoop ♪ ♪ those animal crackers in my soup ♪ >> wonderful, i see why you chose her to sing for the congressional chorus. let us tell folks how they can get the tickets. they are for this weekend's concert. they can go to congressionalchorus.org, is that right? >> and they'll be available at the door. >> dav

please, join me out in the langston hughes atrium for a book signing with mr. king, and since we're all here together, please, join me in one final round of applause. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> visit booktv.org to watch any of the programs you see here online. type the author or book title in the search bar on the upper left side of the page and click search. you can also share anything you see on booktv.org easily by clicking share on the upper left side of the page and selecting the format. booktv streams live online for 48 hours every weekend with top nonfiction books and authors. booktv.org. >> i'd like to talk a bit about my book, "a soldier's dream," and then ask darren and the audience for any questions about it. this book came about as a result of my reading a newspaper article in the summer of 2007 about a young american soldier who was being hailed as a martyr by iraqis. and when i read that story, i thought, boy, that sounds interesting. how did that happen, who was this man. and he had died in an ied attack. the man's name was captain t

celebration began on february 24th with i, too, sing america; a look at the relationship between langston hughes and zorah, and it featured pianist randy westen and scholar mark pri miss. one week later the green space presented the american premier of the richly powerful radio add adaptation of "their eyes were watching god," directed by reuben santiago hudson. reuben's passion and unparalleled skill for telling stories that matter continue to inspire me. reuben and arthur are right here with us in the front row. [applause] and also of note, please, stay tuned for the radio broadcast in september 2012 on wnyc90.3 f hurricane. .. and victoria sanders and associate whose support has really made all the difference. [applause] are you here, victoria? thank you so much. i would also like to acknowledge edward hurston who has joined us for several events and is he here yet? he may be joining us here later this evening. my colleagues, for the loudest project to take and write a widespread audience to their creative process and press committing gauge men and marketing efforts. efforts. if you ar

langston hughes, the poet and civil rights activists who knew some tough times was born here in joplin. in a poem called "youth," wrote -- we have tomorrow, and dawn today, the broad arch above the road we came, we march. to the people of joplin and the class of 2012, the road has been hard, and the day has been a long, but we have tomorrow, so we march. we marched together, and you are leading the way, because you are from joplin. congratulations. may god bless you, and may god bless the class of 2012, may god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] >> i think this is one of the markets that i think people vote for, they do not vote for the party. i think this is the city that votes for the candidate. i think you are seeing more of that, even the heavy republican midwest, which is dynamic, and that is great. i think you are seeing more of that in the recent years in the midwest. they are really voting more for what the person stands for. >> booktv and american history tv explores the history of wichita, kansas. >> this is a house, and this is th

langston hughes, a poet and civil rights activist news in -- who knew some tough times, he was born here in joplin. in a poem called "youth" he youth"we have tomorrow bright before us like a flame. yesterday, a sundown name and dawn today brought park above the road weekend and we march." to the people of joplin and the class of 2012, the road has been hard and the day has been long but we have tomorrow so we march. we marched together and you are leading the way because you are from joplin. congratulations. may god bless you. may god bless the class of 2012 and magaw bless the united -- may god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] >> in over just half an hour, vice president joe biden will be campaigning by speaking ed keene state college in new hampshire talking about the economy and we will have that live at 1:45. on wednesday, secretary of state hillary clinton, defense secretary leon panetta, and the joint c

langston hughes, a poet, civil rights activist who knew some tough times, he was born -- yesterday, a night on thing, a son down in, and dawn today a broad arc above the road above we came we march. to the people of the cost of toward the 12, we have the road tomorrow, so we marche we march together and you are leading the way because you are from joplin may god bless the class of 2012. may god bless the united states of america. [applause] >> i think this is one of those markets that i think people vote for -- don't vote for the party. i think this is a city in which they vote for the candidate, even though it is heavily republican, midwest, which is dynamic and this is great. but i think you have seen more of that in recent years in the midwest. they are voting a little bit more for what the person stands for. >> american history tv explores the heritage of wichita, kansas. >> this is the only remaining original structure from the 1865 through 1870 time frame. it was a very important building in our history in that it is a residence, but also the headquarters of the wichita county l