tonight to moderate, we are pleased to welcome susan swain. susan swain is president and co- c.e.o. of c-span, sharing responsibilities of the network. she oversees the three television channels and c-span radio and launched the "washington journal," book tv and america history tv. and has been involved in the creation of numerous history series such as "the american presidents," the american riders. she has been one of the principalon-camera interviewers. first lady was by public affairs book featuring a collection of her interviews from the television series. it is the ninth book that susan has edited and as you noticed when you came in, we will have copies of the book available for sale after the program and she will be signing copies for you. so now, let me turn the podium to susan swain and to tonight's programmer. [applause] ms. swain: thank you for being here and i see a lot of familiar faces and i thank you for watching you at home. so many of you are here and as jim toll you, what i wanted to start with is a quote from and i gail adams she sent him with an explanation, john

swain and david a. graham are commanded by swain's future father-in-law. sherman tells [indiscernible] that he's not authorized to negotiate with civilian authorities, but he promises fans -- vance that if he chooses to remain in raleigh, he will let him remain as governor. sherman is already going out on a limb, promising more than he probably should. in any event, swain decides to fall back with johnston's army. yes received reports that both swain and graham's train was captured by the federals and they are prisoners. incorrect information, but it's probably just as well. sherman reaches raleigh on april the 13th. after reviewing his troops, he establishes his headquarters at the governor's palace. president davis has continued to fall back. he stops at greensboro where he summons general johnson to meet him. johnston goes to greenberg assuming that davis is soliciting his opinion. asking for a briefing on the military situation. one johnston gets to greensboro, he finds out davis actually has a plan to raise a new army by collecting all the men who des

swain and david a. graham are commanded by swain's future father-in-law. sherman tells [indiscernible] that he's not authorized to negotiate with civilian authorities, but he promises fans -- vance that if he chooses to remain in raleigh, he will let him remain as governor. sherman is already going out on a limb, promising more than he probably should. in any event, swain decides to fall back with johnston's army. yes received reports that both swain and graham's train was captured by the federals and they are prisoners. incorrect information, but it's probably just as well. sherman reaches raleigh on april the 13th. after reviewing his troops, he establishes his headquarters at the governor's palace. president davis has continued to fall back. he stops at greensboro where he summons general johnson to meet him. johnston goes to greenberg assuming that davis is soliciting his opinion. asking for a briefing on the military situation. one johnston gets to greensboro, he finds out davis actually has a plan to raise a new army by collecting all the men who des

swain: i want to say thank you to our panelists. my colleague mark, back there -- he was the executive producer for our first lady series. all those clips the video and pictures -- thank you very much, mark. [applause] for our c-span audience, sorry those of us who are here get to have dessert and coffee. i would like to invite on behalf of c-span anyone who's here to stay. we have a book signing in that always makes me feel rather embarrassed. but if you are interested in buying it, all the proceeds of the book go to the c-span education foundation. we use it to do teacher scholarships, student documentary contests. you are helping a good cause. thank you so much for being here tonight. [applause] >> she was considered modern for her tied -- called mrs. president by her detractors, and was outspoken about her views on slavery and women's rights, as well as one of the most prolific writers of any first lady. she provides a unique window into colonial america. abigail adams, sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's original seri

. >> craig swain leesburg virginia. you made mention that some of the common knowledge that we are refine and revised over the years one of them you briefly leaded to the myth of the monolistic block of southern white soldiers or civilians you begin to start looking at reconstruction and opportunity to do something similar in regard to the study of that period. >> i don't know there's any way that someone who is engaged in and looked at not just the kind of memorial aspects of it but the intellectual aspects can't but look through. reconstructionists, maybe, if you think the civil war is the contentious issue, wait until we start talking about reconstruction. that was craig swain who runs one of the best civil war blogs in the country. it's a great place to go. yes, sir. >> i never thought i would live to see the day when thousands of americans in new york city were marching this summer chanting what do we want, dead cops. when do we want them? now. we are a very divided country today with racial relations. president ob

my last name is swain. >> 37-year-old bernard "tasha" swain was serving a nine-month sentence for a paroleiolation. >> how do you make money on the streets? >> prostitution and selling drugs. >> one of the other things that bernard did on occasion inside l.a. county jail is to put on beauty pageants. like a peacock, so he wanted to show off his feathers. >> you know the miss america pageant? we do them in here but we do them for the boys and we have for girls and boys, the school boys. the vogue and all that kind of stuff like that. it's a variety of things you can run for. it's not just beauty. we cut up sheets and towels and make little dresses and you know. we destroy state property to make the outfits. >> do you make them look better? >> yes, actually. look at my face. >> we explored another special housing unit at l.a. county as well. the mental health ward where we encountered one of the most unforgettable scenes ever shown on "lockup." >> there was one gentleman in particular who i could barely see him because there was so much graffiti all over his cell door. and all over his walls

so now let me turn the podium over to susan swain into tonight's program. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. think as much for being here. i really appreciate you braving the traffic on a night when there's a capital's king. for he watching it on c-span, thanks for being with us. so many of you were with us for the first lady's series. as jim told you actually want to start with was a quote from abigail adams. when she sent john off to the continental congress she sent him with an explication of john, remember the ladies. tonight we're going to do that for abigail so she should be happy because the lives of these first lady often forgotten and they should be because they are interesting and they've made an enormous contribution to our history. opportunity to his personal as their history and what we'll try to do tonight is telling some of the stories along with video and film from national archives collection and also some of their historic photographs and also some of the clips are more own series. we hope we will inform you and your change and inspire

police say he is 50-year-old joseph john swain who appears to have been homeless. a man living along the lane discovered the boebs in february. police do not believe swain was murdered. >>> police are looking for a possibly armed drug dealer near a school in northern virginia. students said a teeth ager pulled a gun from his waistband after offering him marijuana on tuesday afternoon in ashburn. investigators didn't specify where the student attends school, but it happened about a block from legacy elementary. the armed teenager reportedly walked away laughing and no one was hurt. >>> montgomery county's top prosecutor calls it a strong message against the crime of rape in their community. today a judge sentenced joakim torres to 60 years in prison. torres is convicted of the violent rape of a woman along the northwest branch trail in silver spring nearly a year ago. he attacked the victim at knifepoint and robbed her. a suspect sketch helped police tractork torres to the area. >>> metro is hosting a public hearing tonight on the potomac yard station coming to alex

susan swain: you have worked with the theater for a while now, but does it ever leave you being you that box? james still: no. i didn't know if i would have that same kind of haunted feeling sitting there, but in this case, the play -- the widow lincoln is actually incorporated into the play. there is a double experience going on. you are watching mary lincoln remembering that night, and the audience remembering that with her in ford theater. that is a very unique experience for me as a writer. i think sometimes at fort theater, they, if i can speak for them, they have to almost deny the box in a way. you are doing a play that has nothing to do with lincoln, and yet you can't cover it up. you can't not lighted. it is there. it is always present. so what is wonderful and difficult in a certain way is that it is meant to be present. it is meant to be part of the play. so i think sitting in the audience realizing there was a night on april 14 in 1865 that a president and his wife sat in that box and were watching a play just like we are going to be watching a play. and this terrible thing h

however, swain versus alabama.he standard, the evidentiary standard was the defense would have to prove that the office had a history of systematic exclusion of african-americans and none of that -- under that standard, i felt, i mean, the court found there had been no intentional discrimination thereafter. the supreme court reversed swain and the batson case indicated if the system is established, for example, if prosecutor or a defense attorney -- it applies both ways -- starts excluding people of race or gender or some other prohibitive purpose, even under the directory challenge -- preemptory challenge, the prosecutor then had to come forward and give race reasons for the exclusion of african-americans or whatever minority. amy: i want to turn to glenn ford being interviewed by "the shreveport times are ." >> it separates you. it separates you from you and everybody else. can you imagine going 20 something years without no human contact? without sing family, loved ones, so-called friends? and then one day after

susan swain: you have worked with the theater for a while now, but does it ever leave you being you that box? james still: no. i didn't know if i would have that same kind of haunted feeling sitting there, but in this case, the play -- the widow lincoln is actually incorporated into the play. there is a double experience going on. you are watching mary lincoln remembering that night, and the audience

. >> craig swain leesburg virginia. you made mention that some of the common knowledge that we are refine and revised over the years one of them you briefly leaded to the myth of the monolistic block of southern white soldiers or civilians you begin to start looking at reconstruction and opportunity to do something similar in regard to the study of that period. >> i don't know there's any way that someone who is engaged in and looked at not just the kind of memorial aspects of it but the intellectual aspects can't but look through. reconstructionists, maybe, if you think the civil war is the contentious issue, wait until we start talking about reconstruction. that was craig swain who runs one of the best civil war blogs in the country. it's a great place to go. yes, sir. >> i never thought i would live to see the day when thousands of americans in new york city were marching this summer chanting what do we want, dead cops. when do we want them? now. we are a very divided country today with racial relations. president ob

christopher swain, thanks for your time. >> and that's all for now. >>> i won't be going anywhere nearf. after years and years of the country being at war after years

christopher swain, thanks for your time. >> and that's "all in" for now. >>> i won't be going anywhere near that canal. rachel maddow has the night off. after years and years of the country being at war after years and years of the bush era war on terror, after years of housing hundreds of prisoners at guantanamo bay, after years of covert drones, after all of that the president took to the stage on that day on may 23rd of 2013 to address his administration's stance on all of those issues. >> from our use of drones to the detention of terrorist suspects, the decisions that we are making now will define the type of nation and world that we leave to our children. so america is at a crossroads. we must define the nature and scope of this struggle or else it will define us. >> in that speech the president went on to say that the war must end and that the policy on drones was going to change. and this was the first time in that speech, this was the first time that the president had spoken so publicly, so openly about all of this, about the drone program, about covert operations in places wh

. >> craig swain, leesburg virginia. you talked about the common knowledge that we've kind of confined and revised over the years. you made a mention of the mythic block of southern white civilians. do you see we start looking at reconstruction and an opportunity to do something similar in regard to the study of that period? >> i don't know that there's any way that someone who is engaged in the assess kwisesquicentennial and looked at the moral aspects of it can't follow through on reconstruction. i know the park service is interested in doing that. the park service has a program entitled civil war to civil rights, which is intended to do this very process of taking this and carrying the discussion forward, which we hope to do. but reconstruction is maybe -- if you think that the civil war is a contentious issue, wait until we start talking about reconstruction seriously. there are very few issues that have more widely divergent views than reconstruction. by the way, that was craig swain who runs one of the best civil w

christopher swain, thanks for your time. >> and that's "all in" for now. >>> i won't be going anywhere canal. rachel maddow has the night off. after years and years of the country being at war after years and years of the bush era war on terror, after years of housing hundreds of prisoners at guantanamo bay, after years of covert drones, after all of that the president took to the stage on that day after may 23rd of 2013 to address his administration's stance on all of those issues. >> from our use of drones to the detention of terrorist suspects,

christopher swain, thanks for your time. >> and that's "all in" for now. >>> i won't be going anywherenight off. after years and years of the country being at war after years and years of the bush era war on terror, after years of housing

christopher swain spent nearly an hour swimming in the canal wearing a protective suit. he said his goal is to accelerate efforts to clean up the canal. >> this is a no joke i'm a difficult cleanup. -- this is a no joke difficult cleanup. even though it is discouraging and difficult, let's find the courage to do it anyway. i'm also saying, let's define clean up differently. let's not clean it up part of the way, sort of not bad. let's make it sparkle. let's make it a diamond. let's make the standard of clean swift enough -- safe enough to swim in every day. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show in baltimore where protests over the death of freddie gray have entered their fifth day. the 27-year-old african-american man died sunday from spinal injuries, one week after baltimore police arrested him. his family and attorney say his voice box was crushed

it's by susan swain and many of the people here at c-span who helped with that book.or more on the book and what it's about, we are joined by benjamin adams. thank you for joining us. i want to talk about the book it was the concept behind it and what makes it different from other first lady books? guest: thanks for having me on. it's my second collaboration with c-span. i think what we were trying to achieve with this look -- book was to capture the other half of presidential history. the stories of the first ladies have been told in some measure before. what sets this apart is these are an extraordinary collection of voices. this is the largest collection of historians ever assembled on this project. we have a large group of journalists like dr. robertson. it's an extraordinary group contributing. host: this comes after the history series on first ladies. can you talk about how the book was put together? had you turn transcripts into chapters? guest: i should say i can't get all of the credit. i was figuring out how to put the whole thing together. they poured over

it's by susan swain and many of the people here at c-span who helped with that book. for more on the book and what it's about, we are joined by benjamin adams. thank you for joining us. i want to talk about the book it was the concept behind it and what makes it different from other first lady books? guest: thanks for having me on. it's my second collaboration with c-span. i think what we were trying to achieve with this look -- book was to capture the other half of presidential history. the stories of the first ladies have been told in some measure before. what sets this apart is these are an extraordinary collection of voices. this is the largest collection of historians ever assembled on this project. we have a large group of journalists like dr. robertson. it's an extraordinary group contributing. host: this comes after the history series on first ladies. can you talk about how the book was put together? had you turn transcripts into chapters? guest: i should say i can't get all of the credit. i was figuring out how to put the whole thing together. they poured ove