Transcripts For CSPAN3 C-SPAN Cities Tour Visits Charleston West Virginia 20240713

Court, and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. And around the country so you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979. Cspan is brought to you by your local or cable satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. The cspan cities tour is exploring the american story, as we take book tv and American History tv on the road. With the support of our link by all teas cable partners, this weekend we travel to charleston, West Virginia. Coming up in the next hour and a half, we will visit notable locations and speak with experts about the citys history, including a home dating back to the early settlement of charleston. Then in about an hour, we will tour West Virginias capital building. Later, we hear the true life story of the movie Hidden Figures. In an africanamerican woman played in putting a man on the moon. We begin our special feature with a visit to the state history museum. Welcome to the West Virginia state museum at the state Cultural Center in charleston. The museum was founded in 1894 and has been continuous ever since. Today, we will go into the immersive West Virginia state virginia and we will be talking about the early frontier and settlement period, the development of the state, becoming a state, industrialization of the state and we will go into the later century of the 21st century and see where West Virginia is today. We are in the West Virginia state Museum Summit and frontier period. These are some of the earliest settlers of the land. We are standing behind George Washingtons case where it has artifacts such as his sword, is horn he carved during the American Revolutionary war, and the telescope he used to survey land, as well as in the eastern panhandle. George washington would have been here in the mid1700s. During this time, a frontier and early settlement, this was western virginia. It was part of the state of virginia at the time, and it was an area that was not greatly developed. A lot of the ideas of separation, becoming a separate state, was for infrastructure and things of that nature were not being put into this mountainous area and terrain. These are artifacts that belong to daniel boone when he settled in the area. He was in the valley for 10 years, from 1789 to 1799. This is the rifle daniel boone carried in the 1790s. This is his walking stick, a beaver trap he used to trap beavers in the river, and he was a surveyor during that time. Signed deed that he surveyed land in the area and this is the way he marked a stone. He marked the property of that area. Daniel boone was very important in the time, one of the first representatives from the newly formed Kanawha County in the 1790s. Theas very involved in both politics and development of the area. We are in the family cabin built in 1870. This cabin in the state museum is a showcase of what type of a structure that people lived in during that time. This cabinet itself was used as somebodys residence, it was a school house, it has been a little bit of everything. We have used it as the showcase of artifacts to exhibit because you would not necessarily have everything that is in this in a cabin of this time period. Most of the artifacts you see whether it is the wall cabinet, the table to eat on, something to store your relics, a sideboard and a fireplace, all those things will bid would have been in the cabin. What we are looking at is a sideboard made by a member of the washington family in the east room panhandle. It is handcarved, beautifully decorated. Incredible select incredible peace. We call this the table from fort lee. Dr. John p hale, president of the society, which predated the state museum, there was a tornado that went through charleston during the 1890s and in order to preserve these pieces of for atlee, he made it into a table. , ais a beautiful piece treasure with wonderful programs. This is a coverlet that was made by sarah ramsey for her wedding. It was made in 1793. One of the first coverlets in the collection. If you are a West Virginian, you know james runs her is inventor of the steam board steamboat. This is his daughter. We are in the section of the West Virginia state museum where we talk about Harpers Ferry and the raid on the Harpers Ferry armory. 1850 nine, secured a raid on that facility. He wanted to get additional wheat he figured figured people from the area would join in that would begin the begin that would be the beginning of a movement. Unfortunately for him, there was an africanamerican killed, the first person killed on the raid, and other people that were from the town and that got people who were living in that area to combat john brown and try to stop what he was trying to do. John brown is said to have started the very first beginning of the civil war. John brown was captured and actually there is a mural that is in this exhibit, the merrier the mural on the wall and it shows him with a comrade laying beside him. These are individuals, the charges against john brown and he was tried for treason and he was later hung. We are currently in the statehood room of the museum. This is the area that talks about the reasons for West Virginia becoming a state in 1863. Western virginians actually were looking to become a state much earlier than that, and looking at improvements that were not happening in the area. The roads and transportation were not what they expected. When the civil war came along, and it became time in virginia to join the confederacy, that is one western virginians wanted to become statehood. Western virginians were very devout were very divided over the issue of slavery. Region, what side they were involved in, there were brothers who one would fight on the confederacy and the other fight for the union. Though theyven wanted statehood, they wanted to become a separate state, they were very divided on the issue of slavery. We are now in the transportation section of the museum. Just after statehood, in West Virginia, now that they are a state, it is becoming they are developing railroads, developing transportation routes to get goods and services. One of the key things about this time is the development in the coal and oil and gas industry. Those are natural that west of, with theplenty development of transportation, they were able to get those goods to market. West virginia became a leader in a production of coal and oil and gas. River transportation was important. One of the great things about West Virginia is we developed the walk in dam system. That enabled to utilize our rivers to better give products out of the various areas and to market. What you see behind me is 12 and a half feet in diameter. It is from the ofc year that was on the canal and ohio rivers. Earlier, when we were talking about sarah ramseys coverlet, we referred to james ramsey, inventor of the steamboat. He developed the process and showed it to George Washington on the potomac. We have a model in the state museum collection. Some people have referred to him as the first engineer in the country. West virginia has been a lot of first and production, manufacturing throughout the history of the United States. China the leaders is the company that produced more china at one time than any other company in. The world today, you would know it for fiesta ware. It is a huge collectors item. They also are very big in dinnerware. West virginia not only stops with china, but they go with glass as one of the Top Producers of glassware of anywhere in the world. Michael owens developed the first automated plant here that was in production of glass bottles. They also, across the highway, was Libby Owens Ford in charleston which was the largest producer of sheet glass of anybody in the world at one time. When you talk about West Virginia leading the way in production and manufacturing, coal is one of the resources that has shaped the history of West Virginia. It goes back it actually ties a lot of the things we have talked about together. It ties in the solid industry because coal was vital in the sod industry. It goes back to the early 1800s. Back inig booms started the 1850s before statehood. This ties together the railroad. The railroad, especially the development of the chesapeake, helped to open up the coal mines and the lines of coal to become what we are today as one of the producers not only of the country but of the nation and of the world. Today, colin West Virginia is a very significant coal in West Virginia is a very significant part of the economy in the state because of developments in how you mine coal and equipment. There are not as many coal miners as there were at one point. The market depends upon a lot of things but coal is still very important in the state of West Virginia. We are currently in the art and craft room of the state museum. This room shows glass, pottery, woodworking, quilting, textile making, marble making, a little bit of everything. That wee things throughout the history of the state of West Virginia and today, all of these are as important now as they were then. We have our annual quilt exhibition, which some of the most beautiful quotes he will ever see. We have another exhibition that happens every two years. A lot of this room showcases the talent of those from past years. As director, im interacting with visitors. One of the things they want to tell me after they have toured the West Virginia state museum is that they understand what the state of West Virginia is about. And that is what we want them to get. They understand that the hardworking people, the development of manufacturing, and all the other components and the fabric of our people are represented in this museum. West virginia is a proud people and we hope once you go through the state museum, you understand the fabric and the history of the state. We are at saltworks in charleston, West Virginia. Charlston was once the salt capital of the United States. We learn about the history of the salt history here and how it is reviving it. It is a revival of a Family Business that started in the early 1800s. My ancestors started evaporating and crystallizing salt along with 50 other manufacturers in the region which made this Little Valley here in West Virginia the largest all producing region of the country. Top of the trapped ancient sea, it is the impetus of ocean. It is a 400 to 600yearold source. This has been redissolved by whichater aquifer basically means it runs under us like a salty river. This was pushing up in springs in places which was how it was discovered by large animals first, deer and elk and buffalo were here. Native americans came for hunting and gathering salt for themselves, and then as the european settlers moved west across allegheny mountains, they found this valuable source of salt. Which we take for granted today, how important salt was before refrigeration. The salt industry really started to grow in the early 1800s. The dickinsons, the shrewsberrys, really started to grow this industry. And it was an industry that grew on the backs of slaves. Valley was one of the largest industrial slave uses in the country, like many other industries. There were over 5000 slaves in the valley and about 250 on this property alone. By the 1840s, we were the largest salt making region of the country. Most of the salt was leaving and going to cincinnati, also called poor coppolas because of the hog farming porkopolis because of all the hog farming. The market in cincinnati started to wane and the salt industry really started to go away. The dickinson family made salt until 1945 and then my brother and i revived the business in 2013. I grew up in the canal valley kanawha valley. The salt history of our family was not something that was shared. I vaguely knew we made salt at some point but i didnt know anything more than that. Then i started digging into the Family History when i was in my 40s. The same time, filling out my pantry at home with salt because i thought it was so fascinating, different salts from around the world. Then it was just an ah ha moment. We decided to revive the salt industry because of several key points. One, we had this amazing Family History that our ancestors made here. Or 160 years. But also the movement of consumers toward high Quality Foods made by producers they could trust. We dont add anything to our salt and we want to be produced naturally with solar evaporation and then we hand harvest it. It is a product of not of Mother Nature rather than a a. Duct of machine we are here outside in our field and we are going to walk you through the salt harvesting process which starts here at our well. It goes down 350 feet to draw the brine up to the surface to fill our tanks. We pump about 7500 gallons of brine a week to move through our son houses. These are our Holding Tanks where we settle the brine, we have three of them, 2500 gallons each. We need to settle the brine for about five days and then we feed it into our sun houses where it starts to evaporate. We are in the quincy sun house which is one of our three evaporating sun houses. We put the brine inhere in these big beds where it evaporates. We are taking it from 4. 5 to 15 salinity. During that time, we have Calcium Carbonate precipitate out and then we feed the brine off of the calcium and into crystallization. This process takes anywhere from five to 10 to 15 days depending on the weather. We are very much at the whims of Mother Nature. We are in the building we call the grainary which is what the ancestors called the building where the grains form or the salt crystals. We are looking at a bed here that is full of salt which we fill each one of these 26 beds in this building with about one inch of the evaporated brine, down to 15 salinity. We let it continue evaporating until it crystallizes which happens at about 25 salinity, when the solids form. To harvest the salt, we use big scoops and scrapers and we into aly scrape the salt pile like this. And put it into the scoop. And then we put it into a bucket where it drains back into the bed and stays for a day until we take it into our Production Facility where we dry it and package. We are in our Production Facility. The salt comes in here after it is drained and the granary for a day and then we put it into our drying room or we have dehumidifier that pulls extra moisture off the salt. Then it goes through a cleaning process where we go through the salt. For quality control, make sure it is 100 salt. We pull out anything that is not salt with teasers. Tweezers. Just to make sure we are getting 100 salt into the jar. Are finishing salt is our flagship product. We produce what we call popcorn salt or cooking salt and we have a grinding salt. Then we do flavored assaults. We do West Virginia ramp salt, ramps. Are Wild Mountain onion ramps are Wild Mountain onion. We do an apple wood smoke salt. And also a bourbon barrel smoke salt. We are all over the country, we are over in 600 accounts nationwide, restaurants and retailers and we sell ecommerce worldwide. Thats exciting. It is a little piece of West Virginia that goes everywhere. I do see us as an abbasid or for the state of West Virginia. It is not a role that was given to us but i think everybody in the state is an abbasid or an ambassador for what we love. We love our state. We love the companies that are here. Anything we can do to lift each other up is important to me, and important to most other West Virginia producers. The cspan cities tour continues its special look at charleston, West Virginia. After next, we visited the craig patton house to learn about two men. At one who helped found the city and another who led troops for the confederacy in the civil war. Today we will talk about two gentlemen who lived here. Two gentle men who had an impact on an expanding frontier. Not only the city, but the region as a whole. We are at the craig patton house located one mile and a health and a half from our house. It was originally built in 1834. He was the grandson of dr. James craik. Frenchde during the indian war, the revolutionary war and throughout his term as president. Ines craig grew up alexandria, virginia. He decided to settle the lanes his grandfather and George Washington had discovered in the canal valley. In the 1820s, charlston was a city that was on the rise. That was in part due to the sought industry outside of town. Prior to that, the charleston area would have been a militia out pours outpost. By the time james craik had moved from his then mason county home to charleston, it had a population of roughly 600 people. That included white, free and black and slaves. It was small a small town but a close knit society. James craik was a wealthy man. Most of his wealth inherited from the bounties he had received from his grandfather and father. He ended up traveling as a circuit lawyer to different counties to practice law. For a period of time, approximately 14 years, he did that. He was also serving as a director for the james river and can all turn and kanawha turnpike that was intended to connect eastern and western virginia to the ohio river. When the Episcopal Church came to charleston, one of the First Trustees of st. Johns church was james craik. He eventually went on to become a deacon and a rector, before becoming the episcopal preach there shortly before traveling from charleston to louisville, kentucky. James craik built the home in 1834. They left in 1844. There was this 10 year period where they would have been here at the home working whether it was as a lawyer or with the james river and kanawha turnpike. Or his services with the. At this couple church. The. Aaik the craik family had total of seven children. There are only three bedrooms that we have. You can imagine it would have been pretty packed with folks. Based on the 1840 census, we know there were eight and slaved members living here with the family. The home itself, two and a half acre lot, there were different buildings. Not everybody would necessarily have been in this home. It would have been quite a large operation going on here at this house. One of the lasting impacts that james craik had on the charleston area is helping establish it as an economic engine for the rest of the future state of West Virginia. Creating roads for transport, working with the government to create reduced tolls for manufacturers to ship salt. What is significant about the man is he was a writer. Following the raid on Harpers Ferry, he addressed the Kentucky State Legislature to calm the fears and keep them from immediately joining in the secession of men. James craiks speech was so popular that it went was published into a book that went through 12 additions and it was called union. That is the short title for it. He had also given us a glimpse of a slavelief masters responsibility to his slaves. After james craik left for louisville, kentucky in 1844, he sold the home to a local businessman named isaac read. That john and lived here for about a decade before selling it to the patton family. George patton, susan patton came to charleston in 1856. George pattons family was filled with military leaders. His greatgrandfather fell shortly after the battle of princeton due to injuries received there. Our George Patton is known for his grandson, also named George Patton, from world war ii. The famous field marshal, George Patton. When patton came into this area, we also see an industrialized method of slavery that was theue in that it was not agricultural style slavery we are most familiar with. And thinking about that period of time. Conflict that erected in 1859 after john browns raid on Harpers Ferry created a lot of tension. We see a lot of local government starting to talk about secession. When the civil war broke out, Kanawha County voted against secession. But we do find pockets of individuals and we can trace back to see where southern sympathy was most prevalent. We see there was a large cluster of individuals here in charleston profiting off of the slave injury slave industry that was keeping the salt industry afloat. When George Patton came to charleston, one of the first things he did was establish the kanawha minutemen, name later named the kanawha rifleman. He became captain of that. It was filled with men from the upper trust, sons of doctors, merchants and lawyers themselves. These people related to a particular cast of society. They were nicknamed the kid glove unit because of their fancy uniforms. Shortly after the cannon fired on fort sumter in april of 1861, that cannot kanawha rifleman ended up becoming members of the 22nd virginia infantry, along with other militia units and counties throughout kanawha valley. They saw action immediately in july of 1861. George patton was shot in the Left Shoulder and knocked off his horse during this battle. He was captured a few days later and ended up being paroled before returning in the spring of 1862. It was in the valley of 1864 that George Patton was wounded by artillery shot shrapnel at the battle. This was a wound from a three inch rifle that became infected and would not allow doctor and he would not allow doctors to amputate. The affected wound ended up life. G George Patton his susan patton moved to california after the civil war with her three children. Her son, george smith patton, grew up there as well. It was in california he had his son, George S Patton of world war ii fame. The home itself ended up becoming the property of a gentleman named dr. Hoag in the hoag family owned the patton house for a number of years. The home remained in downtown charleston until 1906. Dunbar street was going to cut through the homes property. It was divided into three sections. The home remains there until the National Society in West Virginia ended up purchasing it from the city for one dollar and moved it here so it could be preserved. That took place in 1973. It has been an ongoing project to maintain the home. And really provide the public with an idea of what it would look like for a Family Living in 1830s and 1840s what it would look like for a Family Living here in the 1850s and 1860s. Cspan is in charleston, West Virginia learning about the citys history and literary scene. From pepperoni roles to biscuits, up next, we talked to author of the book the West Virginia pepperoni roll about the role in appalachian culture. I think one of the things that is important is that appalachia is rooted in storytelling. I think food plays into that because we pass these stories along through recipes, we pass these stories along through the items you made with your grandma that are not specifically measured. Appalachian food is very complex. There is a lot of layers. Appalachia is a huge region so there is a bunch of different components that make it what it is. And while many think of appalachian food as being the monolithic, irish cuisine, there is really many layers. We have foods that are inspired from the south, we have foods inspired from italy. Most notably, appalachian food is rooted in place. You will see things like foraging for vegetables and you will see canning to preserve those vegetables through long, hard winters. We use our ingenuity to really live off the land in some way. I write a lot about how my grandmother really inspired a lot of my food habits. I remember foraging for morels when i was younger. She would batter them and fry them. I just thought it was neat we could go out behind her house and find something in the woods that we could eat. Andink preservation resilience really plays a huge role in our food. Appalachia is known for many different kinds of foods. We are known for our local meats, we are known for fruits like pop because, we are known for things. West virginia specifically is home to the pepperoni roll. Is a smallni roll piece of that and val epps a spicy steak or slice of brownie. The pepperoni roll was inspired by the coal miners in the area. In northcentral West Virginia, we had a huge italian immigrant population. They there they were interested in a meal they could take underground that was self stable, delicious, easy, and portable. Somewhere along the lines between 1927 and 1938, we devised the pepperoni roll. The pepperoni roll is gaining popularity not only within the borders of the state but even farther outside of the state. We have seen pepperoni roles pop up in washington, d. C. , we have seen pepperoni roles in pennsylvania and ohio. I think what makes it really special is that it is rooted in our culture and our industry. Because it has roots in our coal means history, it really a little bit more to us. We are seeing appalachian food all over the place. You will see things like our dickinson salt added restaurants in large cities, you will see our local beef in various restaurants. The one thing that makes appalachian food what it is is the roots in place. The food has the story is that you may not necessarily capture when they are extracted from the place. While those are delicious and they can make meals even better, it is important to know that farmer that grew them or the roadside stand where you were able to pick them up because they mean something more. It is that small town farm income. Hey are putting their kids through school. It is how have we gotten these ingredients and made them part of our food culture to make them feel popular. I think preserving the history and heritage of appalachia, specifically appalachian food, is important to the people in this region. The biggest thing is for us to continue to document that history and pay tribute to these different traditions and write down those recipes and save those seeds, and really try to keep that culture alive and keep the place in appalachian food. Booker t. Washington was born into slavery in 1856. His bet he is best known as the founder of the Tuskegee Institute and was a prominent figure in the africanamerican community. Up next, we learn about his connection to West Virginia and how his life shaped him as a future leader. Booker t. Washington for 20 years was the spokesman and leader of African Americans in america. At the time, we had horrible jim crow race codes in the south. That did not happen in West Virginia. It was a different sort of race relations. What he observed with his boyhood heroes was the building of a black middle class. That really became his path, his career path as he went from tuskegee to being a National Celebrity. Booker was born in a place called hales ford, south virginia, 225 miles from here. In those first nine years, he was a slave boy. He didnt have pants. He wore a slave boy shirt. Were two wooden slats with a piece of leather across the top. He wanted very much to go to school. He saw white children going to school but he really was not able to do any of those things. They leave the farm in virginia in 1865, pretty soon after the civil war ends. There is a soldier, a Union Soldier who comes to the farm and reads the emancipation proclamation and announcing they are free and that they can leave. His mother cries. She says she never thought she would live long enough to see her children liberated. After the civil war, West Virginia did not have the devastation that the confederate south did. This area was, except for a short time of four months, was under Union Control practically the whole war. Throughout West Virginia, did not have the economic devastation that you had in the confederate south. It made a big difference after the war. The other thing that was different is that the slave population in West Virginia is very small. Probably the smallest of any area in the slave south. There was Something Like 4 of the state population was africanamerican. There was not that threat by number and of the power elite in West Virginia that was posed by black likened in the deep south. The family came here because washington ferguson, the here forr, was working the ruffners in their salt work in their salt factory and also in their coal mines they owned in mullen. Insent money to his wife order to get a horse and buggy to bring her and the kids to malden. Once they arrived, they found a Wonderful Community of christian believers that are centered in the ruffner slave quarters. She gets the job first as a chambermaid for the ruffners and then as a cook. She gets the ruffners to hire booker as a garden and houseboy, knowing he would learn social graces, he would have their big library available to him, that he would have a lot of opportunities that otherwise he would not have. As an important part of his being with the ruffners is he developed a familial relationship with misses ruffner. She was a yankee lady. She was a second wife. She really likes poker. He can do no wrong. Hes hardworking, always asking her how my getting on . Mi doing well, what do i need to do . He was honest and hardworking. He was very bright. I think she appreciated his talent. I think she did something for him that gave him a selfconfidence that probably carried him through his career, because his career was full of crisis and dark hours. He was able to see himself in her eyes, reflected as a perfect being. He was here until he was about 15 and he went to hampton to school for three years. He would go during school term and then come back in the summers. The second summer he came back, his mother passed away suddenly. It was really a hard time for him. He credits misses ruffner as being his friend and helping him get back to hampton for his 30 year. When he graduates from hamden, he is the top student in his class, and he comes back here to teach school. And he says the favorite years of his life were when he came back and taught school here in malden. He was restless that was not enough for him. He went to washington, to see if he wanted to be a minister. Then he tried reading for the law. That didnt fit. He was trying to figure out who he was on what he wanted to do. One of the things he dead and this is important in his future career, his West Virginia was having a referendum on where to place the state capital. Charlston was one of three cities. People in charlston had a republican and democrat leader to organize talks so they could go out and convince other counties to vote for charlston. Booker was one who was supposed to go along the Railroad Route and go to four or five counties to convince them to choose charlston. It was his first speaking tour. Very successful. All the counties voted overwhelmingly for that. He was able to speak to the africanamericans in those counties that were mostly coal miners and farmworkers. Set him on the road of being a public speaker. Im not sure he is known for that. But he would speak to thousands of people every year. He would have tours, he would be on the stage with the governor and a congressman and senator, and he would always be the star speaker. He was incredible. Booker was working at hampton as a teacher when folks from tuskegee, alabama requested that an educator be sent there to start a school. Booker went down at age 25. On july 4, 1881, he started a school at tuskegee. Anwas really just using abandoned building. Everything there had to be built. So, someoneer, or pays a president ial visit to code to tuskegee. He is celebrated as a great educator, his philosophy was that we will educate people here at tuskegee to send back home to their home towns to educate others and to build that black middleclass. That was his goal. And he got that from his boyhood heroes, his parents bought a house in malden, and he saw them , and their Church Members working hard to help future generations rather than themselves to build a black middleclass. And they were successful. He thought that was the path that ought to be taken in the deep south too. He visited malden every year. He was very devoted to his sister and he would come every year. Was a National Celebrity statehe gave the exposition speech called the atlanta compromise. Seven minute speech but it made him a National Celebrity. He always cultivated his celebrity status, he was all will always photographed in a coat and tie, he would have a outdoors. He was there is a wonderful article where he comes to hunt and fish, and hes hunting, he has a gun, hunting with a coat, tie, and bowler, and he is also fishing. He has a fishing pole with a coat and tie and bowler. And he would not be photographed looking casual or anything. At a time when celebrity was new, and he was very conscious about building that and maintaining that. When booker would talk about virginia, he didnt tell the facts. He saw it as a way of manipulating the story hes telling. There are several instances. When he went to hampton, he said i was presented with two sheets. And i didnt know what to do. So i slept on both the first night. On the second night. , i slept under both second night, i slept under both. Hampton, andat this to me is shocking, he says at hampton, he learned about eating meals with tablecloths and napkins. Maybe he didnt use a tablecloth and napkin with the ruffners but he certainly was not far away from it. Tells that to make it clear that, what he is saying is not about tablecloths and napkins. What he is saying is not in his Life Experience did he experience those kinds of normal social graces. And that simply wasnt true. But he was trying to tell a story. The story was more important than the facts that were involved. Theres an interesting issue too. When he wrote from slavery, he serialized it in a magazine called outlook magazine. In that magazine, theres a photograph of the home and it this was the home Booker T Washington left when he went to hampton. It has a whitewashed front, nice looking place, very tidy. The fence is up. But he never used that photograph again the photograph he used later was one that was current, and it showed close lines, it was falling down, boards falling out of the house, the fence was a mess. It looked really, really sad. When they bought the home in 1869, four years after they were slaves, it looked pretty good. It was a good, nice, substantial home. He didnt want folks to know that because it would make it look like he actually lived a pretty blessed life. Theres a governor who wrote his memoirs. He wrote all those complaints that booker t. Washington had about living with general ruffner were not true. He lived a very comfortable life with them. I think thats true. His biographer says he learned lived a refined life with the ruffners and that is something he wanted for himself. But it is also that life that was important for him to prove, he used himself, his life, as an example to the nation at large that look, look at me, im a successful person, and i happen to be africanamerican. He is using his life as an example, encouragement to blacks, but also as an example of proof of equality to whites. Booker t. Washingtons life in West Virginia was important and formative for him. It was because of the values that were here where the whites really were not aristocratic like in eastern virginia, they believed people were worth they had selfworth, they believed in the individual. Thought it was a combination of all these things coming together not to him the idea of an American Dream and gave him the idea of building a black middleclass throughout the south. Charleston, West Virginia learning about the citys history. We stick with West Virginia state folklorist Emily Hilliard on her work to document all the very varied cultures that make up appalachian heritage. We have a lot of people across the state who may not identify as artists but are extremely creative, extremely important in how they are preserving in their own way these traditions of american unity, from seed savings to storytelling, to fiddle tunes. We really want to help these people do the work that they are already doing and practice their art forms. Program,West Virginia we document, preserved, present,nd support traditional artists Cultural Heritage practitioners, and cultural communities across the state. Basically, i travel all over the state and do oral histories and documentation of the banjo players, fiddlers, neon sign makers, independent wrestlers, ramadan Fast Breaking dinners, serbian chicken roasts, any kind of aspect of Cultural Heritage or someone who practices a form, artform, or food way, or some kind of practice of folk life in the state. Thinking about how we choose stories for the West Virginia folklife program, there is so much to document, so many people to talk to. Aboutmetimes, when i hear a ballad singer who is in her 90s, that will be a priority. Someone who was very old and has a lot of stories to tell, that will kind of push something to the top of the list. Also, stories that complicate the narratives about West Virginia. Either internally or outside. Stories that show Real Community cohesion. Ive done a lot of work in this was community, so i worked in the swiss community, so i worked with them over a year documenting their food traditions and their community festivals. Of mardi swiss version gras with papiermache masks where they parade from one dance hall in town to the other, which is about two blocks, and carry lanterns. And then have a square dance under old man winter. At midnight, they cut him down from the rafters and burn him on the bonfire. And they all sing country road. How can you not document a story like that . When we think about the term appalachian, i think we often think and this is inside the region too we often think about white, scots, and irish. People think, these are the old tiny ways of white folks in the mountains. But actually, there is a lot of diversity here. Maybe not statistically, but when you are looking at who is preserving and maintaining Cultural Heritage, their own Cultural Heritage, we have serbian communities, lebanese, muslim, africanamerican, italian, swiss, it runs the gamut. Narrativeme of the about this place as being homogenous tickly white, we have internalized too. When we use the term appalachian, we need to think about what that may be a code word for and how we can shift it so it is an inclusive term that includes everyone who lives here, and is engaged in the place. My goal for my audience is not necessarily the world outside, but it is for the communities themselves. Or it is twofold. I really want the community to wartsuve got this right, and all. It is not necessarily this romantic perception of the place, but that you got it right in all its complexity. [singing] we are in West Virginias capital city of charleston, home to the Mountain Stage radio program. The music show is heard on stations around the country on npr. Up next, we speak with Mountain Stage host larry gross for more on musics role in West Virginias culture. Springeres a in the mountain it flows down to the town from npr music with support provided by bailey and glasser and by the West Virginia tours office, welcome to another Mountain Stage with our host, larry gross. Mountain stage is a two hour radio show, composed of Live Performances, musical performances, from all kinds of music all across the usa and all around the world. The music varies from african bands to oldtime appalachian fiddlers, and everything in between. [applause] december, we started Mountain Stage regular broadcasting. It was once a month. By 1986, i think it was 26 shows later, we were national. Now we are on 240 stations in america. From the beginning, our idea was to show as many different styles of music as we could, reasonably, and that is what we still do. There have been so many folks, many of them of course before anybody else ever heard of them, people like Mary Chapin Carpenter way back in the early 1980s, Alison Krauss when she old. 9 years we had sheryl crow wants on our 300th anniversary, nobody knew who she was. And of course there were people who were very established when they were on the show. Kinds like bill monroe and row stanley and joan by as and judy collins, and the band. Randy newman. This are going to finish hour with a band from up in morgantown, West Virginia. Please welcome for the first time to the Mountain Stage, hello june. [applause] we have had probably between 250 and 300 different West Virginia these issuance featured on the show. When they reach a certain level of talent, we want to help give them exposure. By having this variety of stereotype. Eaks the many people think West Virginia, fiddle, banjo, oldtime country, and thats it. Thats not it. People do like that, we like it too. But we also like jazz and singer songwriters, indie rock. We like a lot of stuff. So do people in West Virginia. Thats what we are trying to show. This is not abnormal in West Virginia, this is what West Virginia is. It is one of the most opening one of the most open and accepting places. We want to represent West Virginia. Nobody ever asked us to say from the Mountain State of West Virginia i started doing the very early because i wanted to. I wanted to people i wanted people to know where we were from. There were times in public radio popular. T was not they wanted you to be nowhere so people could put it on their station and seemed like it was produced by their station. You will always know it is from West Virginia because that is who we are. If you dont like that, you dont have to run the show. We will tell you where we are from. We want to represent West Virginia, hopefully, by the personality the show has. We want to try to reflect what we think is a West Virginia personality. By that i mean we are straightforward, we are warm, wendly, we are not cute like the people we put on, we like the audience very much. And we want to give them something. West virginians are generous. West virginians are kind and they are warm and friendly. They are not in your face. They are not great self promoters. But they are definitely, if you need help, you will get it here. We want to have that personality. We want people to listen and say wow, it feels like a friendly, nice warm place. Once you hear live music, as soon as you can, you have been listening to Mountain Stage Live Performance radio from the Mountain State of West Virginia. Im on the site of the mansion overlooking the skyline of charleston, West Virginia, where cspan is learning about the citys history. Up next, we speak with former West Virginia governor and current senator joe mansion on the states economy and his ideas for its future. While in charleston, we spoke with former governor and current senator joe mansion. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Tell me about West Virginias sense of place. Where is West Virginia and who lives here . I was born and raised in West Virginia. Im one of the lucky ones. A lot of people have moved here which are the smarter ones. A lot of people dont know who we are and we say come. You will find out so much. Inn f. Kennedy basically 1963, our centennial, came back. West virginia was pivotal for him to win. If it was not for West Virginia, he never would have been president. Small percentage of catholics, they thought religion would be a big stumbling block for him. He approved he proved he could win in a place like West Virginia and he went on to victory. He came back in 1963 and he was on the steps in june with our centennial, and it was raining cats and dogs. He said you know what, the sun may not always shine in West Virginia but the people do. I think that basically defines who we are as a people more than anyone could have done. The people always do shine, they are optimistic, they are hardworking. Heavye always done the lifting. Whether it be the timbering way back when after the civil war that built most of the east coast, to the mining, and the coal mining that basically made it, that built up the guns and ships and factories that defended us and built a great economy. West virginia plays a tremendous pivotal role in who we are as the United States of america. If you look at the shape of our state, there is not another state that has as many unbelievable lines and borders and boundaries. That during the civil war and we became a state. One of only two that became a state during the conflict of this full war of the civil war. What are West Virginias biggest economic drive draggers . Sen. Manchin cole has been that. Markets are changing. Now we have gas, natural resources, and the wet properties that come from butane, propane and nothing. That gives us a chance. If you look at how we came into being being an energy driver, first we became the salt, then the salt mine lead into the coal and oil, we had oil way back when. And then the coal became tremendous driver for us for a whole century almost. Now there are new forms coming. With that, we have been a net exporter of energy. West virginia truly has kept most of the east coast with the power they have needed and energy they have needed. It kept basically the coal mines fueled through world war i and world war ii to victory. Now we have the Technology Sector that is growing and blossoming. We can bully we can be the playground of the east. We have the Summit Center which is the home to the boy scouts of america which is now boys and girls, and we have also a way to build teambuilding, fortune 500 companies from all over the country, and companies from all over the world are coming there now. You have the White Water Rafting and all the things that we can do in the beauty. You have hiking. It goes on and on. We need to sell our self a little more than what people may know of us. Theres an old saying that if you do not tell your story, someone will tell one on you. Weve allowed people to tell too many stories about West Virginia. West virginia, there is a stereotype that goes along with that West Virginia can sometimes be the punchline to jokes. What are the largest . Onceptions i go to i go to all the schools. From out of state, they say where are you from, and when you say West Virginia, they joke. I thoughta while, about that and got involved, and had a chance to speak and talk to kids and try to educate them. I said, here is what you want to do. When you are traveling out of state, by yourself or with classmates or family, and that question, where are you from, and you know the response you might get, if you dont enter into it properly. I said, when someone says, where are you from, let me tell you where i am from, you might be surprised. I am from the most patriotic state in the nation, with most veterans per capita in the United States, and a state that produces energy that helped build this country. We mined the coal. Weve done it all, and the good lord blessed us. Im from a state called West Virginia, probably you will want to visit. Take the offense, tell your story before they tell yours. We are trying to instill that pride, because it is a pride that we should all have. What problems does the state face today . We face problems a lot of states face. Thatve a part of our state has been supplying more energy than any part of any state, any part of america, southern West Virginia. And suddenly they get left behind. We cant let that happen. We have to diversify, so i am looking at natural gas, coming on, and butane, propane and ethane. Industry atemendous the ohio river, and we can invigorate that tremendously with manufacturing coming back, and we can be the backbone for energy of the United States. Right now, all of our energy is around louisiana and texas in the southwest. This is what we should be doing to diversify. There will always be a certain fossil, and we could be showing the world how to use fossil in a much cleaner way. Should not just be letting the methane gas burn off. That can be captured for valuable resources, and the same with coal. Cleanerurn coal in a way, new technologies, carbon sequestration. If you believe you can change the climate by elimination, you living in a fantasy world, because the rest of the world is using more fossil than ever before. They are coming into what we were 100 years ago. If you lived in West Virginia in the 1930s, and most of rural 15 of people had electricity, and if it wasnt for Rural Electrification from fdr an coops going into areas where the return on investment wasnt good, we were able to be really innovative in saying, how can we get everyone in this great country the opportunity to have access to electricity, to were. , and changed who we it changed who we are today. Were. It changed who we are today. Now we have to do it with broadband, highspeed internet, and we are behind there, so that will be the game changer. The opportunity for diversification, infrastructure including broadband and highspeed internet and Cell Services and getting ready for 5g, making sure we are ready to go to 5g and not left behind. These are the things we are concerned about, fighting everyday. To make sure the rest of the country, we all move together at the same time. The Opioid Epidemic has hit West Virginia pretty hard. What is the solution to that . How does the state recover . Education, first of all. Doctors should not be writing prescriptions for opioids every time you get a headache, every time that you have a minor procedure. It has gotten totally out of hand. The federal government and the fda back in the 1980s looked as t apain as the fifth level of wellness, really the military in the v. A. , returning people from combat, saying, what is your pain level . Guess what . We have a miracle drug called oxycontin, that will give you 24 hours of relief with no side effects, no addiction. Well, that was a lie, and the rest is history. That genie got out of the box. Fda allowing more things to come to market. Doctors, if you ask doctors how much education have you had on dispensing, how much recurring education, continuing ed, have you had in order to keep a license of dispensing . There is no license for dispensing. If you are a doctor, you are able to dispense. They think that you should know. We have failed. Flooding the market, destroying peoples lives. A lot of people have died in West Virginia and around the country. An unbelievable amount of deaths we have had, more than any war, two wars put together, and this has to stop. So with that we need continuing education for doctors. Doctors should have dispensing licenses and should be up on their education, which means basically now not prescribing more than 35 days, not 30, 60, 90 days. When i entered the senate in vicodin onhad 90day, schedule 3. That drug, that means you could dispense it for 90 days. You write a prescription for 90 days, and they were calling in like m ms, and they basically destroyed our state. When you have a state with a lot of workers, theres going to be injuries. When theres injuries, they will be doctors trying to get them well again. Here is a miracle drug, get you well. Guess what . It didnt, and it had tremendous effects, and we have a tremendous challenge on our hands, not just in West Virginia, but across this country. Senator, you have been pretty vocal on your feelings about washington, d. C. And missing West Virginia. There was a lot of speculation you would come back and run for governor, but you announced he would stay in the senate. Why . What led to that decision . Well, theres Public Service and there is selfservice. From the selfish side of it, i wanted to come home. From the Public Service that i took an oath, just elected in 2018, im now Ranking Member on the energy and natural resources, on appropriations, im able to make sure West Virginia doesnt get left behind. As Energy Changes in the country, we will still be able to provide the quality of energy this country needs, in the cleanest fashion, showing the rest of the world how we can be innovators and creators here, and making sure as we do broadband, highspeed disbursement, right now talking about 20 billion of investment in Rural America as far as rural broadband. Guess what . The fcc maps are all wrong. 535 people in congress, i m the only office that challengedent and the fcc with speed testing and the maps, and stopped the first 4. 5 billion from being distributed. We were being left behind. They said we were covered. We were not. We are changing. I have a chance to do all that. Im thinking, i could walk away and someone new would come to the senate, starting over as a freshman. We are on the cusp. A lot is going to happen, in infrastructure. Im thinking, what is my purpose, Public Service or selfservice . A tough decision. One of the few moderate democrats in the senate, and often a key swing vote. How does partisanship play a role in what you do there, in the senate . I have never been a partisan person. Elieve, my grandparents were democrats, my parents were democrats, and i am a democrat. When everything is said and done, a democrat will go to the bottom of their heart, to try to find a way to help, and i have always felt good about that. Theys no stopping, if need this. But i have always been a responsible democrat, saying, i will give you a hand up, but i wont continue to give you a hand out. You have to get up and do something. I think the good lord gave us different challenges, if you will, and gave other people different challenges, to see how we would react to each other. Some people need assistance, for the remainder of their life, and we have to be there for them. Other people should be contributing to help those people. When you have people who can contribute who are siphoning off resources we need to help those the good lord has here with us, if we dont step to the plate, we are not doing our job. People believe, if you are a democrat you are for all the giveaway programs and no one is responsible. Contrary to that, they are totally wrong. When i was raised, when i was governor, we have the best financial position of states. If you dont keep your financial house in order, you wont be able to help others. My grandfather, i would ask, can i have five bucks, 10 . Problem, here is a broom and shovel, take care of that parking lot there. Help,w, he was willing to but wanted them to help themselves. Mine when we had a tragedy, somebody got killed, he was the first there with groceries helping that family, month after month, until they get back on their feet. Im a product of my environment. I want you to do something. I will not give you a handout. I will be the best partner you have had, but i wont be your provider, but i will take care of those who cant take care of themselves. Not challenged at all. I dont feel challenged. I feel good about who i am. I said, if i cant go home and explain it, i cant vote for it, and i dont care if it is a democratic issue. I have been the only democrat voting for something. And other times, i have felt very strongly about what my republican colleagues were doing, an unfair tax bill organ grid of the Affordable Care act. Im not sure i would have voted for it in 2009, i wasnt there, i would have tried to make it better. But once i got there, we had it in front of us and had a chance to repair it, and we cant they wanted to repeal, because they promised to. Well, guess what . I think we are there to fix things. To throw it out, and 800,000 West Virginians with preexisting conditions lose the ability to have health care . That is wrong. That us sinful is sinful. Come on, heavy heart and soul. In 2013, you proposed the hintoomey bill to strengthen background checks on gun sales. Any attempt to revive that in the wake of whats going on in the country . In 2013, how i came about writing that legislation, after the horrible, horrible tragedy in sandy hook. These little babies, five, six years old, they couldnt have open caskets. It was horrendous. Something has to be done. You cannot just sit back. Forget. Er that happened, on a thursday or friday, and by tuesday the next week we were on the floor of the senate and everybody i heard was talking about ban this, ban t hatr. I said, you assume because i am andwabiding gun owner, these horrific people who are mentally deranged who have done what they done you have to look at the whole picture. Some of us said, we will ban these weapons. These are people who probably never shot a gun, didnt know what they are talking about. I said, think about this. There are loopholes. We need school safety. We need mental health, mental identification, to prevent people who are mentally deranged to even be able to buy a gun. Keeping guns from the wrong people, for the wrong reasons, should be the thing. First of all, you can go to a gun show today, and wherever they are having it, a Big Convention center, you can walk in there, and most of them are licensed firearm dealers who have to do a background check. But there might be one, five, 10 tables who are people who are collectors who are not required by law to do any background check. The isis, theaw jihadists, saying go down to the gun show, buy whatever you like and wreak havoc, they were right. If im asking you as a lawabiding gun owner to trust me, to do the right thing, i was taught not to sell to strangers or to criminals or the mentally deranged, i wouldnt even loan my gun to a Family Member who was not responsible. That is how we were taught. Giving me that benefit. But on the other hand, if thats the case, i just told you, not selling my gun to a stranger. A lawabiding gun owner, i dont know who the collector is selling, on the internet. The way the law is, interstate and intrastate. If you are in charleston, West Virginia and want to sell a gun on the internet, nothing, just send it. But if you are in columbus ohio, selling to charleston, West Virginia you are supposed to by law send it to a dealer and the person will pick it up there. But there are so many loopholes. We said this, commercial background check, a commercial background check, not universal, where the father couldnt even give it to the son. No, i said, give me the benefit of the doubt. So we took i think a very pragmatic approach. Yes, i still think it is important and have spoken to the president many times. Every other week there comes another chaotic moment that we are not taking care of the business we should. And there will be another horrendous tragedy in america that should not happen. We can get involved. Parents, families, schools know someone who his different, who has changed, whose behavior is different. We should be intervening before something horrible happens. As 2020 approaches, West Virginia will be going to the polls to vote in the president ial election and a gubernatorial election. What do West Virginia voters want to see from elected officials . I would hope someone who has West Virginia first and foremost in their heart and soul, understands who we are. Not just the rhetoric, but really knows, and leads by example. Thats what we need, we really need. Has to be someone who says, we will change education. There will not be a child who graduates from any of our Public Schools without a career path. That should be number one. Community, Technical Education should begin in junior high, high school, so we developed skill sets early. Going on to academia is fine, if you are in position to go on and be successful, but we need to do that. Every child should come out of public education, graduating from high school with an associate degree if they arent going to go on to academia. We have to get involved, the Opioid Epidemic. We have 10,000 children who are homeless. There should not be one child without a bed to sleep in tonight. If someone comes in and doesnt have that in their heart and soul and leadership, there will be problems. Thats what i hope they look for. The first thing, a person says, i am running for governor, im running for congress, i want you to vote for me, running for u. S. Senate or house of delegates or state senate, or any public position, ask them why they want the job. They cant give you an answer. They dont know exactly what needs to change. If they arent willing to fight. Youvce got the wrong person. Thank you so much, senator, for your time. The cspan cities tour is checking out the West Virginia State Capitol building. It is nearly 100 years old. Coming up, we go on a tour and learn how charleston became West Virginias state capital. We are in the West Virginia state capital, in charleston, West Virginia. We are close to the south bank verye kanawha river, a Central Location of West Virginia. West virginia became a state on first0, 1863, and the capital was in wheeling, in the northern panhandle. It was far enough from the fighting during the civil war, and was also the location for all the conventions when we decided to become our own state. The capital was moved to charleston, a more convenient location. Wheeling is out of the way, which made it very hard to travel in that part of the area. Today,capital grounds you will notice the most iconic statue we have, the lincoln at midnight, modeled after the poem. Abraham lincoln was the president who proclaimed West Virginia a state, so it makes sense to have him here. The outside was done in a zinc and copper alloy with a lead lining to it. On top of that is 100 karat gold leaf. Done to lookrs are like various flora from West Virginia. Is undery the capitol renovation due to water damage and failures in the gutter system between the exterior and interior domes. The project began in spring to beand is not expected complete until spring 2021. As soon as you enter one of the wings of the building, you are building, you are presented with the lovely marble we see on the walls, from tennessee marble. As soon as you make it to the wille of the capitol, you see in this exquisite rotunda area, over 270 feet. Hanging from the dome is a crystal chandelier. Chandelier is 15,000 pounds, in a brasscable encasement. The architect for the capitol, they constructed the west wing first, and the east wing second, finishing in 1932 with the middle concourse. They had designed the arkansas various and buildings in washington, d. C. , d. C. ,ing including the u. S. Supreme court. The West Virginia Supreme Court actually almost completely mirrors the u. S. Supreme court. He was inspired after building the West Virginia Supreme Court and was inspired building the one in d. C. We are standing in the West Virginia senate members, where all 34 members decide the bills that become law in our state. These are original, from the 1930s, from black walnut from West Virginia including the front desk where the president of the senate would sit. On the desk there, the podiums, are bald eagles representing freedom for our country, and these bundles of rods representing strength and unity from roman times. You will notice flowers carved from white butternut wood from West Virginia. The ceiling is enough 0 is in a dome shape, with a skyline with painted glass on top of it. We have 34 members of the senate. The majority leading party is the republican party, who sit on the right of the room, and the Minority Side sits on the left. Twotors can serve up to terms, each up to four years. Finally, we have entered into the house chamber, where you will see all 100 members of our house of delegates. Each desk here is carved out of black walnut from West Virginia, and original from the 1930s. The front is where the speaker will sit, roger henshaw. Above roger henshaws desk is our official state seal, carved out of white butternut wood from West Virginia. It displays the miner and the farmer, two of the most our atio famous occupations in state. Rifles, andcrossed underneath that is the state motto meaning mountaineers are always free in latin. In the walls, you can see various symbols are preventing gned tote, desi commemorate West Virginia as a whole. Variousthe eagles, leaves of the mighty oak. Es are doneand plum in the zinccopper alloy as well. Constructedwas during the great depression, so when it was completed it would have cost more to paint murals on the walls, which is why we typically see the archways and other attractive colors like burgundy, orange, that make up for a lack of murals. You may notice, there are no portraits in each chamber, the senate and house. The only portraits you will see our of our former governors, lining the walls of the round floor, starting with Arthur Ingram borman, our first elected governor, and the 36th governor, jim justice, has not had his. Ortrait made yet people usually have a certain mindset coming to West Virginia, thinking of its people, but coming to the capitol is a stark reminder it is more than simple cliches and stereotypes some people have of West Virginia culture as a whole. Much morel is beautiful than what people would it is almost like a beckona spotlight to more people to come and visit the wild and wonderful state. Cspan is in charleston, West Virginia where we are learning more about the citys history and literary scene. A print shopnside that uses alltimey letterpress techniques to create new works of art. Flipped the switch, to turn the motor, then come back here to turn it on. All right. It is a different process from digital printing, which is widely used today, and i think that is why it stands out. Looking at the posters, you can see inconsistencies in the tight, little notches, and it has a historical quality to it. You can feel the impression, that you are touching something that is handmade. Base camp, we are a letterpress shop. We print posters, invitations, greeting cards, basically anything on paper using oldfashioned printing methods. We try to keep the process of printing identical to the process back when oldfashioned Printing Presses were modern technology. Creating at we work, weer or invitation o use movable type and handset letters. To create imagery, we handcar from linoleum blocks, basically creating a giant stamp and using that template of that type and the blocks and just printing it, one color at a time, one at a time. We have a pretty small retail space where people can come and shop for greeting cards and posters. After that, the rest of the space is our studio, so it is an open room where you can peek through and see us working, see us setting type, running the presses. So it is really cool to have this space set up the way we do, because when you walk in, you can immediately hear the presses. This is a working studio. This is a collection of andavings owned by wvu the Creative Arts college. It is a collection of thousands of wood engravings. They are detailed and beautiful. A lot of agricultural imagery. Now, the collection is open to me and a few other printers to create original works with it. Creating artwork, but also reliving history in a way. The reason why i love letterpress, you can find these things that were once made for a specific purpose, but you are able to reuse them, repurpose them, give them a new life, something that might not have had ink on it for 100 years. WithMountain Stage poster shovels and robes. We make a poster for every Mountain Stage show. We make posters for West Virginia businesses. We make original artwork about West Virginia. Weve worked with West Virginia tourism for posters and postcards. , celebrate can make everything happening here in West Virginia. I feel if you ask anyone born and raised here, theres just a certain effect it has on a person, this unexplainable love for this place that is deeply rooted in you. And to be able to put that into art is so fulfilling. There isnt a lot of positive representation of West Virginia sometimes, is how it feels. Sometimes it can feel defeating. Living in this beautiful place, that maybe not everyone else fully recognizes, it almost feels like you have the secret you want to tell everybody about. [laughter] so to be able to have this opportunity, to share how i feel about the state, with my talent and what we have been given, its really all we want to do. The cspan cities tour is on the campus of West Virginia State University. Up next, we learned the reallife story of the movie Hidden Figures. A West Virginia state alumnus and mathematician who helped put a man on the moon. Whats the status on that computer . Shes right behind you, mr. Harris. Does she handle analytic geometry . Absolutely. And she speaks. Yes, sir. I do. Which one . Both. Geometry and speaking. Do you think you can find me the frame for this using the the algorithm, yes, sir. I prefer it over euclidean coordinates. Shes had the fortune of having hollywood shine on her life. There are people, right here in West Virginia, who had no idea what Catherine Johnson did for nasa and the United States of america. So when the movie Hidden Figures came out, it showed everyone who Catherine Johnson was, what she did, and how profound she was in the pages of American History. She was hired as what they called then a computer. She came in and did mathematical equations for nasa. What they didnt realize, she was more than just a computer. She was a mathematical genius. Thats what Catherine Johnson was. Godspeed, john glenn. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 0. Glenn said,john this computer thing, not catherine, this actual computer that was built, calculated his trajectory to space and he wanted that verified by Catherine Johnson. Heres the important part. He didnt ask the mathematicians from m. I. T. He didnt ask the mathematicians from stanford or harvard. He asked the brilliant mathematician from West Virginia State University to calculate my trajectory, and make sure i get home safe. That says a lot about what catherine was to not only nasa, but what she meant to the individuals she worked with. They relied on her. They put their lives in her hands. So, what she meant to nasa was race, andn the space Catherine Johnson played a very signet control in that. You know significant role in that. You know, catherine is about dashes from a small town about two hours from West Virginia State University. We had the privilege before the rest of the world fell in love with Catherine Johnson, to have her beautiful face on our campus at the tender age of 10. She was unable to go to high school in her hometown because of the hue of her skin, so she and her family had to pack up and travel for two hours to West Virginia State University. We have then an Elementary School and a high school that were part of the university at the time. So a young Catherine Johnson with all of her mathematical skills and intelligence came here, and graduated at the age of 15, and then entered what was then West Virginia state college, now West Virginia State University, and left us in 1937 at the age of 18, and she never looked back. When catherine graduated from West Virginia State University, she went into the field of teaching. She was inspired here and understood the very significance of teaching and paying it forward. So she went into teaching, for about 13 years. Catherine entered nasa at a time where africanamericans and america overall was still living in dual world. We had a White America and an africanamerican america, and catherine had to very delicately walk in both worlds. And, she went to work every day and gave nasa and the astronauts, none of whom looked like her, 100 . She said, in spite of how i am treated, where i can go and eat, what i can do, im going to come here and fight to make sure i do the best job possible for my country and for the space race. While at nassa, there nasa, there were three significant space ventures catherine played a very sick of the control in. Significant role in. For the first individual who entered into space, catherine calculated the trajectories for that mission to happen. She also played a significant role in john glenn, and john glenn said throughout his life, at the end of his life, he would not venture into space if Catherine Johnson was not checking the calculations on his spaceflight. So the actual flight with john glenn, where he orbited the earth, Catherine Johnson played a significant role in it. And, we know catherine played a significant role in the moon landing. So, those are three pivotal moments that changed space travel and how we in the United States of america see nasa today. Onad the pleasure, catherines 99th birthday, to be with her at the green briar. How sharpas in awe at she still is. We laughed. We joked. We had a great time. She is as radiant and beautiful at 99 as she was when she walked out of campus in the early 1930s. So when i met het at that 99th birthday, i started asking myself. As people learn more about Catherine Johnson, and the university she loved so dearly, and we love her equally, we needed to do something to recognize her and make sure that history never forgets how profound she was in helping nasa win the space race. So i got a team of my staff and students together, and we started brainstorming. I said, listen, we are going to honor Catherine Johnson by placing a statue right here on our campus, her alma mater. From the time i brought the Team Together and we started planning, we had about eight or nine months. The goal was to do it on her 100th birthday. [applause] dr. Catherine coleman johnson, you are no longer and never again hidden. [applause] 25, 2018, on august we had Catherine Johnson and about 1000 fans and supporters right here on our campus. 1 4, 3, 2, [cheers and applause] it wason that day, beautiful. She was able to be with us. She loved the statue. Her family was in awe. It was a crystallizing moment that Catherine Johnson, regardless of what she does from here on out, she will be a part of West Virginia State University forever. Her story is inspiring people all around the world. In fact, it is said that catherine likes to count everything. When she was younger, she counted rocks in the yard, counted the steps to church, counted everything she could get her mind around and her hands on. And when we dedicated the statue to her in 2018, on her 100th birthday, i told catherine, i knew something she could not count, and that was the number of people shes inspired. So that is the Catherine Johnson story, and it is my hope that young men and women of all races and economic backdrops will take more time to learn about this incredible american icon. Our cities tour staff recently traveled to charleston, West Virginia, to learn about its ris rich history. To watch more video from charleston and other stops on the tour, visit cspan. Org citiestour. Youre watching American History tv. All weekend, every weekend, on cspan3. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] campaign 2020. Watch live coverage of the president ial candidates on the campaign trail, and make up your own mind. Cspans campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. Widener University Professor jordan smith talks about the invention of rum and its impact on the Atlantic World during the 17th and 18th centuries. We recorded the interview at the organization of american historians annual meeting in philadelphia. Are here atith, you the organization of american historians annual meeting talking about rum. Why . Smith i am working on an ongoing book project that looks at the impact of the invention of rum on the Atlantic World. Rum was invented not in one moment, but over centuries as different groups of people from the americas,