There are more than 400 National Parks across america covering over 85 million acres of land with locations at every state. More than 325 Million People visited the sites last year. Over the next 90 minutes we will feature a mixture of Natural Beauty and history at eight different parks around the country. We begin just outside cleveland at Cayuga National park. Situated a along the river will learn how the canal system here plays a role in the expansion during the 18 thirties and forties. The ohio eerie canal is part of the two canal system. That was actually put in place in the early years of america, built between 1825 and 1832, and basically its a water transportation route that connected lake erie with the ohio river, which is part of a larger idea. A National Water transportation route. In the early days of america, we had 13 colonies also tweeted right along the atlanta seaboard. And our leaders at the time saw a problem. That problem was we needed the country to expand westward. However there was a big obstacle. That palatial mountains. Or first, president George Washington, who happen to be an engineer canal. Can idea. The water transportation route using to canals, erie, through the state of ohio that would ultimately connect new york city, hudson river, ohio and murray canal, mississippi, all the way to the gulf of mexico. In the early days in america we dont have a big federal government. So in terms of actually implementing the canal, it dependent on the states. So fortunately, the state of new york had a champion there. A fellow by the name of Dewitt Clinton became their commissioner and got the job done for the state of new york. Then he rose to become governor of new york. Ohio, facing a similar challenge in terms of finding funding, it found itself on the verge of bankruptcy. The canal project is worth more than all the valley of land in ohio. So how do you find this thing . Believe it or not, the state of new york back the bonds. It was clinton that came to ohio for the groundbreaking for the state of ohio. Why . Guess what. It made a lot of beneficial difference to the state of new york, including the fact that new york city became the only port that could export and import goods, making it the Financial Capital of america. In ohio, we had a fellow by the name of alfred kelly who became the canal commissioner, and really took it on as his lifelong legacy if you will, to make sure that canal got, built on time and under budget. The ohio and erie canal goes from cleveland to portsmouth, ohio, on the ohio river. The actual construction of the canal began in 1825. By 1820, seven july 4th, the first boat from akron to cleveland docked through the canal port in cleveland. By 1830, to the entire system was complete from cleveland all the way to the ohio river. It made a tremendous difference. For the nation, it allowed us to rationalize our economy. It allowed us to have internal trade. Prior to, that all of those cword states, dependent on exporting in terms of making money and delivering goods and services. So this actually helped america expand westward. By doing, so i mentioned new york city became the Financial Capital of the country. Ohio, rises from a wilderness to be the third most populous, and third richest state in the union by the 18 sixties. Canal life was a slow paced. Life canals, both generally went about four, five miles per hour. We are standing next to a lock right now. There were numerous locks to allow the spokes to basically navigate the terrain and topography. So these became kind of elevated. Water elevators. Lifted or lowered as they made their journey. Oftentimes, youd find cattle and people sleeping in the same boat. Some were travelers. Summer goods being delivered. So its a pretty hectic little late, but at a slow pace. Predominantly, the cars that were moved along the canal, especially from ohio eastward were rain, weeds, things of this nature. Things that were from here. He became the bread basket of america for a reason. That is this was a good place to grow things. New england became in the early days of the industrial revolution, a good place to make things. So basically we had this border trade system that again was part of our National Economy growing. On one hand food, on the other hand services, goods, machines etc. They can now in ohio paid for itself. With significant is in cleveland we had our we. Lock but we lock was how the difference between its original weight and what was docked in a port of cleveland thats where you got your taxes. Thats how you media money. In 1870, for when the railroads but the mile of can outlive and in the city of cleveland it basically put a railroad track. We took that week now and moved. It we still use the week now in 1974. That said, were still making money off that could. Now railroads arrived in cleveland in 1850. One ironically, the guy that helps bring the rail roads to cleveland, same guy who championed the canal. The railroads pretty much had the Immediate Impact on the canal. However, the canal did stay in use all the way up until 1913. It just had a different use. It started to become a place where people would go leisurely on a weekend. They would have about. Their travel up and down the canals. Many, times canals, when they were put in place, they would have little General Stores or taverns. And people would i guess in their day, go pub crawling if you will, using a sailboat on a sunday afternoon. One permanent legacy of the canal was the fact that in cleveland especially, the river valley became the center of storage. It became a port. It became a Manufacturing Center of the city itself. So that is where the wealth of the cleveland grew. Its also based on the fact that you had the canal. As time went, on and manufacturing obviously rose, the city of cleveland grew, we became the fifth largest city in the country. We had major, major steel mills and Oil Refineries thanks to John Rockefeller. There was a consequence environmentally to those uses. Prior to the Environmental Protection agency and regulations for water, there were no regulations. So you know in cleveland, you had situations where for instance, standard oil and John Rockefeller basically refined oil along the banks of the river. And when they did so there were certain byproduct that he could not find a use for. And therefore, they ended up in the river. It was told and reported that at one time, we had a fire in 1957, freshly went and measured the gunk that was on the top of the river. It was more than eight inches deep of oil and other byproducts that were flammable. But the story itself, although its, bad really has tremendously positive outcomes. It inspires earth day. It helps pass legislation that creates the United States union. It helps passed the clean water bill. Clean air bill. If you look at all the consequences of that particular river fire, the positive outweighs the negative in that event. And cleveland, due to the river fire and exposure in fact, we pretty much are the some of that environmental movement. And then in 1970, for Congress Passed legislation to create Cayuga National park. That became the central feature of that National Park. We are still in an area of concern. There is so work to be done in terms of cleaning up the, river but the needle has gone dramatically to the positive. And we are just about through the area of concern. In 2000, president bill clinton introduced a program called the american rivers program. It basically put the invitation out anyone who thought that the river was significant than off the story of america to compete for this new designation. We, did we competed for the yoga river as part of that. The story was told that they went to the deliberation process to choose what was going to be the first ten reversed to be nominated. For a American Heritage riverside us. They got to bill clinton. He read through it. He said worse than yoga . He said they apply . The answer is yes they did apply. However didnt make the cut. He goes, this program is all about the cayuga river. The reason he said that is its the comeback of the cayuga river that is the story today. This area that were in today became k hug a National Recreation area, part of the recreational, service in december of 1974. It became a hug a National Park in the year 2000. And with, that comes a new idea of National Parks to people. Most of us arent going to get to the gates of the Arctic National wildlife refuge, but if we have National Parks nearby, we can get to those. They started making National Parks in urban areas. We have a backbone thats upgraded backbone with the ohio and eerie canal. Rated backbone with tio how go city back road and river. This National Park was created of land that had been used, in some instances, abused left andrew, and because it was a wasteland in some places that people didnt see any potential for. And yet, we cleaned it up. Wed let nature do what nature does, and now we are the 11th most visited National Park. There is a huge story here. A story of can i say redemption . A story where if we allow nature to do what it does best, if we give it the chance to do what it does best, and not, interfere or help, it and that the land can recover with Environmental Education and laws, and with things that we have in place now. We have a river that is coming back to life. The environment has recovered. Yes, it was degrade because of, man but it was also helped by me, and and with that help, it has recovered to create this creek green area we have now. From the cayuga river in ohio, we now travel to the banks of the mississippi river, and gateway arch National Park in st. Louis, where a monument to americas expansion has become a recognizable symbol for the city that played such a vital role in it. I think most people, just like i was, when i first saw it, when you see from a distance you think of this kind of interesting. Thats kind of cool. The closer you get to it you realize how really massive it is. And getting up to the base of it and actually touching, it looking up that 630 feet to the top, it really is very, very impressive. I think the closer you get to, it the more impressed you become. Right now we are standing very close to the famous gateway arch in st. Louis. 630 foot tall stainless steel structure that was designed back in 1947, but not built until the 1960s and completed in 1965. Each, here we get two and a half million visitors who come to see the memorial, and see the art. So its a very busy, place especially during the summer months. The gateway arch was designed by man. He was born in finland. He came here to america when he was ten years old, with his, father which was a very famous architect. He meanly had worked just with his father up to the point in time where an architectural competition was announced for what became the arch. The competition was for Jefferson National expansion memorial, which was a National Park service site founded by president ial proclamation in 1935 to commemorate st. Louisrole in the westward expansion of the United States. 12 years after the founding of the park an architectural competition was held to decide what the memorial would look like. Basically they had about 90 acres of land to work with. 40 city blocks have been torn down, completely razed to make way for the memorial on the riverfront. Each architect that submitted a proposal could really do whatever he or she wanted. It could be a huge sculpture. It could be a series of museum buildings. They didnt want one central feature to be in each of these designs. Some people put an obelisk in. Some people put a big monolithic, rectangular block or something. He decided to go with the idea of an arch. It was only after he designed the arch that he realized, oh, it forms a gateway. It is really appropriate for the idea of a memorial to st. Louisrole in western expansion, st. Louisrole as a gateway to have a gigantic gateway on the riverfront. The arch is made out of stainless steel, and on the inside it is made of carbon steel. One quarter inch status deal on the outside. Basically you have a sandwich. In the lower portions it is filled in with concrete. In the upper portions of the sandwich there are tie rods they keep the sections apart. It is a unique structure, because it does not have any superstructure on the inside. There is no girders or anything that form the shape of the arch. It is not just clad with stainless steel. On the top. Sometimes visitors are surprised because they have not read about the arch to learn they can actually go to the top of it. They think maybe it is a big piece of Outdoor Sculpture and you can just look at it. There is little capsules that fit five persons in each one. On each leg of the arch there is eight of those capsules that form a train that run on the track. When people get into the capsule is hanging from the track. As they go to the top, by the time they get to the top, it is on top of the track. In order to accommodate that and make sure people are not going to be flipped upside down, it actually shifts and turns to keep the car level. It is not a thrill of thrill ride, it doesnt go fast like something at six flags. It is a unique experience. A lot of people really prize the experience of riding in these strange little capsules up to the top and getting the nice view they get from the top of the arch, from that Observation Deck at the top. Right now we are in the midst of a multimillion dollar project being funded by many different entities that are partnering with National Park service to revitalize the park itself make it more accessible to people. For many years we have been an island surrounded by highspeed roads. What is going to happen is a kind of a lid is going to be placed over the highways so you can walk directly from the city where you will park your vehicle, directly to the arch about having to cross any major streets. It is really just this iconographic symbol of st. Louis. Sort of like the space needle is to seattle or the Empire State Building or the statue of liberty is to new york. There are certain symbols that immediately identify a place on the map people. The arch is the one for st. Louis. Right now we leave the city once considered gateway to the west and travel through the great plains and over the Rocky Mountains to the Colorado National monument to hear how one man helped preserve this area on colorados western slope. I think everybody is amazed by it is not a widely publicized presence here. The park service does not advertise. So, people find out about this because they read magazine articles or see features like you are preparing. It is not our typical colorado scenery. Its not what most people think of when they think of colorado. It comes as a pleasant surprise for folks to find it here. John auto was a vagabond, not in the sense that he was a neerdowell. He just didnt have any permanent roots. He was attracted to this area around 1970. 1907. By the promise of employment on a waterline project. I guess this was the type of country that was really appealing to him. He began to agitate for the creation of a National Park here. The first thing he did was, he wrote a lot of letters to prominent people trying to get this established as a National Park. He also constructed a lot of trails to afford access to the canyons and on to the rims of the monument. Im sure the local people came out on sunday afternoon, they would hitch up the wagon red come out for a picnic and so on. One of the other things he did is, in 1926 he started collecting buffalo nickels from the kids in town and he used that money to transport a couple of bison in here. He wanted to establish a herd of bison in the monument. The elks club conspired to bring a couple of elk. John got some money from the chamber of commerce to build some fences to contain these animals. For many years we had a bison herd. The elk took one look around and said, were out of here. They went south into the high country. Oddly enough, they are coming back into the monument now. We see more and more elk sign. The bison we removed in 1983 because they were confined to a small area and had a really adverse impact on the resource. That is the kind of thing he did. He was constantly interested in boosting the area and promoting it. There was no concerted effort until john otto came here to set this aside as a National Park or monument. There are a couple of distinctions between National Parks and monuments. One of the distinctions is legal, relating to the method in which it is established. The other is more based on its resource qualities. Otto agitated for the creation of a National Park here, but the creation of a National Park requires an act of congress. So it is much more difficult to do. A National Monument can be established by a president ial proclamation. So, although john otto wanted a National Park, it was much easier to establish a National Monument. That is what happened when president taft proclaimed the area in 19 11. The other distinction is resourcebased. Generally a National Monument is set aside in recognition of one spectacular feature. In this case, the original qualities of the monument. The National Park is, like multiple National Monuments all thrown together. For example, yellowstone which was the first National Park, has its wildlife values, and has a mountain range, has a huge, highelevation lake, it has all of the thermal features, and so on. That is generally what set the parks apart from monuments. You know, it is a fuzzy boundary between them. There are areas that are National Parks that probably, rightfully should be National Monuments, and vice versa. Ottos early attempts to make the monument accessible included trails into the canyons and pioneering a road up the east side of the monument called the serpents trail. The serpents trail served not only to afford access to the monument, but also afforded access for ranchers living south of the monument access to their land, and so on. At some point otto envisioned that that serpents trail would be the starting point for a road that he called the union road, which will continue from the Grand Junction area southern california. He was a big schemer. He was always dreaming of these huge projects and so on. That is one of the reasons he eventually left the monument. That other forces thought that they would like to have that same road, not running over the monument, running through the grand valley along the route of the railroad and basically along the root of the railroad and basically along the route of interstate 70 today. Otto ended up on the short end of that argument. He was so vociferous. That is one of the things that helped ease him out the door. Beyond the serpents trail, the park service. There would be value of having a road along the rim rocks so people would have these spectacular vistas when drove across or they entered the monument. In 1929 the park service had established drawings for what is today rim rock drive. Some work started on it with money from the chamber of commerce and other sources. But the Road Construction did not start until after the start of the great depression. In 1933, after president Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated, in his first 100 days he did all kinds of things to stimulate the economy. One of them was the creation of the civilian conservation corps. There were several camps working on the monument and basically those men, along with some local folks, built the rim rock drive. It is a road that cannot be built today, i mean, for environmental reasons, cost reasons, and so on, no one would even what attempt the project. I think at the peak of the project, there were as many as 600 people working on it. A lot of the work was had, work using mules picks and shovels but they did have some mechanized equipment and did a lot of blasting as well. And it was not just the ccc. The Works Progress administration had a presence here, the workforce recovery administration, and so on. There were socalled alphabetical relief agencies that they work during the agencies. Worked hard during the depression years. As they built a lot of these fabulous sandstone structures, but a lot of that was done by local stonemason, local experienced men, they called them. They endure today, and they are on the National Register of historic places. Really gorgeous buildings. John otto said this place was like the heart of the world to him, and i think that is the feeling a lot of us have, who have been privileged to work here. It is a terrific place, and i would urge anyone who has the opportunity and is coming this way to take the time to pay us a visit. You can spend two hours driving across the road, or you can get out and enjoy and i little threshold experience with a short hike, or you can commit to a longer stay. There is a lot here to see and do. Since the establishment of yellowstone in 1872, the National Park system has grown to 419 sites across the United States and u. S. Territories. We now take you to one of the most recognizable, mount well rush more National Memorial, near rapid city, south dakota. There it is, the 60foot head of George Washington. Three other units will follow jefferson, lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt will be honored in an unveiling ceremony. When i look at the president s, the first thing i think about is some individual achievements from each of those people, but really what they do for me, and what this whole memorial does for me is it reminds me about what they stood for. They stood for freedom, for democracy, for the republic. I get to think about that every day. I get to share that with people every day, and meet people from all over the world who may not know who those president s are, but they understand what freedom means. The original idea was by dont robinson, he was a state historian, and dont had conceived of carving statues in the round, and he was going to carve all the way around and have people like lewis and clark, fremont, and when he hired his artists, they said you are not thinking big enough. Selecting the four people who are out there, the four president s, that was the artist, Stefan George andian, and when you look at it, you can see why they were selected, George Washington, our first president. The person who gave up the power he, couldve stayed in office he was so popular. Thomas jefferson, people were wondering why he was chosen, but he was chosen because of its tennessee louisiana purchase. Lincoln, you can kind of figure that out. You can probably figure that out keeping the country together during a civil war. The challenging one Theodore Roosevelt. Selected by the artist but he was not the most popular guy at the time. Borglum selected Theodore Roosevelt because of the panama canal. He was also the president who was standing for the common man. So both of those things resonated with the artist. Two of the four were slaveowners does that and gender discussion do you all talk about that in your interpretation of the president s, washington and jefferson. Maureen some of them were slaveowners. Theres not as much discussion as you might expect. Its not as much discussion as you might expect. Because you think that is a major controversy. What it does, it is certainly something that we set forward and we are talking about. All of our Interpretive Programs here, the park director talking about something, presenting programs, they did their own research, they put their own program together, they do their own presentation. So we dont focus on one thing in particular it is the passion of the interpreters. And we have had some, their focus was slavery and what that meant to this country, not just president s who were slaveowners but president s who wrestled with slavery. Can you describe where we are located . Where Mount Rushmore is and put in context of the black hills. Mount rushmore is in the state of south dakota. It is in the black hills. If you are on the western side of the state. If you are looking at rapid city, we are about 2000 feet higher than rapids. Some people call it the turtle on the prairie. You can see it for a long distance. Tribes consider the black hills a sacred site. They were referencing, they could see it in the distance it looks blocked because of the pond arose appliance. You can see is a long way across the state of south dakota now, over the years, there has been, you know, discussions from native americans, and others, about the location of the black hills, sacred to native americans, and right here you have something that represents to some people the u. S. Governments policy toward native americans has not always been, you know, they have not looked at it the same way. How do you all what do you talk about when you tell people about that issue and Mount Rushmore . So it is a controversy right from the start, the carving in the black hills. The controversy came from tribal people as well as people that today we would call people who are ecologists. The tribes, they were looking at a place that they would come in and honor and have honor ceremonies. Spent some time. And that, at that time period we are talking 1925 that was not looked out the same way we look at it today. Today we do still have tribal people who are concerned about the black hills being carved, People Living in the black hills, and we try to honor that, some of it through our Interpretive Program income but we also have a place that we set up in the park that is called the lakota and dakota heritage village, so every some are we higher cultural interpreters. These are people who are lakota, and they come in and talk about the lakota stories, so we try to share the importance of the black hills for all of these people as well as what that sculpture means. It is a balance. The sculptor, gutzon borglum, had started in georgia, stone mountain, georgia. There was a conflict there. He left he came and worked here for done robinson and the state of south dakota. He and his sun lincoln traveled until they found this big granite outcropping. The next challenge is how do you turn that into a sculpture . As an artist, the first thing borglum had to do was make small sizes and get the bigger and bigger until he gets to a 1 12th model, and we today have that 1 12th model. Every inch of that model is a foot of that sculpture. As your sculpting, that might be nice and easy and clay, but when you are looking at the mountain, you are talking granite, very finegrained, tough stuff, so 90 of that sculpture is carved with dynamite. I do not think of dynamite as an artists brush, but it certainly was in this case. In 1927, when they start the blasting, that is the very beginning. There were people coming up here, visiting the sculpture, watching that whole carving process the entire time. So there was not that formal opening date. They had multiple dedications for each president , and borglum was big on dedications and celebrations, because he knew that was how he would get everyones attention, and ultimately, that is how more funding would come in. He was constantly going to washington, d. C. , approaching congress, approaching the president , trying to get more money, always trying to get more money. There were times when workers were not getting paid. Borglum was putting all of his personal money into it. So he was making a trip to washington, d. C. In march, 1941, to ask for more money. He stops in chicago on the way, he has an operation, and he dies as a result of that operation. So his son, lincoln, takes over the work. Lincoln had started here when he was about 12 years old, so he was brought up with this. He knew all the different jobs blasting, drilling, pointing. He is an artist himself, so taking over the sculpture must have been both sad and wonderful. And lincoln declared that sculpture was completed october 31, 1941. People talk all the time and ask all the time about adding someone up on the sculptures. Many president s have been mentioned, many other people have been mentioned. It wont happen. The sculpture is complete. music the great stone faces of four president s stand in lonely silence, on borglums mighty project. The machinery dismantled, for with the sculptors death, all the cleanup work was abandoned. And sculptor borglum studio, his son, lincoln, puts away models. Theodore roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were the last of the four phases. Borglums hand carving tools are put away, tools of the unfinished manned masterpiece. Even though unfinished, the man rush more National Memorial it stands as an internal front of democracy and the four great americans who helped carve this enduring nation. There are 83 National Monuments in the National Park system, the most of any designation. Next we visit petroglyph National Monument, one of the largest of its type in north america. music today, we arrived petroglyph National Monument, specifically the volcano they use area, in albuquerque, new mexico. The volcano deluge area provides trails to five all candles and looks out toward albuquerque, out towards the sandia mountains. The volcanoes are important to petroglyph National Monument, because they begin to tell the geologic story. About 200,000 years ago, a fizzure formed, some a crack in the earths trust, and hot molten lava poured out in a series of six volcanic eruptions some spreading a couple of miles to the east. As these eruptions egg took place, they flowed out over layers of a louisville soil the rio grande value, and as these layers hardens that they hardened into the salt, so what we have got here is a 17milelong curvilinear escarpment on which we have got over 24,000 petroglyphs. So while we are here at the volcanoes, the story of petroglyph National Monument is not just about a single petroglyph or petroglyph concentrations. It also includes the volcanic cones and the mesa top that spreads out toward albuquerque. The pueblo people would come out, and we have evidence of them carrying water and farming. To the mesa. Top sometimes they would send their children out here to keep the rabbits away from their crops. So we see many ancient trails up here, and this becomes part of a larger, spiritual landscape that is important to most pueblo people. We are here at bocanegra canyon, about half a mile up the 17mile escarpment, and were going to be walking on the macaque trail. This is an escarpment this is 113 feet tall. These black boulders once came from several sheet flows from the volcanoes. Bocanegra canyon is the easiest place to see petulance and most of our hundred 50,000 visitors stop here first. This is one of the first patrick gloves that people come to the monument might see. It is a carving onto the rock, and pueblo people would use stone chisel and hammers to pack, in grade in size and carve out the dark black patina, exposing the light color of the rocks, which very from a gray to a light brown to sometimes a red. People ask how these petroglyphs were discovered, but for the pueblo indians, they are as old as time. They have known about them since the creation stories. Modernday archaeologists date most of these images from about 1200 to 1650. A few are older, those which are done by early spanish sheep herders who were out here as part of a landgrant. In the 1970s, archaeologists came out and to the west mesa and began to inventory these images. Later interest in these grew and eventually it became a National Monument. To the pueblo people, they believe that the petroglyphs choose when and to whom to reveal themselves. Sometimes it is the shadow, sometimes the glare, or sometimes just the attitude and the sensitivity with which we view these petroglyph images that reveal themselves. Sometimes telling people not to touch the petroglyph is not enough. We know that nobody should touch the petroglyphs, but we do give people an opportunity to touch an artificial boulder that we have created for such purpose, so they get the touching out of the way. We want people to understand that these are sacred images, and they important to be continue to be imported to the pueblo people. Eventually over time, a patina will form, and that is what is meant to happen, but until that time, we ask them not to touch these images. Petrol of National Monument is one of the few National Monuments that is actually owned and operated not solely by the National Park service. It is actually owned and managed by the city of albuquerque and the National Park service. We work with the city to help and protect these resources for the future. Over the last 20 years weve had several challenges. Land acquisitions being everything for everybody the creation of trails, vandalism its expansion of general aviation airport, but probably our biggest challenge is stormwater runoff from upstream suburban development, because we are completely surrounded by the city of albuquerque. As you walk the trails of petroglyph National Monument, and you are looking along the escarpment, you might notice large concentrations of black boulders, and that is where we often see concentrations of petroglyphs. We are in the heart of pier de mescardes canyon, where there are a number of petroglyphs. We have documented over 24,000 petra bliss within the monument. This canyon is home to about 5000 of them. We see an animal over here. We are not really sure what it means. Something that looks like a sheep brand or maybe across if they might have been carved by early spanish sheepherders. I see something that looks like a bird and some unidentified animals on that rock. Here we see a concentration of boulders with many hand in the edges of different sizes some of which have an additional appendage, some believing that if a child is born missing a finger or with an additional toe, that is a sign of power. The concentration of hand images here, we often wonder why. Maybe its because people passed through this way. Maybe this is a type of a calendar we dont really. No only the people who carve these images know for sure. What we do know is if you follow the arroyo from the heart of the Piedras Marcadas canyon, we would end up in the Piedras Marcadas pueblo and 1100 room adobe multiple project structure, located on the rio grande. And it was important to them because of the location to the petroglyphs. The high peaks where mother earth meets father sky, and they would come up here, they would follow spirit ways, they would say prayers, they would make offerings, and they would carve images into the rock. Sometimes it is a form of passageway or a map. Others might be a counting mechanism or clan image, but to many pueblo people, they say that spirits would leave this world and go on to the next world through these petroglyph images. The pueblo people called this place the place that people speak about. It belongs to all of us. All americans. Not just today but future generations. It is a place of respect. It is a place of solitude. It is a place of wonder. While petroglyph National Monuments story predates the United States of america, the selma to Montgomery National historic trail in alabama marks a watershed moment in our nations history. Stretching 54 miles through central alabama, in 1965, protesters walk this route to the state capital, demanding equal Voting Rights for africanamericans. National park Service Guide April Baldwin tells the story of the march and what led to it. music many people think that the selma to montgomery marches sprung up overnight and was a oneoff idea, but there had been a Voting Rights Movement Brewing here in selma, alabama since the 1930s. music here in selma, alabama, and many places throughout the south, africanamericans were denied the right to vote, not because it was not their constitutional right, but because there were people in positions of power that did not want them to have the right to vote, their therefore they could be considered secondclass citizens. Poll taxes were used to discourage African Americans from voting. It would be a fixed price you have to pay per year in order to get on the voting rolls. Lets say i live here in Dallas County, i live in a rural area, and i am making 60 a year. The poll taxes are a dollar a year. We might have a rent that is 40 a year, so 40 out of the year of my 60 entire year income is going to go to the rent, but then im going to have to twenty dollars, and which i had to feed, and provide some sort of comfort for my kids. So there are not many black people who are going to have extra money left over to pay poll tax. Lets say on some whim that i have an extra dollar left over, and i go down to this courthouse right here, the Dallas County courthouse, and i show up command i say, i would like to register to vote so i would go to the county registrar, i would have my poll tax ready. So the colonel, lets call them that, will take my poll tax, but he will administer a literacy test, which is another barrier to African Americans faced to vote, and that literacy test could take many forms. He might ask me to name every probate judge in the county or in the entire state of alabama, so now im going to have to try to scramble to find the names of all of these probate judges who are in charge of enforcing the laws of these particular counties throughout the state. There was not any google or wikipedia that would tell you this information in 1965, so it would have been pretty difficult for me to do that. So that is one form a literacy test could take. It could be in the form of a question, as in how many gallons flow through the Alabama River . He could ask me, how many bubbles are in a bar of soap. I had time to complete this test, and this was done in a more formal setting. So you had a larger group of folks that were coming to take it. A white person who was coming into register to vote, they might pay their poll tax and only have to answer 20 of those questions, where African American would have to answer all 68. Right now, we are we are standing at the Dallas County courthouse, and this is one of the most integral pieces of the Voting Rights movement. Like i said, this started in 1965, so they were protests every single day, beginning in 1963 when the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee came to work here in selma, coming down to protest, where their parents were not joining. So they were led to him was every single day in the summer and fall of 1963 and then resurging in 1965 when sdlc, the southern christian leadership congress, came throughout that time going from january all the way up to bloody sunday in march of 1965. On any given day during the Voting Rights movement, if you have a protest that is coming and directed at the Dallas County courthouse, most people are going to line up on this sidewalk here, down the side of the building. You might have them standing at the top of the steps, so if you guys see into where the door is, that is where mr. Clark or sheriff clark will be standing you have protesters lined up into the Voter Registration office, so you would have folks lined up, wrapped around the building, singing freedom songs and protest songs and doing chants and things of that nature. So anybody was walking by might hear music woke up this morning with my mind set on freedom, i woke up this morning with my mind set on freedom, i woke up this morning with my mind it was set on freedom hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah music here we are at brown chapel ame church, and this is one of the movement churches, one of the main churches that was used during the Voting Rights movement to hold mass meetings, to hold praying sessions, and also meetings of civil Rights Movement leaders. So here at brown chapel, which is one of the oldest black churches in the city of selma, dr. King gave his first speech in the city january 2, 1965. I am here to tell you tonight that the businessman, the mayor of this city, the Police Commissioner of this city, and everybody in the white power structure of the city must take a responsibility for everything. [applause] pretty much announcing his presence and also letting the folks here know that the movement now had a kind of new voice. Throughout the 1930s come of the Dallas County Voters League really had been the Main Organization working in selma to achieve Voting Rights for African Americans. They were the main People Holding Voter Registration drives and also conducting Voter Education classes for black people throughout the city, so they worked throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, in order to really attack the problem of African Americans here in selma not having the right to vote. In 1963, in february of that year, sncc sends its first representatives here, Bernard Lafayette and his wife, kolya, and sncc was beginning to going to places that had not been touched by the civil rights. They were working with young folks here in selma to prepare them for civil rights, to march in protest in the streets for rights they were not even old enough to have, so sncc really laid the groundwork for them to deal off of. Sncc did not meet here at brown chapel ame church, but the interesting thing about tabernacle baptist is the fact that the church has two faces, so built by a black architect in the 1920s, and the city of selma, it actually prevented African Americans from entering a building on broad street, which is in the middle of the city. When Tabernacle Church was built, the architecture played a trick on the city officials, so there is an entrance, like the facade of the building has an interest on broad street, but the real entrance was on mentor avenue, so it is called the church with two faces. They did their own nonviolent resistance training with others interested in protesting the right to vote. Sncc did not just work out of the tabernacle baptist. They moved over to First Baptist church of the black First Baptist church here in selma, alabama, which is right down the street from where we are now so First Baptist was the headquarters for many sncc mass meetings, including one right before freedom day in 19 623, where Dorothy Heise was the main attraction, and she was the speaker for that evening, and she gave a lot of encouragement to those who would go out and protest at the Dallas County courthouse. Selma was the logical place for the Voting Rights movement to really have its push, because of the fact that there were so many factors that made it a real hotbed for this particular issue. So you had a population that was mostly African Americans, only 240 registered black voters throughout the county, and then they would be used to make this movement successful, so you had a sheriff here who was very belligerent, who was an African American protester, who was those who just want his cup of tea at that moment, and his name was sheriff jim clark, and he provided the type of resistance that groups like sclc needed. He brought money from the sclc and their donors to help get people bailed out of jail. When you have a figure like dr. King come into a small city like selma, he had been already seen as someone who could lead the masses, who could speak so eloquently and inspire people, so he brought a lot of inspiration with him, and that was influential for a lot of adults to get involved, and he also brought the media, and the media is what really put the nail in the coffin for the Voting Rights movement here. They were able to show that even though these protesters were nonviolent, and they were only practicing civil disobedience, they were still being mistreated because of sheriff clarks attitude toward them. So we have made our way from brown chapel ame church over here to the Edmund Pettus bridge, which is a movement that africanamerican protesters here in selma during the Voting Rights movement would have made three separate times. The first is what we know as bloody sunday. On sunday, march 7, 1965, about 600 protesters actually gathered at brown chapel ame church in the playground area in order to get their wits about them and get prepared to go all the way from selma to montgomery. How did they get the idea to have a march from here in selma all the way to montgomery . It was actually the direct action they wanted to take in response to the death of jimmy lee jackson. Jimmie lee jackson was a 26yearold veteran who lived in marion, alabama, and during the night march on february 18, 1965 in that city, he was actually shot by an Alabama State trooper of while trying to protect his mother and grandfather from being assaulted, and about eight days later, he died. The march was really in honor of jimmy lee jackson, and they decided by taking his body all the way to the Alabama State capital and laying it on the steps to show George Wallace how important Voting Rights was to them was the right thing to do. So instead of actually taking his body all the way to montgomery, they did decide to continue with the idea to march to montgomery, but they marched in spirit. So the first attempt, march 7, 1965, protesters left brown chapel ame church in the afternoon and progressed down phyllis street to alabama avenue and then walked right out here on broad street to cross the Edmund Pettus bridge. As they crossed the top of the bridge here, those who led the march, Jose Williams and john lewis, met up with a group made up of Alabama State troopers and citizens deputized by the local sheriff here, jim clark. When they cross the top of the bridge, even though they were a little bit scared and fear did rise inside them, they continued to put one foot in front of the other and march about 100 years yards past the edge of the bridge before they were stopped by major john cloud. Major john cloud as the marcher approached them, said this is an unlawful assembly, and you have two minutes to disperse or go back to your homes. John lewis said, may we have a word what the major, and the major said there is no word to be had, and minutes later, he gave the order to advance, and the melee that ensued is what we know as bloody sunday feared Alabama State troopers, the deputized citizens, actually rushed the marchers across the bridge, beating them with billy clubs and even furniture wrapped in barbed wire. Teargas canisters were going off, and not just at this bridge but back into the city and the George Washington carver homes where we just were. There were even accounts of the Law Enforcement officials throwing young women into First Baptist church, so that was the first attempt. And what made this a significant is the fact that there were so many media cameras that were there that were capturing this moment. Not only were their cameras from spider margin of the birmingham news, but Actual National news hosts who were there to make this action. The footage from bloody sunday actually appeared, so the entire country got to see what was happening on that day here in selma, alabama. After dr. King found out about the march and all the things that had happened to the protesters here in selma, alabama, he put out a call to clergy members across the country to come down and march on tuesday, march 9, so he wanted these folks to come and be the face of this particular march. But the next morning, when he arrived in selma, he got word that there was an injunction by George Wallace. The injunction had gone to a federal court judge, freddie johnson, and montgomery, and he notified dr. King that they would be an injunction against the march, and he would set the court date for march 11, two days after dr. King had already promised all these folks that we are going to go out here in march on march 9. So how to dr. King keep his word to all of these people, who had importance to selma, beginning on march 8 all the way through march 9, to march in protest for the right to vote for African Americans but also not violate a federal Court Injunction so he got on the phone with some of the top people in washington, including the president and fbi residents into representatives, and they came to the solution that he would march to the spot of bloody sunday, where the protest began, and then turn around, and this protest became known as turnaround tuesday. They gathered at brown chapel ame church to walk down the street, to turn right here on water avenue, and then cut up the bridge right here. So as they crested the top of the bridge, this time, that same sea of blue stared them in the face, the Alabama State troopers and also the Sheriff Deputies from Dallas County. But as they saw this sea of blue, dr. King, who led the march, knelt and prayed, they think freedom songs, and then they turned around. The majority of the people on the march, virtually all the people on the march, did not know that those were his intentions. Only the very top people in slc clc were privy to this information. So you had about 2000 folks who assumed that they were marching all the way to montgomery, but indeed they turned around. And there were many, some who were happy about the turning around, because they did not want another bloody sunday, but there were some who were extremely disgruntled, and that even led sncc, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to leaving selma and continue fighting in montgomery for Alabama State university. After the ministersmarch, there was the death of another young man named james reed, who was a unit unitarian from boston. Mr. Reed came down, and he was brutally beaten by white citizens in selma for his involvement in the movement. He actually died two days later from his injuries, and he is known as the second martyr of the Voting Rights movement. But his death actually inspired a lot of thoughts from white citizens across the country, so that is another reason that this is day is known as turnaround tuesday, because white citizensattitudes on black voting started to change. On march 11 he heard from many civil rights leaders, from hosea williams, robinson, others involved in the movement, and from the, sheriff jim clark, governor wallace, and others, and after he issued his decision pretty much saying that this march would be necessary in order for African Americans to actually attain the right to vote, that they had such a injustice done to these law folks, especially here in the city of selma by those issuing the injunction that a march of this scale seems to be appropriate. That ruling was actually issued on march 17, so these folks only had four days to get everything together in order to make the entire trek from selma to montgomery. So beginning on march 21, more than 30 200 people 3200 people gathered right at brown chapel ame church to begin the march all the way from selma to montgomery. So they came down, they took the bloody sunday route, they came down the street, turned right on alabama avenue progressed on broad street and across the Edmund Pettus bridge, this time with no sea of blue, and continue to march for five days and four nights, stay a different campsites, which were typically black farms in Dallas County and a complex and montgomery county, for four nights, and continues to march all the way until he got to the Alabama State capital on march 25 of 1965. They told us we would not get here. There were those who said we would get here over their dead bodies. Well, all the world today knows that we are here, and that we are standing before the forces of power in the state of alabama, saying, we going to let nobody turn us around. [laughter] a few months later the Voting Rights act was signed, ensuring that African Americans would be granted the right to vote, and this march was the direct cause for African Americans having the right to vote, so this and sure by the federal government so this was the realization of the desire for African Americans to have the right to vote for over 100 years, since the and and of reconstruction. music god bless you. From selma and civil rights in 1965, we travel back 100 years to virginia and the end of the civil war. Appomattox house National Historical arc preserves the place where property lee surrendered to you and s grant surrendered where robert e lee surrendered to you as gra youyulyssus s grant. And what life was like in this village after the war. Im starting in front of perhaps one of the most famous court houses in the United States, Appomattox Courthouse. The name is pretty confusing. Courthouse in is a building like the one behind me, and its situated in the village of Appomattox Courthouse. Appomattox court house the village is famous because its more generally surrendered to ulysses as grant on april 9th, 1865 effectively bringing about the end of the civil war. This little town has a lot of history. Today, we would like to talk a little bit about why Appomattox Courthouse is so famous. Wed like to talk a summertime about some Untold Stories. As it stands, the courthouse is a village complete with a tavern, stores, lawyers offices, and homes. The town was not more than 130, 140 people in 1865. It is an unlikely place for two large military forces to meet, general luis army in Northern Virginia and general grants multiple army force of about 60, 000, and all within a sixmile radius here, unlikely because it is not were either army wanted to be, but it is where they ended up, and as fate would have it, for generally, his general lee his army was practically surrendered here by general grants forces, and on the morning of palm sunday, april nine, 1865. , generally arrived in the afternoon, around 1 30 in the afternoon. General lee meet general grant over at the maclean house, one of the nicer homes in the village. They would meet in the parlor of the home to discuss and agree on terms of the surrender of the army of Northern Virginia, again, effectively bringing about the crucial the end of the war story, nationally that is a crucial story nationally significant and no doubt, its the reason why this is been the designated a National Historic site. However there are plenty of Untold Stories about appomattox. However, for over 150 years, many people have referred to appomattox at the place where a nation reunited. Of course, for students of history, we struggle with that idea. If that were true, the 150 years that have followed the American Civil War dont make a whole lot of sense. In fact, during the centennial, the 100th anniversary of the centennial of the ending of the civil war in 1965, a tremendous celebration took place here, marking the occasion. Meanwhile, the schools in appomattox county and many across the state are still not even integrated. In fact, appomattox is still five years away from integration in 1970. So why isnt that the place where our nation reunited . Part of the story starts with the large field behind me. Something a lot of people do not realize about Appomattox Courthouse is there are two battles fought here. General lees was not arbitrary to surrender. He was brought to that decision because of the military realities, literally, that surrounded him. In the field behind me on the morning of april night, april the 9th, the battle of Appomattox Court house was fought. Roughly 900 confederates engaged a large federal force that would put over 20,000 federal soldiers on this field behind me. During this battle that raged on the morning of april 9, there was one known civilian casualty of Appomattox Court house. It was a woman named hannah reynolds. Hannah reynolds, like 52 of all human beings that lived in appomattox county at that time, she was enslaved. She was enslaved by dr. Samuel coleman. She lived in a home about one mile to the west of where i am standing, in the epicenter of the battlefield on the morning of the ninth. She was very unfortunate to be hit by a confederate artillery shell that morning. She was attended to by surgeons of the eighth main infantry unit. She was able to survive another three days. She died on april 12, that wednesday. April 12 is a very important date, too, in the history of appomattox, because it is on this very road that i am standing on, on april 12, that confederate adventurous stocked their arms and ammunitions all along this road. In fact, you can say that the individual confederate soldier actually surrendered on this road, not in the parlor of the maclean house, the way general lee did. Hannah reynolds dying on april 12 meant that, in a way, she was mortally wounded as an enslaved woman, and, in a way, she died as an emancipated woman, three days later. That is a powerful notion, that really struck this park and visitors in 2015 during the 150th anniversary, and it has given us cause to explore this story and others like it a little more deeply. Exactly what did happen in this village and in fact throughout the south and the country in the weeks and months that followed the surrender . In history, it seems to almost always be a good idea to ask the question so what . General lee surrendered to grant on april 9, 1865. So what . The army of Northern Virginia would fight no more. That is a big so what. But what about the enslaved population of appomattox and the rest are virginia . What was their future . What was the future of slaveholders . What about lower and middle class whites didnt own slaves but would still be deeply affected by what was about to happen . We will head to the other end of the village of Appomattox Court house, and we are going to visit the kelly house that would also be known as the robinson house, and explore a story right here in the village that sheds some light also on the National Significance of what happened after the surrender. Here in the eastern edge of the village of Appomattox Court house, we find a contrasting building. Behind me is a home that egg was known as the kelly house at the time of the surrender. Unlike the maclean house, and upper middle class home of 3200 square feet, perfect for the surrender movement with lee and grant, the kelly house far more rep represents what most people would have lived in in the mid1860s. It is down here that we find an excellent example of an untold story. We talked about what happened to Hanna Reynolds immediately after the war, and unfortunately, she passed away from wounds received during the final battle. But down here at the kelly house on the eastern end of the village, we find an excellent example of what happens next, after the surrender. The kelly house was actually completed in 1855. The kelly family was a large one. In fact, there were five sons in this family, and all five fought in the war. In fact, at least one, and maybe two were here for the surrender come in their own hometown come on april ninth, 1865. Stocking of arms in a teen 65. But in the years that followed the war, eventually this house will be purchased by a man named John Robinson now we dont know a great deal about John Robinsons early life, but this is a good idea of what it look and emancipation looked like here in a pot up a mattocks. Perhaps two of the most tangible examples of emancipation you would have seen on the landscape that summer of night deeds 1865 would be the development of a freedom school, the legalization of like black education, and the second would be the ability of black citizens of appomattox county to be able to form their own churches. In fact, in many of these cases, these were people that were members of, ironically, integrated churches, at least physically integrated. Their congregations were separated within, but it was the larger white churches where many of the black residents actually attended, and as a result of the surrender, got permission to leave those churches and create their own church. The first such church to the created here in appomattox county, the galilee baptist church. One of the founding members of that church was John Robinson. In fact, he was the first treasurer and trustee of that church. Initially, our understanding is coming in the months that followed the surrender, the convocation would form in what was known as an arbor church, simply meeting outside, under the trees. But by 1867, the congregation had been able to form enough money, resources, to actually build a log church, that exists just about a mile to the west of the courthouse. About 50 years later, in 1916, a new church would be built on those same grounds, and that is the church that is still there today, more than 100 years later. So the story of John Robinson, he is not only a homeowner and a cofounder of a church, he is also a businessman. He is a shoe cobbler. And apparently a pretty good one, because he ran a business here for more than 50 years. John robinson did not pass away until 1933, but after raising a very large family, a successful business, and, in fact, some of the Robinson Family members are buried in the backyard of the Kelly Robinson house. So right here in the Little Village of appomattox county, we can see the so what . Of the surrender. It unfolds right here before our very eyes. We only had to look a little more deeply to see these Untold Stories. Almost one 150 years after the establishment of yellowstone as americas first National Park, there are now more than 60 designated National Parks in the u. S. Today. Next, we take you into the sonora desert of arizona to sa guaro National Park, where we will hear about its history and its efforts to reach a more Diverse Group of visitors. The desert landscape, the amount of wildlife you see, amazing sunsets, the variation in the terrain. This part goes from the saguaro desert ecosystem all the way to a mixed conifer ecosystem in the mountains, which are close to 9000 feet, so that the diversity is amazing. And i think that is probably one thing that makes this part pretty special is the diversity of the the wildlife, and that landscape that you see everywhere. Saguaro National Monument was established in 1933, and one of the primary reasons for that was for the protection of this Cactus Forest surrounding us here. And in the 1930s, it was a vast and very dense stand of large and small cacti that covered the whole valley. And throughout repeat photography, it showed that the cactus appeared to be disappearing and many of the mature swallows were dying and leaving the population, and not very many new swallows were being recorded. The impact from grazing and also a widespread harvest of mesquite trees and other trees, palo verde, impacted this Cactus Forest. Saguaros depend on a nurse tree early in their growth, first forgetting established, being protected from the extreme heat and sun and also from the cold temperatures during the winter, so if a seed falls, and a young saguaro is able to get established under that nurse tree, it helps to ensure that it is going to grow. They are very slowgrowing, many of these cactus in here are approaching 200 years or potentially even older. That really large ones with all those arms could be a couple centuries old. Usually by the time they are about 60 years old, maybe 15 feet tall, they are starting to grow their first arms, so even a saguaro that is only a couple of feet on the ground, it has been there for decades. So as time has progressed, you can see now the mesquite, you know, healthy mesquite here in palo verde. One thing you do not see behind me because of all of those trees at the fact that there are a lot of young saguaro. We have done a lot of Extensive Survey and volunteers, citizen scientists who would come out here and help us walk the landscape in a grid fashion to document all of the saguaros in a milesquare area here, and what we see is that even though you cannot see it, looking out across this valley, there are many, many more saguaros that are going to be turning up i into the grand, majestic saguaros in the decades to come, because they are now thriving. So we are monitoring. We continue to do a saguaro census for every 10 years, coinciding with the u. S. Census. We have these established plots where we go out and we count every saguaro, we measure its height, we count how many nest cavities are in the saguaro, how many arms are on them, and the population of the saguaros through time. That will help inform us to what is happening in the population. We are on the historic Cactus Forest loop of our East District of the park. We refer to this as the winco mountain district. This roadway was constructed by the ccc, and it has served as a primary tourist loop, a way to get out into the park. You can see the cactus somewhat the other vegetation is here. You have kind of an opportunity to see most of what is in the park. Jackrabbits, road runners, probably up over 100 bird species, essentially, and all of this unique saguaro desert, many species of cactus, obviously, our main focus our saguaro cactus and many other species. One thing you have to look pretty close to find, and then others that are pretty large and prominent on the landscape, and then people refer to the desert as sparse landscape that is hot and there is nothing there, but actually, as you can see out the window, this place is thick with vegetation. We are still really green right now because of the monsoon rain. It is a sea of plants and wildlife out here. 2015 was our highest visitation on record, and we continue to see those numbers increase on a monthly basis this year, so, you know, people are finding their park here at saguaro National Park, and i think across the country, visitation has been increasing, and certainly the centennial, the advertising campaign, all of the different initiatives to get people engaged with their parks, you know, in their community and across the country, i think has been extremely successful. You know, we want to be reaching out to the diversity of our community, improving our visitation, not just in numbers, but in the richness of the visitors that we have in our park. Representing what america is today. I grew up just south of here as a kid, but then i came up here to arizona to go to school kid i got my undergrad in my graduate degree here, and i have been in tucson for about 26 years. We have got a diverse population here. I have lived here for years, and i have never been to a National Park in tucson. I got recruited out of the local county government here, a Community Engagement coordinator, because i was, as they said, the target audience of the next 100 years. So it was almost an experiment to see what it would take to engage folks of my demographic to attend the parks. Historically, the park service has not been doing better, but over the past five years, there has been a concerted effort to try to engage not just folks of color but folks of different abilities. A lot the facilities have been made accessible for folks with disabilities. That is part and parcel what i think is keeping some folks away, the National Park service is very limited. It is almost like we are set up for professional hikers, and we are not. It is laidback, designed to be accessible to all. Here in tucson, we are trying to establish an alladaaccessible walkway. The walkway, unfortunately, was part of the old horsing trails, and we had a horse vandalized, whether purposely or involuntarily, they damaged one of the trails, and the Community Came out, the Horsemens Association said hey, we are sorry about that. We want to help out. Here is a small contribution to repair the trail. They really care about making sure the parks are accessible to different folks. Having National Parks, you know, it is one of those true american ideas that originated in the United States. The people of this country know that there is value in the National Park system and all of these wonderful places and different resources that we have, natural and cultural resources. You know, advocacy is something that is really important, and being relevant to our current park visitors is extremely important. We want to provide an opportunity for them to get outside, to learn about the outdoors, these resources, that the wildlife is dependent upon but that we are also dependent upon, you know, clean water, clean air, these things originate in National Parks. The more people that can visit and understand that, the more likely we are to have a new generation that embraces the importance of that and wants to protect it into the future. Cspan cities tour travels the country, exploring the american story. With the support of american cable providers, we bring you the history of literary life of a difference city on book tv in American History tv. A short time ago an american airplane dropped a bomb on hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb has more power then 20,000 tons of tnt. With this bomb we have added a new and revolutionary increase. And destruction it is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.