Explore the history of this Central Texas town of 129,000 since along the river and is home to Baylor University, the oldest institute of Higher Learning in the state. The institute of texan thatre in san antonio says the second most well known thing from the Texas Rangers was the alamo, and we are talking about 200 years of the history and heritage of upholding values of law, order, and justice. Later we will visit the Dr Pepper Museum as we learn how impact of gettings the local economy. In 1885 when a pharmacist was mixing together ine different concoctions the back of the old corner drugstore. Where the pharmacy was located. It came up where a fragrant smelling mixture that he liked very much was, he probably used it in some medicines but eventually it was sold as a syrup with carbonated water across the Soda Fountain counter. First we travel to Baylor University to find out about its black gospel restoration object, working to archive records to help us learn more about the role it played in the Civil Rights Movement. We shall not be moved moved ll not be to myself as speak to why i think gospel music resonates to such a degree, even now. The music from the 30s afforded great less than the gospel artists right now, seems to me to have a certain almost undefinable something. I would say that black music in general has an underpinning of pain and freedom struggle of africanamericans that continues to this day. It never really goes out of style. Longing and this residence of a deeper pool of a motion with songs about why i have a bigger car than someone else. It cannot match. When you are talking about the music of sustained a race of people through the most brutal times in American History, for example the civil war era, onwards, you are dealing with the music of a gravity and an emotional core. One of the most fascinating things that happened when i started working on what would wasme love and gods water that from the beginning the spirituals were really protest spirituals. So many of them had a double voice in them that meant that on the surface they might be about heaven, they might be about escaping to the north, they might be about escaping to the north. The messages were intertwined unless you were part of the Center Circle that knew the coded words. You could sing these songs in front of the cruelest overseer and he would know that you were really defying him. In many ways spirituals are the first act of defiance by an enslaved people. So, we have that. They were sung for multiple purposes through reconstruction, where they would help to give the release of the hope for a better future, but at the same time to rally your people, to help them sustain through bad times, to teach them. There were counting songs, alphabet songs, sometimes songs in which there were specific details on how to escape to the north, mike follow the drinking gourd, which is also a command for people that cannot use maps. The other thing that we have learned through the black gospel music restoration project here, as we begin to receive the vinyl to be digitized, to be saved, we began turning over the b sides of the 45s that we received. First off, gospel music was not widely heard in the white community, and when it was it was the hits, but the flipside was the hits. Quickly we discovered how many of those b side songs were directly related to the Civil Rights Movement. Of freedom song for you Freedom Fighters out there. When you sang, remember the wonderful ones who lost their life for this pressure process freshness privilege. Now, saying, saying, every one of you. Sometimes i wonder. Sometimes i wonder tell me where there are very few databases, none of them complete, of gospel music. We did not know that. We did not know the sheer number of songs. Very overt songs, like there is no segregation in heaven. At a time when possessing one of those songs, much less singing at, was a dangerous thing in the deep south. Singing that sort of song out loud . That was a risk. It continued this continuum of the double voice of the flipside of the 45s or the protest spirit jewels. Finally, the much better chronicled freedom songs, which are all based either on old somest spirituals or in cases old union songs, like which side are you on or a tree planted by the water. When the Civil Rights Movement against, they have as deep long pool of music that has been successful in empowering africanamericans, calming them down a bit after they were beaten and attacked by overwhelming forces. Lifting them up when they needed to be lifted up. All of the dozens of things that spirituals can do, once again they start pulling from this pool. That is the first music. There are evidence of these what willirituals, become freedom songs, as early as the montgomery bus boycott. Its not well chronicled, but theyre there. You have time to walk, you have time to sing. Because it begins in the churches there are probably more oldschool hymns, but quickly as the young people get involved they dip into the rule to pool pull out and resurrect old protest spirit jewels. Lets take the greatest gospel singer of all time, who it turns out was very active in civil rights, though it is in a few of the books. I will make it, of god she provided music what was needed when they were at their wits end in chicago and had just been beaten, stoned, and attacked by that angry mob and cicero, other places in chicago. They were huddled in the basement on the west side, bleeding and in pain. She drives through the rioting to come and sing. When there is trouble financially and montgomery and birmingham, she sends money. Right songs at every one of her concerts. At the time she was one of the few black voices that white people could hear. Look at the great Taylor Branch biographies. She is mentioned a few dozen times throughout. As she should be, shes there. Was on a first name basis with everyone from harry truman to lbj. She sang at the white house and campaign. But her own i that her own autobiography, there were hundreds of listings of where she was, why she sang and why she sang it. She was the lone black artist that could afford to do that at the time. Toward sisters, to a degree, but very few others. But they were there, marching on the front lines, giving where they could, doing benefit concerts. That has never really been chronicled the way i think it deserved to be. When we started this, we went to the places where the movement happened and try to track down not just gospel singer, but the pastors, the djs, live people on the front lines, the mass choirs and said where were you, what did you think, why did you sing it . What compelled you to sing it in the face of the hate that you experienced on a daily basis . Early on we went to birmingham. This, it discussed would last for hours. So, i said, tell me about the average meeting. They would have 15 or 20 minutes of announcement. They needed 100 people to be arrested at 16th street. Then they would have 45 minutes of preaching. For twoy would sing hours. Before they arrived at 7 00 they have been singing for an hour outside. At the most important time in africanAmerican History, changing the culture of the United States, changing against a culture that is stacked against them where they have no rights under the law or protection from the federal government, they are being bombed and attacked everywhere, two thirds of these meetings are being spent singing. Something is being accomplished if they are singing gospel songs and protest spirit jewels for two hours out of three. The more i spoke to the singers about it, they said they had no choice. They had to sing. That they did it for a variety of reasons. To lift them up when they were down, to do evangelism, to bring people into the movement, it was the best show in town. The best voices sang for free every night. I missed church on sunday . I will get a Better Church on thursday. Because i want to hear cleo kennedy and maybe brown. Brown. Spending two books attempting to quantify and detail what happened with the where and why, and then that this was a transformative agent. Transformative in a way that change the hearts and minds of angry white people and inspired black people to be a part of it and suffer what they suffered. Why would i not want to say that music and chronicle what they were doing . It transcends history. The black gospel music restoration project began while i was writing, people got ready to hear the history. As i was researching and writing about these songs that were the foundation of most American Popular Music in many ways, i would discover that all of these people would recite the song and then i would go to try to hear it and it was not available. Orould not get it on ebay amazon, it was not available. This was done over and over again. At the end of writing the book i contacted a few of my friends that were big collectors. I said what percentage of the golden age of gospel music, what percentage of that music is available to the public right now . We came up with a figure of around 75 not available. It either doesnt exist, been destroyed, been lost, tied up in litigation, or the companies that own it have no intention of releasing it. Number of factors to, for that figure. Was so angry about that this was the music of my childhood. I had only heard such a narrow portion of it. Out anown and banged angry editorial and i sent it to the new york times. Lo and behold, they ran it. Next day a gentleman named charles royce, from new york, called and said that i think what youre talking about is important. Figure out a way to save this music and i will pay for it. Up with a stateoftheart Digitization Lab with scanners for cataloging and storing. We came back with a scary figure, sent it to him, and mr. Royce sent us a check. Out of hisrtly generosity from trying to save something that he knew nothing else about. Another white guy, a piscopo, connecticut, saw that there was value and wanted to be a part of it. Since then we have had a number of wonderful donors that have helped to continue to build the process. Thatng to pay for things we didnt know we needed then. Now it is the Largest Initiative in the world to identify or acquire a digitized analog and make excess of this fast vanishing legacy of gospel music. This music that is being sung now was being sung before the civil war days and if you listen carefully on Bbc International news or al jazeera, you will hear freedom songs and some or in hongnd egypt kong, sung in tiananmen square. In every place where there is a yearning to have the rights accorded to everyone else. I am just trying to capture a snapshot of this music at this time and how it got from where as this potent, powerful, transformative agent. American history tv is featuring waco, texas, home to the popular soft drink dr pepper, invented in 1885 at the old corner drugstore of morrison. City source staff recently visited many sites showcasing the cities history. Learn more about waco all weekend here on American History tv. The institute of texan culture down in san antonio said that the secondmost wellknown texasin texas is the rangers, the first thing is the alamo. They have had a long legacy. We are talking about 200 years of history, heritage, and upholding values of law and order. It is something that a lot of foreigners have taken two. We hear about ranger reenactment groups in ukraine, belgium, france. You name it. Began with the innocent beginnings of just protecting their friends and family members from indians. It has grown and been adapted and it has developed into the Law Enforcement agency that we now compared to the f eif texas. In 1883 the Texas Rangers were 1823 the Texas Rangers were established. Given permission by the republic 300. Xico to ring the first when they got here they quickly realized there was a need to protect the settlers. He asked for a group of 10 volunteers. Didnt earn it, you didnt have it. There was a need to protect from the indian raids and that is how they got their start over the years. The evolution took place over the course of about 200 years. They celebrated their 200th anniversary in 2023. Eventually most of the native americans were relocated, so the need and the threat was no longer there. During the civil war and after and became a more modern date. About, development came the rangers changed. In the early 1900s you had the discovery of oil and texas was a place where you could get rich fast. A lot of people started coming to texas and they started working security in the oil fields. There was a lot of chaos and turmoil at that time. There were things during the 1900s like prohibition. Unfortunately, texas borders , so the rangers started asking the Border Security something that they do today, it is not out the hall or narcotics , but other things theyre working to protect texans from. Their evolution really took place in the time and the era that they were living in changed. In 1935 they were formalized under the department of public safety. They created the first crime lab that year. They have kind of evolved with the changes. The museum has a marvelous collection of material that goes back to the family of the rangers in 1823, trying to select not only shirley is material, but the ends that the rangers currently using their service today. The collection has somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 15,000 individual pieces. It dates over 200 years in time. The museum is really a complex, one of the big portions, but the other is the texas ranger hall for 175tht up in 1976 anniversary of the rangers. At this. 30 rangers that made major contributions to the service forgave allies under our circumstances, we have portraits hanging of all the rangers. They begin with stephen austin. He was very successful with his rangers, fighting and not only managing to make the area , but when thee texas war for independence broke out, the rangers played a major long enoughpendence to allow the economists to develop a strategy. They became the republic of texas for about 10 years. Being regarded as the founder of , we have interesting collections being tied not only to specific rangers and what they do. The interesting is collection of u. S. Paper currency. The republic of texas, when they were their own nation they issued their own currency. It is really interesting to collectors to note that the state of texas was at one point printing its own money. Another thing that we have is a collection of engraved firearms. Firearm engraving is really an art form that is fading out today. But back in the time of the it was a goal0s, of anyone that carried firearms probablylar basis to have one pistol or one rifle that was very well decorated. This were persons that did to an unbelievable level. A lot of them had failing , they worked microscopically for hours and hours. Today still have their sidearms, their pistols, engraved. The slang term for that is barbecue guns. Rangers go to clubs, things like that, often carrying a firearm, something finally decorated. As the cost of that climbs, it is a tradition that seems to be fading out of that today. Rangershe legendary that spanned the time on the spanned the time. Was man welcome solace. Born of canadian and portuguese parents, he emigrated to mexico and decided to emigrate to the United States and texas, winding up joining the rangers and becoming a legend in the east texas oil filled of the 1930s. He later went on to set up the that the Texas Rangers ever had. After retirement becoming a to the movie and television industry. We have a lot of his personal, he was one of the few oldtime rangers to live to see the museum founded. It is pretty amazing. One of the interesting stories is that when he was in the oilfields he was being followed by a bunch of criminals that wanted him out of the way. He rigged his car with a thompson submachine gun in the and afford to buy the drivers seat. He popped the wire that raise the trunk and exposed the machine gun in the back. People were pointing at then from the front seat and they did not have many problems. There were photographs in the car that showed how it was rigged up, but he was a ranger all the way to modern forensic criminology. In having anate large collection of materials related to bonnie and clyde. The real story is often different from what you see in movies and television. A minor criminal who started out in the 1930s with exotic crimes like chicken theft and things like that, rather than being sent to huntsville he managed to upgrade his criminal skills, hooking up with a waitress from west dallas and they started a criminal spree centering around 1934 that carried them through about half of a dozen or a dozen states in the u. S. Career took a downward spiral for they decided to break into the state prison and break out one of their gang members and shoot to death one of the Prison Guards in the process. The prison system went to a retired ranger, they pulled him out of retirement and gave him a special commission with the prison system. He tracked them for over 100 days, found out who they were, ande their relatives were, announced that they would be and found out through an informant where they were going to be. They set up an ambush in western louisiana that ended the career of bonnie and clyde. Thatis a pocket watch belonged to clyde. When incorporated at one time the pocket watch was taken away went inm, Bonnie Parker to visit him in the jail and broke them out, leaving the pocket watch behind. Of the more interesting by and clyde artifacts that we have. One of the things that we do is deal not only with real Texas Rangers, but the Texas Rangers of american pop culture. Pictures thereon are over 200 that have been made since 1910 with a major character being a texas ranger from the movie. It shows no sign of abating. The rangers, of course, first appeared in literature. Some of them were novels that started in the 1840s to the 1890s all over the world. We have examples printed in languages like touch, jap