Transcripts For CSPAN3 American History TV In Fayetteville Arkansas 20180204

Well visit with a historian and author who will share the history of the ozarks and talk about the stereotypes people face living in the region. Those stereotypes have been developing for a couple of hundred years. They are strong and they stick with us no matter what we do. You go outside this museum and you travel around northwest there are fortune 500 companies, there is a Major Research university, there is all kinds of business and industry and high tech stuff going on out there, but these stereotypes will stick with us. It is part of our story. Later, we will hear the story of the family who was residents who were residents of fayetteville and how they were driven from their home during the civil war. This is a family that lived here and survived the war. The war affected them in many ways and they eventually had to leave the house because of the war. Hour with athe visit to the center for arkansas oral and visual history. It was started as a way to preserve the stories of the people of the state. I traveled on the train, we had free passes on the train and my mother would get on the train and come to little rock, go to union station, and i really like to ride the trolley downtown and go to the stores downtown. My love of the ozark mountains started at that age, six years old to seven years of age, that is when i was first introduced to the university. I look back on it now and realize how little we had. We were all happy. We were asnow hardpressed and depressed as we were. You would read about all these things that are happening and think my goodness, the world is going crazy. What are we going to do . When Martin Luther king was shot. Of course the student body was time. D, it was a bad the center is an oral and visual history institute. 1999, the brainchild of david and barbara prior. When david retired from the u. S. Senate, he had about 220,000 in unspent campaign funds. Barbara hadr ian the idea that they want he and barbara had the idea that theyted arkansans had spent decades traveling the state in campaigning. They wanted to preserve them. With a tape recorder in a desk drawer in the History Department and then the tyson 2ily came along and donated million. That money was used to add the visual element to it. Video equipment and upgrades on audio. Other than have arkansans tell centertories, the pryor wants to be a Research Tool and is a Research Tool for documentary filmmakers, for writers, for researchers. Free, the use of our material, once given the permission to use it, can be used. Facility is very production oriented. We have six edit suites, we have , vault, we kept the bank vault and we felt like we can make this be a wonderfully isolated spot to do our interviews. As you can see, it is a fairly small room, the sound is sculpted in such a way that it enhances the voice. There are basically three cameras and two microphones and an array of lighting, all of this is remotecontrolled, the cameras are remotecontrolled, the audio is controlled by a control room console, what happens is it is just two people in this room. It is very intimate and becomes very comfortable for the interviewee. We go for about one hour and then we take a break and then we have somebody that has been there is anyif questions about spellings or names or places of towns or folks, we get those corrected at the time of the break. Then we come back and go again. After a couple hours we have lunch, we have a great time at ch, we have a little copy backtle coffee and come and spend another three or four hours with the interview then. T is totally isolated we could close these doors in here and someone to be screaming at the top of their lungs and you would not hear them. That makes for a very well controlled environment. During an interview, not only is the interview going on but someone is scanning the family photo albums. A Family Member is sitting with that staffer getting what we call metadata, the when and where of an image. The reason we do that is because we feel like it is the basic template for a documentarian to work with. Itself, the interview and in this case, youre actually interviewing the person that the documentary is about and they are giving you their life story in their own words. It becomes a point of reference. It directs everything else. Website, not only do we provide what we call highlights of the video part of the interview, but we post the entire audio. Audio, putnload the it on a thumb drive or a cd and i have an audiobook of a persons life in their own words. Transcript, the transcript we like to feel like it reflects dialect and speech patterns. With all of those elements in place, we feel like anyone that is interested in not only the person but the material covered over a lifetime. Knock, knock. Se are coming into sarah moore world. This is a critical this is a suite,typical pryor edit it is much cleaner than mine, and she happens to have senator screen. On the this interview was done in their home in fayetteville. That both the senator and his wife put off their interviews for quite some time because they were very pryorconscious about the center being named the pryor center, they did not want to draw attention to them. They thought it needed to be about all the interviews we were doing and not so much about them. We finally convinced them it was time to get them. Part he is talking about why he wanted to create the pryor center. I can play it. Looking at some of the old tapes and radio stuff they saved. Havedo not have visual, we oral and visual, seeing what they have in their library. All that the louisiana stuff was just fascinating to me. Seeing what they did, they have kept their history. When you keep your history, you keep your pride and you keep yourself and your values. That is one thing that encouraged us to branch out and see if we could not start saving some of that history right here in arkansas. Our only problem is we cannot get fast enough to do it. ,verybody has a history everybody has a story to tell. As far as favorite interviews a senator and david pryor were best friends. They never had an argument between them. We sat down with senator bumpers before he started having any kind of dementia. It was probably the last chance to get him while he still had a clear head. Ourhen we were young, father was on the lookout, always, for things he could teach us that would be a lifetime experience. We all adored our father so much. I do not know why not mother. Our father was our tutor, he was thedisciplinarian, he was to be schooledus and not just education. He wanted us to be schooled in politics. Who thed us to know first president of the United States was, who the present president was and a lot of those in between. And then of course his wife, started an Immunization Program that started in arkansas. Carter, help of rosalyn became a National Effort under the carter administration. Me not tosident tells make a move on immunization until i talk to you. I went down and had a conversation with him about adopting this national money. Rosalyn carter and i went to every state that had entry laws in place. We lobbied every legislature and governor and got all 50 states to adopt the laws. We appeared before joint sessions and everything else. All the states now have a mandate that all School Centers have to be fully immunized. Brighters were remarkable men. Lee williams is an example of someone who did not grow up in arkansas. He worked for senator fulbright so his ties to arkansas became greatly amplified. Intricate intoy the politics of arkansas, the education in arkansas, National Policy that was being driven by senator fulbright. Had taken fulbright the position that force is not going to cause people to love each other, or to tolerate each other. What is going to get them to ,hat point is education education, and superior education. What needs to be done is that the black schools all to be equal, not just separate, but equal, and they are not. Youre not going to be able to oute this issue and come with any end you would be happy with. David lambert ended up being on the board of the world food organization. Their effort was to make sure children do not starve to death. Are exalted efforts from folks that are arkansasbased. Jones was the first africanamerican female to graduate from the university of arkansas medical school. A wonderful person. Was also great. The overriding thing about these interviews is they believe in doing the right thing. In the american way. Thatu wonder why is it poor, less welleducated children get into more trouble . It is because of education. We know how to do something about this. It is just that we have not had the will to get it done. What good is reading, writing, and arithmetic if you do not teach them to be physically, emotionally, and psychologically fit . Have concentrated so much on the material and the gathering and creating an archive that we have not done much, and really have not been aspared to do much as far making it known. With the vault, we intend to open that up to the public, where someone can bring in their grandfather or grandmother and interview them and walk out with , aigh definition recording video of that interview. I think that once the vault is open and once we open the pryor center to the public, at least locally and statewide, we will start getting some buzz about what we do. All weekend long, American History tv is joining our Cox Communications Cable Partners to showcase the history of fayetteville, arkansas. To learn more about the cities on our current tour, visit cspan. Org citiestour. We continue our look at the history of fayetteville. Ian or ozarker is someone from the ozarks. When youre dealing with identity, certainly a person who is a native of the region is more likely to identify themselves as an ozarker or an ozarkian. Covers most ofon the southern half of missouri, much of northwestern arkansas, northeastern oklahoma, and the physical ozarks region goes into the tip of southeastern kansas. It covers parts of four different states. Does notral ozarks necessarily correspond with the physical ozarks. There are people who live in the physical ozarks who would not identify themselves as an ozarker. There are people who live outside the physical ozarks who would. The trilogy that im working on is called a history of the ozarks. It is published by the university of Illinois Press and the first volume comes out this year, it is called the old ozarks. It is a history of the ozarks before the civil war. There a brief chapter on prehistory. I am not an anthropologist so that is why it is a brief chapter on prehistory. It looks at native American Life in the historical period in the ozarks. Of thely settlement first europeans who came into , whoegion who were french came down the Mississippi Valley and spread westward into the and then ofozarks course the thousands of u. S. Citizens who poured across the mississippi beginning in the 1790s and continuing on into the early 1800s. We are in the Shiloh Museum of ozark history in springdale, arkansas. It is the premier museum on the history of the ozarks from prehistoric days to the 21st century. Ozarks is a cobbled together term in the Mississippi Valley. It has french and American Indian roots and has been anglicized, it comes from the old french practice at Arkansas Post on the mississippi river, which is a different region then we are in right now, it is at the delta, all the way across the state. Post wouldrs at the often sign off their letters, aux arkansas. Eventually they shortened that arks and when the british and u. S. Born citizens came to the region they anglicized the spelling to ozarks. It dates back to that aux. Itself is a Highland Region in the middle of the north american continent, it is the only real Highland Region i should say, the ozarks, in combination with the mountains, which are in oklahoma and arkansas on the south side those Arkansas River, two, the ozarks and the watcher up the only Highland Region between the Rocky Mountains and the appalachian mountains. You get a lot of physical diversity within this highland , the aream prairies that springdale, arkansas, fayetteville, arkansas where we are today is a prairie type area. ,f you go 15 miles to the south youre in a more mountainous area. There are a lot of subregions within the ozarks like the Boston Mountains south of here, lots of other little subregions the ozarks region a lot of diversity, physically speaking. Ofinterest in the history the ozarks dates back to my undergraduate days. I went to school on the edge of the ozarks. At that time it was a college called Arkansas College, today it is called lion college. I had grown up in the ozarks. I did not know it. Identity is a funny thing. When i grew up, i associated with the ozarks with places that advertise themselves, that branded themselves part of the ozarks. We watched tv channels in springfield, missouri, and they were talking about the ozarks in springfield, missouri. I thought that is where the ozarks must have been. I remember i was an undergrad and i was in the library at the college and i came across this book called the ozarks land and geographer. By a i opened it up and there is a map of the ozarks, you have the borders around the ozarks and i discovered i am from the ozarks, i grew up in the ozarks. I knew i grew up in the hills, we were hill people, but i never really associated myself with this label, the ozarks. I got really interested from that point, that is been almost 30 years ago. I have devoted my life to studying the history and culture of the ozarks and to try to define what that means and trying to sort out myth and reality in the story of the ozarks. Most of the 19th century settlers and especially the precivil war settlers in the orrks came from appalachia at least the greater upland from theey came piedmont of North Carolina to middle tennessee, from Eastern Kentucky and southwestern virginia and what is now West Virginia and northern alabama and northern georgia, the greater upland south area. Really supplied the majority of settlers here. You transmit those cultural practices and religious practices and everything is kind of bundled up in a culture gets transmitted from places like east tennessee and Eastern Kentucky to the ozarks. We share a lot in common with that region. The culture of the region has been defined largely by people of Northern European descent who were protestant, and not just protestant but evangelical protestant, methodist, baptist especially, who were for the most part rural with at least a few small towns and small cities in the 19th century and who ,ransmitted that culture whatever you want to call that, american kindan of culture that gets created in appalachia and in middle tennessee and in places like and from the scots irish people of english dissent, people of german descent, a handful of scandinavians thrown in there with cherokees and other native american groups. Slaves. Free blacks. All of those people create this of freeouth culture range hurting of cattle and hogs and hunting and trapping as a crucial element of life along with their religious practices that they bring with them and their music, which tends to be scottish and irish with german influences and some african influences. All of that gets transmitted in theat hearth area upland south east of the mississippi, over to the ozarks. Get is the culture that you and the culture people have come to associate with the ozarks, just in the National Consciousness is the same filter that carries out corn whiskey making traditions and moon shining. That kind of stuff. It is a culture that could be violent. It could be very closed minded. Alsos a culture that required a certain hardness and survives to people who in a region like the ozarks, where much of it was a rough and unrewarding place. Then you did have these kind of oases like new york like north arkansas thrown in there. One of the things that has , at least inzarks the late 20th century and into the 21st century, is that the region did stay somewhat homogenous into the late 20th century. The region was one of the wildest places, most extensive places in america. It was the place that was still heavily evangelical protestant and religious orientation and part of that was, part of that of, but a not a lack shortage of Economic Opportunity in much of the ozarks. You do not get a lot of people moving into the ozarks, there is not a lot of dynamic social and cultural stuff going on because theres not a lot of dynamic economic stuff going on. Sameeople tend to stay the generation after generation. Im not saying they are not ernizing and they are not they are driving model ts and listening to radios, but ethnically and religiously and culturally there is this tendency to stay the same over generations. By the time you get into the later half of the 20th century, you have the preservation of oldtimey music. The ozarks becomes popular for folkies in the 60s and 70s. There are folk festivals everywhere. It takes on that image of a place that time forgot. Even then, you were just talking ozarks,ckets of the because you at other places like northwest arkansas that were quickly modernizing. Then in the last couple of decades of the 20th century and certainly into the 21st century, demographics have changed. There has been a tremendous migration of people who do not come from that Northern European , protestant heritage, whether y are of hispanic descent in northwest arkansas, you have a large percentage of people of hispanic descent. You have people from africa and , some ofare coming in them become farmers, chicken farmers in northwest arkansas and southwest missouri. Influx of people who have certainly changed the demographics of the region over the last generation or two. In the same period, you have also opened up the region to an influx of retirees from the midwest and from the north. Things have, just in my lifetime, there has definitely been a major evolution in whatever the culture of the ozarks is. Im not even sure what that is anymore. We hold on to that historical is al model, but it like the rest of america, it is a place that is very much changing in recent years. Fayetteville, to me, has always been an oasis in many ways in the ozarks. On this springfield plane which has traditionally been the most prosperous subregion of the ozarks. From those earliest days, fayetteville was a beacon of progress. If you go back before the civil war, arkansas, at the time of the civil war had three colleges and three institutions of higher learning. Two of them were here in Washington County. One was in fayetteville and the other was just outside fayetteville. You had a lot of the states early political leaders were from the fayetteville area, the guy who served as the chair of 1861ecession convention in was a lawyer and a judge from fayetteville. Fayetteville has had an outsized importance in the state of arkansas and in the ozarks in general. It is half a dozen years after the civil war that the state of arkansas decides to put its Flagship University in fayetteville. Happens, you can look at statistics today and look at the prosperity that comes with universities and these Research Parks that surround them and all that stuff. That goes back into the 19th century, the University Just sort of created its own little. Ubble of prosperity around it fayetteville has always been that oasis in the ozarks and in arkansas. My overarching theme of the has been my it theme for most of the books i have done on the ozarks over the region years is that the is more a microcosm of the thantates that it is it is some strange unique other that exists out there that we can, and marvel at and look and say how quaint and how unusual this is. In academic terms, we use the term exceptionalism. My argument for a long time has in totalitye ozarks is not an exceptional place. It is special to me, it is my , i have had ancestors who should appear 200 years ago, but i think it shares more in common with the general american historical narrative that it differs from that narrative. It is one of many regional broadions on that big, American History theme. People who read it and who do not know anything about the ozarks will recognize a lot of the things we know from American History that happened. Own just we have our little version of that going on here in the ozarks. In the early 1970s, while teaching at the university of arkansas, bill and Hillary Clinton purchased this modest fayetteville home. Join us inside as we take a look at the house and learn about their early years as a married couple. Welcome to fayetteville, arkansas. We are at the Clinton House museum just south of the university of arkansas campus. This house was built in 1931 by a local man. It would have been on the outskirts of town at that time, in the middle of the ozarks in the depression. This would have seemed like a pretty fancy house for that era. The clintons bought this house in 1975 and did a little bit of remodeling. For the most part, the house is entirely original to 1931. A nationalecame historic registry property in 2010 and the street became clinton avenue in 2010 as well. Is the living room, this is the famous room where bill clinton and Hillary Rodham were married in front of this big window in 1975. Bill bought this house while hillary was out of town and surprised her with it. She came back from visiting friends and family for six weeks and said i bought that house you thought was pretty and now you have to marry me, i cannot live there alone. She said yes on the third try. That was the third try. To 1931, is original so the floors, the windows, all of those things. Though it is a big living room, it is a small place to get married. The clintons had only 10 guests for the wedding. It was them and a couple Close Friends and family. One of our visitors favorite things to see is the Wedding Dress. This is a faithful replica of hillarys original Wedding Dress and it was designed by a little rock designer who was a longtime friend of the clintons. Hillary bought this dressed when night before the wedding at her mothers insistence. She was just going to pull something out of the closet and her mother said we have to go to the store and you have to get a nice dress. The pulled this dress off rack at dillards night before the wedding for 53. One of the things to note is at the time of their marriage hillary decided to keep her name and be called Hillary Rodham which wouldve been unusual for 1975 in arkansas and anywhere. Both of their mothers had hoped she would change her name to clinton but she stayed Hillary Rodham and bill was very happy about that. When bill and hillary came to fayetteville they had just graduated from Yale Law School and had done about a years worth of other things before coming here. They were just a young couple like semiothers, they did not have any money, they did not have any furniture, they were just Getting Started in life and their lives were very busy. Lots of political activity and lots of friends, traveling back and forth to little rock here in they also traveled a lot in those years and they did not have a lot of money but they spent a lot of time Building Networks and friendships. The urge to participate in Public Service began very early for both bill clinton and Hillary Clinton. Hillary was very active at wellesley and her graduation address made Credit National splash. A national splash. It was fairly radical for the time. She went on to yell law school where she met bill. Bill knew he was going to be a Political Animal from his High School Years and he actually met president kennedy while he was at boys nation in 1963, just a few months before kennedy was assassinated. In lots oflved democratic initiatives all across the country, lots of campaigns, worked hard for george mcgovern, for william fulbright, he always knew this would be the path he was going to take and he gained a lot of experience before running for office himself. Before the clintons were married and bill was living east of town , he decided he would run for congress and he talked it over with the dean of the law school, who gave him his blessing and promised his support. He had decided to run against John Paul Hammerschmidt. People toeveral other run against the very popular republican and nobody else wanted to do it. They wanted to run for other things. He finally decided that it should be him. Everyone thought he was fighting a losing battle and probably he was and he knew it. He openly says he did not think it could hurt his future chances at other offices. He was absolutely correct. In 1974 hempaign lost, but only by about 6000 votes, which was pretty remarkable for a newcomer against a very broad republican district. He often says that losing that Congressional Election enabled him to go to the white house. If he had won the election for congress he would have gone to washington and state their. His this gone to washington and stayed there. Stay in arkansas eventually led to his bid for the white house. The dining room, most people would use it as a dining room, the clintons used it as campaign headquarters. Bill had decided to run for attorney general two years after use it after losing to John Paul Hammerschmidt and he had two primary contenders in the democratic primary. In thequite handily statewide primary race and he did not have a contender in the general election. His northwest arkansas part of the attorney general campaign from here in the dining room. Because he does not have an opponent, he was able to work on behalf of jimmy carter in 1976 and he was jimmy carters arkansas chair and jimmy carter went on to win 65 of the arkansas vote. During the time that bill was running the arkansas Jimmy Carter Campaign, hillary went to indiana and ran the Jimmy Carter Campaign there and help set up campaign offices. Their lives were very much about political campaigns and working on behalf of democrats across the country. Generalame the attorney rather easily in 1976. Two years later he would become the countrys youngest governor in 1978. When bill and hillary were married, hillary cap terminated maiden hillary kept her which wouldve been unusual in arkansas but even across the country. She kept her look and she wore glasses and no makeup and natural hair. After bill lost his second term as governor in 1980, the two of them regrouped and you see at the beginning of the 80s her transformation and his transpiration politically, his transformation, thinking about what the people needed most. Whatransformation into arkansas wouldve considered an appropriate first lady. She changed her hair, started wearing contacts and makeup, the close change a lot the clothes change a lot. Governorlinton ran for again, so he was able to go back to the Governors Office and had this new first lady with him. The Clinton House museum is a Great American story. Like so many others, it is a great example of the best of american ideals. People can start from nowhere and work hard and engage in Public Service and they can do what it is they set their minds to. When you get a chance to spend time in the same place that other people have lived, you get to absorb some of that energy and think about how people got started in their lives and where they would later end up. Idea,sitors love that they like standing in this place where these two powerful people, these two really smart people spent their early days and were plotting out their lifes course in a house like this. Our Cox Communications Cable Partners speak with cspan cities tours staff when we traveled to fayetteville arkansas. The region was once home to cherokee indians. Settlers establish the town in 1828. Learn more about fayetteville all weekend on American History tv. A house that belonged to a family who lived in fayetteville, arkansas in the 1850s and 1860s. They were here during the civil war, they experience the war, they left fayetteville and then when the war came it changed everything. We at headquarters house in fayetteville arkansas, it is the home of the Washington County historical society. The the society purchased the house in 1967. By aouse was built in 1853 man from New Hampshire radcom to arkansas in 1838. Bar and wased the traveling the law circuit he came to fayetteville and he met matilda. He and matilda got married in 1847. In february of 1862, the confederates were being driven out of missouri and into arkansas. As they were being driven through arkansas, as they came through fayetteville, they decided to burn all the confederate stores, world the food was held and where the ammo was held in and basically the soldiers ransacked the town. Some of the citizens participated in the ransacking. It was a dark time. Headquarters house was directly the fayetteville female institute have been used as an arsenal for the confederate army. They decided to set fire to it. The powder in the shells have been removed but there were still faulty shells. Once that building caught fire, the shells started to explode and endangered the house. They were able to save it. This is a picture of Arkansas College and the house. This is the house here. The president of the college lived across the street and the other side of him was Arkansas College. Not burnedllege was in the initial firing of fayetteville but when the confederates were on their way to the ridge in march of 1862 they did burn Arkansas College. He was a union man. When a general of the union army came to fayetteville, he came and proclaimed that he was going to liberate fayetteville for the union and all the Union Sympathizers could come out, he would protect them and he wanted a union flag to put up on the town square. Jonas hade knew that a flag of the United States of america. They sent off to the house here and jonas gave him a flag. He put it up on the town square. Jonas also invited the general to have dinner at his house and to make the house his headquarters, thinking that the general was going to be here for a while. The general did come into the ande, dined with the family three days later he was called back up north, leaving the town again open to whichever army came through. The next army that came through was the Southern Army and the general from texas sent his ,oldiers, knocked on the door and told jonas he was under arrest for being a traitor to the Confederate States of america. Smithwas taken to fort where he was going to be tried and hung as a traitor for having the union flag, for not accepting confederate money, for allowing a Union General into his house. Many people wanted to help jonas as much as they could. Members of the confederate army, even. They were working with the union army to try to get him released. There was a union jailer who sent a letter to matilda saying he would do everything he could to help jonas and to make his stay comfortable. He was sure everything would turn out all right, but while jonas was in jail, the soldier would help to watch out for him. Matilda was allowed to send one of their slaves to fort smith to. End to jonass needs he was allowed to have a slave with him. Matilda sent some messages through the slave and then the slave was also allowed, by his status, to stand around and absorb information that he could pass on to jonas. In the meantime, the general was caught up to the battle of pea ridge and killed by a union sharpshooter. Because of this, jonas was exonerated and the charges were dropped and he was allowed to come back home. He came back to the house and not long after that a neighbor that thereld matilda is a group of men who are confederate sympathizers who are going to finish the job the general could not finish. Matilda left the parlor where she was entertaining a neighbor and went and talked to jonas, jonas came in and said hello to ed down ther, walk front walk and waved goodbye to matilda, got on his horse and quietly rode out of town. When he got to the union lines or just past the confederate lines he spurred his horse on and headed to the union lines. There, he shared information about what he knew about the area and the people in the area. He never lived in this house again. The information we have is from the oldest daughters journal, which was actually her memory she wrote when she was in her late 80s and 90 years old. What she said was that while jonas was in prison in fort smith, the confederate soldiers came and demanded the drapes and the carpet to be used as blankets andsettle instead of giving them, matilda had the slaves take them down, beat out the dirt, and fold them nicely and give them to the army. Matilda hid any hard feelings she had. She did where several pieces of into hers undergarments just in case the family had to flee in the middle of the night. She was gracious in all that she and then one jonas had left and hee was exonerated left the state, matilda was here anderself with the children eventually the union army came back in, the union army walked over matilda and when they were going to be pulling out again, they told her we are leaving and you should go with us. She packed up what she could thinking she was leaving, she was leaving the next day. Jonas came in with a message to ,eliver it to the general here and he was able to leave with his family. When the family left here in october of 1862, they took what they could and left. They went and they found a home in missouri, then they found a they traveled through panama to california looking for a home. While they were there, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Was notided california the place for them, they came back, tried once to come back after the war to fayetteville and it was too changed. It had been a Cultural Center on the edge of the United States of america just before you go into indian and wild west territory. It was not that anymore. They do not feel good feelings to stay in fayetteville. They settled in kentucky and they never lived here. Jonas did help some of the confederates to receive their pardon after the war. He had some communication with the people, but not living here. All weekend, American History tv is featuring fayetteville, arkansas. Cspan cities tour staff recently visited many sites showcasing its history. The city is home to the university of arkansas. Learn more about fayetteville all weekend on American History tv. Youre at the museum of native American History in fayetteville, arkansas. The mission of the museum is to teach history. That is what we are. We are a history museum. What we use our pieces of native american art to tell our story, 16tell the story that spans 16,000 years to 18,000 years. We are set up chronologically and we start with the oldest time period and then go through different galleries, the archaic time period, the woodland time period, the mississippi time period and into the historic time period. The historic time period is separated from prehistoric because that is the First Contact with europeans and how the europeans changed native American Life. When the word indian is mentioned, we cannot help it, we all do it, but we automatically guy this picture of a sitting on a spotted pony with a big headdress on the plains of nebraska. That is what tv and movies have done to us. Is we tried to of differentdreds tribes and about their cultures and about how they live, what they ate, how they dressed, and so that you start seeing the diverse of vocation the Diverse Education the dive rsification that happens in our country. A lot of changes occurred. That is a difference when we go from the time when many groups were hunting giant beast, the mammoths and the mastodons, and the changes that occur as we going to the archaic time pinto when those giant the archaic period when those beasts are no longer available for hunting. As we going to the woodland time period it is about agriculture changed allculture the lives and it spread very rapidly across the country. Corn, which came up from mexico changed the lives of many native americans. Wasof the things corn did it started giving groups that were successful a bit of free time. We starting seeing more artistic things being made by successful groups of people. People that no longer had to worry about the amount of food they had that day or the next day that are starting to be able to think and longer terms of time, which allows them the time to be creative. Arkansas especially in , in mississippi and mississippian times. Some of the most fantastic pottery in the country was made. The Arkansas River valley had wonderful play. We had had wonderful clay. We had muscles in the river that were groundup to make what allows a pot to be put into a fire and not crack. The muscles were groundup and mixed with the clay and when it was fired you have a rocksolid pot. Arkansas had all the ingredients. I think everyones favorite see as athat they medicine chest. It is a medicine chest that we acquired about four years ago. Belonged to a medicine man for buffalo bill cody. Areas from the wisconsin where he met buffalo bill. For two years he traveled with the group, taking care of the indians. We have no knowledge like a left this medicine chest, it was found a few years ago. Things that hel used medicines were used in this chest. We have it on display now. It is just phenomenal to see all the different types of things that he used for medicine. Wife were bothis indians. We also know from the chest, he was very welleducated. Individualon the vials and jars are all in english. They are all in old cursive. Those are all the original ingredients. None of the charges have been opened. We know he had been educated somewhere. In the trunk, there are things like buffalo tales, rattles, we think he understood that in taking care of the indians of the buffalo bill true. There were many different aspects he had to relate to. What is not traditional to us, and the way of medical care. A group of indians that lived about six miles not that here up to springfield. One of the favorite things we have on display in our museum is an osage Wedding Dress. This is a tradition that goes all the way back to 1803 when Thomas Jefferson was the president. Men from the osage tribe had occasion to go to washington, one of the gifts they were given was a military count. A red military code. That was one of the nicest things in the tribe. The girl started getting married in it. Tradition allowed orn girl to wear red for it than the other girls could wear other colors. It was very popular at the turnofthecentury. Another very popular thing and our museum was a calendar. It was how the plains tribes could keep track of their history. It was done by different emblems that mean different things. For each year, there was something selective that was one of the most important things that happened to the tribe. These skin 100 50 years. It gives us a history of what happened during that time for the tribe. Herepe when visitors leave , they have learned something about the ancient history of people on north and south america. Most people come to an indian historicoking for pieces, the headdresses, though were clubs, the bows and arrows, at we try to do is have wonderful historic area. Teach that 16,000 years of history so when you leave here, you have a real groundwork for how men and women lived here for all those centuries. Weekend long American History tv is joining our Cable Partners to showcase the history of arkansas. ,o learn more about the history visit cspan. Org. We continue now with a look at the history of fayetteville, arkansas. With are sitting here jason who will provide us with the driving to work of fayetteville. Can you tell us where we are standing . We are in front of the walker stonehouse. That is oneulpture of the many public pieces of art we have here in fat fell. What are we going to see today . We are going to see the Entertainment District of downtown fayetteville. Toare also going to head up look at the highest point of fayetteville. Lets get out of here. We are on our way. One of my favorite spots in all of fayetteville. It is a oneway street, pretty point. Uaint , nightlife few bars locations, it leads us right up to the Historic Downtown square. Why do they call this historic square . It is on the historic registry. Is home to aoffice of different events. Is smack dab in the middle of the info. 83,000 people live here. About 20 7000 people are students at the university of arkansas. Eclectic group of people who live here. That is one of the charms of fayetteville. From,ter where you are most people find something to love, and find a place for themselves here. Now, this coming into is dixon street. Not very far from the square. Those two areas make up the Entertainment District of fayetteville. Thisentertainment is the walmar. It is a huge part of the fabric of northwest arkansas. It is right here in downtown fayetteville. Shows touroadway through the year. They also have local artists sometimes. They have an art gallery inside of the center print that features old local, regional, and national art. The national and International Grand scope, as well as down to the local people. They are all supported. This street is becoming a Cultural Corridor door. Library, it is in the middle of an expansion project that will take over the side of the street. You will see an expanded library with the Community Creative center all on one street. It is really expanding our art district. Have noticed a lot of locally owned business. Why is that . Family and walmart have a lot to do with that. They support entrepreneurs in our community. They support the local nonprofit scene. Of the highest per capita amounts of nonprofits in the nation. The is due to the fact that walton family, walmart, supports that. The philanthropic efforts of that organization and people have really helped lay the framework for business, this supportive vibe we all feel here. Phaseout fayetteville connect themselves of the walmart or the university . Wouldhink that bidenville connect itself more with walmart. The ridges that the walmart center. Feels more like a region that it does a specific city. All the cities in northwest arkansas have their own five, there is just bridges between the cities. Has aiversity of arkansas big footprint with the student and everything that comes with having a university in a town. Works to serve northwest arkansas. We are on the university campus. There are 27,000 students who go here, our numbers are growing every year. That obviously impacts everything to do with the economy of fayetteville. Diversity talk to me about the diversity of the city. , in northwest arkansas because of the university it is eclectic and diverse. In Washington County, just to it has an enormous latino population. Our efforts are to find thethe bridges between caucasian, africanamerican, the latino population, racial integration was in 1948. Admitted aity student here. It speaks to that handholding fayetteville continues today. I am going to turn right appear. Past olding to go main. It is on every postcard that goes out. Right in front of that is our orbit torry him arbor torry rtorium. Another thing that is really interesting and unique to the university is you have your name etched in the sidewalk. As you are winding through the entire campus, there are names on them. More sidewalk space for future graduates. This all goes back to 1905, students voted that they wanted to make that their thing. They said yes, lets do something different. Names into the sidewalk. They did it retroactively as well. Razorbackass the stadium. What is the mascot and wife . Arkansas did not have the razorback initially. Told his teamches he wanted them to get out there and go after the other team like a razorback. That locker room speech stuck with the student body. They adopted the name the arkansas razorbacks. The farm Agricultural Department here at the university of arkansas had a certain way they would call for hogs to come in and he. Can you do it . Yes. Lets hear it. Razorbacks you have to do it three times. Dont wimp out after one, it have to go falsetto with it. There is no turning back. We are going to the top of mount sequoia. You can see, we were just down in fayetteville. Now we are heading to the mountain. Give can tell us, what does it mean to be in the ozark region . It is beautiful for one thing. For me, it means rockclimbing, streams, fails, outdoor activity, fiber things to do. Of music. Style there is a style of dress that you will find for people who live here. Thatpeople still adhere to look. Thenow that there are perceptions of a country bump kin, that is not who we are anymore. At the same time, there is such a rich cultural history with the storytelling, the music, the dress, we want to celebrate those things at the same time. It is like a coin. We are up at the top of mount sequoia. We are overlooking the city of fayetteville. You can see everything up. The arts and Entertainment District, down we just work, the university, we can see north stretching down to is ring dale and bella vista. Eventually up to our neighbors in the north. This is mount sequoia. It is inspirational, you know . Just to take it in. Our cities tour recently traveled to fayetteville, arkansas. Learn more at our website. You are watching American History tv. All weekend every weekend and cspan3. This weekend on American History tv, from the National Constitution center a discussion on the value of two lesserknown documents from the founding era. Letteruments are a 1787 by mercy otis moran. And a 1790 report bio senator hamilton. Here is a preview. I just want to say, it is an extraordinary letter for a lot of reasons. I think its a sickly explains where we are in september 87. M a stitching sandpoint teaching standpoint, it demonstrates that. In september women of 1787, both of whom correspond with and provide advice to the major figures of the day. They are both popular authors in their own name. One published in a volume history of england. They are political thinkers and they are political actors. They areser talking about a document that does not consider them. This is extraordinary. They are not household names. I think it is part of the reason why we selected them. Who have to people political disagreements from her own. Koran the entire Program Sunday at 4 30 p. M. Eastern, American History tv. Only on cspan3. Up next on the civil war, author Paul Bretzger talks about his book observing hancock at gettysburg, the general through eyewitness accounts. He argues that general Winfield Scott hancock was the most successful, crediting him with several key decisions and maneuvers that played a major role in the union victory. The Gettysburg Heritage Center is the host of this 40 minute discsi