Race and democracy in the Nations Capital. He decided to cowrite a century story about race and democracy he and washington d. C. Me, why did you decide to know what down to washington d. C. And why not give yourself a more narrow window of time . We read about dc because there was a need with a lot of New Residence knowing what they were getting into felt the old city slipping away and wanted to make sure the other people knew the story and there had been a good book on race in 50 years and we wanted to fill the void. The reason we meet at 400 years is that most of the books about the city had neglect and really in racial populations in the city. In particular the native american population, so we wanted to in the historical beginning the first time we have written record in 1608 when john cook came up to Potomac River from jamestown and went to a native American Village on the bank of the river. Lets focus on the early american period and what was the racial makeup and that Nations Capital at that time so from the beginning the racial makeup of the city when congress got here in 1800 was about 20 africanamerican dc was carved out of prime tobacco plantation county and there were plantations that in the middle of where the city is today so, there was already a large black population in the area. As the folks who were building the capital decided to employ slaves and in certain cases for blacks on the construction project building the capital, the population remained relatively populated through the antebellum period. Tell me about for African Americans, how many were free compared to those enslaved. Initially when Congress Comes to town, the vast majority of africanamericans in the area are in play that changes rapidly because of changes in agriculture in maryland and virginia. By 1830 about half of the africanamericans in the city are free to half are enslaved and the reason for that is that tabasco exhausted soil wasnt posting plantation slavery in the way that it could area plantations are switching to grainton in the process they are either committing the slaves because grain doesnt require as much labor or down the river and become one of the largest leave exporting cities in the nation. What role if any did race play in the selection of the location of the capital . Early congress is really divided north and south and they struggle to figure out where the capital is going to be and in each region, by the west as well, each region really wants the capital in their region to protect their interests. They are also really struggling over the issue of us option who will pay the revolutionary war debt. So alexander hamilton, the treasury secretary and thomas jefferson, the secretary of the at work at a bargain with James Madison and they essentially say, all these other state will agree to support assumptions, making sure the federal government pays all the state debts from the revolutionary war if the Federal Capital is placed on the Potomac River. That deal is in 1790, and you have as a result of the residence act and its agreed that the Federal Capital would be somewhere between Northern Maryland and the confluence of anacostia and the Potomac River along the potomac George Washington is allowed to choose the site and he chooses the present location. So again, slavery, why do you feel that had an impact on the look nation . The southern interest that are angling want to make sure they are in the slaves out and that slavery is protected in the National Capital. They are particularly interested in that because the capital had been at philadelphia for a large period of time during cottonelle congress and littlefield was becoming increasingly hostile to slavery because there was a large quaker population beginning to turn against the institution in the 1770s and 1780s in particular. So, it became what is known now as washington d. C. And how did that work out for slaveowners, wasnt as advantageous as they predicted or were there obstacles it was advantageous because they were able to work out deals with a sold land to the federal government. They were also able to rent their slaves to the people who were building the National Capital so the slaves are rented out to build the capital, the white house and other public improvement but, slavery in the area wasnt very well altogether so they either sold them into the interstate slave trade and years ahead. With city of alexandria was at one point part of the Federal District but tell me about that decision and alexandria was one of the largest slave trade cities in the country at that time, tell me why it exited and why they played a role in opposition. Sure. So, alexander was part of the 10 mile square initially laid out at the district of lumbee and part of arlington the virginia side of the district. And, it had been unhappy with the ban on Federal Building on the virginia side of the potomac for years they complained then people talked about retro seating back in the early 19th century. But, the effort really, in the mid1840s and the reason was because there was tremendous antiavery habitation in washington the the, pacifically to get rid of the slave trade in washington d. C. So in 1846, many of the slave Trading Interest in virginia supported alexandrians efforts to retro seed back to virginia. Congress then voted in as well and the district became roughly 60 of the original size when they go back to virginia. Four years later, they were pressured in the compromise of 1850, the slave trade is banned in the district and so they start coming and they want to get out. So, tell me a little bit about Chocolate City, a history of race and democracy in the Nations Capital. Why Chocolate City . What does the term mean . We took a turn from the 1960s and it becomes famous when Parliament Funkadelic watch rights and old called Chocolate City in 1975. So we knew as soon as you put together the book project that we wanted to use the nickname. We make the argument of course because cc was a majority black city from 1957 through 2011, the first majority black city in the nation and goes up into the mid70 range in the 70s. We wanted to make the case that because of the large black relation that had been here since the beginning, at least when he percent of that dc has always been the Chocolate City and weve always had a large black population that influenced how the city is governed. Chocolate city, a history thank you for talking with us a weekly feature American History tv programs of the review of available every weekend and spend three. Lectures in history, american artifact, real america, the civil war, oral history, presidency, and National Event coverage about our nations history. Enjoy American History tv now and every weekend on cspan3. In the wake of the recent shootings in el paso to dayton ohio, the House Judiciary Committee returns early from the summer recess to markup three gun violence prevention bills which include banning highcapacity ammunition magazines, restricting firearms from those deemed by a court to be a risk to themselves and preventing individuals convicted of misdemeanor hate comes from purchasing a gun live coverage begins wednesday, september 4 at 10 am eastern on cspan if youre on the go listen to our live coverage using the free radio at back sunday night and q a theoretical physicist michio kaku author of the future of humanity talks about this in a be under and achieving digital immortality. Digital immortality take everything known about you on the internet, the digital footprint the credit card record , what movies you see, what wine you like to buy, what countries you visit. Videos, pictures, audio tapes, it creates a profile that digitized and will last forever. So, when you go to the library of the future, you will not get a book about winston churchill, you will talk to win in churchill. Sunday night at 8 p. M. Eastern on the fence q a campaign 2020, watch live coverage of the president ial candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. Cspans campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics africanamerican slaves who escaped to the union army lines during the civil war became known as contraband. Next, we will show you a discussion on the washington d. C. Contraband hospital created by the federal government to treat former slaves and black soldiers our speaker is an exhibition specialist and curator at the National Library of medicine at the National Institutes of health. She has worked in the history of Medicine Division of nlm for the past 15 years which she is conducting research on African American medical personnel that serve during the american civil war