Available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. Next on American History tvs american artifacts, we visit the Canon House Office building to see artifacts that tell the story of africanamericans in congress in the 20th century. Im sarah elliott, the curator at the house of representatives. And im matt rauz nwasniewsk. We want to talk about africanamerican representation in the 20th century, and we have a lot of artifacts from the house collection that have to do with that and a lot of history to cover. And the last africanamerican sort of to be elected in the 19th century leaves in 1901, george white of north carolina, and then its a long time before another africanamerican comes into the house. Thats is Oscar Depriest from illinois. We have a couple really rare artifacts from Oscar Depriest from the 1920s and 30s, but before i launch into them because i love them so much, matt, tell us a little bit about oscar and how he got into congress. So theres a long period, almost three decades after George Henry White leaves congress where theres no africanamericans who serve in either the house or the senate. And that has everything to do with the jim crow laws that go on the books in the south. And the way that that changes over time during those decades, theres a critical thing going on in the south where africanamericans begin to leave the south and move northward as part of a multidecade movement that would later be called the great migration. And that begins, depending on which historian you talk to, 1890s and runs really through world war ii. It picks up momentum around world war i, as theres a need in the north to fill industrial jobs and jobs that had been occupied by men who have now gone off to fight in the war. And you see tens of thousands of africanamericans moving northward for the first time, out of the rural south, out of agricultural jobs to industrial jobs in chicago, st. Louis, cleveland, pittsburgh, new york. And over time, the africanamerican population in those cities increases. And the africanamericans in those cities are gradually recruited by the political parties. And Oscar Depriest is a perfect example of that process. He actually is born in the south. He and his family are part of a group called the exadusters who who move from the midwest to kansas. He goes to grade school and high school in salina, canc. He finds his way to chicago in the 1890s and moves through the political system. He becomes a chicago city councilman in the mid19 teens, and his career has some peaks and valleys. By the 1920s, hes part of the republican political machine in chicago as an alderman, a ward alderman. And in 1928, when the sitting congressman from chicago, very powerful republican named martin madden, who is on the appropriations committee, passes away midcongress, in the fall elections, depriest runs for the seat, and he wins. So in 1929, he comes to the house of representatives. You know, one of my favorite things about Oscar Depriests career is this little tiny button that we have in the collection that is from his career. Its a tiny its really small, and it says depriest for congress with a picture of him, and one of the things i love most about it is that theyre very rare. There probably werent that many of them around niltinitially, a very few survive. I think i have only seen one other, maybe two others in existence. When you think about this tiny button won on someones lapel, looking like any other button, this actually represents a revolution. The attempt to elect an africanamerican to congress for the first time in decades. So just this presence of this little inch and a quarter diameter piece of metal would have been a real statement on the part of whoever was wearing it. And i love that it has survived and it has come back to the place that whoever owned this wanted depriest to end up, which was the u. S. Congress. And when he got here, he then found a lot of a lot he was interested in, a lot that came to him that perhaps he didnt ask for in the way of how he was received, the issues he handled, all kinds of stuff like that. And he does end up being sort of the surrogate representative for africanamericans in general, right . Absolutely. And it must have been an interesting shift for him because he had come up through the chicago political machine, and while he had advocated for his constituency in chicago, which was largely africanamerican, south side of chicago, you didnt get the sense that he really embraced this role as a representative of africanamericans generally until he comes to congress, and a couple of things happen right off the bat almost immediately that really force him to take a very public role for africanamerican political rights. He is symbolically, and in fact, the first africanamerican to serve in a long time. But when he comes to congress, theres a bit of a firestorm in the press. It was tradition for the first lady, in this case, lou hoover, herbert hoovers wife, to have a tea for all the congressional wives, spouses. Nowadays, we would say but wives back in the late 1920s, and that caused consternation because there were several Southern States that objected to the fact that the wives of their members of Congress Might actually have to have tea in the white house with an africanamerican woman. There were even Southern States that had their legislatures pass resolutions asking hoover to make sure that this didnt happen. What hoover did was to divide the tea party into a couple different sessions. And the one that jesse depriest, oscars wife, was invited to, was a very carefully preselected small group of congresswomen who she knew wouldnt object. This got out there in the press, and depriest, Oscar Depriest, just pilloried the Southern State legislatures that had spoken up. And this is the first kind of road block that he runs into. Another one happens here in the house, right . About where his office is located. Yes. You know, people dont want their offices to be their office to be next to him. Members say i will not serve, you know, they dont want to be serving with an africanamerican. And when we were doing some research recently on the history of who had what office in the different house office buildings, in the Canon House Office building, then just known as the house office building, it turned out that the place that Oscar Depriest was assigned was a bathroom. And they ripped out the plumbing and turned it into an office for him. One has to wonder, did they choose that particular space to rip out and change for him because it could happen at the last minute and perhaps it would just sort of side step people objecting in advance because they wouldnt think anybody was going to be next them, just the bathroom was next door, but its definitely these things that bubble up from lots of primary Source Research that our offices do where we learn these stories behind the stories. One other episode happens late in depriests career when a staffer, essentially his chief of staff, and a Family Member of the chief of staff, are asked to leave the house restaurant. And move to a segregated room where africanamericans could get lunch in an adjoining space. And depriest objected to this, unsurprisingly, and defended his secretary, his chief of staff. And went after the chairman of what was then called the accounts committee in the house. Lindsey warren, north carolina, who had dictated that the restaurant needed to be segregated. And he comes onto the house floor, and the press pays a lot of attention to this. And his line essentially is, if we cant have freedom, if we cant have equality under the dome of the capitol, then where in gods name are we going to get it . And the house creates a special committee to investigate segregation in the restaurant, but the issue dies in that committee. And the restaurant remains segregated well into the 20th century. Its interesting because that kind of brings up for me thinking about not just the experience of africanamerican members in the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century but whats the experience of africanamerican staff there. And the re raunt is a really good example because in the 19th century, the privilege and responsibility and job of running the house restaurant was given as a concession, was somebody could have almost like the franchise, i guess, of running that. And in the 1860s, after the civil war is over, that is awarded to a famous africanamerican restauranter, George Downing, and hes up in newport, famous as a catering up there, and he comes down to run that restaurant, and his experience really is as someone who is a businessman operating in that space, and in the reconstruction period, there are some salient examples of africanamericans being sort of the pioneers of being on staff, and in the same way that the reconstruction period in africanamerican members is, there are very few in number, but they manage to sort of being in positions that have not been created for them, but the positions that do have some weight and purpose in the house. And some symbolic importance to the fact that these individuals were put in those positions. One of them was william smith, who was appointed the house librarian in the 1880s. An appointed position. Its one of the most prominent positions in the institution, and he is at that point one of the highest ranking africanamericans in the federal government. And he had been brought along slowly. He first came to the house and worked in the library during the civil war. And he had been promoted by radical republicans, like senator sumner, had helped push him along in his career. Another one who is appointed during reconstruction is the first africanamerican page to serve in the house on the floor, alfred q. Powell of manchester, virginia, just south, across the james from richmond. And hes appointed by a member who is part of the reconstructed virginia government. Hes a carpetbagger from the north, a former union officer. And he serves in a district that represents richmond and its environs. And hes appointed in 1871. We know he serves about a year and a half in the house, and hes also the other connection there is that he is the great grand nephew of john mercer langston, who was in washington at that point. Right. I think he was serving as the dean or president of Howard University at the time and later hes going to be in congress, too. So theres a sort of network, this interesting network of people who know other people who are able to move pieces around and make things happen. And then, we get from George Downing in the 1860s running the house restaurant right up to the chief of staff for Oscar Depriest being refused service in the house. And Oscar Depriest then sort of later in his career, he also takes on, he champions these issues that need championing and arent necessarily specifically related to his constituency, and he is a National Figure. And another object we have in the house collection that relates to that is a program from a speech hes giving in dayton, ohio, very far from chicago. It doesnt even say what hes going to talk about. Hes just sort of speaking. And it happens at the local junior high school. Theres a band. And theres all kind of terrific h hoha around the whole thing. Hes presented as a statesman who is important to the africanamerican nationally including in dayton. Towards the end of his career and probably im imagining earlier in his congressional career also, is part of that whole notion of surrogate representation. In fact, youre representing people beyond the borders of your district or your state. Youre a National Figure. Yeah. But then, we dont really think of Oscar Depriest now that much as a National Figure in national history. Of course, we do, but many people dont. But theres some who sort of soon thereafter, in the late 1940s, start to arrive who do become National Figures. Yeah, depriest leaves congress in 1935. Hes defeated for reelection, actually by another africanamerican from chicago. Who is a democrat. Arthur mitchell, and hes the first africanamerican elected as a democrat to congress. And what you begin see in that decade of the 1930s into the 1940s, and you see it very clearly in this chicago district that depriest is from, is that theres a shift in africanamerican allegiance away from the republican party, the party of lincoln, the party of reconstruction, to the Democratic Party during the new deal. And part of that is, you know, it has to do with the fact that africanamericans are recruited by democratic city leaders. Theres the promise of greater political participation. Which is that promise that pulled africanamericans out of the south during the great migration to begin with. And also, the fact that there is they have a slightly greater voice in that new Deal Coalition that Franklin Roosevelt puts together. So they begin to be drawn towards the Democratic Party. Mitchell is the embodiment of that. Mitchell, however, is completely the opposite of depriest. He chooses not to be a surrogate representative. He downplays the fact that hes an africanamerican in congress. He doesnt want to push black issues, per se, as he told the press on numerous occasions. He serves for a couple terms, and hes replaced by another member named william dawson, who is one of the longest serving africanamericans in house history. Dawson, again, another individual who started off as a republican and moved to the Democratic Party in chicago. And hes important because by the late 1940s, he chairs the committee that will become what we now call oversight and government reform. It was Government Operations back in the 1940s. And he chairs that committee, really, with the exception of a single term, for the rest of his career. So for two decades. But hes another member who comes into the institution and unlike depriest, who challenges things frontally, he feels like he can make changes by fitting into the institution and trying to affect change from his position of power as a Committee Chairman. And you know, one of the interesting things about him is in addition to being Committee Chair and part of that institutional approach to things, he then has a portrait of himself as many Committee Chairman did, created. And its one of the first portraits of an africanamerican in the u. S. Congress. Which really raises it to a very elevated place in our estimation. William dawsons portrait, its the first africanamerican Committee Chairman portrait in the house collection, and hes the first africanamerican Committee Chair of a Standing Committee of the house. And its a wonderful portrait in that it really represents him as the embadeodiment of a committe chair. Its not one where there are sort of lots of other elements to give you clues to who he is. Its about the stature of the man. Hes standing alone. Hes standing in a very conservative blue suit. He looks like a member of congress. Thats something thats really important, that part of this is, part of his approach and many peoples approach to working in congress as members, is to be part of this important institution. And he uses that and becomes an incredibly longserving Committee Chair. So william dawson, as chairman of the Government Operations, was a member who had a legislative style that was very much a workhorse style. He was behind the scenes. He didnt want to be in the media. Very quiet, determined, but very low key. He contrasts his style of legislating, contrasts markedly with the fellow who is here, represented here in these objects. Well, this is a wonderful book we have, its by Adam Clayton Powell, one of my favorite members of gres. This was published, marching blacks. Its published right after hes elected and beginning to serve in 1945, and Adam Clayton Powell was definitely a man ready with a program for progress. And is ready to tell you all about it. He was the pastor of a Baptist Church in harlem. He represented a harlem district, and he served a very long time in congress. This is from the beginning of his congressional career. This later moving from the paper form to wax, is a recording he made called keep the faith, baby. Its a series of speaking meditations on a number of different issues. These really sort of bookend his career, which is very long, and he is no william dawson. He has a very different approach to how to do things. All human beings, black and white, rich and poor, equal in the sight of god, keep your faith in the life of your fellow man, even though he abuses you. When he abuses you, he makes himself a lesser man. Great man once said love your enemies, bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you, and pray, pray, pray, pray, pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Keep your faith. Up through the 1970s, powell was the person who kind of embodied civil rights in the house, right . Civil rights in congress. Hes elected in 1944. He and dawson are the only two members of congress for a number of congresses until the early 1950s, and two very contrasting styles, whereas dawson is very behind the scenes, powell is out front, talking to the media, pushing against segregation practices in the house restaurant. In the press galleries in terms of accreditation of africanamerican reporters, hes constantly pushing the envelope. Theres a great story we covered in our book black americans in congress where sam rayburn, the revered longtime speaker of the house from texas, has a conversation with powell when he first comes in. And the gist of it is, freshmen listen quietly and learn. And dont go causing a ruckus. Well, you can imagine powell, this new yorker from harlem, listening to this texan from bonham, texas, explain to him the ways of the house, and powell looked at him and said, mr. Speaker, i have a bomb in both hands and im ready to hurl them. So, but he had a great relationship with raburn, according to raburns account afterwards. And but he is constantly pressing the envelope in the house. He gets onto the education and labor committee, very influential committee, particularly by the 1960s when we go through a reform period during the kennedy and johnson administrations, and particularly at the start of the Great Society with lyndon johnson. Hes chairman of the committee, and it pushes through 50 different measures related to education reforms. So a very substantive legislator in addition to being having a showhorse kind of style. Very flamboyant. Well, one of the things i think is interesting about him is that those two aspects, because theres the part where hes known as mr. Civil rights, and hes very willing to very willing to champion civil rights on all levels, both legislatively and in the life of the house. I remember you telling me once about even something as seemingly minor as sitting in the House Chamber and where you sit in the House Chamber, that, too, came up for him. Theres another story that one of his biographers tells. Seating in the House Chamber is open, as long as you respect the party bloc tradition, democrats to the speakers right, republicans to the speakers left. When powell came in, there was a very prominent southern member who told the press, and this man was a chairman of a committee, said i refuse to sit next to a black man on the house floor. And so what powell did was follow him around for a day on the floor, this very Senior Member, and take a seat next to him every time he sat down, and force this very Senior Member to move around the chaumbmber, whia lot of people took note of, including the press. Afterwards, powell told a report, you know, im a baptist minister by training, and i dont know whether to baptize that man or drown him, so powell had a good sense of humor. He serves for, oh, boy, to the early 1970s. So hes one of the longer serving africanamericans in house history. You have to remember, when powell came into congress in the mid1940s, there was no large Civil Rights Movement happening outside of congress. There was nothing happening. And that doesnt come along until the 1950s with Martin Luther king and the southern christian leadership conference. And so powell is very much the face of civil rights in the u. S. For more than a decade. But then, once that movement begins happening outside of congress, as one of his biographers has told us, he begins to compete with it a little bit because hes no longer the face of sylcivil rig. And over time, his attendance, his behavior becomes a little more erratic. The house actually in the late 1960s refuses to seat him. The Supreme Court rules that he is in fact entitled to be seated. But by the late 1960s, he has kind of run the course of his career and leaves the house in the early 1970s. And in some cases, we see that in the artifacts we have in the house collection. In the case of this late artifact from 1967, keep the faith, baby this recording in which hes really sort of hes speaking over the heads of congress and directly to the people very much by producing this. And hes a great orator. He was a terrific preacher. And if you ever see a film clip of him preaching, its really quite something. And he then releases this on jubilee records as another example of the way hes inserting himself into the conversation. We have two artifacts in the collection that are similar in style and usage, but the small differences in them really show a change in africanamericans serving in congress over just a 15year period. From the late 50s to the mid70s. The late 50s object is a fan. And its called the nations neeg negro congressman, and was clearly printed in large numbers and was passed out for free. In the last 50s, it contains a big picture of the capitol and four members of congress. The four africanamerican members of congress who served at that time, all in the house. And then, if you jump forward to the mid70s, instead of four members of congress and a big old picture of the capitol, its gotten so crowded there that they have eliminated that. Language has changed. Instead of the nations negro congressmen, its black lawmakers in congress, and there are over a dozen members there. And it really shows a kind of before and after of a particular time in American History and congressional history. It kind of really covers sort of the 60s and the very early 70s and the changes that happen for africanamericans in congress, right . Right, the big change that h happens in the middle of that period is the passage of the Voting Rights act in 1965, extending protections to africanamerican voters in the south allowing them to register. That has some pretty big implications for quite literally changing the face of congress over the course of the next decade. In 1965, there were just six africanamericans serving in congress, all in the house. By the mid1970s, that number has grown to 18 members. And over time, its an increasingly diverse lot. We get our first africanamerican woman, shirley chisholm, in 1969. But more specifically to the Voting Rights act, which protects voters in districts that where they had a hard time registering previously because of local laws and state laws and disenfranchisement, we have the First Southern members elections since reconstruction. Andrew young from georgia and Barbara Jordan from texas. As the number of African Americans in gres congress incr one thing this allows the core group to do is create an issues caucus. En in 1971, we have the formation of the black caucus, which is roughly a dozen members at that point, but its able to exercise some power as a voting bloc and as an organization which educates members on issues that are important to the black community nationally. And so the black caucus becomes involved very early on in things like opposing apartheid in south africa, Building Momentum to pass a federal holiday to commemorate Martin Luther kings birthday. So its operating at a legislative level. But inside the institution, too, its important to africanamerican members because its doing things like getting them on to bigger and Better Committees and into positions where they can influence a broad range of legislation. One of my favorite parts of the house collection are our campaign buttons, especially as they relate to africanamerican lawmakers. We have some from the very early period in the early 20th century for Oscar Depriest, for example, and moving forward as the members of congress grows and grows, africanamerican members are represented more and more by a variety and number of buttons. Some of my favorites are for ron dellums, just because hes a fascinating member from the west coast who comes in, as everyone does, brand spanking new, and ultimately comes to chair a committee of the house. In fact, we have a button right here, ron dellums, our congressman. So clearly, this is from a Reelection Campaign of his. And at that point, he had already even begun some of the most interesting things he was doing in the ways that he operated within the house, right . Yeah, dellums is elected to congress in the 1970s election. Comes into the house in 1971. Hes a veteran. He had run on an antiwar movement, running against the war in vietnam. He represents berkeley, california, which has a strong antiwar constituency, and he wants to get on committees where he can begin to affect military policy. He begins to lobby to get on the Armed Services committee. Hes also a cofounder of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971. And he uses the caucus to help move into a position where he can get on Armed Services. And one of the stories that he told us in an oral history interview was going to the speaker of the house, carl alvert, and appealing to speaker albert to put him on Armed Services. And this was in effect going around the Committee Chairman who was a southern dixiecrat from louisiana. And he went in to make this pitch with his fellow Congressional Black Caucus colleagues, louie stokes and bill clay, with clay playing bad cop and stokes playing good cop, and dellums trying to weedal his way on the committee. He said we got all of the members of the cbc, you know, on various committees, but we couldnt do anything for ron. So thats when we started to talk. And mr. Stokes said, mr. Speaker, its a matter of principle. Nudged bill clay. And if you dont put the brother on the committee, were going to denounce this as a racist institution and call a press conference. You have the nice guy going this is a matter of principle, ron dellums knows these issues. And bill claying saying this is about fairness and justice. So at a certain point, carl albert got up and he said, im going city to see if i can get thing reconsidered. At that moment, i knew i had won. So we walk out, and i said, its over. Lou said, you really think so . I said, the fact that the speaker said they were going to reconsider it, its done. Okay. Hour and a half later, i get this phone call. Im the first africanamerican appointed to the house Armed Services committee. Incredible thing. So dellums gets on to the committee. Finds out from speaker albert that hes got the assignment, but thats only half the battle because he shows up on the day that the committee is being organized, and he realizes that there is just one seat thats been put out for him at the dais, and that seat is going to have to be shared with Pat Schroeder, another antiwar candidate who had come into congress in that session. First day we organize, Pat Schroeder, who had just won as a freshman, was on Armed Services. The two of us are at the bottom of the rung, but theres only one chair available at the committee table. And nobody wanted they didnt want another seat there. Just one seat. And i looked at Pat Schroeder and introduced myself, and i said my name is ron dellums. Im from california. She said, i know. And im honored to be here with you. My grandmother taught me not to let people make fun of you cheaply. If its okay with you, its cool with me, why dont you and i sit in this seat, side by side, together as if its the most normal thing in the world . And she said cool. So ron dellums and Pat Schroeder sat on this one seat, and we never acted, even though we wanted to scream, we said no, we just let our silence and our behavior handle it. And they didnt know what to do because we didnt scream. So the next time the two seats were there, we made our point, and we moved on. Dellums service on that committee is really kind of reflecting a wider period of reform in the house where the power of Committee Chairs is rolled back, and junior members and a diversity of members, africanamericans and women, get bigger and Better Committee assignments. And within a Congress Representative dellums is part of a group that helps remove that original chairman from the committee and put in another chairman. And eventually, by the end of his career, he chairs the Armed Services committee. So one of the other changes thats going on here is more africanamericans are elected to congress in the decades, the 1970s, 80s, 90s, as we see for the first time women represented in that group. The very first was shirley chisholm, who was elected from a Brooklyn Center district in 1968. She comes into the house in 1969. And someone, again, who very much has kind of a showhorse legislative style. Shes out talking to the press. Shes very much part of a feminist wave of Women Congress members. She serves alongside people like bella abza from new york, and she eventually serves on the house rules committee, which is a powerful committee in the house. But throughout her career is kind of, again, another person who is a symbolic or a surrogate representative, not just for africanamericans, but for women. And following her throughout the next four decades are roughly 40 africanamerican women who are elected to congress. And thats an impressive number when you look at that number relative to the number of africanamerican who have served in congress from the beginning. Its a much larger percentage than for example, caucasian women or Hispanic Women or Asian American women. So again, kind of the rising influence of women within that community and their role in congress. You know, one of the things thats interesting about looking at women in congress and africanamerican women in congress is seeing the role, seeing the role on the National Stage. And we have a couple artifacts here that really illustrate that. Heres a cover of ebony magazine from 1969. Right Shirley Chism took office, and this is shirley chisholm, first black woman on capitol hill, and she like other black members of congress, really become important National Figures, particularly in the africanamerican press. For example, right around the time when the Congressional Black Caucus is created, ebony magazine is able to put a lot of folks on the cover as that is created. And it really becomes an important caucus, an important issuesbased group, but each of these individual people become important in different ways to different communities. Evonne burke is here seen on the cover of jet twice. Once in the 1960s when it says women who may become congresswoman. And she does not become congresswoman in 1967, but a little bit later on, she does, is elected to congress, and very much showed up on the covers of actually a lot of magazines as a face not just of black women in congress but of women in congress and of younger women in congress. Shes the first member of congress to have a baby while shes serving. And she shows up on an ebony magazine cover holding her baby in something that probably the first time there had been such a cover of a lawmaker holding a brandnew baby. Shirley chisholm always becomes a National Figure in ways that are shown by these two buttons we have here in the collection. They dont say anything about Shirley Chisom running for president. This really places her in with a feminist agenda, and that was something that very much was important to her and on the National Stage in the 1972 election, she was very much putting together a very Interesting Group of people, and if you look at film clips of her at the democratic convention, its really interesting to see her, really seasoned, talking about her delegates and what shes going to do with them, things like that. Theyre very skilled politicians who also become, as you say, showhorse approaches to things, so when you see behind the scenes and in front of the scenes, you really see a lot of action going on in the 70s. I stand before you today as a candidate for the democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of america. When the Congressional Black Caucus is founded in the very early 70s, one thing they do that really sort of is striking as something that brings them to more prominence than just yet another caucus in congress, is that they really become they really place themselves in a national context, and one example of that is this fantastic record album. Its the first annual benefit concert for the Congressional Black Caucus, and was held at the capitol center, and featured such fantastic people as cool and the kang, how can you not like that, and Gladys Knight and the pips and was very successful and was part and parcel of the Congressional Black Caucus being a real power. There are thousands of objects in the house collection of art and artifacts. And these are just a few of them. You can learn a lot more about them on our website, which is history. House. Gov, but even more importantly than going to the website and finding out about stuff, the thing that i think is important is that these are all objects that really represent this incredibly long history of an incredibly long and important institution. And each and every one of these, from an object like ron dellums our congressman, just text on a background, to something far grander like a portrait or a picture of shuirley chisholm ona magazine, each is putting a human face on the house of representatives and makes the Institution Just that much more accessible to all of us so we can really get a sense of who were these people, who were the people who represent us, who counts in american democracy, and what is our role in it, too. The history of africanamericans in congress is an important one for us to preserve and tell. It tells us, really tells us a story at two different levels. One is the history of our institution and some of the dynamic people who have been a part of it, some of the unique personalities. And also how our institution evolved as africanamericans became part of that. And its in that perspective, too, that the other stories thats being told here is the one of the africanamerican experience nationally, postcivil war, from reconstruction to jim crow to the great migration to increased political participation during the mid20th century civil rights and its really telling two very important stories that the house is both affected by and also affects. To see more photographs, artwork, and images of africanamericans in congress, visit history. House. Gov. The website is a collaborative project between the u. S. House of representatives, historians office, and the House Clerks Office of art and archives. Weeknights this month, were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. Tonight, we feature several events hosted by the National World war i museum and memorial in kansas city, missouri, beginning with gary armstrong, discussing the u. S. Senates rejection of the 1919 treaty of versailles to end world war i, which president Woodrow Wilson spent several Months Overseas negotiating. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, and enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. Youre watching American History tv, every weekend on cspan3, explore our nations past. Cspan3, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. My name is eric finley, and i am the