Through to grid politic washington. Also ahead a toxic workplace. And so they found that this chemical was emitting 13,000 times what it should be in order to be safe for a human. Exactly. Because page after page of these kinds of things america tonights Lori Jane Gliha follows up on her investigation into worker safety at the Hanford Nuclear plant. Now theres more to it. Investigators make a direct link that could be key to getting help to those who badly need it. And an unlikely warrior, she stood up in defense of those who held her as a slave and to protect a piece of american history. She had monumental courage to approach armed Union Soldiers and a Major General in the u. S. Army, and tell them that they needed to protect these objects. Who she was what she saved and why, at the edge of the Potomac River , sel elena gray made her stand. Good evening, thanks for joining us, im joie chen. The blowout, wave, landslide, whatever you call it the enormous and in many cases, unexpected success of republican candidates in mid terms were a day of intro specks for whats ahead, the republican, compared with the democrats 43. In the house, 244 seats are currently red, 180 will be blue. Republicans will also have twice as many governors in the state houses as democrats do. Its a new day in washington with republicans in firm control of both houses of congress and this man, kentucky senator Mitch Mcconnell now the most powerful man in the gop. Its time to go in a new direction. With mcconnell widely expelled to take over as majority leader when the new legislature is sworn in. Searching for perspective. I think it became a nationalized wave election in the last week of the campaign and voters wanted to say we want change. We want to get something done. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired and you need to be in touch with our lives and get something done. Sending a major, major message. The president faced the national press, promised to work with republicans and told the American People that he got the message. Loud and clear. So to everyone who voted, i want you to know that i hear you. To the twothirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterda yesterday. I hear you too. On the face of the election the sweeping of the president s party soundly defeated for rlg senators and governors. Many who voted against democrats in statewide elections voted for Ballot Initiatives championed by liberals. Take the minimum wage. Voters in traditional red states like alaska, arkansas and nebraska chose republican candidates but voted for minimum wage increases, even when the victorious candidates like arkansass tom cotton and ben sasse of nebraska made it clear they would oppose such wage hikes. They understand that voting for a democrat and the principles and platforms that have been presented by democrats have not been beneficial so when i look at it, i think voters are coming to these crossroads of where do i go . Another cross roads issue pot. Proponents of legalizing marijuana celebrated in portland, oregon where the measure passed with 55 of the vote. Tonight oregon won a great victory. [cheering and applause] a better approach, a smarter approach to how we treat marijuana. Residents of d. C. And alaska, too, voted yes to Recreational Marijuana while voters in arizona approved medical marijuana. Then theres approaching sending corey are garner to the senate. What makes voters choose republican candidates but support the initiatives that are trirnl champione trcia traditionally championed by democrats . Corey garner changed his position on personhood. They were much, much savvier candidates who didnt get out of voters. Headed into the mid terms we told you there were five hot buttons that we would be watching closely. Now we know, in some ways they did defy expectations. First off we wondered what role minorities and women would play. Voters of color did make up a bigger piece of the pie. African american and Asian American voters grew and latinos made up 11 of voters nationwide. But democrats who counted on those increasing numbers to put them over the top missed the mark with another key demographic. Single women who gave democrats their smallest margin since the early 90s. We also watched closely what impact voter i. D. Laws and what what is called Voter Suppression efforts. And virginia who found this glitch, the machine wouldnt stick with the voters choice. Election protection is a group that monitors Voter Protection issues. Also on our watch list, what happened with Ballot Initiatives . Those often local issues, things like transportation or education issues often bring out more voters in a mid term. Experts say a controversial one can raise turnout as much as 8 . As the saying goes, all politics is local which may explain why a big headline issue, ebola turned out to have limited impact on the mid term elections. Not for lack of trying, the virus appeared in 1200 plus ads. Arkansas, iowa and georgia, the candidates who jumped on the ebola issue early and bought the most commercials went down to big defeats. Which brings us to number 5. All that money. Pretty soon youre going to want to do this to your tv. The most expensive mid term yet, more than 3. 5 million spent on ads in a nonpresident ial year. In the wake of the Citizens United ruling, tv stations and ad agencies were flush with business and the socalled dark money from outside Interest Groups brought in some 40 of ad revenue. Al jazeera political contributor, dr. Jason johnson said guilt by assumption played a big role. The president did actually acknowledge in the days leading up to the mid terms that this would be, his policies would in effect been on the ballot. Man this has got to hurt. In a way his policies actually won on the ballot. Its just his candidates didnt. If you see with legalizing marijuana, happening in red states. I think Obama Policies remained popular, why he got elected, it was obama himself who was unpopular in a segment of the population. A rather large part, a significant portion. You know in georgia theres been a very active effort to try to bring out more minority voters, bring out women, Michelle Nunn lost in her race for senate. Im not shocked. First and foremost, you cant go get minority votes and young voters by showing up in the last 15 minutes. You cant show up with flowers at my house at 11 00 and say do you still love me . You have to do some courting for a while. African American Voters turned out in quite good numbers in North Carolina and georgia but in other states little or no effort. What do you do before 11 00 at night with your flowers . 2016 . This is why Hillary Clinton sat back and kept laughing and measuring drapes for when she became president in 2016. Thats a little presumptuous. It wouldnt be surprising. The mid term electorate and the president ial had elect rats are electorates are so different. Democrats can always do well by bringing everybody out to vote in a president ial election no matter how popular republicans were actually more successful with women and the polls coming close to the mid terms saying yes you know what they closed a gender gap here. You can close a gender gap when you can both sort of mix between local issues and national issues. But when you have two candidates who spend two years talking specifically about what theyre going to do thats when republicans tend to have difficulty. So i dont see things as radically, i dont think the map has been changed that much for 2016. Its going to be really important for republicans to govern and get good policies out there to help themselves. When people say this is the race i wanted to stop gridlock, thats why i voted for the person i voted for. Im not sure i understand how this is going to end gridlock. No its not. I dont think people who voted necessarily believe the. Theyre disgusted with government. I put this in context. Congressional approval is at 13 now. U. S. Approval of Vladimir Putin is 9 . Thats how much people dont Like Congress but when you only have a two party system when you are unhappy you basically just have to vote for whoever the out party is. In many respects smart republicans recognize this is as much a rejection of gridlock as it is an intoarm endorsement of their policies. You have to think of those independents, greg norman who is nominally independent, angus king got his bid why werent they more successful if people were really working for alternatives . Because money matters, that always comes into play. If you look at how much outside money came into kansas and North Carolina, 94 million was spent in colorado for only 3 million registered voters. So outside money can play orole because even if independents have idea for what voters want they dont have the money to back it up. To get Sam Brownback reelected, the republicans put 4 million into that race seems to have worked. Definitely, if you put that much money in there is a direct correlation how much you spend versus how much you put in. Which goes to those voters that say they dont want that much money in it but seems to get their votes. Exactly. Jason johnson thanks so much for your contribution here. Later in the hour well return to our look at the fallout from America Votes 2014 with the battle for kansas and what republicans learned from teachers who took the states leader to task. Right after the break working themselves to death . I cant get a good breath of air. Im okay if i dont do a bunch of exertion. I cant mow the lawn anymore without fear of collapsing. They fear a toxic workplace put their life at risk. America tonights Lori Jane Gliha follows up on the workers at the Hanford Nuclear planned. Now she tells us, theres more to it. Could a new report bring help . Following up now on a story we brought you recently about a group of sick Nuclear Site Workers who have better than fighting for benefits after being exposed to toxic chemicals and radioactive waste. They worked in hanford in Washington State and thats the most contaminated site in the country. Some are retired now waiting for compensation after being exposed decades ago. But others say their exposure to toxic vapors continues to happen today. Now as america tonights Lori Jane Gliha terms us theres more to it. A new report just out proves the workers claims. At hanford washington where 200 million is being spent reporter hanford was key to the manhattan projects, a top secret bomb making project in the 1940s. It was on this 586 square mile desert site where workers produced the First Nuclear reactor and the bomb that ended world war ii. Last react shut down in the late 80s. The federal department of energy hired thousands of workers to help with the massive cleanup still going on today. Dale gear worked at hanford for nearly 30 years. How often did you walk around with no mask at all . Most of the time, almost all the time, yeah. How often did you think about your health . Um you sure wonder what you were breathing in. Reporter as a Nuclear Chemical operator gear worked in the tank farms. His job included making sure the million gallon underground Storage Units filled with chemical and radioactive waste functioned properly. Now retired and suffering from the lung disease copd, his priority is his health. I cant get a good breath of air. Im okay if i dont do a bunch of exertion. I cant mow the lawn anymore without fearing collapsing. Even going up and down a flight of stairs. While dale suffers from his long years at Hanford Health care workers say the issues persist. The wave of sickened workers has led to evacuations and work stoppages at the site. Guess what, everyone is not okay, long lasting effects for events that happened in march. There is a lot of focus on the radiation out here, there should be. However theres been very little focus on the chemical threat to workers. Reporter Tom Carpenter founded hanford challenge, a nonprofit watchdog organization, they found these documents, found that chemical levels were much higher than necessary. Concentration limits were 13,000 times the oel. They found that this chemical was emitting 13,000 times what it should be in order to be safe for ahuman . Exactly. Because page after page of these kinds of things where you know there are 3,000 times, 3700 times the permissible limit, you know, 2778 times. Reporter in july hanford officials said they tested thousands of air samples and found no evidence of dangerous exposures but just five days ago, results of a five year test of the site revealed theres strong evidence that a causal link exists. Major deficiencies in the Current System. The government paid contractor responsible for site was putting workers at risk. They are into denial. And it makes me very angry and very sad for have this system to allow that, its heartless. The october report echoed what carpenter has been saying for quite some time. The Current System at hanford is incapable of detecting the kinds of toxic expoarl that are making the workers sick. No system to capture toxic vapors before they are released. The review panel made 50 recommendations for review and enhancements at the sites, including developing better ways to detect and control vapor emissions and enhancing safety protocol. The Company Released a statement in response saying implementation of some recommendations is already begun or been completed, including the required use of minimum halfface respirators in single shell tank farms starting in september and the hiring of additional Industrial Hygiene staff. Although the contractor says i. T. Has already made many of new health and safety protocols it says could take years. Lori jane gliha, al jazeera, hanford, washington. We just heard from Tom Carpenter in lori janes report. He is the man who founded hanford challenge and he joins means. Can you tell us tom how much a break through this really is . Will it really be able to help these workers . Well, we hope so. This report was a watershed report insofar as it showed us and told us that workers at the hanford site are in danger every day that theyre working out there. Because of the nature of the chemicals that come out of these tanks into the breathing space of workers and the fact that they are connected to Health Damage that happens. And they found that the program at the hanford site isnt sufficient to protect these workers from these vapors much less detecting what theyre disposed to or giving them the appropriate medical treatment. If the system is incapable of detecting exposure, it means this is in jeopardy for some period to come right . Thats true. The answer is to put workers on whats called supplied air, like wearing a scuba tank except at the tank farms and they have to wear that all the time until there are sufficient procedures put in place and processes put in place that can protect workers out there. And this report actually does a good job of laying out a set of recommendations that, if followed, will protect the workers in the future. But for the current time, workers do need to have their respiratory systems protected by this scuba, by breathing air thats supplied in a tank and thats heavy and dangerous in and of itself but its better than getting cancer down the road or getting brain damage from inhaling dangerous vapors. There are reports from other agencies and experts that have said pretty much the same thing which says workers are in danger. There need to be better protections for them and heres what you need to do to accomplish that. However, that hasnt happened, as we now know. There have been 60 people exposed this summer requiring medical evaluation. So you ask a very good question. And to me, the answer is you need outside independent oversight. But it hasnt happened yet so well have to keep watch from hanford challenge, that person Tom Carpenter, thank you. A community casts its vote, the ban with the most trorvel type of extraction, fracking and the text company trying to stop it. And ahead, what he thought about slavery. Lee was very conflicted, he wrote letters back to his wife about how slavery was tearing the nation apart. The untold story of robert e lee and one of the people he kept as a slave was the one who stood to defend him. Now a snapshot of stories making headlines on america tonight. University students in mexico kick off a 72 hour nationwide strike to demonstrate their solidarity with 43 students who went missing after a clash with police in the town of igawala, a fugitive was apprehended along with his wife. A kuwaiti man held at quoam Guantanamo Bay has been released. Hearings will periodically review whether prisoners should be kept locked up. The president is seeking 6. 2 billion in emergency funds to fight the ebola outbreak, additional money funds would be used to confront the deadly virus in west africa and to secure the advantage youous to america. Not only in the area ever Energy Independence but employment. On key stone theres an independent process. Its moving forward and im going to let that process play out. Ive given some parameters in terms of how i think about it. Ultimately, is this going to be good for the American People, is it going to be good for their pocketbook is it going to actually create jobs . Didnt take long for that fight to get started. Ali velshi head of real money, how is keystone playing with the markets . The markets have long been betting that keystone will ultimately get built. The Obama Administration seems to be delaying the decision, seems to have been delaying until after this election. The reality is there arent many reasons the delay it. There are valued oppositions to keystone being built, people are not comfortable this is going to be safe enough and weve had oil price plunging. The result of that, people coming into america or there might be market pressures to say we dont want this extra canadian oil. Generally speaking, the senate almost had enough members to overcome a veto by the president on this. And it does seem like now there will be 60 or more senators in the United States senate who will approve of keystone. So probably, the chances are better today than they were yesterday that keystone xl will get approved. Hang on here l ali. I hear people saying this will bring more jobs to the table. That is not entirely true. There are Jobs Associated with the construction of the pipeline probably 2,000, thats relatively short term jobs. The republicans have latched onto the idea that the pipeline is going to cause jobs, that is not true, pliens do not create jobs, we have got, you put the pipe in there it moves oil, there arent a lot of Jobs Associated with it. They have been using this as a carrot for this that is not actually the case. The bigger issues are that democrats in many cases dont like because of the environmental damage that is done at the source. In the Canadian Oil Sand it has been traditionally a very, very dirty polluting Energy Intensive way of getting owl out of the ground out of the ground. Oil out of the ground. It is one of the dirtiest ways of getting oil out of the ground as opposed to drilling it. In the end this is a country joie with many, many thousands o of pipelines. This is a market would react the other way if there was some chance that it wasnt going to get built. It does look like this ultimately will get approved. Ali velshi telling us the truth about real money. Thanks ali. Thanks joie. Plenty others relating to energy including fracking were, that controversial Extraction Method has fueled Americas Energy boom, came up in many places many of them denton texas. America tonights sarah hoye visited earlier this year and found bitter divisions. Reporter you dont see many children playing outside in this north texas neighborhood. I feel like im trapped in my home with my small children and its absolutely not fair. The safety and the health of my family and my community has to take precedence over oil extraction. Over gas ex transition. Miley bush moved to denton text before the fracking. Now her dream home has become a nightmare. Whats going to happen if the well explodes . You constantly live in a state of terror because you have no idea what theyre doing precisely and they dont tell you. I had to buy a gas monitor and a Carbon Monoxide detector because you dont know whats going to happen. Denton sits atop the barnett shale. The barnett shale is also home of the most intensive gas Drilling Operations ever attempted in an urban area. Bush. This is literally in your backyard. Yes, it was right outside my door. I could have hit known a tennis balm and hit the tower. She said when the well was being drilled the neighborhood was unlivable with the round the clock noise drilling and truck traffic. I want them to go away from the city. They dont have to be right next to where they contaminate the air the water and the people. Hydraulic fracturing or fracking pumps large amounts of water mixed with sand and chemicals into a shale formation to release natural gas. There are more than 270 active wells within denton city limits and even though the city established a 1200 foot setback from homes for new wells the rule doesnt apply to any existing wells that could be fracked den at an again at any time. And this is what residents are concerned about. In april after a gas well blowout homes were evacuated and flights were diverted from denton municipal airport. Dallas based Eagle Ridge Energy the same company that operates the gas wells near bush and ingrams homes failed to report the blowouts for hours according to local reports. It never ends. Im never going to go to sleep at night and feel safe and secure. Alarmed local residents have taken things into their own hands. People like Home Health Nurse kathy mcmullen. Who helped spur a. Were putting it in there were just saying do not frack any more wells, 187 feet from a childs bedroom. Her successful petition drive prompted the city to call a special session. For nearly eight hours City Council Members heard from more than 100 people. I plead you to please, ban fracking. Save our city. Save our state, save our country. Its safe and do i challenge all of the antienergy activists, with their accusations about fracking. It does not happen that way. I know theres a lot of emotion, i know theres a lot of passion. But also, what any time you want to resolve a problem you want to figure out the best strategy. In order to approach that. And i sure wish i knew which one it was. Reporter shortly before 3 00 in the morning in a 52 vote the Council Voted against the ban deciding instead to send the issue to voters in november. Motion to deny is approved 52. Sarah hoye, al jazeera. And on Election Night in denton the antifrak ing forces finally won out. 58 of the vote. That is not the end of the story however. Royalty owners have filed suit to get the vote overturned. Denton is the only community in the state to outlaw fracking. Right after the break, casting their votes in the battle for kansas. The on the ground warriors who leads the state in the future and what the get out the vote tells us. On the next talk to al jazeera, legendary tv host dick cavett. Steve jobs said, how does it feel to be dick cavett . About the only question thats ever floored me, you know . Talk to al jazeera. Saturday. 5 00 eastern. Only on al jazeera america. Rodriguez. We see you at the top of the hour. When you talk about intense races, few match kansas. Republican governor Sam Brownback did beat paul davis. What threatened to take down that once particular governor was the brownback experiment, his promise to slash income taxes, aiming to spur job growth. Many kansa kansans fear. Will follow them through election day. Thank you so much. It is so appropriate that were right here. The great tradition of kansas schools started in one room schoolhouses just like this. As the candidates rally support just before election day the polls have been moving in favor of the democratic challenger, paul davis. When jill and i got into this race a lot of people said to us you dont have a chance. Youre running against Sam Brownback, hes got all this big money behind him and youre a democrat and this is a republican state. We are certainly not having any conversations like that, are we . [cheering and applause] thank you to all the teachers. The teachers have been absolutely tremendous in this campaign. Ive seen the red shirts all over the state and the 35,000 teachers in kansas city. And they can make a big impact on the selection and i think theyre going to do that exactly. Now its election day. In topeka, Paula Ackerman has a lot at stake. She is concerned brownbacks big cuts would mean big cuts to education. Shes been volunteering for paul davis. Thats why i and the other teachers have been so hardworking and diligent about trying to get our word out. We just have to do something. Its time to take a stand. Hi, thomas, this is susan schmidts. You have . Thank you very much so much, appreciate it. Like her friend paula teemp stephani teacher paula took the day off work to get out the vote. What surprises everyone is that i make sure i remind them im a full time teacher. So i guess what i tell my friends who tell me they dont have enough time, im making time because this is important. Theres been so much damage done to our state, to our states economy to our public schools. Its the budget figures that im seeing, are accurate we could have to cut perhaps 400 million from our state education budget. Its going to mean closing schools, its going to mean cutting programs. Around i really dont even and i dont even know what it will take. I think if you dont participate, then theres no point in having a democracy. I mean the whole point of having a democracy is that people actually get out and try make it work for the people. My name is amber, im a volunteer with the kansas republican party. Calling people to remind them its election day. Its very important election, were expecting turnout to be low and we are looking forward to your vote. For Sam Brownback. If you have questions where you have to vote youve already voted . Thank you so much polls going into election right now. Those polls have been all over the place. I question the polling. They have been on the same day you have polls going Different Directions and the one that matters is the one tonight. Very interesting to me, that you would have Mary Kay Culp is president of kansans for life. Some of Sam Brownbacks active support. You want to go to topeka . I still havent voted, i got to go vote, ill tell kathy and youll get there when you get there and well have some yummy food and then well go up there and well win. I love it. All right, bye, bye. So if we win tonight the credit should go to a lot of different people, especially us but theres been outside groups come in that have done some work, thats great. And but weve been working on this baby for nine months, so and we know the state and were the biggest most influential prolife group. And you have to keep in mind there are interests that do not want his economic plan to win. Because if it does, theyre afraid it will spread all over the place. Businesses are starting to come to kansas from missouri and other places. If davis wins well be discouraged for a day but we never give up. This is a life or death issue. We never give up. I cast my vote. And i havent ever seen a second row of parking even when i come to vote and they said this is actually light compared to how interesting. I dont know if thats good or bad. I really dont know. As she leaves for a brownback watch party shes worried about the polls showing davis with an edge. Paula ackerman. The. If davis wins i will tell my republican friends toll told you so, you should have joined me, things are going to be better just watch out well prove it to you. My gut says were going to have a new governor in the morning. By the time mary kay arrives only a quarter of the precincts have reported and brownback is still trailing. What about sam . Still down. But the big first is coming in slow, the big first will carry us. I hope so. Were going to hold even on the third but the big first will hold for us. Its amazing i had butterflies all day. The polls close in 15 minutes, paula joins with her friends at a democratic party. Tied. I hear theyre tied right now so we are kind of on pins and needles. Isnt it funny how in america a couple of votes can mean total difference in administrations. And in this Case Complete difference of philosophy. And so thats why its important. Suddenly brownback pulls ahead. Give Sam Brownback 2,000 votes more than davis. [cheering and applause] oh my god whoa all right. Were coming to topeka now. Were jumping in the car going to topeka. Yeah. I do because Douglas County hasnt come in yet. Stephanie and paula are worried. Oh im so happy for you. And then, its over. Where is he . laughing . Do that again. I wont do it again. You cant do it again. Never again. Oh wow man bring it. Bring it. Congratulations governor. I think so, wait one more time. Wait a minute, lets get a real one yay, thank you so much, john. I cannot tell you how much it means to stephanie and i and jill and her family that youre here with us tonight. Moments ago i called governor brownback and congratulated him on winning a second term. Im in a state of disbelief actually. Im in disbelief that there are so many uninformed voters out there. What were you thinking . What was it, were you informed . Did you check the facts . Do you understand whats going on . I dont think they do. But i dont think i really dont think we can change them. And so republicans keep the governors seat in kansas. It was a big night for gop governors overall. Republicans will hold 31 state houses, democrats 17, when the winners are inaugurated. Most people head to hawaii to relax take in the sun and surf but others get a real bang for their buck. It is paradise on earth. Waikiki beach and honolulu. Where surfers catch a wave, couples find romance and some tourists, fire assault weapons . Every day on streets in front of high end stores like gucci and cartier, tourists are offered the chance to fire guns at luxury shopping malls and hotels. What do you offer these tourists . Experience. It is gun tourism and its growing. Last year Time Magazine called tourism. There are now four private gun clubs within a half a mile of waikiki. And according to the hawaiian Rifle Association nine out of ten patrons at these shooting ranges are japanese. Firing weapons they never could back home because they would be breaking three separate japanese laws. Punishable by up to ten years in prison. The problem is these tourists are out to have fun and critics say gun range profiteer ares nor too eager to be stripped with their customers. Do you have concerns these gun ranges are operating lawfully . Well i called one and asked them what was the age requirement. And they said oh, we dont have one. And i was shocked. America tonights adam may will have the full story on gun tour i in hawaii tomorrow on america tonight. Up next here tonight, who was she in what is Hallowed Ground at the edge of the potomac, once lived confederate robert e lee, what she did to preserve history. Saturday on tech know. A brutal killing. A thorough investigation. Were pushing the envelope. But this is no ordinary c. S. I. What went on right before that animal died . Hunting the hunter. Were gonna take down the bad guys. Solving the crime. We can save species. Tech knows team of experts show you how the miracles of science. This is my selfie, what can you tell me about my future . Can affect and surprise us. Dont try this at home. Tech know, where Technology Meets humanity. Saturday at 7 30 eastern. Only on al jazeera america. Finally from us tonight, before he fled south during the civil war, confederate general robert e. Lee lived on an estate in what was now arlington cemetery. The house rich with history still stands of course. Now a rare photograph emerged of another notable american who lived in the house or rather the slave quarters out back and it is thanks oher that arlington house was preserved for future generations. America tonights Sheila Macvicar has the story of these american treasures. The civil war one of the first conflicts to be captured on camera. Photography was really coming of age during the civil war. Set up portrait studios and captured the lives of americans enstraddle bentralledenthralled. Enslaved americans. Still more rare, photographs of slaves who can be identified which makes this photo taken at general robert e. Lees estate arlington house truly oneofakind. The fact that it is associated, to the slaves of the lee family is truly one of a kind about of. There is no name on the photo but in the collection there is another picture, clearly the same woman. When a National ParkService Volunteer collector of early photography found this listing on ebay with a starting price of just under 2 he knew the importance of the image and immediately alerted the group save arlington house. What followed was an intense bidding war heated until the last minute. Ultimately arlington house donors came out on top, purchasing the rare photograph for 700. The mysterious woman in the photograph was selena gray, standing with one of her two daughters in the front of arlington house. Stands magnificently over looking the Washington Area and the river. The house and the people who lived here, slaves, and slave owners, are an important part of the american story. En2009ing th entwining the stories. How was this constructed . It was constructed entirely out of brick. Selena gray was somewhat of a legend. Selena gray was born selena norris. She had from mt. Ve vernon. She was probably born here at arlington. A direct descendant of that washington, selena gray grew up on these grounds. It was an 11 acre plantation and the two women most certainly knew each other as children. From there, their lives took different paths. Their stories are preserved in arlington house largely thanks to selena gray. When the lee family fled south, it was sleefn a selena who mary gray entrusted with the keys of the estate. They took over the estate, they took over the plantation and began moving into the house. The Union Soldiers began looting the house, filled with lees personal belongings. Many which belonged to martha washington. Selena gray first confronted the Union Soldiers and mcdowell and told them that these were mrs. Lees things and these were George Washingtons objects, objects critical to the history of this nation. Among the objects the china that George Washington ate from, window draperies paintings and pieces of furniture. How was it that selena gray an enslaved African American woman could approach a Union Soldier . She had a monumental courage as an enslaved African American woman to approach soldiers and a Major General in the u. S. Army and tell them that they needed to protect these objects. I can imagine this middle aged African American slave going up to this commander and saying what . General mcdowell actually wrote in his orders that he was approached by an African American slave who told him of the importance of what was in the house. He immediately reacted, secured the house, and eventually, he went through the house, most likely with selena gray, and identified those washington treasures and had them all shipped to the Patent Office downtown for safekeeping for rest of the civil war. Even before the photographs surfaced, there was already quite a bit known about selena gray. Selena was mrs. Lees personal made maid, personal servant attending to her needs every day and they developed a very close bond. So close that when selena got married to Thornton Gray another slave in the household, it was held in the house. Marriage outright for slaves was incredibly rare and really was not permitted. So the lee family was actually breaking the law by allowing them to be married. And that speaks to both the familys own moral views it speaks to the familys moral and religious views and to the relationship that they had with the slaves. The question of slavery was a complicated issue in the lee household. They themselves owned at least 60 enslaved African Americans in arlington. We know from their letters that they are corresponded about the evils of slavery, put the condition. At the same time, they also write about it being a Necessary Evil that was needed to control these enslaved individuals. They did believe that ultimately, the slaves should be freed. But politically, that was a position robert e. Lee was never willing to take. Robert e. Lee was incredibly conflicted. He wrote letters back and forth to his wife about how slavery really was tearing this nation apart. At the same time, he never felt he could bear arms against his home state, friends and neighbors. Selena stayed in the state several years afterwards. General lee finally freed them after the emancipation proclamation. They bought land nearby, finally leaving arlington house. But selena grays legacy remains, both if her descendants and here in the house on the hill overlooking the capital of the United States. Sheila macvicar, al jazeera, arlington. And we salute that american treasure. Thats it for us. Well have more of aamerica tonight, tomorrow. Announcer this is al jazeera. Hello, welcome to the newshour. Here is what is coming up in the next 60 minutes. Libyas u. N. 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