Debates its spurred. Sunday live at noon, join the threehour conversation with best killing author peter swiets zer. And an American History tv on cspan3 friday evening 6 30, the 70th anniversary of the United Nations with jerry brown, House Minority leader nancy pelosi. Saturday night at 8 00 hear a Brooklyn College classroom lecture on the revolutionary war and how individual personalities, supplies and timing often influence the outcome of major battles. And sunday afternoon at 4 00 with a look back at 1960 film featuring actor and performer joe brown about a nationwide search for old circus wagons and the efforts to restore them in time for a july 4th prayed in milwaukee. Get the complete schedule at cspan. Org. Cspans 2015 cities tour takes American History tv on the road to explore the rich history of cities across america. This hour were featuring Historic Sites in tulsa oklahoma where we recently traveled with Cox Communications partners 37. I got started in oklahoma thats where i was born population down there is onethird indians, one third negros and one third white people. So i hit the road when i was about 13 years old doing all kinds of odd jobs all over the country and living amongst all of these people and actually picked up a lot of songs. This land is my land this land is your land from california to the New York Island from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters this land was made for you and me Woody Guthrie is most famous for his writing of this land is your land but he was much more than that. Born in 1912 in oklahoma. So were very proud to have his work back in oklahoma where we think it belongs. He was an advocate for people who were disenfranchised for those people who were Migrant Workers from oklahoma, kansas and texas during the kus bowl era who had found themselves in california literally starving. And he saw this vast difference between those who were the haves and the have notes and became their spokesman through his music. The Woody Guthrie center was opened and started with the purchase of the archives from woody woodys daughter. The plan to have the Research Facility in tulsa. As the concept grew into the idea of opening up those archives to a new generation and teaching people about woodys important part in American History, this museum came to be. We really consider it a place to inspire people. We want them to investigate what woody did with his talents and inspire people to go and use their talents to do something of their own. When the sun come shining, then i was strolling many of the people who were displaced during the dust bowl were just looking for a better way of life. Some of them had lost their farms due to foreclosure. Others lost their farms due to the dust bowl itself, the drought and all of the winds that just blew their soil away and they had nothing. So they were promised this garden of eden and plenty of work. Come to california and well have plenty of work for you. Its a wonderful place to be. Then when they arrived, they found out that was not really what was going on. They had been the victims oftentimes of a marketing ploy by large land owners who were trying to get very cheap labor. Because they knew if they had an over abundance of labor they didnt have to pay them much. The workers had no rights. Whenever woody arrived and saw that, it just didnt seem right. In our country of plenty where so many have so much, to allow families to struggle so horrifically and to degrade them in a way that makes them feel less than human was just its not acceptable. This area of the center focuses on the dust bowl experience and the dust bowl era since that was such an important part of who woody was and really started his work. Its a significant thing for us to mention. Also its such an important part of our history as oklahomans oklahomans. We want to make sure that the young people understand the resilient people that they came from and the way they persevered in the face of this Natural Disaster that was actually manmade. Had the plains not been plowed like they were and overcultivated then the dust bowl would not have occurred like it did. So in this area we have an exhibit that features some dorothy lang photos with woodys writing to compliment items about the dust bowl migrants and what they were dealing with, a sketch of him going to california and then one of his scrapbooks its one of my favorite pages. Its just a short little notation in answer to some articles that were posted about him. He just says oh yeah, ill do everything i can to help the folks from oklahoma, dont you worry. I just think that really speaks for who he was and what he was intending to do. Also we have lyrics that woody wrote, leer rick to tom jode, a nod to the family tommy run back where his momma was asleep he woke her up out of the bed and he kissed goodbye to the mother that he loved everybody might be just one big soul it looks that way to me everywhere you look in the day or the night thats where im gonna be thats where im gonna be where ever little kids are hungry, wherever people aint free wherever men are hiding for their rights, thats where im gonna be thats where im gonna be then if you aint go the do ray me, which talks about the way that people would be greeted at the border and told if they didnt have money they werent going to get into california. And then dust pneumonia. So many of the especially very young and very old died because of dust pneumonia. Woody recorded very few songs of his own. We have a listening station that features 46 of his songs in his own voice. Most of the time when people hear Woody Guthrie songs, theyre not woody singing them, theyre someone else. He spent his time traveling. He spent his time in the Migrant Worker camps and Union Organization rallies. So he didnt spend a great deal of time in recording studios. Thats what makes the recordings that he did make so significant and so important to us. Back in 1927 i had a little farm they call heaven if the the price is up, the rain came down, the i hauled my crops into town woody definitely had themes to his writing. Woody wanted to make sure that his people were wellrepresented in his artwork and his lyrics. Theres some sketches here, city of los angeles, no children wanted. And you have the hoovervilles over here and this shining city in the background. I do like that he says theres one consolation left, the children that are raised in the sun will always be the brightest. Woody was working with the migrant displaced workers. He felt that the one way that they could actually make a difference, that they could create workers rights was to unionize. At this time that was a ding rouse concept. Today its like okay yes ill join a union. At that time not so much of an issue without facing violence. In these lyrics, 1913 massacre, he talks about a party where some Union Members were joining during christmas and the boss man created a panic by saying there was a fire and then locked the doors. So that was in michigan. A lady she hollered theres no such a thing keep on with your partying with theres no such a thing i think woody would go back into history and research other events that still were pertinent to the struggles that the workers were still facing. In the first line he says, take a trip with me back to 1913. So he makes it clear hes going back. And hes telling the story of this massacre that happened in 1913. So hes pointing out that this fight that theyre facing for workers, for the displaced oklahomans, the problems that theyre facing are still alive today. And these people who faced this disaster should not be forgotten. Again, woody was an artist and he used his artwork sometimes in a playful way, other times for social commentary. Oftentimes a combination of both. So he has this almost a little story that he tells about the hand, the worker the hand thinks it over and the hand cusses boss out, the boss yells cops, law and order comes, and hand is charged with trying to overthrow u. S. Government, then joined the cio. So if you have these struggles, join the union. Were currently in the area of the center dedicated to this land is your land. Of course since that is the song that most people recognize as a Woody Guthrie song and its an important theme for our country. We wanted to make sure it was given its proper credit here. This land is your land actually celebrated its