gulf of mexico. 30 miles from the state of texas. louisiana if you think of it as a boot. it is the part of louisiana that bridges the west and the south, thecreole and the cajun, western culture in the southern culture, all in one place. it started at the end of the 18th century. spanish andery few french explorers across this area. it has always been a very remote part of louisiana. you can't get to lake charles by water from the mississippi. it has always been separate and apart in terms of thinking. when the louisiana purchase was made, this part of louisiana was not part of the purchase because by definition, the purpose of the purchase was to buy everything drained by the mississippi. we are drained by the callously river. , for 50 yearst after the purchase, this part of louisiana was essentially a no man's land with an undefined border between the united states and the empire of spain. apart andn a part -- aside from any of its early years. ofthe 1820's, after the war 1812, the battle of new orleans, some rifleman were given land in the far western part of louisiana. that is where some settled. others who came here where the french people, the creoles. this was an area, it was no man's land, joe lafitte had his forays. amazon, upsan service to the early residence of southwest louisiana. he brought goods to trade because nobody else would trade in this area. settlers were essentially cattleman. they ran cattle on the open prairies of southwest louisiana. they branded cattle on strange land. there's a very strong tradition of creole cowboys, black cowboys, beginning in the 18th century, going into the 19th century, conducting trail rides and cattle drives of these wild range cattle from here to the eastern ports. cowboy culture starts in southwest louisiana. because southwest louisiana was no man's land by actual agreement of two closest forts, a spanish one and forge a so -- fort jessup, had an agreement. they had a gentleman's agreement was this part of louisiana not going to be visited by militia or tax men or any sort of law. it was just underpopulated, weote, difficult to get to, are not going to bother with those people there. if you go there, you are on your own. this, by many journals, when enslaved people escaped, many times they went north. but some went west. that was written in the ledger. west, it meant she escaped to our corner of louisiana. when settlements were actually 1840's, there are the established communities of fleet -- free blacks in southwest louisiana. the best example is the town of ale, established in the 1830's from freed slaves who might've had other lives and careers in other parts of the south but escaped here. this was a place where they knew their masters would not come for them. there was no protection. after the civil war, we faced reconstruction. what happened in reconstruction for us was that the northern entrepreneurs came here, we called them michigan men, they came primarily from michigan in order to revive and invest in the lumber that was here. they knew there was still plenty of lumber, longleaf pine and cyprus, that was available. the heyday of that post civil war boom was then. that was a time when there were 28 sawmills in lake charles. the railroad came through. increase exponential in the way the city grew. the big change in lake charles city was9th century the great fire. it was in 1910. it was on a very -- in a very dry april. the fire was extremely intense. it was literally burning the city of wood. there were very few brick structures. lake charles was a sawmill town. roofs were made of wood. sidewalks were made of wood. cisterns were made of wood. churches were made of wood. in that great fire, this culture of wood was absolutely assailed. this very rich pine and cyprus had pitch and tar that made buildings explode into splinters of buildings. the firestorm which howled in hoursharles over 10 or 15 was such that 15,000 people lost their homes. the city was rebuilt almost exactly on their rashes. ashes. therewith an intense decision to build bigger and stronger. spittle top had already happened. madness for looking for oil and gas everywhere. oil and gas has always been a big part of southwest louisiana, in terms of the exploration and discovery. it actually really came more to fruition with the actual refining of oil. we had the ideal situation. we were suited in terms of where rail lines crossed, whereby -- where barge lines were connected. oil was able to be moved in and out very easily. 40's, 20's and 30's and we have this huge explosion of the oil industry here. lake charles is now reinventing itself as a resort and recreation town. maybe 100 years being blue-collar sawmills, railroads, that kind of thing. it is now the chemical industry. we are getting into the idea that this is a place for you can play as well as work. lake charles is part of the south and the west. it is more lake charles. it is an unusual place to be. it's past is not what you would expect. it's future is something that is -- it has built itself. what can i say? i think it is a welcoming town. it's not perfect. you can live a good life and southwest louisiana. the don't mind the heat, you can live a great one. it's a place that takes chances when it needs to. it's a place that is very conservative when it needs to be. it is a place that provides opportunity to a lot of people. it is not just blue-collar anymore. it is much more than that. >> the south is an important incubator of second wave feminism. it is not a story that is widely known. primarily because the people who have written about the second wave were generally people who were from the north or landed in the north. people outside of the south tends to highlight what happened in bigger areas, that is to be expected. the often glossed over southern origins of a lot of second wave feminism. the second wave of feminism had a lot of complaints about women's second-class status in the united states. it had to do with lack of opportunities, in careers as pay,as education, unequal which was standard at the time. they are rebelling against that, just like anywhere else. there's not a lot difference in southern feminism. they tended to do a lot with shock and awe in the north. the most famous being the miss american pageant. they picketed it in 1958. that is where the term brought burners-- bra comes from. the intention was that they were going to burn it. they couldn't get a permit for the fire. they didn't actually start any fires but that is where the term comes from. that was in atlantic city. that's a very archetypical act that you would see in areas of feminism in the north and west. they are very out there and in-your-face. in the south, you see less of that. that is one reason why the history of second wave feminism in the south really hasn't gotten a lot of attention. they weren't in front of the cameras. they didn't want to be. they believed they could work better and more effectively by maintaining appearances of decorum. they are already pushing up against really strong obstacles, very conservative legislature. women didn't feel like behaving as radicals would help them. it was a political move for them to try to maintain traditional feminine decorum. they don't stand out from your average woman, the way i like to betray them is, a lot of them are church ladies. they go to church with everybody else. they look and dress like everybody else. that is not what northerners consider feminist a lot of the time. they won't notice that those women are doing feminist things and working within the centers of power through existing established institutions to try to bring about a more favorable situation for women. rouge on a to baton very regular basis. lobbied with a male legislature. they would try to put forward bills that feminists supported. they weren't always successful. a lot of that had to come from the pfeffer met -- federman government. they were not able to get the ratification of the e.r.a.. louisiana was non--- one of the non-ratifying states. they were able to get a lot of other things. another issue for them was violence against women. within the home as well or on the job. they took up all of those issues over a period of time. it doesn't mean that it stopped rape or violence. at least there is recourse for , and to make a complaint the police will listen to them because they are trained to pay attention to that. before this happened in louisiana, the mystic violence was not a crime. it didn't matter if the police were called and she is beaten badly. what he did to her was not criminal. it was in the home. if it had been outside on the street, it's a crime. things, working through the legislature to have those things made a legal that hadn't been illegal before. all of those were impediments to women's progress. if they are afraid of the men in their lives. those are all things that they worked on and through. i would argue, as most of my colleagues who work on feminism in the south would also argue, that it was so much harder for southern women to get anything. we have to remember that they were fighting long odds because the legislature and the good old boy culture was so conservative here. even if they don't accomplishment -- quite as much as what women in new jersey or new york may have accomplished at the state level, they got a lot of -- accomplished. again the good old boy network they were up against and the overwhelming conservative paul on the state. that is praiseworthy, that they were able to get as much as they were. i will give you a couple of examples. when they went to the legislature and lobbied, they tell stories about the legislators cheating them -- treating them like pretty little things and patting them on the head. putting their arms around them, wouldn't you like to meet me in a bathroom sometime? era.potty issue in the one of the first female legislators in louisiana, 1980, was mary landrieu. she was beautiful, young, 23-year-old blonde. when she was sworn in to take oath, she had to walk down a long i'll to get down to the front -- aisle to get down to the front. as she was walking down the ai sle, she was cap called. there were putin hollers. hoots and hollers. other players will be less known than her. they are not doing the shock and all tactics. -- awe tactics. there would be people like sylvia roberts. she is someone that is getting more recognition now. they are humble people. she didn't seek the limelight. she cared about gender equality in the law. she was an attorney. volunteered for the national organization of women in the 60's, when they just formed. they were looking for volunteers. she was a volunteer for this area. she took up the case of lorena weeks. until about 10 years ago, that got no recognition. it was the first ruling in favor of gender equality based under the civil rights act of 1964, title vii. said, this isourt a federal district court, that women could not be denied the opportunity for advancement based simply on their gender. .hat was the first win that was sylvia roberts. a lot of them are working through the traditional ones in -- women's only organizations. that would include the league of women voters. nobody ever thinks of them as being a feminist institutional organization but it was. they were in the vanguard in louisiana of getting out the and getting women to lobby, teaching them how to do it. that, -- theyg are very respectable people. iny were in the forefront the south because they were the ones at the legislature all the time. they look like church ladies. they were the one standing up against the men to get some of these changes put into place. there's a lot of negative connotations that come with the term feminism. we have a strong feminist movement. i would consider myself a part of that. we have an active now chapter. it is not very big. feminism in louisiana has never been a very big movement. people don't often want to be associated with the term. it scares them off. we call it the f word. say, ir a lot of people support feminism, i support the goals but i would never, so the feminist. tatiansat -- such bad, -- that connotation. i believe in history as activism. using history as something that can be inspirational. i would love it if young people in louisiana would read the book and say, these women were up against some really incredible lots, against good old boys networks in the patriarchy. look at what they managed to accomplish. i hope that by looking at the history of the movement in that that will inspire them to continue the fight. it is a continuous fight. you can't ever let up on that. do, there are conservatives who will come in and tried when do what feminists won for us in the 1970's and 80's. find -- >> what i find interesting, although he has this historical past, the legends erase some of that. a lot about laws, even though they had done certain things that became horrible, they are celebrated. lafitte was a-- noted pirate in the early 1800s that roamed the louisiana coast. toleft new orleans to come set up base here around 1812. while he was here, he began to develop relationships with early pioneers in lake charleston. he was from the old world. he had connections to france and spain. john lafittemade what he was. the american government passed the embargo act. if her betas from trading with those old world countries that historyjohn lafitte's peaks. he was making sure the residents of new orleans had goods from european countries. new orleans is a port city. it is a city full of people who had very strong ties to france and spain. they spoke french and spanish in new orleans for a long time. frenchy was governed by and spanish rule. the louisiana purchase happened in new orleans became an american city, jefferson and some other american officials worried about the population of new orleans. would they be loyal to the new american government? jean lafitte maintained that relationship with the old world. craftad wine, silver, that the residents of new orleans sought as a part of their daily lives. jean lafitte possessed an incredible skill of navigating waterways. he had a knack for getting in and out of praises -- places that other ships couldn't. a was a person that had command of men. in the southern parts of new orleans, he was the de facto boss of a large group of pirates or smugglers, exiles from the old world. because he occupied that have land, half water area, a place for the authorities cannot apprehend him, he was able to maintain the supply of goods with the city. he became famous for that. the new orleans residents loved him for what he could supply them with. he could skirt around these laws that they sought is unfair. he became wealthy. friend p are became a well-known smuggler. drew the attention of the local government. the governor of louisiana at that time wanted to a rent -- apprehend jean lafitte. you have the grand plans of issuing handbills that said, $500 reward. he posted them around town. jean lafitte in. the next a, there was a reward of $1000. when the battle of new orleans became a folktte hero to the entire state of louisiana. many people feared that the british would take new orleans. we didn't have the ammunition or manpower to defend the city. the person they considered a traitor, who rallied his pirates and came to the aid of the city. he donated men, a lot of those people were evidently former members of napoleon's army and they defended the city. great deal of flint and ammunition and cannons to defend new orleans. some historians say that lafitte accidentally attacked an american ship. for some reason, he was expelled from new orleans after the battle, even though he was a hero to some people. that is when he came to galveston and set up base there. this part of louisiana, from the river that runs through lake charles to the river that divides texas and louisiana, it was still up for debate area -- debate. the united states thought they had purchased all this land but the spanish government said they hadn't. debate a long-standing about who won't this territory. that lasted four or five years after the louisiana purchase. spain agreed to this official neutral territory. this whole region in western louisiana was considered free range, people couldn't set -- could settle here but no troops could move in. here, seeing it as a space to operate freely. so did a few others. some of the earliest members of , one who the town people cameter, here for that same sort of freedom. it was a chance to claim land and settle in a place that was remotely, relatively free and open. galveston,he can to according to local legends, he began to capture ships and sees their goods. some claim that he stayed on galveston itself and use his captains to capture these both. others credit him to being this expert captain and navigator and having the ability to navigate through the embargo. there are several legends in town about stupendous things he did in the bayous and rivers locally. one of the most famous ones, he was being chased by a navy gunner. --went up to one of his shell beach along the lake, he anchored his boat and came ashore. he made up a defensive breastwork to fire on the returning navy gunner. he sank his ship so the navy gunner couldn't capture him. day, people claim there is buried treasure with those ships at the bottom of the lake. throughout the town, there are spots where lafitte supposedly buried his treasure. he had this reputation for capturing ships and stealing their gold and taking hold of their contraband and selling it. there was a great deal of what lafitte traded was typical commodities. there is evidence that he traded in slaves. that becomes a problematic issue for people. that's part of the debate. many people say lafitte never traded slaves. others say it is a historical reality. it's hard to pinpoint how long he was in this area. most people would estimate around 5-10 years. eventually he leaves galveston and that area and either dies or goes south, near mexico. most people say he died around the late 1820's. most people would say that jean lafitte was in this part of louisiana up to 10 years. endingst folk euros, the of his story is complex. it is surrounded in mystery. the historical record might but localmething, legend and local history would say something else. he was an outcast. person who was wanted by various officials. clear set of information of what he was doing could be problematic. corruption during the civil war was a serious problem. war, had been before the and it notoriously continued to be after the war. it was one of the biggest problems in american politics during the gilded age. during the civil war, that was consistent. tremendous growth in national government during the civil war in the virtual lack of regulation of it encouraged this as well. corruption was a serious problem , beyond question. to be worriede about it. it was interesting the extent to which they were serious about it spiraling beyond practical concerns, people like jefferson had fears about the moral status of the government and the republican experiment. that is what i was most interested in, how these theories about corruption illustrated the beliefs and values that people had at the time. one of the first and biggest wasdals of the civil war called the shoddy aristocracy. that term was invented during the civil war. it refers to clothing made out of an inferior type of cloth. the soldiers would get these uniforms that would disintegrate in the wind -- rain. the idea being that government contractors were defrauding the government by selling them inferior product. men in thee million office he and you need these uniforms. you have to get them from somewhere. there's this problem with government contracting. there were real problems in scandals with this. that becomes a huge scandal. fear thatover into there is a class of people who are opportunistic and unpatriotic, during the war for national survival they are acting out of greed and a poverty. they are preying on the country in its moment of need and crisis. one figure that i find particularly interesting and ambiguous, general benjamin , a militiautler officer. charge inutler was in various occupied areas in virginia and new orleans. butler himself did little to deny that he profited greatly off of his military administration. especially when he was involved in new orleans. it was a very rich region. he personally invested in that. his constituents in massachusetts were greatly dependent on the cotton trade. he and his brother were alleged to have made millions of dollars off of this. he didn't deny it. he said, it's his patriotic duty to trade and benefit his constituents in massachusetts. fear and tremendous hatred of him, he was hated for multiple regions -- reasons. he's a very controversial figure. part of it is his promotion of this cotton trade, which was seen as something that was potentially unpatriotic and selfish on his part. from his perspective, it was something that was promoting this greater good. not handleent did the corruption issue particularly effectively. part of the reason for that was differences of opinion between president lincoln and republicans in congress about who should be responsible for this issue. it's a republican administration and congress. even so, there is tremendous conflict between, even in the last year of the war, there was a congressional investigation into the cotton trade. product,ing a southern it is coming out of the confederacy and into union lines , probably mostly illegal. it is happening a lot. lincoln gave permits for it. didn't like it. modern in his was thinking in the sense that he believed in the patriotic value of self-interest. he believed that southerners who had been loyal to the union, if you brought them back into the union through trading with them, that this would hasten reunification. that was a very optimistic vision. possibly he was totally wrong about that. many republicans in congress thought so. there was this fundamental disconnect between lincoln and other republicans. that and the lack of president for how you would deal with this kind of scale during the civil war, which nobody anticipated when the war started. fear of corruption doesn't go away at the end of the civil war. it becomes in some ways one of the central political issues of this overlapping. that happened after the civil war. even the name the gilded age comes from the mark twain novel that he co-authored. it is getting at something that looks nice on the surface and is more rotten underneath. this gildedut of age sense that you have this grant administration. state governments including had notorious corruption scandals. in newvernments take york city, there was corruption at every level pervading government. a difficult political issue in the south with the new reconstruction governments in which african-americans are voting. that makes the southern republican governments particularly vulnerable to these fears and accusations. they become targeted and seen as being uniquely corrupt and wasteful. they were more vulnerable because there were pre-existing fears and hostilities and prejudices against them. it really undermined reconstruction. white northern republicans withdrew their support. the allegations had truth to them but no more true than their own city and state and federal governments in the north had. of thed the demonization african-american republicans in the south. mostwas probably the important political issue in terms of consequences of that. a lot of things including accepting bribes for legislature is not clearly illegal in the 19th century. it is corrupt but it sort of depends on putting laws in place. your own personal ethics. the 13th amendment passed because lincoln and secretary of state led an effort to bribe democrats in congress to support the amendment that would and slavery. to some people, that is our corruption. your position to trade face for the outcome you want. passage of the greatest piece of legislation in american history. is that corruption? some people would say so. one said that corruption aided broughtted, lincoln about this great result. we would see it as a political deal. but someone wanted support for this event had to make a deal to get something in exchange for it. to civil war americans, that is corruption. you are putting your personal desires over the greater good. it becomes fuzzy what is politics and what is corruption. the definition changes over time. it is still very contested how we define corruption in government. change. the act itself is not going anywhere. how we think about it and how we deal with it is more what's up to us. >> originally he was born a slave in the northern part of haiti. the date is not sure because we have few records of when he was young. the date is assumed to be made 20th 1743. during the time when he grew up, haiti was a french colony. today thought to be a poor country. at the time it was the richest colony in the western hemisphere. it provided sugar and copy to the european market. this was made possible by threading plantations which were heavily reliant on african slave labor. haiti, there were half a million slaves in the 18th century. the death rate was extremely high so this population was not self-sustaining. to sustain the population over one million slaves were imported over the course of the 18th century from africa to haiti. in comparison 600,000 were brought to the u.s.. the revolution is not quite a revolutionary. he is a striver. being a black man in prerevolutionary haiti. support his family members. to do so was not to start a revolution because everyone has failed in the caribbean so far. werey of rentals -- rebels executed in some way. instead what he would do is try to collaborate with the elites. close to the manager of the plantation, the family that owned the plantation. emancipatedt he was before revolution. probably with the help of his manager. after that is when he became a free person of color. he worked within the system even going as far as renting slaves to a small plantation of his own. trying to gather farms so he could obtain the freedom of his old ones especially women and his family. slavery was passed through the female. emancipatingng and the females would be the way to and emancipate all of them. means trying by moderate to make the lives of his relatives slightly better. by frenche accounts chronicles of the revolution, this was a lightning that struck. have been of haiti very quiet for 400 years. revolutionh the there have been a conspiracy by british or spanish agents. what made the revolution possible and successful was the a revolutionre was in france in 1789. haiti being a french colony, they were fighting france they were exported to the colony. the population of haiti finding each other. -- that give an opening to the population to consider revolt. the population of haiti was 90% enslaved people. 5% free people of color. 5% free whites. freeraphically the population was outnumbered. the difficulty was finding one another. it became dangerous for them to the rebels thought this would be the moment to strike. began in haiti, it was the largest the world had ever seen. to give you a point of comparison, the largest revolt in u.s. history was one next to new orleans in 1811. it involved i've hundred slaves. from theting haiti get-go involved the best bulk of the slaves in haiti which was 50,000 people. that made it a hundred times larger than the largest revolt in u.s. history. within years, in golf -- it engulfed all of the slaves in haiti. authorities in haiti asked for help from anyone who could send troops. from france and the united states, cuba and jamaica. under the grounds that they were all slave colonies and they would benefit from extinction volcano in the middle of the caribbean. they received little help because the neighbors were theent to see the french in middle of such great difficulties. onnce had a revolution going and have few troops to spare. they had to fight many wars in europe. whenever some troops could sleep through the -- slip through the british navy. the troops that did make it to haiti failed to make a difference due to the climate of haiti. it was conducive to mosquitoes and diseases that tended to be very deadly for european troops and not accustomed to the caribbean. did manage toance send reinforcements to haiti, eventually the bulk of them ended up being killed by fighting or suffering fever. we see him playing a greater role in 1793 which is when spain declared war on france and decided to attack. point, he decided to join the spanish army. what appeared in the spanish records as a general of the spanish army. acknowledgedrance that the slaves had one. they granted full emancipation throughout haiti. that, he decided to switch sides from the spanish army to the french republic which was now committed to emancipation. at that point, he became omnipresent in the records because he became a journal in the -- general in the french republic. when france abolished slavery in 1794, that completely changed the life of the black population of haiti. they have been considered property. they were subjected to racist discrimination. overnight, they became free but french citizens. property or had certain army and they could vote or be elected. contracted of haiti quickly. former slaves were told they could do what they wanted. what they wanted to not to -- work on a large plantation. the economy contracted by 95% into the protection of coffee and sugar. he was adamant that he would restore the plantation crops. slavery was not a possibility at that point but by using some amount of propulsion. if the slaves were left to do what they wanted, then they didn't produce sugar and coffee. he devised a system. would be frees and earn a salary. on the other hand they would not be free to leave the plantation. underould have to work some amount of compulsion if necessary. for them to be reviving the plantations. him, the revolution was watching what was going on in haiti. to prove that emancipation could work and black people were not lazy incompetent so-and-so. he kept insisting you have to work harder to prove to the world that we can be successful. his admonitions fell on deaf ears so he had to result -- resort to force to convince the black people of the plantation to remain. he was in power up until the time he was overthrown by an expedition in 1802. betweence of the rift him and napoleon was interesting. the two men were often compared side-by-side. because their character was the same, they were both products of the revolution. military great leaders, women eyes is. sides point where two often described him as a black napoleon. the fact that both of them were ambitious individuals led to a clash. thateon became convinced he was sufficiently loyal to france so he had to go one way or the other. in the spring of 1802, napoleon sent an expedition to haiti. massive fighting, broke out as a result. by the end of the spring he was arrested by treasury. put on a ship and deported to france. he was sent secretly to a prison east of france. where he was held without proper trial for the rest of his life. he was found in his cell dead. presumably dead of them on you. when he was deported to france in june of 1802, it did not stop there. the continued fighting became a massive struggle. between what was the army in europe and the rebels of haiti. through their education and encourage and the use of tactics , the rebels of haiti were successful. by november of 1803 to kicked got the last remnants of the army of napoleon. 1804, that is now remembered as a national holiday of haiti, they proclaimed the independence of haiti from france. the history of haiti was more complicated. the revolution was not there. it was as if the american's had won the american revolution but george washington was missing. he had been a gifted general but heo a corrupt man, loud, and said haiti was on a good path after the independence. he was murdered by his own officers. after that we have a long history of ups and downs politically in haiti. that plagued the country for the next 200 years. when you read resources about century, it is usually described as the pearl of the caribbean. when i talk about haiti today, they say this is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. the contrast between those two. his vast. fromntry that went to be being third richest to third poorest. the two main schools of thought being that either haiti suffered from the after affects of slavery. foreign meddling and domination. another important cause in my -- anduld be the lack of a great instability that suffered from. haiti, he means a lot. the national narrative is that this is the first black republican the world. successfulnd only slave nation in the world. a beacon to the world. done too well with independence. that moment of the revolution is the one moment that haiti shined all around the world. the one thing we try to do is give humanity. he appears a lot in the sources and various accounts. he can seem like a statue on a pedestal that people reveal, see from afar but he is very cold. michael is to try to get inside his head and figure why he did what he did. just a show demand not historical figure. >> lake charles is an unusual town. it is unusual in the sense of louisiana. it doesn't have a plantation economy. it is a town that has reinvented itself a number of times to make it work area >> while in lake charles we took a driving tour of the city. with loss lake charles author. >> thank you so much for showing us around. tell me about your time to lake charles. >> i was born here. i am a native of eastern louisiana. i came here to work with the department of labor. in doing that i had to learn the community and the industry and the history. with the history background from lsu, you become interested in where you are. >> tell me about the city. >> lake charles is in southwest louisiana. it is 30 miles from the gulf and texas. it is on the cusp. french louisiana, english louisiana, spanish louisiana. it has a population of 80,000. it was a blue-collar town. it started as a cowboy town. ,hrough the lumbering industry through petrochemical and to the wonderful mixed economy that it has now that includes gaming and recreation as well as blue-collar. >> should we see it? >> this corner was the no man's land. it was not part of the louisiana purchase. it served as a buffer between the united states and the empire of spain. that meant that this was an area that had quite a bit of use as a refuge for scoundrels and pirates. he knew most of the early settlers. the latelking about 1700s early 1800s. that is the. of john lafitte. he was responsible of the trade in the lower mississippi valley. he would relocate people for money. dealt with also the commodities. it wasn't just the gold and silver. we are on lake shore drive. >> we are seeing actual lake charles. >> this is the city's namesake. lake charles was named for one of those people who was brought to those areas -- this area by john lafitte. he had to escape europe and came west into louisiana then he pushed further west. then he settled along this sure. along the other side, you can see the working side of the lake. working assed to be well. >> tell me about the working. i am seeing a lot of refineries. >> we have a huge trillium refining industry. phillips 66 and sick of refineries. they are among the top 10 refineries in the u.s.. this is the biggest economic driver -- the biggest is the casinos. >> we can see those out by the bridge. >> or is one casino out there. are on port of lake charles property. they are billion-dollar investments in southwest louisiana and that is what moves the economy now. we are moving from blue car -- blue-collar to a mixed economy that includes resorts and hospitality. now we are seeing the river. it is the lifeblood of the area. it allows the port to exist. it provides for recreational activities. they are designing buildings to be much sturdier now than they were before. withstoodt have decades of existence are doing fine. the thing is new construction has to meet the requirements of fema. is highlyof water effective. storm surge has come up to this body of water. we do get flooding periodically. >> one thing people can't notice is it is hot. >> it is hot and humid. we do have 100 degree days. occasionally, 100% humidity. >> is tied for being the most humid city in america. you design your life to live inside during the summer and outside the other seasons. we are on ryan street named for jacob ryan. it connects north and south lake charles. it is the main drag of the city. >> tell me what this would have looked like a on in the history of the city. beenarly on it would have the wooden fronted buildings like the wild west town. and built ofy in pine and cyprus. richly turpentine. in 1910, the great fire demolished most of lake charles leaving us souvenirs in the rebuilding. including the city hall and the courthouse. buildings are wonderful pieces of architecture that remind us that you have to build well, build strong, built for the future. that is what they did area most fellwntown lake charles victim to urban renewal. there has do we see been a one generation renewal of all of this. it is now a fairly lightweight streetscape with wonderful additions. the trees and sidewalks and improved utilities after hurricane rita. they have been added to enhance the downtown experience. it is a backup for new entertainment music and other venues. a lot of entrepreneurial energy has been spent downtown. we are going to go right to the river. we will see how close lake charles is to the wilderness. going into the industrial part of lake charles. these vacant lots would have been covered with sawmills and construction shops and millwork fabricators. using the lumber they would have been harvested along the river. you can see we are going to get closer to the river. linean see the trees that both sides of the river. stylee seeing the bayou that you typically associate with louisiana. >> now we are going to follow the river. there are double loops. >> we are on the river. there is no guardrail. >> you are in the water. what on the northern banks, this is what early settlers would have seen along the river back then. in the day, this would have been floatingth cut lumber on this body of water waiting to be run into the sawmill and the mill shops of lake charles. >> it is interesting to me how quickly we went from downtown to this. dualityeel like that defines the city? >> it does. urban sort of a remote outpost in the middle of nowhere when you look at it on the map. you can go from urban lake almost to this instantaneously. no matter what direction you go out of the city, you can do that. >> hits in the refinery and the lake and the casinos and downtown, now this picturesque by you. if there was anything you really wanted to people -- wanted people to know, what would it be? >> i thought it was a great place to live. it has a lot of variety. it has to be self-reliant. one of the best experiences of that was after the horrible year of hurricane katrina and hurricane rita, when everyone was focusing on new orleans, lake charles rolled up its sleeves. it is a town that doesn't wait for someone to come save it. it is a town that will roll up its sleeves and work. that is good. that's a good thing. >> thank you so much. it's my pleasure. our visit is a book to be exclusive. todidn't introduce you c-span cities tour. bringing the book seen to our viewers. you can watch more of our visit. coming up, live coverage from massachusetts for the first televised debate between democratic senator elizabeth warren and republican state representative geoff diehl. followed at 9:00 by the u.s. senate debate between republican incumbent dean heller and congresswoman jackie roseman in nevada. announcer: live from the wc be d studios, a 2018 special. the massachusetts senate debate starts right now. >> good evening. welcome to the senate debate on to be 38. i'm john keller. political analyst here at welcoming our viewers online at cbs boston.com, our listeners on the views he -- and viewers across the country on c-span. let's welcome the candidates in tonight's debate.

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