The country exploring the american story as we take book to be an American History tv im the road. With the support of the local Cable Television provider, we visited only four cities in the last year. And over the next two hours, we will look and highlight from some of the stops. We begin our special feature in milwaukee. So this is the photograph of the lynching that occurred im august 7th, 1930, near indiana. James cameron was 16 at the time, was supposed to be the third person hanging from the tree. But he miraculously survived the lynching. His two friends abe and tommy, it was like 18 and 19 years old, they were killed that day. By mob. Between ten and 50000 angry white people. This was actually in North Central indiana. Join lynching took place. So you end up writing the book they called the time of the survivor story memoir of the memories of the surviving lynching. Actually started his life that when he was in jail. I was a mistrial that he was finally convicted and sentenced. Events writing the book, and vince cameron, was actually born in wisconsin. La crosse, wisconsin. In 1914. And his family moved around. His dad was a barber and they eventually made their way to indiana. So he grew up as a child in indiana. Eventually, as an adult he moved to milwaukee in 1952, and made his home for the rest of his life. When he was going up and and hannah come join the family moved im there. As a stigma and have significant note amount of africanamerican people primarily they didacus back in the 1850s, the actually fan black people from leaving in the state of indiana. It was in the constitution. As of the didnt have a great black presence in the state. In the town that he lived in, was kind of a mixed town of a small industrial town. His local factory there. A lot of farmers. A lot of farmland around indiana. And so it was a staple that had very kind of mixed reviews fox because of the racial dynamics in the state. Actually 1920s and 30s, indiana had more ku klux klan members than any other state. Very heavy presence of clue clocks clan members. It wasnt state for black people live in. So basically leaving up to august 7, 1930, the night that that lynching took place, the day before, James Cameron is known as jamie by most of his friends or apple. It was outside hanging out and two of his friends pulled up in a car, and his friends abe and tommy, they asked if they wanted to go for right and he said sure. Here is the 16 yearold kid jumping in a car with the 18 and 19 yearold friends. Unless they are driving, they go out by the river outside of town. They tell them im the way there, were going to rob somebody gives her name to get another car. And he was like wait a minute, i didnt come so long for this. But he stayed in the car and join they cut down to the river, there was a car parked there. I told him we want to go over to the car and rubbed the people in the car. And we give you this done, open the door, and states to come up to the people who are in the car. So he was very nervous about it, he didnt want to do it. But he mayday bad decision and that the peer pressure get the best of him and he opened the car door and as soon as he opened the door, he recognized the man in the car is the 23 yearold white guy with the name of our who was one of his best friends in town. Its actually best to park an issue such trying stan and zoe realized that, i dont want to be a part of this. He gave the gun back to avon tommy and he took off running. And then he was running and wrote a short time later he heard some gunshots in the brent all of the way home. The authorities realized the three boys were pretty soon after the shooting took place. A farmer across the road heard the shots, and came to the aid and took them to a dr. In town to be treated. And before he passed away later that night, ashley identified the three boys. Cameron and abe and tommy as well. So they already knew who they were. They went and arrested the three almost immediately. And once word spread around town, some of the neighboring communities that mr. Nair had passed away later that night, somebody put his bloody shirt, they hung it outside of the windowflame the crowd even more and then rumors spread staying that they thought mary was in the car with him. The rumor spread and eventually by the next warning, there was a crowd of thousands of whites in town. They were in intent im going into the jail and taking the three boys out of losing them. And eventually they wouldnt and they took dave and tommy out and murder both of them. Eight he hung them im a maple tree right next to the courthouse which is about a block i wake magellan join at last to get cameron. And they had to work around the rope around his neck and dragging him through the crowds and people were punching him. They were kicking him here they were spitting im him and calling him all kinds of names. And he recognized a lot of their faces in the crowd. These were people he knew. The people he considered to be friends of his. So as he approached the tree, he looked up and he saw avon tommy dead. And he thought that he was going to die next. And so he said a prayer to weve god. He asked weve god to forgive him for his sins. And then he says, he heard a soft voice. They came over the crowd and it was really very loud, is chanting we want cameron, became very part of why its. And he said he heard a voice that said leave this young man alone. He had nothing to do with these crimes. And miraculously, they let him go. They allowed him to get back to the jail. He had been beaten very badly. He ended up losing it kidney as a result of the meeting. The sheriff setting out of the jail later that night to take him to a community for safekeeping. And then he sat and he waited a year before his trial for, he was tried not for the murder he was tried for as necessary before the active manslaughter. He was convicted. In a sentence to 20 years in prison. I served four years before he see his part in. The photograph was a depict abe and tommy hanging from the tree and eric mandana. That photograph was taken by a local photographer. Ashley staged the photograph. Ashley has a registered off of the tree to get a better view and he put lights in front and behind the body. And he has people to pose in front of the body. He took that photograph and sold thousands of copies of it. In about seven years after the photograph was taken, a young jewish guy, actually saw the photograph in air quality so the lensing in the so he wrote home and called bear fruit. In turn he turned the bitter fruit in to a song of strange fruit which Billie Holiday staying. Black men screaming in the south strange fruit hanging, from the tree. Recent that was so important and the reason he wanted published was he realized that lynching was such an important part of American History. In a part of American History that was never taught in school. So he wanted people to be able to get it eyewitness account of the survivor of a lynching to see exactly what the dynamics of a lynching work. He basically opened up the museum, to tell the stories and really to humanize the victims of the lynching so the people wouldnt just see them as a name im a piece of paper or a photograph of someone who was murdered. He really wanted to humanize the victims of lit lynching. So we can begin to kind of developed the greater understanding of what happened. The lynchings, how widespread they were. And really just understand that its just another part of American History. Most americans the led to believe that lynching was kind of a Southern Institution but lynching occurred all over the country. In the lynching that cameron was in was in the North Central indiana. And there are several other very famous lynching photographs and there is one from omaha nebraska, there is a very famous one from duluth, minnesota. And really people in milwaukee, there were aware that wears a lynching in milwaukee as well in 1961. A young man of name of george lucky. So we do look at the lynching the stories tell us that there were over 5000 and that documented cases of lynching. And way more than this were never documented. The documentation came from a variety of sources. Ndebele news see pete kept a database and another placed cabinet database in the chicago newspaper also kept a database. So most of the lynchings that we know of, comes from stories that we heard from newspapers, and there were a variety of types of lynchings that occurred. Some were small, private people it takes her name in woods and murdered them. They met others who were known as spectacle lynchings like the one that cameron survived who are literally of thousands of people, all of the people from the community who are white, will be there as part of this. A festive environment to brooke people from neighboring communities that would come into that town people this angry event. But it was a very festive event for people who were there participating. I can read, all of the blocks, brilliantly found. Because they were frightened and they would be victimized as well and actually left. Until a couple days later before they came back again. Im in 1999, took a really important trip that led to the foundation of the museum. He went im a trip to the holy land with his church 1979. They were in jurupa, they did a jewish Holocaust Memorial and in virginia his wife of 68 years, and they were standing in this garden, he said you know what virginia, we need Something Like this in america to show what happened to black people. And all this freedom loving white people helped us all along this way who helped us in america. As head of the genesis of his beginning to say about starting museum and getting it the name to give it. And eight years later, about eight and half years later he actually open the museum im 1980. But the museum never really had a great deal of financial support. To make a sustainable and eventually the recession happened in the 911 attacks, the Great Recession in 2007, doctor cameron passing away im june 11th, 2006, all of those things negatively impacted his ability to stay open. Sawyer forced to close the museum. In september of 2008 because we literally ran out of her name. The museum is the very good place now because we were able to kind of contain doctor camerons work after the museum closed. Just a couple of years ago, there were started beat talk about someone building a new building that would have a place for the new black holocaust museum. So here we are in the space now. Were still installing exhibits. Were hoping to open the museum sometime before the end of this year. We have the opportunity to really kind of contain doctor camerons work. In a way that we were never able to before. With worldwide reach, still pertain to have our Online Presence as well. Some of the highlights from the last year continues. This particular rochester, minnesota. Famous people. Do you consider yourself a politician. Well i guess so. I have my own party no. There is no president in the party, no Vice President no secretary or anything like that. So its hard to get in. A right wing in a leftwing bloody. No. Henneman up the scale. [laughter] most people say that bob dylan, is leftist or somehow associated with the Hippie Movement of the 1960s or Something Like that. The voice of the generation of the 1960s. Those are the labels that were tested, they would look at him as perhaps a great leader of the antiwar movement. In and went to an antiwar march. In fact, bob dylan is certainly not partisan. You cant stick him in depressed or republicans. And i would also see that you really cant see that he is exactly left or right. There were certain themes of the come through through his life. About is politics. The subjects are social justice, support for the underdog, suspicion of institution, and authority and concern about abuse of power. Those things are necessarily the domain of the right or left. And i say the most people have a misconception about what bob dylan is. Off dylan grew up in northern minnesota. Having minnesota. And that is a portion of minnesota known as the iron range. This kind of a specialist in minnesota. In a wouldve gone to the iron age and state late 18 hundreds or early 19 hundreds, wouldve been a hotbed of radicalism. You would run into socialist and communist, these are folks working deep underground and iron minds. This is part of the Labor Movement that existed in america at this time. And so dylan himself at one point said that more suspicious of bankers going up and communist. And of course bob dylan grew up in a jewish household is that it mayday mint minority im the iron range as well. So obviously this might have an impact to im his support for the underdog and that sort of thing. The answered my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answered my friend is what blowing in the wind in the 1960s, early 1960s, 1950s as well, the Folk Movement in america sprung up. It was certainly a by and large, a leftist kind of movement. Interest in civil rights, antiwar, that sort of thing. So you look at the early songs about dylan, weve got things like everyone knows blowing in the wind. Masters of war would be another one. But there were more topical songs, sung about in mattel for example. These types of songs were written by many of her folk centers see as well. So what happened is that dylan sort of progresses beyond that. By the mid 1960s, many starting songs that arent exactly songs you can put your finger im. Its all right mom, bleeding or right like a Rolling Stone rated they were visited with almost a hallucinatory dive boat lyric so what happened as American Society is changing people start to read in a very heavy political message in dylan at a time where if you are really looking at is objectively coming couldnt see that the songs are necessarily overtly political. Diplomat who carries im his shoulder, a siamese cat and people will resist me. There must be some deeper message. Johnnys in the baseman and im im the pavement thinking about the government. Why does it see what you thinking about the government, but you the listener then, and just your own meaning into that. So has brought really offering answers throughout the sign. His voice of a generation thing, he says the answered is blowing in the wind. Well, is the great song. If i were to make a playlist of 1960s music, that song would be im there. But the answered is blowing the wind is particularly helpful if you are surfing for answers. So thats how we have to understand his political output. Again, thats one mean join i see has brought exactly what people say. Photograph of you, you are wearing a tshirt. Nobody. Mean something. I like to know. I like to know what it represents you because you are part of that. I had it really look at it that much. I thought about a great deal. People are looking to bob dylan for the answers. It is a great thing to youtube. Bob dylan press conference 1965. No matter which one you hit, its one be great. If you start to say about what it mustve been like to have every little thing that you do or see it looked at so intently, how many times do some may see what is the meaning of the shirt you are wearing right now. Well, what you gonna do that. And just had to great im a person. I say any thinking person that was in his situation would just find a lot of this in name. I believe thats a big reason why he really got away from the voice of the generation protest music. He saw it as in my opinion anyway, a son is the prison. Once he got locked in to being this one thing, he could never get out. 71965, it was electric. He started playing electric guitar rather than just acoustic and a monica. And you into his concert, and yield at him and booed him and how dare he. And that sort of thing so once again, i say you looked at all of that and said no thanks. Is the by 1966, is out of there. He goes to upstate new york, and starts having children and start writing love songs and sort of domestic bliss. In the sort of thing. So the holo dylan. After 1966. The irony is the 1970s, join it becomes a bornagain christian, he for the first time is telling his audiences, i have the answered and a lot of people are very interested then in hearing what his answered is. In the public news reaction to the new dylan by the 1980s, even remember now where whole generation from the 1960s. So theres a whole group of kids growing up in the 80s and i wouldve been one of them, were watching mtv. And bob dylan he was a great songwriter but he has brought may be the most mtv friendly persona. Her 14 yearold anyway. So, it really depends im which public at this. Because the baby boomers are now adults, they got mortgages and jobs and not following music is closely so in some ways, dylan is flipping through slipping through the cracks a little bit. Join we are the world comes out, he is invited. He sings im that. And so has brought forgotten, but he has brought quite the same public figure that he had been. And as a dylan fan, join people find out that im a dylan fan, some people will see i like the songs but not and i see listen deeper. By the way his voice is oft awesome and very good. Its like, the coat, is broken in. And thats join it fit the best. And so, it really is the remarkable artist he is rated it might not necessarily be everybodys favorite style of music but something he has said will resonate with you. Sue neck making 24 steps in the last year, the cspan2 cities tours explores the history of selected american cities. Next up a look at one of our segments from rapid city news, south dakota. We are here in the black hills in custer state park, where the state game watch which is 1920s era building. It was constructed several years before president Calvin Coolidge. He mayday summer white house here in 1927. Supreme president Calvin Coolidge and the first lady, grace, stay here for nearly three months, from june through september 1927. While they were im vacation. Coolidge took office in 1923, when he was Vice President , harding died. They served out the last little bit of more harding news turn than he was elected to do his own term. In 1924. And so he came in toots south dakota 1927 join all people were speculating what he or would he not run for another term in 1928. It was widely expected that he would. But he came here 1927, because he was looking for a place to kind of escape the depressive summer in washington dc and mosquitoes and b