Institutional roles that should rise above their policy differences. At 8 00 p. M. Ght eastern on cspans q a. Next, Smithsonian Institution secretary lonnie bunch and Philanthropist David Rubenstein discuss the central role of slavery in antebellum washington, d. C. At historic st. Johns church across Lafayette Square from the white house. The White House Historical association in hosted this event in recognition of their new initiative, slavery in the president s neighborhood. Quite please welcome the ,irector of st. Johns Church Reverend fisher. [applause] welcome. Good evening. Im the director st. Johns church. I am thrilled our friends at the White House Historicals associate association asked us to have tonights conversation. I will first share little bit about the history of this historic room tonight. This church was completed in 1816. The architect was Benjamin Henry and not only did he design this church but he was working on rebuilding the white house after it was destroyed by the british in the war of 1812. What is nowbuilt of the Historical Association. Entrance. Similar the original was an even for sides. The822, they expanded Church Building to make room for more seating. We do not know who the architect was who did that expansion and built the bell power belltower. Tragically, the already died at that time, in new orleans. There might be some historians in the room. We would love to know belltower is a beautiful addition to the church. Bell forged by paul reveres son. Its as 1822 boston revere. It is not the only that came to washington is the only one still in place used for its original purpose. This is the only building still being used for the purpose for which it is held, more than 200 years later. We are open most days of the week and welcome anybody. I do not intend to develop. The church decided to offer him anytime he wanted to come to church. That will be the president s you pew. There were boxes. You rented the pew box. He rented is free of charge. The decision was made to put that pew in the middle of people, rather than upfront. Among alld his to be he personallyle made sure the president s president s pew would be in the same location. Every president , beginning with madison, was working in this space at least once. Some have even become members of st. Johns. During their presidencies. When Abraham Lincoln will walk thee in the white house, sunday morning church, new york avenue and Presbyterian Church in that direction. In the evenings, he would walk alone across the part and sit in the last pew on the south side right over there. And you can imagine what was on his heart during those evenings as he came for a little space, a little quiet time to reflect and to pray. He would leave just before the end of the service so he could leave undisturbed. This space will continue to serve as a place where people can comment have reflection and a little bit of space and grace quicklyity that moves we want to be with all of our neighbors, a house for all people. For theited conversation we are about to have. Remember that in the early years, the people who passed space, all of those theyone was affected by moral reality of slavery. The second director of this name was reverend william holly. Or marrying africanamerican ples registered,ur own all of that and marriages, in some of them, we see the notes. He would marry African Americans, he would usually do it in his family would be the witnesses. On january 11, 1828, reverend holly married Emily Matthews and william emeline was listed in the register as colored and william was listed as slave. The very next wedding, listed in the same register, took place in the white house. For John Quincy Adams son. Thank you all for being here tonight to have this important conversation that we are privileged to host. I will welcome forward my good friend, president of the White House Historical association. [applause] thank you. To the reverend and people of st. Johns church, it is wonderful to be in your home in this historic neighborhood tonight for this very important conversation. I want to thank those who perform for us, a local washington, d. C. Group, and i hope you enjoyed the music. [applause] to our friends joining us tonight by cspan or facebook live, welcome. We hope you enjoyed this conversation and we encourage you and everyone here to dive deep into this topic this evening. I am here on behalf of the board. F directors many are with us tonight welcoming you all for this wonderful conversation our historic it historians have been working on for several years. It was in may of 2016 at a speech in city college, new york, and later that summit later that summer in philadelphia. First Lady Michelle obama delivered a speech that included these words. I wake up every morning in a house built by slaves. Followed, ourat phone lines, email, internet, press office, historians were all inundated from the public, the press, people wanting to know the story behind those very compelling words. My first call was to dr. Lonnie, part of our conversation tonight. Thised to know more about story. We know anecdotes, but we need to know names, dates, specifics. It is the peoples house. The white house. A we need to know about people who build the house built the firstand impacted beyond families. He was very generous to our story historians and thus began a threeyear project. A had a privilege to host group called the president ial leadership scholars, a program that is a collaboration of libraries and foundations of president clinton, both bushes and president johnson, and they ofng together the dynamic early career leaders. Wentwere at the park and up to historic slave quarters that night. Intrigued, encouraged, and they took us to task that we need to do a better job of interpreting that space. Into this story we are telling we unveiled our website with a treasure trove of Research Document papers. You can encourage your friends to do so as well. Bridget by our continued research. This fits with our mission. In 1961 to bed the nonprofit, nonpartisan partner to the white house. Every year, we provide nontaxpayer funding to maintain the Beautiful Museum standard of those rooms you see on the floor of the white house. But also important was an education mission. Teach goinged us to back to nice 1972 when George Washington hired the architect to build the white house. We do that through public houses, our website, social media, a podcast, and many other ways. We have teacher institutes where we bring teachers from all across the country. I have friends of mine tonight who are students. The reverend mentioned the president s pew. Seated there is are students from high school in washington dc. They participated in a podcast with me. Wonderful students. I would like for them to stand if they are here. There we are. [applause] tonight, they are in the president s pew. Waternt the seed and we the seed but may never see the results of the education. We hope one day these students and their peers are back here, maybe s president s of the United States. It is great to have them here this evening. We had the privilege of having two wonderful presenters tonight. David is the cofounder and coexecutive chairman of the carlyle group. He has been the chairman of the board and held positions with including theions miss Smithsonian Institutions duke university, foreign relations, and many others. He has a heart and passion for patriotic philanthropy and invests in places involved with history, like the White House Historical association, our sister institutions supporting Great American monuments like the Lincoln Memorial in washington, he has helped save. He has been a giver of transformational gifts that have allow us allowed us through the center to have programming like this and undertake the resources we do. We are grateful for him for that support. If you have the opportunity to watch him on his television show, i know you will enjoy that, as i have. Author of aly an book. You will all receive a copy of the book late tonight. A copy of the book tonight. Our other presenter is the 14th secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the first africanamerican and first historian to hold this Important Role in our country. [applause] theknow him well as founding director of the National Museum of African American history and culture. He was the first person i called when the Initiative Came into the radar screen. He is the author of a book i really encourage you to read this. It tells a wonderful story of someone who was able to move and mix and make things happen across political lines in the lease. That is a wonderful thing, in this day and time. His role is the same regardless of who the president and the first lady may be. Support theto people in the United States. He is the advisor to many boards, including the committee for preservation in the white house, which we worked with mostly worked with closely. Were honored to have david and lonnie with us tonight. Please welcome them to the stage. [applause] do you think in 1816, when this was open, that you and i or our ancestors would have been here . To be herered tonight. This is a terrific place to talk about the white house history and slavery. At the African American and culture museum, if i want to get tickets to see something, how do i . Everyone has been calling me. I have tried to say that i am no longer there. I have been struck by the desire is so great that a few months she called and said wanted tickets and i said i do not do that and she said, you have got to give them to me because i was your girlfriend in seventh grade. Rememberare 13, you your first crush. I gave her the tickets. David so that is the technique to use. It took you how many years to get that from beginning to end . Lonnie i worked on it for 11 years. David how much money did the federal government give you for that . Lonnie we had one staff, no , no ideans, no money where the museum would be. The smithsonian had 1 million to get started. I spent that in like two weeks. Have goty, you artifacts given by citizens of a country full david ultimately, you have got artifacts given by citizens of the country. How many were given to the museum . 40,000, 70 came from peoples basements and attics. We realized that the idea of the culture and history still available, we felt the only way we could do it was to get people to share with us stories and histories through the collections. You have met turners bible. Harriet tubmans shawl. The mope the most popular is which . A red cadillac that i did not want and did not think was important, which shows you many people have been to the museum since it opened . Lonnie 7. 3 million. Average times the someone spends going to this museum . To 5. 5 hours. Urs peopleou if you will spend the time to understand and think about and debate. We are pleased to has become the kind of sites that in some ways almost a pilgrimage site. People feel the need to be a part of it. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work with you to create that museum. The taxpayers only put up 200 million. How much did you raise from citizens across the country . About 250 million. How did it happen that this country had slavery . Was it ordained . How did it come about . Had two systems created. Spanish colleagues, when they africans, and some slate people as early as 1650. In the United States, you have africanamerican coming in 1690. The process of becoming a slave took time. Initially, the africans were like indentured servants. In 30 or 40 years, it was clear that africans were then restricted to slavery for life. Is both an slavery Economic System of labor, later a system of social control, as more and more africans come to this world. I think the most important thing from theer is slavery 17th, 18th, and 19th century, was the most dominant institution in the United States, that almost every aspect of the culture, politics, foreign policy, industry, was all shape either slave trade slavery, the labor of slaves, or the money invested by slave. On the eve of the civil war, more money was invested in slaves, in the then thepopulation, business combined. It is so essential to understanding who we are. That is why this is so important. This is an essential story to helping us understand who he ts were they work for a few years and then leave or was it clear they were slaves . Lonnie it was clear they were viewed as different. Way we can tell by formal records, is the 1640s to 60 and 60 that we see the institutions of slavery that made it if ul. A total of 20 million slaves at one point were here. How many were brought over . More in central and south america than the United States question mark states . Only 13 of the millions of africans taken and brought to the new world, only 13 came to United States. More were from brazil and the caribbean. Large3 became such a portion of the population that it really began to outweigh initial numbers. David larger numbers were in brazil because they died more rapidly. Lonnie the agriculture was better developed because of sugar and the like. That is where it started. The United States brought over about 800,000, 600,000 africans, who came to the United States. They reproduced and so forth. We have about half a million slaves . A the time of the civil war, 4 million slaves . Lonnie about 4 million enslaved africans and 1. 5 freed africans in both the north and the south. David if you were brought over on a slave ship, what were chances you would survive . There was a lot of debate about mortality. Many feel that 50 of those brought on ships perished, either on the ships or on the way to plantations or mines where they ultimately worked. That Middle Passage was really something that was hard for people to survive. It really was one of the markers of understanding the impact of slave trade. David what the when the declaration of independence was agreed to, we fought a revolutionary war. At that time come was there any mention of slavery, that people wanted to mention as a problem, or did they not address it . There was a whole discussion around jefferson beginning to identify the like they were enslaved. There was such a concern that if we begin to explore the question of slavery, you have to figure a what that means for us. Slavery is only the most visible thing but also often tried not to be mentioned. Obviously people made changes along the way but he ,rote the most famous steps that all men are created equal, but how could he say that when he has slaves throughout his and was not talking about getting rid of slaves . Lonnie on the one hand, here was jefferson, who defined them a notion of what liberty is and what independence and friedrich freedom is. In essence, because he saw and used the power to control other people, he understood what freedom meant. For me, what is so powerful is, how do you unpack that . Howd do you help people understand, at the same time he is seen as a symbol around the world of freedom, he is also a symbol around the world of american culpability, American American embracing of slavery, and for us, we are still as a people trying to untamed untangle that and be what it means that we are a nation of freedom based on slavery. David the revolutionary war is over. The treaty is signed. A Constitutional Convention is held in philadelphia. In that, George Washington presides over it. Is there any mention in the constitution when it is finally revealed, of slavery . There are always amazing to base and constitution. Too many people, that meant, dewey county the slave population, so we have the 3 5 amendment where enslaved people are counted as three fits of it person, and that really speaks to the way enslaved people were viewed, that they were not completely human, were not equal. The word slave was not used in the constitution for obvious reasons. And bannedized it butimportation of slave, lets move forward. The capital the country initially is new york. George washington becomes the first president in new york and lives in new york but then a law was passed that it would be moved. It was a compromise. They decided to move it further south in philadelphia. George washington is given the right to pick that id and he picks something on the potomac. Place thatwas a already had georgetown here. He already had some tobacco trading. We thought this was a nice spot between the north and south. They will build a federal y lonnie there were plantations, slave people who lived here before it officially became washington. Did they import labor from overseas . Who really built it . Lonnie washington is built by many people, by immigrants brought in to work, but there is a strong, enslaved population that turns the land from swamp that begins to identify and cut down the trees of timber used, that quarries the stones so that enslaved labor touches all aspects of what would become washington, d. C. David lets suppose i have some slaves and i want to help the say, what i get paid for that and to the slaves get any compensation . What does labor get, typically . Lonnie first, you have people who use their enslaved population to do the work, and those folks rarely got compensated. Peoplemes, and slave were hired out. Labory, i need to have and would like to hire three of your carpenters, three of the people you work with. Thelly what would happen is person building the structure would pay the plantation owner. It was sometimes done in a way where they would get a small portion of that. It really was most of the revenue went back to the owner. David the government was operating out of philadelphia and George Washington is supervised. He picked somebody to design the white house. That was someone from europe who was actually the designer. When they started building the design, was it slave labor labor that built the white house . Lonnie over 200 and slave people worked to construct the white house. Were craft people from ireland, england, and parts of the United States that did a lot of the work, the enslaved people did played a crucial role. Getting the stone appear, they did a lot of the work on getting the lumber, and doing the initial work that needed to be done. There is no doubt you do not have a white house without enslaved labor. David when it was finally completed, it took about eight years to build the house. George washington was no longer the president. John adams came down and lived here only for a few months. Did he have any slaves service in the white house . Adams did not own any slaves but enslaved people worked at the white house. You begin to have enslaved people working from almost the inception really through into the 1850s working in the white house still. Careful not to own slaves and did not believe in slaves, but he had people working at the white house. Labor was needed. Some of the people who did the k, david adam was preceded by jefferson, who had slaves. Did he actually bring sally to the white house . Hewhat jefferson did is brought some of sallys family to the white house, but what jefferson did is he brought a enslavedf the population, but used people already here. She wanted to keep people on the plantation. Like so manylized that the key to his success was useg to not the able to slave labor to save money. Madison was also a slave owner. Did he bring bring slaves to the white house . Lonnie nine of the first 12 president s used slave labor at the white house. You are really trying to figure out what you need to get a building going, to get a white house going. Realized it is slave labor that would provide the ndation for them to craft there was a slave who wrote a book about what it was like to work in the white house. Two people believe that book . Alsoe the enslaved people often did not have the voice. When they had an opportunity to have stories told, they shared them in a candid way. It is one of the first books to help us understand what life was like in the white house. It was interesting. Through the lens of someone who was enslaved, it brings a special richness to it. Many people from the north were against slavery. They just excepted it was part of the vice of washington . There is a difference between being opposed to slavery and feeling that africanamericans are equal. Or people you can interact with. From whateverple parts of the United States, comfortable with africanamericans as secondclass citizens, doing the kind of basic work that needed to be done. Slavery have opposed but did not champion inequality. Days ofn the early washington, d. C. , with adams as the president , washington was mostly a white city but there were some slaves . Lonnie throughout the 19th century, proximally one third of the population of washington, d. C. , were africanamerican. Places like georgetown had a predominately africanamerican community. Washington, itn was a black neighborhood. It was a neighborhood of unequal so i think it is important to realize for many people, africanamerican, did a variety of jobs. There were a fair number slaves. Anamerican someone said if you are a slave, you should be doing hit this or that . Lonnie washington became the place that the black population began to grow. Some people were often, when people gain freedom in places like virginia and North Carolina, they were encouraged to leave, not to stay. As you get into the 1810 and 1820s, you begin to develop lack codes, laws passed to control the Free Black Community and make sure they register. There were laws in the 1820s the said needed to have somebody white write a letter testing to your character. There were laws that prevented prevented after americas from being out together after a certain time of night, or reduce the number of after americas that could come together. Part of this is out of fear and part of it is out of social control. David did Andrew Jackson bring slaves to washington, d. C. As well . Lonnie they have a remover of all these in it all of these indians in the southeast, they move up for agriculture and the southern plantation. As a result of jacksons you haveation, thousands of africans enslaved in maryland, delaware, and d. C. Thatare moved south and changes the dynamics of the city. David the white house today faces Lafayette Square and jackson park and a lot of townhomes were initially built by slaves . Lonnie a lot of the homes had slave labor involved. Sometimes enslaved, sometimes free, sometimes not. Whatof what i love about the White House Historical society is doing is helping them understand more about who did what. Way, they really gave humanity one of the houses still in the Lafayette Park, the cater house, where the white house it was named after the admiral. Slave quarters in it, is that right . Lonnie that is one of the houses we know has a slave area that exists. Other houses around the area changed over time. Specialone of the places we go to stand in the space the enslaved live. Isid Abraham Lincoln elected president and before those days, the election was in november but you did not take it until march. In that time, a number of Southern States began to secede from the union. Lincoln moves to washington. President ,e in as was there a big africanamerican population again . It was still a slave area . Lincoln was elected in 1860. You have a population of about 12,000 freed africanamericans and about 6000 enslaved. Although there were large early, it slaves changes in washington so by the time we can comes, there is a strong free patent black population. It grows dramatically because once the war breaks out, there were many africanamerican enslaved who self liberate. Who come to washington, and there are literally tens of contraband camps where the liberated in Arlington Cemetery on seventh and florida, up by the old soldiers home, washington is changing as a result of the civil war. More and more africanamericans formally enslaved david Abraham Lincoln never owned any slaves. His father was very antislavery. He was brought up against slavery, though he was not a great abolitionist. Lincoln believed his big issue was they should not extend slavery into the new territories. He believed in the constitution and thought, as long as Southern States have slavery, that was sanctioned by the founding fathers, his original thinking. He obviously changed a bit. He is in the white house and in the civil war, he is conducting that. He decided to free the slaves . . Hy did it take so long Lonnie Lincoln wanted to preserve the movie the union. If that meant protecting slavery, so be it. On, he realized a couple of things needed to be addressed. He had to make sure that the fit the confederacy did not get the support of european allies. Do so he wanted to he could say this is about freeing people, not simply about an internal civil war. Lincolnnd piece was recognized the centrality of slave labor. So what he wanted to do was disrupt that by encouraging by fleeing areas outside of the army, which would disrupt the confederate war effort. David before he was president , one of the bills he introduced to free the slaves in the District Of Columbia and his way was to be gradual and the slaves would move somewhere else. Can you explain what colonization was . Lonnie one thing that happened is the belief that you have got africanamericans who are so different that ultimately, if bondage, not held in it would be a great problem in the United States. Jefferson said it was like having a wolf by the year. If it if you let it go, it would get you. If you werele felt going to eliminate slavery, you also had to eliminate the enslaved. Group ofs a part of a people who believed the key was, lettuce and slavery but let us colonize. They can colonize with the christian spirit they learned in the United States. You have all of these people, that was lincolns notion. He tried it several times. President ofe was the United States, he was still enamored with it. Meeting withus africanamerican leaders. What did he say . Lonnie he said i need your support. This idea that we would send the manyee africanamericans, the notion of going outside the United States by choice, the notion of being told to leave angered some abolitionists. People like Frederick Douglass were really offended and attacked lincoln when it became clear that his notion was to send people outside the United States. Was what was his role in society . Lonnie Frederick Douglass was someone who escaped slavery from the Eastern Shore of maryland, and new york, the new bedford, and he became someone, one of the leaders in the abolitionist movement. A brilliant speaker. He was befriended by anditionist leaders douglass becomes the voice of black america. He creates newspapers, debates with lincoln. He was seen as somebody demand thing that america live up to his state of ideal. He is not the only person to do that but is the person who is the most visible africanamerican in the 19th century. Anid he was very articulate eloquent and many people were surprised. If you are a slave, you are not allowed to learn how to read. Was that part of his appeal that he was very educated and people were so surprised to see such an educated africanamerican in that time . There were two things crucial to enslave people. Theother thing was maybe key to freedom was education, being able to read. Douglas was able to learn to read by playing with some of the children he grew up with, a mistress gave him some lessons. Douglas was a voracious leader and desire to learn. He was a selfmade man. He really became someone who focused his career on struggling for fairness in this country. He met with lincoln on three occasions. Did he have a bond with lincoln and lincoln liked meeting with him . There are debates around that. Andink they were concerned is lincoln was thinking about the emancipation proclamation, you are suddenly talking to people like Frederick Atlas and champion, if not a more of a supporter of lincoln. Scene whereamazing lincoln speaks at a second second inaugural and douglass is there and trying to get in to see lincoln, and he is being stopped by some of the guards. Lincoln sees it, lays it in, and says come in, douglass. I think there was a relationship. I am not as sure that it is as close as people like to make it. The estate gave his walking came to douglas as a gift . Gave a walkingow cane to fred douglas, to symbolize what she saw as the bond between them but also to symbolize that lincoln was opened the door and led to the freedom of the enslaved. David the emancipation proclamation is signed in 1863. Is ratifiedment after lincoln dies. So slavery is eliminated. Is eliminated, everything in washington is fine. Blacks can live next to whites and there is no problem and everything it everyone is treated equally, is that right . Lonnie i am not sure if that is even today. [laughter] [applause] david after the 14th amendment gave citizenship, and the 15th amendment give the right to vote, how is it washington became as segregated a city as pretty much anyone in the deep south . Segregation was initially a northern phenomenon. York, andboston, New Philadelphia that passes laws to prevent africanamericans from going to theaters, that really segregates communities. Would not be surprising washington became a segregated city immediately after the civil war. David when i was young, i live in baltimore. Thefact that it was Nations Capital did not really change anything. Washington, d. C. , was no more segregated than anyone else in the south . Lonnie washington had the federal government. There was an opportunity for employment that Many Americans had. They had steady jobs from the federal government. Washington, d. C. , had howard university. Really made washington a center for black thinking, education, but that was also part of the appeal coming to washington, d. C. David one thing is that in the stitution, there is people who lived in the district, large number were africanamerican, did not have the right members of congress, i should say. Asking me tore now do my politics. Are you a citizen, what are your rights. Is challenge of washington it really is a place where you could call it the last colony. Id is important to grapple with the fact that you have got 600,000 people or more, many of whom are voting age, who really have limited rights, not the same as people around the country. In addition to not being able to vote around members of the district was run in effect run by the government. Is that right . That is right. Home rule is the 1970s creation. David lets finish this story while were almost done. We have obviously compressed a couple hundred years in 45 minutes. Lonnie we missed a few insurrections and the like. After reconstruction, because lincoln is assassinated, it did not go quite as well as people think it would have gone. Andrew jackson is not exactly the same person. Reconstruction led to the jim crow laws, the ku klux klan, lynchings throughout the south and washington, d. C. , did not do that much about the federal government. Not until the civil rights revolution in the 1960s did washington get more interested in trying to change the things. Is that right, when the civil rights revolution came along, when officials said they had to do something to change laws in the country . Because of howard university, washington, d. C. Was at the forefront of demanding fairness. It wasnt that they waited until the 1960s but the pressure on the federal government and the didership and visibility it put pressure on the federal government to change. In august of 1953, the famous march on washington. Concern aboutt of it. Afraid, stores were closed. Martin luther king was the last speaker that day, because . Lonnie people saw him as the leader of the community and they wanted to give him the best spot. He was so articulate that if he spoke first, the others would not look as good. [laughter] that is not true. Ok. So he spoke and gave a famous speech. The i have a dream speech, was that something written out the night before . Where did the speech come from . He kind of departed from it. Why . Lonnie he had sent portions of the speech and other places in the country. Is, as he gave his speech, the great gospel singer who king admired, yelled back at , looking at king saying, talk about the dream, say the dream. That. Gument is he changed that is a great story. Not true, but it is great. He knew he was going to do his i have a dream. David that was a speech he gave before and he did it from memory. Were mesmerized and had never seen him speak that way. Many blacks were mesmerized because they had not heard him speak that way either. Is he invited to the white house . Lonnie after the speech is over, the kennedys are moved by what they have heard and experienced. They began to realize if they were going to grapple with civil rights issues, one of the people they need to do with his Martin Luther king. Kennedyss a person the go to and there is a wonderful story during the election of 1960, dr. Kings restive and there was a notion of who would help him. Kennedys actually sent people down to protect Martin Luther king and help them get out of jail. Some people argue that was what helped many africanamericans suddenly believe that somebody from massachusetts was an accident they did not understand, really champion their cause. David president kennedy is assassinated in 1963 a few months before the march in washington. Lyndon johnson, a man who is closest friends in the senate, a segregationist, to becomes president. Would anybody have predicted he would lead the effort and why didnt he do that, given his knowledge that he would probably hurt the Democratic Party in the south . Lonnie you have got to remember that when Lyndon Johnson was a teacher in texas, he was very involved with trying to improve conditions for the latino community. There is a part of johnson that was not just a calculated political move. The he knew it might hurt Democratic Party, from the white south, but he thought it would ensure that africanamericans would also rally around the party. What is so powerful about Lyndon Johnson is he had the political sophistication, the connections, to be able to go to the southerners and say, i understand who you are. We have got to change. Lyndon johnson is probably the most important david lyndon was probably the most important person, the instep sensible person . The indispensable person . Lonnie i think that he and pressure put on by the civil rights activists and leaders. As people see birmingham and selma. As people see the violence that African Americans and others endured, there is a sense that the country has to change. And johnson sort of rides that wave. David so if somebody is watching and or is here today, and says what books could i read that might give me more of a flavor of what washington went through in the civil rights era, what slavery was in this country, how it was dealt with constitutionalhe amendments, what would you recommend as good books for people to read . Lonnie anything by Taylor Branch gives you a good sense. David Taylor Branch wrote a three volume book on the civil rights revolution which 18 pulitzer prize. Lonnie and i think one of the best books to understand race in the 19th century is david light biography of Frederick Douglass. David which also won the pulitzer prize. There is another book which is not yet won the pill at surprise, which is your book. [laughter] [applause] i highly recommend that book. And that is available on amazon and anywhere else anybody might want to buy it, or the smithsonian. Lonnie i would never champion my own book but it is on amazon and it is also an audiobook. [laughter] [applause] david so, lonnie, before we wrap up, you have given your professional career to causes related to civil rights and slavery, the knowledge of slavery, and obviously creating the africanAmerican History and cultural museum. Do you have any regrets you do not going to private equity or something more noble than what you have done . [laughter] and how did you come to this career as opposed to something more important like hedge funds or Tech Startups . Lonnie every time i need to put a roof on the house, i went to that question. I am lucky. I grew up in a family that valued education. For me, i remember growing up in a town that was very few africanamericans. And there were people that treated me horribly and other people that treated me fairly. And i cannot understand why. I remember thinking, talking to my parents that, maybe if you read history, you will understand a little bit about these interactions. Ultimately, history became, first come away for me to understand myself. Then it became a way for me to think, here is an amazing tool, that can help a country made better. Here is something that, if people understood more about their past, their expectations, their hopes, it could change the country for the better. David you have told a story before, and you might tell it again, when you were younger, your father would take you and your brother and your mother, you drive to the south. And he would not stop at certain places. But ultimately he would take you to the smithsonian. Why was that . Mid1960s it the was the era of the centennial of the civil war. Like many kids, i was fascinated by it. What easter we drove from my home in new jersey to North Carolina to visit my mothers family. I suddenly saw all these museums in petersburg and richmond. I would say to my dad, can we stop at the museum of the confederacy . [laughter] and he never stopped. And so on the way back, i thought ok, im going to plan this and give him plenty of warning. I told him, 20 more miles to the museum. He kept going. Normally he would drive straight to new jersey. Instead, he pulled into washington. And he pulled into the smithsonian in front of the museum of america, what is museum of American History today. He said, here is the place you can learn about your past, your country, and not be concerned about the color of your skin. Hasor me the smithsonian always been a place of fairness, a place of possibility, a place where a young kid could not learn stories in some places, but this miceli in maine but the smithsonian always gave him that opportunity. So i feel humbled to be part of the smithsonian appeared [applause] so i feel very humbled to be part of the smithsonian. [applause] david i was cochair of the Search Committee that selected lonnie unanimously, unanimously. And one of the great things about lonnie having been selected was that when he was officially inaugurated, his mother was there. What could be better than having her mother come to see you. Did she think you should take that job . Lonnie it was the first time i mother said to me, i guess a history degree was ok. [laughter] david lonnie, i want to thank you for what you have done for our country. Thank you for what you have done for the smithsonian. Thank you. [applause] lonnie thank you. [applause] [applause] [applause] lonnie thank you very much. I just want to know, can i get a hedge fund . Thank you fort lee dr. Lonnie bunch and David Rubenstein for this conversation. In addition to the books recommended i would like to invite everyone to our website, whitehouse. Org, where there is a treasure trove on the history of persons enslaved in decatur house, those in Lafayette Park who built the white house and those enslaved to our early american presence in the white house. Thank you all for being here and for support of our historic mission. [applause] this is American History tv. Style,g history, cspan with lectures, interviews and discussions, with authors, historians and teachers. 48 hours, all weekend every weekend, only on cspan3. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] thehis sunday on presidency, historians on Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass views on emancipation here is a preview. How does douglass advocate for action as we move toward d. C. Emancipation in 1862 and the pressure is building . He wants a war against slavery. He wants a sanctioned war against slavery and therefore the south. Falls g of fremont in the fall of 19 18 621, he hated it. Whatever fremont really was he seemed to be an abolitionist general who is issuing emancipation proclamation set his own. Frederick douglass thought that was pretty good, missouri. At that point, the policy. What bothered Frederick Douglass most in 18 621 and 1862 was the policy or the stated policy of the federal government which was to return fugitive slaves. They called it technically denial of asylum. Which meant if a fugitive slave entered union lines they were supposed to be returned if possible to their owners if the owner was loyal to the union. How in the world some line captain was to determine whether some slaveholder was loyal to the union or not, god knows. But at one point in the fall of night 18 621, Frederick Douglass called lincoln the most powerful slave catcher in america. Watch more on the presidency sunday at 8 00 p. M. And midnight eastern here on American History tv. On the commute, caters. From the state of the net conference, dusted department andciate attorney general former fbi general counsel james baker on Encryption Technology and privacy. End to andook encrypt its platforms the company itself will lose visibility into what is happening on its platforms and the estimation is about 75 of those tips will go dark. We will never learn about them. Think about all the children who are being abused as we speak we will not be able to track down. My view is Law Enforcement needs to rethink its approach to a corruption two encryption, in light of the fact that congress will not act and there are these significant Cyber Threats and embrace encryption instead of trying to find ways to socalled break it. That is not really what Law Enforcement is trying to do. In other words it needs to embrace encryption as a way to enhance the Cyber Security of all americans. Watch the commute caters, monday at it 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan two. Watch the communicators, monday, at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan two. Author ran zwigenberg talked about how people remember world war ii and examined the accounts from the survivors of hiroshima, nagasaki, and the holocaust. This interview was recorded at the annual american Historical Association meeting. York isng us from new ran zwigenberg a professor of asian and jewish studies at penn state. The author of hiroshima and the global origins of memory. Thank you for joining us on cspans American History tv. Thank you for having me. You look at the two significant impacts upward or two, the holocaust and its impact on jews around the world and of course the bombings and reshma and nagasaki