tv visits museums and historic places. next, we visit the world war ii visit in new orleans to the exhibit, fighting for the right to fight. kim: i'm kim guise. we have a special exhibit at the museum that opened in july of 2015. and runs through may. at which point we launch a national show. here we feature a letter from edward carter, junior. story.a unique he wrote this letter home to his wife in 1942 when he was training in fort benning, georgia. many african-americans, when they went into service in the military, if they had not been from the south, many of them had to train in the south and so, there are military training experience was often the first time that they experienced jim crow laws and segregation. so, that was a harsh welcome to american military for many of those servicemen. edward carter wrote to his wife about an incident in fort benning. coy was shot in cold blood for not getting off the right bus. that is why a would not going to town, i would kill some of those whites and probably get my killed -- killed myself. long live the usa, the land of the free and the home of the brave. >> these items you see, they are really the crown jewels that we have. we have five medals of honor's here. this is our nation's highest military award. highest military decoration. this is the largest grouping of medals of honor awarded to african americans since there are in 1997. now, 1997 was not so long ago and it took until 1997 to recognize the achievements of very unique individuals. so, the stories that are associated with these awards, they read like something superhuman. only one of the seven recipients was still living. that was vernon baker. at the time he was awarded the distinguished service cross, it was said that he was not even recommended for the medal of honor because it was known that would not even have been considered for him because he was african american. [applause] >> at you are watching american at everyv, all weekend weekend. like us on facebook at c-span history. >> at duke university history professor laura edwards talks about the difference between federal and local courts during the reconstruction in. the actions of these courts frequently conflicted with the each other. this event is part of a series on the supreme court and reconstruction posted by the supreme court historical society. [applause] [laughter] justice kagan: thank you very