Beaumont, Texas

We've arrived in Beaumont, Texas for a week-long visit coordinated with our Time Warner cable partners.
Looking forward to delving into the history of the city and its connections to the oil industry, as well as talking with local authors and visiting some of the different rare-books and manuscript collections housed in the area.

And on Tuesday, January 10, we welcome the public to a kick-off ceremony at the Spindletop Boomtown Museum at 4:30pm. We'll be joined by the mayor, other elected officials, and Time Warner folks as we talk about the programming we'll produce while there and the connection between national politics and local communities.

Join us for Baton Rouge Weekend!

Join us this holiday weekend December 31st - January 1st on C-SPAN2's Book TV and C-SPAN3's American History TV as we explore the literary life and rich political history of Louisiana's capital city. All weekend long on Book TV you will see interviews with local authors and tour special collections inside Baton Rouge area libraries, and on American History TV (AHTV) we’ll take you to historic sites as we learn about Louisiana’s history and the politics of the “Bayou” state.

We owe many thanks to our cable partners at Cox Communications for their help in making this a successful trip.  Manager of Public Affairs Sharon Bethea and her city partners helped organize the week's community and education outreach events with visits to area schools...Tara High School,  Scotlandville Pre-Engineering Academy, Christian Life Academy, Louisiana State University Laboratory School and Baton Rouge High School.   In addition, Cox hosted a a special public kick-off event which included remarks from Secretary of State Tom Schedler and Director of the Louisiana State Capitol Mary Durusau. Baton Rouge city historians and leaders, Cox officials and local authors attended the event.  The event was held at the Louisiana Old State Capitol.  

Be sure to catch BookTV and AHTV this weekend!  If you miss them on-air--go online!! The pieces are also available to view on the LCV website and C-SPAN’s Video Library. 

Thank you Baton Rouge!

Debbie, Tiffany and Adrienne

BookTV in Baton Rouge

What a week in Baton Rouge!

My week started off talking politics, politics, and more politics.  I spoke with Leo Honeycutt about his recent biography on the rise and fall of former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards.  I then met up with LSU professor Wayne Parent, author of “Inside the Carnival,” to discuss Louisiana politics in general and how it got its reputation.

The following day, I went to LSU’s Manship School Journalism to interview Robert Mann author “Daisy Petals and Mushroom Clouds” about the 1964 political ad LBJ ran the changed American politics.  Then, Archivist Angela Proctor showed me around the John B. Cade Library at Southern University.  We discussed their slave narrative collection as well as the collection of FBI files they have on Martin Luther King, Jr.

I met up with Greg Langley, book editor at The Baton Rouge Advocate, to talk about the state of the book business and the state of book reviewing.  Later that day, Rachel Emanuel and I met back at LSU to discuss her book “A More Noble Cause” about civil rights attorney A.P. Tureaud.  Tureaud was involved in numerous civil rights cases in Louisiana including the desegregation of LSU.

I finished up my week at Hill Memorial Library in the Special Collections department.  There, Tara Lavar and Elaine Smyth showed two of the libraries most interesting pieces.  The first was a book of outgoing correspondence by William Claiborne, who would eventually become the first governor of Louisiana.  Claiborne was sent to the new territory by Thomas Jefferson after the Louisiana Purchase.  Claiborne was tasked with governing the new territory and its people who were now “Americans.”  The book is filled with letters between Claiborne and various officials, including Jefferson, about some of the difficulties he’s having.

The second item was what they refer to as “The Bloody Book.”  This is believed to have on the table in front of Jean Paul Marat when he was assassinated in 1793.  The book is covered in blood splatter, believed to belong to Marat, though it has never been tested.

Blood splatter – What a great way to end my week in Baton Rouge!

Tiffany

Historical Baton Rouge

Secretary of State Tom Shedler says Louisiana is a melting pot of various cultures and religions.  The Secretary credits the influx of French, Spanish and Canadian immigrants for the state’s diversity.  We certainly got a taste of that diversity during our week in Baton Rouge.  AHTV visited Magnolia Mound, which is one of a few surviving French plantation houses in Baton Rouge.  The house is currently decorated in the French Creole style of architecture to represent what it would have looked like when owner Armand Duplantier and his wife Constance lived there in the late 1700s.

Former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, Hunt Downer, talked to us about the political career and assassination of infamous Louisiana Governor and U.S. Senator Huey P. Long inside the state capitol building where he was shot on September 8th, 1935.

We also took a trip into the vaults of the state’s archives to take a look at some of the city’s oldest documents.  The Archives houses all of the original acts of the state’s legislature in a row of leather bound books.  Also in the inner vaults are some of the documents from the Republic of West Florida, which only lasted a few months before it was dissolved. 

Finally, we also heard some of Baton Rouge’s Civil Rights era stories.  A group of LSU journalism students have teamed up with a local journalist to help investigate some of the state’s cold cases including the death of an African American businessman who died after suffering wounds from a fire that was set in his shop.  Also, one of the nation’s first bus boycotts started in Baton Rouge.  The blueprint of this boycott was used in other more well-known boycotts in Montgomery and Tallahassee in the 1960s.  

Birmingham Weekend is here!

Visit Birmingham over the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend on C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3.  Both networks will air the BookTV and AHTV pieces the LCV crew shot in Birmingham earlier this month.  Here are some highlights….

On BookTV on C-SPAN2 – Pulitzer Prize winning author Rick Bragg took a few minutes before his class at the University of Alabama to talk to us about his book, “The Most They Ever Had.” The book is about Jacksonville, Alabama, a mill town where Bragg grew up.  Bragg explained the mill’s impact on the town’s growth and what happened to Jacksonville once that mill shut down.  We also spoke to Carolyn McKinstry, one of the survivors of the 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963.  McKinstry spoke about her book, “While the World Watched,” and recounts the morning of the bombing, and explains how growing up in a segregated Birmingham had an impact on her life. 

On American History TV on C-SPAN3 – We visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute where there is an exhibit dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”  History professor Jonathan Bass explained Dr. King’s arrest in Birmingham, why he wrote the letter, and spoke about the eight white clergymen to whom the letter was addressed.  Our cameras also toured around Sloss Furnaces, which is a National Historic Landmark and the only 20^thcentury blast furnace in the nation being preserved and interpreted as a museum of industry.  Education Coordinator Heather Guy, showed us how iron was made at the site and why Birmingham was the perfect location to build a blast furnace.

We owe many thanks to our cable partners at Bright House Networks for their help in making this a successful trip.  Director of Public Affairs Robert Smith and his team helped to organize our visit and coordinated several stops for us at local schools like Lawson State Community College, Ramsay High School, Center Point High School and Phillips Academy.  We were also able to speak to Mayor William A. Bell, Sr. and the city leadership during the Birmingham City Council meeting.  One of the highlights of our visit was viewing the premiere of the On The Set Summer Film Camp student made film titled, “The Hop Off,” during its Red Carpet Premiere at the Alabama Theatre.  Bright House Networks sponsored the event, and we loved getting a chance to see all of the students’ hard work and participating in the awards ceremony.

Enjoy the pieces from Birmingham this weekend!  If you don’t catch them on the networks, you can always stream them online at C-SPAN’s Video Library or watch them from our LCV website.

C-SPAN Arrives in Birmingham

The Local Content Vehicles pulled into Birmingham Saturday night.  We have worked closely with our cable partners at Bright House Networks to organize a very busy week in the Magic City, and we are very excited to explore this southern city's rich history and literary culture.

Former Birmingham Mayor "Bull" Connor

We kicked of our visit with an evening tour of some of the city's most notorious landmarks.  Jim Baggett, the archivist at the Birmingham Public Library, walked our cameras through the city's streets on a tour he calls Birmingham Noir. Mr. Baggett shared stories of political intrigue and talked about the scandal that  nearly destroyed former Mayor Eugene "Bull" Connor's career. Mayor Connor held the office in Birmingham from 1957-1963.  We also spoke to Mr. Baggett about the Birmingham Public Library's role in the community.

After last night's tour of Birmingham's darker side, BookTV visited with Jack Reiss, the owner of the Alabama Booksmith this morning.  The book store has been operating for over 20 years and specializes in Alabama authors.

Also this morning, we spoke to an auditorium full of students at Lawson State Community College.  Washington Monthly named Lawson State one the top 50 Community Colleges in the country and the White House recognized Lawson State as a "Champion of Change," because of the College's efforts to build a more educated workforce.  While at Lawson State we interviewed President Dr. Perry Ward (on right) about the schools role in the community.

Civil Rights Leader Fred Shuttlesworth

American History TV (AHTV) is spending the day with history professor Horace Huntley.  Huntley is an expert on the Civil Rights Movement in the city.  He's taking our cameras to the downtown Masonic Temple, which was a center for voter registration efforts in Birmingham.  He will also take us to Fred Shuttlesworth's grave.  Shuttlesworth was at the forefront of Birmingham's Civil rights movement.  He passed away in October 2011.  He was 89 years old.

Knoxville Programs on C-SPAN2 & C-SPAN3

We hope you caught some glimpses of Knoxville on C-SPAN2's BookTV and C-SPAN3's AHTV this weekend!  Our week in the Marble City took BookTV to the University of Tennessee's Body Farm, and behind the scenes of the University's collection of letters and papers written by Andrew Jackson.  BookTV also visited Alex Haley's farm and learned about the author's life after writing his novel, "Roots."

American History TV (AHTV) dug deep into the roots of Knoxville's founding with a visit to one of the city's first houses.  William Blount built Blount Mansion after moving his family to Knoxville in the 1700s. Blount was a signer of the U.S. Constitution and eventually helped Tennessee gain statehood.  AHTV also traveled outside of Knoxville to Vonore, TN where Sequoyah, a Cherokee Indian, created the Cherokee's writing system called a syllabury.

In addition to the historic people and places we learned about on our visit, we also met with several of the area's leaders including the Mayor of Knoxville, Daniel Brown as well as the Mayor of Knox County, Tim Burchett.

If you UT fans weren't able to get away from this weekend's game against South Carolina, you can watch the pieces from Knoxville at anytime online at the Local Content Vehicles website or you can stream the pieces on C-SPAN's Video Library.  Just search the key word "Tennessee."

We would like to give a huge thanks to our partners at Comcast for making our visit to Knoxville such a success.

Next stop... Birmingham, Alabama!

Knoxville through the Centuries

Knoxville's history spans many generations and many critical time periods in our nation's history.  The city was the only capitol of the southwest territory before Tennessee became a state in 1796.  We learned about the beginning's of the city's history during visits to the William Blount Mansion and the James White Fort.

We learned about the impact the Civil War had on Knoxville.  The war literally pitted neighbor against neighbor, because the city did not clearly belong to either the Confederates or to the Union.  This created a divisive sentiment across Knoxville, but a visit to the city's Old Gray Cemetery shows the wounds of war didn't permanently separate Knoxvillians.  You can see Confederate soldiers buried next to Union soldiers. 

The 20th century brought prohibition to Knoxville.  The city went dry before Prohibition became the law of the land, and stayed dry after the repeal of the law. 

These are just a few of the pieces I'm working on for AHTV's Knoxville weekend on C-SPAN3.  Tune in on October 29th and 30th to learn more about these parts of Knoxville's history.

Adrienne

Knoxville's Rich Literary Culture

Is it just me or have some really great authors come out of Knoxville?

I have just finished my week in Knoxville and I couldn't have had a better time.  The weather was perfect, the people welcoming and more authors than I know what to do with.  Local columnist and author Jack Neely spent two days talking with me about some of the great Knoxville authors such as James Agee, Cormac McCarthy and Nikki Giovanni.

I also visited the Alex Haley Farm right outside of Knoxville.  I was able to tour the Langston Hughes Library there as well as speak with Kathy Stookesbury-Long about Alex Haley and the time he spent in Knoxville.

Paul Bergeron met me in front of the Mabry-Hazen House to discuss his book "Andrew Johnson's Civil War and Reconstruction."  Forensic Anthropologist Dr. William Bass talked to me about his memoir "Death's Acre" and how the body farm came to be at the University of Tennessee.  And finally, Fred Brown and Jeanne McDonald discussed how the south shapes its writers from their book, "Growing Up Southern."

Thanks for the great interviews Knoxville!

Tiffany

Welcome to Knoxville!

We started the week as a guest on Knoxville's NewsTalk 98.7 radio host Hallerin Hilton Hill's morning show. We found out that HE is the true C-SPAN Junkie! 


We joined Comcast and the East Tennessee Historical Society for the "Knoxville Week" kick-off event at the East Tennessee History Center.  Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and City of Knoxville Senior Director of Policy and Communications Bill Lyons welcomed C-SPAN. Dr. W. Bruce Wheeler gave the keynote remarks about the history of Knoxville and its role in the future. Comcast worked with us on coordinating the many logistics for the week...special thanks to Comcast's Russell Byrd, Susan Arp with SRW Associates and the City of Knoxville.  We would also like to thank Cherel Henderson and the staff at the East Tennessee Historical Society for co-hosting a successful event with Comcast and C-SPAN.


We arrived in Knoxville this past weekend and jumped right into the rich history.  We toured Knoxville Civil War sites with Frank H. McClung Museum's Joan Markel and learned about the city's early history at the William Blount Mansion. Blount was one of the signers of the U.S. Constitution.

On the literary scene, we talked with Professor Dan Feller about "The Papers of Andrew Jackson" series. The University of Tennessee Press has just released Volume 8. We met local author Martha Rose Woodward at the Sunsphere where she talk about her book "Knoxville's 1982 World's Fair". She explained how Knoxville was picked to host the world's fair and what impact it had on the city.

On the education front, we visited with the teachers and students at West High School and Farragut Middle School. 


More to come on our visit to Knoxville!!


Debbie, Tiffany and Adrienne