This Weekend on American History TV, February 25-27
C-SPAN3's American History TV
8am Saturday - 8am Monday February 25-27, 2017
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Saturday 9:30am ET - LIVE
Controversy Over Civil War Monuments
The American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia hosts an all-day symposium on the past, present, and future of Civil War monuments. Speakers will look at the history of their construction in the north and south, and how public perception - especially of Confederate monuments - has changed. Speakers include Thomas Brown, author of "The Public Art of Civil War Commemoration," American Civil War Museum CEO Christy Coleman, and James Loewen, author of "Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong." The symposium takes place at the Library of Virginia in Richmond.
Saturday 8pm & midnight ET
Lectures in History: Colonial America & the British Empire
Hampden-Sydney College professor John Coombs teaches a class on the 17th century relationship between the colonial Chesapeake area and the British Empire. He describes how the rise of the tobacco economy consolidated the power of wealthy Virginia planters and London merchants, who controlled trans-Atlantic shipping.
Saturday 10pm & Sunday 4pm ET
Reel America: Tower Report on Iran-Contra Affair - 1987
Thirty years ago, on February 26, 1987, the Tower Commission released its report on the Iran-Contra Affair. Iran-Contra was a covert operation by members of the president's national security team to sell military weapons to Iran in violation of an arms embargo, and the use of proceeds from the arms sales to fund anti-government rebels or "contras" in Nicaragua. The three members of the commission - officially called the President's Special Review Board -- were chairman and former Texas Republican Senator John Tower, former Secretary of State & Democratic Senator from Maine Edmund Muskie, and Brent Scowcroft, former Ford and George H.W. Bush administration National Security Advisor. Their news conference begins with a brief statement by President Reagan.
Sunday 12 noon ET
Oral Histories: Explorations in Black Leadership
We continue with our series of interviews with prominent African American women from the "Explorations in Black Leadership" oral history collection. Dorothy Height served as president of the National Council of Negro Women from 1957 to 1998, co-organized an interracial women's group in the 1960s called "Wednesdays in Mississippi," worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. on the 1963 March on Washington, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal. This 2003 interview was conducted by civil rights leader and professor Julian Bond.
Sunday 8pm & midnight ET
The Presidency: The Lincoln Family After the Assassination
Historian Catherine Clinton talks about what happened to President Lincoln's family after his assassination. She discusses Mary Todd Lincoln's struggles with debt and difficulty in coping with her husband's death. Clinton also recounts what happened to the president's two surviving sons, Robert and Tad, and their descendants. This event was part of the annual Lincoln Forum symposium in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.