American History Prime Time Schedule: July 27-31, 2020
C-SPAN3's American History TV in Prime Time
July 27 - July 31, 2020
8pm Each Night on C-SPAN 3
Monday, July 27
In 1965, five Des Moines, Iowa students wore black arm bands to protest the escalating war in Vietnam, violating local school policies. The students, Christopher Eckhardt and the four Tinker siblings, challenged the school board's free speech restrictions, and the resulting Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District established that students do not lose their First Amendment rights on school grounds.
In 1971, the New York Times and Washington Post fought the Nixon Administration to publish what came to be known as the "Pentagon Papers," a classified history of U.S. military activity in Vietnam. The Supreme Court's decision in New York Times v. United States restricted the government's power over the press and broadened journalists' First Amendment protections.
Tuesday, July 28
Troy Leon Gregg was a convicted armed robber and murderer who challenged his death sentence; four other capital punishment cases were considered by the court as well. The Supreme Court ruled against him in Gregg v. Georgia but established stricter guidelines for states wishing to impose the death penalty. The decision also fine-tuned the court's interpretation of the 8th & 14th Amendments
Allan Bakke was a white University of California-Davis medical school applicant who was twice rejected. He claimed he was passed over in favor of less qualified minority applicants. The Supreme Court issued one of its most complicated rulings in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke - both striking down the university's specific admissions program and upholding the constitutionality of affirmative action under the 14th Amendment.
Wednesday, July 29
Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia (1940-2020)
Congressman John Lewis, a 17-term Democrat from Georgia, died Friday, July 17 at the age of 80. As a leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he was a seminal figure in the 1960s civil rights movement, from the 1961 Freedom Rides to the 1963 March on Washington to the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma, Alabama. In this 2019 program, Congressman Lewis gives the keynote address at a ceremony naming a Richmond, Virginia boulevard for the pioneering African American tennis player Arthur Ashe.
Thursday, July 30
1960 Lunch Counter Sit-Ins
In 1960, four African American students sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, launching a civil rights movement that would spread to other cities throughout the country. University of Massachusetts, Amherst professor Traci Parker joined American History TV and Washington Journal to take viewer questions about desegregation protests from that time. She's the author of "Department Stores and the Black Freedom Movement: Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights from the 1930s to the 1980s."
Friday, July 31
World War II "Living History"
On a night of programs featuring "living historians" from American Artifacts series, we begin with physician Jack Moody portraying a World War II U.S. Army battalion surgeon at the annual Army Heritage Days in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Dr. Moody's medical tent was set up as a 101st Airborne battalion aid station, a mobile emergency room that would have been located close to the front lines.
American History TV. All weekend - every weekend. And also on Washington Journal this week.