classroom. they're trying to help them understand their responsibilities in relationship to the groups they're part of, including their classroom. it's that basic. politics is at the end of the day about people coming together to establish rules, norms, cultures of respect, institutions. we do things collectively. you need a word for that? groups is a word that kids understand. that's what's going on in those early grades in that conversation. >> you can watch this entire debate online at c-span.org slash history. simply search for danielle allen or mark bauerline at the top of the page.

♪ ♪

♪ go to sleep, you little baby ♪ ♪ ♪ [ baby crying ] >> today is born out of yesterday. and there's no birth without pain. ♪♪ >> spring 1901. 16 years old coming to america with five words of english. >> my name is xena. impossible language. i'll never learn it.

my name is xheen -- xena gravic. my name is -- >> in the old country i worked like an animal and even before my children are born the mark is on them. animal. before god, i swear my children will not live as i have lived. ♪ freedom doesn't come like a bird on the wing ♪ ♪ doesn't come down like the summer rain ♪ ♪ freedom freedom is a hard one thing you've got to work for it fight for it day and night for it ♪ ♪ and every generation got to win it again ♪ ♪ pass it on to your children, mother ♪ ♪ pass it on to your children, brother ♪ ♪ you got to work for it, fight for it day and night for it ♪

♪ pass it on to your children ♪ ♪ pass it on ♪♪ >> new arrivals scheduled for examination will present themselves with the documents. find the line matching the letter on your tag. >> name? place of birth? >> odessa. >> how much money you got? >> no understand. >> money, denaro? how much money. >> we've got 5,000 to process today, so let's keep these lines moving. >> you have two minutes to ask them 32 questions and finish the health inspection. keep an eye out for tb. we're getting a lot of it lately. >> name? spell it. >> please? >> skip it. we'll make it simpson.

>> please, god, let nothing go wrong. let them not notice the baby's nose. let them take us into america. ♪♪ >> why do you keep asking me what it's going to be like? i told you 1,000 times. the streets are paved with gold and the houses are made of marble, yeah, yeah, even the toilet. >> is this a country? gold in america. learn, study, pay attention, keep your eyes open, you hear? this is gold in america where millionaires grow on trees like little apples. ♪♪

♪♪ >> hi. is this a country? as true as i'm standing here, one family, vanderbilt, has seven houses on fifth avenue. also in case they need a little fresh air, a hole in the wall at newport, not to mention a 60-room shack in north carolina. i read in the paper, just to take care of the grounds they spend more than the whole department of agriculture. let this be a lesson. save your money.

>> official new york city housing survey, 1905. >> we find it difficult to convey conditions in the new immigrant neighborhoods. darkness, dampness and dirt. dirt and discomfort and disease. diphtheria and death. >> mulberry street, 17 of us in four rooms. uncle antonio from naples, and aunt bianca and the kids sleeping in the parlor. if i ever get a boyfriend, where can we go to hold hands? into the park with the pigeons.

>> there's certain rules of etiquette one certainly does not question. a lady does not show her ankle or raise her voice. if unmarried, the girl must be accompanied by a chaperon. a female relative is quite satisfactory. the best and safest thing to do is to stay at home and help mother about the house. >> 12 hours a day, mama makes 50 cents, i make a dime. louie makes a nickel. >> laying down track for the westbound trains, stacking up timbers in the state of maine. digging out coal in the west virginia hills, hammering steel in the pittsburgh mills. immigrants from austria and italy.

immigrants from the baltic sea. ♪ ♪ six day week and a 12-hour day and it's welcome, boys, to the usa. dollar a day for a factory hand and it's welcome, ladies, to the promised land. ♪♪ >> immigrants and the sons of immigrants putting down roofs, hanging on. stubborn is a tree that pushes its way up through the rock. acrobats and clowns, rascals and lovers, builders and dreamers,

leaving their signatures on the cities. they came dreaming of gold in the streets and finding no miracles, they made their own. the miracle of friendship, the miracle of laugher, the miracle of the generations. the miracle of learning. listen, you want to hear the presidents, george washington, john adams, thomas jefferson -- >> professor genius, what else did you learn? >> daniel webster, quote, justice is the great interest of man on earth. >> from your mouth to god's ears -- >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation

indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> golden america. half dream, and half nightmare. ♪ when i die, don't bury me at all, hang me up on the spool room wall ♪ ♪ place a bobbin in my hand so i can keep on working in the promised land ♪ i got the blues. i got the blues. ♪ i got the blues ♪ ♪ i got the blues ♪ ♪ lordy, lordy, school is hard ♪ ♪ you know and i know don't have time ♪ ♪ got to work like hell ♪♪ >> 2 million children in the mills and the mines. 6 million grown-ups unemployed. >> why hire a man for a dollar

when you can hire a kid for a dime? >> i was taught in my youth that it was the height of vulgarity to discuss money. >> a professor in chicago came up with a few statistics. an american family cannot adequately survive on less than $900 a year. the average working man earns about $400. ♪ when the union inspirations through the workers blood shall run ♪ ♪ there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun ♪ ♪ the force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one ♪ ♪ for the union makes us strong ♪ ♪ solidarity forever ♪ ♪ solidarity forever ♪ >> the garment workers of new

york keeping alive a tradition going back to the philadelphia printers that fought in the revolution before washington was president. immigrants and the sons of immigrants carrying on the heritage of the boston carpenters who fought for the ten-hour day while missouri was still indian territory. ♪♪ ♪ hold the fort, because we are coming ♪ ♪ side will side we'll battle on ward ♪ ♪ victory will come ♪ >> a spokesman for the mine owners, i assure you the rights, interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for not by the labor agitator, but to the christian men who god has given control of the property interests of this country. ♪ freedom doesn't come like a bird on the wings ♪ ♪ doesn't come down like the summer rain ♪ ♪ freedom, freedom is a hard one

thing ♪ ♪ you've got to work for it, fight for it, day and night for it ♪ ♪ and everything generation got to win it again. ♪ pass it on to your children mother ♪ ♪ pass it on to your children, brother ♪ >> i came to chicago, green off the boat, 1910. got myself a job at a men's clothing shop, hart and marx, stood at the machine, making in your boots. scared of being fired for sneezing, looking at the foreman cross eyed. >> busy season. get up before dawn, come home in the dark. the children's faces you don't look on except when they're sleepy, and in the slack season.

speed up, you can go crazy with the speed up, turning out more, more, more for the same money. >> just like this, all of a sudden the foreman announces they're cutting the piece rate for seaming pants. >> you've got a wife and kids to support. you keep your mouth shut. >> lucy, you're going to just sit there and take it? >> not me. i'm not taking it. i'm walking out. ♪♪ >> sure, it's all right for them. a handful of girls. i've got kids to feed.

>> they warned us, walk out and you're finished, blacklisted, finished in chicago. >> why doesn't the union do something? the so-called union, my boy, is strictly for the cutters and the aristocrats. they're not interested in green horns. >> what am i doing in here taking over their work? i ought to be out there with them. >> what do we do? >> i don't know what you're going to do. i know what i'm going to do. out. i'm walking out. ♪♪ >> did you hear? >> did you hear the latest? 3,000 out. six more shops out. >> 35,000. >> you hear? 40,000 out. ♪♪

>> the union's looking to make a deal under the table and sell us down the river. ♪ i'm a mild mannered girl as can be ♪ ♪ i have never done them harm that i can see ♪ ♪ they throw me in the can ♪ ♪ they go wild, simply wild over me ♪ >> broken heads and empty stomachs. four months out in the freezing street. four months standing together, standing solid. i see charlie out there walking in the line. up comes a foreman who gives him a punch and yells "go home, troublemaker." so charlie says, i've got my rights.

rights they gave him. a bullet in the head they gave him. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> how do you do, sir? my name is jane adams. i'm a social worker. i wonder, mr. shafter, how long it's been since you saw with your own eyes the conditions under which these people work for you? >> so i went down to my factory, and i looked and then i wasn't surprised they were on strike. i was only surprised they waited so long. >> shafter had grievances and waged.

>> what does hillman say? >> all we want is to be treated as human beings, not machines. arbitration is the first step. all right. so they got arbitration and a little security at hart, shaft and marx. >> that leaves the rest of us right back where we started. >> you think this is the end? take it from me, this is only the beginning. >> something in the wind blowing east from chicago. a restless murmur running through the shops. something being born. the beginning of hope. ♪♪ >> new york, 1912, part of the men's clothing market. 60,000 vest makers and buttonhole makers, pressers and pants makers, cutters and

tailors, slapped into jail by the police. bailed out by theorello laguardia. >> you hear? we got a settlement. a 53-hour week. >> a big present they gave us. ice in the winter. >> listen, whatever it is, you have to fight through it. if my information is mistaken please correct me, which i will appreciate. thank you. ♪♪ >> something in the wind. something struggling to be born. baltimore, strike and sellout. ♪♪ >> rochester, sellout and heartbreak. ♪♪ >> the union's having a

convention, nashville, tennessee. why nashville? the biggest locals are new york, baltimore. >> they're making it tough for us to get out there. so why nashville? why not alaska? >> beg, borrow, somehow scrape together the money for train fare. >> nashville! call out for nashville! >> boston, to new york, cincinnati, philadelphia, baltimore are delinquent and will not be seated! >> we were out on strike! we didn't have to eat! how can we pay dues? >> you have no right to speak! >> baltimore is still out on strike! >> the balcony is out of order! >> we insist that the brethren in the balcony be heard! >> the delegate from chicago is out of order!

>> listen. word just came in from nashville. chicago walked out of the convention. >> yeah and new york and baltimore. >> boston, philadelphia and cincinnati. >> 75% of the membership walked out. >> really? what does it mean? holding their own convention. >> we're setting up our own union. ♪♪ >> it will be an outlaw outfit. sydney, you're out of your mind staking your head on a wild gamble. >> in the month of december, in the year 1914 they gathered at webster hall and they took the gamble. >> it was our dream to give security to our members, security within the framework of liberty, of individual freedom. lincoln said a nation cannot exist half slave and half free, neither can a man.

we cannot exist free politically, but slaves industrially. >> dear brother, we just formed an organizing committee for clothing workers in milwaukee. cutters, and the bohemian, two italian pantsmakers, two poles, a swede and a hungarian. >> starting with nothing, with empty pockets and a barrel of hope. organizing new york and chicago. wisconsin and new jersey, baltimore and boston, kentucky, missouri, ohio, montreal, toronto, pennsylvania. ♪♪ >> dear brother hillman, maybe you can come to our assistance. we had a little strike in

philadelphia. our business engine got thrown in jail. i haven't got to buy postage stamp, much less pay the fine. worse comes to worse, don't worry, i'll hock my overcoat. >> listen, i'm a boss. so don't quote me. to tell you the truth, the union is the best thing to ever happen in this industry. you have arbitration and we can come together like human beings and set standards and rates in a civilized manner, you know what i mean? since we went union, we've never had a strike. >> january 1, 1915. special to mcclures magazine. >> midway through the wilson administration, there are indications the nation is seeing a new freedom. a weakening of the grip of monopolies by the passage of the corrupt practices act, the clayton anti-trust act, workman's compensation, child labor laws. ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ >> immigrants and the sons of immigrants. a fisherman from nantucket, the factory hands from the lower east side, farm boys from arkansas. ♪ good-bye ma, good-bye pa ♪ ♪ goodbye mule with the old hee-haw ♪ ♪ i may not know what the war's about ♪ but i'll bet i'll soon find out ♪

>> i'll bring you a hun and a kaiser too ♪ ♪ and that's about all one feller can do ♪ [ bombs bursting ] ♪ i may not know what the war's about ♪ ♪ but i bet by gosh i'll soon find out ♪ ♪ oh, my darling, don't you fear ♪ ♪ i'll bring you a gun for a souvenir ♪ ♪♪ >> u.s. army, dead and missing, 130,500. wounded, 234,300. u.s. steel profits, $2 billion. in the back wash of war,

depression and a rising hysteria. in a single year, 61 murders by lynching. revolution in russia touching off panic at home. >> victims of the poma raid, their houses ransacked without search warrants. 3,000 foreign-born arrested, denied lawyers, held without charges for three months. >> in pittsburgh and gary, indiana, it was a 12-hour day. take it or leave it and you better take it if you know what's good for you. ♪ tell me what is a vigilante man ♪ ♪ what is a vigilante man ♪

♪ does he carry a claw in his hand and would he beat your brother and sister down ♪ >> amalgamated clothing workers of america, enclosed, find our contribution, $100,000, for the relief of the steel strikers. we know that this is only the beginning of one of the greatest attacks ever directed against american labor. >> 1920. >> in six short years we built ourselves one of the strongest unions in the country. >> in new york, the 44-hour week and a working machinery in arbitration. >> so the employers decide it's time to bring the union and turn back the clock and return back the sweat shop.

when we turned it down -- >> lockout. >> they've got it all figured. shut down the machines, lock the doors and get a court injunction against picketing, sit back and starve us out. >> the judges came back into the courtroom. he's getting ready to read the decision. >> what happens if they get the injunction? >> we get thrown in the klink for picketing. that's what happens. >> the supreme court of new york is now in session. the honorable justice sickling presiding. >> the crowd must stand at all times as the representatives of the captains of industry. injunction granted. >> while the employers may succeed in getting injunctions, they succeed in nothing else. as long as they think they can ship customers' injunctions

instead of pants, let them go ahead. >> hang on. sit tight and hang on. if we crack it means the end of the union. they open shop again with the seven-day week and 12-hour day, starvation, slums, crime, and everything that is rotten, everything that is inhuman. your organization must ask great sacrifices. we ask you to walk instead of spending a nickel carfare, your lives depend on it, your future. the future of your children. we will take care that there is not a single house without bread. we won't give you meat, but your brothers and sisters in chicago, rochester and baltimore won't let you starve. >> what? with the starting in the sweat shop at the age of 11, somehow i never got time to go to harvard, so at the age of 47 i'm going to look at college, american history, public speaking, labor history and even art classes. ♪♪

>> we volunteered to go down there and to arrange entertainment. i don't believe the world has such children anywhere as the east side children. they took our modest program and transformed it with their magic. i sat there thinking, oh, what if the business of society were making children like this instead of profits. >> if we hung on, and hung on for six long months and we won. >> we did it. we did it. we hung on and we won. >> the '20s. >> a chicken in every pot and a tin whizzy in every garage. >> cancel the child labor laws. ♪♪

♪ and patrick henry, henry made a speech, a famous speech when he told them never take the bottom ♪ ♪ ♪ >> the '20s isn't oh, dee, oh, dough ♪ for a clothing worker, it's still a seasonal business. layoffs, unemployment, rent, payment's due and the radio, go to the bank and they ask you for security. if i had security i would not be there in the first place. my hands are my security. >> as we come marching, marching, we battle, too, for men, for they are women's children and we mother them again. our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes, hearts starve as well as bodies. give us bread, but give us roses.

>> putting up the first cooperative, low-relate houses. founding a bank where a working man can get a loan on the security of his labor. setting up the only unemployment insurance program in the nation and that was also the '20s. >> up, up, up! boy, the sky's the limit! >> at&t, 303, u.s. steel, 255. >> 23, i live my life, but who are you. >> u.s. steel, 313. >> hey, what's wrong with the market? >> u.s. steel, 300. >> u.s. steel 152. u.s. steel 60. ♪ who care it is the sky has to fall in the sea ♪

♪ who cares what bags fail in yonkers, long as you've got a kiss that conquers ♪ >> president hoover assured reporters today that, quote, the fundamental business of the country is on a sound and prosperous basis. the secretary of the treasury announced, quote, i can guarantee that there is nothing in the situation to be concerned about. ♪ it's a mighty hard road that these poor hands are held ♪ ♪ my poor feet have traveled a hot, dusty road ♪ ♪ at the edge of your cities you will see us then ♪ ♪ we come with the dust and we're gone with the wind ♪ >> fed up with being unemployed. tired of being hungry.

20,000 boys went down to washington to demand the veteran's bonus we had coming to us. hoover sicked the army on us and chased us out of the capital. >> let me tell you, mister, we ain't taking it no more. there are going to be some changes made. >> california came here to nominate a president. california will vote for roosevelt! >> there is a mysterious cycle in human events to some generations, much is given. of a generation, much is expected.

this generation of americans has a rendezvous with destiny. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> the new deal beginning to roll. a running river of social legislation. the ctc and the wpa bringing jox to 9 million unemployed. child labor laws passed again. the tba bringing light to the dark valleys. >> the social security act

partially inspired by the amalgamated pattern with insurance. the wagner labor relations act. employees shall have the right to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing. >> until you organize and express yourselves, they'll vote for a bill if congress that lengthens the working hour, that puts in a starvation period, and abolishes the prevailing wage. that whees the politicians will do, unless you make your wants and your rights known. and you can't do it unless you organize. >> they want participation.

they want protection. they want employment and they're going to have those things through the leadership and the instrumentality of the new labor movement. >> instead of 1,000 crab unions segregating the workers, the cio met one big union for every major industry. organize the unorganized. ♪♪ >> deck hands, stokers aboard the ships and the oilfields, zinc miners, lead miners, copper miners, rubber workers, electrical workers. ♪♪ the amalgamated cut workers organizing laundry workers, cleaners and diners, retail clerks and providing the

manpower and the money to organize a textile workers' union. ♪ if you are not far away ♪ ♪ you've got to talk with the workers in the shop with you ♪ you have to build a union and make it strong ♪ if you stick together it won't be long ♪ ♪ you get shorter hours, better working conditions ♪ ♪ vacations with pay, take the kids to the seashore ♪ i got to run on the union train, because if you wait for the boss to raise your pay we'll all be ♪ i'll be buried, gone to heaven, st. peter will be the straw horse then. ♪ it will be the fan, now you know you're underpaid, but the boss says you ain't, and you may be down and out, but you ain't beaten, talk it over. ♪ ♪ which side are you on ♪

♪ my daddy was a miner and i'm a miner's son, and i'll stick with the union until this is won ♪ ♪♪ which side are you on ♪ ♪ which side are you ♪ ♪ which side are you on ♪ >> we have been down here for five days, what do you say, boys? ♪ this land is your land ♪ ♪ this land is my land ♪ ♪ from california to the new york islands ♪ ♪ from the redwood forests to the gulfstream waters ♪ ♪ this land was made for you and me ♪ ♪ as i went walking that highway ♪ ♪ i saw above me that endless skyway ♪

♪ i saw below me that golden valley ♪ ♪♪ this land was made for you and me ♪ ♪ land is your land ♪ ♪ this land is my land ♪ ♪ from california to the new york islands ♪ ♪ from the redwood forests, to the gulfstream waters ♪ >> memorial day, 1937. [ shots fired ]

>> 600 arrested. 60 sent to the hospital. 30 pleading from gunshot wounds including one woman and three children. ten dead, shot in the back. ♪♪ ♪♪

>> flint, michigan, 1937. ♪ when you're tied to a union man, sit down, sit down ♪ ♪ when they give him a sack, they'll take him back ♪ ♪ sit down, sit down ♪ sit down, sit down ♪ ♪ ♪♪ ♪ sit down, sit down ♪ ♪ when you want the boss to come across, sit down, sit down ♪ ♪ sit down and take a seat ♪ >> sit down, sit down ♪ >> we sat down in the auto

plants for 44 days and we came out with a union contract. in the men's clothing field, victory. industry wide collective bargaining bringing order out of chaos. auto organized, steel organized, rubber, oil, copper, merchant marine, furniture workers, glass workers, leather workers, packing house workers and woodworkers. ♪ this land is your land ♪ ♪ this land is land ♪ ♪♪ >> in three years, 5 million americans organized, cio. ♪ this land was made for you and me ♪ >> 1938. ♪ forget your troubles and just get happy ♪ ♪ you better chase your cares

away ♪ ♪ sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ the lord is waiting to take your hand ♪ shout hallelujah, come on, get happy ♪ day ♪ >> berlin, aside from rightful claims to austria and czechoslovakia, germany has no territorial ambitions. he claimed that all accusations to the contrary are fabrications circulated by an international jewish conspiracy. >> poland, 1939. ♪♪

>> poland. ♪♪ >> denmark. ♪♪ >> norway. ♪♪ >> holland, belgium, luxembourg. ♪♪ >> france. yugoslavia. greece. december 7, 1941.

>> in the african hills on the bleak islands of the pacific, we got the message when the united states could sit isolated behind its oceans were ended forever. the message written in fire that from now on, for better or for worse, it was one world. the battle line ran from the philippines to iwo jima, from anzio to normandy. ♪ >> from ellermain to stallengrad. the battle line ran through pittsburgh and detroit and norfolk and san francisco. ♪♪

>> and yet in the midst of war in the 1942 elections, only a third of america's eligible voters went to the polls. >> franklin roosevelt, the white house, washington, to sydney hillman. dear sydney, i can think of nothing more important in the years to come than the continuing education of the people who do the job of this land. >> it is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for winning a lasting peace of the

establishment of an american standard of living higher than ever known before. >> the man dies, but the dream endures. >> we have accepted, so to speak, a second bill of rights and a new basis of security and prosperity to be established for all, regardless of station or race or creed. the right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation issue the right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness and accidents and unemployment. finally, the right to petition. all of these rights spell secure. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> but the clock ticks away the inexorable hours. the days vanish like wild birds. the sky announces a new season. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> pinned upon the drawing board are plans for the destruction of

pianos and violets. ♪♪ lightning flashes on the consolations. thunder rolls above the clouds and yet, the small persistent voice of man prevails. >> at the age of 83, i look back to see the changes that have taken place. i remembered that when mr. hillman had just arrived from chicago i then said to a friend of mine, and i says, he looks like a young fellow, but i would take my hat off to him if he can take these wolfs and make them see the light and create a business where individuals could make a livelihood and do away with the slavery that existed all through the years.

>> i can go back to a time when my pop, may rest in peace, we worked together and he broke me in. i used to remember when he broke me in, and he was a strict man, and when he was out at bay, just one day there was no pay, and when he had no pay there was no food in the house. we always ate from the clothing line, and that time the boss was able to walk over to the machine, tear it off and kick you out and that was it. when things got slow the boss used to go around and cut prices and we had to work cheaper. you had no standard of conditions. you had no standard of garments. you had no standard of labor. it was a dog eat dog. >> and benefits, we had none. >> i can move to any union shop

in the country, new york, ohio and tuscaloosa, keep my medical care and keep my pension. >> whoever thought that this trade would have three weeks' vacation? whoever thought they'd have legal holidays? whoever thought we'd see a business and walk in and tell a boss you can't fire a man because he's old or because he's sick. you have to keep him. those things you didn't see years ago, and whoever thought in this trade that when a man reached 65 he could retire and never did we think we'd see it in this trade. a man used to work until he dropped by the machine and he hoped his family would support him. i can remember when a man got sick he was broke. today we've got the union hospitalization on x-ray, psychiatric right down the line. today i come into a shop and i

looked around, and i see the younger people, girls and boys. do they know how hard it was that they fought for? >> do they know what a union actually means, do they know that they have to keep the conditions, because they have sacrificed themselves. ♪ if i had a hammer, i'd hammer in the morning ♪ ♪ i'd hammer in the evening all over this land ♪ ♪ i'd hammer out danger, i'd hammer out a warning ♪ >> the biggest ever thing i would sell to the workers is our dignity. the most important thing is dignity. the right to stand up and grieve. and the right to know that they

can take a stand when they're mistreated in the shop. you go to a town that's anti-union to make contact as quiet as possible. many times we refuse lodgings and accommodations and hotels and hotels and we do get into place sometimes our phone calls are monitored. i myself have been in front of the plant in the southern community and city officials, police and sheriffs groups chase us away from the plant, take us out of the car, rope around my neck and pulled up on my tiptoes and told, if you ever come back here again, we'll kill you. many times a worker will say i'm for you, i'll vote for you outside of the union, but don't park your car close to our house because the boss will know

you've been to see us and i may get fired tomorrow. it takes a lot of courage for workers to sign a union card. but the workers have courage, a lot of them have. ♪ if i had a ♪ i'd hammer in the evening all over this land ♪ ♪ i'd hammer out darkness ♪ ♪ all over this land ♪ >> as it is, they were not ready. that's the first thing, he's not ready for it. how can i give him something he's not ready for? but i am ready. i've been ready. but maybe, you don't recognize it. maybe, you think i'm still a child or something but i'm not a child. i'm grown. i have children. and i'm worried about them like you worrying about yours.

♪ you got to work for it, fight for it day and night for it ♪ ♪ and every generation's got to win it all again ♪ >> sometimes, i get thinking if only i could protect her from all the troubles in this world, discrimination, poverty, war, but the best i can do is let her learn to be strong. to stand up and fight for a decent life. that's her inheritance. >> the seed is planted, and the seed flowers. the roots take hold. the stubborn tree forces its way through the rock. immigrants and the sons of immigrants handing down their inheritance. creating, out of their dreams and their anguish and their songs, the face of america.

♪ freedom doesn't come like a bird on the wind ♪ ♪ doesn't come down like the summer rain ♪ ♪ freedom, freedom is a hard one thing ♪ ♪ you've got to work for it, fight for it day and night for it ♪ ♪ and every generation got to win it again ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ >> you think this is the end? take it from me. this is only the beginning. our weekly series the presidency highlights the politics, policies, and legacies of u.s. presidents and first ladies. recently, we took a look back at gerald ford. the only white house occupant never to have been elected either vice president or president.

he took office on august 9th, 1974, after president nixon's resignation. donald holloway of the ford presidential museum in grand rapids, michigan, discussed his life and presidency. >> this is -- um -- film and if you -- if you go ahead and start it, we are only going to show about the first minute and a half of it. this just serendipitously was found by the archivist of the special collections of the grand rapids public library. he called me up and he said, hey, i found this film. i think you'd be interested in seeing it. and it was film shot by the father of one of the players on the ottawa high school team. gerald ford attended south high. and here we see in 1929, a football match between ottawa high school and -- um -- south high. it's the first game of the season. um, they're -- south high kicks off in the dark uniforms. in the light gray uniforms, ottawa receives.

gerald ford, this is his junior year and the film is good enough, that you can look at a slide by slide, frame by frame, and find number 23 in it. ford would become the captain of the team the next year, his senior year. all-state player. um, they would earn the state championship, and i am going to come up here in just a minute. i'm going to freeze frame so that you can see the only known footage of gerald ford playing high school football. just a minute, you will see number 23 coming in from the right-hand side. slow it down. and there he is. there's junior ford, number 23. >> watch the full program and other the presidency programs on our website, c-span.org/history. >> next on american history tv, a look at the challenges the international ladies garment workers union faced fighting for worker rights and the role of minority women in the garment industry. good evening, everyo