The Watkins Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St.

The bloody conflicts between Lawrence abolitionists and their pro-slavery rivals that mark the city’s history will soon appear in a TV series.

On Thursday, a crew from the PBS series “America from the Ground Up” will be filming around downtown Lawrence. The host and producer of the series, archaeologist Monty Dobson, said that the episode will focus on the conflict over Kansas becoming a free or slave state.

“There are a number of events that take place in Lawrence that are acts of violence on both sides, whether they are supporters of slavery or free-soilers,” Dobson said. “And that’s really the story we’ll be telling; that’s part of the broader Civil War.”

“America from the Ground Up” follows Dobson as he investigates different periods of the United States’ archaeological history. Dobson is filming season two of the series, and said the episode that features Lawrence includes the run-up to the Civil War and the war itself. He said crews will also be filming in other areas nearby, including Fort Scott.

While in Lawrence, Dobson said crews will film at the Eldridge Hotel and the Watkins Museum of History, where they will interview the museum’s director and curator. The museum’s core exhibit focuses on Douglas County’s free-state struggle and its Civil War history.

Dobson said the crew will set up lights and cameras in the two downtown locations as part of the filming Thursday. He said they chose the hotel because it symbolizes the violence of the conflict.

“The hotel is significant because it is a site that was associated with the free-soilers, and then it’s attacked by the sheriff who is a supporter of the slavery side,” Dobson said. “And that’s the kind of violence we see back and forth in that Missouri-Kansas border conflict.”

A Massachusetts abolitionist group called the New England Emigrant Aid Company founded Lawrence in 1854. The goal was to establish anti-slavery settlers in the new territory of Kansas to help it become a free state. Civil War era conflicts include the sacking of Lawrence in 1856 and William Quantrill’s raid in 1863. In both events, the Eldridge hotel — originally called the Free State hotel — was attacked and burned down.

The show’s crew will also be using a drone to capture aerial footage of Lawrence that will later be available to the city, according to a city news release.

“The City of Lawrence is proud to have the crew from ‘America from the Ground Up’ filming in Lawrence and we are pleased to accommodate their needs while they are in town highlighting the history of Lawrence,” Diane Stoddard, assistant city manager, said in the release.

Season two of “America from the Ground Up” will air internationally on PBS in the spring of 2018, Dobson said. More information on the series can be found on the show’s website.