All language subtitles for The.Rebellious.Life.of.Mrs.Rosa.Parks.2022.720p.WEB.h264-KOGi.[eng]

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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:13,888 --> 00:00:16,224 [ Applause ] 2 00:00:22,564 --> 00:00:26,359 -We're back, and let's meet our next team of challengers. 3 00:00:26,401 --> 00:00:28,820 Number one. What is your name, please? 4 00:00:28,862 --> 00:00:31,656 -My name is Rosa Parks. 5 00:00:31,698 --> 00:00:32,824 -Number two. 6 00:00:32,866 --> 00:00:35,035 -My name is Rosa Parks. 7 00:00:35,076 --> 00:00:36,870 -And number three. 8 00:00:36,911 --> 00:00:38,288 -My name is Rosa Parks. 9 00:00:38,329 --> 00:00:39,831 -Once again, panel, these three ladies 10 00:00:39,873 --> 00:00:42,042 all claim to be civil rights champion Rosa Parks, 11 00:00:42,083 --> 00:00:44,044 and let's start the questioning with Kitty Carlisle. 12 00:00:44,085 --> 00:00:49,549 -Number two, what led up to this glorious moment on that bus? 13 00:00:49,591 --> 00:00:52,552 -How did you feel at the moment of arrest? 14 00:00:52,594 --> 00:00:54,095 [ Bell dings ] -That bell tells us 15 00:00:54,137 --> 00:00:55,347 the time is up. And now, of course, 16 00:00:55,388 --> 00:00:56,806 it's time to vote whoever, 17 00:00:56,848 --> 00:00:59,267 in your opinion, is the real Rosa Parks. 18 00:00:59,309 --> 00:01:01,102 -I voted for number two, 19 00:01:01,144 --> 00:01:03,104 and it's just based on a feeling. 20 00:01:03,146 --> 00:01:04,647 She just has that gentleness, 21 00:01:04,689 --> 00:01:07,275 I think, that would allow to be defiant. 22 00:01:07,317 --> 00:01:09,027 -Okay. -Any one of these three ladies 23 00:01:09,069 --> 00:01:11,029 could have had the courage, and I'm ashamed to say, 24 00:01:11,071 --> 00:01:13,156 I don't really know which one it really is, 25 00:01:13,198 --> 00:01:14,574 but I voted for number two. 26 00:01:14,616 --> 00:01:16,409 -All right. And Nipsey, who got your vote? 27 00:01:16,451 --> 00:01:19,120 -Well, I'll have to disqualify myself. 28 00:01:19,162 --> 00:01:21,748 I know Mrs. Parks, 29 00:01:21,790 --> 00:01:24,918 and I was one of the entertainers on that show 30 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:26,586 between Selma and Montgomery, 31 00:01:26,628 --> 00:01:28,713 but Ms. Rosa Parks is 10 foot tall, 32 00:01:28,755 --> 00:01:30,674 and she's a legend and a hero 33 00:01:30,715 --> 00:01:32,592 in the democracy of the United States, 34 00:01:32,634 --> 00:01:34,636 not just among black people. 35 00:01:34,678 --> 00:01:36,930 [ Applause ] 36 00:01:36,971 --> 00:01:42,769 -And now, will the real Rosa Parks please stand up? 37 00:01:46,981 --> 00:01:49,359 [ Applause ] 38 00:01:58,576 --> 00:02:03,331 -The first lady of the movement, Mrs. Rosa Parks. 39 00:02:03,373 --> 00:02:05,792 Raise your hand. 40 00:02:05,834 --> 00:02:08,294 -Reverend Abernathy and all of my brothers and sisters 41 00:02:08,336 --> 00:02:11,881 and my children, because I have been called the mother of this, 42 00:02:11,923 --> 00:02:14,968 we are not in a struggle of black against white, 43 00:02:15,010 --> 00:02:18,179 but wrong and right. 44 00:02:18,221 --> 00:02:22,058 -Rosa Parks is arguably one of the most celebrated Americans 45 00:02:22,100 --> 00:02:23,560 of the 20th century 46 00:02:23,601 --> 00:02:26,479 and arguably one of the most kind of distorted 47 00:02:26,521 --> 00:02:28,857 and misunderstood. 48 00:02:28,898 --> 00:02:30,483 -You see before you now 49 00:02:30,525 --> 00:02:34,195 a victim of all that has been perpetrated against one 50 00:02:34,237 --> 00:02:37,282 to make us less than human. 51 00:02:37,323 --> 00:02:41,286 -Yes, we all understand that she went and sat down on the bus. 52 00:02:41,327 --> 00:02:45,957 The narrow narrative of her just on one day did something -- 53 00:02:45,999 --> 00:02:48,376 We need to dispel that. 54 00:02:48,418 --> 00:02:51,963 -I am handicapped in every way, 55 00:02:52,005 --> 00:02:55,175 but I am expected to be a first-class citizen. 56 00:02:55,216 --> 00:02:56,509 I want to be one. 57 00:02:56,551 --> 00:02:59,804 Of course, last few days in Selma, 58 00:02:59,846 --> 00:03:02,766 actually I almost lost the faith. 59 00:03:02,807 --> 00:03:05,060 And I said to myself I could not come here, 60 00:03:05,101 --> 00:03:09,522 seeing what had happened in Selma, armed with only love. 61 00:03:09,564 --> 00:03:11,066 -If they could see her 62 00:03:11,107 --> 00:03:13,276 talking about the Republic of New Afrika. 63 00:03:13,318 --> 00:03:16,780 If they could see her out there with the Panthers in Oakland. 64 00:03:16,821 --> 00:03:21,910 If they could see her in all of these fragrant varieties 65 00:03:21,951 --> 00:03:23,411 of her personality, 66 00:03:23,453 --> 00:03:26,164 then they would understand the real Rosa Parks, 67 00:03:26,206 --> 00:03:29,292 but they might have been just a little bit frightened. 68 00:03:29,334 --> 00:03:30,710 -Yeah 69 00:03:30,752 --> 00:03:32,796 -Please, Lord, won't you bind my hands? 70 00:03:32,837 --> 00:03:35,799 'Cause I don't want to hurt nobody 71 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,385 Oh, Lord, won't you guide my soul? 72 00:03:38,426 --> 00:03:41,388 'Cause I don't want to act ungodly 73 00:03:41,429 --> 00:03:43,556 Oh, Lord, won't you help my soul? 74 00:03:43,598 --> 00:03:46,726 These heathens want to steal my faith 75 00:03:46,768 --> 00:03:49,396 I really need some self-control 76 00:03:49,437 --> 00:03:52,399 I'm trying not to fall from grace 77 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,026 Lord, please, won't you help my soul? 78 00:03:55,068 --> 00:03:56,695 Come strengthen my faith 79 00:03:56,736 --> 00:03:58,863 Strengthen my faith 80 00:04:02,409 --> 00:04:04,452 -Yeah 81 00:04:12,794 --> 00:04:15,797 -"I have never been an integrationist. 82 00:04:15,839 --> 00:04:17,507 Even when there was segregation, 83 00:04:17,549 --> 00:04:20,176 there was plenty of integration in the South, 84 00:04:20,218 --> 00:04:22,679 but it was for the benefit and convenience 85 00:04:22,721 --> 00:04:26,307 of the white person, not us. 86 00:04:26,349 --> 00:04:28,685 It is the discontinuation of oppression 87 00:04:28,727 --> 00:04:31,730 for all people who are oppressed. 88 00:04:31,771 --> 00:04:33,773 All people should be treated equally, 89 00:04:33,815 --> 00:04:38,028 regardless of race, religion, or nationality." 90 00:04:41,364 --> 00:04:43,616 -As a very small child, I had to hide 91 00:04:43,658 --> 00:04:47,620 from the Ku Klux Klan to keep from getting killed 92 00:04:47,662 --> 00:04:49,789 or thinking I was going to be killed. 93 00:04:49,831 --> 00:04:52,042 My family were deprived of the land 94 00:04:52,083 --> 00:04:54,002 that they owned and driven off of it 95 00:04:54,044 --> 00:04:55,962 after they'd worked and paid for it. 96 00:04:56,004 --> 00:05:00,592 I did not have the opportunity to attend school as many have. 97 00:05:07,599 --> 00:05:09,142 -The early 20th century, 98 00:05:09,184 --> 00:05:11,978 this is the period that is often referred to as the Nadir, 99 00:05:12,020 --> 00:05:14,814 the low point, in African American history. 100 00:05:14,856 --> 00:05:16,399 And some people even argue 101 00:05:16,441 --> 00:05:19,611 that it's a period worse than slavery. 102 00:05:19,652 --> 00:05:23,406 -"By the time I was 6, I was old enough to realize 103 00:05:23,448 --> 00:05:26,034 that we were actually not free. 104 00:05:26,076 --> 00:05:29,662 The Ku Klux Klan was riding through the black community, 105 00:05:29,704 --> 00:05:32,957 burning churches, killing people. 106 00:05:32,999 --> 00:05:34,793 I later learned that it was because 107 00:05:34,834 --> 00:05:38,797 African American soldiers were returning from World War I 108 00:05:38,838 --> 00:05:40,840 and acting as if they deserved equal rights 109 00:05:40,882 --> 00:05:44,886 because they had served their country. 110 00:05:44,928 --> 00:05:47,972 At one point, the violence was so bad 111 00:05:48,014 --> 00:05:52,852 that my grandfather kept his gun close by at all times. 112 00:05:52,894 --> 00:05:55,480 My grandfather was going to defend his home 113 00:05:55,522 --> 00:05:57,107 whatever happened. 114 00:05:57,148 --> 00:05:59,776 I wanted to see him shoot that gun." 115 00:06:01,945 --> 00:06:04,531 -She would be telling me about the grandfather 116 00:06:04,572 --> 00:06:09,077 and how he wasn't afraid of white people. 117 00:06:09,119 --> 00:06:15,250 He looked white, but he wasn't afraid of white people. 118 00:06:15,291 --> 00:06:18,378 -"My grandfather's father was a white plantation owner 119 00:06:18,420 --> 00:06:23,299 named John Edwards, and his mother was a slave housekeeper. 120 00:06:23,341 --> 00:06:26,094 My grandfather was close to white. 121 00:06:26,136 --> 00:06:29,180 She died when my grandfather was very young, 122 00:06:29,222 --> 00:06:32,058 and then John Edwards died, too. 123 00:06:32,100 --> 00:06:34,519 An overseer took over the plantation, 124 00:06:34,561 --> 00:06:36,896 and he disliked my grandfather, 125 00:06:36,938 --> 00:06:39,983 treated him so badly that he had a very intense, 126 00:06:40,025 --> 00:06:42,902 passionate hatred for white people. 127 00:06:42,944 --> 00:06:45,864 My grandfather was the one who instilled in my mother 128 00:06:45,905 --> 00:06:49,617 that you don't put up with bad treatment from anybody. 129 00:06:49,659 --> 00:06:53,038 It was passed down almost in our genes." 130 00:06:54,873 --> 00:06:58,793 -He had his shotgun ready, and I sat up with him all night, 131 00:06:58,835 --> 00:07:02,339 and I still have a chronic insomnia 132 00:07:02,380 --> 00:07:06,676 from some of the things I lived through when I was a child. 133 00:07:06,718 --> 00:07:10,430 -If you were out there on guard at night, 134 00:07:10,472 --> 00:07:13,350 you ain't making no noise. 135 00:07:13,391 --> 00:07:16,770 She understood you protected what was important to you. 136 00:07:16,811 --> 00:07:21,775 And Rosa got the idea that, "I want to change 137 00:07:21,816 --> 00:07:24,402 that what makes me have 138 00:07:24,444 --> 00:07:26,488 to need to be protected." 139 00:07:26,529 --> 00:07:29,657 White supremacy was the threat. 140 00:07:50,512 --> 00:07:55,100 Her brother was, I think, two and a half or something younger. 141 00:07:55,141 --> 00:07:58,269 -"Sylvester followed me around all the time. 142 00:07:58,311 --> 00:08:00,480 He was always into mischief, 143 00:08:00,522 --> 00:08:02,857 but I was very protective of him." 144 00:08:02,899 --> 00:08:04,317 -They were coming home one day 145 00:08:04,359 --> 00:08:08,530 and were being taunted by a young white boy. 146 00:09:06,087 --> 00:09:09,966 -"I would rather be lynched than say 'I don't like it.' 147 00:09:10,008 --> 00:09:12,469 I cried bitterly that I would be lynched 148 00:09:12,510 --> 00:09:14,387 rather than be run over by them. 149 00:09:14,429 --> 00:09:17,557 They could get the rope ready for me any time they wanted 150 00:09:17,599 --> 00:09:19,225 to do their lynching." 151 00:09:19,267 --> 00:09:21,603 -We got to understand that about this woman, 152 00:09:21,644 --> 00:09:24,064 that she was a soldier from birth, 153 00:09:24,105 --> 00:09:26,232 that she was going to fight you. 154 00:09:26,274 --> 00:09:30,236 -Her quietness was actually her strength. 155 00:09:30,278 --> 00:09:35,116 And she would let you know if she didn't agree with you, 156 00:09:35,158 --> 00:09:39,746 but she would let you know without raising her voice. 157 00:09:41,456 --> 00:09:44,376 -"My mother taught me quite a bit about reading. 158 00:09:44,417 --> 00:09:47,003 She taught me the alphabet and figures and counting 159 00:09:47,045 --> 00:09:49,631 before I even started going to school. 160 00:09:51,216 --> 00:09:55,345 Just a very short distance from where I lived was a new school. 161 00:09:55,387 --> 00:09:58,431 It was without question for the white students. 162 00:09:58,473 --> 00:10:01,893 They had bus accommodations, and we never did. 163 00:10:01,935 --> 00:10:05,021 I'd see the bus pass by my house every day. 164 00:10:05,063 --> 00:10:09,025 At one time, I had to walk at least 3 miles to school. 165 00:10:09,067 --> 00:10:10,944 The bus was among the first ways 166 00:10:10,985 --> 00:10:15,281 I realized there was a black world and a white world. 167 00:10:17,325 --> 00:10:20,203 The schools in the South were the best training ground 168 00:10:20,245 --> 00:10:24,207 for teaching Negro inferiority and white supremacy. 169 00:10:24,249 --> 00:10:27,961 A young child starting to school could very soon learn 170 00:10:28,003 --> 00:10:30,088 that the white children went to beautiful, 171 00:10:30,130 --> 00:10:33,174 well-appointed and equipped school buildings, 172 00:10:33,216 --> 00:10:35,969 while Negro children went to roughly built 173 00:10:36,011 --> 00:10:38,346 uncomfortable shacks with no desks, 174 00:10:38,388 --> 00:10:41,307 but rough plank benches." 175 00:10:41,349 --> 00:10:44,436 -Education for black kids ends at sixth grade. 176 00:10:44,477 --> 00:10:46,479 Her mother finds that unacceptable, 177 00:10:46,521 --> 00:10:49,649 so her mother sends her to a school in Montgomery 178 00:10:49,691 --> 00:10:51,568 called Ms. White's, 179 00:10:51,609 --> 00:10:54,571 and a number of the women who go to Ms. White's 180 00:10:54,612 --> 00:10:55,947 will end up being active 181 00:10:55,989 --> 00:10:58,074 in Montgomery civil rights community. 182 00:11:21,181 --> 00:11:23,350 -"I learned quite a bit about sewing. 183 00:11:23,391 --> 00:11:26,186 What I learned at Ms. White's school was that I was a person 184 00:11:26,227 --> 00:11:28,521 with dignity and self-respect, 185 00:11:28,563 --> 00:11:30,231 and I should not set my sights lower 186 00:11:30,273 --> 00:11:33,443 than anybody else just because I was black. 187 00:11:40,658 --> 00:11:44,287 Raymond Parks was the first real activist I ever met. 188 00:11:44,329 --> 00:11:48,958 He was a longtime member of the NAACP." 189 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,211 -He was the first man I had met 190 00:11:51,252 --> 00:11:53,046 since the death of my grandfather 191 00:11:53,088 --> 00:11:57,425 that was not ready to accept what we call bowing 192 00:11:57,467 --> 00:12:01,388 and scraping, and "yes-yes'ing." 193 00:12:01,429 --> 00:12:02,722 -"He was in his late 20s 194 00:12:02,764 --> 00:12:05,392 and working as a barber in the black barbershop 195 00:12:05,433 --> 00:12:07,727 in downtown Montgomery." 196 00:12:07,769 --> 00:12:09,145 -A mutual friend introduces Rosa 197 00:12:09,187 --> 00:12:11,064 and Raymond Parks to one another. 198 00:12:11,106 --> 00:12:13,233 Rosa's initially not interested. 199 00:12:13,274 --> 00:12:15,777 -"I thought he was too white. 200 00:12:15,819 --> 00:12:17,529 I had an aversion to white men 201 00:12:17,570 --> 00:12:19,489 with the exception of my grandfather, 202 00:12:19,531 --> 00:12:22,659 and Raymond Parks is very light-skinned." 203 00:12:22,701 --> 00:12:24,661 -Her experience with light-skinned black men 204 00:12:24,703 --> 00:12:26,913 is that they're usually politically timid. 205 00:12:26,955 --> 00:12:30,875 Couldn't be further from the truth, right, about Raymond. 206 00:12:30,917 --> 00:12:33,795 -"Parks -- everyone called him Parks -- 207 00:12:33,837 --> 00:12:35,296 would tell me about his problems 208 00:12:35,338 --> 00:12:38,925 growing up being very fair complected." 209 00:12:38,967 --> 00:12:41,886 -He's also the owner of a red Nash. 210 00:13:03,324 --> 00:13:05,410 Raymond starts to talk about politics, 211 00:13:05,452 --> 00:13:09,372 and immediately she's captivated by his authority on matters 212 00:13:09,414 --> 00:13:12,667 that are relevant to the black freedom struggle, right? 213 00:13:12,709 --> 00:13:13,877 Particularly at this time 214 00:13:13,918 --> 00:13:16,171 the Scottsboro Boys' case. 215 00:13:16,212 --> 00:13:20,592 -He was very much concerned with the young black boys 216 00:13:20,633 --> 00:13:23,094 who were being railroaded 217 00:13:23,136 --> 00:13:25,013 to the electric chair. 218 00:13:29,017 --> 00:13:32,062 -Eight black teenagers and one boy. 219 00:13:32,103 --> 00:13:35,440 They're on this train in search of work. 220 00:13:35,482 --> 00:13:38,234 They get into a scuffle with some white men. 221 00:13:40,487 --> 00:13:42,238 -There were two white women on the train 222 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,200 who were arrested as well, and to protect themselves, 223 00:13:45,241 --> 00:13:48,536 they claimed that they were raped by these black boys. 224 00:13:51,706 --> 00:13:54,000 -The Scottsboro Boys are very quickly tried, 225 00:13:54,042 --> 00:13:55,752 and all but the youngest one, who's 12, 226 00:13:55,794 --> 00:13:58,838 are sentenced to death. 227 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,174 -"I thought it was awful that they were condemned to die 228 00:14:01,216 --> 00:14:03,802 for a crime they did not commit. 229 00:14:03,843 --> 00:14:06,471 It demonstrated how little regard segregationists 230 00:14:06,513 --> 00:14:08,556 had for the lives of black people 231 00:14:08,598 --> 00:14:12,686 and the lengths they would go to keep us in fear." 232 00:14:12,727 --> 00:14:15,021 -I would want to go along with him to the meetings 233 00:14:15,063 --> 00:14:16,398 and hear the discussions, 234 00:14:16,439 --> 00:14:19,234 but he always said it was too dangerous. 235 00:14:19,275 --> 00:14:20,985 -"The police were always on the lookout 236 00:14:21,027 --> 00:14:22,696 for people to intimidate. 237 00:14:22,737 --> 00:14:25,448 The police killed two men who were connected with the group 238 00:14:25,490 --> 00:14:29,411 Parks was with, people Parks knew well." 239 00:14:29,452 --> 00:14:33,039 -People were certainly concerned with being killed, 240 00:14:33,081 --> 00:14:35,375 being imprisoned. 241 00:14:35,417 --> 00:14:38,378 Raymond embraced armed self-defense 242 00:14:38,420 --> 00:14:40,880 during the Scottsboro campaign. 243 00:14:40,922 --> 00:14:43,883 -He and I stayed up for many a night and didn't sleep at all. 244 00:14:43,925 --> 00:14:47,220 When he left home, I did not know whether he'd be brought in 245 00:14:47,262 --> 00:14:49,931 or lying in the street dead someplace. 246 00:15:02,277 --> 00:15:04,362 -One of the biggest myths in the history 247 00:15:04,404 --> 00:15:05,780 of the black freedom movement 248 00:15:05,822 --> 00:15:09,659 is that nonviolence is the default position. 249 00:15:09,701 --> 00:15:11,578 That's not true. It's the other way around. 250 00:15:11,619 --> 00:15:15,665 And Rosa Parks grew up in a movement culture 251 00:15:15,707 --> 00:15:21,588 in which armed self-defense was simply taken for granted. 252 00:15:21,629 --> 00:15:23,673 -Mother Parks supported self-defense 253 00:15:23,715 --> 00:15:26,843 because she would not have been a supporter 254 00:15:26,885 --> 00:15:30,180 of the Republic of New Afrika had she not been. 255 00:15:36,394 --> 00:15:37,729 -The Republic of New Afrika 256 00:15:37,771 --> 00:15:41,024 is attempting to abide by the law. 257 00:15:41,066 --> 00:15:43,318 Our weapons are all defensive. 258 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:46,279 We wouldn't carry them if we were not in the state 259 00:15:46,321 --> 00:15:49,366 that has shed so much black blood. 260 00:15:49,407 --> 00:15:51,618 -The Republic of New Afrika was founded 261 00:15:51,659 --> 00:15:54,871 by a man who was then known as Richard Henry, 262 00:15:54,913 --> 00:15:58,375 who later became known as Dr. Imari Obadele. 263 00:15:58,416 --> 00:16:03,171 -The point of the RNA was to demand reparations 264 00:16:03,213 --> 00:16:05,340 for slavery and Jim Crow, 265 00:16:05,382 --> 00:16:07,467 to develop armed self-defense groups 266 00:16:07,509 --> 00:16:09,302 to defend black people, 267 00:16:09,344 --> 00:16:13,264 and to basically demand territory in the South. 268 00:16:15,475 --> 00:16:16,851 -And Mother Rosa Parks, 269 00:16:16,893 --> 00:16:18,937 she became friends with Robert Williams 270 00:16:18,978 --> 00:16:23,650 and his wife, Mabel Williams, who was also a revolutionary. 271 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:35,704 In Jackson, Mississippi, 272 00:16:35,745 --> 00:16:39,833 their headquarters was seized upon by authorities. 273 00:16:39,874 --> 00:16:41,918 Law enforcement who were not enforcing the law -- 274 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:43,670 They were attacking them. 275 00:16:43,712 --> 00:16:46,381 They were shooting at members of the Republic of New Afrika, 276 00:16:46,423 --> 00:16:49,426 members of the Republic of New Afrika shot back. 277 00:16:49,467 --> 00:16:52,470 -Two Jackson police officers and one FBI agent 278 00:16:52,512 --> 00:16:55,640 were hit by the gunfire from inside the house. 279 00:16:55,682 --> 00:16:58,893 Tear gas and reinforcements were used to run 280 00:16:58,935 --> 00:17:00,979 the occupants of the house outside. 281 00:17:01,021 --> 00:17:04,315 Finally, seven members of the black Republic of New Afrika 282 00:17:04,357 --> 00:17:07,902 surrendered at the rear of the house. 283 00:17:07,944 --> 00:17:10,196 -Since a member of law enforcement has been killed, 284 00:17:10,238 --> 00:17:13,491 people are very worried that they're going to assault, 285 00:17:13,533 --> 00:17:15,368 torture, kill the members of the RNA 286 00:17:15,410 --> 00:17:18,038 that they've now brought into police custody. 287 00:17:18,079 --> 00:17:20,498 -Although Dr. Obadele did none of the shooting 288 00:17:20,540 --> 00:17:23,126 and none of the causes of violence, 289 00:17:23,168 --> 00:17:24,794 he was the one held responsible, 290 00:17:24,836 --> 00:17:28,173 and he was sentenced to five years of federal imprisonment. 291 00:17:28,214 --> 00:17:35,138 And Mother Parks contacted the prison just to check on him. 292 00:17:35,180 --> 00:17:38,725 She said, "I want to know the condition of Imari Obadele," 293 00:17:38,767 --> 00:17:42,270 and they called him Richard Henry. "How is he? 294 00:17:42,312 --> 00:17:43,980 What is his welfare?" 295 00:17:44,022 --> 00:17:47,192 Dr. Imari Obadele said that Mother Parks calling the prison 296 00:17:47,233 --> 00:17:52,322 that held him for five years is the reason he was alive. 297 00:17:52,364 --> 00:17:53,865 To her, there was no conflict 298 00:17:53,907 --> 00:17:57,160 between supporting Imari Obadele and Robert Williams 299 00:17:57,202 --> 00:17:59,454 or supporting Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 300 00:17:59,496 --> 00:18:00,997 whom she loved. 301 00:18:01,039 --> 00:18:06,294 She saw that as the same line of freedom fighting. 302 00:18:06,336 --> 00:18:09,422 She was holistic in her approach to the right 303 00:18:09,464 --> 00:18:11,466 of all people to be free. 304 00:18:19,224 --> 00:18:20,850 -"I came to understand that Parks 305 00:18:20,892 --> 00:18:23,436 was willing to work for things that would improve life 306 00:18:23,478 --> 00:18:26,231 for his race and his family and himself. 307 00:18:26,272 --> 00:18:29,567 The second time Parks and I were ever in each other's company, 308 00:18:29,609 --> 00:18:31,528 he talked about getting married. 309 00:18:31,569 --> 00:18:34,823 I hadn't given marriage a thought at all. 310 00:18:34,864 --> 00:18:38,118 We were married in Pine Level in my mother's home. 311 00:18:38,159 --> 00:18:43,415 It was not a big wedding, just family and close friends." 312 00:18:43,456 --> 00:18:46,835 -Uncle Parks was one of the best of men. 313 00:18:46,876 --> 00:18:51,548 He was kind, he was quiet as well, and reserved. 314 00:18:51,589 --> 00:18:53,883 -They moved to the Cleveland Courts projects. 315 00:18:53,925 --> 00:18:57,012 Rosa Parks, people look at her as a middle-class woman, 316 00:18:57,053 --> 00:19:00,765 but they'd never own a house, not in their entire marriage. 317 00:20:30,689 --> 00:20:32,982 -Her first meeting with the NAACP, 318 00:20:33,024 --> 00:20:34,192 the secretary was out. 319 00:20:34,234 --> 00:20:36,986 They asked her if she'd take the minutes. 320 00:20:37,028 --> 00:20:40,031 It was election day, and they elected her secretary. 321 00:20:53,628 --> 00:20:55,005 -"Mr. Nixon was considered 322 00:20:55,046 --> 00:20:57,799 the most militant man in Montgomery. 323 00:20:57,841 --> 00:21:00,010 He was the very first person who approached me 324 00:21:00,051 --> 00:21:03,013 about the need to get registered. 325 00:21:03,054 --> 00:21:05,682 Mr. Nixon organized the Voters League. 326 00:21:05,724 --> 00:21:07,559 I became a member. 327 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,936 I was impressed by his potential leadership. 328 00:21:09,978 --> 00:21:12,856 He explained to me very fully the necessity 329 00:21:12,897 --> 00:21:16,026 of getting registered to vote in order to elect those officials 330 00:21:16,067 --> 00:21:18,194 that would be beneficial to us 331 00:21:18,236 --> 00:21:20,739 and would increase our ability and opportunity 332 00:21:20,780 --> 00:21:24,242 to become first-class citizens. 333 00:21:24,284 --> 00:21:26,995 The segregationists made it very difficult 334 00:21:27,037 --> 00:21:29,497 for black people to register to vote." 335 00:21:34,544 --> 00:21:37,756 -And it was... 336 00:21:37,797 --> 00:21:41,551 practically impossible to a black person, 337 00:21:41,593 --> 00:21:44,054 regardless of their intelligence, 338 00:21:44,095 --> 00:21:46,890 to become registered, except for a very few 339 00:21:46,931 --> 00:21:49,934 that were selected by the white community. 340 00:21:51,853 --> 00:21:54,397 -African Americans were largely being 341 00:21:54,439 --> 00:21:56,232 shut out of the ballot box. 342 00:21:56,274 --> 00:21:59,652 This was a period where one would have to encounter 343 00:21:59,694 --> 00:22:01,196 unrelenting violence 344 00:22:01,237 --> 00:22:03,073 simply for wanting to vote. 345 00:22:03,114 --> 00:22:05,784 [ Woman vocalizing ] 346 00:22:07,577 --> 00:22:08,828 [ Woman chanting indistinctly ] 347 00:22:08,870 --> 00:22:10,413 [ Crowd chanting indistinctly ] 348 00:22:10,455 --> 00:22:15,585 -Rosa Parks for all of her life was fighting on issues 349 00:22:15,627 --> 00:22:18,755 that are still very much at the forefront 350 00:22:18,797 --> 00:22:21,925 of national discussion and debate. 351 00:22:21,966 --> 00:22:23,593 -These battles are ongoing. 352 00:22:23,635 --> 00:22:27,681 Today, you look at the rampant voter suppression 353 00:22:27,722 --> 00:22:29,849 taking place across the country. 354 00:22:29,891 --> 00:22:31,935 State houses at the local level 355 00:22:31,976 --> 00:22:33,978 are introducing voter suppression laws 356 00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:36,731 that are meant to keep the ballot box narrow 357 00:22:36,773 --> 00:22:40,235 and as white as possible. 358 00:22:40,276 --> 00:22:43,405 -"The right to vote is so important for Americans. 359 00:22:43,446 --> 00:22:47,242 We vote for the people to represent us in government. 360 00:22:47,283 --> 00:22:49,911 I decided to get registered. 361 00:22:49,953 --> 00:22:53,373 The first year I tried was 1943. 362 00:22:53,415 --> 00:22:56,418 I went down to register and take my tests, 363 00:22:56,459 --> 00:23:00,046 but I did not receive a certificate in the mail. 364 00:23:00,088 --> 00:23:03,800 The second time I tried, I was denied. 365 00:23:03,842 --> 00:23:06,803 They just told me, 'You didn't pass.' 366 00:23:06,845 --> 00:23:08,596 They didn't have to give you a reason. 367 00:23:08,638 --> 00:23:12,142 The registrar could do whatever they wanted to do. 368 00:23:12,183 --> 00:23:14,477 I was pretty sure I passed the test, 369 00:23:14,519 --> 00:23:16,312 so the third time I took the test, 370 00:23:16,354 --> 00:23:19,524 I made a copy of my answers to those questions. 371 00:23:19,566 --> 00:23:22,110 I was going to keep that copy and use it to bring suit 372 00:23:22,152 --> 00:23:25,196 against the voter registration board, 373 00:23:25,238 --> 00:23:28,033 but I received my certificate in the mail." 374 00:23:31,828 --> 00:23:33,872 -"When I tried to register to vote, 375 00:23:33,913 --> 00:23:37,250 I was put off a Montgomery bus for the first time." 376 00:23:40,170 --> 00:23:42,505 -The Women's Political Council was an organization 377 00:23:42,547 --> 00:23:48,345 that had begun in 1946 after just dozens of black people 378 00:23:48,386 --> 00:23:52,182 had been arrested on the buses for segregation purposes. 379 00:23:52,223 --> 00:23:56,186 We had sat down and witnessed the arrest and humiliation 380 00:23:56,227 --> 00:23:59,898 and the court trials and fines paid 381 00:23:59,939 --> 00:24:03,360 of people who just sat down on an empty seat. 382 00:24:03,401 --> 00:24:05,278 Something had to be done. 383 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:09,240 -The fight to desegregate public transportation 384 00:24:09,282 --> 00:24:14,829 was part of a larger fight for citizenship rights. 385 00:24:14,871 --> 00:24:18,041 -Nixon is also working to protect black people 386 00:24:18,083 --> 00:24:20,877 who are victims of white violence 387 00:24:20,919 --> 00:24:22,379 and in particular black women 388 00:24:22,420 --> 00:24:26,341 who have been raped and sexually assaulted. 389 00:24:26,383 --> 00:24:30,178 -She felt strongly that the same mind-set 390 00:24:30,220 --> 00:24:33,098 that tolerates sexual violence against black women 391 00:24:33,139 --> 00:24:35,392 by these white men is the same mind-set 392 00:24:35,433 --> 00:24:38,895 that will refuse to hold people accountable 393 00:24:38,937 --> 00:24:44,067 when they engage in mob lynchings and racial terror. 394 00:24:44,109 --> 00:24:48,446 -"Is it worthwhile to reveal the intimacies of the past life? 395 00:24:48,488 --> 00:24:50,907 Would the people be sympathetic or disillusioned 396 00:24:50,949 --> 00:24:53,993 when the facts of my life are told?" 397 00:24:54,035 --> 00:24:57,914 -Rosa Parks writes this very interesting narrative 398 00:24:57,956 --> 00:25:01,418 of which she describes a near sexual assault. 399 00:25:01,459 --> 00:25:05,255 And this is something that takes place in her teenage years. 400 00:25:05,296 --> 00:25:09,092 She's working as a domestic at the time. 401 00:25:09,134 --> 00:25:12,387 -"I saw Mr. Charlie standing in the kitchen. 402 00:25:12,429 --> 00:25:15,515 Mr. Charlie poured himself a drink. 403 00:25:15,557 --> 00:25:19,060 He moved nearer to me and put his hand on my waist. 404 00:25:21,021 --> 00:25:25,275 I was very frightened, nearly to death. 405 00:25:25,316 --> 00:25:27,861 I jumped away, and he was a bit startled 406 00:25:27,902 --> 00:25:31,281 and asked me not to be afraid. 407 00:25:31,322 --> 00:25:35,326 He had money to give me for accepting his attentions. 408 00:25:35,368 --> 00:25:37,620 I knew that no matter what happened, 409 00:25:37,662 --> 00:25:41,624 I would never yield to this white man's bestiality. 410 00:25:41,666 --> 00:25:44,336 I was ready and willing to die. 411 00:25:44,377 --> 00:25:45,754 But give my consent? 412 00:25:45,795 --> 00:25:49,049 Never, never, never. 413 00:25:49,090 --> 00:25:50,925 I talked of everything I know 414 00:25:50,967 --> 00:25:53,553 about the white man's inhumane treatment of the Negro, 415 00:25:53,595 --> 00:25:57,557 how I hated all white people, especially him. 416 00:25:57,599 --> 00:26:00,143 He asked me to give him a price. 417 00:26:00,185 --> 00:26:03,355 I turned away, saying I was not for sale. 418 00:26:03,396 --> 00:26:05,690 If he wanted to kill me and rape a dead body, 419 00:26:05,732 --> 00:26:11,154 he was welcome, but that he would have to kill me first. 420 00:26:11,196 --> 00:26:13,323 At long last, Mr. Charlie got the idea 421 00:26:13,365 --> 00:26:18,328 that I meant no, very definitely no." 422 00:26:21,289 --> 00:26:26,252 -Ms. Parks was compelled to document crimes 423 00:26:26,294 --> 00:26:27,712 because people weren't reacting the way 424 00:26:27,754 --> 00:26:29,130 she thought they should react. 425 00:26:29,172 --> 00:26:33,176 People were a little too accepting 426 00:26:33,218 --> 00:26:37,305 of some of that victimization even within the black community. 427 00:26:37,347 --> 00:26:40,475 -We had so many cases of brutality, 428 00:26:40,517 --> 00:26:42,727 sometimes murder, sometimes flogging, 429 00:26:42,769 --> 00:26:45,063 sometimes being driven from their homes. 430 00:26:45,105 --> 00:26:49,234 And I was on call if anybody needed me to say something 431 00:26:49,275 --> 00:26:52,445 and write up a report or whatever, 432 00:26:52,487 --> 00:26:55,073 if they would have the courage to sign it. 433 00:26:55,115 --> 00:26:56,825 And I had been known in the community 434 00:26:56,866 --> 00:27:00,537 to come to the rescue of people when sometime others didn't. 435 00:27:00,578 --> 00:27:02,038 They were almost unbelievable. 436 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:03,581 I wouldn't like to even mention to you 437 00:27:03,623 --> 00:27:07,252 some of the things that I had to undergo. 438 00:27:10,964 --> 00:27:14,426 -"I remember one case out in Abbeville, Alabama, 439 00:27:14,467 --> 00:27:17,220 where my father and his family came from. 440 00:27:17,262 --> 00:27:20,849 Mrs. Recy Taylor was on her way home from church 441 00:27:20,890 --> 00:27:22,142 when she was kidnapped, 442 00:27:22,183 --> 00:27:24,894 forced into a car at gun- and knife-point, 443 00:27:24,936 --> 00:27:27,022 stripped of her clothing, 444 00:27:27,063 --> 00:27:32,110 and raped by six white men on September 3, 1944." 445 00:27:33,987 --> 00:27:35,447 -Then put a blindfold on her, took her back, 446 00:27:35,488 --> 00:27:37,949 and dumped her in the middle of town, and said, 447 00:27:37,991 --> 00:27:41,077 "If you tell anybody, we'll kill you." 448 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:43,747 She went promptly to the sheriff and told him. 449 00:27:43,788 --> 00:27:50,754 And they realized that nothing's going to happen to these men. 450 00:27:51,504 --> 00:27:55,091 -Rosa Parks hears about this from a white woman 451 00:27:55,133 --> 00:27:59,137 they know through Scottsboro organizing. 452 00:27:59,179 --> 00:28:02,640 So Rosa Parks and some of her comrades decide 453 00:28:02,682 --> 00:28:05,477 that they should investigate it. 454 00:28:05,518 --> 00:28:08,563 -Rosa Parks was sent to get the testimony. 455 00:28:08,605 --> 00:28:13,360 In those times, to go 100 miles from home. 456 00:28:13,401 --> 00:28:16,196 The sheriff is outside driving by. 457 00:28:16,237 --> 00:28:17,947 There he goes again. 458 00:28:17,989 --> 00:28:19,616 Well, there he is. 459 00:28:19,657 --> 00:28:22,118 I just only can imagine what that must have been like, 460 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,913 sitting there, actually having her tell that story, 461 00:28:24,954 --> 00:28:28,375 and Rosa Parks writing down every word. 462 00:28:28,416 --> 00:28:33,880 -It was incredibly dangerous for a black woman to report, 463 00:28:33,922 --> 00:28:37,300 to detail that they had been the victims of sexual violence. 464 00:28:37,342 --> 00:28:39,135 For Ms. Parks, it was especially dangerous 465 00:28:39,177 --> 00:28:40,845 going into communities 466 00:28:40,887 --> 00:28:44,140 because she was seen as the problem. 467 00:28:44,182 --> 00:28:46,351 -In collaboration with several other activists, 468 00:28:46,393 --> 00:28:48,687 they go as far as to take out an ad in the local newspaper 469 00:28:48,728 --> 00:28:51,773 in order to let people know what had taken place 470 00:28:51,815 --> 00:28:56,319 and to place pressure on law enforcement to do something. 471 00:28:56,361 --> 00:28:59,406 -They write letters to the governor. 472 00:29:01,366 --> 00:29:05,412 They get media coverage, but the men are never indicted. 473 00:29:14,587 --> 00:29:15,296 -It was clear that Ms. Parks 474 00:29:16,464 --> 00:29:18,550 had a commitment to fighting patriarchy. 475 00:29:18,591 --> 00:29:21,553 She committed her whole life to saying sexual assault 476 00:29:21,594 --> 00:29:25,348 in our communities is something that has to be eradicated. 477 00:29:29,602 --> 00:29:31,563 -I think that the most important issue here 478 00:29:31,604 --> 00:29:34,691 is whether a woman has the right to defend herself. 479 00:29:34,733 --> 00:29:38,069 It raises the question, what right does a woman have? 480 00:29:38,111 --> 00:29:40,697 -Joan Little is 20, black, 481 00:29:40,739 --> 00:29:43,867 and charged with the murder of a white jailer in Washington, 482 00:29:43,908 --> 00:29:47,078 North Carolina. 483 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:52,208 -And Rosa Parks started a Free Joan Little Movement in Detroit 484 00:29:52,250 --> 00:29:55,503 to try to help with her cause. 485 00:29:57,797 --> 00:30:00,133 -Joan Little was a young woman 486 00:30:00,175 --> 00:30:03,636 who was incarcerated in North Carolina. 487 00:30:03,678 --> 00:30:08,099 And there was a jailer there who regularly raped 488 00:30:08,141 --> 00:30:11,770 the women who were in his jail. 489 00:30:11,811 --> 00:30:16,483 And he attempted to do that with Joan Little, 490 00:30:16,524 --> 00:30:23,198 and he ended up not living through that assault. 491 00:30:27,077 --> 00:30:28,703 -She was finally acquitted, 492 00:30:28,745 --> 00:30:31,331 but it took a whole long movement, 493 00:30:31,373 --> 00:30:35,835 and Rosa Parks was one of the voices of that movement. 494 00:30:35,877 --> 00:30:39,631 -Joan Little was the first woman in the United States 495 00:30:39,673 --> 00:30:44,844 who ever fought back and killed her assailant 496 00:30:44,886 --> 00:30:47,055 who was, indeed, exonerated. 497 00:30:47,097 --> 00:30:50,350 So that was a landmark case. 498 00:30:50,392 --> 00:30:53,353 -Rosa Parks considered that one of the great victories 499 00:30:53,395 --> 00:30:55,230 in the justice struggle. 500 00:30:55,271 --> 00:30:57,273 [ Camera shutters clicking ] 501 00:30:58,525 --> 00:31:01,861 -There's a continuum from her work in the South 502 00:31:01,903 --> 00:31:03,196 in the 1940s. 503 00:31:03,238 --> 00:31:05,782 I'm thinking specifically of Recy Taylor. 504 00:31:13,415 --> 00:31:16,459 -The Recy Taylor case spurs Nixon and Parks 505 00:31:16,501 --> 00:31:18,128 to run for branch leadership. 506 00:31:18,169 --> 00:31:22,090 And that's when Nixon runs for branch president and wins. 507 00:31:22,132 --> 00:31:25,260 She runs for secretary and wins. 508 00:31:25,301 --> 00:31:27,887 E.D. Nixon and Rosa Parks begin a partnership 509 00:31:27,929 --> 00:31:31,266 that's going to change the face of American history. 510 00:31:43,069 --> 00:31:47,991 They will spend the next decade turning Montgomery's NAACP 511 00:31:48,033 --> 00:31:51,453 into a much more activist branch. 512 00:31:51,494 --> 00:31:55,081 -Before, the Montgomery branch was largely dysfunctional. 513 00:31:55,123 --> 00:31:56,791 There was a lot of infighting, 514 00:31:56,833 --> 00:31:59,377 financial troubles with the organization, 515 00:31:59,419 --> 00:32:00,920 and a lot of elitism. 516 00:32:00,962 --> 00:32:02,964 The organization was run by some of the middle-class, 517 00:32:03,006 --> 00:32:06,634 college-educated black elite in Montgomery. 518 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,059 -Montgomery was always a class-stratified society. 519 00:32:14,100 --> 00:32:18,229 The black elite took a position that Negroes should go slow. 520 00:32:18,271 --> 00:32:19,814 They should take their time. 521 00:32:19,856 --> 00:32:23,735 And that's not the politics that Rosa Parks adopted. 522 00:32:23,777 --> 00:32:25,862 Whoo 523 00:32:25,904 --> 00:32:27,572 -She ran at a faster pace 524 00:32:27,614 --> 00:32:29,282 than a lot of her contemporaries. 525 00:32:29,324 --> 00:32:31,951 She wanted to go faster. 526 00:32:31,993 --> 00:32:35,663 And you sense that in her work in the '40s. 527 00:32:35,705 --> 00:32:39,751 She just wasn't going to be content with the status quo. 528 00:32:53,223 --> 00:32:59,229 -My only brother, who had served almost four years in the war, 529 00:32:59,270 --> 00:33:00,855 was discharged honorably. 530 00:33:00,897 --> 00:33:05,610 He was quite upset because he felt that those of us at home 531 00:33:05,652 --> 00:33:08,822 had failed those on the war front. 532 00:33:08,863 --> 00:33:14,452 -My grandfather, he served in two theaters in World War II. 533 00:33:14,494 --> 00:33:16,788 A highly respected military man at the time. 534 00:33:16,830 --> 00:33:18,623 And he came home and was mistreated. 535 00:33:18,665 --> 00:33:20,125 You know what I mean? 536 00:33:20,166 --> 00:33:22,669 You serve your country, and then you come home 537 00:33:22,711 --> 00:33:26,756 to a place in which you would think you would get the flowers, 538 00:33:26,798 --> 00:33:29,342 you would get the accolades, you would get, at least, 539 00:33:29,384 --> 00:33:34,806 "Don't call me boy or nigger." 540 00:33:37,058 --> 00:33:39,144 -Sylvester will decide he can't bear this. 541 00:33:39,185 --> 00:33:42,188 And so, in 1946, he and his family leave Montgomery, 542 00:33:42,230 --> 00:33:43,398 and they never come back. 543 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:46,192 And he moves to Detroit. 544 00:33:46,234 --> 00:33:48,778 -"Things happened that most people never heard about 545 00:33:48,820 --> 00:33:51,656 because they never were reported in the newspapers. 546 00:33:51,698 --> 00:33:55,452 At times, I felt overwhelmed by all the violence and hatred. 547 00:33:55,493 --> 00:33:58,663 But there was nothing to do but keep going." 548 00:33:58,705 --> 00:34:02,876 -At that time, I felt that I had a message and felt very vocal, 549 00:34:02,917 --> 00:34:05,754 but people did not choose to listen to what I was saying then 550 00:34:05,795 --> 00:34:08,715 because they didn't think there was any reason for my being 551 00:34:08,757 --> 00:34:11,718 so concerned about doing away with segregation 552 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:14,596 because they thought it was a hopeless cause. 553 00:34:14,637 --> 00:34:17,932 I was working very hard to bring about freedom, 554 00:34:17,974 --> 00:34:21,936 especially for young people through the NAACP. 555 00:34:26,816 --> 00:34:30,278 -And the Hebrew children from the fiery furnace 556 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,073 Why not every man? 557 00:34:33,114 --> 00:34:36,701 -Rosa Parks had a youth group here at the church 558 00:34:36,743 --> 00:34:38,286 when I was a young teenager, 559 00:34:38,328 --> 00:34:42,374 and we would talk about the NAACP and its workings. 560 00:34:42,415 --> 00:34:43,792 -And why not every man? 561 00:34:43,833 --> 00:34:47,962 -I was 11 when I joined the Youth Council. 562 00:34:48,004 --> 00:34:51,007 Montgomery was a very scary place 563 00:34:51,049 --> 00:34:55,387 that the white community considered a threat to them. 564 00:34:55,428 --> 00:34:57,055 -It was very difficult 565 00:34:57,097 --> 00:35:01,226 because most of the parents discouraged their youngsters 566 00:35:01,267 --> 00:35:04,104 and didn't want them to participate or join. 567 00:35:04,145 --> 00:35:06,064 They didn't mind them paying the membership, 568 00:35:06,106 --> 00:35:09,109 but they didn't want them to actively participate in writing 569 00:35:09,150 --> 00:35:13,738 to the Congressmen and challenging segregation locally. 570 00:35:13,780 --> 00:35:15,699 -We met most of the times 571 00:35:15,740 --> 00:35:18,284 in Mrs. Parks' apartment. 572 00:35:18,326 --> 00:35:23,998 I was drawn to her passion on eradicating the conditions 573 00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:27,627 that were going on in our communities. 574 00:35:27,669 --> 00:35:31,006 If there were 12 people in here, it was an overflow crowd. 575 00:35:31,047 --> 00:35:34,134 Ms. Parks mostly was sitting over there 576 00:35:34,175 --> 00:35:36,094 and conducting the meetings. 577 00:35:36,136 --> 00:35:40,807 But we talked a lot about voter registration 578 00:35:40,849 --> 00:35:43,101 and events we were planning. 579 00:35:45,061 --> 00:35:48,481 -It was not, for her, like, "We're going to pass the torch." 580 00:35:48,523 --> 00:35:52,652 It was, "I will help you, and we will do this, 581 00:35:52,694 --> 00:35:54,529 and we will talk about how to do it, 582 00:35:54,571 --> 00:35:57,615 but I believe in you, young people." 583 00:36:00,535 --> 00:36:02,537 -You kind of feel the energy. 584 00:36:04,706 --> 00:36:06,374 Wow. 585 00:36:09,502 --> 00:36:11,463 I am... 586 00:36:11,504 --> 00:36:14,507 I'm almost speechless. 587 00:36:26,019 --> 00:36:28,897 -"Colored people are employed at this store as maids, 588 00:36:28,938 --> 00:36:32,359 porters, elevator operators, truck drivers. 589 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:36,029 I work in the tailor shop doing men's clothing alterations 590 00:36:36,071 --> 00:36:39,366 as a helper of the tailor who is colored. 591 00:36:39,407 --> 00:36:41,242 This thing called segregation here 592 00:36:41,284 --> 00:36:46,081 is complete and solid pattern as a way of life." 593 00:36:46,122 --> 00:36:48,833 -To make money on the side, Rosa Parks is tailoring 594 00:36:48,875 --> 00:36:50,210 for one of Montgomery's 595 00:36:50,251 --> 00:36:53,213 few white civil rights activist families, 596 00:36:53,254 --> 00:36:56,049 Clifford and Virginia Durr. 597 00:36:56,091 --> 00:36:59,177 Parks and Virginia began a friendship. 598 00:36:59,219 --> 00:37:02,472 -"She wanted to be part of our efforts to end segregation, 599 00:37:02,514 --> 00:37:06,976 even though that meant being ostracized and made to suffer." 600 00:37:07,018 --> 00:37:10,647 -Durr is affiliated with Highlander Folk School. 601 00:37:12,607 --> 00:37:14,442 -The school was a new beginning, 602 00:37:14,484 --> 00:37:16,945 a link between the towns and the mountain. 603 00:37:16,986 --> 00:37:19,614 Myles Horton was its founder. 604 00:37:19,656 --> 00:37:22,117 -If we could demonstrate by the way we lived 605 00:37:22,158 --> 00:37:24,869 and what we believed and the way we treated people, 606 00:37:24,911 --> 00:37:27,747 that there was a possibility of, in this situation, 607 00:37:27,789 --> 00:37:29,290 blacks and whites, working things out. 608 00:37:29,332 --> 00:37:33,712 We hoped that idea would have some small influence. 609 00:37:36,047 --> 00:37:38,091 -The Highlander Folk School is trying to build a program 610 00:37:38,133 --> 00:37:41,761 that's dedicated to having people challenge segregation 611 00:37:41,803 --> 00:37:43,847 throughout the South. 612 00:37:43,888 --> 00:37:45,640 -In the summer of 1955, 613 00:37:45,682 --> 00:37:48,560 Highlander is organizing a two-week workshop, 614 00:37:48,601 --> 00:37:51,479 and they have a scholarship for someone to come from Montgomery. 615 00:37:51,521 --> 00:37:54,482 And Virginia Durr recommends Rosa Parks. 616 00:38:01,197 --> 00:38:04,617 -I hadn't traveled very much at that time. 617 00:38:04,659 --> 00:38:06,578 Just getting on the bus, 618 00:38:06,619 --> 00:38:09,289 I found myself going further and further away 619 00:38:09,330 --> 00:38:13,793 from the type of surroundings I was used to. 620 00:38:13,835 --> 00:38:17,464 It was my very first experience in my entire life 621 00:38:17,505 --> 00:38:19,924 going to a place where there were people of another race 622 00:38:19,966 --> 00:38:23,136 and where we were all treated equally 623 00:38:23,178 --> 00:38:28,058 and without any tension or feeling of embarrassment 624 00:38:28,099 --> 00:38:31,269 or whatever goes with artificial boundaries 625 00:38:31,311 --> 00:38:34,522 of racial segregation. 626 00:38:34,564 --> 00:38:35,982 Myles Horton, along with his staff, 627 00:38:36,024 --> 00:38:38,568 did give me my first insight on the fact 628 00:38:38,610 --> 00:38:40,236 that there were such people 629 00:38:40,278 --> 00:38:45,408 who believed completely in freedom and equality for all. 630 00:38:45,450 --> 00:38:48,119 -At the time Rosa Parks came to Highlander, 631 00:38:48,161 --> 00:38:50,830 we were just beginning to get some understanding 632 00:38:50,872 --> 00:38:52,499 in the South of the possibilities, 633 00:38:52,540 --> 00:38:54,876 the hope of doing something. 634 00:38:54,918 --> 00:38:57,253 Ms. Parks was probably the quietest participant 635 00:38:57,295 --> 00:38:58,588 in the workshop, 636 00:38:58,630 --> 00:39:01,091 but we had high hopes for her. 637 00:39:01,132 --> 00:39:05,011 -I was somewhat withdrawn and didn't have very much to say. 638 00:39:05,053 --> 00:39:10,016 But finally I relaxed and enjoyed the stay very much 639 00:39:10,058 --> 00:39:13,520 throughout the entire workshop. 640 00:39:13,561 --> 00:39:17,357 -It's there that she begins to get even a sharper 641 00:39:17,399 --> 00:39:22,112 and a broader understanding of this struggle for civil rights. 642 00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:26,616 -That particular school, Myles Horton, 643 00:39:26,658 --> 00:39:28,201 is responsible for me today 644 00:39:28,243 --> 00:39:31,121 not hating every white person I see. 645 00:39:31,162 --> 00:39:34,958 I learned at that time and at that place 646 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,795 that there are decent people of any race and color. 647 00:39:45,301 --> 00:39:48,513 -"The Montgomery NAACP was beginning to think 648 00:39:48,555 --> 00:39:52,767 about filing a suit against the city over bus segregation, 649 00:39:52,809 --> 00:39:57,689 but they had to have the right plaintiff and a strong case. 650 00:39:57,731 --> 00:39:59,858 The best plaintiff would be a woman 651 00:39:59,899 --> 00:40:03,445 because a woman would get more sympathy than a man. 652 00:40:03,486 --> 00:40:05,822 And the woman would have to be above reproach 653 00:40:05,864 --> 00:40:11,494 and have done nothing wrong but refuse to give up her seat." 654 00:40:11,536 --> 00:40:13,246 -March 2nd of 1955, 655 00:40:13,288 --> 00:40:15,248 there was a young girl named Claudette Colvin 656 00:40:15,290 --> 00:40:18,668 who was arrested on the bus for refusing to stand up. 657 00:40:18,710 --> 00:40:21,713 And she was taken off the bus bodily by three policemen 658 00:40:21,755 --> 00:40:24,966 and thrown into jail. 659 00:40:25,008 --> 00:40:28,345 -I was very active in Mrs. Parks' youth group. 660 00:40:28,386 --> 00:40:33,892 And I began to think about how unfair we was treated. 661 00:40:33,933 --> 00:40:37,187 They asked me to get up, and I refused. 662 00:40:37,228 --> 00:40:43,193 I could not move because history had me glued to the seat. 663 00:40:43,234 --> 00:40:46,988 It felt like Sojourner Truth's hands 664 00:40:47,030 --> 00:40:49,866 were pushing me down on one shoulder 665 00:40:49,908 --> 00:40:51,826 and Harriet Tubman's hands 666 00:40:51,868 --> 00:40:55,538 were pushing me down on another shoulder. 667 00:40:55,580 --> 00:40:59,334 -Instead of charging her with violating the segregation law, 668 00:40:59,376 --> 00:41:01,628 they charged her with disorderly conduct, 669 00:41:01,670 --> 00:41:05,757 resisting an officer, and assault and battery. 670 00:41:07,884 --> 00:41:12,097 -The NAACP ultimately did not move forward with her case. 671 00:41:12,138 --> 00:41:14,182 At the age of 15, they did not think 672 00:41:14,224 --> 00:41:16,101 that she would make a good witness, 673 00:41:16,142 --> 00:41:18,061 that she would not be reliable. 674 00:41:18,103 --> 00:41:19,354 Some people described her 675 00:41:19,396 --> 00:41:23,149 as being a bit rebellious and feisty. 676 00:41:23,191 --> 00:41:26,945 And Claudette Colvin was a dark-skinned black girl. 677 00:41:26,986 --> 00:41:28,780 There was colorism. 678 00:41:28,822 --> 00:41:31,950 -I was really disappointed. 679 00:41:56,099 --> 00:41:58,268 -There was a lot of emotion 680 00:41:58,309 --> 00:42:01,271 building over this period of time. 681 00:42:01,312 --> 00:42:04,983 The people were just feeling pushed. 682 00:42:05,025 --> 00:42:07,610 Violence on the buses had been going on, too. 683 00:42:07,652 --> 00:42:11,865 And there was a veteran who was killed by a police officer. 684 00:42:11,906 --> 00:42:15,618 -"Treading the tightrope of Jim Crow from birth to death, 685 00:42:15,660 --> 00:42:21,666 from the cradle to the grave is a major mental acrobatic feat. 686 00:42:21,708 --> 00:42:25,253 It takes a noble soul to plumb this line. 687 00:42:25,295 --> 00:42:28,798 There's always a line of some kind -- color line, 688 00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:31,259 hanging rope, tightrope. 689 00:42:31,301 --> 00:42:34,554 To me, it seems that we are puppets on a string 690 00:42:34,596 --> 00:42:36,181 in the white man's hands. 691 00:42:36,222 --> 00:42:39,642 They say we must be segregated from the color line, 692 00:42:39,684 --> 00:42:41,311 yet they pull the strings, 693 00:42:41,353 --> 00:42:43,563 and we perform to their satisfaction 694 00:42:43,605 --> 00:42:47,650 or suffer the consequences if we get out of line." 695 00:42:47,692 --> 00:42:51,571 -There were literally hundreds of incidents on the buses. 696 00:42:53,656 --> 00:42:58,286 There are no black bus drivers, and all bus drivers are armed. 697 00:42:58,328 --> 00:42:59,996 -There was a growing consciousness 698 00:43:00,038 --> 00:43:04,834 that the polite, accommodating, gentle way of getting people 699 00:43:04,876 --> 00:43:08,672 to see the humanity of black people in this community 700 00:43:08,713 --> 00:43:10,298 was not going to be enough. 701 00:43:12,634 --> 00:43:13,968 -The death of Emmett Till -- 702 00:43:14,010 --> 00:43:17,347 She knew she could not take it anymore, 703 00:43:17,389 --> 00:43:20,892 see black children killed, see women raped, 704 00:43:20,934 --> 00:43:23,561 see men accosted and mutilated. 705 00:43:23,603 --> 00:43:26,898 It brought a big burden on Auntie Rosa. 706 00:43:44,582 --> 00:43:47,210 -The front of the bus was reserved for white people. 707 00:43:47,252 --> 00:43:49,921 The back of the bus was reserved for black people. 708 00:43:49,963 --> 00:43:51,673 And then there's the middle. 709 00:43:51,715 --> 00:43:55,218 And the middle is kind of a no man's land that black people 710 00:43:55,260 --> 00:43:56,886 are entitled to sit there, 711 00:43:56,928 --> 00:44:01,349 but on the whim of the driver, could be asked to move. 712 00:44:01,391 --> 00:44:03,893 By the terms of Alabama segregation, 713 00:44:03,935 --> 00:44:06,646 all four people in her aisle will have to get up 714 00:44:06,688 --> 00:44:09,399 for this one white person to sit down. 715 00:44:09,441 --> 00:44:13,153 -"The driver said, 'Y'all better make it light on yourselves 716 00:44:13,194 --> 00:44:15,030 and let me have those seats.' 717 00:44:15,071 --> 00:44:16,948 I could not see how standing up was going 718 00:44:16,990 --> 00:44:18,658 to make it light for me. 719 00:44:18,700 --> 00:44:22,037 I thought back to the time when I used to sit up all night 720 00:44:22,078 --> 00:44:26,416 and my grandfather would have his gun right by the fireplace." 721 00:44:53,193 --> 00:44:55,779 "I asked for water to drink. 722 00:44:55,820 --> 00:44:57,238 And as I walked to the fountain, 723 00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,282 one yelled, 'Get away from here. 724 00:44:59,324 --> 00:45:01,785 You can't drink water from that fountain.' 725 00:45:01,826 --> 00:45:05,455 I went back to the desk, still very thirsty. 726 00:45:05,497 --> 00:45:08,083 I felt completely alone and desolate, 727 00:45:08,124 --> 00:45:12,170 as if I was descending into a black and bottomless chasm." 728 00:45:32,941 --> 00:45:34,567 "Mr. Nixon asked if I'd be willing 729 00:45:34,609 --> 00:45:38,196 to make my case as a test case against segregation. 730 00:45:38,238 --> 00:45:39,948 I had worked on enough cases to know 731 00:45:39,989 --> 00:45:43,660 that a ruling could not be made without a plaintiff. 732 00:45:43,702 --> 00:45:46,830 So I agreed to be the plaintiff." 733 00:45:46,871 --> 00:45:51,001 -She calls a young, 25-year-old lawyer named Fred Gray 734 00:45:51,042 --> 00:45:54,337 who she knew and had become friends with in the NAACP 735 00:45:54,379 --> 00:45:57,549 to ask him to represent her. 736 00:45:57,590 --> 00:46:01,428 -As president of the Women's Political Council, 737 00:46:01,469 --> 00:46:05,015 I called all the officers of the three chapters. 738 00:46:05,056 --> 00:46:07,934 And I told them that Rosa Parks had been arrested 739 00:46:07,976 --> 00:46:09,185 and she would be tried. 740 00:46:09,227 --> 00:46:10,895 They said, "You have the plans? 741 00:46:10,937 --> 00:46:13,857 Put them into operation." 742 00:46:13,898 --> 00:46:15,150 I didn't go to bed that night. 743 00:46:15,191 --> 00:46:16,609 I cut those stencils. 744 00:46:16,651 --> 00:46:21,531 I ran off 35,000 copies, and I distributed them. 745 00:46:21,573 --> 00:46:24,325 We had worked for at least three years 746 00:46:24,367 --> 00:46:26,327 getting that thing organized. 747 00:46:26,369 --> 00:46:28,246 -Oh, yeah 748 00:46:28,288 --> 00:46:31,958 -Friday, which was the 2nd of December, 749 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:33,376 it was a typical school day. 750 00:46:33,418 --> 00:46:35,545 I was in ninth grade. 751 00:46:35,587 --> 00:46:39,424 I remember very, very clearly telling us, "You're here 752 00:46:39,466 --> 00:46:42,385 because you're bus riders, and we're depending on you 753 00:46:42,427 --> 00:46:45,055 to take a note home to your parents. 754 00:46:45,096 --> 00:46:46,473 The note tells your parents 755 00:46:46,514 --> 00:46:49,225 that you are not to ride the buses on Monday. 756 00:46:49,267 --> 00:46:54,272 And it's so important that you don't let anybody see this note. 757 00:46:54,314 --> 00:46:56,066 Students, I'm depending on you." 758 00:46:56,107 --> 00:47:00,779 -People were wondering if this was really going to work. 759 00:47:00,820 --> 00:47:02,322 Everybody was doubtful. 760 00:47:02,364 --> 00:47:04,908 We thought that it would cause a lot of problems. 761 00:47:04,949 --> 00:47:09,329 I can remember the fear and the anxiety of people. 762 00:47:10,955 --> 00:47:14,584 -Monday morning, which was the 5th of December, 763 00:47:14,626 --> 00:47:17,337 my dad came home about 7:00. 764 00:47:17,379 --> 00:47:18,922 Boy, was he excited. 765 00:47:18,963 --> 00:47:20,674 I never will forget -- "The buses are empty. 766 00:47:20,715 --> 00:47:23,385 The buses are empty. Oh, they're as clean as Jesus. 767 00:47:23,426 --> 00:47:25,178 Wow, the buses are empty." 768 00:47:25,220 --> 00:47:26,513 We laughed. 769 00:47:26,554 --> 00:47:28,014 I said, "We got to walk. We got to walk. 770 00:47:28,056 --> 00:47:29,516 We got to walk." 771 00:47:29,557 --> 00:47:31,476 We were so excited. 772 00:47:34,187 --> 00:47:36,106 -On the evening of December 5th, 773 00:47:36,147 --> 00:47:40,276 we had a meeting at the Holt Street Baptist Church. 774 00:47:40,318 --> 00:47:42,612 There were thousands of people. 775 00:47:42,654 --> 00:47:45,031 -I remember being given a leaflet 776 00:47:45,073 --> 00:47:49,661 announcing the mass meeting at Holt Street Church. 777 00:47:49,703 --> 00:47:53,289 People showed up from everywhere. 778 00:47:53,331 --> 00:47:56,126 They had to block off streets. 779 00:47:56,167 --> 00:48:00,338 The church had the loudspeaker outside so people could hear. 780 00:48:00,380 --> 00:48:01,673 -It was just packed. 781 00:48:01,715 --> 00:48:05,802 And I did get escorted to the pulpit. 782 00:48:05,844 --> 00:48:08,680 And there were, oh, so many people that -- You can imagine 783 00:48:08,722 --> 00:48:11,599 that many getting in this church. 784 00:48:11,641 --> 00:48:15,812 People were so enthusiastic, and they were so willing. 785 00:48:15,854 --> 00:48:19,315 I did not have to speak, and I didn't speak 786 00:48:19,357 --> 00:48:21,776 because they told me I had said enough. 787 00:48:21,818 --> 00:48:23,153 -Reverend King. 788 00:48:23,194 --> 00:48:24,821 [ Applause ] 789 00:48:24,863 --> 00:48:26,406 -Dr. Martin Luther King, 790 00:48:26,448 --> 00:48:30,827 who had just become the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, 791 00:48:30,869 --> 00:48:35,540 he was not well known, and this was his coming-out party. 792 00:48:56,019 --> 00:48:58,063 [ Cheers and applause ] 793 00:48:59,064 --> 00:49:02,692 -He ended up becoming a spokesperson. 794 00:49:04,319 --> 00:49:07,947 He put the boycott in a global perspective. 795 00:49:26,841 --> 00:49:30,553 -There was a vote taken to decide 796 00:49:30,595 --> 00:49:33,223 whether the protest would continue. 797 00:49:33,264 --> 00:49:36,142 And the decision was unanimous. 798 00:49:36,184 --> 00:49:39,896 People were yelling out that they would remain off the buses 799 00:49:39,938 --> 00:49:43,775 until changes were made for the better for us. 800 00:49:46,611 --> 00:49:50,907 -So can you imagine how people must have felt 801 00:49:50,949 --> 00:49:54,828 when they realized, "We did this? 802 00:49:54,869 --> 00:49:59,124 Look, we stood against the threat." 803 00:49:59,165 --> 00:50:01,501 "You want to go on?" "Yes." 804 00:50:01,543 --> 00:50:09,384 -The sun will never go down, go down 805 00:50:09,426 --> 00:50:17,642 The sun will never go down, go down 806 00:50:17,684 --> 00:50:19,144 The flowers... 807 00:50:19,185 --> 00:50:23,898 -They organize a carpool system where they set up 808 00:50:23,940 --> 00:50:27,193 40 pickup stations all around the city, 809 00:50:27,235 --> 00:50:30,447 and the Montgomery Improvement Association 810 00:50:30,488 --> 00:50:31,698 ultimately is coordinating, 811 00:50:31,740 --> 00:50:34,951 like, 10,000 to 15,000 rides per day. 812 00:50:34,993 --> 00:50:39,622 Rosa Parks will serve as a dispatcher for about a month. 813 00:50:39,664 --> 00:50:42,542 -"Riders, go to dispatch and pickup stations 814 00:50:42,584 --> 00:50:46,087 if you want transportation. Don't be rude. 815 00:50:46,129 --> 00:50:47,380 Remember how long some of us 816 00:50:47,422 --> 00:50:49,007 had to wait when the bus passed us 817 00:50:49,049 --> 00:50:52,469 without stopping in the morning and evening. 818 00:50:52,510 --> 00:50:54,888 Drivers, stay on the job. 819 00:50:54,929 --> 00:50:56,765 The riders may create some problems, 820 00:50:56,806 --> 00:50:58,975 but try to be patient with them. 821 00:50:59,017 --> 00:51:02,354 They are making the protest the success it is." 822 00:51:02,395 --> 00:51:05,774 -My dad would every morning, before he'd go to work, 823 00:51:05,815 --> 00:51:08,026 go to one of the pickup stops 824 00:51:08,068 --> 00:51:11,154 and would carry somebody else to work. 825 00:51:11,196 --> 00:51:14,616 -People could go and get in a black-owned taxi 826 00:51:14,657 --> 00:51:16,493 to get to work instead. 827 00:51:16,534 --> 00:51:17,994 Or the workers that were impacted 828 00:51:18,036 --> 00:51:20,705 by not riding the buses had, like, mutual aid 829 00:51:20,747 --> 00:51:22,832 to take care of them and their families 830 00:51:22,874 --> 00:51:26,670 while the economy took the hit. 831 00:51:26,711 --> 00:51:29,005 -Black women were the forefront. 832 00:51:29,047 --> 00:51:32,092 They helped out as fundraisers, organized rides, 833 00:51:32,133 --> 00:51:33,593 cooked food in their home 834 00:51:33,635 --> 00:51:37,931 to make sure that they could sustain the boycott. 835 00:51:37,972 --> 00:51:41,518 -The Women's Political Council had more than 300 members, 836 00:51:41,559 --> 00:51:43,853 and we were organized to the point 837 00:51:43,895 --> 00:51:46,690 that we knew that in a matter of hours, 838 00:51:52,278 --> 00:51:52,904 -...Christian soldiers 839 00:51:56,241 --> 00:52:01,287 Marching as to war 840 00:52:01,329 --> 00:52:05,792 -Months later, the attention that the boycott generated 841 00:52:05,834 --> 00:52:08,336 was unexpected for white people in Montgomery. 842 00:52:08,378 --> 00:52:12,090 They didn't think anybody cared about black people. 843 00:52:12,132 --> 00:52:14,009 -This attracted so much attention 844 00:52:14,050 --> 00:52:15,885 that people came from all over the country. 845 00:52:15,927 --> 00:52:19,639 They sent money, sent clothing, sent shoes, food, 846 00:52:19,681 --> 00:52:21,307 and they sent in enough money 847 00:52:21,349 --> 00:52:26,187 to purchase several station wagons through the churches. 848 00:52:26,229 --> 00:52:28,648 One of the things that made our movement 849 00:52:28,690 --> 00:52:30,942 so very significant, 850 00:52:30,984 --> 00:52:33,486 because we were banding together on a common cause. 851 00:52:33,528 --> 00:52:40,535 As long as we were divided and fearful, we were defeated. 852 00:52:42,746 --> 00:52:46,374 -For several months, Rosa Parks traveled. 853 00:52:46,416 --> 00:52:50,712 She played a key role in helping to fundraise for the boycott. 854 00:52:53,506 --> 00:52:55,759 -We did not have weapons 855 00:52:55,800 --> 00:52:58,178 to go against the power structure, 856 00:52:58,219 --> 00:53:02,057 but our persistence, our patience, 857 00:53:02,098 --> 00:53:05,643 our faith, and our belief in each other 858 00:53:05,685 --> 00:53:09,272 always strengthened our determination 859 00:53:09,314 --> 00:53:15,111 to remain steadfast and united. 860 00:53:16,988 --> 00:53:20,033 -Segregation is an institution of society 861 00:53:20,075 --> 00:53:23,370 we do not intend to see disturbed. 862 00:53:23,411 --> 00:53:25,497 -The White Citizens' Councils 863 00:53:25,538 --> 00:53:29,626 were the kind of respectable version of the Klan. 864 00:53:29,668 --> 00:53:31,211 They were the judges and the lawyers, 865 00:53:31,252 --> 00:53:36,716 and their task was to defend segregation at all costs, 866 00:53:36,758 --> 00:53:38,218 but do so in a way 867 00:53:38,259 --> 00:53:42,347 that presented a kind of look of respectability. 868 00:53:42,389 --> 00:53:47,560 -You are not going to permit the NAACP to control your state. 869 00:53:47,602 --> 00:53:51,064 [ Cheers and applause ] 870 00:53:51,106 --> 00:53:55,110 We are not going to permit our little children 871 00:53:55,151 --> 00:54:00,156 to be used as pawns in a game of power politics 872 00:54:00,198 --> 00:54:03,076 to get the racial vote in Marble City. 873 00:54:03,118 --> 00:54:05,370 [ Cheers and applause ] 874 00:54:07,956 --> 00:54:12,085 -The cities try in all different ways to break the boycott. 875 00:54:12,127 --> 00:54:14,587 There's all sorts of violence. People are throwing things, 876 00:54:14,629 --> 00:54:20,218 including cops, like urine, and they're slashing people's tires. 877 00:54:20,260 --> 00:54:22,429 -A lot of the high-profile leaders -- 878 00:54:22,470 --> 00:54:24,014 Martin Luther King 879 00:54:24,055 --> 00:54:26,474 from the Montgomery Improvement Association, 880 00:54:26,516 --> 00:54:28,810 E.D. Nixon from the NAACP -- 881 00:54:28,852 --> 00:54:30,812 their houses are bombed. 882 00:54:37,360 --> 00:54:40,739 -And people don't appreciate the kind of violence 883 00:54:40,780 --> 00:54:42,949 that people endured, 884 00:54:42,991 --> 00:54:46,244 and how people would put on their Sunday best 885 00:54:46,286 --> 00:54:49,831 and go places knowing that they were going to get beaten 886 00:54:49,873 --> 00:54:52,959 and bloodied and battered when they got there. 887 00:54:54,669 --> 00:54:58,590 -Fred Gray decided to file a proactive case 888 00:54:58,631 --> 00:55:00,800 into federal court 889 00:55:00,842 --> 00:55:05,138 to start another legal front in challenging bus segregation. 890 00:55:05,180 --> 00:55:07,098 And so he's looking for plaintiffs, 891 00:55:07,140 --> 00:55:09,309 and in the end, four women, 892 00:55:09,351 --> 00:55:12,312 including Claudette Colvin, stepped forward, 893 00:55:12,354 --> 00:55:15,148 which will be called Browder v. Gayle. 894 00:55:15,190 --> 00:55:17,275 Parks is not on that federal case, 895 00:55:17,317 --> 00:55:20,612 partly because of her long political history 896 00:55:20,653 --> 00:55:23,656 with the NAACP as an activist. 897 00:55:23,698 --> 00:55:27,869 Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and they won. 898 00:55:36,002 --> 00:55:40,340 -The Montgomery Improvement Association 899 00:55:40,382 --> 00:55:44,886 recommends that the 11-month-old protest 900 00:55:44,928 --> 00:55:50,016 against the city buses will be called off, 901 00:55:50,058 --> 00:55:53,061 and that the Negro citizens of Montgomery, Alabama, 902 00:55:53,103 --> 00:55:57,315 will return to the buses on a nonsegregated basis. 903 00:55:57,357 --> 00:55:58,817 -Freedom 904 00:55:58,858 --> 00:56:01,236 [ Cheers and applause ] 905 00:56:01,277 --> 00:56:02,654 Freedom 906 00:56:02,696 --> 00:56:04,072 -The Montgomery bus boycott 907 00:56:04,114 --> 00:56:06,700 is the most successful boycott in U.S. history. 908 00:56:06,741 --> 00:56:08,576 People have been trying to replicate it for forever. 909 00:56:08,618 --> 00:56:10,328 I think if social movements could understand 910 00:56:10,370 --> 00:56:12,247 the bus boycott, we could win everything. 911 00:56:12,288 --> 00:56:14,833 -I make the rules as I go 912 00:56:14,874 --> 00:56:17,002 Choose my destiny 913 00:56:17,043 --> 00:56:18,586 I follow my dreams 914 00:56:18,628 --> 00:56:21,756 Make no apologies 915 00:56:21,798 --> 00:56:24,634 Fear has no hold on me 916 00:56:24,676 --> 00:56:27,804 Freedom 917 00:56:29,139 --> 00:56:31,516 Freedom 918 00:56:34,436 --> 00:56:36,479 -All sorts of rumors snake through Montgomery's 919 00:56:36,521 --> 00:56:38,565 white community about Rosa Parks -- 920 00:56:38,606 --> 00:56:42,068 that she's an NAACP plant, that she's a Communist plant, 921 00:56:42,110 --> 00:56:44,404 she has a car, she's Mexican, 922 00:56:44,446 --> 00:56:48,074 that she's not even from Montgomery. 923 00:56:48,116 --> 00:56:50,243 -We don't often want to talk about the reprisals. 924 00:56:50,285 --> 00:56:52,954 We don't want to talk about the consequences 925 00:56:52,996 --> 00:56:57,167 and how people make personal sacrifices 926 00:56:57,208 --> 00:57:01,046 in order to advance a broader movement. 927 00:57:01,087 --> 00:57:04,841 -After the incident, I worked five weeks 928 00:57:04,883 --> 00:57:06,259 through the month of December 929 00:57:06,301 --> 00:57:08,762 and was discharged from my job 930 00:57:17,187 --> 00:57:18,438 -The owner of the barbershop on the Air Force base 931 00:57:20,482 --> 00:57:23,985 prohibits all discussion of Rosa Parks 932 00:57:24,027 --> 00:57:26,154 and all discussion of the bus boycott. 933 00:57:26,196 --> 00:57:28,865 And Raymond resigns in protest, thinking 934 00:57:28,907 --> 00:57:30,909 that if he can't defend his wife, 935 00:57:30,950 --> 00:57:33,995 that he's being silenced. 936 00:57:36,247 --> 00:57:40,835 -Dr. King ends up getting the accolades. 937 00:57:40,877 --> 00:57:43,380 He is invited everywhere to speak, 938 00:57:43,421 --> 00:57:46,466 gets an honorarium, makes money, survives. 939 00:57:46,508 --> 00:57:49,135 He's a hero. 940 00:57:49,177 --> 00:57:51,137 -The civil rights groups would have her go out 941 00:57:51,179 --> 00:57:54,391 and speak at events and raise money, 942 00:57:54,432 --> 00:57:56,184 but it never occurred to anybody 943 00:57:56,226 --> 00:58:00,563 that they ought to find some way for them to be supported. 944 00:58:00,605 --> 00:58:02,732 I think that part of the way she was treated 945 00:58:02,774 --> 00:58:07,362 was because she was a woman, therefore taken advantage. 946 00:58:07,404 --> 00:58:09,406 -Montgomery's a smaller town. 947 00:58:09,447 --> 00:58:15,078 People had to know that she was no longer working. 948 00:58:15,120 --> 00:58:18,957 King, none of them offered her a job. 949 00:58:18,998 --> 00:58:21,167 Rosa Parks was also a prideful woman 950 00:58:21,209 --> 00:58:24,421 and would not dare ask. 951 00:58:24,462 --> 00:58:27,841 And I don't think she was the kind of woman 952 00:58:27,882 --> 00:58:30,468 that would think she was owed. 953 00:58:34,347 --> 00:58:37,600 -Auntie Rosa never discussed any hardship. 954 00:58:37,642 --> 00:58:41,271 You would not know she was hungry, for instance. 955 00:58:41,312 --> 00:58:44,607 You wouldn't know that she could not pay this bill. 956 00:58:47,569 --> 00:58:49,112 -They were getting death threats, 957 00:58:49,154 --> 00:58:50,739 and her mother was on the phone 958 00:58:50,780 --> 00:58:54,284 all hours of the night to stop calls from coming in. 959 00:58:54,325 --> 00:58:56,828 -They had to go somewhere because of her safety, 960 00:58:56,870 --> 00:58:58,872 so she called on my father, 961 00:58:58,913 --> 00:59:02,584 and they knew if she called, it was an emergency. 962 00:59:02,625 --> 00:59:04,753 They needed to get her out of there. 963 00:59:11,176 --> 00:59:13,470 -My grandfather, Sylvester McCauley I, 964 00:59:13,511 --> 00:59:16,973 he told her, "Don't worry about any of that. Come up to Detroit. 965 00:59:17,015 --> 00:59:18,433 We will protect you. 966 00:59:18,475 --> 00:59:21,519 We will have more opportunities up here for you. 967 00:59:21,561 --> 00:59:24,522 And, plus, you will be around family that loves you." 968 00:59:31,529 --> 00:59:34,908 -Here, you have this flood of people coming into Detroit 969 00:59:34,949 --> 00:59:38,244 because of the automobile industry, was the magnet. 970 00:59:38,286 --> 00:59:40,789 My goodness, it was like you dropped the plow, 971 00:59:40,830 --> 00:59:45,377 you dispensed with the mule, and headed for Detroit. 972 00:59:45,418 --> 00:59:47,837 However, you had restrictive covenants 973 00:59:47,879 --> 00:59:51,341 that limited the movement of the black people 974 00:59:51,383 --> 00:59:54,177 to just one part of the city. 975 00:59:54,219 --> 00:59:57,055 These are some things that Rosa Parks' brother 976 00:59:57,097 --> 01:00:00,517 understood long before she arrived. 977 01:00:00,558 --> 01:00:02,560 Sylvester, he had already experienced 978 01:00:02,602 --> 01:00:05,814 a lot of these things, so he was able to talk to Rosa 979 01:00:05,855 --> 01:00:09,484 about some of this history and background. 980 01:00:09,526 --> 01:00:11,611 -"I don't know whether I could have been more effective 981 01:00:11,653 --> 01:00:13,530 as a worker for freedom in the South 982 01:00:13,571 --> 01:00:16,116 than I am here in Detroit. 983 01:00:16,157 --> 01:00:18,660 Really the same thing that has occurred in the South 984 01:00:18,702 --> 01:00:21,413 is existing here to a certain degree. 985 01:00:21,454 --> 01:00:25,500 We do have the same problems." 986 01:00:25,542 --> 01:00:27,043 -Blacks in Detroit were relegated 987 01:00:27,085 --> 01:00:28,878 to the worst parts of town, 988 01:00:28,920 --> 01:00:33,008 called Black Bottom and Hastings Street. 989 01:00:33,049 --> 01:00:37,887 But we built homes there, and institutions developed there. 990 01:00:37,929 --> 01:00:40,557 -It was very difficult, to say the least. 991 01:00:40,598 --> 01:00:45,061 So what my grandfather would do, he would just grow his own food. 992 01:00:45,103 --> 01:00:46,563 -My father had a green thumb. 993 01:00:46,604 --> 01:00:49,983 He'd work all day in the Chrysler's plant, 994 01:00:50,025 --> 01:00:53,987 and then he would come home and work a garden. 995 01:00:54,029 --> 01:00:57,782 We grew up on fresh tomatoes, green peppers, onion. 996 01:00:57,824 --> 01:01:00,535 There was enough food in that little plot for him, 997 01:01:00,577 --> 01:01:03,872 grandmother, Auntie Rosa, and Uncle Parks. 998 01:01:03,913 --> 01:01:06,291 -Rosa Parks is a very creative person, 999 01:01:06,332 --> 01:01:09,210 and she would take found items and create stuff out of them -- 1000 01:01:09,252 --> 01:01:12,589 of course, dresses and ideas of quilts. 1001 01:01:12,630 --> 01:01:15,133 -She taught us how to sew. 1002 01:01:15,175 --> 01:01:17,427 The stitches were absolutely perfect. 1003 01:01:17,469 --> 01:01:19,012 She could tailor anything. 1004 01:01:19,054 --> 01:01:24,017 She could look at something and go home and sew it. 1005 01:01:24,059 --> 01:01:28,605 -1959 is probably the worst year for the Parks' family. 1006 01:01:28,646 --> 01:01:32,817 They record an annual income of $700. 1007 01:01:32,859 --> 01:01:37,614 She can't find steady work, Raymond can't find steady work. 1008 01:01:37,655 --> 01:01:41,076 In 1960, Jetmagazine will run an exposé 1009 01:01:41,117 --> 01:01:42,494 where they describe her 1010 01:01:42,535 --> 01:01:46,706 as a tattered version of her former self. 1011 01:01:46,748 --> 01:01:50,126 This article leads to people raising money for her 1012 01:01:50,168 --> 01:01:51,920 around the country. 1013 01:01:54,297 --> 01:01:57,008 They move into a better place to live -- 1014 01:01:57,050 --> 01:02:00,845 the first floor of a duplex on Virginia Park. 1015 01:02:00,887 --> 01:02:03,640 Rosa Parks will get a job in 1961 1016 01:02:03,682 --> 01:02:05,642 at the Stockton Sewing Company. 1017 01:02:05,684 --> 01:02:07,560 It's basically a glorified sweatshop. 1018 01:02:07,602 --> 01:02:10,397 She's doing piecework there. 1019 01:02:10,438 --> 01:02:14,442 And Raymond will start to barber around the corner 1020 01:02:14,484 --> 01:02:16,528 at the Wildemere Barbershop. 1021 01:03:15,712 --> 01:03:18,590 -I opened Vaughn's Bookstore in '59, 1022 01:03:18,631 --> 01:03:20,842 the second black bookstore to open in America. 1023 01:03:20,884 --> 01:03:24,012 It was a very hot period for black books. 1024 01:03:24,054 --> 01:03:27,599 They were just coming into vogue at that particular time. 1025 01:03:27,640 --> 01:03:30,226 I met Mrs. Parks when she was a customer. 1026 01:03:30,268 --> 01:03:31,895 She and her husband, Raymond, 1027 01:03:31,936 --> 01:03:34,272 would walk up to the bookstore on a regular basis, 1028 01:03:34,314 --> 01:03:38,985 because we were about 8 or 10 blocks from where she lived. 1029 01:03:39,027 --> 01:03:40,987 Every Thursday night, I would have meetings. 1030 01:03:41,029 --> 01:03:44,240 Rosa Parks was there, and she was right up on the front seat. 1031 01:03:44,282 --> 01:03:45,742 I always talked politics with her, 1032 01:03:45,784 --> 01:03:47,327 and I got to know her pretty well, 1033 01:03:47,369 --> 01:03:51,373 and also her husband. He was a very fine gentleman. 1034 01:03:51,414 --> 01:03:52,624 -You never hear that much about Raymond 1035 01:03:52,665 --> 01:03:54,417 because he was a very quiet, 1036 01:03:54,459 --> 01:03:57,462 behind-the-scenes kind of individual. 1037 01:03:57,504 --> 01:04:01,341 You'll find that Rosa Parks and Raymond Parks are inseparable. 1038 01:04:01,383 --> 01:04:03,593 Often, the man is out front, 1039 01:04:03,635 --> 01:04:05,136 and you never hear about the wife. 1040 01:04:05,178 --> 01:04:07,055 Here, the reverse is true. 1041 01:04:07,097 --> 01:04:10,141 -Uncle Parks was willing to let Auntie Rosa step out there 1042 01:04:10,183 --> 01:04:11,393 and just do her thing. 1043 01:04:11,434 --> 01:04:13,019 He was not the kind of husband 1044 01:04:13,061 --> 01:04:15,105 that stood in the way of Auntie Rosa. 1045 01:04:15,146 --> 01:04:18,358 She could make any speech, travel where she wanted. 1046 01:04:29,786 --> 01:04:33,748 -"I was with the March on Washington in 1963. 1047 01:04:33,790 --> 01:04:35,875 That was a great occasion. 1048 01:04:35,917 --> 01:04:39,504 But women were not allowed to play much of a role. 1049 01:04:39,546 --> 01:04:43,842 -The March on Washington is one example of how 1050 01:04:43,883 --> 01:04:46,845 black women are often marginalized 1051 01:04:46,886 --> 01:04:48,805 in the civil rights movement. 1052 01:04:48,847 --> 01:04:50,724 If you look at those who spoke, 1053 01:04:50,765 --> 01:04:52,350 with the exception of Daisy Bates, 1054 01:04:52,392 --> 01:04:54,811 who only spoke for a few minutes, 1055 01:04:54,853 --> 01:04:59,774 the entire program was dominated by men. 1056 01:04:59,816 --> 01:05:03,445 -"There was a tribute to women in which A. Philip Randolph, 1057 01:05:03,486 --> 01:05:05,488 one of the organizers of the march, 1058 01:05:05,530 --> 01:05:06,781 introduced some of the women 1059 01:05:06,823 --> 01:05:09,242 who had participated in the struggle, 1060 01:05:09,284 --> 01:05:11,911 and I was one of them." 1061 01:05:11,953 --> 01:05:15,331 -They would have her stand up and wave at people -- 1062 01:05:15,373 --> 01:05:20,086 "There's Rosa Parks. She sat down on the bus in Montgomery. 1063 01:05:20,128 --> 01:05:22,589 Wave at them, Rosa Parks, Mrs. Parks." 1064 01:05:22,630 --> 01:05:23,965 Then she'd sit down. 1065 01:05:24,007 --> 01:05:27,594 They never said anything beyond that. 1066 01:05:27,635 --> 01:05:31,264 -I was 15 when I went to the March on Washington. 1067 01:05:31,306 --> 01:05:36,061 I stood there in awe of all of the people that had gathered. 1068 01:05:36,102 --> 01:05:39,397 And I remember Lena Horne moving swiftly 1069 01:05:39,439 --> 01:05:41,399 to the front of the stage, 1070 01:05:41,441 --> 01:05:45,362 picked up a microphone, and sung two syllables. 1071 01:05:45,403 --> 01:05:48,448 -Freedom 1072 01:05:48,490 --> 01:05:50,742 -And they lingered in the air. 1073 01:05:50,784 --> 01:05:53,912 There was a blanket of silence. 1074 01:06:12,972 --> 01:06:16,851 -There's so much patriarchy built into the movement, 1075 01:06:16,893 --> 01:06:19,479 like it's built into so many institutions. 1076 01:06:19,521 --> 01:06:24,609 Women raise most of the money, do most of the organizing, 1077 01:06:24,651 --> 01:06:26,945 but when you go back and check the record, 1078 01:06:26,986 --> 01:06:30,824 those who've been labeled presidents or directors 1079 01:06:30,865 --> 01:06:34,786 or the leaders, the Grand Poobah, 1080 01:06:34,828 --> 01:06:36,496 largely have been men, 1081 01:06:36,538 --> 01:06:38,206 while the women have done the work. 1082 01:06:38,248 --> 01:06:41,710 And Mother Parks, she was doing the work. 1083 01:06:41,751 --> 01:06:43,253 -[ Speaks indistinctly ] 1084 01:06:43,294 --> 01:06:45,046 [ Cheers and applause ] 1085 01:06:45,088 --> 01:06:49,134 -By the 1960s, you have this evolving 1086 01:06:49,175 --> 01:06:51,761 black liberation struggle in this country, 1087 01:06:51,803 --> 01:06:57,058 and Rosa is not at all outside the realm of that, 1088 01:06:57,100 --> 01:06:58,893 because she understands the urgency, 1089 01:06:58,935 --> 01:07:00,478 the struggle that's going on, 1090 01:07:00,520 --> 01:07:02,605 because she identified strongly with young people, 1091 01:07:02,647 --> 01:07:06,943 particularly the militant, radical people in the society. 1092 01:07:14,075 --> 01:07:16,202 -Malcolm X has come to Detroit, 1093 01:07:16,244 --> 01:07:20,498 and he makes it known he wants to meet Rosa Parks. 1094 01:07:20,540 --> 01:07:22,292 Malcolm X looked on two people 1095 01:07:22,334 --> 01:07:24,044 in the civil rights movement with awe, 1096 01:07:24,085 --> 01:07:29,466 and that was Fannie Lou Hamer and Rosa Parks. 1097 01:07:29,507 --> 01:07:35,430 -Whenever he had an opportunity to talk about the role of women, 1098 01:07:35,472 --> 01:07:38,516 Rosa Parks would be the first thing out of his mouth. 1099 01:07:38,558 --> 01:07:40,810 His thing was, you've got to push a little bit harder, 1100 01:07:40,852 --> 01:07:42,854 be a bit more aggressive, 1101 01:07:42,896 --> 01:07:45,774 take a stronger stance for self-determination, 1102 01:07:45,815 --> 01:07:48,943 for independence and liberation in our society. 1103 01:07:48,985 --> 01:07:50,445 So Malcolm would see Rosa 1104 01:07:50,487 --> 01:07:55,158 as, like, certainly a soldier in all of this. 1105 01:07:55,200 --> 01:07:58,745 -She was totally enthralled by the Malcolm idea. 1106 01:07:58,787 --> 01:08:02,707 He was so dynamic, he so spoke the truth. 1107 01:08:02,749 --> 01:08:04,125 -You and your government 1108 01:08:04,167 --> 01:08:07,420 preach one thing and practice another thing. 1109 01:08:07,462 --> 01:08:09,464 You say that this is the land of equality, 1110 01:08:09,506 --> 01:08:11,716 and 20 million of your black so-called citizens 1111 01:08:11,758 --> 01:08:13,385 don't have equality. 1112 01:08:13,426 --> 01:08:16,846 -The strength of him and the intelligence of him 1113 01:08:16,888 --> 01:08:18,098 and the commitment of him 1114 01:08:18,139 --> 01:08:23,144 was right up the alley of Rosa Parks. 1115 01:08:25,897 --> 01:08:27,941 -"He had come to Detroit to speak, 1116 01:08:27,982 --> 01:08:30,235 and I was sitting in the front row. 1117 01:08:30,276 --> 01:08:32,737 His home in New York had been firebombed, 1118 01:08:32,779 --> 01:08:36,908 and all his clothes had been damaged by water and smoke, 1119 01:08:36,950 --> 01:08:38,660 but he came to Detroit anyway 1120 01:08:38,702 --> 01:08:41,287 because he had made a commitment." 1121 01:08:41,329 --> 01:08:43,248 -They meet for the last time about a week 1122 01:08:43,289 --> 01:08:45,333 before he's assassinated. 1123 01:08:45,375 --> 01:08:49,671 -"I spoke to him, and he autographed the program for me. 1124 01:08:49,713 --> 01:08:51,923 I had a lot of admiration for him. 1125 01:08:51,965 --> 01:08:54,801 He was a very brilliant man. 1126 01:08:54,843 --> 01:08:56,344 Dr. King used to say 1127 01:08:56,386 --> 01:08:59,431 that black people should receive brutality with love, 1128 01:08:59,472 --> 01:09:02,183 and I believed this was a goal to work for, 1129 01:09:02,225 --> 01:09:05,645 but I could not reach that point in my mind at all. 1130 01:09:05,687 --> 01:09:09,190 Malcolm wasn't a supporter of nonviolence either." 1131 01:09:09,232 --> 01:09:12,110 -It's her encounters with Malcolm X 1132 01:09:12,152 --> 01:09:17,991 that create what politics looks like for Rosa in the 1960s. 1133 01:10:02,911 --> 01:10:04,412 [ Gunshots ] 1134 01:10:04,454 --> 01:10:07,040 -The police in Detroit were brutal. 1135 01:10:07,082 --> 01:10:10,335 In fact, police brutality that ultimately led 1136 01:10:10,377 --> 01:10:15,548 to the Detroit Rebellion in '67, which was at that point, 1137 01:10:15,590 --> 01:10:20,512 the largest urban rebellion in U.S. history. 1138 01:10:20,553 --> 01:10:24,349 -"The establishment of white people will antagonize 1139 01:10:24,391 --> 01:10:27,060 and provoke violence, 1140 01:10:27,102 --> 01:10:29,187 and the young people want to present themselves 1141 01:10:29,229 --> 01:10:32,482 as human beings and come into their own as men, 1142 01:10:32,524 --> 01:10:35,860 there is always something to cut them down." 1143 01:10:35,902 --> 01:10:38,863 -The Michigan National Guard on the west side, 1144 01:10:38,905 --> 01:10:40,240 they were beating folks 1145 01:10:40,281 --> 01:10:42,409 and busting windows out of folks' homes. 1146 01:10:42,450 --> 01:10:46,579 On the east side of Detroit, they sent in the 82nd Airborne. 1147 01:10:46,621 --> 01:10:48,331 [ Indistinct shouting ] 1148 01:10:55,296 --> 01:10:58,883 -Close to 50 people, almost all of them African American, 1149 01:10:58,925 --> 01:11:00,176 were killed by the police 1150 01:11:00,218 --> 01:11:02,512 and killed by the National Guard. 1151 01:11:05,682 --> 01:11:07,392 -During the rebellion time, 1152 01:11:07,434 --> 01:11:13,231 three young men were killed at the Algiers Motel. 1153 01:11:13,273 --> 01:11:17,569 There was a blackout on news about the incident. 1154 01:11:17,610 --> 01:11:21,865 It's obvious nothing was happening, no justice. 1155 01:11:21,906 --> 01:11:25,410 -So young militants decide to organize a people's tribunal 1156 01:11:25,452 --> 01:11:29,289 to bring the facts of the case to the community, 1157 01:11:29,330 --> 01:11:33,293 and they ask Rosa Parks to serve on the jury. 1158 01:11:33,335 --> 01:11:34,919 -I was one of the young radicals. 1159 01:11:34,961 --> 01:11:37,422 I said, "She's not going to go for this." 1160 01:11:37,464 --> 01:11:43,261 I asked her. She says, "Certainly. I'm glad you asked." 1161 01:11:43,303 --> 01:11:47,849 We had the tribunal here at the Church of the Black Madonna. 1162 01:11:47,891 --> 01:11:50,268 -Jesus was concerned about freedom, 1163 01:11:50,310 --> 01:11:52,437 about people coming together, 1164 01:11:52,479 --> 01:11:54,522 about the unity of a black people 1165 01:11:54,564 --> 01:11:58,818 fighting against the oppression of a white Gentile nation, Rome. 1166 01:12:02,906 --> 01:12:04,866 -The Shrine of the Black Madonna 1167 01:12:04,908 --> 01:12:07,452 was part of the whole Black Power, 1168 01:12:07,494 --> 01:12:10,455 black liberation movement of that period. 1169 01:12:10,497 --> 01:12:15,293 First time I met Rosa Parks was in 1967 1170 01:12:15,335 --> 01:12:19,422 at the people's trial that was taking place. 1171 01:12:19,464 --> 01:12:23,301 -This entire church was packed. 1172 01:12:23,343 --> 01:12:27,263 All of us were there to see and witness 1173 01:12:27,305 --> 01:12:32,102 her display of what we call the imminence of justice. 1174 01:12:32,143 --> 01:12:34,938 -Well, the conclusion was that they were guilty. 1175 01:12:38,024 --> 01:12:41,736 They was guilty of murder in the first degree. 1176 01:12:41,778 --> 01:12:43,279 -I don't think people understand 1177 01:12:43,321 --> 01:12:45,323 how well-trained Mrs. Parks was. 1178 01:12:45,365 --> 01:12:48,660 I don't think they understand what a good organizer she was. 1179 01:12:48,702 --> 01:12:50,036 I don't think they understand 1180 01:12:50,078 --> 01:12:52,330 how long she had been in the struggle, 1181 01:12:52,372 --> 01:12:53,748 and I don't think they understood 1182 01:12:53,790 --> 01:12:55,458 how radical her understanding 1183 01:12:55,500 --> 01:12:58,670 of what the kind of change we need is. 1184 01:12:58,712 --> 01:13:03,258 And it's a part of her magic, really, that on the one hand, 1185 01:13:03,299 --> 01:13:11,016 she can cultivate this notion of innocence, if you will, 1186 01:13:11,057 --> 01:13:17,939 while acting on behalf of and espousing very radical views. 1187 01:13:20,275 --> 01:13:22,068 -Politically, we were changing, 1188 01:13:22,110 --> 01:13:25,447 and black people were growing in percentage 1189 01:13:25,488 --> 01:13:28,616 of the people in Detroit, and they were beginning to think 1190 01:13:28,658 --> 01:13:31,202 that we need to have our own people representing us. 1191 01:13:31,244 --> 01:13:33,038 They no longer wanted to be represented 1192 01:13:33,079 --> 01:13:36,124 primarily by white people. 1193 01:13:36,166 --> 01:13:39,961 -It has been made a very bad neighborhood to live in. 1194 01:13:40,003 --> 01:13:41,296 We would like to take action 1195 01:13:41,338 --> 01:13:43,381 to see this neighborhood cleaned up, 1196 01:13:43,423 --> 01:13:46,593 because I'd be afraid to send a child of mine to the store. 1197 01:13:53,308 --> 01:13:55,268 -John Conyers, he was a freedom fighter. 1198 01:13:55,310 --> 01:13:57,604 Coretta Scott King, she told me 1199 01:13:57,645 --> 01:13:59,898 that Mother Parks got her husband 1200 01:13:59,939 --> 01:14:02,067 to endorse Congressman John Conyers 1201 01:14:02,108 --> 01:14:04,611 for Congress, and he was the only elected official 1202 01:14:04,652 --> 01:14:06,196 he ever endorsed. 1203 01:14:06,237 --> 01:14:07,906 -Mrs. Parks, she helped him. 1204 01:14:07,947 --> 01:14:10,742 He had a difficult time, because the Democratic Party 1205 01:14:10,784 --> 01:14:14,621 did not support him in the beginning of his running. 1206 01:14:14,662 --> 01:14:19,584 -I think what she did was bring a presence of authenticity. 1207 01:14:19,626 --> 01:14:20,752 -She was at meetings, 1208 01:14:20,794 --> 01:14:23,088 and she was always there and supported him. 1209 01:14:23,129 --> 01:14:25,757 And she helped us in our voting drive, 1210 01:14:25,799 --> 01:14:28,468 and we went out and got people registered to vote. 1211 01:14:28,510 --> 01:14:30,470 Mrs. Parks was involved in all of that. 1212 01:14:30,512 --> 01:14:33,973 She was in it, and we were in it to win it. 1213 01:14:36,559 --> 01:14:42,232 -In 1965, John Conyers is elected to Congress, 1214 01:14:42,273 --> 01:14:47,445 and the first thing he does is hire Rosa Parks. 1215 01:14:47,487 --> 01:14:52,951 -And to my honor and delight, she did accept, 1216 01:14:52,992 --> 01:14:59,708 and we were happy to have her in my original staff. 1217 01:14:59,749 --> 01:15:03,461 -She has been an activist for over three decades, 1218 01:15:03,503 --> 01:15:08,049 she is 52, and this is her first paid political job. 1219 01:15:08,091 --> 01:15:10,010 This position comes with health insurance, 1220 01:15:10,051 --> 01:15:13,638 which is incredibly important. 1221 01:15:13,680 --> 01:15:16,224 -He was in awe of Mother Rosa Parks, 1222 01:15:16,266 --> 01:15:18,226 even though she worked for him. 1223 01:15:20,186 --> 01:15:22,856 -I had worked on John Conyers' first campaign. 1224 01:15:22,897 --> 01:15:26,818 John Conyers came out of a labor movement family. 1225 01:15:26,860 --> 01:15:30,697 So there was a lot of hostility toward John Conyers 1226 01:15:30,739 --> 01:15:32,198 for being John Conyers, 1227 01:15:32,240 --> 01:15:34,200 never mind for hiring Mrs. Parks. 1228 01:15:34,242 --> 01:15:36,536 That was kind of throwing gasoline on the fire, 1229 01:15:36,578 --> 01:15:39,581 I think, in the eyes of a lot of white people. 1230 01:15:55,388 --> 01:15:58,391 -John, he said, "I just want Ms. Parks in my office. 1231 01:15:58,433 --> 01:16:00,060 She can do whatever she want to do. 1232 01:16:00,101 --> 01:16:02,812 Her name is Rosa Parks." 1233 01:16:02,854 --> 01:16:04,481 -The day-to-day answering the phones, 1234 01:16:04,522 --> 01:16:06,232 the recording, the note-taking. 1235 01:16:06,274 --> 01:16:09,110 Whatever John Conyers asked her, she did. 1236 01:16:09,152 --> 01:16:13,031 -She was a humble person. 1237 01:16:13,073 --> 01:16:18,703 Rosa Parks essentially had a saint-like quality. 1238 01:16:18,745 --> 01:16:21,081 -Conyers told me once that Mother Parks 1239 01:16:21,122 --> 01:16:23,667 asked him to reduce her salary because she told him that, 1240 01:16:23,708 --> 01:16:28,880 "People keep giving me awards and honors and tributes. 1241 01:16:28,922 --> 01:16:31,174 And I feel bad when I have to leave your office 1242 01:16:31,216 --> 01:16:33,385 and go pick up these honors." 1243 01:16:33,426 --> 01:16:35,887 And John Conyers said, "No, Mrs. Parks. 1244 01:16:35,929 --> 01:16:38,890 It's an honor for me that you're working in my office, 1245 01:16:38,932 --> 01:16:42,477 and I will not be reducing your salary." 1246 01:16:50,402 --> 01:16:52,487 -The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1247 01:16:52,529 --> 01:16:54,406 father of the nonviolent movement 1248 01:16:54,447 --> 01:16:55,824 in the American civil rights struggle, 1249 01:16:55,865 --> 01:16:58,034 was killed by an assassin's bullet tonight 1250 01:16:58,076 --> 01:16:59,703 in Memphis, Tennessee. 1251 01:16:59,744 --> 01:17:02,205 The 39-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was hit in the neck 1252 01:17:02,247 --> 01:17:05,000 by a bullet as he stood on the balcony of his hotel 1253 01:17:05,041 --> 01:17:09,170 and died less than an hour later in a hospital emergency room. 1254 01:17:09,212 --> 01:17:12,674 -"I remember my mother and I were listening to the radio. 1255 01:17:12,716 --> 01:17:15,135 It was approaching Easter time. 1256 01:17:15,176 --> 01:17:16,636 The program was interrupted 1257 01:17:16,678 --> 01:17:20,098 to say that Dr. King had been shot. 1258 01:17:20,140 --> 01:17:22,267 It was very devastating. 1259 01:17:22,308 --> 01:17:24,019 I was lost. 1260 01:17:24,060 --> 01:17:26,855 How else can I describe it? 1261 01:17:26,896 --> 01:17:29,566 I was deeply grieved. 1262 01:17:29,607 --> 01:17:33,278 Mama and I wept quietly together." 1263 01:17:33,319 --> 01:17:35,864 -She starts playing Sam Cooke, 1264 01:17:35,905 --> 01:17:38,742 "A Change Is Gonna Come," over and over. 1265 01:17:41,995 --> 01:17:46,583 -I was born by the river 1266 01:17:48,251 --> 01:17:50,795 In a little tent 1267 01:17:50,837 --> 01:17:56,843 Oh, and just like the river, I've been running 1268 01:17:56,885 --> 01:17:58,887 Ever since 1269 01:17:58,928 --> 01:18:02,599 It's been a long 1270 01:18:02,640 --> 01:18:07,771 A long time coming, but I know 1271 01:18:07,812 --> 01:18:12,025 -"His smooth voice was like medicine to the soul. 1272 01:18:12,067 --> 01:18:16,363 It was as if Dr. King was speaking directly to me." 1273 01:18:20,742 --> 01:18:22,619 -I rarely saw her show emotion, 1274 01:18:22,660 --> 01:18:25,121 but when Dr. King was assassinated, 1275 01:18:25,163 --> 01:18:27,999 I saw her cry at his funeral. 1276 01:18:34,339 --> 01:18:37,509 -"I was losing the people I love best. 1277 01:18:37,550 --> 01:18:39,594 My husband and brother were all sick, 1278 01:18:39,636 --> 01:18:42,013 and there was a time when I was traveling every day 1279 01:18:42,055 --> 01:18:45,225 to three different hospitals to visit them. 1280 01:18:45,266 --> 01:18:49,896 I had to quit working full time and work only part time." 1281 01:18:49,938 --> 01:18:53,608 -Auntie Rosa and Uncle Parks loved each other until the end. 1282 01:18:53,650 --> 01:18:58,780 As Uncle Parks' health deteriorated, 1283 01:18:58,822 --> 01:19:02,617 the loving way that she would take care of him. 1284 01:19:02,659 --> 01:19:08,123 They were so closely joined together. 1285 01:19:08,164 --> 01:19:12,127 -"Parks died in 1977, when he was 74, 1286 01:19:12,168 --> 01:19:15,046 after a five-year struggle against cancer. 1287 01:19:15,088 --> 01:19:17,132 My brother Sylvester died three months 1288 01:19:17,173 --> 01:19:20,385 after that, also of cancer. 1289 01:19:20,427 --> 01:19:22,971 Mama was ill with cancer, too. 1290 01:19:23,013 --> 01:19:27,642 I cared for her at home until she died at the age of 91." 1291 01:19:35,817 --> 01:19:39,487 -Dearborn is a predominantly white affluent suburb, 1292 01:19:39,529 --> 01:19:41,156 home to the Ford Motor Company, 1293 01:19:41,197 --> 01:19:43,324 but many of the people who work in Dearborn 1294 01:19:43,366 --> 01:19:46,077 come from Detroit, 63% black. 1295 01:19:46,119 --> 01:19:51,082 -The Dearborn boycott really started where a black family 1296 01:19:51,124 --> 01:19:54,544 had gone into a Dearborn park to have a picnic. 1297 01:19:54,586 --> 01:19:57,839 A white family showed up and said, 1298 01:19:57,881 --> 01:20:01,343 "Well, you're not residents of Dearborn, 1299 01:20:01,384 --> 01:20:04,095 so you can't use this park." 1300 01:20:04,137 --> 01:20:09,517 So the white family went to the city council of Dearborn 1301 01:20:09,559 --> 01:20:13,521 and got them to pass an ordinance 1302 01:20:13,563 --> 01:20:18,026 to restrict nonresidents from using a public park. 1303 01:20:18,068 --> 01:20:22,405 In other words, black folks, don't use our parks. 1304 01:20:22,447 --> 01:20:24,199 Mrs. Parks was participating 1305 01:20:24,240 --> 01:20:28,036 in the discussion, and we said, "Well, hell, 1306 01:20:28,078 --> 01:20:31,706 let's boycott Dearborn." 1307 01:20:31,748 --> 01:20:36,544 So it's almost like the bus boycott. 1308 01:20:36,586 --> 01:20:39,339 There's this photograph of Mrs. Parks and I 1309 01:20:39,381 --> 01:20:41,424 going to this news conference, 1310 01:20:41,466 --> 01:20:45,136 and it became front-page news. 1311 01:20:45,178 --> 01:20:48,390 When Rosa Parks was asked by the media, 1312 01:20:48,431 --> 01:20:50,892 "Do you support this boycott?" 1313 01:20:50,934 --> 01:20:54,938 she said, "I support this boycott 100%." 1314 01:20:54,979 --> 01:20:57,732 The boycott went from the local courts 1315 01:20:57,774 --> 01:21:01,903 all the way up to the Michigan Supreme Court. 1316 01:21:01,945 --> 01:21:05,115 It was ruled unconstitutional. 1317 01:21:06,282 --> 01:21:08,076 We won. 1318 01:21:08,118 --> 01:21:10,995 And once again, 1319 01:21:11,037 --> 01:21:16,459 Mrs. Parks was on the right side of history. 1320 01:21:20,922 --> 01:21:22,924 -These days, there still seems to be 1321 01:21:22,966 --> 01:21:27,971 a kind of feeling of hostility around Alabama 1322 01:21:28,013 --> 01:21:32,767 sometimes towards blacks and around the South towards blacks. 1323 01:21:32,809 --> 01:21:34,936 -And also in the North, and wherever we go. 1324 01:21:34,978 --> 01:21:37,272 -Yeah. -Listen, I can't say why 1325 01:21:37,313 --> 01:21:40,316 because it is another question that has to be answered 1326 01:21:40,358 --> 01:21:42,610 by those people who have that attitude, 1327 01:21:42,652 --> 01:21:44,863 why they have it. 1328 01:21:44,904 --> 01:21:48,908 -After the Dearborn boycott, I put my hat in the ring 1329 01:21:48,950 --> 01:21:53,496 to run for the president of the Detroit NAACP. 1330 01:21:53,538 --> 01:21:58,543 And I asked Rosa Parks if she would be my running mate. 1331 01:21:58,585 --> 01:22:01,296 She agreed. 1332 01:22:01,338 --> 01:22:06,217 -"I have been a member of the NAACP since 1943. 1333 01:22:06,259 --> 01:22:08,428 I believed, and still do, 1334 01:22:08,470 --> 01:22:11,097 that the invitation to become a member of the board 1335 01:22:11,139 --> 01:22:13,058 will allow me to give some direction 1336 01:22:13,099 --> 01:22:16,436 to the activities of the Detroit branch." 1337 01:22:16,478 --> 01:22:19,814 -They put a campaign together. 1338 01:22:19,856 --> 01:22:24,694 Got a prominent minister to run on another slate. 1339 01:22:24,736 --> 01:22:28,531 They were afraid of our activism. 1340 01:22:28,573 --> 01:22:30,950 And the thing that was so hilarious 1341 01:22:30,992 --> 01:22:33,703 as we were campaigning... 1342 01:22:33,745 --> 01:22:40,335 these old-ass men would say, 1343 01:22:40,377 --> 01:22:44,422 "Rosa Parks is too old 1344 01:22:44,464 --> 01:22:49,219 to be officer in the NAACP." 1345 01:22:49,260 --> 01:22:56,351 And my retort would be, "She's traveling all over 1346 01:22:56,393 --> 01:23:00,188 the world being Rosa Parks," 1347 01:23:00,230 --> 01:23:03,900 and they could hardly walk up the steps. 1348 01:23:03,942 --> 01:23:05,944 -"Instead of spending so much energy 1349 01:23:05,985 --> 01:23:08,113 on an internal power struggle, 1350 01:23:08,154 --> 01:23:10,240 we should be concerned with what we should be doing 1351 01:23:10,281 --> 01:23:13,743 about increased racism with the rise of the New Right. 1352 01:23:13,785 --> 01:23:16,037 Our energy should be focused on responses 1353 01:23:16,079 --> 01:23:20,583 and not on whose name appears on the NAACP stationary." 1354 01:23:22,961 --> 01:23:29,175 -And they defeated us, but they didn't control Rosa Parks. 1355 01:23:31,094 --> 01:23:35,348 -"I hope to someday see an end to the conditions in our country 1356 01:23:35,390 --> 01:23:38,393 that make people want to hurt others." 1357 01:23:38,435 --> 01:23:40,687 -The kind of compassion she had for people 1358 01:23:40,729 --> 01:23:43,064 who were struggling was really refined. 1359 01:23:43,106 --> 01:23:46,484 She was led by a compassionate heart 1360 01:23:46,526 --> 01:23:48,445 to do really difficult things. 1361 01:23:48,486 --> 01:23:49,863 Challenging things. 1362 01:23:54,492 --> 01:23:59,831 -One night, a young man broke into Rosa Parks' apartment 1363 01:23:59,873 --> 01:24:04,336 and attempting to rob the house. 1364 01:24:04,377 --> 01:24:08,340 -This man threatened her and physically beat her. 1365 01:24:08,381 --> 01:24:12,260 -Struck me on this side of the face 1366 01:24:12,302 --> 01:24:16,931 and on that side of the face and a little scar up there. 1367 01:24:16,973 --> 01:24:20,685 -And she fought back. By herself. 1368 01:24:20,727 --> 01:24:22,020 -Caught hold of his shirt that way 1369 01:24:22,062 --> 01:24:26,107 and pushed him off of me the best I could. 1370 01:24:26,149 --> 01:24:28,610 -She was elderly. 5'1". 1371 01:24:28,651 --> 01:24:31,071 100 pounds soaking wet. 1372 01:24:31,112 --> 01:24:33,114 She came out fighting on this guy, 1373 01:24:33,156 --> 01:24:35,533 and I believe that saved her life. 1374 01:24:35,575 --> 01:24:38,161 She had to go to the hospital, and she recovered. 1375 01:24:38,203 --> 01:24:41,081 Very painful again because... 1376 01:24:41,122 --> 01:24:42,957 I still, to this day, 1377 01:24:42,999 --> 01:24:46,294 don't understand how she was by herself. 1378 01:24:46,336 --> 01:24:49,005 Many people offered her money, gifts, everything, 1379 01:24:49,047 --> 01:24:50,548 and she turned them all down 1380 01:24:50,590 --> 01:24:53,843 because she was not a person that wanted things. 1381 01:24:53,885 --> 01:24:56,221 She wanted you to be okay 1382 01:24:56,262 --> 01:24:57,847 and fairly treated. That's it. 1383 01:24:57,889 --> 01:24:59,474 She didn't want that extra stuff. 1384 01:24:59,516 --> 01:25:01,476 She didn't want the awards. She didn't want the money. 1385 01:25:01,518 --> 01:25:03,144 She didn't want the fame. 1386 01:25:05,105 --> 01:25:07,190 What she did was, she forgave the man. 1387 01:25:07,232 --> 01:25:09,442 The media asked her, "Well, how could this happen? 1388 01:25:09,484 --> 01:25:11,903 What happened after?" She said, "I already forgave him. 1389 01:25:11,945 --> 01:25:13,697 Just don't do it again." 1390 01:25:24,499 --> 01:25:26,376 -She takes things in stride, 1391 01:25:26,418 --> 01:25:30,422 and she moved on. 1392 01:25:30,463 --> 01:25:32,173 -Just want to get everything over with it and... 1393 01:25:32,215 --> 01:25:34,676 -Yes, and get back to my job, what I'm doing. 1394 01:25:34,718 --> 01:25:36,136 [ Laughs ] 1395 01:25:36,177 --> 01:25:38,805 -Rosa Parks, alongside a longtime friend 1396 01:25:38,847 --> 01:25:40,890 and fellow activist, Elaine Steele, 1397 01:25:40,932 --> 01:25:44,019 decide to found the Rosa and Raymond Parks 1398 01:25:44,060 --> 01:25:45,520 Institute for Self Development 1399 01:25:45,562 --> 01:25:49,858 to really cultivate young people's leadership, 1400 01:25:49,899 --> 01:25:52,110 young people's vision. 1401 01:25:52,152 --> 01:25:54,654 -The gift that Ms. Parks gives 1402 01:25:54,696 --> 01:25:59,451 is the decades-long transitions 1403 01:25:59,492 --> 01:26:01,077 of what your role can 1404 01:26:01,119 --> 01:26:04,664 and should look like as times shift, 1405 01:26:04,706 --> 01:26:07,584 as conditions change. 1406 01:26:07,625 --> 01:26:13,673 -I welcome this opportunity to lend my support to freeing 1407 01:26:13,715 --> 01:26:15,467 South African natives 1408 01:26:15,508 --> 01:26:20,555 and freeing those imprisoned political prisoners 1409 01:26:20,597 --> 01:26:23,516 and all that goes to make it a free country. 1410 01:26:29,773 --> 01:26:31,941 -Nelson Mandela walked out of jail 1411 01:26:31,983 --> 01:26:34,903 and into a South Africa facing rapid, 1412 01:26:34,944 --> 01:26:38,114 some say frightening, change. 1413 01:26:38,156 --> 01:26:42,911 -While he was in prison, he said he was reading about her, 1414 01:26:42,952 --> 01:26:46,915 and her courage meant so much to him. 1415 01:26:46,956 --> 01:26:50,001 In 1990, Nelson Mandela came to Detroit, 1416 01:26:50,043 --> 01:26:52,754 one of the cities he visited after his release 1417 01:26:52,796 --> 01:26:57,092 following 27 years of imprisonment in South Africa. 1418 01:26:57,133 --> 01:27:00,595 There was a line of VIPs greeting him 1419 01:27:00,637 --> 01:27:03,473 as he came to what was then Tiger Stadium. 1420 01:27:03,515 --> 01:27:05,433 Mother Parks was added at the last minute, 1421 01:27:05,475 --> 01:27:07,602 so she was at the end of the line. 1422 01:27:07,644 --> 01:27:10,313 Nelson Mandela looked up, 1423 01:27:10,355 --> 01:27:13,233 saw Mother Parks at the end of that row. 1424 01:27:13,274 --> 01:27:15,902 He rushed down with his arms outstretched. 1425 01:27:15,944 --> 01:27:18,863 "Rosa, Rosa, Rosa!" 1426 01:27:18,905 --> 01:27:22,117 And held her so tight it lifted her up off the ground. 1427 01:27:22,158 --> 01:27:24,160 She was slightly built. 1428 01:27:24,202 --> 01:27:28,123 That exuberant response from Nelson Mandela 1429 01:27:28,164 --> 01:27:31,876 meant everything about who was a real celebrity 1430 01:27:31,918 --> 01:27:33,962 among that list of VIPs. 1431 01:27:34,004 --> 01:27:35,839 [ Applause ] 1432 01:27:38,925 --> 01:27:43,555 -"I've never gotten used to being a public person. 1433 01:27:43,596 --> 01:27:47,142 I have more honorary degrees than I can count. 1434 01:27:47,183 --> 01:27:49,310 Interviewers still only want to talk 1435 01:27:49,352 --> 01:27:52,063 about that one evening in 1955 1436 01:27:52,105 --> 01:27:55,191 when I refused to give up my seat on the bus." 1437 01:28:03,825 --> 01:28:07,120 "I understand that I am a symbol." 1438 01:28:07,162 --> 01:28:09,664 -There were times when I would be very discouraged, 1439 01:28:09,706 --> 01:28:18,590 but I always remembered that, deep within, there's a spirit 1440 01:28:18,631 --> 01:28:23,553 that is beyond my physical strength. 1441 01:28:23,595 --> 01:28:28,224 -Her whole being was dedicated to God. 1442 01:28:28,266 --> 01:28:29,934 She was highly spiritual, 1443 01:28:29,976 --> 01:28:33,188 highly understanding of purpose, 1444 01:28:33,229 --> 01:28:35,732 and that we have a life to serve. 1445 01:28:35,774 --> 01:28:39,194 [ Women singing indistinctly ] 1446 01:28:39,235 --> 01:28:43,239 During the last couple years of her life, 1447 01:28:43,281 --> 01:28:44,699 me and my father, we would go see her, 1448 01:28:44,741 --> 01:28:46,451 and her caretaker would be there with a smile 1449 01:28:46,493 --> 01:28:48,036 on her face, saying, "Oh, come on in. 1450 01:28:48,078 --> 01:28:50,246 Your Auntie Rosa asked about y'all." 1451 01:28:52,999 --> 01:28:55,710 -Yes, I was with her when she passed. 1452 01:28:55,752 --> 01:28:58,213 I grabbed her hand, and I said, "Rosie, Rosie." 1453 01:28:58,254 --> 01:29:00,465 And it was a doctor there. 1454 01:29:00,507 --> 01:29:03,218 And she came, and she said, "She's gone." 1455 01:29:16,940 --> 01:29:21,611 -I was born by the river 1456 01:29:23,488 --> 01:29:25,240 In a little tent 1457 01:29:25,281 --> 01:29:28,243 -When Mother Parks joined the ancestors, 1458 01:29:28,284 --> 01:29:32,872 the Bible was open on her chest to the 23rd Psalm. 1459 01:29:32,914 --> 01:29:34,249 That says everything. 1460 01:29:34,290 --> 01:29:35,667 -What does the 23rd Psalm say? 1461 01:29:35,709 --> 01:29:38,253 -"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. 1462 01:29:38,294 --> 01:29:41,006 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. 1463 01:29:41,047 --> 01:29:42,882 He leads me beside the still waters. 1464 01:29:42,924 --> 01:29:44,634 He restores my soul. 1465 01:29:44,676 --> 01:29:46,094 He leads me in the path of righteousness 1466 01:29:46,136 --> 01:29:47,804 for his name's sake. 1467 01:29:47,846 --> 01:29:49,764 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 1468 01:29:49,806 --> 01:29:51,141 I will fear no evil. 1469 01:29:51,182 --> 01:29:53,101 For thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. 1470 01:29:53,143 --> 01:29:57,313 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. 1471 01:29:59,232 --> 01:30:01,109 Surely goodness and mercy shall comfort me 1472 01:30:01,151 --> 01:30:02,944 all the days of my life. 1473 01:30:02,986 --> 01:30:06,072 And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." 1474 01:30:10,994 --> 01:30:12,746 -Her body is flown to Montgomery. 1475 01:30:12,787 --> 01:30:17,917 There is a massive celebration of her life there. 1476 01:30:17,959 --> 01:30:20,462 Her body is then flown to D.C. 1477 01:30:25,133 --> 01:30:27,135 -Glory 1478 01:30:27,177 --> 01:30:30,180 Glory, glory 1479 01:30:30,221 --> 01:30:32,390 -She becomes the first woman, 1480 01:30:32,432 --> 01:30:35,352 the first civilian, the second African American 1481 01:30:35,393 --> 01:30:38,980 to lie in honor in the nation's capital. 1482 01:30:39,022 --> 01:30:42,192 -Hallelujah 1483 01:30:42,233 --> 01:30:45,320 -President George Bush and 40,000 Americans 1484 01:30:45,362 --> 01:30:48,073 come and pay tribute to her. 1485 01:30:51,785 --> 01:30:53,495 It's really an unprecedented honor. 1486 01:30:53,536 --> 01:30:56,623 I mean, nothing like this happened for Martin Luther King. 1487 01:30:58,583 --> 01:31:01,252 Her body is then flown to Detroit. 1488 01:31:05,131 --> 01:31:07,801 -Put your hands together and show your love 1489 01:31:07,842 --> 01:31:09,219 for Sister Rosa Parks. 1490 01:31:09,260 --> 01:31:10,595 [ Cheers and applause ] 1491 01:31:10,637 --> 01:31:12,972 Show your love. 1492 01:31:13,014 --> 01:31:14,349 Show your love. 1493 01:31:14,391 --> 01:31:19,854 She sat down to test the law! 1494 01:31:19,896 --> 01:31:21,022 She was a freedom fighter. 1495 01:31:21,064 --> 01:31:22,273 A seamstress. 1496 01:31:22,315 --> 01:31:24,109 That's irrelevant. 1497 01:31:24,150 --> 01:31:25,985 She didn't get locked up for sewing. 1498 01:31:26,027 --> 01:31:28,738 She was a militant! 1499 01:31:28,780 --> 01:31:30,782 -I'll never forget that. 1500 01:31:30,824 --> 01:31:33,076 And -- Oh, boy. 1501 01:31:33,118 --> 01:31:39,416 That was a great time of remembrance of a great lady. 1502 01:31:41,751 --> 01:31:43,920 -The whole city showed up. 1503 01:31:43,962 --> 01:31:48,425 The whole world showed up for Mother Rosa Parks... 1504 01:31:48,466 --> 01:31:50,135 which was wonderful. 1505 01:31:57,976 --> 01:32:00,895 -Ladies and gentlemen, the statue of Rosa Parks. 1506 01:32:00,937 --> 01:32:03,773 [ Applause ] 1507 01:32:03,815 --> 01:32:06,568 -Rosa Parks simply did what was natural. 1508 01:32:06,609 --> 01:32:08,820 She was tired, so she sat down. 1509 01:32:08,862 --> 01:32:11,197 Today, we will remember with admiration 1510 01:32:11,239 --> 01:32:14,242 the simple act of a brave woman. 1511 01:32:15,869 --> 01:32:20,206 -There's a convenience in making it small -- 1512 01:32:20,248 --> 01:32:22,917 a small act, an innocent act. 1513 01:32:22,959 --> 01:32:25,628 I believe when we devoid it of strategy, 1514 01:32:25,670 --> 01:32:29,674 we create an environment where it's easy to fix racism. 1515 01:32:33,678 --> 01:32:38,183 -On the day that Rosa Parks' statue 1516 01:32:38,224 --> 01:32:42,479 was erected in the Capitol, 1517 01:32:42,520 --> 01:32:45,857 the Supreme Court was hearing oral argument 1518 01:32:45,899 --> 01:32:49,361 in Shelby v. Holder, the Voting Rights -- 1519 01:32:49,402 --> 01:32:53,365 1965 Voting Rights Act law, 1520 01:32:53,406 --> 01:32:56,326 to decide whether it was still constitutional. 1521 01:32:56,368 --> 01:32:57,660 -This was a very big deal. 1522 01:32:57,702 --> 01:32:59,704 Remember what a moment in history it was 1523 01:32:59,746 --> 01:33:01,706 when Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. 1524 01:33:01,748 --> 01:33:03,792 And now the Supreme Court said, "You know what? 1525 01:33:03,833 --> 01:33:06,753 Times have changed. The old South is gone. 1526 01:33:06,795 --> 01:33:11,466 These days of systematic exclusion of Blacks are over." 1527 01:33:11,508 --> 01:33:15,428 -The Court gut the Voting Rights Act. 1528 01:33:15,470 --> 01:33:18,848 The irony in that is Rosa Parks 1529 01:33:18,890 --> 01:33:22,394 was at the march from Selma to Montgomery, 1530 01:33:22,435 --> 01:33:23,728 which was part of the move 1531 01:33:23,770 --> 01:33:26,231 to get the Voting Rights Act of 1965 1532 01:33:26,272 --> 01:33:28,400 passed in the first place. 1533 01:33:28,441 --> 01:33:31,152 And here they are, in fact, 1534 01:33:31,194 --> 01:33:34,989 enhancing voter suppression on that same day. 1535 01:33:36,783 --> 01:33:41,788 -It erased her whole political history 1536 01:33:41,830 --> 01:33:46,710 from the 1930s, really, until the eve of her death. 1537 01:33:46,751 --> 01:33:50,922 It erased the fact that she was part of a movement 1538 01:33:50,964 --> 01:33:55,427 that was considered a threat to the United States. 1539 01:33:55,468 --> 01:33:57,721 -And so a statue was the way 1540 01:33:57,762 --> 01:33:59,931 we were going to remember the civil rights movement. 1541 01:33:59,973 --> 01:34:04,519 And so she gets trapped in this image of this long-ago problem 1542 01:34:04,561 --> 01:34:06,312 that we had in this country. 1543 01:34:06,354 --> 01:34:08,773 And in many ways, the statute reduced 1544 01:34:08,815 --> 01:34:12,986 and trapped what her legacy actually asks of us. 1545 01:34:19,451 --> 01:34:24,622 -She was very mindful of the ways in which, 1546 01:34:24,664 --> 01:34:28,793 despite the activism in the 1950s and '60s, 1547 01:34:28,835 --> 01:34:32,088 we had not made the progress that she'd hoped for. 1548 01:34:32,130 --> 01:34:33,798 -Fighting for voting rights 1549 01:34:33,840 --> 01:34:39,137 is about fighting for the right to participate in democracy. 1550 01:34:39,179 --> 01:34:40,972 -The struggle has many parts. 1551 01:34:41,014 --> 01:34:43,641 -Hands up! Don't shoot! Hands up! 1552 01:34:43,683 --> 01:34:47,479 -It is a struggle which requires a use of direct action. 1553 01:34:47,520 --> 01:34:49,898 -Don't shoot! Hands up! Don't shoot! 1554 01:34:49,939 --> 01:34:52,025 -Each generation has to make its own dent 1555 01:34:52,067 --> 01:34:54,611 in the wall of injustice. 1556 01:34:54,652 --> 01:35:00,075 -Rosa Parks never gave up that torch. 1557 01:35:00,116 --> 01:35:04,662 She lit the torch to the next generation. 1558 01:35:04,704 --> 01:35:09,084 -We will continue to show our strength in numbers. 1559 01:35:12,003 --> 01:35:14,172 -When you think back on it, if you had to do it 1560 01:35:14,214 --> 01:35:17,342 all over again, would you do it? 1561 01:35:17,384 --> 01:35:18,760 -Yes, I would. 1562 01:35:23,973 --> 01:35:26,976 As far as I can remember during my lifetime, 1563 01:35:27,018 --> 01:35:30,605 I resisted the idea of being mistreated 1564 01:35:30,647 --> 01:35:33,233 and pushed around because of my race. 1565 01:35:33,274 --> 01:35:36,194 And I felt that all people should be free 1566 01:35:36,236 --> 01:35:38,279 regardless of their color. 1567 01:35:38,321 --> 01:35:42,867 And when the driver demanded that we give up this seat, 1568 01:35:42,909 --> 01:35:46,871 I felt that the time had come to not take it anymore. 1569 01:35:46,913 --> 01:35:50,125 I had had enough, and this was truly the end 1570 01:35:50,166 --> 01:35:51,376 of being pushed around. 1571 01:35:51,418 --> 01:35:52,836 -Yeah 1572 01:35:52,877 --> 01:35:54,671 -Please, Lord, won't you bind my hands 1573 01:35:54,713 --> 01:35:57,841 'Cause I don't wanna hurt nobody 1574 01:35:57,882 --> 01:36:00,093 Oh, Lord, won't you guide my soul 1575 01:36:00,135 --> 01:36:03,054 'Cause I don't wanna act ungodly 1576 01:36:03,096 --> 01:36:05,557 Oh, Lord, won't you help my soul? 1577 01:36:05,598 --> 01:36:08,268 These heathens want to steal my faith 1578 01:36:08,309 --> 01:36:11,062 I really need some self-control 1579 01:36:11,104 --> 01:36:14,232 I'm trying not to fall from grace 1580 01:36:14,274 --> 01:36:16,776 Lord, please won't you help my soul 1581 01:36:16,818 --> 01:36:18,570 Come strengthen my faith 1582 01:36:18,611 --> 01:36:20,739 Strengthen my faith 1583 01:36:24,492 --> 01:36:25,952 -Yeah 1584 01:36:29,998 --> 01:36:31,666 Yeah 127859

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