Original subtitles

[CROWD ROARS]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

LEVAR BURTON: We are natural-born storytellers.

We've been telling stories since the dawn of civilization.

We began with cave paintings.

And as time passed, it blossomed into oral storytelling.

That gave way to the written word,

which meant we could preserve our stories.

This morphed into the age of the cool fire, television and movie

screens, which has now led to the digital age

of storytelling, allowing us to share stories

with the world at the push of a button.

We all have that experience of having

been read to when we were kids.

And there's something really uniquely human

about that lap experience, having

someone who loves you focus their attention on you

around a story.

And the information that is transferred

in that lap experience goes way beyond the content

of the story.

We are transmitting an inheritance.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In this course, I'm going to help

you identify your personal story and how to communicate

that story to the world.

I'm going to touch on reading aloud and public speaking.

I'm going to touch on exercises that you

can do to enhance your sense of relaxation, which is really

important for a storyteller.

I'll cover podcasting and storytelling

for children, storytelling for adults.

Mostly, I think it's really for anyone

who has a need to communicate at any point during their lives

a message, a story, or an idea.

Anything that you learn here you will

be able to apply to every single aspect of your life.

All of the communications you have at home,

at work, in play, all of it will be

valuable in helping make you a more effective communicator.

I'm LeVar Burton, and this is my MasterClass.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Videos are the newest way of performing

a very, very old art-- telling stories with music.

It's really important to me to pass

on that which I have acquired and accumulated

as information, knowledge, wisdom,

to pass it on to the next generation.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

My first days as an actor, I worked with heroes, legends--

Cicely Tyson, Maya Angelou, Lou Gossett.

And they passed on to me the benefit

of their knowledge and their experience.

So it's my turn really.

My first audition was for the mini series "Roots."

"Roots" changed my life in every way conceivable.

Not only did it launch my career,

I started in this business at such a high level

of storytelling, I never wanted to make a habit of dipping

below that standard.

It's given me every opportunity since then,

every challenge that I've taken on,

every success that I've had--

all of it has come as a result of that first job as Kunta

Kinte.

The actual telling of the story of--

of Black people in America and our period of enslavement

here in this country really gave me a foundation for

and a boldness to embrace equity and social justice as something

that I was willing to speak out about.

I think "Roots" gave me a foundation and a platform

to be a social activist.

And I don't take that lightly.

Because when I was growing up, I saw Harry Belafonte, Sidney

Poitier, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Sammy Davis,

Jr. All of these actors, actresses, and entertainers--

they were all on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement.

Because I have this platform, I feel

that it is necessary and incumbent

upon me to use it responsibly but to use it.

Stories are the universal language of humanity.

It's the desire to communicate.

It's not rocket science.

Really, it's not.

It's giving a damn.