It is my honor to welcome members of congress, including members of the congressional black caucus, members of the rosa parks family who have come to washington for this special celebration. Can we give them a hand. [ applause ] wed also like to welcome the rosa and Raymond Parks institute for Self Development led by miss Elaine Steele, and thats another round of applause. [ applause ] and photographer donna toric whose photo of miss parks is displayed in a vital part of the exhibition. All the leaders and staff of the different cultural institutions across washington, including secretary of the smithsonian dr. Lonnie bunch. [ applause ] and the archivist of the united states, mr. David fariel. [ applause ] and our library guests and staff and our viewers on live. This is being live streamed right now. And i have to tell you, we are radiating with joy and pride tonight because it is our pleasure to open this beautiful and compelling new exhibition about one of our countrys most beloved civil rights icons, rosa parks. The collection resonates strongly with me. After i was sworn in as the 14th librarian of congress in 2016, the very first collection i was able to see was the rosa parks papers. And Library Manuscript specialist adrian cannon, who was a descendant of carter g. Woodson, father of black history, showed me the collection. She carefully presented to me the different photographs and letters and private notes, handwritten by mrs. Rosa parks. And adrian is here tonight and is the proud curator of the exhibition. [ applause ] from the first moment i saw her family bible followed by all of her personal letters and writings, i felt the overwhelming power of the collection. An example, in one letter she wrote after the arrest, i had been pushed around all my life and felt at this moment that i couldnt take it anymore. I knew then when i read those words that we had to share these papers with the public for a much broader view. And in this wonderful exhibit, through her own words, the rosa parks you will discover was not always writing for publication or posterity, she was writing in the moment and for herself. This is not the rosa parks we all met in textbooks or in Public Service announcement, but it is the very complex, the very human, and the very real rosa parks. Her powerful story and her long fight for justice have always resonated with me. As the first woman and the first africanamerican to serve as the librarian of congress, i take special pleasure in having the rosa parks collection housed here. [ applause ] housed here in the Worlds Largest library, side by side with the papers of frederick douglass, abraham lincoln, mary church durel and thurgood marshall. Rosa parks lived a life dedicated to equal rights and social justice and she helped change the country with the example she set. As a statue of rosa parks stands with pride in the capitol rotunda, in this exhibition, you will see her standing tall, quite literally, as her photos, images of her papers and videos tower more than 12 feet above you. None of this would have been possible without the generosity of the howard g. Buffett foundation who made the rosa parks collection a gift to the library and to the nation. It all started when jesse holland, a journalist at the time, learned that the collection was stored away in boxes in a warehouse. He wrote a story about it, and his story was read and seen by mr. Howard buffett, who bought the papers and gave them to the library so that they could be preserved, scanned and seen by everyone. Jesse is now a scholar in residence in the library of Congress John w. Kluge center. So that deserves a hand. [ applause ] the collection comprises some 10,000 items drawn from both ms. Parks private life and her decades of work for civil rights. It includes photos and correspondence, handwritten reflections, private notes during the montgomery bus boycotts and the struggle she endured after. Adrian and our exhibit director, mr. David mandel and his team have curated a beautiful gallery that will tell ms. Parks story in her own words and photographs. So it is our honor to open the exhibition tomorrow to the general public on december 5th. The 64th anniversary of the montgomery bus boycott. As part of the opening, we are releasing, i am a librarian, this companion book, rosa parks, in her own words written by the librarys Susan Rayburn and includes many of the photographs and documents you will see in the exhibition. We are delighted to be joined by the people from the university of Georgia Press who worked with the librarys Publishing Office to create this elegant companion piece. And we are also starting something new with this exhibition at the library of congress. For the first time we are launching an ask a librarian mobile research station within the exhibition, and visitors will have the opportunity to right there in the exhibit delve more deeply into subjects, themes, collection materials and online resources related to mrs. Parks life through direct interaction with a librarian. And before i go, i also have to acknowledge the generous donors who made this exhibition possible. The ford foundation, the katherine b. Reynolds foundation, and the reynolds are here. With Additional Support oh. [ applause ] with support with support from aarp history, joyce and Thomas Moorhead who are also here and the capital group. We cant thank you enough for your generosity and for your support of this exhibit. [ applause ] now, as the curator, adrian cannon explained to me the story teller of this exhibition is rosa parks. Its her words and her voice that will be echoing through the gallery as you walk around the display. It is the full story of rosa parks. The seasoned, lifelong activist, and the woman behind the civil rights icon. [ applause ] and now were going to find out which of these ladies really is the incredible rosa parks. Will the real rosa parks please stand up. Rosa parks is often thought of as a meek seamstress who one day accidentally stumbles into history and refuses to give up her seat on the bus launching the modern Civil Rights Movement. And that version taught in schools and often celebrated nationally very much distorts and limits who rosa parks actually was. Her activism starts two decades before her historic bus stand on december 1st, 1955, and will continue for four decades after. As far as i can remember during my lifetime, i resisted the idea of being mistreated and pushed around because of my race, and i felt that all people should be free, regardless of their color. One day when i was about 10, i met a little white boy named franklin on the road. He was about my size, maybe a little bit larger. He said something to me and he threatened to hit me. He balled up his fist as if to give me a sock. I picked up a brick and dared him to hit me. He thought better of the idea and went away. I love that. I mean i love that she at 10, she knew the deep injustice of things. Perhaps the case that guts her the most is a case about a 16yearold by the name of jeremiah reeves. Jeremiah reeves was a high school student, a jazz drummer and delivered groceries and started having a relationship with a young white woman. It got found out. She cried rape. They put him in the electric chair and told him if he didnt confess he would be electrocuted on the spot, so he gave this false confession. So she began writing letters and trying to organize around blocking that execution. Got dr. King involved. And it didnt succeed and he was executed and she would tell me how devastating that was and how it broke her heart. This is a rosa parks letter from 1956. I cried bitterly that i would be lynched rather than be run over by them. They could get the rope ready for me at any time they wanted to do their lynching. While my neck was spared of the lynch rope and my body was never riddled by bullets or dragged by an auto, i felt that i was lynched many times in mind and spirit. She was a believer that you had to dissent, that you had to voice your objection, even if you couldnt see that that would do any good. Rosa parks, like my mom, has her own definition of who she is. And she doesnt let anybody change that definition. Her plan for a better world of tomorrow by giving all of the love, care and guidance to our children of today. As a child, when you read about important people, i thought that these were physical giants, people who spoke a language that was different from the language that i spoke, and i found that those were regular people. And so i have always felt that a person does not have to be out of this world to accomplish something as extraordinary. We must have coverage, determination to go on with the task of becoming free, not only for ourselves but for the nation and the world, cooperate with each other, have faith in god, and in ourselves. And i just think we underestimate the kind of courage it took to stand up to these forces that had silenced and marginalized black people from the very day we came to this continent, and yet she was taking them on. I think it was really an amazing part of her legacy was the courage, the strength, the bravery that defined her as a human being. I think when were involved in excavating American History and coming to terms with our real history, i think too often we find that most history is a sanitized madison avenue version of it. But shes a lifelong activist, and she represents the variety of strategies to combat the persistent racism in the united states. I think its important that we liberate rosa parks and liberate ourselves from the tyranny of the superficial history. Hurt, harm and danger. The dark closet of my mind. So much to remember. And yes, its somewhere in the dark closet of my mind too. It cant help but be in the dark closet of your mind. You should never forget there is so much to remember. But i also know that this exhibit will show that rosa parks made a difference in moving us forward and move forward we must, even as we remember the past. We have to look to a brighter future. Please welcome the honorable john lewis, representative from georgia. [ applause ] good evening. Youre a beautiful group. You look good. Let me say to the librarian of congress, thank you. I dont want to cry tonight, but i may shed some tears. Thank you for open displays to hold this exhibit in honor of a savior of our country, of our democracy. Rosa parks, fred gray, faith gunter, i dont know where i would be, i dont know where our nation would be. I dont know where we would be as a people. This woman by sitting down, she encouraged so many of us to stand up. And since then, many of us have never looked back and we will continue to look forward. Fred gray would tell you, my friend, my attorney, fred, you are an attorney for many of us. You probably had unbelievable number of clients, people just came, said we need your help. I grew up in rural alabama. About 50 miles from montgomery, we round it off by saying 48 to 50 miles from montgomery. My father had been a sharecropper, a tenant farmer. But in 1944 when i was 4 years old, and i do remember when i was 4, my father had saved 300. And a man sold him 110 acres of land. We still own that land today. [ applause ] growing up outside of troy, people lived in fear. We saw the signs that said white only, colored only. White boys, colored boys. White girls, colored girls. Growing up, i was told by my mother, my father, my grandparents and my great grandparents, dont get in trouble. But rosa parks inspired us to get in trouble, and ive been getting in trouble ever since. [ applause ] she was saying in effect when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have an obligation to say something, to do something. I met rosa parks. My staff prepared a statement, but i cant stay with it. [ laughter ] ive been moved by the spirit. If it hadnt been for rosa parks, growing up there, i dont know what would have happened to so many people. She inspired us to find a way to get in what i call good trouble, necessary trouble. I followed the drum of fred gray. I followed your leadership, followed the words of Martin Luther king jr. , the action of rosa parks. We were too poor to have a subscription to the local newspaper, but my grandfather had one. And when he would finish reading his newspaper, he would pass it on to us to read. So i read about you, reverend abernathy and rosa parks. And i kept saying to myself, if the people in montgomery can organize and stand up, we too can stand up and organize. So there was a Little College about eight or ten miles from my home called troy state. Now known as troy university. Didnt admit black students. So i got a chance to get an application and apply to go to the school. I never heard a word from the school. So i wrote a letter to dr. Martin luther king jr. I told him i needed his help, because i had been inspired by rosa parks. Dr. King wrote me back and sent me a roundtrip Greyhound Bus ticket and invited me to come to montgomery to meet with him. I cannot forget it. Fred gray, you still look the same way, so young. Met me at the Greyhound Bus station and drove me to the First BaptistChurch Pastored by the reverend Ralph Abernathy and ushered me into the church. I saw Martin Luther king jr. And reverend abernathy standing behind a desk. And dr. King said, are you the boy from troy . Are you john lewis . And i said, dr. King, i am john robert lewis. I gave him my whole name, but he still called me the boy from troy. And over the years, i had an opportunity to meet rosa parks and to talk with her. She was so wonderful, so kind. And she kept saying to each one of us, you too can do something. She inspired us to participate in the sitins, to study the way of peace, the way of love, to study the philosophy in the discipline of nonviolence. Again, i want to thank you, madam librarian. I want to thank you for what youre doing to help educate and sensitize another generation to stand up, to be brave, to be bold, to be courageous. And if people see something that is not right, not fair, not just, do something. We cannot afford to be quiet. We live at a time when we must save our democracy. Save our planet. We must do what rosa parks did. If there comes a time to sit in or sit down, do it. Stand up, stand up. Come a time to speak up, speak up. Comes a time to get in trouble, necessary trouble, do it. Be brave, be bold, be courageous. Rosa parks believed as i believe, we have a right to know what is in the food we eat. We have a right to know what is in the water we drink, what is in the air we breathe. And each one of us today must find ways to tell the story of rosa parks. One brave woman with the help of hundreds and thousands have changed america forever. To use the way of peace, the way of love, to follow in the teaching of gandhi and Martin Luther king jr. , to make our country better and to help save our planet. So thank you very much for being here tonight, and again let me thank the library of congress. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you, congressman lewis. You are a living icon, and we owe so much to you. Thank you for being here and thank you, thank you, thank you. And now we have more special guests joining us for an extraordinary discussion on the life and legacy of rosa parks. We are joined by attorney fred gray who made history by representing mrs. Parks after her arrest in montgomery. And jane gunter who offered her seat to miss parks on the day of the bus on december 1st, 1955. And they will be joined by cbs news correspondent and the anchor of the saturday edition of cbs this morning, miss michelle miller, who will be moderating a discussion. Please welcome attorney fred gray, miss jane gunter and michelle miller. [ applause ] i feel honored and privileged to be here. Madam librarian, thank you. Thank you all for being here. Thank you. Miss gunter, mr. Gray. When you see this exhibit, when you see this exhibit it shatters the notion of rosa parks as an accidental activist. Finally that myth of an accidental activist will go by the way. The history in her own words will be spoken. The woman the two of you knew will be known. And part of the reckoning i find with what we see upstairs is this funny, fiesty, incredibly savvy american. You knew her long before 1954. And i want you to describe her, that first moment you met her. Yes, maam. Thank you, sir. Before i answer that question id like to thank the librarian for inviting me to share this occasion here. I have my wife carol, here, some other relatives, if youd just raise your hand, those who are here, and i also have the president of the National Bar Association that i serve as National President someplace here. I just want to thank those persons who have come. I want to thank congressman lewis. He wanted me to end up filing a lawsuit so he could go to troy state, but his parents were afraid and he was a minor. But we introduced him to dr. King and introduced him to the movement and the rest of its history. Now what was your question . Back to rosa parks. Yes. Back to that day that you met her, how would you describe her . I had met rosa parks not just on december 1st, 1955, but i really first met her when i was a student at what was then Alabama State college for negroes, now Alabama State university. I lived on the west side of town. Alabama state was on the east side of town. I was a student trying to learn how to be a teacher, had already learned a Little Something about how to be a preacher. Thats the biggest things that black boys in montgomery, alabama, in the 30s, 40s and 50s could be. And i found out that ms. Parks worked with the naacp. She also worked with e. D. Nixon, who was a family friend of ours, who was mr. Civil rights. So they were very much interested in doing whatever it took so that africanamericans would be able to enjoy the same rights and privileges as others. I then had to ride the buses. It was because of problems we had on the buses, including a man who was killed as a result of an altercation on the bus, that i decided in addition to being a preacher and being a teacher, i was going to be a lawyer. They tell me that lawyers help people. And i felt that the black people in montgomery had a real problem with buses. And so i made a personal commitment when i was a teenager. I was going to finish college, go to somebodys law school, become a lawyer, but in order to do that i wasnt going to apply to the university of alabama, go someplace else, come back, take the bar exam, and destroy everything segregated i could find. While i was thinking about doing that, i saw mrs. Parks working, doing what i wanted to try to do, and that was my first beginning. Move forward to some three or four years later, in 1953 i enrolled in Case Western Reserve University law school in cleveland. Finished in three years, took the ohio bar exam just in case. A month later i took the alabama bar exam. On september the 7th, 1954, i became licensed to practice. Now im ready to destroy everything segregated i could find. [ applause ] shortly thereafter and one of the things that mrs. Parks was doing, she was youth director. And one of the young ladies who was in her youth director chorus at the naac was Claudette Carvin. Claudette carvin was a 15yearold girl who did what rosa parks did but did it nine months before without the instructions and without all the experience which youve learned about that mrs. Parks had already gone through. But mrs. Parks when i opened my law office, she came in and helped me to get it open. She was in the she worked at a Department Store a block and a half from my office, and we talked about these matters. So when Claudette Carvin was arrested, that was my first civil rights case. But mrs. Parks was interested, Joanne Robinson was interested, e. D. Nixon was interested and fred gray was interested. However, the black community wasnt quite ready for the lawsuit that i wanted to file. But those people decided, including rosa parks, that we were going to get ready, and whenever the next opportunity presented itself, we would be ready to end up ending the problems on the buses. That opportunity came on the 1st of december, 1955. After mrs. Parks and i had had conferences in my Office Almost daily for five days a week, telling people if you decide not to give up your seat on the bus, how could you conduct yourself. We talked about that. We even talked about it on december 1st, 1955. And she knew i was going out of town. But when i got back, i found she had been arrested. Hold that thought. Hold that thought. Just for a second. I want to stop right there. So you set the stage. Here she was for a year you said she had been instructed by you on how to act if she had been arrested. If she decided that she was going to take a stand. Mrs. Gunter, you were 18 years old. You didnt even live in montgomery, alabama. You lived outside of montgomery. My husband was stationed at Maxwell Air Force base. So you did not live on the base no, we lived on the base. You lived on the base with him. How did you come to be on that bus . Well, after we moved to montgomery, i went to the doctor at the base and found out i was going to have a baby. The doctor required that i do a lot of walking. Every day i would walk to the city and walk back. I had a coin with me in case i needed to ride the bus, but i actually did a lot of walking. And that day i guess i was tired. I have no idea. Maybe i was just ready to go home. But i got on the bus and sat on the long seat behind the driver. And all of a sudden the driver stood up, turned around and just bellowed something out to somebody down the aisle. I realized it was an older woman. Well, she was in her 40s, so that was older. So when he did that, let me have that seat, i just stood up and said she can have my seat. And when i did that, a fairskinned, tall man pushed his knees into mine and said dont you dare move. Dont you dare. Dont you dare move. And mr. Gray knows in the 50s women did what men said. Totally different from today. But men were in charge of the world. So anyway, thats what happened. All of a sudden well, i sat back down and got off the bus when the driver said everyone get off the bus. Did you see her arrest . No. No, i did not. So here you were. Her daughter, jan, is in the audience exactly 64 years oops, im sorry. But i think back because you people no one came forward to tell the story until you. No other person has admitted being there. Why did it take so long for your story to come out . Because when i got back to the base, i never went back to the city. I didnt even know anything that was going on in the city. I had no idea there was a bus boycott or this man called Martin Luther king. I had never heard his name. So we came home to atlanta. And 35 or more years went by of my life growing a family. All of a sudden one sunday after church one of my sons was reading on the floor a life magazine and he saw a bus. And he said, mom, this is the funniestlooking bus. And i said, oh, dear. Im sorry. I was on that bus. And so immediately one of us started calling to meet mrs. Parks. And after the third call, Elaine Steele called back and said im Elaine Steele, cofounder of the rosa and Raymond Parks institute, and mrs. Parks would be in atlanta at the c. D. Vivian event and she would invite you to her hotel room. So we went over in fact they asked me to give my recollection of that day. And you gave it. She didnt remember you. No. But she remembered what happened on the bus. And she remembered a tall man. And so when Brenda Davenport from sclc was one of the interviewers and she said, well, im here to protect ms. Parks and ive got to make sure youre not lying. Im going to protect mrs. Parks. And so in a little while mrs. Parks says you were there. She said, you were there. Right. For those millenials and zennials out there who have a hard time thinking about a world where a tweet and a social media blast and news 24 hours, 7 days a week, it was a different time in terms of news coverage, fred gray. I just want you to describe rosa parks and what she did on december 1st. No one outside of montgomery really knew about it, did they . Nobody knew about rosa parks . Or nobody knew about ms. Gunter . No, knew about rosa parks on december 1st. Because the news did not penetrate, was not put out there in the same manner. With respect to mrs. Parks arrest . Yes. It wasnt National News is my point. It was National News. The montgomery bus boycott, after we stayed off of the buses on december 5th, it made the news. Right. Her arrest did not make the news. Right. Until mr. Nixon leaked the story to the press that we were going to start a boycott on monday. And the reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser ended up running a story and really mr. Nixon didnt tell us he was going to tell it because we were trying to keep the white people from knowing it, but let the black people know it. But it developed that the best thing happened was for mr. Nixon to do what he did, and as a result it made the front page on sunday and monday that negroes were going to boycott the buses and it helped us to get a good start. Montgomery, alabama. In montgomery, alabama. But when i talked to ms. Parks after i got back in town on december 1st and she retained me to represent her, i asked her to tell me about anybody who did anything on that bus that would help her in her case. She did not tell me any person, white nor black, had offered to help her to do anything. They were there. The officer who had police power asked her to get up. She politely told him she wasnt going to get up. She was not disorderly. And it would have helped her if we had had some witness on the bus, black or white, to come to mrs. Parks rescue, but she never told me and i never subpoenaed anyone to testify on her behalf because we did not know at the time. We knew white people were on the buses and im not saying that you was not there at all. Im sure that there were at least ten more than ten white people because they had all the seats taken. There were black people on the bus. But nobody thought enough of ms. Parks to come to mrs. Parks rescue, so she was arrested, and the rest is history. Tell us what was definitively the signature of what made mrs. Parks, not just her arrest, but her trial resonate. It was a tandem act, was it not . No, no. Mrs. Parks had been working on civil rights for years before december 1st. I understand that. But what im trying to point out is that you made very clear to me was that people had been working on the idea of a boycott yes. For some time. Right. The decision to boycott the night of her trial on december 5th yes. That was the impetus, that was the explosion, was it not . The matter of staying off of the buses as a result of mrs. Parks arrest did not originate with mrs. Rosa parks. Right. She was not the person who was really moving forward with it. As a matter of fact, when i met with her in her living room and talked with her, what we were concerned about then was preparing there were two things in my mind that i told her that we would be thinking about. The first thing, weve got to get rid of her trial on december 1st on december 5th. So dont worry about it, im going to get that ready. I said ultimately were going to have to file a lawsuit. But i also told her, i said, Joanne Robinson has been talking about asking people to stay off of the buses because weve been having this problem for a long time. But i said dont you worry about that, ms. Parks, youve done your part. But im going to talk to Joanne Robinson, im going to talk to e. D. Nixon, and were going to see if in addition to people your trial taking place, we will have a protest and people will stay off of the buses. I left her house and went to e. D. Nixons house and talked with him. He was willing to participate in the thing. I told him i was going to Joanne Robinson house and talk with her. And we talked with her in her living room from the evening of december 1st to the morning of december 2nd, and we sat and planned the various things that had to take place if were going to get the people to stay off the bus. One, weve got to get the ministers, because they had more people on sunday morning than anyone else and we had to get the message out. We were asking them to stay off of the bus for only one day. But we wanted them to stay off of the bus until they could come back on a nonsegregated basis but we couldnt tell them that so we talked about the one day. But we had to be prepared that if we were successful, what are we going to do next . Then we said, well, we need somebody to serve as a spokesman. It was Joanne Robinson who suggested my pastor should serve as spokesman. And who was that pastor . Huh . And who was that pastor . That was reverend Martin Luther king jr. , who had just gotten to town about a year before. Normally e. D. Nixon, mr. Civil rights, or rufus lewis, who was another political and businessman in the city would have been the person to serve in that capacity. But what we were afraid of, joanne and i, if we used either nixon or lewis, we may lose some of the other ones, supporters, so lets get somebody else. She said i tell you who. I said who . My pastor, Martin Luther king jr. I said, well, i met dr. King, i dont know him like you do, but thats fine. I said let me give you two good positions for these other two men. Lets make e. D nixon the treasurer, because he knows a. Philip randolph, who is the founder of a pullman Car Porters Union and mr. Nixon was a pullman car porter. The other man was rufus lewis, who was a former coach at Alabama State. He was in the political aspect. He wanted to get people registered to vote. He had a club named the citizens club. In order for you to get in that club, you had to be a registered voter. I said lets make nixon the treasurer, maybe rufus lewis the chairman of the Transportation Committee because if it lasts beyond monday, were going to need somebody. Well and i said, rufus lewis wife, jewel, is coowner of the largest funeral home in town. Guess what, they have automobiles. We need automobiles to take people to and from work, make him chairman of the Transportation Committee and well have the transportation solved. And joanne said what im going to do when we get through here, fred, im going to go over to Alabama State and get some students and draw up a leaflet. And in this leaflet im going to say another black woman has been arrested. Her trial is going to be on monday. Lets stay off of the buses in protest. Thats what happened. The rest is history. And those things that we planned and neither one of us i couldnt afford it couldnt be afforded that fred gray was out here doing all that. I would have gotten disbarred before i got barred. And they tried Joanne Robinson couldnt afford to do it because she taught at Alabama State and they would have summarily have fired her and she got fired later on. There was a lot of plans into making the bus boycott what it was. But what inspired mrs. Parks and what inspired now you know the rest of the story. In fact, rosa parks was convicted. Rosa parks was convicted and claudettes case was the case that won against segregation. Claudettes let me take them in chronological order. We will take rosa parks case. She was the one arrested on december 1. So my first responsibility was to see that she was adequately represented on december 5. I knew that they were going to convict her. There was no way in the world they could end up finding her not guilty it i knew that. I let them put their case on come across examine the witness, raise constitutional questions, dont put on any evidence, because none of them could say that she had done that, and see what happens. And what did they do . They convicted her. So her case, we appealed it to the Circuit Court and then it had to go all the way up to the alabama courts, and then ultimately to the u. S. Supreme court. So that was one case. But if we had gotten her found not guilty, all that would have happened is she would have been not guilty, and the City Ordinance and state statutes requiring segregation would have still been on the books, so we had to have another lawsuit. And that was a case of browder versus gail. Now, i get an opportunity to let our people know, at this point in time, and this was a couple of days after dr. Kings house had been burned, we need to go ahead and file this case, and the question is, i knew in my own mind i was not going to use rosa parks as a plaintiff in that case. And i was not going to do it because if i had done that, her case was up on appeal, and what the city would have said is that this is a collateral attack for her appeal case. So lets let her case go through the system. Lets get some other good plaintiffs, and i can think of no better plaintiff than claudette, this young girl. But she was a minor, so her parents had to be involved, and the result was that we ended up selecting other persons, and that was the case of browder versus gail that ultimately desegregated the buses. But mrs. Parks if claudette had not done what she did on march 2, 1955, it is quite possible that mrs. Parks may not have done what she did on december 1. She had not been arrested, there would have been no trial. There would have been no meeting at the baptist church. Martin luther king jr. Would not have been introduced to the nation at that time. And the whole history of the Civil Rights Movement would have been different but for the 15yearold girl, claudette. While we honor mrs. Parks here tonight, if mrs. Parks was here, i am sure she would be glad to say that part of her inspiration, along with what she had been doing for years before, was to be able to inspire young girls like claudette to do what she did. So we also honor the plaintiffs in that case as they did in montgomery on this past sunday. They also unveiled a statue of rosa parks and honored the persons in browder versus gail. It almost sounds as if, because this young woman was in rosa parks youth ministry. It sounds like she inspired a young woman who then inspired her, and to pay it forward over and over and over again. Here you are, 64 years later, practicing attorney. Congratulations. Thank you. I just want to know how your legacy, rosa parkss legacy, impacts what is happening in todays strong, as resin parks has always said. The struggle continues. And so, i wonder how this continuum of your legacy informs that. Well, i dont know about my legacy. Historians will have to decide that. I know this. I know that at least two generations of people have been born who know nothing about hardcore segregation. They dont know about the problems that we had, and i think, if i will have a legacy, i think if mrs. Parks was here tonight, she would be happy with all that we are doing. I think she would also want us to say thank you and all of that. But to look at where we are now and see the progress we have made, but even more importantly, just to see what needs to be done to solve the problem so that all of the people in this country will enjoy all of the rights and privileges that the majority enjoys. And that has not ended yet. So the struggle continues. I believe that there are two major problems still facing us that we need to be serious about. One, this country still has some serious racial problems. Racism has not been eliminated in this country. This country has never really faced up to taking affirmative actions towards destroying racism. We have chipped at it a little bit but we have never really worked on it, so that is one problem that needs to be, and if i have a legacy or if mrs. Parks hats of has a legacy, i think she would want us to complete the task of doing away with racism so that everybody, regardless of their race, color, creed, sexual orientation, will be able to enjoy the same rights and privileges. I think there is a second point, and that is, in this country, there is too much inequality between the majority when i think about majority, i think about white people and the minority. And i think about africanamericans and others. The disparity between those two are so great, and if you just if you will and this is nothing new. The National Urban league has a report they make every year to the president , and what i am telling you about this part of it, you can find it in the annual report. The state of black america. The five areas by africanamericans. At the lower part, and whites are at the top. If you take, for example, in unemployment, we are less than twice less than where white people are. If you take poverty, we are three times in worse shape than whites are. If you take incarceration, we are incarcerated 16 times as whites, so what i am saying to you is that inequality needs to end. Those two things, inequality and racism, nothing new. They have been here since slavery times. But they are not going to go away unless somebody does something. If we had done nothing, if mrs. Parks had done nothing, if claudette had done nothing, it would not happen. If you can take what we did in the Civil Rights Movement, the bus boycotts and everything else, number one, you have to recognize that we still have a problem. Because if you dont think we have a secondly, you have to prepare and make plans. You cannot try to execute at all, and then when you do that, you have to execute these plans. These two things need to be done and it needs to start at the top. It should start at the white house and then go to congress, the supreme court, the ceos and educational institutions to do away with racism and inequality. And chris rock, the comedian, said racism is not a black person problem. It is our bare bentley screaming at five a white person problem. I 30 minute 20 minister of north korea right right i am it says here graphite look at this beautiful white 30 yet so 20 minutes 20 minutes of precip and then we start at five in youre here until so confusion woman who says she was so inspired by rosa parks. You met with her. You say she changed her life. How did you she . I do not think about that in the beginning, i was busy growing a family and living life, until the magazine incident. Then we met with misses parks and before the meeting was over, she said i was there. And that interview was done by Brenda Davenport and elaine seale. They asked me if i would tell my recollection of the day and when i told the recollection of what happened that day. You are a missionary and a pastor and work in the movement until this day. To this day. I go to schools to talk to children about rosa parks on the bus boycott and every february, all of my days are filled and i love it. I enjoy it. Especially seeing children learn what really happened. Do you see the struggle through the eyes of mrs. Parks . Do you see it as your struggle now . I do not see it as a struggle for me at all. I have absolutely no conflict with red, yellow, black, white. I work with all kinds of people. We are just people. Any choice sermon would be about peace, love, kindness, and forgiveness. Forgiveness. Thank you both. Thank you, freddie gray. Fred gray. I referred to this earlier. Thank you for having this exhibit for rosa parks. People can come from all over the country and see what is here. You have museums all over the country who need our support, and they are deserving of that support. So that the story can be told and they will be educated on it. There are organizations in alabama, the test giga history center. It gives a history of all of the people under one roof. It also serves and gives a brief history of the Civil Rights Movement from slavery times until the present, showing five cases of people from alabama. We ask for your support. If you want to learn more, just let me know. That is the first thing. The next thing, all of what i have told you tonight about the movement and more is found in my autobiography. There is a copy over there. Our problem is that our young people do not know what has happened. If we do not educate them fully, it will never get done. Thank you very much. Thank you. You have seen history in the making. That is what we had hoped you would say would see. People who would love history and appreciate he appreciate history. We will have brochures for everyone. Thank you so much. The report from the National Urban league is also available. You should know that this exhibit is going to be online so people everywhere can see everything. We thank all of you for being here and being part of this discussion. And now we invite you to go upstairs and see the exhibit. This is American History tv on cspan3, where we feature 48 hours of programs on cspan3 about our nations past. The declaration of independence all men are created equal, and among the rights are life liberty in the pursuit of happiness, i dont think these things can be meaningful and real, until all of the citizens of our country, are guaranteed their basic civil and constitutional rights, and i think this bill is in line, with the declaration of independence and the constitution, and i think it will carry on a whole nation, back to those great, insights, and those great principles, if it is an accident implemented. American history tv is on cspan 3 every weekend, and all of our programs are archived on our website at cspan. Org such history, you can watch lectures and college, classrooms towards historic, sites carnival, films its your schedule of upcoming programs, that cspan. Org, slash history, up next a discussion about the racially motivated 1919 elena are sick and saw mass secure, panelist contributed to the book, the lane mass secure on arkansas, a century of atrocity and resistance, 1819 to 1919, this is part of the 2019 south