there wasn't anybody that could teach it like jim lawson. >> martin king said come to nashville now, we need you now. so i went to nashville and organized other people. >> you talk about the civil rights movement in the '60s. people talk about selma, birmingham, confront. but the incubator of it is nashville, tennessee, where james lawson started teaching his classes on nonviolence. teaching people like john lewis, james bev. limit, diane nash, how to not swing back if somebody hits you in the head with a nightstick. >> we actually practiced sitting in. some took the role of students who were sitting at a lunch counter and others took the role of white thugs. we were practicing how to remain non-violent even in the face of violence. >> it was on february the 13th.