And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Bob moses was just 25 when he began his lifelong commitment to civil rights in mississippi for the student nonviolent coordinating committee. He was the architect of the. Ummer object project. He is prominently featured in freedom summer. Moses is also the recipient of the Macarthur Jesus genius grant. Conversation our looking at a clip from freedom summer. We hope to send in upwards of 1000 students all over the country who will engage in Community Center programs and in designed toogram open up mississippi to the country. Us fromoses joins boston. Its an honor to have you on this program. Somethingstart with that always struck me as interesting given that i was born in mississippi. When you are in mississippi the rest of america doesnt seem real and when you are in the rest of america mississippi doesnt seem real. Know what you meant by that. Unpack that for me. Mississippi during the congressional second congressional era of this country. Im thinking of after the civil war right down to the civil when mississippi atually established itself as rule unto itself, as a law unto itself. In 1875 when the democrats actually terrorized and murdered republicans. White peopleto be murdering and terrorizing blacks, but you are really looking at democrats who were republicans. Its interesting. During that constitutional era, why people in mississippi were all democrats. Thatign of the shift is white people in mississippi are now all republicans. And actuallyvement the Mississippi Democratic party that and went to the convention and forced the national Democratic Party structure to get rid of its version of jim crow. Tavis we were celebrating freedom summer five decades ago. What do you make of mississippi and the south today . Becameissippi indistinguishable from the rest of the country. Yes, they may be at the bottom in education. They may be poorer than other states, but in terms of being part of the country, mississippi is no longer a state which is a rule unto itself. That, which isr there was no fbi office in mississippi. Mississippi was going to send it message to hoover on its own term. One symbol of it becoming like the rest of the country is they actually had the names of the three students murdered that summer on a big plaque in front of the fbi office in mississippi. Tavis one of the things i find fascinating its another sign of the work you and these other courageous americans did. While you are right about the fact that back in the day the white folks in mississippi were democrats. Now most of the white folks in mississippi are republicans. Whats ironic is mississippi is also the state that has the largest number of africanamerican elected officials. Here you were fighting for the right to help people get the right to vote. Now that state votes more black elected officials in any state then any state in the union. Thats true. Part of the emphasis mississippi is part of the so thats one of the things that distinguishes what i think of this third constitutional era from the two that preceded it. Im going to talk to Stanley Nelson in a few minutes about this wonderful documentary airing shortly. By way of your own personal story, you have become the architect of this freedom summer campaign, but you had been at harvard previously. You were on your way to doing your phd. You end up leading this campaign. How did you end up being the man who architect this iconic piece of American History . I just followed my footsteps. I knew i had to go take a close my fathers older brother was teaching in hampton. I made my first step on spring break to take a look at what was going on. The students were demonstrating. On the picket line. Walker announced their was going to be an office set up in harlem. Meetingo the organizing for that office. I started volunteering after school every day. They had a big event where my father was working as a janitor, and Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier headlined the event. Afterwards i said, i want to go down this summer and work for king. Byatt sent me to ella baker. Baker had the snake test. I met a volunteer who had been a student at union seminary. When the coordinating committee came down that summer, marion barry was the chairperson. They came and met. That summer berry was going to the convention, the democratic and republican conventions, to the platform committee. They were trying to influence that. They decided to hold their first meeting south wide meeting in the fall of 1960. They said, we dont know who did what in alabama, mississippi, and louisiana. She and ella looked up at to her. I went as a scout. When i hit cleveland, in seymour was the one who told us what to do. Was the one who told me what to do. He understood the sit in movement was a big deal. He was looking at that energy and said we need to get that energy here but not to do direct he was sitting on the data about voter registration. I had been to all of these schools. Nobody had ever said anything about the delta. About the iron curtain. I didnt learn about the cotton curtain. It just lou my mind here we were. Tavis such a brilliant decision to involve white and black students from the north. Heres the thing. We were running what i think of now as an earned insurgency. We first had to earn the right to ask the people we were working with, the farmers, day to risk, sharecroppers economic and physical violence, to try to register to vote. We are and that by getting knocked down and standing back up. Couldnt earned that by talking. When we got down and stood back up again enough i think they thought we were serious. To earn the right of the Justice Department. The 57 civil rights bill provided the legal us topace which allowed do the work we did. Mississippi would lock us up, but the Justice Department held the jailhouse key. Focusing one were voting we were able to do that work. Then we had to earn the right to call on the rest of the country. They were risking their lives. We had risked hours. Risked hours we earned the right to call on the country to take a look for themselves. But people were not going to be able to buy themselves move this country to change what had been in place for 75 years, three quarters of a century. You listen to bob moses talk, and you are going to hear a lot more if bob moses on this documentary. In a moment we will talk to Stanley Nelson. Just run the names of the list in thiscters involved momentum occasion from king to belafonte to ella baker, so many iconic americans. Is an authentic hero. I am honored to talk about freedom summer 50 years later. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for your service. Andk you for your struggle, thank you for telling the story again tonight. Coming up, a conversation with Stanley Nelson. Stay with us. We continue with a look at who has three, emmys as well as a macarthur genius grant. His film about those 10 weeks skillfully combines interviews with archival footage and will air on pbs on june 24. Lets take a look at the scene from freedom summer. The burnedout Station Wagon in which the civil rights workers were last seen has been processed by it fbi investigators. I knew it was going to be bad. I didnt dream for a minute people would be killed, but it was always in the back of everybodys mind that bad things were going to happen, so it was terrifying, but if you cared about this country and you cared about this country you had to go. Tavis how do you characterize this project in the pantheon of your majestic work . When i started making films i never thought i had real focus. Freedom summer is the natural flow. What do you think has been the magnetic draw to this subject matter given that you didnt think this was the ride you would be taking as a filmmaker . Wax that has a number of parts. The Civil Rights Movement was so dramatic. So many of the people involved were so young. They are still alive and still as a filmmaker the footage is great. There is so much footage people havent seen. You combine those things, and it makes an emotional scene. Tavis this is such a huge question to unpack. Aven the people you had chance to talk to for the work you have done around the Civil Rights Era and to your point because so many of them are still living, so many were so of thegive me your sense people. I dont know if there is a portrait you can paint. About these people, these are marketable people you had access to. The people are amazing. They rest their lives to change our country. Risked their lives to change our country. For so many people it wasnt arsenal. Personal. What did he have to gain . Just an incredible bravery. One thing that is really funny is when we interview them for ask, why didalways you do it . We never get a good answer. Always, i saw a wrong and or i hadke it right. To do it. Its not something you can hold onto that is tangible. In a way that is what is so beautiful about it. Tavis do we know why young people today are not doing it . Can you compare and contrast . We get a lot where people say, what about young people . I think its much more i think young people want to be involved. Young people know something is wrong. Its not as simple. Down south forgo freedom summer because people down there dont have the right was much simpler the problems. Now its much more complicated. Youngher thing is so many people could join a movement, and we dont have a movement. They could say, they are going down for freedom summer. Let me join. Now we are saying, you should start a movement. Movement,e a something they can join, then i think they will. On both things. One, i am not so sure i am of your point that its much more complicated. I dont know the distinct difference between what is right and what is wrong, between the kind of nation we profess to be and the kind of nation we really are, i dont know why that is more complicated for this generation. When you say it is simpler i accept that in the sense that you can see in front of you colors only and whites only and you cant vote, if you mean simpler in that context i understand it, but how much more context of right versus wrong do people need to see it on climate warming andlobal immigration . Why is it more complicated . I think its nuts and bolts. We want to do away with segregated bathrooms. Want to do away with people not being able to vote in mississippi. Now its what do we want to do. We want to make the government move on Climate Change . Thats a little more complicated. What do you do . I think its a lack of a movement to join the makes it more complicated. Tavis this notion of a movement to join, there never is a movement to join. Moments happen. Movement comes out of it. A movement to join, they created the movement. To join. t happen they did it. For individuals, each individual could join the movement. Vietnam warring the protests. I would beat school talking about what do you want to do this weekend and a bunch of the beautiful women would say, im going to be on this protest down fifth avenue, and i would be like, so am i. It was very simple to make that choice. Kind of thing i am talking about when i say we need a movement that makes it easier to join. Everybodys not a leader. I wasnt a leader, but i was a joiner. Tavis what troubles me is we live in an era where we these youngdeify people. They were courageous no doubt about it. I worry we deify them where people today dont think they can create that kind of courage and commitment so it becomes a selffulfilling prophecy. Let me say a couple of things. One of the things that is important about this film and my work in general is one thing i have tried to do is talk about the common people. Its not about Martin Luther king or even bob moses. They are the volunteers who go to freedom summer. They are the people of mississippi who are the real heroes who let them come to their houses. They let them stay there. I think thats important. 50 years later, how is it possible we are back to debating some of these same issues of voting rights. One of the things that has happened is i have really seen our history as arican americans is not just sentence. We want this to send them from slavery, but its not. Change happens when we pushback, when we push for change. We can argue this. Part of psychology, we want to say, now we have done it. Finally, we have gotten there, but we never get there. Its really important that we keep pushing and when we stop things roll down the hill. Tavis let me close by asking whether or not you think there is a debt we owe to this and thisr generation film, and if we are them a debt, have we paid the debt we owe to these freedom warriors . Me put that in a personal way. A number of screenings around the country. We will have some of the volunteers. Iery time i get teared up feel he can fool. I say, i would never be here on this stage as an african producer director without you. Up in the growing 60s and 50s there was nothing such as an africanamerican director of film. Exist. D not it all may exist now because of the bravery of the people of freedom summer. He is a brilliant filmmaker and has done it again. You will not want to miss this or any of the work ever done by Stanley Nelson. Congratulations. Im glad you did this. Good to have you on the program. Thats our show for tonight. Thanks for watching. As always, keep the faith. For more information on todays show visit tavis smiley on pbs. Org. For a join me next time conversation with the chef and entrepreneur wolfgang puck. Thats next time. We will see you then. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Tonight on quest all living beings share a common ancestry. Today, this is a basic idea. But when Charles Darwin published it, he transformed the biological sciences forever. In celebration of darwins 200th birthday, quest follows California Academy of sciences beetle expert david kavanaugh. Can darwins principles on evolution, coupled with modern dna analysis, help him prove the existence of a New California species