And as fast as they could say it, i could put it down, and they could call it back, say, ain t never seen, nobody could do that like you. - [ed] john hulett was the president. the first meeting was held at the mount gillard baptist church, which i was a deacon at. - [john hulett] they control the equipments that goes into these schools. in fact, they control the entire counter. they controls everything. - [ed] we started by, i believe around 1960 i believe it was. i d served in the army for a couple of years and still didn t have the right to vote. and i wanted that right. - [lillian] we were in charge of our own movement, and that people trying to vote either was run out, frightened out or terminated out.
(crowd noise continues) - [wendell] this would be the first time blacks could get on a ballot in lowndes county. - [john] but there were a lot of people who came out, white people realized that we had outnumbered the votes were we to get any white votes or not. - [lillian] you re safe in numbers. and if enough people show up, you ll see who gots fear, especially when it s wrong. (indistinct crowd chatter) (somber music) - [lillian] we didn t know about all of these shenanigans that folks pull. you know, we didn t understand absentee balloting, white people voting with absentee ballots.
And know how to sort of navigate this treacherous terrain to help them do the things that they need to do to get to freedom on their own terms. but dr. king, with the southern christian leadership conference, wouldn t establish a presence. you know, king was like, yeah, y all need to, don t mess with lowndes county. you can t do anything down there. it s too dangerous, right? it s too crazy. bloody lowndes you don t fool with that. we don t even know where to begin. - [lillian] we d been out here a hundred years, nobody had come, and we were able to put enough together to a massive meeting. and the church would be flowing over till we had to get a second crowd. without their help, so - [hasan] while participating in the selma to montgomery march, sncc, which stands for the student nonviolent coordinating committee, they re talking to local people
- [josephine] each time we went we learned something different you know? and the peoples in tuske would come down and they set up schooling for the people you know? and we went to school, like i said, we had classes down here at the little road, down here at the little school house. we had sewing classes, we had cooking classes, and we had schooling, math, arithmetic. - [catherine] my parents were often going to meetings. and i just remember every time they went to a meeting and stokely was there, they would come back, fired up. yeah, my parents were the jailhouse lawyers of their community. my mother did taxes, i think a lot of people of a certain age group in our area when they got social security benefits is because my mother filled their paperwork out for them. - [lillian] we didn t have anything, but each other, everybody helped everybody. you may not know one thing. i may know something.
They can t count on a democratic party to win this for them. they can t count on johnson. they can t count on the national civil rights leadership. they have to be outside of the system in order to win. (firework explosions) - [lillian] so yeah, the mfdp left without it being recognized and they went back and they continued, but what they went back understanding was that politics wasn t about morality. politics was about power. (man) what if my type 2 diabetes takes over? (woman) what if all i do isn t enough? or what if i can do diabetes differently? (avo) now you can with once-weekly mounjaro. mounjaro helps your body regulate blood sugar, and mounjaro can help decrease how much food you eat. 3 out of 4 people reached an a1c of less than 7%.