1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:06,715 --> 00:00:10,010 (chiming sounds) 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:10,051 --> 00:00:15,682 (piano notes) (fabric rustling) 5 00:00:18,601 --> 00:00:20,687 (static) 6 00:00:31,656 --> 00:00:34,617 (static continues) 7 00:00:45,170 --> 00:00:48,423 (car engine humming) 8 00:01:06,191 --> 00:01:09,194 (intense wind) 9 00:01:10,570 --> 00:01:13,615 - [Ella] Those in power, don't abdicate early easily. 10 00:01:15,825 --> 00:01:16,951 It's such a 11 00:01:16,993 --> 00:01:20,914 Such a sort of, satisfying thing, I guess, 12 00:01:20,955 --> 00:01:22,123 to be in power. 13 00:01:31,675 --> 00:01:37,263 (overlapping chatter) (whistle blowing) 14 00:01:37,305 --> 00:01:40,350 (footsteps falling) 15 00:01:43,395 --> 00:01:45,689 Everybody waiting for the great person 16 00:01:45,730 --> 00:01:47,232 to tell you what to do. 17 00:01:49,609 --> 00:01:53,655 And they usually, the great persons usually told you to do. 18 00:01:53,697 --> 00:01:55,740 If you looked around, they weren't there 19 00:01:55,782 --> 00:01:57,492 when the showdown came. 20 00:01:58,827 --> 00:02:00,912 (whistle blowing) 21 00:02:00,954 --> 00:02:03,415 - [Officer] Go home or go to your church, 22 00:02:03,456 --> 00:02:05,667 this march will not continue. 23 00:02:08,920 --> 00:02:10,130 - [Ella] What I do, 24 00:02:10,171 --> 00:02:12,799 - [Officer] See that they disperse. 25 00:02:12,841 --> 00:02:16,344 - [Ella] is supposed to speak louder than what I say. 26 00:02:17,178 --> 00:02:20,640 (marching footfalls) 27 00:02:20,682 --> 00:02:22,767 (siren sound) 28 00:02:22,809 --> 00:02:25,353 (screaming) 29 00:02:26,688 --> 00:02:29,149 (whistle blowing) (screaming) 30 00:02:29,190 --> 00:02:31,443 (horns honking) 31 00:02:31,484 --> 00:02:33,862 (hooves beating on pavement) 32 00:02:33,903 --> 00:02:35,655 (drum sounds) 33 00:02:35,697 --> 00:02:37,490 (siren) 34 00:02:39,409 --> 00:02:43,038 (drum sounds) (screaming) 35 00:02:43,079 --> 00:02:46,499 (overlapping shouting) 36 00:02:52,547 --> 00:02:55,717 (shouting continues) 37 00:03:08,313 --> 00:03:09,522 - [Speaker] Last Sunday, 38 00:03:09,564 --> 00:03:12,609 a group of negro Americans in Selma, Alabama 39 00:03:12,650 --> 00:03:17,155 attempted peacefully to protest the denial of the 40 00:03:17,197 --> 00:03:20,200 most basic political right of all. 41 00:03:20,241 --> 00:03:21,493 The right to vote. 42 00:03:22,911 --> 00:03:26,539 - People have to have faith in themselves 43 00:03:30,460 --> 00:03:33,838 and they can only gain that faith by being given the 44 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:35,423 opportunity to grow. 45 00:03:39,678 --> 00:03:42,305 And when people value what they can do, 46 00:03:44,015 --> 00:03:45,558 they don't have to look around, 47 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:47,602 find a great leader 48 00:03:48,812 --> 00:03:50,563 to do it for them. 49 00:03:50,605 --> 00:03:54,609 (helicopter blades whirring) 50 00:03:57,362 --> 00:04:00,448 (intense music) 51 00:04:09,457 --> 00:04:10,458 - [Reporter] Carrying nap sacks, 52 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:11,793 bed rolls, and air mattresses, 53 00:04:11,835 --> 00:04:14,754 they stream onto Highway 80, walking briskly. 54 00:04:14,796 --> 00:04:16,923 Their day's journey, 17 and a half miles. 55 00:04:16,965 --> 00:04:19,634 Putting them halfway from Selma to Montgomery. 56 00:04:23,096 --> 00:04:25,306 The marchers then passed from Dallas County 57 00:04:25,348 --> 00:04:26,474 into Lowndes County, 58 00:04:26,516 --> 00:04:27,684 where until this month 59 00:04:27,726 --> 00:04:29,978 not a single negro was registered to vote. 60 00:04:33,690 --> 00:04:36,484 - [Arthur] You always hear Selma to Montgomery. 61 00:04:38,653 --> 00:04:41,614 The most mileage of the march from Selma to Montgomery, 62 00:04:41,656 --> 00:04:43,450 took place in Lowndes County. 63 00:04:44,659 --> 00:04:47,620 That dash in your life is, 64 00:04:47,662 --> 00:04:49,330 when you were born and when you die, 65 00:04:49,372 --> 00:04:51,541 but the dash will make the difference. 66 00:04:53,335 --> 00:04:56,379 (somber music) 67 00:05:00,467 --> 00:05:01,676 Lowndes County, 68 00:05:01,718 --> 00:05:03,636 was one of the poorest counties in the country, 69 00:05:03,678 --> 00:05:05,472 and we was right next door to Montgomery 70 00:05:05,513 --> 00:05:07,515 where the capital city sits. 71 00:05:12,145 --> 00:05:15,231 So it was kind of rough growing up and we didn't have 72 00:05:15,273 --> 00:05:17,567 running water in our homes. 73 00:05:18,735 --> 00:05:21,529 First shower that I took was in, 74 00:05:21,571 --> 00:05:23,782 at Havre High School in the gym. 75 00:05:26,326 --> 00:05:27,994 This was in the early sixties. 76 00:05:33,041 --> 00:05:34,084 - [John] During that time 77 00:05:34,125 --> 00:05:35,210 we were looking for better education. 78 00:05:35,251 --> 00:05:37,629 We didn't even have library, 79 00:05:37,671 --> 00:05:39,047 didn't have a lunch room, 80 00:05:42,008 --> 00:05:44,010 didn't go to school half the year. 81 00:05:44,052 --> 00:05:46,596 Cause we had to work at the age 3, 4, and 5. 82 00:05:46,638 --> 00:05:47,972 It was cotton fields. 83 00:05:50,725 --> 00:05:53,103 - [Arthur] My parents were sharecroppers. 84 00:05:53,144 --> 00:05:56,731 We had five acres of cotton that we had to pick. 85 00:05:56,773 --> 00:05:58,358 And once we finished ours, then 86 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:01,361 we had to help the land owners get their 87 00:06:01,403 --> 00:06:02,821 cotton out of the field. 88 00:06:04,739 --> 00:06:07,409 - [Catherine] Sharecropping replaced slavery. 89 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,706 It was another type of caste system where in order to live 90 00:06:12,747 --> 00:06:16,710 on the property, one had to work the land. 91 00:06:16,751 --> 00:06:20,046 And there was usually a store that was owned by the 92 00:06:20,088 --> 00:06:24,884 plantation owner and whatever goods that they might need 93 00:06:24,926 --> 00:06:27,429 were on credit. 94 00:06:27,470 --> 00:06:30,098 - [Arthur] And some years, you would have a bumper crop. 95 00:06:30,140 --> 00:06:32,392 A bumper crop is when you have extra, 96 00:06:32,434 --> 00:06:34,269 you know just grow, grow, grow, 97 00:06:34,310 --> 00:06:35,395 and you do real good, 98 00:06:35,437 --> 00:06:37,230 but you never had enough 99 00:06:37,272 --> 00:06:40,108 to get yourself so you could be free of debt. 100 00:06:42,777 --> 00:06:46,156 - [John] This county was around 80% Black, 101 00:06:46,197 --> 00:06:51,411 but there was no Black police officers, no nothing. 102 00:06:51,453 --> 00:06:52,787 The reason we're not doing anything 103 00:06:52,829 --> 00:06:55,457 'cause we don't have any power. 104 00:06:55,498 --> 00:06:57,751 People are scared, people lost their jobs. 105 00:06:57,792 --> 00:06:59,210 People lost their family hood, 106 00:06:59,252 --> 00:07:01,504 because they wanted to go and register to vote. 107 00:07:01,546 --> 00:07:05,592 (hammers hitting metal) 108 00:07:08,678 --> 00:07:11,973 (indistinct chatter) 109 00:07:14,142 --> 00:07:16,895 - [Carolyn] I don't remember ever talking about race 110 00:07:16,936 --> 00:07:17,854 growing up. 111 00:07:20,148 --> 00:07:24,736 It felt like sort of the safest possible world a young child 112 00:07:24,778 --> 00:07:25,987 could grow up in. 113 00:07:27,447 --> 00:07:30,241 (somber music) 114 00:07:35,663 --> 00:07:39,167 (gate clacking) 115 00:07:41,628 --> 00:07:44,464 (cash register rings) 116 00:07:44,506 --> 00:07:49,678 - [Margaret] It was a very peaceful, almost idyllic place. 117 00:07:52,180 --> 00:07:55,225 The only Black people that I knew were the ones who worked 118 00:07:55,266 --> 00:07:58,895 for us in our family. And we loved them. 119 00:08:04,818 --> 00:08:07,612 - [Carolyn] When I was 17, 120 00:08:09,531 --> 00:08:11,658 I had an experience that 121 00:08:11,700 --> 00:08:15,036 kind of pulled the curtain back for me. 122 00:08:15,078 --> 00:08:18,623 A girlfriend and I were riding around on country roads. 123 00:08:18,665 --> 00:08:22,085 Like, that's what we did for entertainment. 124 00:08:22,127 --> 00:08:24,629 I mean, there wasn't any entertainment. 125 00:08:26,923 --> 00:08:31,511 There was a young Black man who tried to, 126 00:08:31,553 --> 00:08:32,387 did like that, 127 00:08:32,429 --> 00:08:33,388 tried to wave us down. 128 00:08:33,430 --> 00:08:35,265 I didn't think anything about it, 129 00:08:35,306 --> 00:08:39,936 but my friend got really upset, 130 00:08:39,978 --> 00:08:42,022 thinking he was trying to stop us. 131 00:08:43,690 --> 00:08:47,277 She wanted to go tell somebody about it and 132 00:08:50,780 --> 00:08:53,033 he was killed that night. 133 00:09:01,332 --> 00:09:03,793 I'd heard that he 134 00:09:03,835 --> 00:09:07,297 lived on the land that some white people owned 135 00:09:07,339 --> 00:09:10,425 and that often they would give him a ride 136 00:09:10,467 --> 00:09:12,719 if he waved them down, 137 00:09:12,761 --> 00:09:17,223 and that we had a car that looked like theirs. 138 00:09:24,606 --> 00:09:25,982 - [Catherine] You know, I was a kid, 139 00:09:26,024 --> 00:09:29,235 but I knew that there was a reputation of violence. 140 00:09:29,277 --> 00:09:32,364 In my home, we had guns in every corner. 141 00:09:32,405 --> 00:09:35,950 My father taught all of my brothers how to shoot. 142 00:09:35,992 --> 00:09:38,953 And that was common in every home in Lowndes County. 143 00:09:41,956 --> 00:09:44,250 - [John] A lot of Black people came up missing. 144 00:09:49,089 --> 00:09:51,299 That's why it was called Bloody Lowndes. 145 00:09:55,345 --> 00:09:58,598 - [Hasan] Lowndes County was 80% African American. 146 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:03,687 Then at the start of 1965, had zero registered Black voters. 147 00:10:03,728 --> 00:10:05,105 And that's not hyperbole, right? 148 00:10:05,146 --> 00:10:06,731 I'm not saying that there were a couple 149 00:10:06,773 --> 00:10:08,066 and we're just saying zero. 150 00:10:08,108 --> 00:10:10,193 There were no Black people 151 00:10:10,235 --> 00:10:13,154 registered to vote in Lowndes County, Alabama 152 00:10:13,196 --> 00:10:19,536 out of some 5,122 who were actually eligible to vote. 153 00:10:19,577 --> 00:10:20,787 - [William] People were followed. 154 00:10:20,829 --> 00:10:23,039 They would write down people's license plates. 155 00:10:23,081 --> 00:10:24,582 People could lose their jobs. 156 00:10:24,624 --> 00:10:27,836 Your car loan might come due in its entirety, for example, 157 00:10:27,877 --> 00:10:29,129 if you were found to be trying to 158 00:10:29,170 --> 00:10:31,089 register African Americans to vote. 159 00:10:32,757 --> 00:10:36,594 (indistinct chatter) 160 00:10:36,636 --> 00:10:41,474 - [Hasan] John Hulett is native of Lowndes County, Alabama. 161 00:10:41,516 --> 00:10:43,476 After high school, graduates from Lowndes County 162 00:10:43,518 --> 00:10:46,813 Training School, leaves Lowndes County, Alabama, 163 00:10:46,855 --> 00:10:48,273 and heads to Birmingham. 164 00:10:49,691 --> 00:10:51,901 There's a very active NAACP chapter 165 00:10:51,943 --> 00:10:53,194 in Birmingham, Alabama 166 00:10:53,236 --> 00:10:56,072 and John Hulett joins, becomes a part of it. 167 00:10:56,114 --> 00:10:59,826 And then in the 1950s, he returns to Lowndes County. 168 00:10:59,868 --> 00:11:01,870 Not because he was driven by a desire 169 00:11:01,911 --> 00:11:03,413 to transform Lowndes County, 170 00:11:03,455 --> 00:11:07,167 but because he had some family issues to take care of, 171 00:11:07,208 --> 00:11:10,420 but he also comes back as a registered voter. 172 00:11:10,462 --> 00:11:13,214 And when he comes back and he's sort of surveying the land 173 00:11:13,256 --> 00:11:16,509 and taking a sense of the pulse of the community, he's like, 174 00:11:16,551 --> 00:11:19,888 "You know what? We need to be doing some stuff down here too." 175 00:11:22,015 --> 00:11:26,353 March 1, 1965, John Hulett, his wife, 176 00:11:26,394 --> 00:11:31,066 a group of 39 others that he had been talking to decide that, 177 00:11:31,107 --> 00:11:33,860 "We're gonna go down to the county courthouse and see if we 178 00:11:33,902 --> 00:11:35,362 can't get registered to vote." 179 00:11:38,573 --> 00:11:41,493 He goes right into the registrar's office, Carl Golson, 180 00:11:41,534 --> 00:11:44,245 big old former football player, car dealer. 181 00:11:44,287 --> 00:11:46,289 You know, he's one of the county registrars. 182 00:11:46,331 --> 00:11:49,167 And he sees Hulett and these three other Black man 183 00:11:49,209 --> 00:11:52,045 barge in, "Don't you know how to knock?" 184 00:11:52,087 --> 00:11:53,838 And Hulett's like, "I didn't come here to knock, 185 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:55,048 I came here to register to vote." 186 00:11:55,090 --> 00:11:57,175 I mean, that's throwing down the gauntlet. 187 00:11:57,217 --> 00:11:59,636 You know, Golson can't do anything, but throw him out. 188 00:11:59,678 --> 00:12:00,887 and he also says, 189 00:12:00,929 --> 00:12:02,222 "If y'all are serious, y'all wanna register, 190 00:12:02,263 --> 00:12:05,892 y'all wanna do this? Then leave all your names. 191 00:12:05,934 --> 00:12:07,769 We wanna know who's showing up, 192 00:12:07,811 --> 00:12:11,981 which of y'all have the gall to challenge white power." 193 00:12:12,023 --> 00:12:14,901 They were literally putting their lives on the line. 194 00:12:14,943 --> 00:12:17,237 Every single one of those folk who showed up, 195 00:12:17,278 --> 00:12:19,781 they put their names on a sheet of paper and they brought it 196 00:12:19,823 --> 00:12:22,909 back and they gave it to Golson and said, this is who we are. 197 00:12:24,703 --> 00:12:25,912 And then two weeks later, 198 00:12:25,954 --> 00:12:28,039 a slightly larger group show up again, saying, 199 00:12:28,081 --> 00:12:29,290 "Look, we're back, right? 200 00:12:29,332 --> 00:12:31,084 You have our names. You sent people to visit us. 201 00:12:31,126 --> 00:12:33,253 We lost some loans. We lost some business, but we're back." 202 00:12:33,294 --> 00:12:35,088 And then after that second meeting, 203 00:12:35,130 --> 00:12:37,257 they realize, "If we're gonna do this, 204 00:12:37,298 --> 00:12:39,509 then we need to be organized." 205 00:12:41,136 --> 00:12:43,805 (somber organ music) 206 00:12:43,847 --> 00:12:46,057 And so in late March they formed 207 00:12:46,099 --> 00:12:49,269 the Lowndes County Christian Movement for Human Rights. 208 00:12:50,645 --> 00:12:52,272 - [Lillian] We were Lowndes County Christians, 209 00:12:52,313 --> 00:12:53,815 and we wanted human rights. 210 00:12:53,857 --> 00:12:55,150 That's all we wanted. 211 00:12:58,028 --> 00:13:00,780 27 local people came. 212 00:13:00,822 --> 00:13:05,744 We met there every Sunday night and every Wednesday night. 213 00:13:05,785 --> 00:13:07,829 And I became the secretary, 214 00:13:07,871 --> 00:13:10,457 and as fast as they could say it, I could put it down, 215 00:13:10,498 --> 00:13:11,791 and they could call it back, say, 216 00:13:11,833 --> 00:13:14,919 "Ain't never seen, nobody could do that like you." 217 00:13:14,961 --> 00:13:17,172 - [Ed] John Hulett was the President. 218 00:13:18,131 --> 00:13:19,132 The first meeting was held 219 00:13:19,174 --> 00:13:20,800 at the Mount Gillard Baptist Church, 220 00:13:20,842 --> 00:13:23,011 which I was a deacon at. 221 00:13:25,555 --> 00:13:27,223 - [John Hulett] They control the equipments 222 00:13:27,265 --> 00:13:29,059 that goes into these schools. 223 00:13:29,100 --> 00:13:30,810 In fact, they control the entire counter. 224 00:13:30,852 --> 00:13:32,270 They controls everything. 225 00:13:36,149 --> 00:13:37,233 - [Ed] We started by, 226 00:13:37,275 --> 00:13:40,278 I believe around 1960 I believe it was. 227 00:13:41,946 --> 00:13:43,156 I'd served in the army for a couple of 228 00:13:43,198 --> 00:13:46,409 years and still didn't have the right to vote. 229 00:13:46,451 --> 00:13:48,036 And I wanted that right. 230 00:13:50,622 --> 00:13:53,750 - [Lillian] We wouldn't charge our own movement, 231 00:13:53,792 --> 00:13:56,419 and that people trying to vote either was run out, 232 00:13:56,461 --> 00:13:59,297 frightened out or terminated out. 233 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:03,927 (footsteps falling) 234 00:14:03,968 --> 00:14:07,138 - [Martin Luther King, Jr.] I believe you've heard of Lowndes County. 235 00:14:10,016 --> 00:14:16,523 That is an attempt on the part of the white power structure 236 00:14:16,564 --> 00:14:21,611 to keep any kind of organization from taking place there and 237 00:14:21,653 --> 00:14:24,864 to keep our workers out, 238 00:14:24,906 --> 00:14:27,909 but I want you to know that this isn't going to stop us. 239 00:14:27,951 --> 00:14:30,704 We are going to Lowndes County in a few minutes. 240 00:14:30,745 --> 00:14:33,206 (applause) 241 00:14:35,542 --> 00:14:37,836 - He had a boy's money, and you know 242 00:14:37,877 --> 00:14:39,546 if he come over there and register 243 00:14:39,587 --> 00:14:41,464 ain't gonna let him have it so that's holding a lot of people up. 244 00:14:41,506 --> 00:14:43,383 - [MLK] So they're not gonna let 'em have the money if they're registered. 245 00:14:43,425 --> 00:14:45,552 - Correct. - [MLK] Mm-hmm. 246 00:14:45,593 --> 00:14:48,179 - I'll try anything one time, see how it works. 247 00:14:48,221 --> 00:14:51,266 If it don't work, I ain't gonna bother no more. 248 00:14:51,307 --> 00:14:53,059 - But you really believe that if you keep trying 249 00:14:53,101 --> 00:14:54,269 you can register? 250 00:14:54,310 --> 00:14:56,980 - I believe so. If I keep enough with me now. 251 00:14:57,022 --> 00:14:57,981 - [Hasan] Black folk in Lowndes County 252 00:14:58,023 --> 00:14:59,733 are not waiting for somebody to 253 00:14:59,774 --> 00:15:03,069 descend into the county and lead them to freedom. 254 00:15:03,111 --> 00:15:05,363 They are looking for help. 255 00:15:05,405 --> 00:15:08,199 They are looking for those who have some experience 256 00:15:08,241 --> 00:15:10,618 and know how to sort of navigate 257 00:15:10,660 --> 00:15:13,580 this treacherous terrain to help them 258 00:15:13,621 --> 00:15:17,083 do the things that they need to do to get to freedom on 259 00:15:17,125 --> 00:15:18,418 their own terms. 260 00:15:20,503 --> 00:15:21,838 But Dr. King, 261 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:24,049 with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 262 00:15:24,090 --> 00:15:25,967 wouldn't establish a presence. 263 00:15:26,009 --> 00:15:27,302 You know, King was like, "Yeah, 264 00:15:27,344 --> 00:15:28,928 y'all need to, don't mess with Lowndes County." 265 00:15:28,970 --> 00:15:30,430 You can't do anything down there. It's too dangerous, right? 266 00:15:30,472 --> 00:15:32,432 It's too crazy. Bloody Lowndes you're a fool with that. 267 00:15:32,474 --> 00:15:34,351 We don't even know where to begin. 268 00:15:35,810 --> 00:15:37,437 - [Lillian] We'd been out here a hundred years, 269 00:15:37,479 --> 00:15:39,064 nobody had come, 270 00:15:39,105 --> 00:15:40,940 and we were able to put enough together 271 00:15:40,982 --> 00:15:42,650 to a massive meeting. 272 00:15:44,486 --> 00:15:46,154 And the church would be flowing over till 273 00:15:46,196 --> 00:15:48,198 we had to get a second crowd. 274 00:15:49,157 --> 00:15:51,409 Without their help, so 275 00:15:57,207 --> 00:15:58,416 - [Hasan] While participating 276 00:15:58,458 --> 00:16:02,045 in the Selma to Montgomery march, SNCC, 277 00:16:02,087 --> 00:16:03,213 which stands for the 278 00:16:03,254 --> 00:16:05,298 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 279 00:16:05,340 --> 00:16:07,592 they're talking to local people 280 00:16:07,634 --> 00:16:09,761 and local folk in Lowndes County, They said, "You know what? 281 00:16:09,803 --> 00:16:11,805 You need to talk to some of these other folk who just formed 282 00:16:11,846 --> 00:16:15,517 this movement organization. They're doing something." 283 00:16:17,477 --> 00:16:20,647 SNCC activists reach out to John Hulett and some of the 284 00:16:20,689 --> 00:16:22,982 others. And they say, "Hey, we're here to help. 285 00:16:23,024 --> 00:16:24,317 What can we do?" 286 00:16:24,359 --> 00:16:27,529 (funk style music) 287 00:16:28,947 --> 00:16:31,658 - [Reporter] During the early weeks of February, 1960 288 00:16:31,700 --> 00:16:33,910 The demonstrations that came to be called 289 00:16:33,952 --> 00:16:34,953 the Sit-in Movement 290 00:16:34,994 --> 00:16:37,497 exploded across the south. 291 00:16:37,539 --> 00:16:39,040 - I'm sorry, 292 00:16:39,082 --> 00:16:41,918 our management does not allow us to serve niggers in here. 293 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:43,420 - [Reporter] For the first time 294 00:16:43,461 --> 00:16:45,672 the community was confronted with negros 295 00:16:45,714 --> 00:16:49,217 in places where they had never been. 296 00:16:49,259 --> 00:16:51,970 - [William] SNCC comes out of the sit-in movement 297 00:16:52,012 --> 00:16:56,099 that began in the spring of 1960. 298 00:16:56,141 --> 00:16:58,601 Ella Baker, a veteran organizer 299 00:16:58,643 --> 00:17:01,479 sees this and she calls together a conference 300 00:17:01,521 --> 00:17:03,481 of some of the student leaders from the sit-in 301 00:17:03,523 --> 00:17:06,526 movement, and they create this organization, 302 00:17:06,568 --> 00:17:08,028 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. 303 00:17:08,069 --> 00:17:11,197 - Young people working with the Student Nonviolent 304 00:17:11,239 --> 00:17:13,700 Coordinating Committee or SNCC, 305 00:17:13,742 --> 00:17:17,871 as we call it are characterized by restless energy, 306 00:17:17,912 --> 00:17:22,375 radical change in race relations in the United States, 307 00:17:22,417 --> 00:17:24,711 their world is upset 308 00:17:24,753 --> 00:17:28,965 and they feel that if they are ever going to get it straight, 309 00:17:29,007 --> 00:17:30,800 they must upset it more. 310 00:17:31,926 --> 00:17:33,470 - [Ella] And this was SNCC. 311 00:17:35,096 --> 00:17:37,515 Now how they got that way, 312 00:17:37,557 --> 00:17:40,727 it didn't happen overnight, 313 00:17:41,895 --> 00:17:44,356 but there was a need. 314 00:17:46,941 --> 00:17:48,818 - [Courtland] I would say the two dominant groups in the 315 00:17:48,860 --> 00:17:50,528 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 316 00:17:50,570 --> 00:17:52,072 are the people who came out of the 317 00:17:52,113 --> 00:17:53,740 Nashville Student Movement. 318 00:17:53,782 --> 00:17:57,327 That's John Lewis, Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette, 319 00:17:57,369 --> 00:17:59,537 and the Howard University people, 320 00:17:59,579 --> 00:18:03,249 Stokely, Cleve Sellers, myself. 321 00:18:03,291 --> 00:18:07,128 And the one thing Ms. Baker said to us 322 00:18:07,170 --> 00:18:09,464 "Do not become a youth 323 00:18:09,506 --> 00:18:14,052 division of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference." 324 00:18:14,094 --> 00:18:15,428 - [Ella] What was needed 325 00:18:15,470 --> 00:18:18,890 was not what we had been working with before. 326 00:18:18,932 --> 00:18:23,436 I knew enough about the egos that were involved. 327 00:18:23,478 --> 00:18:26,648 I better stop me from talking. I might tell the truth. 328 00:18:28,983 --> 00:18:30,110 - [Stokely] The method of SCLC, 329 00:18:30,151 --> 00:18:31,528 was to come through to a town 330 00:18:31,569 --> 00:18:34,322 that was suffering under oppression. 331 00:18:34,364 --> 00:18:36,533 Rabble rouse the town, agitate the town, 332 00:18:36,574 --> 00:18:39,786 bring out the town, and mobilize activity to hit against 333 00:18:39,828 --> 00:18:42,163 levels of injustice. 334 00:18:42,205 --> 00:18:44,332 Here, of course, Dr. Martin Luther King, 335 00:18:44,374 --> 00:18:45,959 being one of the greatest mobilizers 336 00:18:46,001 --> 00:18:47,460 played a crucial role. 337 00:18:47,502 --> 00:18:50,255 And so once you knew that Dr. King was coming to a town, 338 00:18:50,296 --> 00:18:52,382 that was it. That town was going to turn out. 339 00:18:52,424 --> 00:18:54,634 There was no question here. 340 00:18:54,676 --> 00:18:57,637 You would come mobilize the people, kick up a lot of dust, 341 00:18:57,679 --> 00:19:00,223 and then leave. Maybe a legislation would be passed, 342 00:19:00,265 --> 00:19:02,350 but where there would be no organized force here, 343 00:19:02,392 --> 00:19:05,228 even to take proper advantage of that legislation, 344 00:19:05,270 --> 00:19:07,439 which was passed. 345 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:08,857 - [James] You know, we wanted, you know, 346 00:19:08,898 --> 00:19:12,235 a movement that would survive the loss of our lives. 347 00:19:12,277 --> 00:19:16,281 And then therefore then the necessity to build a broad based 348 00:19:16,322 --> 00:19:20,035 movement and not just a charismatic leader. 349 00:19:20,076 --> 00:19:23,872 - [Hasan] Atlanta would house the headquarters of SNCC 350 00:19:23,913 --> 00:19:27,959 with Ruby Doris Robinson and Judy Richardson, 351 00:19:28,001 --> 00:19:32,547 making sure the organization as a whole ran efficiently. 352 00:19:32,589 --> 00:19:34,132 - [Judy] When I first come in the organization, 353 00:19:34,174 --> 00:19:36,509 I don't know any of the stuff all these people know. 354 00:19:36,551 --> 00:19:38,803 They're all brilliant to me. Everybody's brilliant. 355 00:19:39,971 --> 00:19:41,639 There was such courage. 356 00:19:42,390 --> 00:19:44,517 There was this sense of 357 00:19:44,559 --> 00:19:46,394 "We're not gonna let anybody stop us. 358 00:19:46,436 --> 00:19:48,813 And we're changing the world." 359 00:19:48,855 --> 00:19:50,357 - [William] There was no age limit. 360 00:19:50,398 --> 00:19:53,651 People involved with SNCC were like four and five years old 361 00:19:53,693 --> 00:19:56,404 in some cases, or they could be in their eighties. 362 00:19:56,446 --> 00:19:57,864 You know, SNCC just touched 363 00:19:57,906 --> 00:20:00,200 every single person in a community that 364 00:20:00,241 --> 00:20:02,577 wanted to become involved. 365 00:20:06,915 --> 00:20:10,418 - [John] The majority community was positive about SNCC, 366 00:20:10,460 --> 00:20:11,628 but they were afraid. 367 00:20:11,670 --> 00:20:13,963 Some of 'em didn't want to get caught up in 368 00:20:14,005 --> 00:20:15,757 They didn't know what was gonna happen. 369 00:20:17,008 --> 00:20:18,426 - [Judy] We know 370 00:20:18,468 --> 00:20:20,804 that there's a reason why it's called Bloody Lowndes. 371 00:20:23,306 --> 00:20:26,893 It is called that because of the absolute unrelenting 372 00:20:26,935 --> 00:20:29,479 violence, if you're trying to get Black rights. 373 00:20:29,521 --> 00:20:31,398 If you're trying to register to vote, 374 00:20:31,439 --> 00:20:33,692 if you're trying to get more land, I mean, 375 00:20:33,733 --> 00:20:36,069 some of it is just random violence. 376 00:20:36,111 --> 00:20:38,655 (siren) 377 00:20:38,697 --> 00:20:40,198 I'm amazed that Black folks, 378 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,244 somehow knowing the violence they've been experiencing all 379 00:20:44,285 --> 00:20:45,954 this time before we ever get there, 380 00:20:45,995 --> 00:20:49,082 and they still organize, and still they try and vote, 381 00:20:49,124 --> 00:20:50,834 and still they do all the things 382 00:20:50,875 --> 00:20:54,838 that are about being a vital part of this democracy. 383 00:20:59,676 --> 00:21:02,429 - [Hasan] Stokely Carmichael is the project leader. 384 00:21:02,470 --> 00:21:05,598 By that time he was a veteran organizer himself. 385 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,058 He's still only 22, 23 years old, 386 00:21:07,100 --> 00:21:09,269 but he had been organizing for four or five years. 387 00:21:09,310 --> 00:21:11,271 You know, he's been arrested you know, 388 00:21:11,312 --> 00:21:12,772 almost two dozen times. 389 00:21:12,814 --> 00:21:17,610 I mean, he knows how to do what it is he's trying to do, 390 00:21:17,652 --> 00:21:21,406 but he's also committed to Ella Baker's philosophy of 391 00:21:21,448 --> 00:21:25,952 democratic organizing, grassroots organizing, bottom up organizing. 392 00:21:25,994 --> 00:21:28,121 And Carmichael talks about this. He's like, 393 00:21:28,163 --> 00:21:31,499 "There will always come a moment early on where the 394 00:21:31,541 --> 00:21:34,711 people on the ground are going to observe you in your 395 00:21:34,753 --> 00:21:37,130 interactions with the powers that be." 396 00:21:37,172 --> 00:21:40,050 (children chattering and playing) 397 00:21:40,091 --> 00:21:42,635 While Carmichael and SNCC are handing out flyers 398 00:21:42,677 --> 00:21:44,137 for a mass meeting, 399 00:21:44,179 --> 00:21:47,140 the Black principal at the segregated Black high school in 400 00:21:47,182 --> 00:21:51,269 preserving his little fiefdom of power, calls the police. 401 00:21:51,311 --> 00:21:53,646 And so the police come in and they're like, you know, 402 00:21:53,688 --> 00:21:55,106 "What are y'all doing?" 403 00:21:55,148 --> 00:21:56,983 And Carmichael he's like, "I know exactly what to do," 404 00:21:57,025 --> 00:21:59,110 right? He's like, "I'm gonna call these police out." 405 00:21:59,152 --> 00:22:00,570 So the police have come in and they're like 406 00:22:00,612 --> 00:22:01,696 "Look you", you know "You can't do this." 407 00:22:01,738 --> 00:22:03,823 And he's like, "Why can't I do this?" 408 00:22:03,865 --> 00:22:06,868 Right? He's like, "I have a right to be here." 409 00:22:06,910 --> 00:22:08,661 - [Wendell] We hadn't heard anybody 410 00:22:08,703 --> 00:22:09,996 that would talk to white people, 411 00:22:10,038 --> 00:22:11,956 the way that SNCC talked to white people, 412 00:22:11,998 --> 00:22:15,835 straight to their face in a language that they understood. 413 00:22:17,545 --> 00:22:19,631 - [Hasan] So they fall back and they huddle up. 414 00:22:19,673 --> 00:22:23,301 It's like, "Okay, well we're gonna tell them to figure out what we gotta do." 415 00:22:23,343 --> 00:22:26,054 And Carmichael is like, "Hey, y'all need to hurry up. 416 00:22:26,096 --> 00:22:30,350 You either gonna arrest me or you need to let me do what I gotta do." 417 00:22:30,392 --> 00:22:32,018 - [John] And he wasn't afraid. 418 00:22:32,060 --> 00:22:36,189 And all those SNCC people knew how to work together and help 419 00:22:36,231 --> 00:22:38,400 each other and taught us that. 420 00:22:40,902 --> 00:22:42,862 - [Carolyn] I heard about Black people 421 00:22:42,904 --> 00:22:47,367 coming from outside the area to organize. 422 00:22:47,409 --> 00:22:51,538 Just a lot of anxiety about what that was gonna mean. 423 00:22:51,579 --> 00:22:54,749 - [Margaret] The implications of voting 424 00:22:54,791 --> 00:22:56,543 meant that there would be 425 00:22:56,584 --> 00:22:58,795 different people in control 426 00:22:58,837 --> 00:23:03,800 and very, very much worried about outside agitators. 427 00:23:05,427 --> 00:23:08,096 (funky music) 428 00:23:16,104 --> 00:23:19,941 - My name is Ruby Sales and I'm a SNCC field secretary, 429 00:23:19,983 --> 00:23:23,570 worker in Lowndes County, Alabama. 430 00:23:23,611 --> 00:23:25,071 Well, I ended up in Lowndes County 431 00:23:25,113 --> 00:23:28,033 cuz that's where Stokely was working. 432 00:23:28,074 --> 00:23:33,204 I joined SNCC because Stokley made it sound so liberating, 433 00:23:33,246 --> 00:23:36,708 so exciting, so much what I wanted to do. 434 00:23:38,293 --> 00:23:40,795 And the first day that I was in the county registering 435 00:23:40,837 --> 00:23:43,923 voters and the sheriff put a gun to Stokely Carmichael's 436 00:23:43,965 --> 00:23:47,218 head and said, "Nigger, tonight you'll be in Hell. 437 00:23:47,260 --> 00:23:50,597 Stokely said, "And tonight Hell will be integrated." 438 00:23:50,638 --> 00:23:52,974 That was it for me. I was in. 439 00:23:55,477 --> 00:23:59,105 I had come from this very sheltered environment and suddenly 440 00:23:59,147 --> 00:24:00,357 I'm face to face 441 00:24:00,398 --> 00:24:03,193 with all the hedonist crimes of white America. 442 00:24:06,154 --> 00:24:11,743 It was nothing to be riding down Highway 80 and suddenly a pickup truck, 443 00:24:11,785 --> 00:24:15,872 of white men pulled from the side of the road and start 444 00:24:15,914 --> 00:24:18,750 chasing us with their guns, hanging out the window. 445 00:24:18,792 --> 00:24:21,753 And Stokely Carmichael would have to drive 446 00:24:21,795 --> 00:24:23,630 90 miles an hour to 447 00:24:23,672 --> 00:24:26,257 make sure that they wouldn't kill us. 448 00:24:26,299 --> 00:24:28,426 - [Stokely] I mean, fear is just gonna immobilize you. 449 00:24:28,468 --> 00:24:30,136 You're dead already. 450 00:24:30,178 --> 00:24:31,721 So there's no fear here. 451 00:24:31,763 --> 00:24:33,723 I just have to learn to drive effectively so that when they 452 00:24:33,765 --> 00:24:36,017 chase me, I'll be able to dodge them 453 00:24:36,059 --> 00:24:37,560 and they would have run into a truck, 454 00:24:37,602 --> 00:24:39,854 or run into a ditch or leave them in the smoke. 455 00:24:39,896 --> 00:24:42,482 There was no fear here. It was just clever response. 456 00:24:42,524 --> 00:24:44,526 Survival instincts at its best. 457 00:24:44,567 --> 00:24:46,903 (laughs) 458 00:24:48,613 --> 00:24:52,158 - [Ruby] Everywhere we looked there was danger. 459 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,828 - Do you want these people taking all these pictures? 460 00:24:54,869 --> 00:24:59,666 - Well, it's fine with me if it's not going hurt us. 461 00:24:59,708 --> 00:25:01,501 - It's not gonna do you any good. 462 00:25:01,543 --> 00:25:02,502 I'll tell you now. 463 00:25:02,544 --> 00:25:04,129 - Yeah sir. 464 00:25:04,170 --> 00:25:05,338 - No, no. 465 00:25:05,380 --> 00:25:07,549 - [Ruby] And to them we were not citizens, 466 00:25:07,590 --> 00:25:08,717 to them we were not human beings. 467 00:25:08,758 --> 00:25:11,553 We were enemy combatants. 468 00:25:13,888 --> 00:25:17,684 I was there about five months before I got arrested. 469 00:25:19,227 --> 00:25:23,023 After seven days we were released from jail. 470 00:25:23,064 --> 00:25:26,568 No one had come there. We had not been let out on bail. 471 00:25:26,609 --> 00:25:28,570 We were just suddenly released. 472 00:25:28,611 --> 00:25:30,447 And we had understood what had happened 473 00:25:30,488 --> 00:25:32,824 with Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney. 474 00:25:32,866 --> 00:25:34,701 When that happened with them. 475 00:25:34,743 --> 00:25:39,205 (ominous piano music) 476 00:25:39,247 --> 00:25:42,917 That day we were released, it just didn't feel right. 477 00:25:44,878 --> 00:25:47,255 And the sheriff says, if we didn't leave, 478 00:25:47,297 --> 00:25:48,965 he'd blow our brains out. 479 00:25:49,007 --> 00:25:51,718 So we left against our will. 480 00:25:54,763 --> 00:25:59,309 And it was one of those hot, hot Southern summers 481 00:26:03,104 --> 00:26:05,690 where you could literally see the heat 482 00:26:05,732 --> 00:26:07,901 palpitating from the cement. 483 00:26:12,322 --> 00:26:14,240 Jonathan Daniels, 484 00:26:14,282 --> 00:26:20,080 who was a seminarian who had joined the Lowndes County struggle. 485 00:26:20,121 --> 00:26:22,791 We would drag race together in his Volkswagen, 486 00:26:22,832 --> 00:26:25,210 we would put the pedals to the metal 487 00:26:25,251 --> 00:26:27,003 and we had to go fast 488 00:26:28,296 --> 00:26:29,964 and we were friends. 489 00:26:35,303 --> 00:26:40,684 And we were walking with Father Morrisroe who had come down with Jonathan 490 00:26:40,725 --> 00:26:43,687 and a local young woman named Joyce Bailey. 491 00:26:46,064 --> 00:26:47,774 The environment felt heavy, 492 00:26:47,816 --> 00:26:51,569 but you know, we dismissed it and kept walking. 493 00:26:51,611 --> 00:26:53,321 And we were thirsty. 494 00:26:55,990 --> 00:26:59,119 And when we got to the front door of the store, 495 00:27:00,286 --> 00:27:02,497 This man was standing in the store 496 00:27:02,539 --> 00:27:04,666 whom I had never seen before. 497 00:27:06,126 --> 00:27:09,629 And he says, "Bitch, I'll blow your brains out." 498 00:27:09,671 --> 00:27:12,048 (gunshot) 499 00:27:14,592 --> 00:27:17,387 (ominous music) 500 00:27:19,806 --> 00:27:27,313 The assassin pulled the trigger and Jonathan pulled me back almost simultaneously. 501 00:27:27,355 --> 00:27:33,778 That's how incredibly fast it happened. 502 00:27:37,657 --> 00:27:42,328 - [Carolyn] Well somebody called me right after it happened and said, 503 00:27:42,370 --> 00:27:45,373 "Tom Coleman just killed one of those civil rights workers, 504 00:27:45,415 --> 00:27:50,003 and this town's gonna go off in flames." 505 00:27:50,045 --> 00:27:52,130 - [Ruby] And before we could turn around 506 00:27:52,172 --> 00:27:56,176 the next thing I knew someone had pulled me from behind 507 00:27:56,217 --> 00:27:58,178 and I stumbled down the steps, 508 00:27:58,219 --> 00:28:01,681 and I fell to the side, and then I heard a shotgun 509 00:28:01,723 --> 00:28:07,020 blast, and I saw Jonathan Daniels fall down to the ground, 510 00:28:07,062 --> 00:28:10,357 fall backwards on the ground from the top of the, 511 00:28:10,398 --> 00:28:13,485 from the steps and he grabbed his stomach. 512 00:28:13,526 --> 00:28:16,696 - John Daniels pushed Ruby to the ground. 513 00:28:16,738 --> 00:28:21,826 And Father Richard caught me by my hand and jerked me around the car. 514 00:28:21,868 --> 00:28:24,329 - And the man came out of the store, 515 00:28:24,371 --> 00:28:28,208 hollering "All you Black mouths to get off of my property." 516 00:28:28,249 --> 00:28:33,672 And then time he said that he fired again and shot Father 517 00:28:33,713 --> 00:28:36,257 Richard in the back running. 518 00:28:38,259 --> 00:28:43,640 - So I start running, and Ruby was on her knees crawling, 519 00:28:43,682 --> 00:28:45,225 trying to escape. 520 00:28:45,266 --> 00:28:47,268 - And she picked me up off the ground 521 00:28:47,310 --> 00:28:50,146 and we both went across the street, 522 00:28:50,188 --> 00:28:54,442 and we saw this guy that had shot Reverend Jon, 523 00:28:54,484 --> 00:28:58,071 Jonathan Daniels and Father Morrisroe, standing over their 524 00:28:58,113 --> 00:29:00,198 bodies as if, as if he was daring, 525 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:02,409 anybody to come and help them. 526 00:29:02,450 --> 00:29:03,868 And we 527 00:29:03,910 --> 00:29:06,246 All the time we could hear Richard lying in the street, 528 00:29:06,287 --> 00:29:09,165 moaning, "Water, water, help, help." 529 00:29:09,207 --> 00:29:11,167 And nobody came to help him. 530 00:29:16,548 --> 00:29:20,427 - [Carolyn] And then I got a call saying, "Well, 531 00:29:20,468 --> 00:29:24,222 now they're saying that one of the civil rights workers had 532 00:29:24,264 --> 00:29:27,308 a knife and that it was self defense." 533 00:29:27,350 --> 00:29:34,024 The town regrouped real quickly and the story got changed. 534 00:29:34,065 --> 00:29:35,984 - [Bob] It was a murder. 535 00:29:36,026 --> 00:29:39,946 It was a blatant, outright murder of Jonathan Daniels and the shooting of 536 00:29:39,988 --> 00:29:41,573 Father Richard Morrisroe. 537 00:29:43,199 --> 00:29:45,577 - [Carolyn] He was able to do that 538 00:29:45,618 --> 00:29:47,954 because all the people who went to church, 539 00:29:47,996 --> 00:29:51,291 and held respectable jobs, 540 00:29:51,332 --> 00:29:55,170 they didn't confront him and challenge that. 541 00:29:56,629 --> 00:29:59,841 It's not like Tom was acting in a vacuum. 542 00:30:01,176 --> 00:30:02,344 - [Margaret] I feel sure that was not 543 00:30:02,385 --> 00:30:05,013 the only violent thing that he ever did. 544 00:30:06,681 --> 00:30:11,519 His family grew up next door to my family. 545 00:30:11,561 --> 00:30:15,982 And I knew that Tom Coleman was prone to 546 00:30:17,317 --> 00:30:19,861 I knew how he felt about Black people 547 00:30:19,903 --> 00:30:23,823 and his job for the State of Alabama 548 00:30:23,865 --> 00:30:25,909 was to maintain a prison camp. 549 00:30:25,950 --> 00:30:34,376 In those days, low level prisoners worked on the yard, on the roads. 550 00:30:34,417 --> 00:30:38,672 We were at a picnic as at his house one night when, 551 00:30:38,713 --> 00:30:43,510 there was a telephone call and he came out of the house and said, 552 00:30:44,719 --> 00:30:47,097 "I've gotta go. 553 00:30:47,138 --> 00:30:51,101 The prisoners are out and I've gotta get the dogs." 554 00:30:51,142 --> 00:30:54,562 And it seemed that he was looking forward to that. 555 00:30:59,984 --> 00:31:01,236 - [Ruby] My parents had been threatened 556 00:31:01,277 --> 00:31:02,612 by a group of white men who 557 00:31:02,654 --> 00:31:06,366 had come from Alabama and told my father, 558 00:31:06,408 --> 00:31:10,495 if I went to testify, they would kill my family, 559 00:31:10,537 --> 00:31:13,373 but my parents didn't listen, listen to that. 560 00:31:13,415 --> 00:31:15,583 They encouraged me to testify. 561 00:31:17,377 --> 00:31:20,714 White people in the court were having fun yelling across the 562 00:31:20,755 --> 00:31:24,676 aisle at each other, just, it was like a picnic. 563 00:31:24,718 --> 00:31:27,512 Nobody was taking it seriously. 564 00:31:27,554 --> 00:31:29,014 - [Reporter] Confident defense lawyers, 565 00:31:29,055 --> 00:31:31,391 including the defendant's nephew had spent only 70 minutes 566 00:31:31,433 --> 00:31:33,601 yesterday in presenting their case. 567 00:31:33,643 --> 00:31:36,229 They argued Coleman acted in self defense in killing a 568 00:31:36,271 --> 00:31:37,772 white Episcopal seminarian, 569 00:31:37,814 --> 00:31:40,734 Jonathan Daniels and wounding father Richard Morrisroe on 570 00:31:40,775 --> 00:31:42,193 a Hayneville street. 571 00:31:43,528 --> 00:31:46,489 - [Margaret] The town gathered around him 572 00:31:46,531 --> 00:31:50,994 and gave money to support his defense. 573 00:31:51,036 --> 00:31:58,251 It's almost as if the town felt "He's one of our own and we need to protect him. 574 00:31:58,293 --> 00:32:03,631 And he stands for what needs to be done that we can't do." 575 00:32:05,717 --> 00:32:08,470 - [Reporter] The jury had met for an hour last night, 576 00:32:08,511 --> 00:32:11,264 highway engineer and Special Deputy Sheriff left the 577 00:32:11,306 --> 00:32:13,016 courtroom, a free man. 578 00:32:19,731 --> 00:32:22,984 - [Ruby] All white jury, found him not guilty. 579 00:32:26,654 --> 00:32:28,990 - That's the way it was, that you a deputy sheriff, 580 00:32:29,032 --> 00:32:30,325 you could do anything you wanted. 581 00:32:30,367 --> 00:32:33,495 There was no Black police officers, no nothing. 582 00:32:36,664 --> 00:32:38,792 - [Ruby] Jonathan's death in the movement 583 00:32:38,833 --> 00:32:40,835 showed the extent to which 584 00:32:40,877 --> 00:32:44,381 White America was willing to go. 585 00:32:44,422 --> 00:32:47,676 That they were willing to kill their own. 586 00:32:49,761 --> 00:32:52,931 That whiteness demands a certain conformity, 587 00:32:52,972 --> 00:32:54,516 not only from Black people, 588 00:32:54,557 --> 00:32:58,228 but also from white people and anyone who steps outside that 589 00:32:58,269 --> 00:33:02,190 line becomes an enemy for the ruling class. 590 00:33:02,232 --> 00:33:06,194 (intense drum beating) 591 00:33:11,324 --> 00:33:12,826 - [Stokely] We were not gonna back down. 592 00:33:12,867 --> 00:33:16,663 They were not gonna destroy our will to resist. 593 00:33:16,705 --> 00:33:20,125 (drumming continues) 594 00:33:23,044 --> 00:33:24,713 (machine whirring) 595 00:33:25,797 --> 00:33:29,384 (indistinct chatter) 596 00:33:31,803 --> 00:33:33,972 - [John] SNCC would go in and listen to you, 597 00:33:34,014 --> 00:33:37,058 and see what you wanna do, and wouldn't push you. 598 00:33:37,100 --> 00:33:39,644 They didn't go by saying, "Hey, you done ready to vote?" 599 00:33:39,686 --> 00:33:42,230 "Oh, hey governor, how you feeling?" 600 00:33:42,272 --> 00:33:44,482 You ain't, you ain't sick today is you?" 601 00:33:44,524 --> 00:33:46,860 If you didn't feel like you wanted to go register today, 602 00:33:46,901 --> 00:33:48,570 they would laugh and say, 603 00:33:48,611 --> 00:33:50,655 "Well we be back tomorrow and talk to you. See if you be ready." 604 00:33:52,365 --> 00:33:54,367 - [Hasan] When SNCC first comes into the county, 605 00:33:54,409 --> 00:33:56,202 they're not staying in Lowndes County, Alabama. 606 00:33:56,244 --> 00:33:58,163 They're going back to Selma 607 00:33:58,204 --> 00:34:00,206 where SNCC's regional headquarters was 608 00:34:00,248 --> 00:34:01,750 and they're spending the night there. 609 00:34:01,791 --> 00:34:03,376 And then they're getting up early and coming back into the 610 00:34:03,418 --> 00:34:05,170 county and that's dangerous. 611 00:34:05,211 --> 00:34:08,506 It's dangerous to be on the highway. 612 00:34:08,548 --> 00:34:09,883 - [John] I said, my daddy got a empty house. 613 00:34:09,924 --> 00:34:12,969 Y'all come down there and take a look at it. 614 00:34:13,011 --> 00:34:14,262 They came down 615 00:34:14,304 --> 00:34:17,057 and my father and Stoke and them hit right off. 616 00:34:17,098 --> 00:34:18,558 First thing he said to him, 617 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:21,311 "There's no restroom in that house, that's the condition, 618 00:34:21,353 --> 00:34:22,645 but y'all welcome to stay here, 619 00:34:22,687 --> 00:34:23,897 and you don't have to run back to Selma, 620 00:34:23,938 --> 00:34:26,399 they're not gonna come here and mess with you. 621 00:34:26,441 --> 00:34:28,777 - His land was clear. 622 00:34:28,818 --> 00:34:33,365 He didn't owe any money in financing his crops. 623 00:34:33,406 --> 00:34:34,866 - [Courtland] There was no indoor plumbing, 624 00:34:34,908 --> 00:34:35,992 there was no water, 625 00:34:36,034 --> 00:34:37,369 there was a pump in the back. 626 00:34:37,410 --> 00:34:38,745 They had a roof that leaked, 627 00:34:38,787 --> 00:34:42,957 and they had one butane gas heater in the house. 628 00:34:42,999 --> 00:34:44,376 So when it got cold, 629 00:34:44,417 --> 00:34:46,127 you had to go into one room, 630 00:34:46,169 --> 00:34:48,254 but it was very, very important to us 631 00:34:48,296 --> 00:34:52,759 because it allowed us to be in the county. 632 00:34:52,801 --> 00:34:55,220 - [Hasan] And this becomes their freedom house. 633 00:34:55,261 --> 00:34:57,305 This becomes the base of operations 634 00:34:57,347 --> 00:35:00,308 for SNCC activists for the next year and a half. 635 00:35:02,310 --> 00:35:05,105 - [Mukasa] They protected us and kept us alive. 636 00:35:05,146 --> 00:35:06,523 And all the neighbors, 637 00:35:06,564 --> 00:35:09,734 people around had guns and they would protect us. 638 00:35:09,776 --> 00:35:11,903 And they gave us guns to protect ourselves. 639 00:35:11,945 --> 00:35:15,532 - Since the federal government is not going to protect us, 640 00:35:15,573 --> 00:35:18,618 since the state government is not going to protect us, 641 00:35:18,660 --> 00:35:22,288 and since the local government is not going to protect us, 642 00:35:22,330 --> 00:35:26,960 then we have the right and a responsibility to protect ourselves. 643 00:35:27,002 --> 00:35:30,964 - Non violence as a tactic in a public demonstration is at 644 00:35:31,006 --> 00:35:32,507 this point effective. 645 00:35:32,549 --> 00:35:35,427 But if you're an organizer you are talking about being on 646 00:35:35,468 --> 00:35:37,637 the road to 3, 4, 5, o'clock in the morning, 647 00:35:37,679 --> 00:35:40,807 sneaking on a plantation with the Ku Klux Klan laying in 648 00:35:40,849 --> 00:35:42,809 wait for you. 649 00:35:42,851 --> 00:35:45,645 The tactical name of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 650 00:35:45,687 --> 00:35:46,730 stayed there. 651 00:35:46,771 --> 00:35:48,440 But most organizers in the deep south 652 00:35:48,481 --> 00:35:50,567 who worked for SNCC were carrying guns. 653 00:35:50,608 --> 00:35:52,527 And these contradictions were clear. 654 00:35:54,279 --> 00:35:56,698 - [Ruby] We were in a war. 655 00:35:56,740 --> 00:36:01,244 America declared war on Southern freedom fighters. 656 00:36:01,286 --> 00:36:07,500 (drums beating throughout) 657 00:36:07,542 --> 00:36:09,836 - [Lillian] People were evicted from their shacks 658 00:36:09,878 --> 00:36:11,296 that they were living in 659 00:36:11,338 --> 00:36:12,714 because they were attempting to get registered to vote. 660 00:36:12,756 --> 00:36:14,883 And the white people put 'em off of there. 661 00:36:14,924 --> 00:36:17,218 So they didn't have anywhere to go. 662 00:36:17,260 --> 00:36:23,975 And we were able to acquire tents and set up Tent City. 663 00:36:25,602 --> 00:36:26,728 - [John] There were some people in Detroit 664 00:36:26,770 --> 00:36:28,646 started a Lowndes County Christian Movement 665 00:36:28,688 --> 00:36:30,857 for Human Rights, in Michigan. 666 00:36:30,899 --> 00:36:34,944 So what they did was raise money and funds to keep us going 667 00:36:34,986 --> 00:36:36,738 and to also provide the tents. 668 00:36:39,741 --> 00:36:42,285 - [Hasan] Tent City becomes a shooting gallery 669 00:36:42,327 --> 00:36:43,870 for white folk. 670 00:36:43,912 --> 00:36:45,747 Black folk had to respond to that, 671 00:36:45,789 --> 00:36:48,458 posting armed sentries, and guarding Tent City 672 00:36:48,500 --> 00:36:52,879 just like they did the homes of movement leaders. 673 00:36:52,921 --> 00:36:55,548 - [Wendell] You turned on that road and wasn't blinking your light and 674 00:36:55,590 --> 00:36:57,676 blowing your horn, and it was night, 675 00:36:57,717 --> 00:37:00,762 if you didn't get shot, you was gonna sure get shot at. 676 00:37:02,597 --> 00:37:05,392 They were there to defend themselves, 677 00:37:05,433 --> 00:37:07,477 their families and their community. 678 00:37:11,022 --> 00:37:13,900 - [Josephine] The white peoples, they would be mouthing off, and hissing, 679 00:37:13,942 --> 00:37:16,861 and calling us niggers and things like that. 680 00:37:16,903 --> 00:37:20,949 They would shoot at us and try to scare, 681 00:37:20,990 --> 00:37:23,368 but we wouldn't let that bother. 682 00:37:27,455 --> 00:37:31,042 (children laughing) 683 00:37:31,084 --> 00:37:35,964 The Blacks had been hidden behind the whites for so long. 684 00:37:36,006 --> 00:37:41,803 And that was something we could make a start for ourself 685 00:37:43,304 --> 00:37:44,639 and get out to register to vote, 686 00:37:44,681 --> 00:37:48,601 and help others become registered voters. 687 00:37:48,643 --> 00:37:52,647 And to find the word for themself. 688 00:37:54,482 --> 00:37:57,569 (dramatic music) 689 00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:03,825 - [Jennifer] Sometimes at night 690 00:38:03,867 --> 00:38:06,369 in the freedom house, with our sleeping 691 00:38:06,411 --> 00:38:09,706 bags scattered around the place, 692 00:38:09,748 --> 00:38:13,793 terms like empowerment, liberation, 693 00:38:13,835 --> 00:38:17,797 started to become a more frequent part of our discussions. 694 00:38:17,839 --> 00:38:20,633 It was like being in a university 695 00:38:20,675 --> 00:38:24,846 right there in that one little house in Lowndes County. 696 00:38:27,724 --> 00:38:32,145 We were now tossing around ideas and tossing around the 697 00:38:32,187 --> 00:38:34,898 question of "What happens next?" 698 00:38:34,939 --> 00:38:38,610 Is it possible that what is happening in Lowndes County 699 00:38:38,651 --> 00:38:41,988 could also take place in other places? 700 00:38:44,366 --> 00:38:48,870 (funky music) 701 00:38:56,503 --> 00:38:59,631 (crowd noise) 702 00:39:03,510 --> 00:39:06,179 - [Arthur] I was a little kid. I might have been 12 or 13. 703 00:39:06,221 --> 00:39:08,973 My mama would drag us, me, my sister and I. 704 00:39:09,015 --> 00:39:11,518 Would take us to those mass meetings. 705 00:39:11,559 --> 00:39:14,521 And of course they would inspire us talking about 706 00:39:14,562 --> 00:39:19,567 registering to vote and a better day is coming. 707 00:39:19,609 --> 00:39:26,491 - [Jennifer] They took us in, they welcomed us in our blue jeans and with our Afros. 708 00:39:28,243 --> 00:39:32,539 Wonderful, honest conversations of local women, 709 00:39:32,580 --> 00:39:34,791 feeling comfortable enough to sort of say 710 00:39:34,833 --> 00:39:38,336 "Now, why do you all dress like that? 711 00:39:38,378 --> 00:39:42,924 And with your hair, what does your family think about that?" 712 00:39:42,966 --> 00:39:45,385 And then it wasn't surprising at all 713 00:39:45,427 --> 00:39:46,594 that you'd find young 714 00:39:46,636 --> 00:39:50,849 women in the county beginning to wear Afros 715 00:39:50,890 --> 00:39:53,935 and beginning to dress like us. 716 00:39:55,770 --> 00:39:57,105 - [Josephine] Each time we went 717 00:39:57,147 --> 00:40:00,066 we learned something different you know? 718 00:40:00,108 --> 00:40:01,818 And the peoples in Tuske 719 00:40:01,860 --> 00:40:05,405 would come down and they set up schooling for the people you know? 720 00:40:05,447 --> 00:40:07,032 And we went to school, like I said, 721 00:40:07,073 --> 00:40:11,786 we had classes down here at the little road, 722 00:40:11,828 --> 00:40:13,038 down here at the little school house. 723 00:40:13,079 --> 00:40:16,166 We had sewing classes, we had cooking classes, 724 00:40:16,207 --> 00:40:19,711 and we had schooling, math, arithmetic. 725 00:40:22,714 --> 00:40:25,300 - [Catherine] My parents were often going to meetings. 726 00:40:25,342 --> 00:40:27,635 And I just remember every time they went to a meeting and 727 00:40:27,677 --> 00:40:30,472 Stokely was there, they would come back, fired up. 728 00:40:30,513 --> 00:40:34,059 Yeah, my parents were the jailhouse lawyers of their community. 729 00:40:34,100 --> 00:40:35,602 My mother did taxes, 730 00:40:35,643 --> 00:40:38,355 I think a lot of people of a certain age group in our area 731 00:40:38,396 --> 00:40:41,441 when they got social security benefits is because my mother 732 00:40:41,483 --> 00:40:44,110 filled their paperwork out for them. 733 00:40:44,152 --> 00:40:47,072 - [Lillian] We didn't have anything, but each other, 734 00:40:48,323 --> 00:40:50,450 everybody helped everybody. 735 00:40:50,492 --> 00:40:52,786 You may not know one thing. I may know something. 736 00:40:52,827 --> 00:40:55,288 If I can help you get what you need done and you can help 737 00:40:55,330 --> 00:40:56,664 me get what I need done, 738 00:40:56,706 --> 00:40:59,209 and we both can help him get Everybody, get it done. 739 00:41:01,252 --> 00:41:03,963 - [Jennifer] Ella Baker, the statements that she made like, 740 00:41:04,005 --> 00:41:08,551 "Strong people don't need strong leaders." 741 00:41:08,593 --> 00:41:11,638 The emphasis was on the organizing. 742 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:13,306 And if people are organized, 743 00:41:13,348 --> 00:41:18,645 the strength will come from the work together. 744 00:41:18,687 --> 00:41:21,022 - [Judy] You never become hierarchical. 745 00:41:21,064 --> 00:41:24,275 You had to have everybody at least say that there was 746 00:41:24,317 --> 00:41:26,986 consensus that even if they didn't agree with the particular 747 00:41:27,028 --> 00:41:30,073 decision, they would at least not oppose it. 748 00:41:30,115 --> 00:41:32,033 That was the whole idea, 749 00:41:32,075 --> 00:41:34,202 because their lives were on the line. 750 00:41:37,205 --> 00:41:40,792 - [Lyndon B Johnson] The real hero of this struggle, 751 00:41:40,834 --> 00:41:43,336 is the American negro, 752 00:41:43,378 --> 00:41:49,801 his actions and protests, his courage to risk safety, 753 00:41:49,843 --> 00:41:53,263 and even to risk his life, 754 00:41:53,304 --> 00:41:56,099 have awakened the conscience of this nation, 755 00:41:57,559 --> 00:42:01,062 we shall overcome. 756 00:42:01,104 --> 00:42:03,106 - [Hasan] This is when we often look away from, 757 00:42:03,148 --> 00:42:04,899 sort this moment of civil rights. 758 00:42:04,941 --> 00:42:06,693 We say the voting rights act has passed, right? 759 00:42:06,735 --> 00:42:09,946 The white folk around the country, you know, in the north are like, 760 00:42:09,988 --> 00:42:11,114 "Well, what else you negroes need?" 761 00:42:11,156 --> 00:42:12,699 Right? "You got the voter rights. 762 00:42:12,741 --> 00:42:14,451 You know we're done, right?" 763 00:42:14,492 --> 00:42:16,953 - [Courtland] We weren't just interested in the vote. 764 00:42:16,995 --> 00:42:21,916 We were interested in changing who ran the county. 765 00:42:21,958 --> 00:42:27,547 If we're 80% of the county, why don't we think about power? 766 00:42:27,589 --> 00:42:28,882 Because our view was, 767 00:42:28,923 --> 00:42:32,719 if you wanted to end the brutality of the sheriff, 768 00:42:32,761 --> 00:42:34,888 you needed to become the sheriff. 769 00:42:34,929 --> 00:42:37,057 If you wanted better education, 770 00:42:37,098 --> 00:42:40,977 you needed to control the mechanisms of education. 771 00:42:41,019 --> 00:42:44,439 If you wanted to do the various kinds of tax assessors, tax 772 00:42:44,481 --> 00:42:48,026 collector, you needed to assume all those positions. 773 00:42:48,068 --> 00:42:50,570 - You weren't talking about overthrowing anything, 774 00:42:50,612 --> 00:42:53,740 you were talking about being Becoming a part of it. 775 00:42:53,782 --> 00:43:00,455 This was a drill and an effort to have Black people participate in government. 776 00:43:00,497 --> 00:43:03,083 - [William] The organizers who came into Alabama 777 00:43:03,124 --> 00:43:08,088 had been battle tested in Mississippi before, in 1964, 778 00:43:08,129 --> 00:43:12,175 they appeared to challenge the entire political power 779 00:43:12,217 --> 00:43:14,761 structure of the State of Mississippi. 780 00:43:15,970 --> 00:43:17,097 - [Officer] Here you are 781 00:43:17,138 --> 00:43:19,516 one one oh six Greenwood mobile unit one. 782 00:43:19,557 --> 00:43:21,935 Here you are one one oh six Greenwood base station. 783 00:43:21,976 --> 00:43:24,187 We got report about a Freedom House. 784 00:43:24,229 --> 00:43:26,648 We were told that it was smashed in last night 785 00:43:26,690 --> 00:43:27,732 by number of white men. 786 00:43:27,774 --> 00:43:29,109 We're gonna check it out. 787 00:43:29,150 --> 00:43:30,944 - [Lillian] We moved the whole national office 788 00:43:30,985 --> 00:43:33,571 from Atlanta down to Greenwood, Mississippi 789 00:43:33,613 --> 00:43:35,156 the summer of 1964. 790 00:43:35,198 --> 00:43:38,034 - [Reporter] SNCC is conducting classes all over the state, 791 00:43:38,076 --> 00:43:39,452 courses on the voter registration test, 792 00:43:39,494 --> 00:43:43,123 literacy classes, courses in nonviolent action. 793 00:43:43,164 --> 00:43:44,624 - [Courtland] Basically Roy Wilkins 794 00:43:44,666 --> 00:43:47,544 and the leadership of the civil rights movement said, 795 00:43:47,585 --> 00:43:51,464 all you could do with Mississippi is pave it because it was 796 00:43:51,506 --> 00:43:53,341 such a dangerous place. 797 00:43:53,383 --> 00:43:56,636 - Now are we subject to be arrested? 798 00:43:56,678 --> 00:43:57,762 - [Speaker] Well. 799 00:43:57,804 --> 00:43:59,264 - We could be arrested for trespassing, 800 00:43:59,305 --> 00:44:01,891 but I think they'd rather shoot us than have us arrested. 801 00:44:01,933 --> 00:44:03,935 - [Courtland] Freedom Summer was about 802 00:44:03,977 --> 00:44:06,312 bringing the country to Mississippi and 803 00:44:06,354 --> 00:44:09,858 creating the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that 804 00:44:09,899 --> 00:44:13,361 eventually made the challenge in Atlantic City. 805 00:44:13,403 --> 00:44:18,491 (ominous piano music) 806 00:44:18,533 --> 00:44:22,746 - [Ella] The message that the Freedom Democratic Party believes, that a 807 00:44:22,787 --> 00:44:27,000 political party should be open to all of the people who wish 808 00:44:27,042 --> 00:44:29,377 to suscribe to its principle. 809 00:44:29,419 --> 00:44:31,338 - [Hasan] The Democratic National Convention, 810 00:44:31,379 --> 00:44:34,758 which occurs in Atlantic City in August of 1964 811 00:44:34,799 --> 00:44:36,301 is really a pivotal moment 812 00:44:36,343 --> 00:44:42,057 in the evolution of SNCC organizing in particular. 813 00:44:42,098 --> 00:44:45,310 SNCC activists, just like local people are hopeful. 814 00:44:45,352 --> 00:44:46,853 If they make the case, 815 00:44:46,895 --> 00:44:50,106 that the reason why African Americans are not participating 816 00:44:50,148 --> 00:44:54,027 in mass in the electoral politics in Mississippi is because 817 00:44:54,069 --> 00:44:56,863 segregationist white Democrats are purposefully 818 00:44:56,905 --> 00:44:59,324 and intentionally excluding them. 819 00:44:59,366 --> 00:45:02,702 Then the National Democrats will have no choice, 820 00:45:02,744 --> 00:45:06,456 but to replace the all white segregationist Democratic 821 00:45:06,498 --> 00:45:10,794 Party with the newly organized Mississippi Freedom 822 00:45:10,835 --> 00:45:12,003 Democratic Party. 823 00:45:13,254 --> 00:45:14,673 - [Edwin] Here in Convention Hall, 824 00:45:14,714 --> 00:45:16,591 the Credentials Committee is now hearing the case put 825 00:45:16,633 --> 00:45:19,761 forward by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. 826 00:45:19,803 --> 00:45:22,555 - The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party is in the same 827 00:45:22,597 --> 00:45:26,267 historical position as the Underground Railroad. 828 00:45:26,309 --> 00:45:29,562 - They come seeking the fulfillment 829 00:45:29,604 --> 00:45:32,107 of their dream for democracy. 830 00:45:32,148 --> 00:45:34,234 For here the very idea 831 00:45:34,275 --> 00:45:36,903 of representative government is at stake. 832 00:45:36,945 --> 00:45:38,947 - Is this America, 833 00:45:38,988 --> 00:45:42,742 the land of the free and the home of the brave, 834 00:45:42,784 --> 00:45:45,453 where our lives be threatened daily 835 00:45:45,495 --> 00:45:51,710 because we want to live as decent human beings - in America? 836 00:45:51,751 --> 00:45:53,920 - We're sitting there saying, we'll do the platform. 837 00:45:53,962 --> 00:45:55,422 We'll do the nominee. 838 00:45:55,463 --> 00:45:59,384 And still the Democratic Party would not allow for us to 839 00:45:59,426 --> 00:46:03,263 take those seats because Lyndon Johnson is afraid 840 00:46:03,304 --> 00:46:06,433 he's gonna lose all of those racist white democratic 841 00:46:06,474 --> 00:46:08,935 senators, democratic Congress people. 842 00:46:08,977 --> 00:46:10,186 You know, because at that point, 843 00:46:10,228 --> 00:46:12,022 the races hadn't gone into Republican Party. 844 00:46:12,063 --> 00:46:14,649 They were all Democrats. They were Southern Democrats. 845 00:46:14,691 --> 00:46:18,153 There's a big meeting with Martin Luther King and a lot of 846 00:46:18,194 --> 00:46:21,031 the heads of the civil rights movement. 847 00:46:21,072 --> 00:46:23,116 Some of them try and convince the Mississippi Freedom, 848 00:46:23,158 --> 00:46:27,662 Democratic Party delegates that they should go for what is called the compromise. 849 00:46:27,704 --> 00:46:29,122 Two seats at large, 850 00:46:29,164 --> 00:46:32,625 not representing Mississippi, but at large. 851 00:46:32,667 --> 00:46:36,254 So they won't be the official Mississippi democratic delegation. 852 00:46:38,298 --> 00:46:40,342 And the MFDP delegates say, "No." 853 00:46:40,383 --> 00:46:44,220 You know, as Miss Hamer says, "We didn't go - come all this way for no two seats." 854 00:46:44,262 --> 00:46:47,015 You know, "When all of us are hurting." 855 00:46:50,018 --> 00:46:54,230 - And it is considered a massive betrayal, 856 00:46:54,272 --> 00:46:57,150 they can't count on a Democratic Party to win this for them. 857 00:46:57,192 --> 00:46:58,568 They can't count on Johnson. 858 00:46:58,610 --> 00:47:01,112 They can't count on the National Civil Rights leadership. 859 00:47:01,154 --> 00:47:04,491 They have to be outside of the system in order to win. 860 00:47:04,532 --> 00:47:08,203 (firework explosions) 861 00:47:08,244 --> 00:47:12,624 - [Lillian] So yeah, the MFDP left without it being recognized and they went 862 00:47:12,665 --> 00:47:14,084 back and they continued, 863 00:47:14,125 --> 00:47:16,878 but what they went back understanding was 864 00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:20,256 that politics wasn't about morality. 865 00:47:20,298 --> 00:47:22,092 Politics was about power. 866 00:47:27,555 --> 00:47:31,267 - [Jennifer] Jack Minnis was the primary researcher for SNCC. 867 00:47:31,309 --> 00:47:36,314 He started looking at the laws for the State of Alabama and 868 00:47:36,356 --> 00:47:41,528 realized that you could have an Independent Party 869 00:47:41,569 --> 00:47:45,699 in Alabama. You didn't have to go through the Republican or the 870 00:47:45,740 --> 00:47:47,158 Democratic Party. 871 00:47:51,746 --> 00:47:55,166 And this laid the groundwork for what eventually became the 872 00:47:55,208 --> 00:47:58,086 Lowndes County Freedom Organization. 873 00:48:01,423 --> 00:48:03,216 At this point, 874 00:48:03,258 --> 00:48:07,971 Alabama was horrible in terms of its literacy rates. 875 00:48:08,013 --> 00:48:14,269 And so political symbols were very important because instead 876 00:48:14,310 --> 00:48:17,897 of being able to read your candidates names, 877 00:48:17,939 --> 00:48:20,442 you'd look for the symbol. 878 00:48:20,483 --> 00:48:26,781 The symbol for the white Democratic Party in Lowndes County 879 00:48:26,823 --> 00:48:28,950 was a white rooster, 880 00:48:30,493 --> 00:48:32,746 -with the motto -(rooster crows) 881 00:48:32,787 --> 00:48:39,210 "White supremacy for the right", emblazoned around it. 882 00:48:39,252 --> 00:48:41,129 - [Wendell] So then if you are voting 883 00:48:41,171 --> 00:48:44,257 under that white rooster banner, 884 00:48:44,299 --> 00:48:46,968 then you really for voting for white supremacy. 885 00:48:48,636 --> 00:48:50,347 - [Hasan] And so we ask Ruth Howard, 886 00:48:50,388 --> 00:48:53,641 another SNCC veteran to help us out, 887 00:48:53,683 --> 00:48:55,268 and Ruth Howard thinks about it 888 00:48:55,310 --> 00:48:57,062 and goes away and comes back. 889 00:48:57,103 --> 00:49:00,315 And she presents to the folk of Lowndes County, 890 00:49:00,357 --> 00:49:02,484 a soaring white dove. 891 00:49:02,525 --> 00:49:03,735 (dove coos) 892 00:49:03,777 --> 00:49:04,903 And they look at sister Ruth and they're like, 893 00:49:04,944 --> 00:49:07,530 "You know what? We appreciate the effort. 894 00:49:07,572 --> 00:49:09,908 However, this is not about peace right now. 895 00:49:09,949 --> 00:49:12,369 This is about power." 896 00:49:12,410 --> 00:49:15,580 So she takes a trip back to SNCCs headquarters in Atlanta. 897 00:49:16,664 --> 00:49:18,124 And while she's there, 898 00:49:18,166 --> 00:49:23,880 she makes note of the mascot for Clark College, 899 00:49:23,922 --> 00:49:26,383 which is a Black Panther. 900 00:49:26,424 --> 00:49:29,719 And she presents the snarling leaping Black Panther to the 901 00:49:29,761 --> 00:49:32,514 folk of Lowndes County. And they're like, "There you go. 902 00:49:32,555 --> 00:49:34,391 This is what we're talking about." Right? 903 00:49:35,350 --> 00:49:36,768 John Hulett would say, 904 00:49:36,810 --> 00:49:40,230 "Cats are peaceful animals until they are backed into a 905 00:49:40,271 --> 00:49:42,190 corner. And when they're backed into a corner, 906 00:49:42,232 --> 00:49:43,900 they come out fighting for life or death. 907 00:49:43,942 --> 00:49:46,611 And that's the situation that we find ourselves in." 908 00:49:46,653 --> 00:49:50,240 - And our intentions was not to get out and be rowdy. 909 00:49:50,281 --> 00:49:52,867 We just wanted an emblem and that served our purpose, 910 00:49:52,909 --> 00:49:56,579 but it's frightened the devil out a lot of white people, 911 00:49:56,621 --> 00:49:59,040 and some Black ones too, I suppose. 912 00:50:00,792 --> 00:50:05,964 - [Courtland] All these people had not voted in their lives. 913 00:50:06,006 --> 00:50:07,298 And you're now saying, 914 00:50:07,340 --> 00:50:10,051 you not only want to get them to vote, 915 00:50:10,093 --> 00:50:13,555 you want them to move to run the county? 916 00:50:13,596 --> 00:50:16,474 - You would've thought that it was a standup comedy act. 917 00:50:16,516 --> 00:50:20,103 You know "Me a sheriff? No, no, no." 918 00:50:20,145 --> 00:50:24,357 And why not? He said, "Well, I don't know what the job is." 919 00:50:24,399 --> 00:50:28,111 - So we decide, "Okay, we have to have mechanisms 920 00:50:28,153 --> 00:50:33,158 to really both educate and bolster the confidence of people. 921 00:50:33,199 --> 00:50:36,870 So we decided to use comic books. 922 00:50:36,911 --> 00:50:40,790 We took all the complicated law of, responsibility of 923 00:50:40,832 --> 00:50:42,375 sheriff, of tax assessor, 924 00:50:42,417 --> 00:50:45,879 tax collector and boiled them down 925 00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:48,048 to their essence. 926 00:50:48,089 --> 00:50:54,429 - We had just printing paper, pencil, a few ballpoint pens. 927 00:50:54,471 --> 00:50:58,892 I knew my illustrations were going to be really crude and 928 00:50:58,933 --> 00:51:04,105 Courtland said, "Yeah, yeah, you know, I think that could work." 929 00:51:04,147 --> 00:51:05,315 - [Hasan] And you know, you look at it. 930 00:51:05,357 --> 00:51:07,484 And you say like, "I get the sheriff thing. 931 00:51:07,525 --> 00:51:09,694 You want to end police violence, but a coroner, 932 00:51:09,736 --> 00:51:13,615 a tax assessor, like how is that gonna lead the revolution? 933 00:51:13,656 --> 00:51:16,076 But it was critical to the lives of Black folk. 934 00:51:16,117 --> 00:51:20,914 The tax assessor historically had always overtaxed Black 935 00:51:20,955 --> 00:51:24,751 landowners and under taxed white landowners and white 936 00:51:24,793 --> 00:51:26,753 landowners were the ones who had all the land. 937 00:51:26,795 --> 00:51:29,297 And so part of the reason why the county was so poor is 938 00:51:29,339 --> 00:51:32,676 because taxes were unequally assessed. 939 00:51:34,636 --> 00:51:36,096 - [Jennifer] SNCC held workshops, 940 00:51:36,137 --> 00:51:39,057 both in Atlanta and in Lowndes County 941 00:51:39,099 --> 00:51:44,562 to make people aware of what it meant to hold office. 942 00:51:48,983 --> 00:51:50,944 - [John] We had a mass meeting at the church 943 00:51:50,985 --> 00:51:52,529 and nominated our candidate. 944 00:51:53,279 --> 00:51:55,907 (funky music) 945 00:51:59,035 --> 00:52:01,621 - [Hasan] Three candidates for school board, 946 00:52:04,374 --> 00:52:06,167 a candidate for coroner, 947 00:52:07,836 --> 00:52:09,337 tax assessor, 948 00:52:10,547 --> 00:52:12,674 tax collector, and sheriff. 949 00:52:14,259 --> 00:52:15,552 - [Stokely] We gotta vote for people 950 00:52:15,593 --> 00:52:17,095 who've been in the cotton fields like ourselves, 951 00:52:17,137 --> 00:52:18,680 and they're the ones who are gonna bring us out the cotton 952 00:52:18,722 --> 00:52:19,931 field. 953 00:52:19,973 --> 00:52:21,808 Now the law says that you can't vote in ours 954 00:52:21,850 --> 00:52:23,810 and also vote in the Democratic Primary, 955 00:52:23,852 --> 00:52:27,564 which has to be held on the same day, according to the law. 956 00:52:27,605 --> 00:52:29,983 And if we get one of those candidates picked, 957 00:52:30,025 --> 00:52:31,484 then on November 8th, 958 00:52:31,526 --> 00:52:33,737 their names will go on the ballot box and we'll vote on the 959 00:52:33,778 --> 00:52:35,822 this for Black Panther. 960 00:52:35,864 --> 00:52:37,824 So where you gonna be on May 3rd? 961 00:52:37,866 --> 00:52:38,992 - Right there. 962 00:52:39,034 --> 00:52:40,326 (laughs) 963 00:52:40,368 --> 00:52:41,578 I'll be there. 964 00:52:41,619 --> 00:52:43,204 - Okay, we'll see you later. 965 00:52:43,246 --> 00:52:44,789 - Okay. 966 00:52:44,831 --> 00:52:47,417 (funky music) 967 00:52:50,253 --> 00:52:52,964 (crowd noise) 968 00:53:03,641 --> 00:53:04,976 - I don't care nothing, that 969 00:53:05,018 --> 00:53:09,022 the first thing they say "I was raised with a nigra, 970 00:53:09,064 --> 00:53:11,232 I grew up with colored folks." 971 00:53:11,274 --> 00:53:13,401 That's right, you grew up with 'em, 972 00:53:13,443 --> 00:53:14,903 you out there working in them crackers 973 00:53:14,944 --> 00:53:17,530 fields while some of you ladies in there take care of that 974 00:53:17,572 --> 00:53:19,240 little white nasty babies, 975 00:53:19,282 --> 00:53:20,241 (crowd laughing) 976 00:53:20,283 --> 00:53:22,160 and it's time to stop it. 977 00:53:22,202 --> 00:53:25,997 Right now you got the power, you got the power. 978 00:53:29,250 --> 00:53:33,296 - [Jennifer] People didn't just leave work to come and vote. 979 00:53:33,338 --> 00:53:35,590 They got dressed. 980 00:53:35,632 --> 00:53:38,593 They got dressed in their Sunday finery, 981 00:53:38,635 --> 00:53:42,514 standing tall and proud casting their ballots, 982 00:53:42,555 --> 00:53:43,973 for their candidates, 983 00:53:44,015 --> 00:53:45,767 for the Black Panther Party. 984 00:53:48,103 --> 00:53:52,148 - [Stokely] 80% of the people here are Black people, 985 00:53:52,190 --> 00:53:53,733 and if they're the majority, 986 00:53:53,775 --> 00:53:57,570 this county has been run by 20% of the people who are white, 987 00:53:57,612 --> 00:53:59,989 who have seized power illegally 988 00:54:00,031 --> 00:54:01,157 and who have maintained power 989 00:54:01,199 --> 00:54:04,577 through all sorts of terroristic manners. 990 00:54:04,619 --> 00:54:08,707 The rest of the country ask now that these Black people get 991 00:54:08,748 --> 00:54:11,292 with these white people and reform these white people. 992 00:54:11,334 --> 00:54:13,962 And I say to the Black people that we don't have to bear 993 00:54:14,004 --> 00:54:15,588 the cross for them, 994 00:54:15,630 --> 00:54:17,298 let us form our own party and let them take care of their 995 00:54:17,340 --> 00:54:21,094 own business. So we form our own party and we seek power. 996 00:54:21,136 --> 00:54:22,429 We don't seek integration. 997 00:54:22,470 --> 00:54:24,597 That's irrelevant to what we want. We want power. 998 00:54:24,639 --> 00:54:26,016 And this is the way we get it. 999 00:54:27,726 --> 00:54:30,729 - [Hasan] And they get a lot of criticism from liberals, 1000 00:54:30,770 --> 00:54:31,980 white liberals, 1001 00:54:32,022 --> 00:54:33,523 but then also from Black moderates who are like, 1002 00:54:33,565 --> 00:54:35,233 "No, no, no, you're supposed to be supporting the Democrats, 1003 00:54:35,275 --> 00:54:36,484 you can't go your own way." 1004 00:54:38,987 --> 00:54:40,905 - [Courtland] All of the establishment, 1005 00:54:40,947 --> 00:54:43,783 the white establishment, newspapers, 1006 00:54:43,825 --> 00:54:45,910 the Washington Post, New York Times, 1007 00:54:45,952 --> 00:54:47,245 were saying that what we 1008 00:54:47,287 --> 00:54:50,832 were doing in Lowndes County was reverse racism. 1009 00:54:52,751 --> 00:54:57,130 That our desire to have Black people, not only vote, 1010 00:54:57,172 --> 00:54:59,132 but being in control, 1011 00:54:59,174 --> 00:55:02,761 was something they saw as a fundamental threat. 1012 00:55:02,802 --> 00:55:05,847 We saw it as a fundamental necessity. 1013 00:55:08,558 --> 00:55:10,477 - [Hasan] They had to meet the same day 1014 00:55:10,518 --> 00:55:14,314 as the Democratic Primary, and the May 3rd, 1966, 1015 00:55:14,356 --> 00:55:18,234 Democratic Primary was the first primary in the south 1016 00:55:18,276 --> 00:55:19,861 since the Voting Rights Act. 1017 00:55:22,030 --> 00:55:25,283 You have African Americans who are running against 1018 00:55:25,325 --> 00:55:26,701 segregationists. 1019 00:55:28,453 --> 00:55:30,413 Well, as it turns out, 1020 00:55:30,455 --> 00:55:34,959 those Black Democrats essentially all lose, that white, 1021 00:55:35,001 --> 00:55:38,171 moderate, Alabama vote, that we still waiting on, 1022 00:55:38,213 --> 00:55:39,673 never materialized. 1023 00:55:39,714 --> 00:55:45,428 And so all that's left are these Black Panthers. 1024 00:55:45,470 --> 00:55:49,641 They spend that summer organizing support for the party, 1025 00:55:49,683 --> 00:55:52,143 trying to get more Black folk registered to vote, 1026 00:55:52,185 --> 00:55:54,854 trying to get these folk to commit to vote 1027 00:55:54,896 --> 00:55:57,774 for the Lowndes County Freedom Organization candidates, 1028 00:55:57,816 --> 00:55:59,818 for the November election. 1029 00:56:02,237 --> 00:56:03,279 - [Speaker] Pull the lever! 1030 00:56:03,321 --> 00:56:05,365 Lowndes County Freedom Organization. 1031 00:56:05,407 --> 00:56:06,783 Pull the lever! 1032 00:56:06,825 --> 00:56:09,536 - Doing all right? - Alright. 1033 00:56:09,577 --> 00:56:12,539 Give your mother and father one. 1034 00:56:12,580 --> 00:56:13,373 - [Sidney] Everybody! 1035 00:56:13,415 --> 00:56:14,708 This is Sidney Logan, Jr. 1036 00:56:14,749 --> 00:56:17,460 Your candidate for our sheriff of Lowndes County. 1037 00:56:17,502 --> 00:56:20,463 - I plan to run it straight down the line. 1038 00:56:20,505 --> 00:56:24,592 Protect the citizens of the whites, as well as the colored. 1039 00:56:30,265 --> 00:56:32,684 - Rob Logan is my name. 1040 00:56:32,726 --> 00:56:37,522 You realize that we have several candidates running for office in this county? 1041 00:56:37,564 --> 00:56:38,982 I'm one of them, 1042 00:56:39,024 --> 00:56:42,110 running on the board of education place number three. 1043 00:56:42,152 --> 00:56:44,487 In our school, we'll need 1044 00:56:45,238 --> 00:56:46,614 hot lunch program, 1045 00:56:48,241 --> 00:56:50,160 good loving-hearted teachers, 1046 00:56:51,327 --> 00:56:52,787 and a good principal. 1047 00:56:55,081 --> 00:56:57,751 - [Hasan] There are no major demonstrations or marches. 1048 00:56:57,792 --> 00:57:00,128 This is a play for power. 1049 00:57:01,629 --> 00:57:03,381 Most SNCC activists at the time 1050 00:57:03,423 --> 00:57:05,091 believe that the problem of racism, 1051 00:57:05,133 --> 00:57:07,385 the problem that Black folk were facing, was political. 1052 00:57:07,427 --> 00:57:10,055 And if it was political, you needed political solution. 1053 00:57:10,096 --> 00:57:13,099 And John Lewis, who was the chairman of SNCC at the time, 1054 00:57:13,141 --> 00:57:15,268 one of the last people within SNCC, you know, 1055 00:57:15,310 --> 00:57:18,938 who was still viewing this as fundamentally a moral issue. 1056 00:57:18,980 --> 00:57:22,233 So John Lewis is a little bit out of step with SNCC as a 1057 00:57:22,275 --> 00:57:25,153 whole. And so in May of 1966, 1058 00:57:25,195 --> 00:57:28,073 Carmichael is elected Chairperson. 1059 00:57:28,114 --> 00:57:31,618 He immediately has a new platform. 1060 00:57:31,659 --> 00:57:34,537 And then the James Meredith March hits. 1061 00:57:34,579 --> 00:57:38,041 (airplane engine overhead) 1062 00:57:38,083 --> 00:57:40,210 - [Drill Sergeant] Hey, hey, what do you say? 1063 00:57:40,251 --> 00:57:43,296 (soldiers shouting) 1064 00:57:43,338 --> 00:57:49,427 (Sergeant and soldiers continue) 1065 00:57:49,469 --> 00:57:51,805 - [Reporter] It was here that civil rights leaders from around the 1066 00:57:51,846 --> 00:57:54,849 country made their pilgrimage to the bedside of a young 1067 00:57:54,891 --> 00:57:57,977 negro who was gunned down on the highways of Mississippi. 1068 00:57:59,354 --> 00:58:02,107 - [Mukasa] James Meredith was a young student 1069 00:58:02,148 --> 00:58:04,943 that integrated to University of Mississippi. 1070 00:58:04,984 --> 00:58:06,861 - [Bystander] Go home nigger! 1071 00:58:06,903 --> 00:58:10,865 - [Mukasa] Riots broke out, people got killed. 1072 00:58:10,907 --> 00:58:14,035 James Meredith felt that even though you passed the Voter's 1073 00:58:14,077 --> 00:58:17,914 Right's Bill, people still have fear. 1074 00:58:17,956 --> 00:58:22,919 And he decided to walk from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, 1075 00:58:22,961 --> 00:58:28,466 Mississippi 250 miles with a sign saying, "Register to vote, 1076 00:58:28,508 --> 00:58:29,843 have no fear." 1077 00:58:29,884 --> 00:58:32,137 And when he stepped out in Mississippi, 1078 00:58:32,178 --> 00:58:35,265 a white man stepped out the bush and shot him in the back. 1079 00:58:38,560 --> 00:58:39,519 - [Hasan] Even though SNCC activists 1080 00:58:39,561 --> 00:58:41,021 and SNCC organizers were opposed 1081 00:58:41,062 --> 00:58:43,857 to these large scale demonstrations and marches, 1082 00:58:43,898 --> 00:58:45,650 they say "We have to get involved." 1083 00:58:45,692 --> 00:58:47,193 Because they were guided early on. 1084 00:58:47,235 --> 00:58:48,778 This is freedom rise, Diane Nash. 1085 00:58:48,820 --> 00:58:50,405 You never let violence stop a protest. 1086 00:58:50,447 --> 00:58:53,074 You never let violence stop a local movement. 1087 00:58:56,244 --> 00:58:58,038 - [Stokely] My emphasis is in this march, 1088 00:58:58,079 --> 00:59:00,290 the momentum from this march is what SNCC is gonna deal 1089 00:59:00,331 --> 00:59:02,334 with. We're gonna use that momentum in the counties, 1090 00:59:02,375 --> 00:59:04,127 which we go through to organize Black people, 1091 00:59:04,169 --> 00:59:07,255 to take over the political structures in those counties. 1092 00:59:07,297 --> 00:59:10,884 They're gonna seize the power in those counties. 1093 00:59:10,925 --> 00:59:13,053 - [Hasan] As that march begins to take place. 1094 00:59:13,094 --> 00:59:16,181 SNCC organizers are fanning out into the cotton fields 1095 00:59:16,222 --> 00:59:18,475 saying, "Yes, we need to register the vote, 1096 00:59:18,516 --> 00:59:21,686 but we also need to have a program 1097 00:59:21,728 --> 00:59:23,897 around which we can organize." 1098 00:59:23,938 --> 00:59:26,483 And Ricks is going out and coming back and reporting like, 1099 00:59:26,524 --> 00:59:29,277 "Look, we had a mass meeting and I dropped the slogan. 1100 00:59:29,319 --> 00:59:30,362 I said, 'Black Power,' 1101 00:59:30,403 --> 00:59:33,073 And the people were all ready to go." 1102 00:59:33,114 --> 00:59:35,408 - [John] And I hear my dad talking about Black Power, 1103 00:59:35,450 --> 00:59:37,577 and what we were gonna do to them white folks 1104 00:59:37,619 --> 00:59:38,703 if we had Black Power, 1105 00:59:38,745 --> 00:59:40,372 we could burn the courthouse down. 1106 00:59:40,413 --> 00:59:41,831 If we had Black Power, 1107 00:59:41,873 --> 00:59:43,917 the crackers couldn't beat us. Couldn't kill us. 1108 00:59:43,958 --> 00:59:46,753 If we had Black Power. We'd take the land. 1109 00:59:46,795 --> 00:59:48,463 And then boy, they were going crazy. 1110 00:59:48,505 --> 00:59:51,216 "Black Power! Black Power!" 1111 00:59:55,136 --> 01:00:00,183 - [Hasan] Stokley was arrested in Greenwood. 1112 01:00:00,225 --> 01:00:01,685 And he's hot, he's pissed, right? 1113 01:00:01,726 --> 01:00:05,730 He's like, "I mean, how many times are we gonna do this?" 1114 01:00:05,772 --> 01:00:07,732 - [Mukasa] Stokely came back out of jail. 1115 01:00:07,774 --> 01:00:10,777 I told Stoke, "We gotta talk about Black Power." 1116 01:00:10,819 --> 01:00:14,280 And Stoke said, "Oh man, be cool on that." 1117 01:00:14,322 --> 01:00:15,573 - [Hasan] He heads out that night 1118 01:00:15,615 --> 01:00:19,077 to the mass meeting that's happening outside. 1119 01:00:19,119 --> 01:00:21,287 And so he gets up and he's talking about you know, 1120 01:00:21,329 --> 01:00:22,664 "I've been arrested 1121 01:00:22,706 --> 01:00:24,290 27 times or so. I'm not gonna be arrested anymore." 1122 01:00:24,332 --> 01:00:26,793 And off in the distance is Willie Ricks saying, 1123 01:00:26,835 --> 01:00:28,044 "Hit 'em with the Black Power, 1124 01:00:28,086 --> 01:00:29,587 hit 'em with the Black Power." 1125 01:00:29,629 --> 01:00:32,882 - The fact is they kept us out with their guns in the south 1126 01:00:32,924 --> 01:00:34,634 and in the north with their laws. 1127 01:00:34,676 --> 01:00:35,593 - Now hit it. 1128 01:00:35,635 --> 01:00:36,761 - Now we gonna get something 1129 01:00:36,803 --> 01:00:38,263 and we gonna get it to representing. 1130 01:00:38,304 --> 01:00:40,807 Now we ain't worried about whether or not it's all Black. 1131 01:00:40,849 --> 01:00:41,891 Don't be afraid. 1132 01:00:41,933 --> 01:00:43,685 - Now hit it. - We want Black Power. 1133 01:00:43,727 --> 01:00:44,686 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1134 01:00:44,728 --> 01:00:45,854 - We want Black Power! 1135 01:00:45,895 --> 01:00:46,688 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1136 01:00:46,730 --> 01:00:47,814 - We want Black Power! 1137 01:00:47,856 --> 01:00:49,274 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1138 01:00:49,315 --> 01:00:50,442 - We want Black Power! 1139 01:00:50,483 --> 01:00:51,401 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1140 01:00:51,443 --> 01:00:52,277 - We want Black Power! 1141 01:00:52,318 --> 01:00:53,361 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1142 01:00:53,403 --> 01:00:54,446 - We want Black Power! 1143 01:00:54,487 --> 01:00:55,321 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1144 01:00:55,363 --> 01:00:56,322 - We want Black Power! 1145 01:00:56,364 --> 01:00:57,657 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1146 01:00:57,699 --> 01:00:59,242 - That's right, that's what we want, Black Power. 1147 01:00:59,284 --> 01:01:01,369 And we don't have to be ashamed of it. 1148 01:01:01,411 --> 01:01:03,455 Now from now on when they ask you what you want, 1149 01:01:03,496 --> 01:01:05,665 you know what to tell them, what do you want? 1150 01:01:05,707 --> 01:01:07,250 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1151 01:01:07,292 --> 01:01:07,959 - What do you want? 1152 01:01:08,001 --> 01:01:08,835 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1153 01:01:08,877 --> 01:01:10,003 - What do you want? 1154 01:01:10,045 --> 01:01:11,004 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1155 01:01:11,046 --> 01:01:12,380 - That's right! Who do you want? 1156 01:01:12,422 --> 01:01:13,798 - [Crowd] Black Power! 1157 01:01:13,840 --> 01:01:15,925 - That's what we gonna get. 1158 01:01:15,967 --> 01:01:18,094 - [Reporter] As Black Power is taking over the march 1159 01:01:18,136 --> 01:01:20,180 as a rallying cry, its phrase maker, 1160 01:01:20,221 --> 01:01:24,351 Stokely Carmichael is seizing leadership from Dr. King, 1161 01:01:24,392 --> 01:01:27,604 who more passionately than ever pleads for nonviolence 1162 01:01:27,645 --> 01:01:29,856 to a diminishing audience. 1163 01:01:29,898 --> 01:01:32,817 - [MLK] This may represent a desire 1164 01:01:32,859 --> 01:01:36,571 to rise from a position of disadvantage to one of advantage, 1165 01:01:36,613 --> 01:01:39,741 thereby subverting justice. On the other hand, 1166 01:01:39,783 --> 01:01:45,872 I want to make it clear that I absolutely understand the 1167 01:01:45,914 --> 01:01:48,041 the meaning of the phrase 1168 01:01:48,083 --> 01:01:51,753 and the need for power in our struggle. 1169 01:01:51,795 --> 01:01:53,630 - [Stokely] Don't let them scare you 1170 01:01:53,672 --> 01:01:55,048 with the word Black Power. 1171 01:01:55,090 --> 01:01:57,759 Everybody else got theirs, except us. 1172 01:01:57,801 --> 01:02:00,428 All we have is the color of our skin, 1173 01:02:00,470 --> 01:02:02,806 and we're ashamed of that. 1174 01:02:02,847 --> 01:02:05,058 - [Courtland] What we learned in Lowndes 1175 01:02:05,100 --> 01:02:07,102 was the whole discussion of power. 1176 01:02:07,143 --> 01:02:09,771 Stokely expresses nationally, 1177 01:02:09,813 --> 01:02:11,898 what we were talking about locally. 1178 01:02:11,940 --> 01:02:13,149 - All this week, 1179 01:02:13,191 --> 01:02:14,567 you've been telling the Mississippi marchers, 1180 01:02:14,609 --> 01:02:17,112 they must achieve Black Power. 1181 01:02:17,153 --> 01:02:19,406 What do you want them to do to get it? 1182 01:02:19,447 --> 01:02:20,740 - Well, I think 1183 01:02:20,782 --> 01:02:22,033 that what they have to do to get Black Power is to 1184 01:02:22,075 --> 01:02:24,285 organize themselves politically, to register, 1185 01:02:24,327 --> 01:02:27,580 to vote and to form independent political bases, 1186 01:02:27,622 --> 01:02:31,459 which will then allow them the chance to carry out and make 1187 01:02:31,501 --> 01:02:33,003 effective the changes they need 1188 01:02:33,044 --> 01:02:35,547 to bring about decent lives in Mississippi. 1189 01:02:37,465 --> 01:02:42,429 - [Paul B Johnson] Black Power is not a harmless phrase. 1190 01:02:42,470 --> 01:02:44,431 Don't be fooled by it. 1191 01:02:44,472 --> 01:02:48,101 It harbors the seeds of a hurricane of hate 1192 01:02:48,143 --> 01:02:51,438 and hostility that could sweep sanity aside 1193 01:02:51,479 --> 01:02:54,315 and introduce an era of anarchy that 1194 01:02:54,357 --> 01:02:58,486 would represent a real and present danger to the very fabric 1195 01:02:58,528 --> 01:03:01,573 of society in the United States. 1196 01:03:01,614 --> 01:03:03,950 - [Courtland] Wherever Black people are talking 1197 01:03:03,992 --> 01:03:05,994 about their being in power 1198 01:03:06,036 --> 01:03:08,830 or their being able to define reality. 1199 01:03:08,872 --> 01:03:11,332 There is always a counter attack. 1200 01:03:15,128 --> 01:03:16,755 - [Andrew] When white Americans 1201 01:03:16,796 --> 01:03:19,758 heard Blacks say Black Power and 1202 01:03:19,799 --> 01:03:22,093 clench their fist, in their mind, 1203 01:03:22,135 --> 01:03:24,471 Blacks were now going to do them, 1204 01:03:24,512 --> 01:03:27,682 all the evil things that whites had done to Blacks during 1205 01:03:27,724 --> 01:03:29,309 the last 200 years. 1206 01:03:29,351 --> 01:03:32,062 Now, I don't think that was in the thinking of even the most 1207 01:03:32,103 --> 01:03:33,563 militant Black men. 1208 01:03:33,605 --> 01:03:36,649 I think Black Power for them meant the right to determine 1209 01:03:36,691 --> 01:03:37,859 their own destiny. 1210 01:03:45,200 --> 01:03:46,951 - [Stokely] The projection of the term Black Power 1211 01:03:46,993 --> 01:03:48,161 came from the white press, 1212 01:03:48,203 --> 01:03:50,330 never from Black people in this country. 1213 01:03:50,372 --> 01:03:53,708 The debate about that was ranged among white people and the 1214 01:03:53,750 --> 01:03:57,045 white press and its in fact attempt to smear 1215 01:03:57,087 --> 01:03:58,588 and to distort SNCC. 1216 01:03:58,630 --> 01:04:01,174 And that is crystal clear in my mind that any white man in 1217 01:04:01,216 --> 01:04:03,176 this country knows about power. 1218 01:04:03,218 --> 01:04:05,679 He knows what white power is and he ought to know what Black 1219 01:04:05,720 --> 01:04:07,555 Power is and for the newspapers, 1220 01:04:07,597 --> 01:04:10,975 which have analyzed the power structure of Vietnam and the 1221 01:04:11,017 --> 01:04:12,477 power play in the Cold War, 1222 01:04:12,519 --> 01:04:16,106 not to understand what Black Power is in this country is 1223 01:04:16,147 --> 01:04:19,025 certainly ludicrous. 1224 01:04:19,067 --> 01:04:20,527 - [Ruby] What was the movement for, 1225 01:04:20,568 --> 01:04:23,446 if it was not for Black people to get power in a society 1226 01:04:23,488 --> 01:04:26,032 that rendered Black people powerless? 1227 01:04:26,074 --> 01:04:27,534 Nobody's problem 1228 01:04:27,575 --> 01:04:29,911 Has problems with white people having power that's 1229 01:04:29,953 --> 01:04:34,082 because white people have always seen Black Power as a 1230 01:04:34,124 --> 01:04:35,834 threat to their economic system, 1231 01:04:35,875 --> 01:04:38,795 as a threat to their identity about who they are as people 1232 01:04:38,837 --> 01:04:44,217 that Black freedom and Black Power is always a threat. 1233 01:04:44,259 --> 01:04:48,972 - [MLK] In any movement, you do have those moments when our debate will come into 1234 01:04:49,014 --> 01:04:50,390 being, and this is where we are. 1235 01:04:50,432 --> 01:04:55,270 We are engaged in debate trying to determine goals, 1236 01:04:55,311 --> 01:04:57,105 trying to determine the methods 1237 01:04:57,147 --> 01:05:00,483 that will be used to get there. 1238 01:05:00,525 --> 01:05:02,485 - [Reporter] Mr. Carmichael supposing the Black Panther 1239 01:05:02,527 --> 01:05:04,946 Party loses the election in Lowndes County, 1240 01:05:04,988 --> 01:05:06,072 What do you propose to do? 1241 01:05:06,114 --> 01:05:07,282 - [Stokely] Yeah, well first let me say 1242 01:05:07,323 --> 01:05:08,700 that the name of the organization in 1243 01:05:08,742 --> 01:05:11,244 Lowndes County is not the Black Panther Party. 1244 01:05:11,286 --> 01:05:13,830 The symbol happens to be a Black Panther. 1245 01:05:13,872 --> 01:05:16,791 The name is the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. 1246 01:05:16,833 --> 01:05:18,293 I'm very concerned about that, 1247 01:05:18,335 --> 01:05:20,879 you see, because Americans particularly white America have 1248 01:05:20,920 --> 01:05:23,798 been referring to as a Black Panther Party and that's their 1249 01:05:23,840 --> 01:05:25,300 problem with sex and color. 1250 01:05:25,342 --> 01:05:27,927 They do not refer to the Alabama Democratic Party as the 1251 01:05:27,969 --> 01:05:29,262 White Rooster Party, 1252 01:05:29,304 --> 01:05:31,056 and that happens to be the emblem of that party. 1253 01:05:31,097 --> 01:05:34,934 We are fighting for people to have free elections and that 1254 01:05:34,976 --> 01:05:38,355 this government and this country has a responsibility to the 1255 01:05:38,396 --> 01:05:41,149 Black people in Lowndes County to ensure them free elections. 1256 01:05:42,025 --> 01:05:44,652 (tense music) 1257 01:05:59,167 --> 01:06:02,003 - [Jennifer] When it came to November, 1258 01:06:02,045 --> 01:06:05,298 we were really worried about violence. 1259 01:06:06,091 --> 01:06:07,550 And I said, "Well, 1260 01:06:07,592 --> 01:06:11,971 we could make billboards," that we then placed around the 1261 01:06:12,013 --> 01:06:16,434 county on the land that was owned by Black farmers who would 1262 01:06:16,476 --> 01:06:18,353 give us permission to put them there. 1263 01:06:18,395 --> 01:06:23,983 They said, "Pull the lever for the Black Panther and then go home." 1264 01:06:24,025 --> 01:06:27,153 Don't stay around the courthouse. Get out of there. 1265 01:06:27,195 --> 01:06:29,489 There could be violence. 1266 01:06:36,746 --> 01:06:40,458 - [Speaker] Well, they uh found a chance of maybe 1267 01:06:40,500 --> 01:06:42,002 one or two getting in there. 1268 01:06:42,043 --> 01:06:44,838 If the white people don't get out and go to Canton, 1269 01:06:44,879 --> 01:06:48,675 they sitting around and not asking people to vote for 'em, 1270 01:06:48,717 --> 01:06:51,386 or get out and help 'em get the people to the pole. 1271 01:06:51,428 --> 01:06:55,181 But like it is, the niggers are out canvassing. 1272 01:06:55,223 --> 01:06:59,060 They canvassing all the time, day and night. 1273 01:06:59,102 --> 01:07:03,106 - [Carl] We don't anticipate any of 'em being elected on November the eighth. 1274 01:07:03,148 --> 01:07:05,400 Not any that are running I don't think would 1275 01:07:05,442 --> 01:07:09,112 Are qualified to hold office for which they seek. 1276 01:07:09,154 --> 01:07:10,572 - [John Hulett] They don't have 1277 01:07:10,613 --> 01:07:11,740 the experience because this is their first opportunity 1278 01:07:11,781 --> 01:07:13,533 to be running for public office, 1279 01:07:13,575 --> 01:07:15,493 but the job in which they're running for, 1280 01:07:15,535 --> 01:07:18,747 they have had several workshops and they have studied, they're keeping it up. 1281 01:07:18,788 --> 01:07:20,832 I feel like if these people are elected, 1282 01:07:20,874 --> 01:07:22,375 that they would be able to go into the office 1283 01:07:22,417 --> 01:07:25,045 and do as decent a job as anybody who has ever, 1284 01:07:25,086 --> 01:07:27,047 here in this county. 1285 01:07:27,088 --> 01:07:28,256 - You tell these people, 1286 01:07:28,298 --> 01:07:30,508 just what I've been telling them right here. 1287 01:07:30,550 --> 01:07:32,260 Hadn't we been your friends for years? 1288 01:07:32,302 --> 01:07:33,803 - Yes sir. Sure. 1289 01:07:33,845 --> 01:07:35,722 - Had we worked more of them than anybody in this country? 1290 01:07:35,764 --> 01:07:37,807 - Yeah, sir. Sure have. 1291 01:07:37,849 --> 01:07:39,309 - Right. 1292 01:07:39,351 --> 01:07:40,810 So, if you got in trouble. Who did you go to? 1293 01:07:40,852 --> 01:07:41,853 The white or the Black? 1294 01:07:41,895 --> 01:07:42,771 (laughing) 1295 01:07:42,812 --> 01:07:43,855 - Tell the truth now. 1296 01:07:43,897 --> 01:07:45,523 - All right. - (laughing) 1297 01:07:45,565 --> 01:07:49,778 (person heckling indistinctly) 1298 01:07:57,118 --> 01:08:03,249 - The Black Panthers will have slim chance, I believe. 1299 01:08:03,291 --> 01:08:04,959 Because they are afraid to vote because the land 1300 01:08:05,001 --> 01:08:07,087 owners hadn't told 'em to vote. 1301 01:08:07,128 --> 01:08:11,675 What kind of things is the thing would count up in this part of the country? 1302 01:08:11,716 --> 01:08:15,303 - We actually is voting for the Black Panther on that date. 1303 01:08:15,345 --> 01:08:17,722 And we expecting at least, 1304 01:08:18,973 --> 01:08:20,517 eight or nine hundred, 1305 01:08:20,558 --> 01:08:24,479 maybe more, negroes to be there on that date. 1306 01:08:24,521 --> 01:08:25,605 - [Speaker] Well, I just think 1307 01:08:25,647 --> 01:08:28,942 it would be the worst thing, ever was. 1308 01:08:28,983 --> 01:08:33,029 - I believe the negros as a whole you know, 1309 01:08:33,071 --> 01:08:39,160 they don't trust each other too much in office like that though. 1310 01:08:39,202 --> 01:08:40,787 They would rather a white man 1311 01:08:40,829 --> 01:08:43,957 would still be leading even in the sheriff 1312 01:08:43,998 --> 01:08:45,917 and other places. 1313 01:08:45,959 --> 01:08:49,796 Do you think the white people will turn out and vote? 1314 01:08:49,838 --> 01:08:53,299 - Yeah, I think they're gonna turn up ahead and vote. 1315 01:08:53,341 --> 01:08:56,219 I really think they gonna turn up ahead and vote. 1316 01:09:00,015 --> 01:09:02,851 (drum music) 1317 01:09:05,854 --> 01:09:11,192 (hooves beating against pavement) 1318 01:09:17,949 --> 01:09:21,619 (indistinct crowd chatter) 1319 01:09:29,544 --> 01:09:33,214 (crowd noise continues) 1320 01:09:34,591 --> 01:09:36,092 - [Wendell] This would be the first time 1321 01:09:36,134 --> 01:09:39,387 Blacks could get on a ballot in Lowndes County. 1322 01:09:42,557 --> 01:09:44,684 - [John] But there were a lot of people who came out, 1323 01:09:46,227 --> 01:09:49,397 white people realized that we had outnumbered the votes 1324 01:09:49,439 --> 01:09:51,608 were we to get any white votes or not. 1325 01:09:53,568 --> 01:09:56,696 - [Lillian] You're safe in numbers. 1326 01:09:56,738 --> 01:10:00,617 And if enough people show up, you'll see who gots fear, 1327 01:10:01,576 --> 01:10:03,370 especially when it's wrong. 1328 01:10:05,038 --> 01:10:08,750 (indistinct crowd chatter) 1329 01:10:10,251 --> 01:10:13,004 (somber music) 1330 01:10:15,173 --> 01:10:18,426 - [Lillian] We didn't know about all of these shenanigans that folks pull. 1331 01:10:18,468 --> 01:10:21,221 You know, we didn't understand absentee balloting, 1332 01:10:21,262 --> 01:10:23,807 white people voting with absentee ballots. 1333 01:10:26,101 --> 01:10:28,561 - [John] Dead folks start voting. Couldn't check them. 1334 01:10:28,603 --> 01:10:30,980 You couldn't see what was going on or nothing. 1335 01:10:34,317 --> 01:10:35,944 - [Hasan] People are beat up. 1336 01:10:38,446 --> 01:10:40,907 Large white landowners begin trucking, 1337 01:10:40,949 --> 01:10:44,244 Black plantation workers into the polling places and saying, 1338 01:10:44,285 --> 01:10:46,579 "Look, you're gonna vote for who we tell you to vote for, 1339 01:10:46,621 --> 01:10:48,623 and it's not gonna be for these Black candidates." 1340 01:10:50,709 --> 01:10:52,460 - [Arthur] I think they found some of the ballots 1341 01:10:52,502 --> 01:10:54,462 was thrown in Big Swamp Creek. 1342 01:10:57,048 --> 01:11:00,760 - [Wendell] The federal government wasn't any help at all. 1343 01:11:00,802 --> 01:11:04,764 They didn't put in place anything to stop all of those 1344 01:11:04,806 --> 01:11:09,310 illegal activities that were taking place around people voting. 1345 01:11:14,482 --> 01:11:17,485 So we did, we lost that election. 1346 01:11:17,527 --> 01:11:19,362 We lost the first time out. 1347 01:11:21,031 --> 01:11:23,700 (somber music) 1348 01:11:34,377 --> 01:11:37,505 (music continues) 1349 01:11:44,512 --> 01:11:48,433 (engine starting) 1350 01:11:48,475 --> 01:11:52,437 (tires crunching on gravel) 1351 01:11:55,190 --> 01:11:58,485 (light piano music) 1352 01:11:58,526 --> 01:12:02,113 (wind rustling leaves) 1353 01:12:09,954 --> 01:12:16,795 (choir singing "Go Tell It On the Mountain") 1354 01:12:18,213 --> 01:12:22,801 (congregation applauding) 1355 01:12:22,842 --> 01:12:23,802 - [John] Those people knew what happened. 1356 01:12:23,843 --> 01:12:25,720 They was ready to go again. 1357 01:12:25,762 --> 01:12:28,390 Was waiting on '68. That was '66. 1358 01:12:29,849 --> 01:12:33,436 - [Lillian] And every aspect of the political arena, 1359 01:12:33,478 --> 01:12:38,149 you wanted some Black person in there to plead our cause. 1360 01:12:38,191 --> 01:12:39,693 See what's going on. 1361 01:12:42,112 --> 01:12:43,697 - [Courtland] There was no turning back. 1362 01:12:43,738 --> 01:12:47,742 The concept that people who lived in that county who were 1363 01:12:47,784 --> 01:12:51,454 Black should not only vote, but they should be in power. 1364 01:12:53,331 --> 01:12:57,210 - [Ruby] Lowndes County was moving on with its own rhythm. 1365 01:12:57,252 --> 01:13:03,383 And it was time for us to begin to think about where we would go. 1366 01:13:03,425 --> 01:13:05,844 - [Hasan] SNCC organizers were guided by this belief 1367 01:13:05,885 --> 01:13:10,015 that "Our job is to work ourselves out of a job." 1368 01:13:10,056 --> 01:13:14,310 "If we do our job right then we won't be needed here." 1369 01:13:14,352 --> 01:13:19,774 It's also one of SNCCs last major local organizing projects. 1370 01:13:20,567 --> 01:13:22,068 (funky music) 1371 01:13:22,110 --> 01:13:24,154 - [Vann] Black Power pulls Stokely Carmichael 1372 01:13:24,195 --> 01:13:30,410 pretty distinctly out of step with the big civil rights organizations. 1373 01:13:30,452 --> 01:13:32,579 Puts SNCC in a totally different place. 1374 01:13:32,620 --> 01:13:37,334 - [Reporter] An organization called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1375 01:13:37,375 --> 01:13:38,668 and as Chairman you say, 1376 01:13:38,710 --> 01:13:40,879 "If they touch one of our candidates in Alabama, 1377 01:13:40,920 --> 01:13:43,548 Watts will be like a Christmas party compared to what will 1378 01:13:43,590 --> 01:13:45,633 happen." That sounds like violence. 1379 01:13:45,675 --> 01:13:47,093 I ask you again, 1380 01:13:47,135 --> 01:13:49,387 what has happened to the non-violence of SNCC? 1381 01:13:49,429 --> 01:13:52,015 - I am non-violent now. 1382 01:13:52,057 --> 01:13:54,267 - [Reporter] But you might be violent? 1383 01:13:54,309 --> 01:13:55,268 - If you attack me. 1384 01:13:55,310 --> 01:13:56,144 - [Reporter] What's that? 1385 01:13:56,186 --> 01:13:57,020 - If you attack me, 1386 01:13:57,062 --> 01:13:58,146 I might be violent. 1387 01:13:58,188 --> 01:13:59,647 - [Reporter] In other words, you really 1388 01:13:59,689 --> 01:14:01,191 - In other words, 1389 01:14:01,232 --> 01:14:03,276 we're not going to march any longer and just have people hit 1390 01:14:03,318 --> 01:14:06,946 on us and just stand there and sing, "We shall overcome." 1391 01:14:06,988 --> 01:14:08,948 That's precisely what we're saying. 1392 01:14:08,990 --> 01:14:12,243 - [Vann] You see his trajectory from there, 1393 01:14:12,285 --> 01:14:16,122 become one that's much more Afrocentric, 1394 01:14:16,164 --> 01:14:19,250 that looks for alignment with Black 1395 01:14:19,292 --> 01:14:22,462 freedom movement leaders and organizations globally. 1396 01:14:22,504 --> 01:14:23,797 - [Stokely] We affirm the need 1397 01:14:23,838 --> 01:14:26,466 to reclaim our history and identify from 1398 01:14:26,508 --> 01:14:30,637 the cultural terrorism and degradation waged by the forces 1399 01:14:30,679 --> 01:14:34,224 of racism and self justifying white guilt. 1400 01:14:37,352 --> 01:14:40,980 Very few people get a chance to die for what they believe in, 1401 01:14:41,022 --> 01:14:42,857 few people believe in anything. 1402 01:14:45,527 --> 01:14:48,321 - [Vann] Many people consider 1403 01:14:48,363 --> 01:14:50,865 the end of the civil rights movement to be 1404 01:14:50,907 --> 01:14:53,993 when Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, 1405 01:14:54,035 --> 01:14:56,037 they consider that at least the end of the non-violent civil 1406 01:14:56,079 --> 01:14:58,998 rights movement. But I think if you look at King, 1407 01:14:59,040 --> 01:15:01,918 you look at the other organizations in 1968, 1408 01:15:01,960 --> 01:15:07,549 you see that they themselves thought that a lot of the most 1409 01:15:07,590 --> 01:15:09,050 important work was in front of them. 1410 01:15:11,720 --> 01:15:13,680 - [Jennifer] Some of us never left. 1411 01:15:13,722 --> 01:15:17,183 Some people from SNCC decided that this is it, 1412 01:15:17,225 --> 01:15:21,187 that they were going to stay in Lowndes County and make that 1413 01:15:21,229 --> 01:15:23,231 their life's work. 1414 01:15:23,273 --> 01:15:28,194 Bob Mants, is one of the key people who did that 1415 01:15:28,236 --> 01:15:31,906 and he got married and settled in Lowndes County, 1416 01:15:31,948 --> 01:15:35,577 and continued until his death to work there. 1417 01:15:37,912 --> 01:15:39,456 - [John Hulett] And after this long struggle, 1418 01:15:39,497 --> 01:15:42,334 we still have people who come out here on this Sunday night 1419 01:15:42,375 --> 01:15:44,919 and listen to us talk who have waited 1420 01:15:44,961 --> 01:15:46,796 faithfully with us in this county, 1421 01:15:46,838 --> 01:15:47,922 are still sending their 1422 01:15:47,964 --> 01:15:49,507 children to these overcrowded schools. 1423 01:15:49,549 --> 01:15:50,842 - [Person In Crowd] Yeah. 1424 01:15:50,884 --> 01:15:52,344 - Let me say this, 1425 01:15:52,385 --> 01:15:55,263 the elected officials of this county will do everything 1426 01:15:55,305 --> 01:15:57,932 possible to keep your children out of the best schools. 1427 01:15:57,974 --> 01:15:59,225 - [Person In Crowd] That's right. 1428 01:15:59,267 --> 01:16:00,018 - [Hasan] African Americans in Lowndes County 1429 01:16:00,060 --> 01:16:01,561 will continue to organize 1430 01:16:01,603 --> 01:16:04,230 under the banner of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, 1431 01:16:04,272 --> 01:16:07,776 but the Black Panther recedes to the background 1432 01:16:11,071 --> 01:16:15,241 because of the way the Black Panther evolves over time. 1433 01:16:15,283 --> 01:16:18,953 (drum music) 1434 01:16:18,995 --> 01:16:20,163 - [Speaker] We must arm ourselves, 1435 01:16:20,205 --> 01:16:22,582 we have to put a shotgun in every door, 1436 01:16:22,624 --> 01:16:24,751 from community to community, 1437 01:16:24,793 --> 01:16:26,419 from city to city, 1438 01:16:26,461 --> 01:16:28,046 from state to state, 1439 01:16:28,088 --> 01:16:30,215 across this racist nation. 1440 01:16:30,256 --> 01:16:32,926 So we can have the power in our hand. 1441 01:16:32,967 --> 01:16:34,719 - [Hasan] The Lowndes County Freedom Organization 1442 01:16:34,761 --> 01:16:36,471 serves as the inspiration 1443 01:16:36,513 --> 01:16:40,684 for the Black Panther Party for self-defense 1444 01:16:40,725 --> 01:16:44,938 organized in Oakland, California in 1966, 1445 01:16:44,979 --> 01:16:47,315 but there are some real differences. 1446 01:16:47,357 --> 01:16:51,903 While self defense was central to the movement experience in 1447 01:16:51,945 --> 01:16:56,783 Lowndes County, they did not organize around the gun, 1448 01:16:56,825 --> 01:16:58,702 but in Oakland, California, it was different. 1449 01:16:58,743 --> 01:17:01,454 - [Singers] * Revolution has come. * 1450 01:17:01,496 --> 01:17:02,539 - [Crowd] Out the pig! 1451 01:17:02,580 --> 01:17:04,791 - [Singers] * Revolution has come. * 1452 01:17:04,833 --> 01:17:06,001 - [Crowd] Out the pig! 1453 01:17:06,042 --> 01:17:08,628 - [Singers] * Time to pick up the guns. * 1454 01:17:08,670 --> 01:17:09,963 - [Crowd] Out the pig! 1455 01:17:10,005 --> 01:17:11,548 - [Hasan] They're actually using displays of guns 1456 01:17:11,589 --> 01:17:15,760 to back down the police, but then also to organize, 1457 01:17:15,802 --> 01:17:19,472 to inspire, to rally African Americans. 1458 01:17:19,514 --> 01:17:23,143 The impetus was more about community programs and community 1459 01:17:23,184 --> 01:17:25,937 survival and policing the police, 1460 01:17:25,979 --> 01:17:28,690 than it was electoral politics, 1461 01:17:28,732 --> 01:17:31,568 but that's also one of the critical distinctions between 1462 01:17:31,609 --> 01:17:33,194 what we see in Oakland, California, 1463 01:17:33,236 --> 01:17:35,780 and what we see in Lowndes County, Alabama. 1464 01:17:37,157 --> 01:17:39,200 The Lowndes County Freedom Organization, 1465 01:17:39,242 --> 01:17:43,079 they merge with the statewide National Democratic Party of 1466 01:17:43,121 --> 01:17:47,125 Alabama, and that brings in some additional resources. 1467 01:17:47,167 --> 01:17:50,795 So in 1970, we see John Hulett who, you know, 1468 01:17:50,837 --> 01:17:52,339 was there at the beginning of the movement, 1469 01:17:52,380 --> 01:17:55,091 Chairperson of the Christian Movement for Human Rights, 1470 01:17:55,133 --> 01:17:56,760 Chairperson of the Freedom Organization. 1471 01:17:56,801 --> 01:17:58,428 He's elected sheriff. 1472 01:18:05,393 --> 01:18:07,687 - [Ed] First Black Sheriff of Lowndes County. 1473 01:18:07,729 --> 01:18:11,358 That meant a whole lot because they feel like they would be 1474 01:18:11,399 --> 01:18:13,485 treated with justice. 1475 01:18:15,320 --> 01:18:17,989 And the difference wouldn't be made in color. 1476 01:18:22,744 --> 01:18:24,871 - [Wendell] You began to see a change 1477 01:18:24,913 --> 01:18:29,167 in local government that no one living 1478 01:18:29,209 --> 01:18:32,087 had ever experienced before. 1479 01:18:32,128 --> 01:18:33,963 - [Speaker] John Hulett, Sheriff Lowndes County, 1480 01:18:34,005 --> 01:18:36,383 Lord have mercy. (laughter) 1481 01:18:36,424 --> 01:18:37,801 Power. 1482 01:18:37,842 --> 01:18:39,177 - [John Hulett] Truly, I felt one day it would happen, 1483 01:18:39,219 --> 01:18:40,804 but I never thought in terms of running for Sheriff, 1484 01:18:40,845 --> 01:18:42,430 I just hope it continues. 1485 01:18:42,472 --> 01:18:44,557 - [Stokely] It's good to be home again. 1486 01:18:44,599 --> 01:18:46,851 It's been quite some time. 1487 01:18:46,893 --> 01:18:49,354 We came into Lowndes County, 1488 01:18:49,396 --> 01:18:52,774 weren't too many people wanted to come into Lowndes County. 1489 01:18:54,275 --> 01:18:56,861 We came into Lowndes County, 1490 01:18:56,903 --> 01:18:59,781 we worked hard in Lowndes County. 1491 01:18:59,823 --> 01:19:02,992 All of us worked hard. I'm not just talking about Bob Mants, 1492 01:19:03,034 --> 01:19:07,080 myself, Scotty B., Willie Ricks, Ralph Featherstone, 1493 01:19:07,122 --> 01:19:09,040 and all the other young people. 1494 01:19:09,082 --> 01:19:11,876 We were young then, we're a little bit older now. 1495 01:19:11,918 --> 01:19:13,378 (crowd laughs) 1496 01:19:13,420 --> 01:19:18,216 Most of us are married, but we haven't stopped fighting. 1497 01:19:18,258 --> 01:19:20,552 We can never stop fighting. 1498 01:19:20,593 --> 01:19:22,846 The only reason you started to get a sheriff was because you 1499 01:19:22,887 --> 01:19:26,224 began to think that you could get a sheriff. 1500 01:19:26,266 --> 01:19:27,934 That's how you get a sheriff. 1501 01:19:27,976 --> 01:19:29,602 When you think you could get a sheriff, 1502 01:19:29,644 --> 01:19:33,023 then you get up and get you a sheriff, but before that, 1503 01:19:33,064 --> 01:19:34,941 you didn't think about a sheriff. 1504 01:19:34,983 --> 01:19:36,609 You didn't know about a sheriff. 1505 01:19:36,651 --> 01:19:39,112 You thought only white folk could be a sheriff. 1506 01:19:39,154 --> 01:19:42,282 You thought Black people weren't qualified to be a sheriff 1507 01:19:42,323 --> 01:19:45,285 until you began to think about being a sheriff. 1508 01:19:45,326 --> 01:19:49,039 We will consolidate our power in Lowndes County. 1509 01:19:49,080 --> 01:19:51,791 We will work to consolidate our power. 1510 01:19:51,833 --> 01:19:54,878 We will work to get more people elected who will speak for 1511 01:19:54,919 --> 01:19:56,629 us. We will do that. 1512 01:19:56,671 --> 01:19:59,674 We will continue to do that, but in the meantime, 1513 01:19:59,716 --> 01:20:01,968 we must set higher goals. 1514 01:20:02,010 --> 01:20:03,470 We must set higher goals. 1515 01:20:03,511 --> 01:20:07,265 We must seek to build a big nation, 1516 01:20:07,307 --> 01:20:10,435 a nation that will protect us. 1517 01:20:10,477 --> 01:20:13,438 (crowd applauding) 1518 01:20:15,065 --> 01:20:16,608 - [Wendell] And boy, they went jubilant then, 1519 01:20:16,649 --> 01:20:19,069 they were ready to take this county over. 1520 01:20:21,446 --> 01:20:24,157 - Charles Smith was the first County Commissioner, 1521 01:20:24,199 --> 01:20:26,576 and then of course, Miss Uralee A Haynes, 1522 01:20:26,618 --> 01:20:30,330 first female was the first superintendent 1523 01:20:30,372 --> 01:20:32,248 of Lowndes County that was elected. 1524 01:20:32,290 --> 01:20:37,253 - I ran for superintendent, got defeated by a few votes, 1525 01:20:37,295 --> 01:20:40,465 but put my head in the ring. 1526 01:20:40,507 --> 01:20:44,761 - I decided to run for mayor quite old and won, 1527 01:20:44,803 --> 01:20:47,597 and we did a few things. 1528 01:20:49,432 --> 01:20:52,143 (somber music) 1529 01:21:03,655 --> 01:21:05,031 - [Hasan] Unfortunately, 1530 01:21:05,073 --> 01:21:07,117 despite the tremendous gains 1531 01:21:07,158 --> 01:21:11,204 of African Americans in Lowndes County, Alabama, 1532 01:21:11,246 --> 01:21:14,749 the conditions for everyday Black folk 1533 01:21:14,791 --> 01:21:17,919 in Lowndes County have not substantially changed. 1534 01:21:19,087 --> 01:21:20,088 - [Catherine] It wasn't just about 1535 01:21:20,130 --> 01:21:21,881 taking over the courthouse. 1536 01:21:21,923 --> 01:21:25,093 It was also taking over the mechanisms to control the 1537 01:21:25,135 --> 01:21:28,680 economy, to make sure that it was equitable. 1538 01:21:28,722 --> 01:21:31,182 And that's where we lost out. 1539 01:21:33,059 --> 01:21:34,060 - [Vann] The farm committees are still 1540 01:21:34,102 --> 01:21:35,562 dominated by white folks, 1541 01:21:35,603 --> 01:21:40,358 and there's still rampant discrimination, dispossession, 1542 01:21:40,400 --> 01:21:45,113 that was not overturned by that movement, 1543 01:21:45,155 --> 01:21:46,531 but we live in a world 1544 01:21:46,573 --> 01:21:50,452 that is so heavily shaped by that movement. 1545 01:21:51,661 --> 01:21:53,997 If you want to go back and understand 1546 01:21:54,039 --> 01:21:56,416 why the racial wealth gap exists, 1547 01:21:56,458 --> 01:21:59,461 if you wanna understand why we're having these conversations 1548 01:21:59,502 --> 01:22:00,712 about reparations, 1549 01:22:00,754 --> 01:22:03,631 if you understand where those ideas came from, 1550 01:22:03,673 --> 01:22:05,091 I think you can do no better 1551 01:22:05,133 --> 01:22:07,177 than looking back at Lowndes County. 1552 01:22:08,803 --> 01:22:11,973 - [Lillian] I'm most proud of how we stuck together. 1553 01:22:13,141 --> 01:22:15,643 When I look back and think about it, 1554 01:22:15,685 --> 01:22:18,313 it was a dangerous time. 1555 01:22:18,355 --> 01:22:22,609 You get so afraid you just get tired of being afraid. 1556 01:22:22,650 --> 01:22:26,363 Every time someone try to defeat me I get it and go with it. 1557 01:22:26,404 --> 01:22:28,656 I know tomorrow's gonna be a better day. 1558 01:22:30,950 --> 01:22:34,079 - [Arthur] Because of what happened during the sixties. 1559 01:22:34,120 --> 01:22:39,793 It made an impact on my life and what I've had to deal with 1560 01:22:39,834 --> 01:22:43,296 and our families has really made a big difference. 1561 01:22:43,338 --> 01:22:46,591 I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you guys, 1562 01:22:46,633 --> 01:22:50,178 if these things haven't happened to us early in our life. 1563 01:22:50,220 --> 01:22:51,971 So it made a difference. 1564 01:22:52,013 --> 01:22:53,932 And we have to just make sure 1565 01:22:53,973 --> 01:22:56,643 that we continue to tell the story. 1566 01:22:56,685 --> 01:22:59,229 My children tell me all the time, "Daddy, 1567 01:22:59,270 --> 01:23:00,897 you done told me that before", 1568 01:23:00,939 --> 01:23:04,317 but we have to continue to tell the story of how we got to 1569 01:23:04,359 --> 01:23:05,568 where we are today. 1570 01:23:16,371 --> 01:23:17,997 - [Mukasa] This is Wendell Paris here. 1571 01:23:18,039 --> 01:23:19,040 How you doing right Reverend? 1572 01:23:19,082 --> 01:23:20,834 Hey, my friend. 1573 01:23:20,875 --> 01:23:22,752 - Stokely, got a neck down. 1574 01:23:22,794 --> 01:23:24,254 - Yeah. 1575 01:23:24,295 --> 01:23:28,425 - Our slogan was "Pull the lever with the Panther and go on 1576 01:23:28,466 --> 01:23:29,676 home." We kept saying that. 1577 01:23:29,718 --> 01:23:31,553 And now the whole church is saying, 1578 01:23:31,594 --> 01:23:35,473 "Pull the lever with the Panther and go on home." 1579 01:23:35,515 --> 01:23:37,851 - [Wendell] And go on home to protect your house. 1580 01:23:37,892 --> 01:23:38,977 - [Mukasa] Yes. 1581 01:23:39,019 --> 01:23:40,020 - [Wendell] Cause you know they coming. 1582 01:23:40,061 --> 01:23:41,563 - This is Matthew Jackson. 1583 01:23:41,604 --> 01:23:42,647 - Oh. 1584 01:23:42,689 --> 01:23:45,608 - He gave us land guns and his sons. 1585 01:23:45,650 --> 01:23:47,861 And this is good looking guy, that's me 1586 01:23:47,902 --> 01:23:49,195 when I was a young man 1587 01:23:49,237 --> 01:23:52,282 and we saying "Black Power, Black Power! 1588 01:23:52,323 --> 01:23:55,452 Black Power! Black Power!" 1589 01:23:55,493 --> 01:23:57,037 We had some powerful women too. 1590 01:23:57,078 --> 01:24:00,498 - [Wendell] Oh yeah, they were the backbone of the movement. 1591 01:24:00,540 --> 01:24:03,126 For every man you had at least five women. 1592 01:24:04,711 --> 01:24:06,963 - Whoever thought that me and you would be left standing? 1593 01:24:07,005 --> 01:24:07,922 - [Wendell] Oh you ain't kidding. 1594 01:24:07,964 --> 01:24:09,382 - [Mukasa] Huh? 1595 01:24:09,424 --> 01:24:10,258 - [Wendell] We gonna be here to tell the story though. 1596 01:24:10,300 --> 01:24:11,259 - [Mukasa] We telling it now. 1597 01:24:11,301 --> 01:24:12,594 - [Wendell] Got to tell it. 1598 01:24:12,635 --> 01:24:15,180 - My generation will not see the finish line, 1599 01:24:15,221 --> 01:24:17,849 but the generation that comes behind us will, 1600 01:24:17,891 --> 01:24:22,479 if they see the finish line, we have seen the finish line. 1601 01:24:22,520 --> 01:24:24,022 - [Judy] We know it's a new day, you know? 1602 01:24:24,064 --> 01:24:27,108 We know that social media is different from calling on the 1603 01:24:27,150 --> 01:24:30,862 telephone. But the basics I think are still the same. 1604 01:24:30,904 --> 01:24:34,074 And that is that you have to do grassroots organizing, 1605 01:24:34,115 --> 01:24:38,119 that will go beyond any individual demonstration, that will 1606 01:24:38,161 --> 01:24:42,415 continue beyond your existence in that community, that will 1607 01:24:42,457 --> 01:24:46,753 keep regenerating itself so that you always have some sense 1608 01:24:46,795 --> 01:24:49,839 of local people organizing in their communities, 1609 01:24:49,881 --> 01:24:51,591 and that you do bottom up, 1610 01:24:51,633 --> 01:24:53,677 so that the people who are most at risk, 1611 01:24:53,718 --> 01:24:55,762 get to say what those issues are. 1612 01:24:57,389 --> 01:24:58,682 - [Courtland] Lowndes County 1613 01:24:58,723 --> 01:25:03,895 introduced the discussion of power into the game. 1614 01:25:03,937 --> 01:25:08,858 - [Jennifer] Who is going to determine our fate? 1615 01:25:08,900 --> 01:25:11,861 This was a movement of the people there, 1616 01:25:11,903 --> 01:25:16,324 not something that SNCC created or did. 1617 01:25:16,366 --> 01:25:18,493 They invited SNCC in. 1618 01:25:21,079 --> 01:25:23,707 - [Judy] As my colleague, Courtland Cox always said, 1619 01:25:23,748 --> 01:25:27,210 the vote is necessary, but not sufficient, 1620 01:25:27,252 --> 01:25:29,421 but it is necessary. 1621 01:25:29,462 --> 01:25:32,424 As they're stripping away in Texas and Florida. 1622 01:25:32,465 --> 01:25:34,342 I mean, they are undermining democracy 1623 01:25:34,384 --> 01:25:36,678 and that's what they were doing back then. 1624 01:25:38,179 --> 01:25:39,347 - [Ruby] The truth of the matter is, 1625 01:25:39,389 --> 01:25:44,144 is that democracy has always been a foe 1626 01:25:44,185 --> 01:25:46,187 of white supremacists 1627 01:25:46,229 --> 01:25:52,736 and Black Power and white power cannot coexist in the white supremacist's world. 1628 01:25:56,197 --> 01:25:57,866 It has taken so long, 1629 01:25:57,907 --> 01:26:01,327 for us to really understand and significance of Lowndes County, 1630 01:26:01,369 --> 01:26:05,081 because the movement was predominantly Black. 1631 01:26:05,123 --> 01:26:09,502 The image of the Selma to Montgomery march was more of an 1632 01:26:09,544 --> 01:26:13,798 integrated image of Black and white people. 1633 01:26:13,840 --> 01:26:15,258 So for white people, 1634 01:26:15,300 --> 01:26:18,136 it represented for them a redemptive moment where it's 1635 01:26:18,178 --> 01:26:20,388 because Black folk were insignificant, 1636 01:26:20,430 --> 01:26:21,598 there was no redemption 1637 01:26:21,639 --> 01:26:23,767 in what we were doing in Lowndes County. 1638 01:26:25,560 --> 01:26:27,103 There's a danger, 1639 01:26:27,145 --> 01:26:31,566 when you allow people to rewrite your movement story and to 1640 01:26:31,608 --> 01:26:35,362 tell you what you were struggling for. 1641 01:26:35,403 --> 01:26:38,406 We had not asked the fundamental question. 1642 01:26:39,574 --> 01:26:41,910 "What does it mean to be free?" 1643 01:26:45,580 --> 01:26:47,624 We thought that freedom 1644 01:26:47,665 --> 01:26:50,835 meant the right to live like white people. 1645 01:26:52,712 --> 01:26:55,256 And we did not seriously consider 1646 01:26:56,925 --> 01:27:00,345 what did it mean to integrate into a burning house. 1647 01:27:02,055 --> 01:27:04,808 (somber music) 1648 01:27:13,400 --> 01:27:16,945 (rapid drum music) 1649 01:27:32,002 --> 01:27:34,963 (cymbals crashing) 1650 01:27:41,928 --> 01:27:44,806 (bass beats) 1651 01:27:46,433 --> 01:27:50,061 (jazzy song plays) 1652 01:28:20,258 --> 01:28:23,345 (music continues)