And welcome to the library of congress. It is our pleasure to have everyone here for a very special night, as we open the librarys newest exhibition, rosa parks, in her own words. It is my honor to welcome members of congress, including members of the congressional black caucus, members of the rosa parks family, who have come to washington for this special celebration. Can we give them a hand . [ applause ] wed also like to welcome the rosa and raymond paurkts institute for Self Development led by miss Elaine Steele. And thats another round of applause. [ applause ] and photographer donna tour ig, whos photo of miss parks is prominently displayed and a vital part of the exhibition. And all the leaders and staff of the different cultural institutions across washington, including secretary of the smithsonian, dr. Lonnie bunch. [ applause ] and the arcivist of the united states, mr. David fairio. [ applause ] and our library guests and staff and our viewers on live, this is being livestreamed right now. And i have to tell you, we are radiating with joy and pride tonight because it is our pleasure to open this beautiful and compelling new exhibition about one of our countrys most beloved civil rights icon, rosa parks. The collection redsnates strongly with me. After i was sworn in as the 14th librarian of congress in 2016, the very first collection i was able to see was the rosa parks papers. And Library Manuscript specialist adrian canon who was a descendant of carter g. Woodson father of black history, showed me the collection. And she carefully presented to me the different photographs and letters and private notes, handwritten by mrs. Rosa parks. And adrian is here tonight and is the proud cure art of the exhibition. [ applause ] from the first moment i saw her family bible, followed by all of her personal letters and writings, i felt the overwhelmeling power of the collection. An example, in one letter she wrote after the arrest, i had been pushed around all my life and felt at this moment that i couldnt take it anymore. I knew then when i read those words that we had to share these papers with the public for a much broader view. And in this wonderful exhibit, through her own words, the rosa parks you will discover was not always writing for publication or post art. She was writing in the moment and for herself. This is not the rosa parks we all met in textbooks or in Public Service announcement. But it is the very complex, the very human, and the very real rosa parks. Her powerful story and her long fight for justice have always resonated with me. And as the first woman and the first africanamerican to serve as the librarian of congress, i take special pleasure in having the rosa parks collection housed here. [ applause ] housed here in the Worlds Largest library, side by side with the papers of fredric douglas, abraham minkon, mary church thurrel, and thurgood martial. Rosa parks lived a life dedicated to social justice and helped change the country. As a statue of rosa parks stands with pride in the capitol roe tun da, in this exhibition you will see her standing tall quite literally as her photos, videos and papers tower more than 12 feet above you. None of this would have been possible without a gift to the library. It all started when jessie holland, a journalist at the time, learned that the collection was stored away in boxes in a warehouse. He wrote a story about it. And his story was read and seen by mr. Howard buffet, who bought the papers and gave them to the library, so that they could be preserved, scanned and seen by everyone. Jessie is now a scholar and resident in the library of Congress John w. Cluegy center. That deserves a hand. [ applause ] the collection comprises some 10,000 items drawn from both miss Parks Private life and her decades of work for civil rights. It includes photos, corndence, private notes during the bus boycott strikes and the struggles she endooird after. Adrian and hur exhibit director have curated a beautiful gallery that will tell miss parks story in her own words and photographs. So it is our honor to open the exhibition tomorrow to the general public tomorrow, the 64th anniversary of the montgomery bus boycott. As part of the opening we are releasing, i am a librarian, this companion book, rosa parks, in her own words, written by the librarys Susan Rayburn and includes many of the photographs and documents you will see in the exhibition and we are delighted to be joined by the people from the university of Georgia Press who worked with the librarys Publishing Office to create this elegant companion people piece. Wer also starting something new with this exhibition at the library of congress. For the first time we are launching a, ask a librarian mobile research station within the exhibition. And visits will have the opportunity to write their in the exhibit, devil more deeply in subjects, themes, collection materials, and Online Research resources related to mrs. Parks life through direct interaction with the librarian. Before i go i also have to acknowledge the generous donors who made this exhibition possible. The ford foundation, the katherine b. Reynolds foundation, and the ronlds are here, with Additional Support [ applause ] with support from aarp, history, joyce and Thomas Moorehead who are also here. [ applause ] and the capital group. We cant thank you enough for your generosity and for your support of this exhibit. [ applause ] now, as the curator, adrian cannon explained to me the storyteller of this exhibition is rosa parks. Its her words and her voice that will be echoing through the gallery as you walk around the display. It is the full story of rosa parks. The seasoned, lifelong activist, and the woman behind the civil rights icon. [ applause ] and now were going to find out which of these ladies really is the incredible rosa parks. Will the real rosa parks please stand up. [ applause ] rosa parks taut us a sort of meek seamstress who one day sort of accidentally stumbled into history and whos supposed to give up her seat on the bus, launching the modern civil rights. That version often taut very much distorts and limits who she was. Her activism starts two decades before her historic bus stand on december 1st, 1955 and will continue for four decades after. As far as i can remember during my lifetime, i resisted the idea of being mistreated and pushed around because of my race, and i felt that all people should be free regardless to their color. One day when i was about ten, a met a little white boy named franklin on the road. He was about my size, maybe a little bit larger. He said something to me and threatened to hit me, bald up his fist. I picked up a brick and dared him to hit me. He thought better of the idea and went away. I love that. I mean, i love that she, at ten, she knew the deep injustice of things. Perhaps the case that guts her the most is a case about a 16yearold by the name of jeremiah reeves. Jeremiah reeves was a high school student, a jazz drummer, and delivered groceries, and had started having a relationship with a young white woman, got found out, she cried rape. They put him in the electric chair in kobe prison and told him if he didnt confess he would be electrocuted on the spot. He gave this false confession. She began writing letters and trying to organize around blocking that execution, got dr. King involved. And it didnt succeed and he was executed and she would tell me how devastating that was and how it broke her heart. This is a rosa parks letter from 1956. I cried bitterly that i would be linked rather than be run over by them. They could get the rope ready for me at any time they wanted. While my neck was spared of the rope and my body never riddled by bullets or dragged by an auto i felt that i was lynched many times in mind and spirit. She was a believer that you had to dissent, that you had to voice your objection, even if you couldnt see that that would do any good. Rosa parks, like my mom, has her own definition of who she is. And she doesnt let anybody change that definition. Help plan for a better world of tomorrow by giving all of the love, care and guidance to our children of today. As a child, when you read about important people, i thought that these were physical giants, people who spoke a language that was different from the language that i spoke, and i found that those were regular people. And so i have always felt that, you know, a person does not have to be out of this world to accomplish something extraordinary. We must have courage, determination, to go on with the task of becoming free, not only for ourselves, but for the nation and the world. Cooperate with each other, have faith in god, and in ourselves. And i judge unfortunate think we underestimate the kind of courage it took to stand up to these forces that had silenced and marginalized black people from the very day we came to this couldnntinent. And yet she was taking them on. I think it was an amazing part of her legacy, the courage, the strength, the bravery that defined her as a human being. I think when were involved in excavating American History and coming to terms with real history, too often we find most history is a sanitized madison avenue version. But she is a lifelong activist, and she represents the variety of strategies to combat the persistent racism in the united states. I think its important that we liberate rosa parks and liberate ourselves from the tearny of the superficial history. Hurt, harm and danger, the dark closet of my mind, so much to remember. And yes, its somewhere in the dark closet of my mind too. It cant help but be in the dark closet of your mind. And you should never forget, there is so much to remember. But i also know know this exhib will show that rosa parks made a difference in moving us forward and move forward we must, even as we remember the past. We have to look to a brighter future. [ applause ] please welcome the honorable john lewis, representative from georgia. [ applause ] good evening. Youre a beautiful group. You look good. Let me say to the library of congress, thank you. I dont want to cry tonight, but i may shed some tears. Thank you for opening this pl e place, to have this exhibit in honor of a savior of our country, of our democracy. If it wasnt for rosa parks, fred gray, and the rest of you, i dont know where i would be. I dont know where our nation would be. I dont know where we would be as a people. This woman, by sitting down, she encouraged so many of us to stand up. And since then many of us have never looked back and we will continue to look forward. Fred gray would tell you, my friend, my attorney, fred, you are the attorney for many of us. You probably had unbelievable number of clients. People just came, said, we need your help. I grew up in rural alabama. About 50 miles from montgomery we round it off by saying 48 to 50 miles to montgomery. My father had been a sharecropper, but in 1944, when i was 4 years old, and i do remember when i was 4, my father had saved 300. And a man sold him 110 acres of land. We still owned that land today. [ applause ] growing up i saw people lived in fear. We saw the sign saying, white only, colored only. White boys, colored boys. White girls, colored girls. Growing up i was told by my mother, my father, my grandparents and my great grandparents, dont get in trouble. But rosa parks inspired us to get in trouble, and ive been getting in trouble ever since. [ applause ] she was saying, in effect, when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have an obligation to Say Something, to do something. I met rosa parks. My staff prepared a statement, but i cant stay with it. Ive been moved by the spirit. Hadnt been for rosa parks, growing up there, i dont know what would have happened to so many people. She inspired us to find a way to get in the way, to get in what i call good trouble, necessary trouble. Our follow fred gray, your leadership. I follow the words of Martin Luther king jr. , the action of rosa parks. We were too poor to have a subscription to the local newspaper, but my grandfather had one. And when he would finish reading his newspaper, he would pass it onto us to read. So, i read about you, reverend abernathy and rosa parks. And i kept saying to myself, if the people in montgomery can organize and stand up, we, too, can stand up and organize. So that with a Little College about eight or ten miles from my home called troy state. Now known as troy university. Didnt admit black students. So i got a chance to get an application and apply to go to this school. I never heard a word from the school. So i wrote a letter to dr. Martin luther king jr. And told him i needed his help because i had been inspired by rosa parks. Dr. King wrote me back and sent me a round trip Greyhound Bus ticket and invited me to come to montgomery to meet with him. How can i forget it. Fred gray, you still look the same way, so young. Met me at the Greyhound Bus station and drove me to the First Baptist church, reverend abernathy, and ushered me into the church. And i saw Martin Luther king jr. And reverend abernathy standing behind the desk. And dr. King said, are you the boy from troy . Are you john lewis . And i said, dr. King, im john robert lewis. I gave him my whole name. But he still called me the boy from troy. And over the years i had an opportunity to meet rosa parks and to talk with her. She was so wonderful, so kind. And she kept saying to each one of us, you too, can do something. She inspired us to participate in the sitins, to study the way of philosophy with discipline and nonviolence. Again, i want to thank you, madame librarian. I want to thank you for what youre doing, to help educate another generation to stand up, to be brave, to be bold, to be courageous. And if people Say Something that is not right, not fair, not just, do something. We cannot afford to be quiet. We live at a time when we must save our democracy. Save our planet. We must do what rosa parks did. And a time to sit in, sit down, do it. Time to stand up, stand up. Come a time to speak up, speak up and speak out. Come a time to get in the way to get in good trouble, necessary trouble, do it. Be brave, be bold, be courageous. Rosa parks believed as i believe. We have a right to know who is in the food we eat. We have a right to know what is in the water we drink. What is in the air we breathe. And each one of us today must find ways to tell the story of rosa parks. One brave woman, with the help of hundreds and thousands, have changed america forever. To use the way of peace, the way of love to follow the teaching of gandhi and Martin Luther king jr. , to make our country better and to help save our planet. So, thank you very much for being here tonight. And, again, let me thank the library of congress. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you, congressman lewis. You are a living icon and we owe so much to you. Thank you for being here and thank you, thank you, thank you. [ applause ] and now we have more special guests joining us for an extraordinary discussion on the life and legacy of rosa parks. Were joined by attorney fred gray, who made history by representing mrs. Parks after her arrest in montgomery. And jane gunter, who offered her seat to ms. Parks on may 1, 1955. They will be joined by cbs news correspondent and the anchor of the saturday edition of cbs this morning, miss michelle miller, who will be moderating a discussion. Please welcome attorney fred gray, ms. Gunter and michelle miller. [ applause ] i feel honored and privileged to be here. Madame librarian, thank you. Thank you all for being here. Thank you. Ms. Gunter, mr. Gray, when you see this exhibit, when you see this exhibit, it shatters the notion of rosa parks as an accidental activist. Finally that myth of an accidental activist will go by the way. The history in her own words will be spoken. The woman the two of you knew will be known. And part of the reckoning i find with what we see upstairs is this funny, feisty, incredibly savvy american. You knew her long before 1954. And i want you to describe her that first moment you met her. Yes, maam. Thank you, sir. May i, before i answer that question, thank the librarian for inviting me to share this occasion here. I have my wife, carol, here. Some other relatives it of you, just raise your hand, those who are here. And i also have the president of the National Bar Association that i served as National President is here someplace. And i just want to thank those persons who have come. And i want to thank congressman lewis. He wanted me to end up filing a lawsuit so he could go to troy state, but his parents were afraid and he was a minor, but we introduced him to dr. King and it introduced him to the movement and the rest of his history. Now, what was your question . Back to rosa parks. Yes. Back to that day that you met her. How would you describe her . I had met rosa parks not just on december 1, 1955, but i really first met her when i was a student at what was then Alabama State college for negros, now Alabama State university. I lived on the west side of town. Alabama state was on the east side of town. I was a student trying to learn how to be a teacher. Had already learned a Little Something about how to be a preacher. And thats the biggest things that black boys in montgomery, alabama, in the 30s, 40s and 50s could be. And i found out that ms. Parks worked with the naacp. She also worked with e. D. Nixon, who was a family friend of ours, who was mr. Silver wrights, so they were very much interested in doing whatever it took so that africanamericans could be able to enjoy the same rights and privileges as others. I then had to ride the buses. And it was because of problems we had on the buses, including a man who was killed as a result of an altercation on the bus that i decided, in addition to being a preacher and being a teacher, i was going to be a lawyer. They tell me lawyers help people. And i felt that the black people in montgomery had a real problem with buses. And so i made a personal commitment when i was a teenager. I was going to finish college, go to somebodys law school, become a lawyer, but in order to do that i wasnt going to apply to the university of alabama, go someplace else, come back, take the bar exam and destroy everything segregated i could find. While i was think about doing that, i saw mrs. Parks working, doing what i wanted to do. That was my first beginning. Move forward to some three or four years later and in 19d 53 i enrolled in Case Western Law School in cleveland. Finished in three years. Took the ohio bar exam just in case. A month later i took the alabama bar exam. On september 7, 1954 i became licensed to practice. Now im ready to destroy everything segregated i could fin find. [ applause ] shortly thereof and you and one of the things mrs. Parks was doing, she was youth director and one of the young ladies who was in her youth director course at the naacp was Claudette Colvin. Cloudette k ett Claudette Colvin was a 15yearold girl who did what rosa parks did, but without all the instruction and without all the experience that you learned about that mrs. Parks had already gone through. But mrs. Parks, when i opened my law office, she came in and helped me to get it open. She was in the she worked at a Department Store a block and a half from my office. And we talked about these matters. So when Claudette Colvin was arrested and that was my first civil rights case but mrs. Parks was interested, Joanne Robinson was interested, e. D. Was interested and fred gray was interested. However, the black community wasnt quite ready for the lawsuit that i wanted to file. Before those people decided, including rosa parks, that we were going to get ready, and whenever the next opportunity presented itself, we would be ready to end up ending the problem on the buses. That opportunity came on the 1st of december, 1955 after mrs. Parks and i had had conferences in my Office Almost daily for five days a week, telling people, if you decide not to give up your seat on the bus, how could you conduct yourself . We talked about that. We even talks about it on december 1, 1955. And she knew i was going out of town. But when i got back i found she had been arrested. Hold that thought. So she hold that thought for just a second. Stop right there. So, he set the stage. Here she was, for a year you said she had been instructed by you on how to act if she had been arrested. If she decided that she was going to take a stand. Mrs. Gunter, you were 18 years old. You didnt even live in montgomery, alabama. You lived outside of montgomery i lived in montgomery and my husband was stationed at Maxwell Air Force base. You did not live on the base . No, we lived on the base. You lived on the base with him. How did you come to be on that bus . Well, after we moved to montgomery, i went to the doctor at the base and found out i was going to have a baby. And the doctor required that i do a lot of walking. Every day i would walk to the city and walk back. I had a coin with me in case i needed to ride the bus, but i actually did a lot of walking. That day, i guess i was tired. I have no idea. Maybe i was just ready to go home, but i got on the bus and sat on the long seat behind the driver. And all of a sudden this driver stood up, turned around and just bellowed something out to somebody down the aisle. And i realized it was an older woman. Well, she was in her 40s, so that was older. So when he did that, let me have that seat, i just stood up and said, she can have my seat. And when i did that, fair skinned, tall man pushed his knees into mine and said, dont you dare move. Dont you dare. Dont you dare move. And mr. Gray knows that in the 50s women did what men said. Totally different from today. But men were in charge of the world. So anyway, thats what happened. And all of a sudden well, i sat back down. And got off the bus when the driver said, everyone get off the bus. Did you see her arrest . No, no, i did not. So, here you were. With child. Shes sitting right there. Her daughter, jan, is in the audience. Exactly 64 years. Autopsy. Im sorry. But i think back because you no one came forward to tell the story until you. No other person has admitted being there. Why did it take so long for your story to come out . Because when i got back to the base, i never went back to the city. And i didnt even know anything was going on in the city. I had no idea there was a bus boycott or this man called Martin Luther king. I had never heard his name. So, i we came home to atlanta and 35 or more years went by of my life, growing a family. And all of a sudden one sunday afternoon after church, one of my sons was reading on the floor life magazine and he saw a bus. And he said, mom, this is the funniest looking bus. And i said sorry i was on that bus. So, immediately one of us started calling to meet mrs. Parks. And after the third call, Elaine Steele called back and said, im Elaine Steele with cofounders of rosa and Raymond Parks institute. And mrs. Parks would be in atlanta at the c. D. Vivienne event and she would invite you to her hotel room. So we went over they asked me to give my recollection of that day. And you gave it. She didnt remember you. No. But she remembered what happened on the bus. And she remembered a tall man. And so when Brenda Davenport was a young one of the interviewers. She said, well, im here to protect ms. Parks and ive got to make sure youre not lying and she wanted to make sure she was going to protect mrs. Parks. And so in a little while, mrs. Parks said, you were there. She said, you were there. Right. For those millenials who have a hard time thinking about a world where a tweet and a social media blast and news 24 hours, seven days a week it was a different time in terms of news coverage, fred gray. I just want you to describe it. Rosa parks and what she did on december 1st, no one outside of montgomery really knew about, did they . Nobody knew about rosa parks . Or knew about. Ms. Gunter . Knew about rosa parks on december 1st, they didnt know about rosa parks on december because the news did not penetrate, was not put out there in the same manner. With respect to mrs. Parks arrest . Yes. It wasnt national news. It was national news. The montgomery bus boycott after we stayed off the buses on december 5th, it made the news. Right. Her arrest did not make the news until mr. Nixon leaked the story to the press that we were going to start a boycott on monday. And the reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser ended up running a story, and really mr. Nixon didnt tell us he was going to tell it because we were trying to keep the white people from knowing it, but let the black people know it. But it developed that the best thing happened was for mr. Nixon to do what he did, and as a result it made the front page on sunday and monday that negros were going to boycott the buses and it helped us to get a good start. Montgomery, alabama. In montgomery, alabama. But when i talked to ms. Parks, after i got back in town on december 1st and she retained me to represent her, i asked her to tell me about. Anybody who did anything on that bus that would help her in her case. She did not tell me any person, white nor black, had offered to help her to do anything. They were there. The officer who had police power asked her to get up. She likely told him she wasnt going to get up. She was not disorderly. And it would have helped her if we had had some witness on the bus, black or white, to come to mrs. Parks rescue, but she never told me, and i never subpoenaed anyone to testify on her behalf because we did not know at the time we knew white people were on the buses. Im not saying she was not there at all. But im sure that this were at least more than ten white people because they had all the seats taken. There were black people on the bus. But nobody thought enough of ms. Parks to come to ms. Parks rescue so she was arrested and the rest is history. Tell us what was definitively the signature of what made mrs. Parks, not just her arrest, but her trial resonate. It was a tandem act, was it not . No, no, mrs. Parks had been working on civil rights for years before december 1st. I understand that. But what im trying to point out is that you made very clear to me was that people had been working on the idea of a boycott for some time. Right. The decision to boycott the night of her trial on december 5th, that was the impetus, that was the explosion, was it not . The matter of staying off of the buses as a result of mrs. Parks arrest did not originate with mrs. Rosa parks. Right. She was not the person who was really moving forward with it. As a matter of fact, when i met with her in her living room and talked with her, what we were concerned about then was preparing there were two things in my mind that i told her that we would be thinking about. The first thing we have to get ready for her trial on december 1st on december 5th, so dont worry about it. Im going to get that ready. I said, ultimately were going to have to file a lawsuit, but i also told her, joanne has been talking about asking people to stay off of the buses. Because weve been having this problem for a long time. But i said, dont you worry about that, mrs. Parks. Youve done your part but im going to talk to joanne, im going to talk to e. D. Nixon, and were going to see if in addition to people your trial taking place we will have a protest and people will stay off the buses. I left her house and went to e. D. Nixons house and talked to him. He was willing to participate in the thing. I told him i was going to joannes house and talk with her. And we talked with her in her living room from the evening of december 1st to the morning of december 2nd. And we sat and planned the various things that had to take place if were going to get the people to stay off the bus. One, we got to get the ministers because they had more people on sunday morning than anyone else and we had to get the message out. We were asking them to stay off the bus for only one day. But we wanted them to stay off of the bus until they could come back on the nonsegregated basis but we couldnt tell them that, so we talked about the one day. We had to be prepared that if we were successful, what are we going to do next . Then we said, well, we need someone as a spokesman. It was joanne who suggested my pastor should serve as spokesman. Who was that pastor . Huh . And who was that pastor . And that was reverend Martin Luther king jr. , who had just gotten to town about a year before. Normally e. D. Nixon, mr. Civil rights, another political and businessman in the city, would have been the person to serve in that capacity. But what we were afraid of, joanne and i, if we use either nixon or lewis, we may lose some of the other ones, so lets get somebody else. I tell you who. I said, who . My pastor, Martin Luther king jr. I said, well, i met dr. King. I dont know him like you do, but thats fine. Let me give you two good positions for these other two men. Lets make e. D. Nixon the treasurer, because he knows a. Phillip randolph, who is the founder of pullman car. The other man was rufus lewis from Alabama State, he was in the political aspect. He wanted to get people registered to vote. He had a club, the name, the citizens club. And in order for you to get in that club, you had to be a registered voter. I said, lets make nixon the treasurer, make rufus lewis the chairman of the Transportation Committee because if it lasts beyond monday, were going to need somebody. Well and i said, rufus lewis wife, jewel, is coowner of the largest funeral home in town, ross clayton funeral home. Guess what. They have automobiles. We need automobiles to take people to and from work, make him chairman of the Transportation Committee and well have the transportation solved. And joanne said, what im going to do when we get through here, fred, im going over to Alabama State and get some students and draw up a leaflet. In this leaflet im going to say another black woman has been arrested, her trial is going to be on monday. Lets stay off of the buses as a protest. Thats what happened and the rest is history. And those things we planned neither one of us it couldnt be afforded that fred gray was out here doing all that. I would have gotten disbarred before i got barred. And they tried joanne couldnt afford to do it because she taught at Alabama State and they would summarily fire her, and she got fired later on. The plan, there were a lot of plans that went into making the bus boycott what it was but what inspired mrs. Parks and what inspired joanne and what inspired dr. Martin luther king was a 15yearold girl, Claudette Colvin, who did what mrs. Parks did nine months before. We all said if claudette could do that, then all of us can do whatever it takes and we stayed off the buses for 282 days. [ applause ] now you know the rest of the story. In fact, rosa parks was convicted rosa parks was convicted and rosa go ahead. And Claudette Colvins case was the case that won against segregation. All right. Claudette colvins was a let me take them in chronological order. Yes, sir. Well take rosa parks case. Set us straight. She was arrested on december 1st. So my first responsibility was to see that she was adequately represented on december 5th. I knew that they were going to convict her. There was no way in the world that they could end up not finding her guilty. I knew that. So, i wasnt going to run waste a lot of time with the trial. I was going to let them put their case on, crossexamine that witness, raise my constitutional questions. Dont put on any evidence because none of them could say that she had acted disorderly and see what happened. And what did they do . They convicted her. So on her case we appealed it to the Circuit Court and then it had to go up through the alabama courts and ultimately to the u. S. Supreme court. So, that was one case. But if we had gotten her found not guilty all that would have happened is she would have been not guilty and the City Ordinances and state statutes requiring segregation would have still been on the books. So we had to have another lawsuit. And that suit was browder versus gale. Now i get an opportunity to let our people know at this point in time, and this was a couple of days after dr. Kings house had been burned, we need to go ahead and file this case and the question is, i knew in my own mind, i was not going to use rosa parks as a plaintiff in that case. And i wasnt going to do it because if i had done that, her case was up on appeal. And whatle city would have said is that this is a collateral attack on her appeal case so lets let her case go through the state court system, lets get some other good plaintiffs, and i can think of no better plaintiff than claudettette colvko colvin, she was a minor, so her parents had to be involved and the result was we ended up selecting four other persons and they that was the case of browder versus gale that ultimately desegregated the buses. But if mrs. Parks but if claudette had not done what she did on march 2, 1955, it is quite possible that mrs. Parks may not have done what she did on december 1st. If she had not been arrested, there would have been no trial, no meeting at baptist church, dr. Martin luther king would not have been introduced to the nation at that time and the whole history of the Civil Rights Movement would have been different but for the 15yearold girl, Claudette Colvin. While we honor mrs. Parks here tonight and if mrs. Parks was here, i am sure she would be glad to say that part of her inspiration, along with what she had been doing for years before was to be able to inspire young girls like claudette to do what she did, so we also honor claudette and the plaintiffs in that case as they did in montgomery on this past sunday when they also unveiled their statue of rosa parks and honored the persons in browder versus gale. It almost [ applause ] it almost sounds as if, because this young woman was in rosa parks Youth Ministry that she inspired a young woman who then inspired her. Its a pay it forward moment over and over and over again. Yes. And here you are, 64 years later, a practicing attorney. Congratulations. Thank you. [ applause ] i just want to know how your legacy, rosa parks legacy, impacts what is happening in todays struggle as rosa parks has always said, the struggle continues. And so i wonder how this continuum of your legacy informs that . Well, i dont know about my legacy and these historians will have to decide that. But i know this. At least two generations of people have been born who nothing at all about hard core segregation. They dont know about the problems we had. And i think if i have a legacy, and if ms. Rosa parks were here tonight, she would be happy with all were doing, but i think she would also want to say a thank you and all of that, but to look at where we are now and see the progress we have made, but even more importantly is to see what needs to be done to solve the problem so that all of the people in this country will enjoy all of the rights and privileges that the majority enjoys. And that has not ended yet. And so the struggle continues. I believe she would think, and i believe, there are two major problems still facing us that we need to be serious about. One, this country still has some serious racial problems. Racism has not been eliminated in this country. This country has never really faced up to taking affirmative actions towards destroying racism. We have looked at them a little bit but we have never really worked on it. So, thats one problem that needs to be and if i have a legacy or if mrs. Parks has a legacy, i think she would want us to complete the task of doing away with racism so that everybody, regardless of their race, color, creed, sexual orientation, will be able to enjoy the same rights and privileges. [ applause ] i think there is a second point and that is in this country there is too much inequality between the majority. When i think about majority, i think about white people. And the minority, and i think of africanamericans and others. The disparity between those two are so great. And if you just and this is nothing new. The United Negro College not the United Negro College. But the urban league has a report they make every year to the president and what im teg you about this part of it you can refine in that annual report the state of black america. Yeah. The five areas that you measure economics by africanamericans at the bottom, are at the lower part, and whites are at the top. If you take, for example, in unemployment, we are less than twice less than where white people are. If you take poverty, were three times in worse shape than whites are. And if you take incarceration, were incarcerated 16 times as whites. So, what im saying to you is that inequality needs to end. Those two things, inequality and racism, nothing new, they have been here since slavery time, but theyre not going to go away unless somebody do something. If we had done nothing, if mrs. Parks had done nothing, if claudette had done nothing, it wouldnt have happened. So, then, what we need to do, if you request tacan take what we Civil Rights Movement, the bus boycott and everything else, number one, you have to recognize that we still have a problem because if you dont think we have a problem, then were not going to solve it. Secondly, youve got to come up and prepare and make some plans. Joanne and i made the plans and passed it onto somebody else. You dont have to try to execute it all. Pass it to somebody else. And then when you when you do that, youve got to execute these plans. And these two things needs to be done and it needs to start at the top. You start at the white house and should go to the congress, it should go to the Supreme Court, it should go to the heads of our ceo and our educational institutions to do away with racism and do away with inequality. That, i think, is necessary. And, in fact, chris rock, a comedian of our time, has said that racism is not a black persons problem. Racism is a white persons problem. And i mrs. Gunter, i look at you, this beautiful white woman who says she was so inspired by mrs. Parks. You met with her. You say she changed your life. How did she . I didnt think about that in the beginning. I was busy growing a family, living life until that magazine incident. And then we met with mrs. Parks and before that meeting was over, mrs. Parks said that i was there. That interview was done by Brenda Davenport and Elaine Steele. So, we we they asked me if i would tell my recollection of the day. And when i told my recollection of what happened that day, and then brenda tried to protect mrs. Parks, then mrs. Parks, said, no, she was there. Youre a missionary, youre a pastor. You work within the movement to this day. Till this day. I go to schools and talk to children about mrs. Parks and the bus boycott and i every february all the days are filled and i love it, i enjoy it, especially seeing children really learn what happened from my eyes, from my eyes. Do you see the struggle through the eyes of mrs. Parks . Do you see this is your struggle now. I dont see it as a struggle for me at all. I have absolutely no conflict with red, yellow, black and white. I work with all kinds of people and were just people. And any choice sermon would be about peace and love and kindness and forgiveness. Forgiveness. Thank you both. [ applause ] jane gunter, thank you fred gray. Can i mention two things. Sure. Ill make them short. I referred to this earlier. Again, i want to commend this library for having this exhibit for rosa parks here, but people can come from all over the country and see whats here. You have museums all over this country who needs our support and their deservance of that support so that the story can be told and they will be educated on it. One of those organizations is located in tuskegee, alabama. The tuskegee multicultural center, also known as tuskegee history center. Historic tuskegee. It gives the movement and history of all thele people, native american, european americans and africanamericans under one roof. It also serves as a prominent memorial for the men in the Tuskegee Syphilis study. I represented those men, too. And it gives a brief history of the Civil Rights Movement from slavery time until the present showing about five cases from tuskegee, alabama, filed at a national scope. We ask for your support. If you want to learn some more about it, just let me know. Thats the first thing. The next thing, all of what i have told you tonight are about the movement and more is found in my autobiography bus ride to justice. Carol has a copy of one of them over there. If you want some, we can make some order blanks for you and let you have them. What our problem is, if our young people dont know what has happened and if we dont educate them on it, then it will never get done. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, you have seen history in the making, havent you . And thats what we had hoped that you would see and hear from people who lived history, people who appreciate history and well have some of those brochures for everybody, too. But thank you so much. And we have been joined by mr. Mark moriel, head of the National Urban league, so that report is available as well. And, sir, you should know that this exhibit is going to be online so people everywhere can see everything. We thank all of you for being here and being part of this discussion. And now we invite you to go upstairs and see the exhibit. [ applause ] this week, American History tv is on cspan3 every day with prime time features each night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Tonight the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. Thursday the forgotten battles of the civil war and friday the 75th anniversary of the battle of the bulge where adolph hitter launched counteroffensive against allied forces. Watch american tv all this week and every weekend on cspan3. The house will be in order. For 40 years, cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. , and around the country. So you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979. Cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. This weekend on reel america, from 1985, an Allstar Party for ronald dutch reagan hosted by frank sinatra. The program of song, comedy and tributes includes nancy reagan, Burt Reynoldses a and more. Heres a preview. Well, nancy and dutch, as you step once more into history, you go with our prayers and a song. A song that says it all. May we have a bell tone, please. Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind for Auld Lang Syne my dear for Auld Lang Syne well take a cup of kindness yet for Auld Lang Syne [ applause ] [ applause ] party with president reagan and hollywood this weekend on American History tv. A few days before tragic death comes to president john f. Kennedy, he and the first lady are the picture of happiness. Their children, john jr. And caroline, are to mark their birthdays after the president returns from a trip to texas. Arriving in dallas on the morning of the fatal day, he