powerful. it was social media that propelled the black lives matter movement onto a global stage. put your hands behind your back. i can t breathe. keep your hands where they are, please. yes, i will, sir. i ll keep my hands where they are. reporter: when cell phone images of unarmed african-americans killed by police went viral. the body of michael brown lays on that ground for 4 1/2 hours shocked america back its consciousness once again. it woke so many people up that thought emmett till was a figment of the past and not a very relevant figure of the present. emmett till is michael brown and tamir rice and sandra bland and eric garner, and all of those folks because they woke us up once again.
they responded. without television, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings. that s pretty amazing, the convergence of a media phenomenon and a mature movement coming together to shape politics. reporter: like birmingham before it, the brutality at selma shocked the nation, compelling washington to respond ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. reporter: this time with the voting rights act of 1965. what happens in selma or in cincinnati is a matter of legitimate concern to every american. this is one nation. reporter: on march 7th, 2015, america s first black president, barack obama, with john lewis at his side, visited selma to
governor defied the courts and ordered the national guard to block the black students from entering the school. the first day we faced the arkansas national guard with bayonnets. they let the white students enter the campus and barred us from entrance. it was surreal. reporter: outside the school an angry crowd gathered. the minute they walk in, then that s when we walk out. it s not right. they have schools just as good as us. reporter: eight of the nine black students arrived together that first day. only elizabeth eckford whose family didn t own a telephone arrived alone. elizabeth didn t get the message that we were going to meet at the 14th street side of the school and not the 16th street side of the school. we had the protection of each other and this group of
live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. i have a dream today. reporter: viewers around the world watched transfixed as a parade of celebrities, black and white, called for unity in the struggle for racial justice. mr. brando, what sort of an impression has this day left with you? that it is possible for all men to come together in a sense of good will and to solve problems in a democratic way. the truth of it is that the march on washington was what transformed a southern, predominately black movement into a national movement. it meant that we were not just an isolated movement. this movement became a universal movement.
1121 cross street in little rock, and the new school day is dawning. reporter: a year after the montgomery bus boycott, little rock became the stage for the next drama of the movement when local naacp leaders hand-picked nine black students and pressured the school board to enroll them at all white central high school. they were challenging the city to comply with the supreme court s 1954 decision in brown vs. board of education where the court ruled that all public schools must be integrated. ernest green, age 16, 12th grade. when they said, are you interested in transferring to central, i said, hey, why not? my attitude was that change was coming, i want to be a part of it. i m ready to change the face of the south. reporter: the story took an unexpected turn when the