We are marking 15 years of booktv on cspan2. Here are some programs to watch this weekend on booktv. All weekend we are live from the 2013 southern festival of books in nashville would some of the operas featured are kitty but the run end of light care, the removal of tennessee governor ray blanton in 1979. And the jfk association. See a complete schedule of the days events and also a look at a late alexander cockburns book a colossal wreck. Aero difficult political scandals and American Culture at 9 00 on sunday. A 00 p. M. Sunday your thoughts what does not apply here. Up next representative john lewis, a democrat from georgia. The 14 term congressman talks about his role in the Civil Rights Movement, Race Relations in the obama event political partisanship on capitol hill, he has written wind a memoir of the movement, across that bridge life lessons and a vision for change and march book 1. Congressman john lewis, who is elwin wilson . Guest id met him in 1961. I was part of the freedom ride. We left washington d. C. On may 4th, 1961, at 18 of us, to test the decision of the United StatesSupreme Court to end segregation in public transportation. My seatmate from washington d. C. You must understand in 1961, black people and white people couldnt be seen together when you get out of washington to try to go to North Carolina or georgia, alabama, mississippi. We were on our way to new orleans. We didnt have any problems for the most part until we got to rock hill and the little place in charlotte, n. C. A young africanamerican man attempted to get a shoe shine in a socalled white barber shop that was in the socalled white waiting room. He was arrested and taken to jail. The jurors dismissed charges against him. The two of us are arrived at the Greyhound Bus station in South Carolina. A group of white men met us in the doorway and started beating us and left us lying in a pool of blood. The officials wanted to know if we would going to address charges, we said no, we believe in love and peace and the way of nonviolence. I didnt know at the time on may 9, 1961, that this man was edwin wilson. In february of 2009, a month after president obama had been inaugurated, he came to my office on capitol hill with his son who had been seeking out what he had grown. He walked into the office and said mr. Lewis, ed wilson. I am one of the people that beat you. Will you forgive me . I want to apologize, im sorry. He started crying, i started crying. They hugged me, i had them back and with the times since then. The recently passed. The power of nonviolence, the power of love, the power of the way of peace guest host did he come to your office out of the blue . Guest he had for a time gone to different places in South Carolina trying to find students, attending a local college, doing less sit in in 1960 going around apologizing to them. And made contact in rock hill. So the press person started working with him and discovered i was on the bus and i was one of the people that was been. And he was in congress and he made his way to washington. Host february 27, 1960, nashville, youre first arrest. Guest i would never forgets as long as i live. We had been involved in nonviolent shots, studying the way Martin Luther king jr. Civil disobedience, what we call social drama. Hundreds of students, sitting down to peaceful nonviolent fashion waiting to be served and someone would spit on you or put a lighted cigarette out in your hair or on your back or just full hot water, hot coffee on you work off of this tool or beat you. We were sitting in orderly fashion, not saying a word, looking straight ahead, reading a book, and working on a paper, and people started beating us. Local Police Officials came up and arrested all of us, and engage in violence against us. That was my first arrest. On that date when i was arrested i felt so free i felt liberated. I felt i crossed over. In rural alabama, i asked my mother and father and grandparents and great grandparents about segregation and Racial Discrimination about those signs, fighting white men and colored women, i said fine. Dont get in the way, dont get in trouble. Dr. King and rosa parks inspired me to get in trouble. We were all arrested and went to jail. 89 of us were arrested at day. Host they uva a fine . Were you in jail for awhile . Guest we were in jail for a while. As a matter of fact local School Officials came down, that was the arrest, that was my introduction, sitting down on those stools and going to jail in places like nashville and birmingham, from mississippi, atlanta, georgia. Host what was the ultimate result in nashville in the Civil Rights Movement . Guest in national communities, one of the major cities in the American South to segregate restaurants and a year later desegregate all the theaters and in nashville, we took the beloved community and making nashville open cities, nashville would consider the essence of the south, and people in the community, very progressive, really liberal, wanted to see nashville make a great transition, a peaceful and open city. Host how did you get to nashville . Guest rural alabama in 1957, 17 years old, traveling by bus to study. I wanted to attend a school out of alabama where i grew up, grew up 50 miles from montgomery, ten miles from troy and planned to go to a School Called the choice state college, at troy university, and i never heard a word from the school, so a letters to Martin Luther king jr. He wrote me back and send me a roundtrip bus ticket and invited me to montgomery to meet with him. So i was at the college in nashville, i went to nashville, give me a 100 bill, more money than i ever had. Put everything that i alone in this footlocker, my books, my clothing and went to nashville and studying the philosophy and nonviolence. Host who were shorty and sugar foot . Guest shorty was a name that my mother and called my father and my father host what did they do . Guest worked on the farm when i was 4 years old, when i was 4, in 1944 he paid 300, and to the land, and on atlanta, on this farm there was a lot of cotton and corn, and working in midfield, this is hard work. This is hard work and hard work never killed anybody and i kept saying to myself if i can make it to the end of this rogue. I would complain, working in the field. I would complain, working in the field like this is just like, you get too much rain and dont know if you make anything or not and another said this is all we can do. And 7 or 8 years old. And up early in the morning. And get my book bag. And wait for the school bus to come along. I didnt like working in the field. Did you get in trouble for that. I did get in trouble but they encouraged me to get an education but at the same time they needed me to work in the field. This was a report of my first protest. To care for the chicken. And to raise chickens like no one else raise chickens. Host you write about that in recent book march, march book 1, a graphic novel when you write about. The right about everything to the chickens. Guest i wanted to be administered. Wanted to preach the gospel. With the help of my brothers and cousins, we gather my chickens together in the chicken yard. And their outside the chicken tied i was preaching, and we have to make of the audience in the congregation. I fell in love with raising those chickens. The chicken taught me patience. Taught me hard work. Told me not to give up or give in. If you dont know anything about raising chickens on the from, take a fresh egg, placed them, wait for three long weeks for the chickens to hatch. And place them on the setting end. From time to time over here we get on the same thing and there would be a wave and fresh eggs that were already on the end. Sometimes i would take those little checks and give them to the an end and put them on not lantern. I was never quite able, 18. 98 to order the most expensive innovator from this storm. And call this to order or the wish book, i wish i had that or that. It was my duty, my responsibility to care for the little chickens. And i tell Young Children today some old chicken without a head, i am convinced some of the chickens a preach to in the 40s and 50s, much better than my colleagues listened to the congress. Host what about sunday dinner . Guest i didnt like the idea of my mother, father and relative and chickens to have it for dinner. It was my first nonviolent protest against my fans or other relatives. Host why is your most recent book on your life in this form . Graphic novel form . Guest a staff person of mine, they came to me congressman, you should write a comic book. The way i started, the campaign was over and he was going to comicon and other staffers, going to a comic book conference and i said to the staff, you should make fun of him, you shouldnt laugh. That was another kind of book that came out in 1957, early in 1958 i believe and Martin Luther king jr. And the montgomery story, this organization or reconciliation of this group and it sold for 0. 10 but forced many of us including the four students in North Carolina and many of us in nashville. This young man, my coauthor came back to me, you should write a comic book and i finally said to him yes, if you do it with me. The book has done very well. The book will come out and fall of 2014. Host march book 1, you write about june, 1951 and the trip was uncle lotus. Never forget that. I had never traveled out of alabama, i was 11 years old. I remember my mother and sister and standing up late at night. And in cellophane paper, putting food and shoeboxes to have something to eat and from world alabama through tennessee, kentucky, ohio on a way, it was my first time out of the south and i remember 11 years old being in buffalo, new york, first time in an elevator, firsttime in an escalator and had an impact on me. We are working together, living together, it was a different worlds. Host why did you make that trip . Guest to spend the summer with my mother and some of my first cousins. Host in your history, september 2nd, 1986, democratic primary. Guest induction day in atlanta in georgia, that was the runoff, a very difficult race. And a nonviolent coordinating committee, a wonderful friend, served in the state house, the state senate. He wanted to come to congress and i wanted to come to congress. Some people thought i didnt have a chance, didnt have a prayer. Around the nation, outside of georgia, in alabama and mississippi and the deep south, and i spent six years as a student. Host how did you get to atlanta . Guest i moved to atlanta in the early summer, 1963. To chair the student nonviolent coordinating committee, one of the major civil rights organizations, it was based in atlanta, just finished school in nashville. Than four years at American Baptist college, it was American BaptistTheological Seminary and later became American Baptist college. I spent two years, when i became the chair, had to move to atlanta in nashville. I fell in love with that city. It was the first city that i lived in. I went to atlanta and spend a lot of time travelling across the south, going to arkansas, georgia, the delta, mississippi, along with the anna, North Carolina, South Carolina, but atlanta presented me with an opportunity to be at a place, not just to be there but to come to washington to meet with members of congress, Martin Luther king jr. And others. A few weeks after i was elected chair of the student nonviolent with needing to me i was in washington, in the white house with president kennedy and i will never forget that first meeting with the president s, like flying from washington to atlanta and preparing for the march on washington, that was 50 years ago. Host who are the big six . Guest the major civil rights organization, you had a man by the name of randolph. Mr. Randolph was considered the dean of leadership, born in jacksonville, fla. Just a wonderful man. Prince of a man. He said things like brother, lets stay together. We have come this far together, lets state together. Something like if you cannot Say Something good about someone, dont say anything. There was so much respect for this man. But randolph, who organized the brother who give Stephen Porter is, rather than demand working on the railroad and when you come to washington and walk through Union Station, there is a bus, his own poster stamp, Martin Luther king jr. Was the president of the southern christian Leadership Conference board in atlanta, and then wilkins, National Association for the advancements of colored people, born in minnesota, wonderful man and young was born in kentucky, the dean of the school of social work at Atlanta University and later became head of the National Urban league. Another man by the name of james bulger, former head of Wiley College in texas, part of the debating team. The debating team debated harvard. Later graduate study at Harvard University and became very involved in the n. A. A. C. P. And later was one of the founders of racial equality. And made the six person. It was the six of us that met with president kennedy in late june of 1963. Host in july of 63 were planning a march on washington and you write in walking with the wind a memoir of the movement eyes off the first time in july 1963 trip to new york city our meeting took place at the Roosevelt Hotel and it provided my first real look at the personality of wilkens. I cant say i liked what i saw. He had held himself back when we met with the president but now peer among just as wilkens was really asserting himself. And from the moment will consented the room he came across to me in some sort of a new yorker who thought he was smarter than the rest of the group. What was memorable about the meeting that a much more than the details of planning the upcoming march was watching the dynamic among the participants. It was the real exercise in power and positioning and political rivalry but wilkens entered the room dozen or so people were chatting, waiting to take their seats around the large dining table, wilkens immediately shook his head and began walking through the room, chatting people on the shoulder saying who would stand who had to leave. These were powerful people he was ordering around and was not very polite about it. He was particularly nasty to bayer ruston and hardly more cordial to the others. He didnt suggest anyone leave the room, he demanded it. It was amazing to me that he would do that. Even more amazing was the fact that the others obeid. Guest at that meeting, any way that i would figure would happen, most of the members of the big six had representatives that deputize their system. He asked that each one leave and only the principal, only the head of the organization remained and that is exactly what happened. We stage. There was a long, drawnout discussion about who should head the march on washington, who should be the director, and many of us felt this man, this banker, this brilliant man, this planner, this organizer, that he should be the head, there was this discussion, and that people like strom thurmond, tapped in georgia or mississippi, use that against the march on washington so we had a caucus. Dr. King and myself, and we said we would select randolph as the chair of the march on washington and let mr. Randolph select his deputy and that is what he did because we knew some people said it was so close that mr. Randolph would turn to him, exactly what he did. No one, but no one would avoid the question. Host welcome to booktvs indepth for october 2013. We are talking with congressman john lewis, democrat of georgia and author of three books, walking with the wind a memoir of the movement was his first, the second came out in 2012, across that bridge life lessons and a vision for change, and finally this past year march book 1 was released as the first in a series. If you would like to participate in our conversation here are the numbers 2025853880, in the east and central time zone, 3881. In the mountain and pacific time zone. You can send in a week, an email or post a comment on our face book page. Of you want to send a tweet tv is our and facebook. Com booktv o is our twitter handle and facebook. Com booktv is our face book page and finally booktv cspan. Org is our email address. Mr. Lewis will be with us for the next 21 2 hours ago and we will begin taking those calls in just a minute. August 28th. What was august 28th, 1963, like for you . Guest the day of the march on washington for jobs and freedom. I remember the morning very very well. I got up, got dressed and i left the hilton hotel at sixteenth and k downtnthn washington d. C. It was the capitol hilton hotel. Most stayed there at the willard hotel. We woke up, someone drove us to capitol hill and we met with the democratic leadership on the house side and the senate side. We met with democratic and Republican Leadership and i remember meeting the republican leblier from the state of illinois, wonderful man, have a photograph with him, meeting with him. We met with the Judiciary Committee chair from new york city. I believe he was from brooklyn. And left a meeting with house leaders, senate leaders, and we were coming dnthn constitution avenue. We are all walking together and saw the sea of humanity, gethndreds of thousands of peop pouring out of the streets from Union Station and we knew it was going to be more than 50 or 60 people. The people alrebliy marching, ad i know all of us said there