0:00:12.677,0:00:19.000 I am Awele. Daughter of Alice, granddaughter of Ruth, 0:00:19.000,0:00:24.200 great-granddaughter of Big Momma Alice and Madir Corine 0:00:24.200,0:00:29.923 great, great granddaughter of Anna and Zitii Benyen. 0:00:29.923,0:00:32.000 It is my hope 0:00:32.000,0:00:36.646 to find my best possible self in the service of others. 0:00:36.646,0:00:40.692 Now my daddy? He used to tell me stories. 0:00:40.692,0:00:43.000 My daddy, he would say, 0:00:43.000,0:00:46.000 "I want you to know who you are and where you come from. 0:00:46.000,0:00:50.538 That will guide you as you discover who you must be. 0:00:50.538,0:00:53.354 Now you listen to this story, you hear me baby girl? 0:00:53.354,0:00:55.185 It's not going to be in a book. 0:00:55.185,0:00:57.031 Your teacher's not going to tell it, 0:00:57.031,0:01:00.215 but you need to understand who you are." 0:01:00.215,0:01:02.387 That became a guiding principle 0:01:02.387,0:01:05.007 in the stories that I wanted to tell. 0:01:05.007,0:01:09.000 Stories about legacy of who we are. 0:01:09.000,0:01:12.646 I used to hear all the time that children are the future, 0:01:12.646,0:01:15.001 but what does that cliche really mean 0:01:15.001,0:01:17.417 and how are we preparing them? 0:01:17.417,0:01:20.015 So I looked for narratives about young people 0:01:20.015,0:01:21.467 and the legacy that they bring 0:01:21.467,0:01:23.262 as agents of change. 0:01:23.262,0:01:26.000 The power that you have right now. 0:01:26.000,0:01:30.323 Today, March 2, 1955, 0:01:30.323,0:01:32.738 the story that I want to share with you 0:01:32.738,0:01:35.800 comes from 1955, March 2nd. 0:01:35.800,0:01:39.077 It's about a courageous 16-year old girl, 0:01:39.077,0:01:41.631 Claudette Colvin. 0:01:41.631,0:01:43.208 And it comes full circle today 0:01:43.208,0:01:45.862 because a week ago today, in San Francisco, 0:01:45.862,0:01:47.163 my middle school students, 0:01:47.163,0:01:49.298 they performed a program that I had written, 0:01:49.298,0:01:51.762 "Agents of Change," 0:01:51.762,0:01:54.545 starting with the reenactment of Plessy vs. Ferguson 0:01:54.545,0:01:57.445 from 1892 to 1896, 0:01:57.445,0:02:00.169 moving to Brown vs. Board and a student-led strike 0:02:00.169,0:02:02.046 by Barbara Rose Johns, 0:02:02.046,0:02:05.523 jumping to Claudette Colvin and the Montgomery Bus Boycott 0:02:05.523,0:02:09.292 and ending in 1960 with the sit-in movement, 0:02:09.292,0:02:13.000 the non-violent movement led by students. 0:02:13.000,0:02:15.754 So I'm going to share the story 0:02:15.754,0:02:19.231 and I would like to also share the work I do with it 0:02:19.231,0:02:22.231 as a case study. 0:02:22.231,0:02:27.677 I paid my dime at the front of the bus, and then I ran to the back door 0:02:27.677,0:02:30.631 with the rest of the colored kids so the driver wouldn't take off 0:02:30.631,0:02:32.000 before we got on. 0:02:32.000,0:02:36.646 Also, well, whites don't want us walking down the aisle next to them. 0:02:36.646,0:02:39.815 When I got back on the bus, the colored section was full, 0:02:39.815,0:02:42.607 so, I sat in the middle section. 0:02:42.607,0:02:44.452 I took the last row seat on the left, 0:02:44.452,0:02:46.231 it was right by the window, 0:02:46.231,0:02:49.030 wasn't thinking about anything in particular. 0:02:49.030,0:02:52.000 "Hey." 0:02:52.000,0:02:55.000 I didn't know the girl next to me either, this older girl. 0:02:55.000,0:02:57.462 So I just looked out the window. 0:02:57.462,0:03:00.000 Driver went more stops, more people were getting on, 0:03:00.000,0:03:01.400 colored and white. 0:03:01.400,0:03:04.000 Pretty soon, no more seats were available. 0:03:04.000,0:03:06.523 "Give me those seats," the driver called out. 0:03:06.523,0:03:08.338 Colored folks just started getting up. 0:03:08.338,0:03:11.000 White folks started taking their seats, but I stayed seated. 0:03:11.000,0:03:15.246 Girl next to me and the other two across, they stayed seated. 0:03:15.246,0:03:17.492 I knew it wasn't the restricted area. 0:03:17.492,0:03:21.046 "Make light on your feet!" 0:03:21.046,0:03:22.377 The girl next to me got up immediately. 0:03:22.377,0:03:23.708 She stood in the aisle, then the other two girls. 0:03:23.708,0:03:26.877 But I told myself, this isn't the restricted area. 0:03:26.877,0:03:28.987 The driver, he looked up, 0:03:28.987,0:03:32.536 looked in the window, that mirror. 0:03:32.536,0:03:37.138 He pulled over. A pregnant lady, Mrs. Hamilton, got on the bus. 0:03:37.138,0:03:39.165 She ran to the back and got on, 0:03:39.165,0:03:42.198 not knowing he was trying to have me relinquish my seat. 0:03:42.198,0:03:44.369 And she sat right next to me. 0:03:44.369,0:03:47.200 "The two of you need to get up so I can drive on." 0:03:47.200,0:03:50.708 "Sir, I paid my dime, I paid my fare. 0:03:50.708,0:03:52.769 It's my right, you know, my constitutional ... " 0:03:52.769,0:03:56.769 "Constitutional? Ha ha, let me get the police." 0:03:56.769,0:03:59.000 Well he got off and he flagged down two motormen 0:03:59.000,0:04:00.439 and they came. 0:04:00.439,0:04:04.000 And those motormen, they came onto the bus. 0:04:04.000,0:04:05.815 Looked at Mrs. Hamilton, 0:04:05.815,0:04:08.846 "Now the two of you need to get up so the driver can drive on." 0:04:08.846,0:04:12.308 "Sir, I paid my dime. I'm pregnant. 0:04:12.308,0:04:15.308 If I were to move right now, I'd be very sick, sir." 0:04:15.308,0:04:17.815 "Sir, I paid my dime too, you know, and it's my right, 0:04:17.815,0:04:19.831 my constitutional right. 0:04:19.831,0:04:21.377 I'm a citizen of the United States. 0:04:21.377,0:04:23.089 You just read the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendment -- 0:04:23.089,0:04:24.662 it'll tell you so. 0:04:24.662,0:04:27.123 I know the law. My teacher, she taught it at school." 0:04:27.123,0:04:29.546 You see, my teacher, she taught the Constitution, 0:04:29.546,0:04:31.912 the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, 0:04:31.912,0:04:34.908 Patrick Henry's speech -- I even memorized it. 0:04:34.908,0:04:38.000 My teacher, she would prick our minds, 0:04:38.000,0:04:40.338 trying to see what we thinking about. 0:04:40.338,0:04:43.000 She would say, "Who are you? Hmm? 0:04:43.000,0:04:45.600 Who are you sitting right here right now? 0:04:45.600,0:04:47.600 The person that people think they see 0:04:47.600,0:04:49.231 from your outside? 0:04:49.231,0:04:51.273 Who are you on the inside? How you think? 0:04:51.273,0:04:53.272 How you feel? What you believe? 0:04:53.272,0:04:56.003 Would you be willing to stand up for what you believe in 0:04:56.003,0:04:57.726 even if someone wants to hold you back 0:04:57.726,0:04:59.781 because you're different? 0:04:59.781,0:05:03.692 Do you love your beautiful brown skin children? Hmm? 0:05:03.692,0:05:06.600 Are you American? 0:05:06.600,0:05:08.692 What does it mean to be an American? Huh? 0:05:08.692,0:05:12.569 Homework tonight, write me an essay: What does it mean to be an American? 0:05:12.569,0:05:14.646 You need to know who you are, children!" 0:05:14.646,0:05:17.662 My teacher, she would teach us history and current events. 0:05:17.662,0:05:21.400 She said that's how we can understand everything that's going on 0:05:21.400,0:05:23.523 and we can do something about it. 0:05:23.523,0:05:27.046 "Sir, all I know is I hate Jim Crow. 0:05:27.046,0:05:29.308 I also know that if I ain't got something worth living for, 0:05:29.308,0:05:30.546 I ain't got nothing worth dying for. 0:05:30.546,0:05:32.281 So give me liberty or give me death! 0:05:32.281,0:05:35.480 Ouch! I don't care! Take me to jail." 0:05:35.480,0:05:37.579 They dragged her off the bus. 0:05:37.579,0:05:40.962 Next thing, Claudette Colvin was in a carseat, 0:05:40.962,0:05:42.923 backseat of the police car, 0:05:42.923,0:05:47.846 handcuffed through the windows. 0:05:47.846,0:05:52.769 The following year, May 11, 1956, 0:05:52.769,0:05:57.015 Claudette Colvin was the star witness in the federal court case, 0:05:57.015,0:05:59.200 Browder vs. Gayle. 0:05:59.200,0:06:02.000 Her, an 18-year-old teenager 0:06:02.000,0:06:08.000 and two others, women, Mrs. Browder. 0:06:08.000,0:06:13.000 Their case, Browder v. Gayle, went up to the supreme court. 0:06:13.000,0:06:16.778 On the heels of Brown vs. Board of Education, the Fourteenth Amendment 0:06:16.778,0:06:23.954 and her powerful testimony that day, the rest is history. 0:06:23.954,0:06:27.000 Now why is it we don't know this story? 0:06:27.000,0:06:28.277 The Montgomery Busy Boycott -- 0:06:28.277,0:06:30.075 we hear Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, 0:06:30.075,0:06:32.641 they will forever be lifted up. 0:06:32.641,0:06:35.708 But the role of women that played in that movement, 0:06:35.708,0:06:39.738 the role of Claudette, as an upstander, 0:06:39.738,0:06:44.031 it teaches us important lessons that challenge us today. 0:06:44.031,0:06:47.856 What does it mean to be a participant? 0:06:47.856,0:06:52.390 A responsible citizen in a democracy? 0:06:52.390,0:06:56.292 And lessons of courage and of faith? 0:06:56.292,0:06:59.062 So I find freedom movement history that includes young people 0:06:59.062,0:07:01.769 so that they can explore these big ideas 0:07:01.769,0:07:04.708 of identity, your chosen identity 0:07:04.708,0:07:07.010 and the imposed identity. 0:07:07.010,0:07:09.178 What does membership in society mean? 0:07:09.178,0:07:13.123 Who has it? How do we make amends? 0:07:13.123,0:07:17.146 Race and violence in America, 0:07:17.146,0:07:20.462 as well as participatory citizenship. 0:07:20.462,0:07:24.000 So these stories allow me to have conversations, 0:07:24.000,0:07:29.000 to speak the unspeakable, that many are afraid to have. 0:07:29.000,0:07:33.523 Once in Eugene, Oregon, a young, blond-haired, blue-eyed boy middle schooler, 0:07:33.523,0:07:35.725 at the end of a performance in the dialogue said, 0:07:35.725,0:07:39.000 "But Ms. Awele, racism's over right?" 0:07:39.000,0:07:41.000 And not wanting to answer for him, I said, well, 0:07:41.000,0:07:42.795 "Turn to the person sitting next to you. 0:07:42.795,0:07:44.645 See if you can come up with evidence." 0:07:44.645,0:07:47.123 And I gave them four minutes to talk. 0:07:47.123,0:07:53.569 Soon they began to tell stories, evidence of racism in their community. 0:07:53.569,0:07:57.446 A girl wrote to me, a high school student in San Francisco: 0:07:57.446,0:08:02.000 "I was going to skip school but then I heard we had an assembly so I came. 0:08:02.000,0:08:06.034 And after listening to the students talk and seeing your performance, 0:08:06.034,0:08:08.495 I thought I should organize my friends 0:08:08.495,0:08:10.960 and we should go down to a board meeting 0:08:10.960,0:08:13.311 and tell them we that want to have advanced classes 0:08:13.311,0:08:17.095 for A through G requirements." 0:08:17.095,0:08:20.594 And so, I tell you this story today 0:08:20.594,0:08:23.827 in honor of the legacy of young people that have come before 0:08:23.827,0:08:26.585 so that they will have guidesposts and signs 0:08:26.585,0:08:30.723 to be the change that they want to see in this world, 0:08:30.723,0:08:32.708 as Claudette Colvin was. 0:08:32.708,0:08:36.554 Because she struck down the constitutionality of segregated seats 0:08:36.554,0:08:39.800 in Montgomery, Alabama. 0:08:39.800,0:08:41.708 Thank you. 0:08:41.708,0:08:45.277 (Applause) 0:08:47.169,0:08:49.031 Thank you.