1 00:00:12,677 --> 00:00:19,000 I am Awele. Daughter of Alice, granddaughter of Ruth, 2 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:24,200 great-granddaughter of Big Momma Alice and Madir Corine 3 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:29,923 great, great granddaughter of Anna and Zitii Benyen. 4 00:00:29,923 --> 00:00:32,000 It is my hope 5 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,646 to find my best possible self in the service of others. 6 00:00:36,646 --> 00:00:40,692 Now my daddy? He used to tell me stories. 7 00:00:40,692 --> 00:00:43,000 My daddy, he would say, 8 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,000 "I want you to know who you are and where you come from. 9 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,538 That will guide you as you discover who you must be. 10 00:00:50,538 --> 00:00:53,354 Now you listen to this story, you hear me baby girl? 11 00:00:53,354 --> 00:00:55,185 It's not going to be in a book. 12 00:00:55,185 --> 00:00:57,031 Your teacher's not going to tell it, 13 00:00:57,031 --> 00:01:00,215 but you need to understand who you are." 14 00:01:00,215 --> 00:01:02,387 That became a guiding principle 15 00:01:02,387 --> 00:01:05,007 in the stories that I wanted to tell. 16 00:01:05,007 --> 00:01:09,000 Stories about legacy of who we are. 17 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,646 I used to hear all the time that children are the future, 18 00:01:12,646 --> 00:01:15,001 but what does that cliche really mean 19 00:01:15,001 --> 00:01:17,417 and how are we preparing them? 20 00:01:17,417 --> 00:01:20,015 So I looked for narratives about young people 21 00:01:20,015 --> 00:01:21,467 and the legacy that they bring 22 00:01:21,467 --> 00:01:23,262 as agents of change. 23 00:01:23,262 --> 00:01:26,000 The power that you have right now. 24 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,323 Today, March 2, 1955, 25 00:01:30,323 --> 00:01:32,738 the story that I want to share with you 26 00:01:32,738 --> 00:01:35,800 comes from 1955, March 2nd. 27 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,077 It's about a courageous 16-year old girl, 28 00:01:39,077 --> 00:01:41,631 Claudette Colvin. 29 00:01:41,631 --> 00:01:43,208 And it comes full circle today 30 00:01:43,208 --> 00:01:45,862 because a week ago today, in San Francisco, 31 00:01:45,862 --> 00:01:47,163 my middle school students, 32 00:01:47,163 --> 00:01:49,298 they performed a program that I had written, 33 00:01:49,298 --> 00:01:51,762 "Agents of Change," 34 00:01:51,762 --> 00:01:54,545 starting with the reenactment of Plessy vs. Ferguson 35 00:01:54,545 --> 00:01:57,445 from 1892 to 1896, 36 00:01:57,445 --> 00:02:00,169 moving to Brown vs. Board and a student-led strike 37 00:02:00,169 --> 00:02:02,046 by Barbara Rose Johns, 38 00:02:02,046 --> 00:02:05,523 jumping to Claudette Colvin and the Montgomery Bus Boycott 39 00:02:05,523 --> 00:02:09,292 and ending in 1960 with the sit-in movement, 40 00:02:09,292 --> 00:02:13,000 the non-violent movement led by students. 41 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,754 So I'm going to share the story 42 00:02:15,754 --> 00:02:19,231 and I would like to also share the work I do with it 43 00:02:19,231 --> 00:02:22,231 as a case study. 44 00:02:22,231 --> 00:02:27,677 I paid my dime at the front of the bus, and then I ran to the back door 45 00:02:27,677 --> 00:02:30,631 with the rest of the colored kids so the driver wouldn't take off 46 00:02:30,631 --> 00:02:32,000 before we got on. 47 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,646 Also, well, whites don't want us walking down the aisle next to them. 48 00:02:36,646 --> 00:02:39,815 When I got back on the bus, the colored section was full, 49 00:02:39,815 --> 00:02:42,607 so, I sat in the middle section. 50 00:02:42,607 --> 00:02:44,452 I took the last row seat on the left, 51 00:02:44,452 --> 00:02:46,231 it was right by the window, 52 00:02:46,231 --> 00:02:49,030 wasn't thinking about anything in particular. 53 00:02:49,030 --> 00:02:52,000 "Hey." 54 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,000 I didn't know the girl next to me either, this older girl. 55 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,462 So I just looked out the window. 56 00:02:57,462 --> 00:03:00,000 Driver went more stops, more people were getting on, 57 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:01,400 colored and white. 58 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,000 Pretty soon, no more seats were available. 59 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,523 "Give me those seats," the driver called out. 60 00:03:06,523 --> 00:03:08,338 Colored folks just started getting up. 61 00:03:08,338 --> 00:03:11,000 White folks started taking their seats, but I stayed seated. 62 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,246 Girl next to me and the other two across, they stayed seated. 63 00:03:15,246 --> 00:03:17,492 I knew it wasn't the restricted area. 64 00:03:17,492 --> 00:03:21,046 "Make light on your feet!" 65 00:03:21,046 --> 00:03:22,377 The girl next to me got up immediately. 66 00:03:22,377 --> 00:03:23,708 She stood in the aisle, then the other two girls. 67 00:03:23,708 --> 00:03:26,877 But I told myself, this isn't the restricted area. 68 00:03:26,877 --> 00:03:28,987 The driver, he looked up, 69 00:03:28,987 --> 00:03:32,536 looked in the window, that mirror. 70 00:03:32,536 --> 00:03:37,138 He pulled over. A pregnant lady, Mrs. Hamilton, got on the bus. 71 00:03:37,138 --> 00:03:39,165 She ran to the back and got on, 72 00:03:39,165 --> 00:03:42,198 not knowing he was trying to have me relinquish my seat. 73 00:03:42,198 --> 00:03:44,369 And she sat right next to me. 74 00:03:44,369 --> 00:03:47,200 "The two of you need to get up so I can drive on." 75 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:50,708 "Sir, I paid my dime, I paid my fare. 76 00:03:50,708 --> 00:03:52,769 It's my right, you know, my constitutional ... " 77 00:03:52,769 --> 00:03:56,769 "Constitutional? Ha ha, let me get the police." 78 00:03:56,769 --> 00:03:59,000 Well he got off and he flagged down two motormen 79 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:00,439 and they came. 80 00:04:00,439 --> 00:04:04,000 And those motormen, they came onto the bus. 81 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,815 Looked at Mrs. Hamilton, 82 00:04:05,815 --> 00:04:08,846 "Now the two of you need to get up so the driver can drive on." 83 00:04:08,846 --> 00:04:12,308 "Sir, I paid my dime. I'm pregnant. 84 00:04:12,308 --> 00:04:15,308 If I were to move right now, I'd be very sick, sir." 85 00:04:15,308 --> 00:04:17,815 "Sir, I paid my dime too, you know, and it's my right, 86 00:04:17,815 --> 00:04:19,831 my constitutional right. 87 00:04:19,831 --> 00:04:21,377 I'm a citizen of the United States. 88 00:04:21,377 --> 00:04:23,089 You just read the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendment -- 89 00:04:23,089 --> 00:04:24,662 it'll tell you so. 90 00:04:24,662 --> 00:04:27,123 I know the law. My teacher, she taught it at school." 91 00:04:27,123 --> 00:04:29,546 You see, my teacher, she taught the Constitution, 92 00:04:29,546 --> 00:04:31,912 the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, 93 00:04:31,912 --> 00:04:34,908 Patrick Henry's speech -- I even memorized it. 94 00:04:34,908 --> 00:04:38,000 My teacher, she would prick our minds, 95 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,338 trying to see what we thinking about. 96 00:04:40,338 --> 00:04:43,000 She would say, "Who are you? Hmm? 97 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,600 Who are you sitting right here right now? 98 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:47,600 The person that people think they see 99 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:49,231 from your outside? 100 00:04:49,231 --> 00:04:51,273 Who are you on the inside? How you think? 101 00:04:51,273 --> 00:04:53,272 How you feel? What you believe? 102 00:04:53,272 --> 00:04:56,003 Would you be willing to stand up for what you believe in 103 00:04:56,003 --> 00:04:57,726 even if someone wants to hold you back 104 00:04:57,726 --> 00:04:59,781 because you're different? 105 00:04:59,781 --> 00:05:03,692 Do you love your beautiful brown skin children? Hmm? 106 00:05:03,692 --> 00:05:06,600 Are you American? 107 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:08,692 What does it mean to be an American? Huh? 108 00:05:08,692 --> 00:05:12,569 Homework tonight, write me an essay: What does it mean to be an American? 109 00:05:12,569 --> 00:05:14,646 You need to know who you are, children!" 110 00:05:14,646 --> 00:05:17,662 My teacher, she would teach us history and current events. 111 00:05:17,662 --> 00:05:21,400 She said that's how we can understand everything that's going on 112 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:23,523 and we can do something about it. 113 00:05:23,523 --> 00:05:27,046 "Sir, all I know is I hate Jim Crow. 114 00:05:27,046 --> 00:05:29,308 I also know that if I ain't got something worth living for, 115 00:05:29,308 --> 00:05:30,546 I ain't got nothing worth dying for. 116 00:05:30,546 --> 00:05:32,281 So give me liberty or give me death! 117 00:05:32,281 --> 00:05:35,480 Ouch! I don't care! Take me to jail." 118 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:37,579 They dragged her off the bus. 119 00:05:37,579 --> 00:05:40,962 Next thing, Claudette Colvin was in a carseat, 120 00:05:40,962 --> 00:05:42,923 backseat of the police car, 121 00:05:42,923 --> 00:05:47,846 handcuffed through the windows. 122 00:05:47,846 --> 00:05:52,769 The following year, May 11, 1956, 123 00:05:52,769 --> 00:05:57,015 Claudette Colvin was the star witness in the federal court case, 124 00:05:57,015 --> 00:05:59,200 Browder vs. Gayle. 125 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,000 Her, an 18-year-old teenager 126 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:08,000 and two others, women, Mrs. Browder. 127 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:13,000 Their case, Browder v. Gayle, went up to the supreme court. 128 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,778 On the heels of Brown vs. Board of Education, the Fourteenth Amendment 129 00:06:16,778 --> 00:06:23,954 and her powerful testimony that day, the rest is history. 130 00:06:23,954 --> 00:06:27,000 Now why is it we don't know this story? 131 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:28,277 The Montgomery Busy Boycott -- 132 00:06:28,277 --> 00:06:30,075 we hear Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, 133 00:06:30,075 --> 00:06:32,641 they will forever be lifted up. 134 00:06:32,641 --> 00:06:35,708 But the role of women that played in that movement, 135 00:06:35,708 --> 00:06:39,738 the role of Claudette, as an upstander, 136 00:06:39,738 --> 00:06:44,031 it teaches us important lessons that challenge us today. 137 00:06:44,031 --> 00:06:47,856 What does it mean to be a participant? 138 00:06:47,856 --> 00:06:52,390 A responsible citizen in a democracy? 139 00:06:52,390 --> 00:06:56,292 And lessons of courage and of faith? 140 00:06:56,292 --> 00:06:59,062 So I find freedom movement history that includes young people 141 00:06:59,062 --> 00:07:01,769 so that they can explore these big ideas 142 00:07:01,769 --> 00:07:04,708 of identity, your chosen identity 143 00:07:04,708 --> 00:07:07,010 and the imposed identity. 144 00:07:07,010 --> 00:07:09,178 What does membership in society mean? 145 00:07:09,178 --> 00:07:13,123 Who has it? How do we make amends? 146 00:07:13,123 --> 00:07:17,146 Race and violence in America, 147 00:07:17,146 --> 00:07:20,462 as well as participatory citizenship. 148 00:07:20,462 --> 00:07:24,000 So these stories allow me to have conversations, 149 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:29,000 to speak the unspeakable, that many are afraid to have. 150 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:33,523 Once in Eugene, Oregon, a young, blond-haired, blue-eyed boy middle schooler, 151 00:07:33,523 --> 00:07:35,725 at the end of a performance in the dialogue said, 152 00:07:35,725 --> 00:07:39,000 "But Ms. Awele, racism's over right?" 153 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,000 And not wanting to answer for him, I said, well, 154 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:42,795 "Turn to the person sitting next to you. 155 00:07:42,795 --> 00:07:44,645 See if you can come up with evidence." 156 00:07:44,645 --> 00:07:47,123 And I gave them four minutes to talk. 157 00:07:47,123 --> 00:07:53,569 Soon they began to tell stories, evidence of racism in their community. 158 00:07:53,569 --> 00:07:57,446 A girl wrote to me, a high school student in San Francisco: 159 00:07:57,446 --> 00:08:02,000 "I was going to skip school but then I heard we had an assembly so I came. 160 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:06,034 And after listening to the students talk and seeing your performance, 161 00:08:06,034 --> 00:08:08,495 I thought I should organize my friends 162 00:08:08,495 --> 00:08:10,960 and we should go down to a board meeting 163 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:13,311 and tell them we that want to have advanced classes 164 00:08:13,311 --> 00:08:17,095 for A through G requirements." 165 00:08:17,095 --> 00:08:20,594 And so, I tell you this story today 166 00:08:20,594 --> 00:08:23,827 in honor of the legacy of young people that have come before 167 00:08:23,827 --> 00:08:26,585 so that they will have guidesposts and signs 168 00:08:26,585 --> 00:08:30,723 to be the change that they want to see in this world, 169 00:08:30,723 --> 00:08:32,708 as Claudette Colvin was. 170 00:08:32,708 --> 00:08:36,554 Because she struck down the constitutionality of segregated seats 171 00:08:36,554 --> 00:08:39,800 in Montgomery, Alabama. 172 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:41,708 Thank you. 173 00:08:41,708 --> 00:08:45,277 (Applause) 174 00:08:47,169 --> 00:08:49,031 Thank you.