Part 2
Remembering the Civil Rights Movement
TRACK 8 REFLECTIONS ON THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT and DR. HAROLD L. MARTIN (1:31)
SNAPSHOT: This track begins with the narrator identifying the unfinished business of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment and introduces Dr. Harold L. Martin, chancellor of North Carolina A&T University. Dr. Martin tells a story from his childhood when, as a young African American boy traveling with his family, he was not allowed to enter a gas station because he was African American. He reflects on progress made toward inclusion in his lifetime.
THEMES: Jim Crow, equity
TEXT: TRANSCRIPT- REFLECTIONS ON THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT and DR. HAROLD MARTIN
TRACK 9 NONVIOLENCE and JOHN LEWIS ON NONVIOLENCE (2:02)
SNAPSHOT: The narrator and children start this track by identifying nonviolence as the path chosen by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others to change the country; a child asks what inspired this choice? The Honorable John Lewis speaks briefly about the sources of his interest and belief in loving nonviolence, not only as a way to change society, but as a way of life.
THEMES: Nonviolence, love, forgiveness, the burden of hatred
TEXT: TRANSCRIPT- NONVIOLENCE and JOHN LEWIS ON NONVIOLENCE
TRACK 10 LOVE (2:27)
SNAPSHOT: In this original song, a series of challenging feelings—anger, doubt, mistreatment, fear—are transformed into love through writing and marching.
THEMES: The transformative powers of art and activism; art and activism as healing
TEXT: "LOVE" LYRICS
TRACK 11 REMEMBERING CIVIL RIGHTS DEMONSTRATIONS - JULIAN BOND, ANDREW JACKSON, JOHN LEWIS, AND FRANKLIN MCCAIN (5:07)
SNAPSHOT: Four prominent leaders recount their actions as young men in the early 1960s, remembering nonviolent protests, getting arrested at sit-ins, and reflecting on their decisions to work for change in the world.
THEMES: sacrifice, courage, danger, nonviolence
TRACK 12 WAS IT DANGEROUS DURING CIVIL RIGHTS? And WE STOOD UP (2:39)
SNAPSHOT: The narrator summarizes Rosa Parks’s refusal and arrest. Then an original song recounts the stories of Rosa Parks and the Greensboro Four- civil rights activists whose resistance led to changes in laws and policies. The song says that these radical acts of sitting down and risking arrest are actually about standing up for change.
THEMES: Protest, changing laws through nonviolent action
TEXTS: TRANSCRIPT- WAS IT DANGEROUS DURING CIVIL RIGHTS? and WE STOOD UP LYRICS
TRACK 13 1963-1965: REMEMBERING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON, and THE CIVIL RIGHTS AND VOTING RIGHTS ACTS (10:35)
SNAPSHOT: This track brings together separate statements from and about Dr. King, marchers and speakers from the 1963 March on Washington, and ends with a recap of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, two hard-won victories of the activism recounted here. It begins with a brief statement by Dr. King affirming freedom as the goal of America and continues with several civil rights leaders remembering their personal connections to Dr. King. Isaiah Tidwell reminisces about the 1963 commencement address Dr. King gave for African American high school graduates in Charlotte, North Carolina; Dr. King had just been released from Birmingham jail and was on his way to the Washington DC area to prepare for the historic march. Shirley Franklin, John Lewis, and Rabbi Harry Sky then recount and reflect upon their experiences at the March on Washington.
THEMES: Inspiration, purpose, unity, hope
TRACK 14 NO MORE US & THEM (3:33)
SNAPSHOT: This is an original song about the power of unity. A singer and children’s chorus sing about how much more we can accomplish when we work together as “we” instead of dividing ourselves into “us” and “them.” A brief quotation from MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech is woven into the song.
THEMES: Unity, the power and unlimited potential of togetherness