"They’re doing it, and they’re making all the mistakes, and they’re doing it right." Civil rights leaders old and young describe how activism is different today than for the leaders of the 1960s movement — but still as important.

The power of nonviolent resistance

May 30th, 2019 20m 44s

"The violence trained me to be nonviolent." A longtime civil rights activist and a leader from a younger generation discuss the tension that exists when discussing the most effective paths to change.

How music propelled the civil rights movement

May 23rd, 2019 20m 13s

"Without songs, we couldn’t have had a movement." Civil rights activists describe how in jail, music was the one thing that couldn’t be taken from them — and it propelled the movement forward.

How segregationist George Wallace became a model for racial reconciliation

May 16th, 2019 16m 20s

"He was the epitome of the legacy of a slave master, and this man kept my people down." Rep. Barbara Lee and Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of former Alabama governor George Wallace, recount how Wallace renounced his segregationist views.

Women of the civil rights movement

May 9th, 2019 23m 31s

"The movement never would have happened had it not been for these heroic women." Rep. Barbara Lee and Andrew Young explain why women are so often eliminated from civil rights stories — and why that’s so wrong.

The story of Bloody Sunday and today’s pilgrimage to Selma

Apr 25th, 2019 25m 14s

"I called it good trouble. I called it necessary trouble." Congressman John Lewis and others who were there recall marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., to protest the suppression of black votes.

How MLK's famous letter was smuggled out of jail

Apr 18th, 2019 19m 46s

"The Letter from Birmingham Jail became immortal from this combination of very odd circumstances." Clarence B. Jones, Martin Luther King Jr.’s lawyer and occasional speechwriter, describes how he smuggled the letter.

Children 'stripped of innocence'

Apr 11th, 2019 25m 1s

"No one ever said to me, Are you okay? Are you afraid? Because I was." A member of the Little Rock Nine and a survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing both lost the illusion of safety in their young lives.

The day Martin Luther King Jr. died

Apr 4th, 2019 18m 48s

"You can only choose what it is you give your life for." Andrew Young, King’s chief strategist with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and others who were close to King recall the moment they heard of his assassination.

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