The Rosa Parks Story (2002)
The Rosa Parks Story (2002)
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00 Wait now, she's coming, she's coming.
00:00:02 All the English people, Rosie.
00:00:04 All the G.P. people are coming.
00:00:06 We're going that way towards the boys.
00:00:08 The editor of Look Magazine is here with us, photographer.
00:00:11 Everybody's with you.
00:00:13 Rosie, you can do this.
00:00:14 It's time.
00:00:15 Rosie, you should just do it.
00:00:17 Rosie, you don't have to do this.
00:00:19 If you don't want to.
00:00:21 I know.
00:00:24 I'm so proud of you.
00:00:26 We're behind you, Mrs. President.
00:00:28 I know you can do this.
00:00:30 I'm so proud of you.
00:00:32 Thank you.
00:00:35 We're behind you, Mrs. President.
00:00:37 We believe in you.
00:00:39 I know you can do this.
00:00:41 I'm so proud of you.
00:00:43 Thank you.
00:00:45 Live long, girls, live long.
00:00:57 Rosie, what were you thinking when you refused to give up your seat?
00:01:07 I wanted to set up.
00:01:10 [gun cocks]
00:01:34 [indistinct chatter]
00:01:37 Miss Parker, give us a smile.
00:02:04 Yeah.
00:02:06 Okay, all right.
00:02:08 Set up right now.
00:02:11 Mrs. Barnes, all right.
00:02:15 Mrs. Barnes.
00:02:17 Rosie?
00:02:19 Rosie?
00:02:21 Rosie, Rosie, come on.
00:02:23 We got our girls here.
00:02:25 I wish I was going here.
00:02:27 Rosie?
00:02:29 Rosie, Rosie, come on now, baby.
00:02:31 Charlie?
00:02:33 Rosie, you be sure and behave yourself now.
00:02:40 Pay attention.
00:02:42 Miss White's school calls smiling.
00:02:45 Speak only when you're spoken to.
00:02:48 Teacher asks a question, you know the answer.
00:02:51 Open your mouth. Don't be shy.
00:02:54 Let her know what a smart little girl her new student is, baby.
00:02:59 Yes, ma'am.
00:03:01 [indistinct chatter]
00:03:04 Good morning, Miss White.
00:03:12 Good morning, girls.
00:03:14 We have a new pupil joining us today, Rosa McCauley.
00:03:19 You can sit right back there.
00:03:22 Thank you, Miss White.
00:03:28 I need to see everyone's eyes up front, please.
00:03:32 Thank you.
00:03:34 [indistinct chatter]
00:03:37 [indistinct chatter]
00:03:40 [indistinct chatter]
00:03:43 [indistinct chatter]
00:03:46 [indistinct chatter]
00:03:49 [indistinct chatter]
00:03:52 You're from the country, aren't you?
00:03:54 Kind of.
00:03:57 I've heard of that. I don't know where it is, but I've heard of it.
00:04:00 I'm Rebecca Daniels. You can call me Johnny.
00:04:03 So, what do you think about Miss White's school so far?
00:04:06 It's a lot different from what I'm used to.
00:04:08 But this is the first time you was ever in the schoolroom
00:04:11 with just the right-on and glass in the windows,
00:04:14 and you never seen a chalkboard before or had a white teacher?
00:04:17 How do you know all this?
00:04:19 Only country girls eat tomato sandwiches.
00:04:22 [indistinct chatter]
00:04:25 [indistinct chatter]
00:04:28 [indistinct chatter]
00:04:31 [indistinct chatter]
00:04:34 [indistinct chatter]
00:04:37 Please pass your tests forward.
00:04:40 Rowena, did you not do well on your test?
00:04:43 I never do well, Miss Barton. I'm too stupid.
00:04:46 Rowena, you are not stupid.
00:04:49 I don't know why we're bothering with all this reading and arithmetic
00:04:52 when all we're going to end up doing for jobs is
00:04:55 washing somebody's clothes and wiping their baby's snotty noses.
00:04:58 Does anybody want to answer Rowena's question?
00:05:01 [indistinct chatter]
00:05:04 Rosa, why do we bother?
00:05:07 Rosa, why do we bother?
00:05:10 We bother so we can be equal to everybody else.
00:05:13 We're not equal to everybody else.
00:05:16 We're not equal to white folks.
00:05:19 [indistinct chatter]
00:05:22 I was raised to believe if I put my mind to it,
00:05:25 I could do whatever I wanted in this world.
00:05:28 I decided no one's better than me, no man, no woman,
00:05:31 black or white, no one.
00:05:34 If white folks say-- No one.
00:05:37 A person can take everything from you, even your life, but they can't take your dignity.
00:05:40 Can't nobody take that from you, but you.
00:05:43 That's what my grandma and my grandpappy told me, and I believe it.
00:05:46 If you learn nothing else at Mrs. White's school,
00:05:49 may the blessed Lord help you remember what Rosa just taught you.
00:05:52 Amen!
00:05:55 [indistinct chatter]
00:05:58 You ain't been nowhere else, Rosa.
00:06:01 It's all right.
00:06:04 I love you.
00:06:07 [indistinct chatter]
00:06:10 Rosa? Rosa?
00:06:13 Oh, yes, ma'am. How is your mother?
00:06:16 She's doing fair.
00:06:19 I'm coming over to see her real soon, hear?
00:06:22 Yes, ma'am. Bye-bye.
00:06:25 [indistinct chatter]
00:06:28 We wear the mask that grins and lies.
00:06:31 It hides our cheeks and shaves our eyes.
00:06:34 Mm-hmm.
00:06:37 We pay the human guide
00:06:40 with torn and bleeding hearts.
00:06:43 We smile.
00:06:46 Pogs, don't let me have to take that straight raise out of your hands.
00:06:49 What? [laughter]
00:06:52 Those are the words of Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
00:06:55 Who? A great Negro poet.
00:06:58 Must have been one of them challenges there.
00:07:01 Real conker-buster.
00:07:04 [indistinct chatter]
00:07:07 [indistinct chatter]
00:07:10 [indistinct chatter]
00:07:13 [indistinct chatter]
00:07:16 [indistinct chatter]
00:07:19 We're working against time
00:07:22 to get the Scottsboro Boys free.
00:07:25 Well, at least off their throne.
00:07:28 The overseas newspapers are starting to make a ruckus about it.
00:07:31 The NAACP tried-- The NAACP's just a bunch of scared old men
00:07:35 who blow hot and cold.
00:07:38 It's gonna take money to help those boys, a lot of it.
00:07:41 So I'm working with a group here in Montgomery, trying to raise them.
00:07:44 It's dangerous business, Pogs.
00:07:47 [indistinct chatter]
00:07:50 There may be-- What are you doing now?
00:07:53 Pog's trying to rob the Crater, those high school guys.
00:07:56 What about the one in the purple sweater? I've never seen her before.
00:07:59 She's a new girl. Where I stand, brother, she look better than new.
00:08:02 [indistinct chatter]
00:08:05 Hello, hello. Hello there, lady.
00:08:08 Hello, Pogs.
00:08:11 No need to stand out in the rain?
00:08:14 All right.
00:08:17 It'd be a crying shame to get that pretty sweater all wet.
00:08:23 It's just water. It'll dry.
00:08:27 Under that bright, sunny smile, I'm sure it will.
00:08:31 There's some newspaper. Take home what you like.
00:08:35 Negro newspapers may be hard to come by, but not in this shop.
00:08:40 Isn't he cute?
00:08:43 Pogs, girl. Raymond Pogs.
00:08:46 This Chicago defender.
00:08:49 He too light-skinned for my taste.
00:08:52 But he just right for me.
00:08:55 I reckon we can scotch-borrow a boy with a legal defense fund.
00:08:58 Really? Life is about facing danger, my friends.
00:09:02 About taking risks. We have to stand up for what's right,
00:09:06 even if we have to put our lives on the line.
00:09:10 The way I see it, every Negro in this town
00:09:13 should be behind supporting those scotch-borrow boys.
00:09:16 They need money for their legal defense fund.
00:09:20 And I have the address right here
00:09:23 where you can make your contribution.
00:09:26 That's the shop I'm talking about.
00:09:29 Let's go.
00:09:31 I'm just gonna go into the store.
00:09:36 I think we should leave. We don't have any business being in here.
00:09:43 We already were in here.
00:09:47 We wear the mask
00:09:50 that hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,
00:09:54 beneath our feet and along the mile.
00:09:58 But let the world dream otherwise.
00:10:02 We wear the mask...
00:10:05 Paul Lawrence Gunfire.
00:10:10 Here we go.
00:10:13 I better be getting home. I'll see y'all later.
00:10:16 Wait, Rosie! Wait, Rosie!
00:10:19 (laughing)
00:10:22 Hey, I'm Raymond Parrs.
00:10:36 Everybody calls me Parr. I wish you would, too.
00:10:40 I-I-I have to go.
00:10:43 What's your name?
00:10:46 You getting wet?
00:10:48 You better hurry up and tell me your name before I drop.
00:10:52 I-I really do. I have to go home.
00:10:55 I fell in love with a gal. I thought was kind.
00:10:59 She made me lose my mind.
00:11:02 And almost lose my mind.
00:11:06 Man.
00:11:09 You're gonna make me late for work.
00:11:12 What's her name?
00:11:14 Fanny? What's her name, girl?
00:11:17 I shouldn't tell you.
00:11:19 Well, sure you should. Or you wouldn't be sweet Fanny.
00:11:23 Rosa. Our cousin's name is Rosa Louise McCauley.
00:11:28 Thank you, Fanny.
00:11:31 Tell your cousin I'll be seeing her.
00:11:35 I'm paying for a shave here, fancy man.
00:11:38 What you paying for is my first date with Rosa Louise McCauley.
00:11:44 (laughing)
00:11:47 I got you. Huh?
00:11:49 Drive down near Tennessee.
00:11:51 Mm-hmm. Right up near the border.
00:11:53 Those folks are plenty mad over this.
00:11:56 Of course they're mad, but they're not mad enough to do it.
00:12:00 Of course they're mad, brother.
00:12:02 Everybody knows them boys didn't break those white girls in that train.
00:12:06 There's even talk about the NAACP coming down from New York.
00:12:09 Oh, they just gonna make it worse for everybody.
00:12:12 They've been sentenced to die, Mama.
00:12:14 How much worse can it get?
00:12:17 What can that be?
00:12:21 Hmm? What can that be?
00:12:23 Can't be nobody we know, not with a car.
00:12:26 That's not just a car.
00:12:28 That's a studor baker, a red studor baker with a colored man getting out.
00:12:32 (laughing)
00:12:35 Hey, man. How you doing?
00:12:38 How you doing? All right.
00:12:40 Wow. A real studor baker.
00:12:43 Mama? It's him.
00:12:46 Him who?
00:12:48 Oh, uh, the barber, Mama.
00:12:51 Uh, Parks. Raymond Parks, I think.
00:12:54 That's what he said his name was.
00:12:56 He said he'd get to meet a barber. I've been meeting him. He met me.
00:12:59 Motion picture camera, something like that. Go on. I want a new poker game.
00:13:03 But I can't see.
00:13:05 Mama, go out there and tell him I'm not at home.
00:13:09 (engine rumbling)
00:13:12 (phone rings)
00:13:36 Hey, man. How you doing?
00:13:39 Listen, I'm looking for Rosa. Is she home?
00:13:41 Ooh. Rosa!
00:13:44 Guess not, man. I see you came by, though.
00:13:47 Yeah, all right. Give her these.
00:13:49 I'll do that. Still want to learn how to drive, though.
00:13:51 Put in a good word for me.
00:13:53 I'll do that. I'll do that. I'll do that.
00:13:55 (engine rumbling)
00:13:57 (phone rings)
00:13:58 Rosa, that man here again.
00:14:00 Hey, man. How you doing?
00:14:03 I'm all right. Is your sister in?
00:14:06 She can't come to the door right now, man.
00:14:08 I tell her you came by, though.
00:14:10 I know you did.
00:14:12 (phone rings)
00:14:14 He's here again?
00:14:21 Rosa, I am just fresh out of patience with you now.
00:14:31 I don't know why he keeps coming back.
00:14:34 Come on, ladies. It's the party.
00:14:40 What'd he say, Mama?
00:14:48 He said it's a good thing gladiolas grow year-round.
00:14:58 (birds chirping)
00:15:01 Come on, I want to show you something.
00:15:04 Ooh, I should have known about this.
00:15:07 I'd have brought my baby in soon.
00:15:09 Oh, it's a little muddy for swimming,
00:15:12 but it's great for fishing.
00:15:14 Oh.
00:15:16 My grandpapa taught me how to fish.
00:15:18 I sure do miss him, even after all these years.
00:15:22 He was born not too far from here.
00:15:25 Spent close to half his life as a slave.
00:15:28 He ever talk about you?
00:15:31 Not to me.
00:15:33 (laughing)
00:15:35 I used to beg my grandpapa's hook
00:15:39 when his eyesight got too bad.
00:15:42 Oh, we'd sit for hours,
00:15:46 talk about anything and everything.
00:15:49 Sometimes we'd say nothing at all.
00:15:52 Mama, she used to tease.
00:15:55 She said, "I learned to fish before I could even walk."
00:15:59 I don't know about that, but oh, I sure do love it.
00:16:05 Did you fish much?
00:16:14 No.
00:16:16 Your daddy never taught you how?
00:16:20 Told you how?
00:16:23 My daddy never taught me much of anything.
00:16:27 Except maybe how many different ways I could eat him.
00:16:31 Oh.
00:16:33 Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--
00:16:35 No, that's all right.
00:16:38 Pops was a carpenter.
00:16:41 He was also white, close enough to pass for most of the time.
00:16:45 That was his problem, was those times he couldn't pass that...
00:16:50 He ate away at him.
00:16:54 Took it out on my mother.
00:16:57 Him, he...
00:17:00 When he finally took off, we had ourselves a little party.
00:17:06 We heard he died falling off a roof.
00:17:11 I had myself an even bigger party.
00:17:16 A real big party.
00:17:36 [sniffles]
00:17:39 [sniffles]
00:17:42 [sniffles]
00:17:45 [grunts]
00:17:55 This is all I need.
00:17:58 Dang it.
00:18:04 Don't worry. It'll be all right.
00:18:07 Whoo! Whose car is this?
00:18:18 Mine.
00:18:21 You wouldn't be lying to me now, would you, boy?
00:18:31 I can vouch that this car is his.
00:18:35 Is that right?
00:18:38 I got the ownership papers right here.
00:18:41 You're moving too fast, boy.
00:18:45 Calling all cars. Calling all cars.
00:18:55 Get your ass off the road.
00:18:58 Calling all cars.
00:19:01 I think this car's mine.
00:19:04 [siren wailing]
00:19:22 [siren wailing]
00:19:25 You did the right thing, Parks.
00:19:31 I didn't do anything.
00:19:35 Sometimes that's the right thing.
00:19:39 Sometimes it ain't.
00:19:42 I know that, too.
00:19:46 [siren wailing]
00:19:49 [upbeat music]
00:19:56 ♪ ♪
00:19:59 [indistinct chatter]
00:20:02 Plan must likely lynch these boys.
00:20:05 They aren't gonna stand for any local color group
00:20:07 working on that Scottsboro case.
00:20:09 You ready?
00:20:13 [indistinct chatter]
00:20:16 ♪ ♪
00:20:23 ♪ ♪
00:20:30 ♪ ♪
00:20:37 ♪ ♪
00:20:44 ♪ ♪
00:20:51 Mr. Jeter?
00:20:53 This is Rosa McCauley.
00:20:56 I'm looking for Parks.
00:20:59 Is he there?
00:21:02 Not since he went on down there to Scottsboro.
00:21:05 No, I told him not to go on down there by himself
00:21:07 with all them people, but you know what he's like.
00:21:10 He just gets a talking and go.
00:21:12 Rosa!
00:21:15 [crowd cheering]
00:21:21 [crowd cheering]
00:21:24 [crowd cheering]
00:21:27 [crowd cheering]
00:21:30 ♪ ♪
00:21:37 ♪ ♪
00:21:42 [indistinct chatter]
00:21:45 ♪ ♪
00:21:52 ♪ ♪
00:21:57 ♪ ♪
00:22:02 Brother, do you think they'll rob a suitor?
00:22:05 Ain't the only way to find out.
00:22:07 If they catch you, you're gonna get us all in trouble.
00:22:09 Not if I switch the signs first.
00:22:12 ♪ ♪
00:22:17 ♪ ♪
00:22:24 Why don't you put your lips on that water?
00:22:26 I think it tastes a little worse if I rush them ice.
00:22:29 [laughing]
00:22:31 Get on back now. Get on back now, get!
00:22:34 ♪ ♪
00:22:36 I bet she's came to a different sort of save.
00:22:39 ♪ ♪
00:22:46 ♪ ♪
00:22:53 I'm gonna change the signs back.
00:22:55 Rosa!
00:22:57 Rosa!
00:22:59 ♪ ♪
00:23:06 [indistinct chatter]
00:23:09 ♪ ♪
00:23:12 Help us, our father, to realize how far we ourselves
00:23:17 are responsible for weakness,
00:23:20 sickness, and pain.
00:23:23 Help us to know--
00:23:25 [crying]
00:23:28 ♪ ♪
00:23:34 Why did you--
00:23:37 I thought that you were dead.
00:23:40 I know.
00:23:42 I'm so sorry.
00:23:44 How did you get--
00:23:46 Your car's not outside. Where's your--
00:23:48 I'm all right. I'm all right.
00:23:51 ♪ ♪
00:23:53 What happened to your face?
00:23:56 I sold the car.
00:23:59 ♪ ♪
00:24:05 As long as I have you, I don't need anything else.
00:24:08 ♪ ♪
00:24:11 May God bless you and keep you.
00:24:13 I now pronounce you husband and wife.
00:24:15 Mr. Parks, you may now salute Mrs. Parks.
00:24:19 [applause]
00:24:22 ♪ ♪
00:24:29 [indistinct chatter]
00:24:32 ♪ ♪
00:24:35 - Thanks.
00:24:37 ♪ ♪
00:24:44 [indistinct chatter]
00:24:47 ♪ ♪
00:24:54 [indistinct chatter]
00:24:57 [indistinct chatter]
00:25:00 ♪ ♪
00:25:07 [indistinct chatter]
00:25:10 ♪ ♪
00:25:17 [indistinct chatter]
00:25:20 ♪ ♪
00:25:30 [indistinct chatter]
00:25:33 ♪ ♪
00:25:40 [indistinct chatter]
00:25:43 ♪ ♪
00:25:46 - Hey.
00:25:48 What do you think you're doing?
00:25:51 - You don't get it, do you?
00:25:53 - I'm just going to get someone to shake it up.
00:25:56 - I said, what do you think you're doing?
00:25:59 ♪ ♪
00:26:01 - I'm going to Cleveland Avenue.
00:26:04 - Well, if you're going on this bus,
00:26:06 you're going to get off and come back home in the back.
00:26:11 - Get off for what?
00:26:13 I'm already on. Besides, it's raining.
00:26:15 - I don't care if the sky is falling.
00:26:18 You are going to ride with my bus.
00:26:21 You're going to get off and come back home round the back.
00:26:25 - That's right.
00:26:27 - Do you hear me?
00:26:30 ♪ ♪
00:26:32 - Do not put your hands on me.
00:26:36 ♪ ♪
00:26:39 - Eddie, get to it. Let's go.
00:26:42 ♪ ♪
00:26:47 - Come on!
00:26:49 ♪ ♪
00:26:56 - Come on!
00:27:00 ♪ ♪
00:27:05 - Oh!
00:27:06 - Oh, I'm not sitting next to her.
00:27:09 ♪ ♪
00:27:18 - Get off the bus.
00:27:21 ♪ ♪
00:27:28 [train rumbling]
00:27:31 ♪ ♪
00:27:41 [train rumbling]
00:27:44 ♪ ♪
00:27:54 [train rumbling]
00:27:57 ♪ ♪
00:28:04 [crying]
00:28:07 ♪ ♪
00:28:12 [laughing]
00:28:14 - Maybe you can get out of it.
00:28:17 - It's a conscription letter, Mama.
00:28:19 You don't get out of being drafted.
00:28:21 - But there must be somebody to write to.
00:28:24 - And tell them what?
00:28:25 - I think it's been a terrible mistake, Mr. Roosevelt,
00:28:28 but my mama don't think I should be off fighting in nobody's war.
00:28:30 - Well, what's wrong with that?
00:28:32 It's the truth.
00:28:33 [laughing]
00:28:34 - Oh, Raymond.
00:28:35 - Instead of trying to make the world safe for democracy,
00:28:38 this damn country ought to be trying to make Alabama
00:28:40 safe for the Negro.
00:28:42 - Well, now, that's truth.
00:28:43 - Well, there's Rosa.
00:28:45 - [gasps]
00:28:46 - My God.
00:28:47 - What happened?
00:28:50 - Rosa?
00:28:52 - I...
00:28:54 walked home.
00:28:55 - Walk? That's over five miles.
00:28:58 - Did you miss the bus, baby?
00:29:00 - No.
00:29:01 - What happened?
00:29:03 - I was put off.
00:29:06 - You were thrown off the bus? Why?
00:29:08 - What difference does it make?
00:29:10 - I'll get some coffee.
00:29:11 Get out of the wet clothes.
00:29:13 - My God, you're soaked.
00:29:15 [sobbing]
00:29:20 - Faith, that's our fair warning
00:29:23 of how we can have a good and beautiful country.
00:29:26 [thunder rumbling]
00:29:29 [rain pattering]
00:29:32 [thunder rumbling]
00:29:35 [thunder rumbling]
00:29:38 [thunder rumbling]
00:29:41 - Did he put his hands on you?
00:29:44 - No.
00:29:47 He wanted to.
00:29:50 - Why'd he put you off the bus?
00:29:55 - 'Cause I did not want to pay my fare.
00:29:59 Get off and get back on in the back.
00:30:03 - All right.
00:30:06 Go on, lay back.
00:30:09 Go on, lay back, lay back, lay back.
00:30:12 That's right.
00:30:15 It's been like that ever since there was trolleys.
00:30:30 - What does that have to do with anything?
00:30:32 - I don't know.
00:30:33 - Well, does that make it right?
00:30:37 - I didn't say it was right.
00:30:41 I said that's the way it's always been.
00:30:44 - The last time I checked,
00:30:46 the dime I pay for the token to ride those buses
00:30:48 is the same color as the dime the white folks use.
00:30:51 We are paying to be humiliated,
00:30:54 and it does not make sense.
00:30:56 - Since when do these pecker words ever make sense?
00:31:01 - I'm telling you, Max,
00:31:04 I will never forget the driver's face.
00:31:09 Forget the driver's face.
00:31:12 - Rosie?
00:31:35 Rosie, didn't you go to school with a girl named Johnny?
00:31:39 He's here in the paper.
00:31:42 Rosie?
00:31:46 Rosie, didn't you go to school with a girl named Johnny?
00:31:51 What?
00:31:54 [music]
00:31:59 - After the Double B campaign--
00:32:16 - Can we help you?
00:32:18 - I'm sorry for interrupting.
00:32:20 I'm here to see someone.
00:32:22 - Rosie?
00:32:24 [laughter]
00:32:27 - Oh, girl!
00:32:29 [laughter]
00:32:32 - Johnny, so good to see you.
00:32:36 Now, what you doing here?
00:32:37 - Well, I saw your picture in the paper.
00:32:40 - You got me to get--
00:32:42 - I'm sorry.
00:32:43 - No, we're talking to him.
00:32:44 - No, come on.
00:32:45 - No, no, no, stay here.
00:32:48 This is important.
00:32:49 This is my best friend, everybody.
00:32:52 Now, RD, would you let her have this chair, please?
00:32:55 Okay, stay right here.
00:32:57 Sit right there.
00:33:00 - Now, wait a minute, hold on now.
00:33:02 Are you a member?
00:33:03 - Member?
00:33:05 - Of the NAACP.
00:33:07 That's us.
00:33:08 The people you just interrupted.
00:33:10 - Well, no.
00:33:13 No, no, you sit right here.
00:33:17 - Well, you are hereby a member in good standing.
00:33:21 Dues are collected at the end of the month.
00:33:24 - We're beginning a membership drive.
00:33:26 - And you'll be an even better member,
00:33:30 if you take good notes.
00:33:33 - Well, I guess I can.
00:33:38 - The loud one, that's E.D. Nixon, the president.
00:33:42 He's a poor man put on his regular job.
00:33:45 He's noisy, but harmless.
00:33:48 - We've got a big campaign going.
00:33:50 - You ladies need a ride anywhere?
00:33:51 - No, no, we're gonna have lunch.
00:33:54 Take my friend to lunch.
00:33:57 Oh, excuse me.
00:33:58 Mr. Nixon, I do not mind being secretary,
00:34:03 but I hope that you do not think that that is all that I can do.
00:34:08 - What else can you do?
00:34:10 - Well, you tell me what you need,
00:34:13 and I will tell you if I can do it.
00:34:16 - Same old Rosa.
00:34:20 - We got this group called the Youth Council.
00:34:22 School-age kids in need of an adult advisor
00:34:25 for things like counseling, Bible study,
00:34:29 teaching self-esteem.
00:34:30 - I love that.
00:34:31 - They also need a little juice,
00:34:34 a little protest spirit,
00:34:36 something too many of men get at home.
00:34:39 - She can do it, Mr. Nixon.
00:34:40 You got the right one.
00:34:41 She can do it.
00:34:45 - Now, you have a nice day.
00:34:50 - So what have you been doing with yourself?
00:34:52 - I've been working at the seamstress'
00:34:54 across the street at Montgomery Fair department store.
00:34:57 Alterations, dresses.
00:34:59 - And a chill.
00:35:01 - No.
00:35:03 We've been hoping.
00:35:05 I guess the Lord has other ideas
00:35:07 on how he wants us to spend our time.
00:35:11 Would you like something to drink?
00:35:13 - Hey, wait now.
00:35:14 Now, you come all the way down here to find me
00:35:16 and then get yourself put to work,
00:35:18 the least I can do is buy you a soda water.
00:35:22 - Let me see here.
00:35:24 Oh, that's my voter registration card.
00:35:27 - I always wanted to vote for Mr. Roosevelt.
00:35:30 - Really?
00:35:31 - Illinois's wife.
00:35:32 She made it possible for Marian Anderson
00:35:34 to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
00:35:36 in Washington, D.C.
00:35:42 - You registered?
00:35:44 - Not yet.
00:35:45 - Lord, don't tell Mr. Nixon it.
00:35:47 Or he'll have you tuned up for a lecture
00:35:50 calling folks who don't vote
00:35:52 "deserves the treatment they get."
00:35:56 Two soda waters.
00:35:58 - You can call me Johnny.
00:35:59 And since you're new and don't have any friends,
00:36:02 I'll be your best friend.
00:36:04 - Miss White, Miss Barton, and all the teachers
00:36:07 are from the North.
00:36:08 - They seem strict.
00:36:09 - They are.
00:36:10 There's something called Quaker.
00:36:12 It's a religion that believes all people are the same
00:36:15 and should be treated right.
00:36:16 - That's a good religion.
00:36:18 - My mother thinks Miss White's insane
00:36:20 for putting up with what she does to keep school open.
00:36:22 - Like what?
00:36:23 - Lots of people don't want her teaching colored girls.
00:36:27 Even burnt the school twice to try to stop her.
00:36:30 But each time, Miss White and other teachers
00:36:33 build it back up and keep on teaching.
00:36:37 - Secretary?
00:36:39 - Mm-hmm.
00:36:40 The meetings are just once a month.
00:36:42 - Secretaries do a lot more work than just go to meetings.
00:36:45 - Well, I'm only volunteering,
00:36:46 so I'll do as much as I can or I won't to.
00:36:49 - That's what scares me.
00:36:51 You do all you're asked to do and then some.
00:36:54 - Are you afraid that I won't be home as often?
00:36:57 - I'm afraid you can't run fast enough.
00:37:00 And then you won't be home at all.
00:37:02 - Oh, the police watch those meetings, Rosa.
00:37:04 I don't have to tell you what can happen.
00:37:06 - I won't be one of the leaders, Pops.
00:37:08 - Oh, you think a stick of dynamite cares
00:37:10 if you just a secretary?
00:37:12 - I want to do this.
00:37:15 - You don't need my permission.
00:37:17 - I did not ask for your permission,
00:37:19 but your approval would be nice.
00:37:21 - Oh, you want my approval?
00:37:23 Stick your neck out with a bunch of cowards
00:37:25 down at the NAACP.
00:37:27 No, I can't do that.
00:37:28 - They're all we have.
00:37:30 And Scottsboro was 10 years ago.
00:37:33 - That's right, 10 years,
00:37:34 and those boys are still in prison.
00:37:36 10 years with the almighty National Association
00:37:40 of Colored People wrangling his hands
00:37:42 like a bunch of old ladies,
00:37:43 shouting for justice with a whisper.
00:37:45 You know, Jews and communists did more to help them boys.
00:37:48 No, they did.
00:37:50 No, you want to do what you want to do?
00:37:59 - I don't know.
00:38:01 - Oh, see?
00:38:10 Ooh, apple pie too.
00:38:26 The weight of my heart.
00:38:28 - No, you already have.
00:38:30 It's the mind I'm working on.
00:38:32 - Mm-hmm.
00:38:34 - Parks,
00:38:45 I really need you to understand
00:38:46 that for the first time in my life,
00:38:48 I feel like I can help.
00:38:51 Like maybe I can do something important for our people.
00:38:56 - I understand that passion, Rosa.
00:38:59 I was there once, remember?
00:39:01 - I know, that's why I was hoping--
00:39:02 - Yeah, but I'm afraid of that passion too.
00:39:06 Afraid for all the things that can happen.
00:39:10 - What if I promise to be very, very careful?
00:39:16 - You can't.
00:39:19 Don't you see?
00:39:21 You can't be careful and be effective.
00:39:26 Black people have been trying.
00:39:30 300 years.
00:39:35 [crickets chirping]
00:39:39 [glass clinking]
00:39:43 [crickets chirping]
00:39:46 [glass clinking]
00:40:09 [paper rustling]
00:40:12 - "Though he will not rise and give him
00:40:22 because he is his friend,
00:40:24 yet because of his persistence,
00:40:26 he will rise and give him as many as he needs."
00:40:32 All right.
00:40:34 Who can tell me what persistence means?
00:40:38 Yes.
00:40:40 [paper rustling]
00:40:43 [soft music]
00:40:47 ♪ ♪
00:41:06 [door opens]
00:41:09 [door closes]
00:41:12 [door closes]
00:41:15 - Hello.
00:41:20 I came here to register.
00:41:23 - You live in Montgomery County?
00:41:25 - Yes.
00:41:26 - How many states are there?
00:41:28 - 48.
00:41:30 - How many senators from each state?
00:41:35 - Two from each state.
00:41:37 96 in the whole country.
00:41:40 - Answer the questions completely and legibly,
00:41:50 front and back.
00:41:51 Next.
00:41:53 Morning, Mr. Lester.
00:41:55 You finally made it into register.
00:41:57 - Yeah, the boys been hoping to get it done,
00:41:59 so I figured I might as well do it.
00:42:00 - How's him and the kids?
00:42:02 - They're good.
00:42:03 - You tell her that Janet from down at the county says hi.
00:42:08 That'll be $1.50.
00:42:11 - That wasn't nearly as hard as I figured.
00:42:15 You tell Hank hello for me.
00:42:17 - Oh, I will.
00:42:18 - I'll see you in church Sunday.
00:42:19 - Okay.
00:42:20 Bye now.
00:42:21 - Good day.
00:42:23 [soft music]
00:42:26 ♪ ♪
00:42:33 [door opens]
00:42:35 - You didn't pass.
00:42:49 - What?
00:42:50 - You failed the test.
00:42:52 It's a requirement to satisfactorily complete
00:42:55 the civic test to register to vote.
00:42:58 - I would like the test back, please.
00:43:00 - I'm afraid that's against our policy.
00:43:02 - Well, how will I know what questions I got wrong?
00:43:06 [soft music]
00:43:09 ♪ ♪
00:43:16 [door opens]
00:43:18 [train whistle blows]
00:43:21 [train whistle blows]
00:43:24 [train whistle blows]
00:43:27 [train whistle blows]
00:43:30 [train whistle blows]
00:43:33 [train whistle blows]
00:43:35 - I will never, never forget that train to space.
00:43:39 [train whistle blows]
00:43:41 [train whistle blows]
00:43:44 [soft music]
00:43:47 ♪ ♪
00:43:54 [soft music]
00:43:57 ♪ ♪
00:44:04 [keys jingling]
00:44:07 ♪ ♪
00:44:10 - She wouldn't even tell you what questions you got wrong.
00:44:13 - No. Give me another one.
00:44:15 - The judicial and legislative branches...
00:44:18 - Makes and enforces laws.
00:44:20 Next.
00:44:21 - The U.S. Supreme Court. You know, Rosie,
00:44:24 you know all of this mess, probably better than most lawyers.
00:44:27 - How many lawyers do you think they turn away down at that courthouse?
00:44:30 - White or colored.
00:44:33 - That is my point.
00:44:36 As a U.S. citizen, I have a right to vote,
00:44:39 and no person who does not know or who cannot tell me
00:44:42 what I got wrong can keep me from that right.
00:44:49 - How many United States representatives are in Congress?
00:44:54 - 435.
00:44:56 - Next.
00:44:58 - And you're?
00:45:02 - Right there.
00:45:07 - Thank you.
00:45:09 - What's this?
00:45:18 - Oh, I'm sorry.
00:45:20 That one is my coffee.
00:45:22 This is the third time I've taken this test.
00:45:25 - What is it?
00:45:26 - Oh, the, uh, questions from the test.
00:45:29 I wrote them down along with my answers.
00:45:31 If you tell me that I failed again, I want a lawyer
00:45:34 to tell me what I'm doing wrong.
00:45:37 - We don't want any trouble.
00:45:47 - Give it to her.
00:45:49 - That'll be $12, $1.50 for each year past the age of 21,
00:45:56 the first year you should have registered.
00:46:00 [phone ringing]
00:46:03 My registration card, please.
00:46:17 You'll get it in the mail.
00:46:20 Thank you.
00:46:23 Thank you.
00:46:25 - Out of all the Jim Crow laws, those segregating buses
00:46:33 are the most complex and--
00:46:34 - The whims of individual drivers make it even more confusing.
00:46:37 Some bus drivers are meaner than others,
00:46:39 and some are meaner than rascals.
00:46:41 - They have a front, then a speed off,
00:46:43 leading to a baseball exhaust.
00:46:45 - Women are fat.
00:46:47 - That's why they started a woman's political petition.
00:46:50 - I appreciate that.
00:46:53 [soft piano music]
00:46:56 - We've got much time.
00:47:00 I don't know what else to do.
00:47:02 - Damn it.
00:47:03 First a Negro soldier gets shot on the bus, now this.
00:47:06 - You know, we have to force this city to treat
00:47:08 Negro riders on its buses as human beings.
00:47:11 - Good evening.
00:47:13 I'm Rosa Parks.
00:47:14 - Oh, I'm sorry.
00:47:15 Clifford Virginia Der, Rosa Parks.
00:47:18 - Pleasure.
00:47:19 Nice to meet you.
00:47:20 - Very nice to meet you, Rosa.
00:47:21 - And you.
00:47:22 Joanne Robinson, Women's Political Counselor.
00:47:24 - We have the pleasure.
00:47:25 - Mr. Nixon, call me tomorrow for a change of mind.
00:47:28 - Very good.
00:47:29 - Good night, everybody.
00:47:30 - Good night.
00:47:32 - What happened?
00:47:35 - Colored girl got arrested on the bus.
00:47:37 Claudette Colvin.
00:47:39 - For not giving a pussy to a white man.
00:47:41 - We need to find someone who will swell up the people
00:47:44 like a revival's going on.
00:47:46 - Claudette is 15.
00:47:47 She's just a child.
00:47:48 - Claudette's not the one.
00:47:50 - Well, I'm going home.
00:47:52 - Well, you can give me a ride.
00:47:53 - All right.
00:47:54 - Good night.
00:47:55 - Oh, and Rosa?
00:47:56 - Yes.
00:47:58 - Don't stay too late, 'cause I don't want your husband
00:48:00 getting mad at me.
00:48:02 - Parks understands that I enjoy my work.
00:48:04 - But Lord knows a woman don't need to be nowhere
00:48:07 but home and in the kitchen.
00:48:09 - Then I cannot be here typing all your letters
00:48:11 on this underwood, or organizing your lecture calendar,
00:48:14 or answering all your mail without pay.
00:48:18 - Well, I need a secretary.
00:48:23 And you're a good one.
00:48:25 - Thank you.
00:48:27 - Good night.
00:48:28 - Good night.
00:48:29 - Joanne, you coming with me?
00:48:31 (lighter clicking)
00:48:34 (dramatic music)
00:48:39 - Give me the bus cases.
00:48:41 (dramatic music)
00:48:46 (sighs)
00:48:48 - It's always the buses.
00:48:51 (typing)
00:48:56 (dramatic music)
00:49:01 (typing)
00:49:03 (door slams)
00:49:05 (footsteps)
00:49:08 - Hello.
00:49:09 - May I help you?
00:49:10 - I'm looking for Mr. Nixon.
00:49:12 - Oh, I'm afraid he's gone for the day.
00:49:14 Is there something I can do for you?
00:49:17 - It's my boy.
00:49:20 Elijah.
00:49:23 He needs help.
00:49:25 (sobs)
00:49:32 - All right, all right.
00:49:34 We'll just take your time.
00:49:38 - I knew what we's doing.
00:49:40 Been going on since last summer.
00:49:44 Ever since I started delivering things to Sarah's house.
00:49:49 Ever since we was kids, we played together.
00:49:55 - So, you were in her house?
00:50:00 - Yes, I...
00:50:05 Neighbor peeped in the bedroom window.
00:50:08 Sarah said I bust in and forced myself on her.
00:50:13 But I didn't do what they said, Miss Parks, you may help me.
00:50:21 - I believe you, Elijah.
00:50:24 I believe you.
00:50:28 - Say you gonna give me electric chair?
00:50:30 - No.
00:50:32 Not if we can help it.
00:50:37 - But you can't help it.
00:50:39 Ain't nothing nobody can do to help me.
00:50:41 - You got to have faith, Elijah.
00:50:44 - I expect I ain't cryin' all my faith away, ma'am.
00:50:49 Police be in here all the time,
00:50:52 talkin' about how they gonna watch me fry.
00:51:00 You sit just like that.
00:51:05 You gonna fry, nigga.
00:51:31 - That young man did not rape that girl.
00:51:34 - Why not?
00:51:35 You goin' down to that jail didn't help him.
00:51:37 - Well, somebody had to do somethin'.
00:51:40 - And what is it that you did besides give him false hope?
00:51:45 - I did not even do that.
00:51:49 I never felt so helpless.
00:51:55 I knew this was gonna happen to me, Dad.
00:51:58 - These graveyards are filled with innocent black boys, Rosa.
00:52:03 There's also quite a few innocent black girls and men and women.
00:52:07 - Well, I never sat across from any of the others.
00:52:09 I saw the fear and the helplessness in their eyes.
00:52:12 I do not know them.
00:52:13 - And you don't know this one.
00:52:16 Rosa, baby, this boy was caught in bed with a white girl.
00:52:22 His mom ought to give thanks that the police got to him before the Klan did.
00:52:28 - So is it better to fry than to be lynched?
00:52:33 - You know what I'm sayin'.
00:52:34 - What if he were our son, Hawks?
00:52:37 How thankful would we be then?
00:52:42 - If he was my son, what went on between him and that girl never would've happened.
00:52:47 - You don't know that, Hawks.
00:52:48 - Oh, but I do.
00:52:50 'Cause I done made damn sure that he knew how the South worked.
00:53:03 - Remember, whatever happens, you do not become angry or rude.
00:53:09 Just do what we came here to do.
00:53:14 - Here we go.
00:53:16 - I think I'll take y'all home and have a Merry Christmas.
00:53:22 - I'd like to check out a book, please.
00:53:26 - The procedure is that you go to the colored branch in your neighborhood.
00:53:30 Check out the book there.
00:53:31 - I went, but they didn't have what I need.
00:53:34 They hardly ever have what I need.
00:53:37 - That may be, but you can't check books out here.
00:53:40 - Why not?
00:53:41 They just checked out books.
00:53:44 - You must put in a request at your own branch to have the book sent to you.
00:53:49 - That takes too long.
00:53:51 By the time you send it, I won't need it anymore.
00:53:54 - Well, I can't help that.
00:53:57 - Your procedure is unjust and insulting to anyone who knows right from wrong.
00:54:07 - I'd like to check out a book, please.
00:54:15 - I'm so sorry.
00:54:17 - I don't know what to do.
00:54:19 - I'm so sorry.
00:54:22 I'm so sorry, Jesus.
00:54:25 I thank you.
00:54:27 I thank you, Jesus.
00:54:32 Please, Jesus, I ask you.
00:54:34 - I'm here.
00:54:37 - Oh.
00:54:44 It's--it's tonight.
00:54:48 I know.
00:54:52 They're gonna kill my poor Mrs. Parks.
00:54:55 [sobbing]
00:54:58 [sobbing]
00:55:13 - Oh, my darling.
00:55:16 It's my shepherd.
00:55:18 My shepherd.
00:55:21 - It makes me to hide out in the cold pastures,
00:55:25 believe in the snake,
00:55:28 hide the steel water.
00:55:32 Please, Lord, I'm so sorry.
00:55:34 I miss so much my son.
00:55:37 - What will my lady be wearing this Christmas?
00:55:49 - Excuse me.
00:55:52 - Come to this winter collection.
00:55:56 - Two fitting florist garments.
00:55:58 - Everything that sparkles and shines.
00:56:02 - I usually shop in New York.
00:56:10 Oh, Atlanta, I come here because of you, Rosie.
00:56:15 You are the best in this town.
00:56:17 - Thank you, Mrs. Randall.
00:56:20 I enjoy my work.
00:56:22 - Rosie, can you come in early tomorrow morning?
00:56:28 Christmas has a swamp.
00:56:31 - Yes, Mr. Bradley.
00:56:33 I can use the hours.
00:56:34 - Good.
00:56:35 Be here at 8?
00:56:36 - Yes, sir.
00:56:38 - Hey, there.
00:56:39 Is this his shoe size on this piece of paper?
00:56:41 - I want to try on shoes, too.
00:56:45 - My feet are glowing with the green.
00:56:48 - I want to try on shoes.
00:56:51 - Mama.
00:56:52 - Oh, hush, baby.
00:56:53 You know you can't try on shoes.
00:56:55 That's why we traced your foot at home.
00:56:58 - Can I help you?
00:57:08 - She's getting new shoes today.
00:57:13 - Why is she making a copy of her feet?
00:57:16 - You ain't never had no new shoes before.
00:57:19 - Colorfuls can't try on things at the store.
00:57:22 - All right, let me see what I can do.
00:57:28 [indistinct chatter]
00:57:31 [dark music]
00:57:34 ♪ ♪
00:57:42 [bells jingling]
00:57:45 ♪ ♪
00:57:53 [bells jingling]
00:57:56 ♪ ♪
00:58:20 - Let me have those front seats.
00:58:23 [bells jingling]
00:58:29 ♪ ♪
00:58:36 Y'all better make it light on yourselves
00:58:39 and let me have those seats.
00:58:42 ♪ ♪
00:58:50 - Are you gonna move?
00:58:52 ♪ ♪
00:58:58 - No.
00:59:00 - If you don't give me that seat,
00:59:02 I'm gonna have you arrested.
00:59:05 - You may do that.
00:59:08 - Jesus.
00:59:10 [indistinct chatter]
00:59:13 - I'll help you.
00:59:15 ♪ ♪
00:59:17 - Hey, come on. Stop. Come on.
00:59:20 ♪ ♪
00:59:27 - [indistinct chatter]
00:59:31 - Driver James Blake.
00:59:33 Listen, I got a--I got a colored woman
00:59:35 on my bus in violation of the law.
00:59:37 - Did you warn her, Jim?
00:59:39 ♪ ♪
00:59:43 - Yes, sir, I warned her.
00:59:45 - Well, then, you just do it.
00:59:47 You got to exercise your powers and the water off.
00:59:49 - All right, man, I'm gonna name police backup.
00:59:52 ♪ ♪
00:59:56 - Jim, Jim, Jim, look.
00:59:58 [indistinct chatter]
01:00:01 ♪ ♪
01:00:08 - Grandpa, I think I hate white people.
01:00:12 - The only thing you need to remember
01:00:14 is that you're as good as anybody else.
01:00:16 White, black, or green with stripes.
01:00:19 Don't ever be afraid of what can happen to you.
01:00:22 If you're fighting for what's right,
01:00:24 as long as you keep that right here,
01:00:27 then hate'll be a word for other people.
01:00:29 ♪ ♪
01:00:36 [siren wailing]
01:00:41 ♪ ♪
01:00:48 - Let's just go. Let's go.
01:00:50 ♪ ♪
01:00:57 - She's sitting in the column section.
01:01:02 ♪ ♪
01:01:10 - I needed that seat, and she wouldn't move.
01:01:13 ♪ ♪
01:01:15 I want her arrested.
01:01:17 - Why won't you stand up?
01:01:20 ♪ ♪
01:01:21 - Why do you all push us around?
01:01:24 - Will you listen to that?
01:01:26 ♪ ♪
01:01:29 - The law is the law.
01:01:31 ♪ ♪
01:01:32 Lady, you're under arrest.
01:01:36 [siren wailing]
01:01:39 ♪ ♪
01:01:46 [indistinct chatter]
01:01:49 ♪ ♪
01:01:56 - What's up, man?
01:01:58 ♪ ♪
01:02:00 - Just go.
01:02:02 ♪ ♪
01:02:05 - You see, Tom?
01:02:08 ♪ ♪
01:02:15 - I would like to make a telephone call, please.
01:02:19 - Remove your glasses.
01:02:21 ♪ ♪
01:02:24 Look straight ahead.
01:02:26 ♪ ♪
01:02:29 [gun cocks]
01:02:32 ♪ ♪
01:02:36 - Drugs at Parks, follow me.
01:02:39 ♪ ♪
01:02:41 [indistinct chatter]
01:02:44 ♪ ♪
01:02:51 - I need to use the telephone.
01:02:54 ♪ ♪
01:03:00 [chuckles]
01:03:02 ♪ ♪
01:03:04 - Oh, Elaine, you're the fanciest woman.
01:03:07 ♪ ♪
01:03:11 - You just come from church?
01:03:13 [laughs]
01:03:15 - Hello.
01:03:18 Good evening.
01:03:21 - All right, can we get some cigarettes?
01:03:24 - You're listening to WCOV,
01:03:27 Montgomery's number one gospel station.
01:03:30 [church bells ringing]
01:03:33 all: ♪ Glory to Jesus ♪
01:03:37 ♪ Oh, my, what a miracle ♪
01:03:40 ♪ Glory to Jesus ♪
01:03:42 - Miss Leo. - Good evening, Mr. Nixon.
01:03:45 - How are you doing this evening?
01:03:46 - Just in time for five fast--
01:03:49 - Oh, Christmas cookies. Just out the--
01:03:51 - No, no, I couldn't. Thank you, thank you very much.
01:03:54 - Oh, God, perfect. - No, no, really.
01:03:57 ♪ ♪
01:03:59 Rosa's been arrested.
01:04:01 ♪ ♪
01:04:04 - No. - It's gonna be all right.
01:04:06 Just calm down, just be calm. - What happened?
01:04:09 - Word's all over town.
01:04:12 Rosa's been arrested. She's in jail.
01:04:15 - Did they beat her?
01:04:16 - We don't know anything yet.
01:04:18 - Oh, I didn't have mercy. - It's just parts.
01:04:21 [gun cocks]
01:04:24 - Oh.
01:04:26 - Montgomery Police, give me the desk sergeant.
01:04:29 Get out.
01:04:31 - Oh. Oh.
01:04:34 - Yes, this is Ed Nixon,
01:04:36 President Montgomery NAACP.
01:04:39 We understand you've got one of our members down--
01:04:42 [phone beeps]
01:04:44 Son of a bitch.
01:04:46 [phone ringing]
01:04:49 [phone ringing]
01:04:52 [phone ringing]
01:04:55 ♪ ♪
01:04:58 - Hello? Y-yes, Mr. Nixon.
01:05:01 ♪ ♪
01:05:03 Clifford.
01:05:06 It's Mr. Nixon. The police have arrested Rosa Parks,
01:05:09 and they won't give him any information.
01:05:11 - What happened?
01:05:14 - Win.
01:05:17 Okay, I'll try, and then I'm on my way.
01:05:20 [gun cocks]
01:05:23 ♪ ♪
01:05:28 This is Clifford Durr.
01:05:31 Attorney Clifford Durr, sergeant.
01:05:34 - We pray to that for confidence.
01:05:36 Amen.
01:05:37 - Okay, ladies, let's break it up in there.
01:05:40 ♪ ♪
01:05:42 Rosa Parks, let's go.
01:05:45 - Everything will be all right.
01:05:47 ♪ ♪
01:05:54 - Fox. - Oh, Rose.
01:05:57 It's gonna be all right.
01:05:59 - Thanks for everything. - It'll be all right.
01:06:03 Don't worry now.
01:06:05 ♪ ♪
01:06:09 - We can't afford no big fine.
01:06:11 - Whatever it is, we just have to find a way to pay it.
01:06:14 Rosa's not going back to jail.
01:06:16 - When's the court date? - Monday.
01:06:18 And don't worry, there's no way in hell
01:06:20 we gonna let Rosa go back to jail.
01:06:22 - No, she shouldn't have been in there in the first place.
01:06:24 [phone rings] - Fox.
01:06:25 - I'm sorry, Rosa, but I'm not hiding how I feel.
01:06:28 You and that group of yours are just as responsible
01:06:31 for her being arrested. - Fox.
01:06:33 [phone rings]
01:06:35 - Hello?
01:06:37 - This is Johnny.
01:06:39 Rosa's arrest has upset all the colored folks in Montgomery.
01:06:42 Now, you remember Joanne Robinson.
01:06:44 Well, she has a group of her students
01:06:46 printing leaflets right now.
01:06:48 They want to boycott the buses.
01:06:51 - Yeah, Johnny? - They're organizing a meeting.
01:06:53 - Uh-huh. - With the new minister.
01:06:56 - When? - Tomorrow morning
01:06:58 at Dixter Avenue Church.
01:07:00 - All right.
01:07:02 ♪ ♪
01:07:06 - There's a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning
01:07:09 at Dixter Avenue Church. - For what?
01:07:12 - It's about you and your stand on the bus.
01:07:15 Our ministers have the phones buzzing all over town.
01:07:19 They want you at the meeting.
01:07:22 And, well, if you can't make it,
01:07:25 they'll understand.
01:07:28 - Dixter Avenue Church.
01:07:31 The one with the new minister? - That's the one.
01:07:34 - I better be going.
01:07:37 ♪ ♪
01:07:40 Mr. Parks, if you think we put Rosa up to this,
01:07:44 you don't know your wife real well.
01:07:47 If anything, she's the one leading us.
01:07:51 ♪ ♪
01:07:54 - Hey, Mark.
01:07:57 I'm gonna fix you something.
01:07:59 You must be Stella.
01:08:01 ♪ ♪
01:08:06 - You cannot really believe that they asked me to do this?
01:08:11 - My wife was in jail.
01:08:13 - I did not ask to be arrested, Parks.
01:08:16 All I wanted was what everybody else on that bus wanted--
01:08:19 to go home.
01:08:21 And I do not need Nixon, the NAACP,
01:08:24 or anybody else to tell me that I have a right to my dignity
01:08:27 when I'm taking that 10-cent ride.
01:08:30 ♪ ♪
01:08:37 - Now, I wanna know is,
01:08:42 what are we gonna do about this here arrest?
01:08:45 [overlapping chatter]
01:08:47 - Everybody listen up. This is what we gonna do.
01:08:50 I say we stop riding their buses.
01:08:52 They don't treat us with respect.
01:08:54 They don't deserve our business.
01:08:56 - Stop riding the buses? Just like that?
01:08:59 - Just like that. For one whole day.
01:09:01 - It's a moment we've all been waiting for.
01:09:03 Rosa Parks here's a good citizen.
01:09:05 We have got to take a stand.
01:09:07 I say we stop riding the buses Monday,
01:09:10 the day of Rosa's trial.
01:09:12 [overlapping chatter]
01:09:15 - There's no time to face.
01:09:17 - Is that the only way?
01:09:19 - If Montgomery is like most cities in the South,
01:09:23 colored folk make up the majority of the riders.
01:09:25 - That's right.
01:09:27 - I say we hit them crackers where it hurts.
01:09:30 - Where? - The cash box.
01:09:32 - What? - What is illegal?
01:09:34 - And we'll call it a protest.
01:09:36 Is that all right with you?
01:09:38 - Y'all know there's bound to be some retaliation.
01:09:41 - Now, let's just start off first by sending a letter.
01:09:44 - A letter?
01:09:46 - We're talking about one day off the buses.
01:09:49 - And one day is all they need
01:09:51 to feel like they can put us back in our place.
01:09:53 - Our place is not looking up at them from our knees.
01:09:56 - Amen.
01:09:58 - Until even a lapdog gets tired of being kicked.
01:10:00 - Amen.
01:10:02 - Now, Mrs. Parks has given us her courage,
01:10:04 a golden opportunity.
01:10:06 Are we gonna be cowards and just let it go?
01:10:08 - No.
01:10:10 - Now, you don't talk to me like that.
01:10:12 I'm a grown man.
01:10:14 - Well, stand up like one, Reverend.
01:10:16 - Well, I'm standing up like one.
01:10:18 [overlapping chatter]
01:10:20 - Let Reverend King speak. Let the Reverend speak.
01:10:23 - Reverend King,
01:10:25 the protest against the buses is gonna work.
01:10:27 It's critical that we be together.
01:10:29 - That's right. - That's right.
01:10:31 - Divisiveness is the sure path to failure.
01:10:33 - And that's what we're doing right now.
01:10:35 [overlapping chatter]
01:10:37 - The charge was disorderly conduct.
01:10:43 - You don't think there's gonna be a problem?
01:10:45 - Mrs. Parks was not disorderly.
01:10:47 She did not resist or in any way get belligerent
01:10:49 with the arresting officers.
01:10:51 - Plus, there's a law that says that a colored person
01:10:53 doesn't have to give up their seat to a white
01:10:55 if they're seated in the colored section
01:10:57 and there's no other seats open.
01:10:59 - Well, I didn't know that.
01:11:01 - You and every other Negro in Montgomery.
01:11:03 - Bottom line is, that bus was filled.
01:11:05 - You were within your lawful right not to get up.
01:11:07 - Just get her off.
01:11:09 - Look over there at the bus stop.
01:11:11 [overlapping chatter]
01:11:13 - I didn't listen to you.
01:11:19 You expect everybody to be wrong.
01:11:21 A lot of folks just live too far.
01:11:23 - Y'all getting on the bus or not?
01:11:25 - I ain't getting on till Jimco gets off.
01:11:33 [engine starts]
01:11:37 - I'll see about that.
01:11:39 [laughter]
01:11:41 - Sweet, mate. It's gonna be a good day.
01:11:43 - The bus is naked to Jaybirds.
01:11:45 [laughter]
01:11:47 - Do you swear to tell the truth,
01:11:49 the whole truth, nothing but the truth,
01:11:51 so help you God? - I do.
01:11:53 - Ms. Wycliffe,
01:11:55 where were you approximately at 7 p.m.
01:11:57 on the evening of December 1st, 1955?
01:11:59 - I was riding the bus.
01:12:01 I got on at the Court Square bus stop.
01:12:03 - And did you see the arrest of the Parks woman?
01:12:05 - I saw it as clearly as I see you.
01:12:07 - At the time of her altercation
01:12:09 with the driver, Mr. Blake,
01:12:11 were there any empty seats
01:12:13 in the colored section of that bus?
01:12:15 - No.
01:12:17 - There were plenty of empty seats.
01:12:19 - That's a lie!
01:12:21 [knocking]
01:12:23 I'll have order in my court.
01:12:25 [knocking]
01:12:27 [indistinct chatter]
01:12:29 [indistinct chatter]
01:12:31 [doorbell rings]
01:12:33 [door opens]
01:12:35 - Hey, Parks.
01:12:37 - Hey, Donnie. - Oh, you're already?
01:12:39 - Yeah. - Oh, Ms. Leona,
01:12:41 look at that pretty tree.
01:12:43 - It's beautiful.
01:12:45 - Oh, look at that pretty tree.
01:12:47 - That's Rosie standing there.
01:12:49 - Oh, Rosie.
01:12:51 Oh, the folks were out there. They're riled up.
01:12:53 Aren't y'all going? - Going where?
01:12:55 - The whole street church.
01:12:57 There's a mass meeting called.
01:12:59 - About what? - The protest.
01:13:01 I think they're gonna continue it,
01:13:03 and they wanna know if you comin'.
01:13:05 - What do they need with Rosa?
01:13:07 - Well, I think--I guess they thought
01:13:09 it would be good if she was there.
01:13:11 - Well, good for who?
01:13:13 - Well, if y'all going,
01:13:15 you better come on, hurry up.
01:13:17 Now, look, half the colorful in all Montgomery
01:13:19 talkin' about this meeting.
01:13:21 This is an important meeting. Come on with me, Ms. Leona.
01:13:23 I'm tellin' you, this is a--this is it!
01:13:25 This is an important meeting.
01:13:27 Get it riled up, Rosie!
01:13:29 [indistinct chatter]
01:13:31 [indistinct chatter]
01:13:33 [indistinct chatter]
01:13:35 [indistinct chatter]
01:13:37 - Parks. - They usin' you, Rosa.
01:13:39 Can't you see it? - Yes, I do see it.
01:13:41 And I don't mind.
01:13:43 - Well, I mind. I mind 'em usin' my wife.
01:13:45 You're not Harriet Tubman, dammit.
01:13:47 - No, I'm only Rosa Parks.
01:13:49 And I am your wife.
01:13:51 So if you do not want me to go to this meeting,
01:13:53 I won't.
01:13:55 I won't.
01:13:57 I won't.
01:13:59 - You go on.
01:14:01 You go on.
01:14:03 Do what you wanna do.
01:14:07 - ♪ Oh, freedom
01:14:09 ♪ Oh, freedom
01:14:11 ♪ Oh, freedom
01:14:13 ♪ Oh, freedom
01:14:15 ♪ Oh, freedom
01:14:17 ♪ Over me
01:14:19 ♪ And before I'll be ashamed
01:14:21 ♪ I'll be misery and frustrated
01:14:23 ♪ And go home
01:14:25 ♪ To my Lord
01:14:27 ♪ And go home
01:14:29 ♪ To my Lord
01:14:31 ♪ And go home
01:14:33 ♪ To my Lord
01:14:35 ♪ And go home
01:14:37 ♪ To my Lord
01:14:39 ♪ And be free
01:14:41 - Amen.
01:14:43 - Okay, Sister Parks,
01:14:45 ladies and gentlemen,
01:14:47 the heroine of our finest hour,
01:14:49 Mrs. Rosa Parks.
01:14:51 (applause)
01:14:53 - Thank you.
01:14:55 - Thank you, Parks.
01:14:57 God bless her.
01:14:59 (applause)
01:15:01 - Thank you.
01:15:03 (applause)
01:15:05 - God bless you.
01:15:07 (applause)
01:15:09 - Thank you.
01:15:11 (applause)
01:15:13 (applause)
01:15:15 - Just the other day,
01:15:17 just last Thursday, to be exact,
01:15:19 one of Montgomery's
01:15:21 finest citizens,
01:15:23 not one of the finest
01:15:25 Negro citizens, but one of the
01:15:27 finest citizens in Montgomery,
01:15:29 was taken from a bus
01:15:31 and carried to jail
01:15:33 and arrested because she refused
01:15:35 to give up her seat to a white person.
01:15:37 - Praise the Lord. - And since it had to happen,
01:15:39 I'm so happy it happened
01:15:41 to a person like
01:15:43 Mrs. Rosa Parks.
01:15:45 Nobody can doubt the boundless
01:15:47 outreach of her integrity,
01:15:49 the height of her character,
01:15:51 or the depth of her Christian commitment
01:15:53 to the teachings of Jesus.
01:15:55 - Yes, Lord. - Yes, Lord.
01:15:57 - We're going to work with grim and firm
01:15:59 determination to gain justice
01:16:01 in this city.
01:16:03 And we're
01:16:05 not wrong. If we're wrong,
01:16:07 the Supreme Court of this
01:16:09 nation is wrong.
01:16:11 If we're wrong,
01:16:13 the Constitution of the United States
01:16:15 is wrong.
01:16:17 If we're wrong, God
01:16:19 Almighty is wrong.
01:16:21 If we're wrong,
01:16:23 justice is a lie.
01:16:25 And we are determined here in Montgomery
01:16:27 to work and fight
01:16:29 until justice comes down
01:16:31 by the water.
01:16:33 [applause]
01:16:35 [music]
01:16:37 [music]
01:16:39 [music]
01:16:41 [applause]
01:16:43 [applause]
01:16:45 [applause]
01:16:47 [applause]
01:16:49 [applause]
01:16:51 [applause]
01:16:53 - Rosa.
01:16:55 - Yes, Mr. Bradley.
01:16:57 - Your position has been eliminated,
01:16:59 Rosa. I'm sorry.
01:17:01 Business is down.
01:17:03 - Down?
01:17:05 But this is as busy as it gets
01:17:07 all year. - Not if your
01:17:09 boycott continues.
01:17:11 [music]
01:17:13 [music]
01:17:15 You'll pay through last week.
01:17:17 [music]
01:17:19 [music]
01:17:21 [music]
01:17:23 [music]
01:17:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:17:28 Up there.
01:17:36 Throw us a pot.
01:17:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:17:41 [CHATTER]
01:17:44 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:17:47 [CHATTER]
01:17:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:17:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:17:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:18:00 [CHATTER]
01:18:25 [CHATTER]
01:18:28 [PHONE RINGING]
01:18:31 [PHONE RINGING]
01:18:36 [PHONE RINGING]
01:18:40 [LAUGHTER]
01:18:42 [PHONE RINGING]
01:18:43 Kick the door.
01:18:44 Kick the door.
01:18:45 Kick it.
01:18:46 Kick it.
01:18:47 [GUNSHOT]
01:18:48 [GUNSHOTS]
01:18:51 [TIRES SCREECHING]
01:18:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:18:57 [PHONE RINGING]
01:19:05 [PHONE RINGING]
01:19:08 [TIRES SCREECHING]
01:19:11 [PHONE RINGING]
01:19:12 [CHATTER]
01:19:15 [PHONE RINGING]
01:19:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:19:23 [DOOR CLOSES]
01:19:26 [SCREAMS]
01:19:42 It's me.
01:19:43 It's me.
01:19:44 Damn it.
01:19:45 I saw him out front, so I decided
01:19:47 to come through the back.
01:19:50 It's OK.
01:19:52 It's OK.
01:19:53 Where's Mama?
01:19:58 The Reverend Miss Davis is going to look after her tonight.
01:20:01 We had to board up the house for safety, Rosa.
01:20:03 Oh.
01:20:04 We can't take much more of this.
01:20:06 We're supposed to call the police
01:20:08 when they come like this.
01:20:10 What for?
01:20:12 They never do anything about it.
01:20:15 Half them crackers under them hoods is police.
01:20:19 We're still supposed to call for the record.
01:20:22 Legal aid would help us.
01:20:26 Why are you so late?
01:20:28 I was out looking for work.
01:20:31 You lost your job?
01:20:33 He said business was down, so they had to let me go.
01:20:36 But it'll be all right.
01:20:38 I'll find something.
01:20:39 And with your job--
01:20:40 My job?
01:20:41 Which means the job I used to have.
01:20:47 What happened?
01:20:48 Let's just say it's no secret who my wife is.
01:20:52 [PHONE RINGING]
01:20:55 Hello?
01:21:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:21:08 No.
01:21:22 No.
01:21:23 No.
01:21:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:21:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:21:30 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
01:21:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:21:57 [GASPING]
01:22:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:22:10 [TIRES SCREECHING]
01:22:13 Oh, it's granddad.
01:22:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:22:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:22:25 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
01:22:28 We got some new ones just down there.
01:22:47 [BELL RINGING]
01:22:48 [INAUDIBLE]
01:22:54 Let's put some of that white right here.
01:22:56 That's a good range.
01:23:03 What time's the next carpool?
01:23:06 Might as well look at your watch and pick a number.
01:23:08 It's just as good as the schedule.
01:23:11 If you don't want to wait, you can catch the city bus.
01:23:13 It ought to be by direct.
01:23:15 Yeah, well, I--
01:23:16 I just might do that.
01:23:17 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
01:23:20 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:23:23 [SIGHING]
01:23:27 One of my customers from the store, Mrs. Rimer,
01:23:30 says she might have some more work for us
01:23:32 when this is finished.
01:23:34 Well, bless Mrs. Rimer's heart.
01:23:38 And Mr. Rimer, too.
01:23:39 Look in the other way.
01:23:41 [CHUCKLING]
01:23:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:23:45 [DOOR CREAKING]
01:23:48 Foxy?
01:23:52 I haven't seen him since earlier this morning.
01:23:55 [WHIMPERING]
01:24:09 [DOOR CLOSING]
01:24:11 [SIGHING]
01:24:13 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:24:16 Rosie.
01:24:18 [SIGHING]
01:24:20 Come on, baby.
01:24:24 I'm losing him, Mama.
01:24:26 No, Rosie.
01:24:28 Raymond loves you.
01:24:30 I know he does.
01:24:33 That is why it hurts to see him like this.
01:24:36 Things is hard for everybody these days, Rosie.
01:24:39 But it's my fault.
01:24:41 It's not your fault.
01:24:43 Yes, it is.
01:24:44 I was the one who sat on that bus.
01:24:48 I was the one who dared that driver to deal with me.
01:24:52 And he did.
01:24:52 So here we are.
01:24:58 Are you trying to tell me that you'll take it all back?
01:25:00 Yes.
01:25:09 No.
01:25:10 I don't know.
01:25:18 You do know.
01:25:21 You know.
01:25:24 And knowing what you do now, you would still
01:25:27 do exactly the same thing, because you
01:25:30 can't help yourself.
01:25:33 You would do it because that's who you are, Rosie.
01:25:36 Rosie.
01:25:37 Thank God.
01:25:43 I thank God, Rosie.
01:25:44 That's who you are.
01:25:46 I love you, baby.
01:25:49 This protest ain't doing nothing for jibing folk.
01:25:53 Jibing folk ain't thinking something's going to change.
01:25:55 Ain't nothing going to change.
01:25:57 Because Mr. Charlie ain't no closer
01:25:59 to treating colored folk right on them buses now
01:26:02 than when that lady started this mess.
01:26:04 Well, somebody had to do something.
01:26:06 Yeah, well, I'm tired of it.
01:26:08 I'm tired of it too, son.
01:26:11 See that?
01:26:12 Just ain't me.
01:26:13 'Cause these feet long, boy, I done seen more miles and red
01:26:20 sand than you ain't ever with.
01:26:23 Yeah, well, I done, my share of walking.
01:26:25 My soul is weary, son.
01:26:29 Weary of being treated like less than a man.
01:26:34 Yeah, old man, I know what you mean.
01:26:41 You don't know what I mean, boy.
01:26:44 And you don't know what that lady was saying on that bus.
01:26:49 But I know what she was saying.
01:26:53 I'm going to keep on walking as long as I have to.
01:26:58 Because these feet may be tired, but my soul is rested.
01:27:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:27:09 [CHATTER]
01:27:11 All right.
01:27:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:27:42 [CHATTER]
01:27:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:27:49 [CHATTER]
01:27:53 [DOOR OPENS]
01:27:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:27:59 [DOOR CLOSES]
01:28:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:28:05 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:28:08 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:28:11 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:28:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:28:42 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:28:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:28:49 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:28:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:28:55 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:28:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29:01 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:29:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29:07 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:29:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29:13 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:29:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29:19 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:29:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29:25 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:29:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29:31 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:29:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29:37 [FOOTSTEPS]
01:29:38 Oh, when did you get home?
01:29:40 Just got here.
01:29:41 [BREATHING HEAVILY]
01:29:44 What are you doing?
01:29:46 Reminding myself just how lucky I am.
01:29:49 I remember when we first started court,
01:29:58 you wouldn't come to the door.
01:30:00 [LAUGHS]
01:30:03 I knew there was something about you worth coming back for.
01:30:11 I knew it that first day, outside the barber shop.
01:30:18 Because I had known way back then
01:30:22 you're going to turn this city, maybe the whole South,
01:30:26 upside down.
01:30:27 Would you still get coming back?
01:30:38 I don't know.
01:30:41 What you did on that bus changed a lot of things, Rosa.
01:30:46 Made a lot of people think about themselves,
01:30:50 about how they treat people, about how they live their lives.
01:30:55 I never meant for it to change us.
01:30:58 I know.
01:30:59 But it did.
01:31:03 I know.
01:31:06 But it did.
01:31:07 Even though it took me a while to see it, it was a good change.
01:31:22 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
01:31:25 I really didn't do anything, Bob.
01:31:36 I don't know all this to do about me and that bus.
01:31:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:31:52 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
01:31:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:32:00 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
01:32:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:32:11 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
01:32:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:32:31 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
01:32:34 For most of us alive today, in a very real sense,
01:32:54 this journey began 43 years ago when
01:32:59 a woman named Rosa Parks sat down on a bus in Alabama
01:33:03 and wouldn't get up.
01:33:05 She's sitting down with the First Lady tonight,
01:33:07 and she may get up or not as she chooses.
01:33:10 [APPLAUSE]
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01:34:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]