[Music]
i remember
being a little girl at my church back in
simpsonville south carolina
and seeing a poster of mahelia jackson
and seeing myself i saw this woman with
a
round face and dark skin and i
was like who is that
america knew her as the queen of gospel
but how would i describe mahalia i would
say she was a god-fearing woman
a nurturer a mother to many
a civil rights activist a trailblazer
and one of a kind in the early days
long time ago during the depression when
things were very
very hard with me i find that a song in
your heart will help to carry the
burdens of the day
[Music]
i grew up listening to her music from
down south
i can still remember my parents old
stereo
[Music]
people know about her music they don't
know the real story
they don't know how she was a part of
the civil rights movement
they don't know how she fought
to stay true to herself i think you
could really sing the hell out of the
blues
well negro can't sing the hell out of
the blues
that's what life been for most of us now
gospel
that's the cure for the blues
gospel music she made it popular
and people really needed it our
community needed it the world needed it
the fact that she could move people as
she did
and be so patient in doing it you know
it took a long time
for her to get the recognition that she
deserved
the things that she was able to
accomplish during her time the 40s the
50s
the 60s people weren't doing especially
black women
to me there would not be an aretha
franklin
a beyonce a legacy without
nahlia jackson
she had a sound that was like no other
and she sang for the people
you know at that time with civil rights
and all that was going on
she was the voice of the people she
gave hope and reminded people that they
could keep going
through all of the adversity that they
were facing
but can i please work my way through the
song a bit further
i'm a little nervous we've had the
script and we didn't have the right
person to play mahalia and then
danielle brooks mahalia jackson
[Music]
perfect match but pastor this how we
sing down south
she personifies mahelia jackson in so
many ways and she's so respectful
of who it is that she is playing i only
sing in god's name
as i got older people started to compare
my voice to her
and i had a few people say to me you
should play mahalia jackson
and that's where the seed got dropped
and i
started to lean into that and serve him
the days of your youth
and when you grow old he may not depart
from you
i could not have done this part without
faith i don't think it's something that
you can just play at
you can probably ask me any gospel song
i would probably know it
uh-huh and so this one just felt like it
was god's sense
in a lot of ways god he was really going
to use me as the vessel to play her
god was
[Music]
what did i do to prepare for this role
everything
i read a lot of books about her i love
photos i think photos tell so much story
so to me just seeing her hair and i
think about
why did she choose that hairstyle you
know she was a hair
stylist she had her own beauty salon i
think about that
also watching a ton of clips of her
performing
which was so much fun to see somebody
whose wig was just flopping around
and how just much passion she had it was
so much fun
to observe her and watch and take all of
her in
her authenticity comes screaming through
not just mahalia's authenticity but
danielle brooks as well
the most personal part of playing
mahalia that i
hope to take away from her is her
performance
[Music]
she put all of her heart and soul into
everything she did i wanna
whenever i get back on a stage i
definitely
want to bring that part of her into
what i do mama
my mind you got to find god
in all things i found him miss mahalia
really he in these peppermint pickles
every woman goes on their own journey
mahalia jackson really wanted to be a
mother
and i decided to talk to the writer and
director because it wasn't
previously in the script and i said to
them
it's very important that we talk about
this because
there's so many women that have their
own story when it comes to
motherhood and that journey of wanting a
child not wanting a child whatever it is
it's different for everyone but i just
felt it very important
god this is the best day of my life
[Music]
also mahelia jackson was not a perfect
woman
and as a christian having
multiple husbands might not have been
always the thing
and so i think women will also relate to
that
too and that's what i like because i
feel like mahalia tried
very hard to put on a perfect persona
and that's just not how life works and
so
i think people will see that and see
themselves when they see mahalia
the lord has been good to me it may not
look like much to other people for what
he has done for me
if you knew from whence i came you could
bear witness that i
feel and tell the truth what the lord
has done for me
and i'm so grateful
i still remember a black and white photo
this iconic shot of her round face
the color of her skin and it's so
important to have that representation
it's so important i think a lot of folks
are going to be surprised
when they see this and to learn more
it's easy to say oh yeah she was a
gospel singer no
no no no no that was just one aspect
of mahalia jackson
people are going to realize the impact
that mahelia had
on the civil rights movement
she was singing at fundraisers she was
raising money
for the movement but you know how she
also helped the movement
by being on the ed sullivan show by
traveling to europe
by being at carnegie hall by being seen
as she was
[Music]
dr king please my christian name
martin want to produce something
that's going to cause a reaction that
leads to action and with this
the reaction is going to be wow mahalia
did that
tell him about the dream man it's going
to lead to action of people
wanting to learn more about her
and other black women knowing that
there are many untold stories that are
out there and to inspire people
to learn more about our history
our stories matter women's stories
matter
black women's stories matter
i feel like black people should be
celebrated every day
i think we need to put our money into
black businesses and support black
communities
i'm very excited about the present
we have uh the women of the black lives
matter movement we have
tarana burke we have people like ava and
denzel and kenny leon our director who
are
making films of importance and reminding
us of our history
we are a generation of people that have
been inspired
by the people that have come before us
and we are not afraid
of hate because we're going to combat it
with love
we've come a long long way
together through the hard
times and the good
[Music]
i have to sell
you baby
i have to praise you like i
should i have to praise you
i have to praise you
had to praise you
you