Welcome back to the show.
It's Black History Month.
And just like last year, we're giving
Ashley Nicole Black one whole minute
to talk about black history.
Ashley.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Actually, this year, I took a camera crew to Washington, DC,
to learn the real lessons of the civil rights movement.
Oh, I don't remember authorizing that.
Oh, you did.
And I definitely did not steal your credit card.
Roll it, Kevin!
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): As America moves rapidly
backwards in time, I sought out five veterans
of the civil rights movement for advice on today's resistance--
Nell Braxton Gibson, Frank Smith,
Jr., Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, Luvaghn Brown,
and Dorie Ladner.
They marched on Washington, rode with the Freedom
Riders, organized boycotts, and changed the world.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK: So Black History Month is in February.
I think it's really amazing that you guys got
so much done in just one month.
That's not true.
Absolutely not.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): That's not
what Black History Month means?
[LAUGHING]
Oh, God.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): These patriots, they marched.
They protested.
They were nonviolent.
But most importantly, they filled
out everything in triplicate.
They are mundane tasks that need to get done.
JOAN TRUMPAUER MULHOLLAND: Handing out flyers,
calling meetings, file stuff, fix up a bulletin board.
I typed a lot.
I guess the times, we were bored.
DORIE LADNER: You just don't all of a sudden
have a mass of people without doing groundwork.
You know, it wasn't the kind of thing
where I showed up one day and said, I want to go picket.
We went through all of these rules and regulations.
You can't expect instant results.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): Hold on, let me google that.
Ew.
JOAN TRUMPAUER MULHOLLAND: Somebody's
got to make the signs.
Somebody's got to raise up some money.
Afterwards, somebody may have to do some cooking
or offer a ride.
Well, I do remember being literally bone tired.
That was exhausting work, really exhausting work.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): And they needed that rest,
because the hardest thing they'd had to do
was convince an old black lady to do
something she didn't want to.
Most important was the work that we
did on voter registration.
Some people would just slam the door in our faces.
They didn't want to talk.
Some were elderly people who were terrified.
You might spend all the time that afternoon
talking to one old lady saying, really, we'll be with you.
We'll hold your hand.
We will make sure you get down there.
It meant basically you got five
people registered to vote in probably
six months or maybe none.
Every time I run into somebody who didn't vote,
I want to smack them, to be honest with you.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): Well, get ready to smack
50% of millennials.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK: What advice would you have for activists
today who are introverts and don't want
to talk to all those people?
[CHUCKLE]
Suck it up.
It's too important not to.
Sometimes you got to put your cell phone
down and take to the streets.
So whatever you can contribute, do that.
And it will help.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK: I can contribute jokes.
Yeah.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK: Is that helpful?
I like jokes.
I do.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): That's not a yes.
DORIE LADNER: [INAUDIBLE] marching-- artists, musicians,
singer, hairdressers.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): Hairdressers?
Why the hell would you need someone to wash hair?
Oh, right.
Joan was in a lot of one-sided food fights.
Oh, yeah, wasting all that good sugar.
Like I wasn't sweet enough.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): So getting sugar dumped
on your heads, being arrested for no reason,
spending months knocking on doors to register five voters--
that was your every day?
After one women's march, I took a wine bath.
The march on Washington, it was R&R for us.
It was time for us to get away from Mississippi for a few days
then go off to someplace where we
didn't have to worry about being chased by the sheriff.
And then we could have a drink somewhere
without worrying about being stopped on our way home.
DORIE LADNER: We sang.
The singing helps the spirit.
"The Times They Are a-Changin'," that was one of the anthems.
When Bobby came, he came sort of in the dark of the night.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK: Sorry, when you said
"Bobby," do you mean Bob Dylan?
Yes, mm-hmm.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): Wait a minute.
Did Bob Dylan have a crush on Dorie Ladner from Jackson?
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): We'll say her name.
It's Dorie.
I wonder which woke celeb will write a song about me.
Ugh, gross.
Never mind.
Every revolution succeeds because of the foot
soldiers and the sergeants.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): I have learned so
much from my new grandparents.
You can organize around a lot of things,
and they don't have to be grandiose.
We used to have a saying-- bloom where you're planted.
Look at what's happening right in your immediate situation.
Try to act there.
If you're in a school and Muslim students
are being hassled, befriend them.
Walk with them.
And it's those little marches that
happened the day after and the day after that and the day
after that.
Those of you who believe in freedom, those of you who
believe in justice, those of us who believe in women's rights
and gay rights and others, we're gonna keep marching.
Keep on keeping on.
And don't you get weary, children.
ASHLEY NICOLE BLACK (VOICEOVER): Because in 50 years,
your grandchildren will probably have to do this all over again.
[CROWD CHANTING "BLACK LIVES MATTER"]
Thank you, Ashley.
We'll be right back.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
[THEME MUSIC]