Cody Crouch: Drop The Mic | Centuries Collide

December 4, 2024 | S2:E12

Host Cody Crouch takes us on an unforgettable ride through the moments that made the U.S.A. the country it is today.

#Slavery #AmericanHistory #History #Government #Politics #PoliticalCorrectness #CivilRights #inActive #CodyCrouch #Documentary

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Centuries Collide TBN Version | Cody Crouch: Drop The Mic | Centuries Collide | December 4, 2024

>> cody: i'm cody crouch.
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On my new show,
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"centuries collide: american history,"
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I'm traveling across the united states,
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Uncovering the incredibly true history
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Of what makes our nation so great.
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We're re-creating some of american history's
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Greatest moments,
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Exactly how they happened.
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>> pilgrim: didn't you think the rock would be bigger?
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>> cody: welcome to the craziest, strangest,
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Most whatever-est crash courses on american history.
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Buckle up.
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It's time for "centuries collide."
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>> cody: the verbal smackdown, the clap back, the dis,
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The slam.
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When it happens, you know the show is over.
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It's the mic drop.
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[music]
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>> cody: mic drops have been around for a long time,
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Even before there were even mics to drop.
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America has always been about liberty and equality.
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It's right there in our declaration of independence,
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Yet somehow, 25 years after "all men are created equal"
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Was written into parchment,
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Some people did not have the same rights as white dudes,
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And that's not right.
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Right?
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[music]
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>> cody: after we won our independence from britain,
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A lot of americans risked their lives to change that,
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Including a few masters of the microphone,
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Who used their words as weapons.
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>> patrick henry: give me liberty, or give me death.
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>> cody: tonight, we're revisiting some of the greatest
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Mic drops in civil rights history.
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Buckle up.
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It's time for "centuries collide."
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[music]
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>> cody: civil rights in america
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Is about everyone having equal rights by law,
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Equal value, equal freedoms,
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And an equal voice.
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It sounds like a no-brainer, right?
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But shocker: throughout history,
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The idea of everyone having the same rights
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Would sound completely crazy.
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[music]
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>> pharaoh: there's too many israelites in egypt, brother.
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Let's put 'em to work.
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Time to build a couple pyramids, throw in a sphinxter-- sphinx.
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>> cody: turns out most rulers throughout history had a bit of
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A god complex.
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Rulers and peasants alike believed that,
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If you were emperor, king, or chief,
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You could basically do whatever you wanted
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With whomever you wanted.
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>> pharaoh: oscillate that thing, baby.
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>> cody: which brings us to what might be the oldest mic drop
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In history.
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>> moses: let my people go.
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>> pharaoh: what?
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>> cody: slavery was everywhere,
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Which meant equal rights were nowhere.
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>> pharaoh: oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, moses, moses.
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Moses, baby, listen, there's nothin' wrong with slavery.
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I mean, everybody's doin' it.
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Tell him, baby.
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She's a total fangirl.
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>> cody: from the roman empire to the mayan civilization,
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From asians, to africans, indians, and american indians,
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Which brings us back to america.
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After ditching king george iii in the revolutionary war,
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Our founding fathers decided not to keep doing what everybody
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Else had been doing.
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They were inspired by great thinkers like john locke
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And algernon sidney,
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Who said revolutionary things like--
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>> john locke: no one has god-given power
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Over anyone else.
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>> cody: and--
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>> algernon sidney: the king of england is not the direct heir
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Of adam.
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>> cody: these guys inspired thomas jefferson to add some
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Pretty bold language to the declaration of independence.
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>> thomas jefferson: whenever any form of government
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Becomes destructive
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Of these ends,
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It is the right of the people to alter or abolish it,
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And to institute a new government.
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[music]
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>> cody: the declaration of independence,
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Written by this guy right here, thomas jefferson,
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Was a mic drop heard around the world,
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And the world wasn't quite ready for it.
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>> pharaoh: a nation without a pharaoh?
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>> king george iii: or a king?
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That'll never work.
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>> pharaoh: i'm with georgie on this one, brother.
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>> thomas: we'll call it the united states of america.
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[pffft]
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[music]
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>> cody: forty-two years after john hancock put his
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John hancock
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On the declaration of independence,
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The biggest civil rights influencer of the century was
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Born into slavery.
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Would you believe that our first mic-dropper hadn't even heard
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The word "abolitionist" until he was 13 years old?
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He was shocked.
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He had no idea that there were any white people
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Against slavery.
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>> cody: born right here in talbot county, maryland,
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His mother was harriet bailey.
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His father was most likely his slave owner,
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Captain aaron anthony, and he was the great
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Frederick douglass--
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[applause]
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[music]
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>> cody: --which brings up an important question:
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What is in a name?
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His full name was frederick augustus washington bailey.
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His mom gave him the name of an emperor, a king,
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And a president, which is awesome.
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[music]
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>> cody: before the age of six,
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Frederick was raised by his grandparents,
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His grandfather being a free black man,
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But by the age of 21,
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Frederick was leased or transferred eight times
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As a slave.
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>> pharaoh: yeah, slavery, good.
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>> cody: on september 3, 1838,
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Frederick finally escaped slavery
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With the help of his fiancee, anna.
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Two days later, they were married.
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But frederick's freedom wasn't enough.
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>> frederick douglass: my freedom isn't enough.
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I want everyone to be free.
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Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced,
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Where ignorance prevails and any one class is made to feel that
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Society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob,
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And degrade them,
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Neither persons nor property will be safe.
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[music]
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>> cody: the fire that had been building his entire life
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Exploded into action.
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Within just a few years of being free,
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Frederick changed his name three times to avoid slave-catching
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Bounty hunters, which was a thing,
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Got his preaching license, was endorsed by william garrison of
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"the liberator,"
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Spoke at the massachusetts anti-slavery
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Annual convention, and booked a six-month speaking tour
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With the national american anti-slavery society.
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The man did not waste time.
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At just 25 years old,
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Frederick douglass was the face of the abolitionist movement.
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When slave owners warned how dangerous it would be for slaves
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To read,
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Douglass learned to read and write.
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Douglass wrote his worldwide bestseller.
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"the narrative of the life of frederick douglass"
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Is considered one of the most influential pieces of literature
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To fuel the abolitionist movement.
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>> frederick: education means emancipation.
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>> cody: douglass was asked to speak at an independence day
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Celebration, where he delivered one of the greatest antislavery
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Mic drops of all time.
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>> frederick: this fourth of july is yours, not mine.
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You may rejoice.
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I must mourn.
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To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated
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Temple of liberty
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And call upon him to join you in joyous anthems is
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Inhuman mockery.
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Do you mean, citizens, to mock me by asking me to speak today?
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>> cody: his speech was controversially known as
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"what, to the slave, is the fourth of july?"
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And it couldn't be ignored.
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It exploded into history like a fireworks finale.
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>> frederick: what, to the american slave,
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Is your fourth of july?
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I'll answer.
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A day that reveals to him more than all of the days in a year
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The gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the
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Constant victim.
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>> cody: douglass confronted uncomfortable truths head-on.
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He even called out his former slave owners,
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Which made some people pretty angry.
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>> pharaoh: individual freedoms?
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Individual shmeedums.
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How am i supposed to sleep at night without somebody to
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Pat my tum-tum?
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>> cody: so to avoid being recaptured,
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He spent two years droppin' the mic over in england and ireland,
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And eventually his friends from across the pond raised enough
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Support to permanently buy back his freedom.
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Fun fact: douglass was also the most photographed man
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Of the 19th century.
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Way before snapchat or instagram,
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Douglass used his intense gaze and dignified manner
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To launch a polaroid-filled,
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One-man campaign in direct defiance
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Against the repulsive way that the media of his day depicted
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Black people.
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[music]
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>> cody: before his death in 1895,
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Douglass got to see america use her voice with the passing of
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Three constitutional amendments:
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The 13th amendment,
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Slavery was finally abolished;
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The 14th amendment,
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All former slaves and their children
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Are now u.s. citizens
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With rights; and the 15th amendment,
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All black men have the right to vote.
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[music]
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>> cody: frederick douglass was one of the many instigators for
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The abolition of slavery in the mid-1800s.
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The second was, well, the second great awakening,
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A huge spiritual revival throughout the united states--
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Everyone worshiping together equally and hundreds of
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Thousands of new christians wanting to serve god inspired
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Major social change.
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At the beginning of this movement,
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Our next mic-dropper arrived--
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[music]
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--isabella baumfree, a name you're probably not familiar
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With yet.
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She was like the wonder woman of abolitionists,
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But she had been brainwashed to believe that her captor's
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Control over her was a good thing.
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>> pharaoh: i don't know what they're complaining about.
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All i wanna do is go a thousand miles in that direction
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While seven people carry me,
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Fan me, feed me, and change my diaper.
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[music]
00:11:07.222 --> 00:11:11.292
>> cody: isabella's parents knew the bible and raised her until
00:11:11.292 --> 00:11:13.294
The age of nine when she was sold along with a flock of sheep
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For $100.
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Think about that for a second:
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A human being was sold like
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Livestock.
00:11:22.971 --> 00:11:24.239
That's the reality of the horrors that was happening only
00:11:24.239 --> 00:11:26.608
200 years ago.
00:11:26.608 --> 00:11:29.577
Finally, in 1817, abolitionists helped pass the new york
00:11:29.577 --> 00:11:33.248
Anti-slavery law, but the law didn't go into effect
00:11:33.248 --> 00:11:38.052
For ten years.
00:11:38.052 --> 00:11:40.288
But surprise, surprise, when the date finally arrived,
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Dumont changed his mind and refused to let her go.
00:11:42.857 --> 00:11:48.062
So, early in the morning, she picked up her infant, sophia,
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And calmly walked away from her captors.
00:11:49.898 --> 00:11:53.001
>> isabella baumfree: i did not run off-- but i did walk off,
00:11:53.001 --> 00:11:58.640
Believin' that to be all right.
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[plop]
00:12:00.575 --> 00:12:02.610
>> cody: christian friends took them in and eventually paid
00:12:02.610 --> 00:12:05.880
Dumont for their permanent freedom.
00:12:05.880 --> 00:12:07.215
At 27 years old, isabella was a free woman.
00:12:07.215 --> 00:12:13.321
[music]
00:12:13.321 --> 00:12:16.057
>> cody: then, one day, like a 19th-century joan of arc,
00:12:16.057 --> 00:12:19.894
Isabella had an encounter with god that changed her life and
00:12:19.894 --> 00:12:24.098
The way we know her.
00:12:24.098 --> 00:12:26.401
She believed god gave her a new name.
00:12:26.401 --> 00:12:30.305
>> isabella: dear lord, please give me a vision for my new life
00:12:30.305 --> 00:12:32.340
As a free woman.
00:12:32.340 --> 00:12:33.708
[music]
00:12:33.708 --> 00:12:37.045
>> isabella: oh, that was quick.
00:12:37.045 --> 00:12:38.546
>> cody: with her heart set on truth,
00:12:38.546 --> 00:12:40.014
Isabella baumfree changed her name to sojourner truth.
00:12:40.014 --> 00:12:44.118
So what's in her name?
00:12:44.118 --> 00:12:46.287
Well, "sojourner," because god had given her a new vision.
00:12:46.287 --> 00:12:49.557
>> sojourner truth: and the lord gave me "sojourner"
00:12:49.557 --> 00:12:53.628
Because i was to travel up and down the lands,
00:12:53.628 --> 00:12:55.263
Showin' the people their sins and bein' a sign unto them--
00:12:55.263 --> 00:12:59.267
>> cody: and "truth,"
00:12:59.267 --> 00:13:00.201
Because, well, she needed to speak it.
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>> sojourner: --and because i was to declare truth
00:13:03.304 --> 00:13:05.807
Unto the people.
00:13:05.807 --> 00:13:07.075
>> cody: her speeches started drawing massive crowds.
00:13:07.075 --> 00:13:09.644
And her singing, yes,
00:13:09.644 --> 00:13:11.579
Her legendary singing commanded some serious r-e-s-p-e-c-t.
00:13:11.579 --> 00:13:16.050
There's even stories of her silencing an entire crowd
00:13:16.050 --> 00:13:20.021
With a song.
00:13:20.021 --> 00:13:21.556
>> all: [simultaneous loud chattering]
00:13:21.556 --> 00:13:30.398
♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound-- ♪
00:13:30.398 --> 00:13:38.406
>> cody: at one point, sojourner truth met
00:13:38.406 --> 00:13:42.110
Frederick douglass
00:13:42.110 --> 00:13:43.144
And his pal william lloyd garrison at an
00:13:43.144 --> 00:13:45.246
Abolitionist community in northampton.
00:13:45.246 --> 00:13:46.714
Garrison soon had sojourner on her own speaking tour and even
00:13:46.714 --> 00:13:49.918
Encouraged her to write a book.
00:13:49.918 --> 00:13:51.953
>> frederick: you know, miss truth?
00:13:51.953 --> 00:13:53.488
You should write a book.
00:13:53.488 --> 00:13:54.789
>> sojourner: oh, well, about that, i can't read or write.
00:13:54.789 --> 00:13:56.958
>> olive gilbert: i can read and write.
00:13:56.958 --> 00:13:58.826
I'll write everything down.
00:13:58.826 --> 00:14:01.129
Why, i'm writing everything down right now.
00:14:01.129 --> 00:14:02.363
>> william lloyd garrison: who are you?
00:14:02.363 --> 00:14:03.464
>> olive: olive gilbert, sojourner's friend.
00:14:03.464 --> 00:14:05.500
>> william: nice to meet you.
00:14:05.500 --> 00:14:07.435
>> cody: olive gilbert wrote down every word sojourner truth
00:14:07.435 --> 00:14:10.171
Said about her life.
00:14:10.171 --> 00:14:12.674
The "narrative of sojourner truth" was published in 1850,
00:14:12.674 --> 00:14:15.209
And like douglass's book,
00:14:15.209 --> 00:14:17.078
It was a wake-up call to the horrors of slavery
00:14:17.078 --> 00:14:19.647
That gave momentum to the abolitionist movement.
00:14:19.647 --> 00:14:23.418
Sojourner's life was full of mic drops, but by far,
00:14:23.418 --> 00:14:26.921
Her most famous was delivered at the 1851 ohio
00:14:26.921 --> 00:14:30.525
Women's rights convention.
00:14:30.525 --> 00:14:33.194
>> sojourner: that man right there said that women need to be
00:14:33.194 --> 00:14:35.563
Helped into carriages, lifted over ditches,
00:14:35.563 --> 00:14:38.266
And given the best of everything.
00:14:38.266 --> 00:14:40.802
Well, nobody's ever helped me into a carriage or lifted me
00:14:40.802 --> 00:14:43.371
Over a mud puddle or given me the best of anything.
00:14:43.371 --> 00:14:45.139
And ain't i a woman?
00:14:45.139 --> 00:14:47.909
And that man in black right there says that women can't have
00:14:47.909 --> 00:14:50.778
The same rights as men because christ wasn't a woman.
00:14:50.778 --> 00:14:53.881
Well, where did your christ come from?
00:14:53.881 --> 00:14:56.384
From god and a woman.
00:14:56.384 --> 00:15:00.254
Man didn't have no part in that.
00:15:00.254 --> 00:15:02.190
And if the first creature god ever created was a woman and she
00:15:02.190 --> 00:15:05.159
Was strong enough to turn this world upside down all on her
00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:09.063
Own, don't you think they ought to have enough strength to turn
00:15:09.063 --> 00:15:13.001
It right side up again?
00:15:13.001 --> 00:15:14.702
And now that they're askin' to, the men better let them.
00:15:14.702 --> 00:15:16.671
[music]
00:15:16.671 --> 00:15:18.639
[plop]
00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:21.743
>> cody: sojourner truth earned the respect of crowds all across
00:15:21.743 --> 00:15:24.045
The united states as well as three presidents.
00:15:24.045 --> 00:15:28.383
And she never stopped fighting for social justice.
00:15:28.383 --> 00:15:32.353
Sojourner truth passed away on november 26, 1883.
00:15:32.353 --> 00:15:36.190
And guess who gave her eulogy?
00:15:36.190 --> 00:15:38.726
>> frederick: she has been, for the last 40 years,
00:15:38.726 --> 00:15:41.729
An object of respect and admiration to social reformers
00:15:41.729 --> 00:15:45.433
Everywhere.
00:15:45.433 --> 00:15:48.136
>> cody: frederick douglass and sojourner truth had been on the
00:15:48.136 --> 00:15:51.172
Front lines of the abolitionist movement,
00:15:51.172 --> 00:15:53.174
Leading up to the civil war, but our next mic-dropper built
00:15:53.174 --> 00:15:57.812
Upon their legacy.
00:15:57.812 --> 00:16:00.281
He was known for being a little nutty and would one day be
00:16:00.281 --> 00:16:03.184
Affectionately called
00:16:03.184 --> 00:16:04.952
"mr. peanut."
00:16:04.952 --> 00:16:06.187
Ladies and gentlemen, george washington carver.
00:16:06.187 --> 00:16:09.824
[applause]
00:16:09.824 --> 00:16:14.062
>> cody: born toward the end of the civil war in
00:16:14.062 --> 00:16:15.463
Diamond, missouri,
00:16:15.463 --> 00:16:16.564
This young man was considered legally owned by
00:16:16.564 --> 00:16:19.534
Moses and susan carver.
00:16:19.534 --> 00:16:22.170
When he was just a few weeks old,
00:16:22.170 --> 00:16:24.305
He was kidnapped by confederate raiders along with his mother
00:16:24.305 --> 00:16:26.741
And his sister.
00:16:26.741 --> 00:16:29.210
He was the only one found.
00:16:29.210 --> 00:16:31.946
After the war, the carver family took him in and raised him and
00:16:31.946 --> 00:16:34.649
Taught him to read and write.
00:16:34.649 --> 00:16:36.417
So what's in his name?
00:16:36.417 --> 00:16:39.053
Well, he was simply george carver until, as an adult,
00:16:39.053 --> 00:16:43.324
He added the middle initial w, for washington,
00:16:43.324 --> 00:16:46.794
To seem more dignified.
00:16:46.794 --> 00:16:48.896
[music]
00:16:48.896 --> 00:16:51.399
>> cody: here in this house, george washington carver grew up
00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:53.801
A rather sickly child.
00:16:53.801 --> 00:16:55.603
After his adoptive mother, susan carver,
00:16:55.603 --> 00:16:57.939
Taught him to make herbal medicines, george was hooked.
00:16:57.939 --> 00:17:01.709
He started making his own natural pesticides, herbicides,
00:17:01.709 --> 00:17:05.279
And soil conditioner.
00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:08.649
It was here where his love for plants began to grow.
00:17:08.649 --> 00:17:11.152
Even as a kid, carver collected plants,
00:17:11.152 --> 00:17:15.256
And his neighbors would soon start calling him
00:17:15.256 --> 00:17:16.557
"the plant doctor."
00:17:16.557 --> 00:17:18.659
Carver accomplished a lot of firsts.
00:17:18.659 --> 00:17:20.461
In 1888, he was the first black student accepted at
00:17:20.461 --> 00:17:25.766
Simpson college in indianola, iowa.
00:17:25.766 --> 00:17:27.368
And at iowa state university,
00:17:27.368 --> 00:17:29.737
He was the first african-american student
00:17:29.737 --> 00:17:32.173
To earn his bachelor of science degree in 1894.
00:17:32.173 --> 00:17:35.776
[music]
00:17:35.776 --> 00:17:39.547
>> cody: his professors were so impressed by his work that they
00:17:39.547 --> 00:17:42.316
Asked him to stay and teach.
00:17:42.316 --> 00:17:45.419
So he became the first black professor while he worked on his
00:17:45.419 --> 00:17:48.256
Master's degree.
00:17:48.256 --> 00:17:50.224
But carver had a bigger goal.
00:17:50.224 --> 00:17:53.394
In 1896, he was appointed the agricultural director here at
00:17:53.394 --> 00:17:56.597
Tuskegee university.
00:17:56.597 --> 00:18:00.001
He wanted to help southern farmers not be so dependent on
00:18:00.001 --> 00:18:01.669
Cotton.
00:18:01.669 --> 00:18:03.037
Farmers were thrilled when his crop-rotation practices yielded
00:18:03.037 --> 00:18:07.275
Huge crops for them but not thrilled that they had all these
00:18:07.275 --> 00:18:12.280
Peanuts lying around, to which carver got to thinking
00:18:12.280 --> 00:18:15.650
And praying.
00:18:15.650 --> 00:18:16.651
>> george washington carver: all my life,
00:18:16.651 --> 00:18:18.119
I've risen regularly in the morning at four to talk with
00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:20.421
God.
00:18:20.421 --> 00:18:22.957
That's where he reveals his secrets to me.
00:18:22.957 --> 00:18:26.127
When everybody's asleep, i hear from god and learn my plan.
00:18:26.127 --> 00:18:31.465
[plop]
00:18:31.465 --> 00:18:33.801
>> cody: fast-forward ten years,
00:18:33.801 --> 00:18:35.002
And carver had developed so many products from peanuts
00:18:35.002 --> 00:18:37.572
That he distributed brochures to the public,
00:18:37.572 --> 00:18:40.875
Listing all of their uses.
00:18:40.875 --> 00:18:42.443
>> male: you can salt them, roast 'em, crack 'em,
00:18:42.443 --> 00:18:45.680
Grind them into flour.
00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.216
>> male: well, let me see that.
00:18:48.216 --> 00:18:50.484
>> cody: the market for peanuts skyrocketed.
00:18:50.484 --> 00:18:52.353
"but how'd he do it?"
00:18:52.353 --> 00:18:55.389
People wondered.
00:18:55.389 --> 00:18:56.390
Well, he had an answer.
00:18:56.390 --> 00:18:58.526
>> george: god told me, "separate the peanut into water,
00:18:58.526 --> 00:19:03.698
Fats, oils, gum, resin, starches, sugar,
00:19:03.698 --> 00:19:08.636
And amino acids."
00:19:08.636 --> 00:19:09.971
[gasps]
00:19:09.971 --> 00:19:11.606
Then the lord said, "you will know why i made the peanut."
00:19:11.606 --> 00:19:20.114
>> cody: by 1938, largely due to carver's influence,
00:19:20.114 --> 00:19:24.485
Peanuts had grown to be a $200-million-per-year crop in
00:19:24.485 --> 00:19:29.890
The united states and was the chief agricultural product grown
00:19:29.890 --> 00:19:33.628
In the state of alabama.
00:19:33.628 --> 00:19:36.497
>> male: peanut paste, peanut paper, peanut soap.
00:19:36.497 --> 00:19:40.334
What about peanut butter?
00:19:40.334 --> 00:19:45.139
>> male: don't be ridiculous.
00:19:45.139 --> 00:19:47.875
>> cody: why did he give away all of this information for
00:19:47.875 --> 00:19:50.678
Free?
00:19:50.678 --> 00:19:52.079
Well, he wanted the poorest of farmers to have the same
00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:54.282
Information as a college student.
00:19:54.282 --> 00:19:58.486
>> male: they were just givin' these away for free.
00:19:58.486 --> 00:20:00.221
>> cody: can a brochure count as a mic drop?
00:20:00.221 --> 00:20:03.224
Well, if so, he's got at least 43 silent mic drops.
00:20:03.224 --> 00:20:07.628
[music]
00:20:07.628 --> 00:20:11.465
>> cody: george washington carver wasn't known for a
00:20:11.465 --> 00:20:15.036
Singular mic drop moment.
00:20:15.036 --> 00:20:15.836
He lived his life as a mic drop.
00:20:15.836 --> 00:20:18.339
His genius silenced critics.
00:20:18.339 --> 00:20:20.875
His scientific breakthroughs lifted his fellow man.
00:20:20.875 --> 00:20:24.245
I think his life is best summed up in a quote all of his own.
00:20:24.245 --> 00:20:28.082
>> george: when you do common things in life in an uncommon
00:20:28.082 --> 00:20:32.953
Way, you command the attention of the world.
00:20:32.953 --> 00:20:36.891
[music]
00:20:36.891 --> 00:20:39.660
>> cody: that quote could sum up the life of our last
00:20:39.660 --> 00:20:42.797
Mic-dropper.
00:20:42.797 --> 00:20:44.065
He led the modern american civil rights movement for just
00:20:44.065 --> 00:20:46.000
Under 13 years from december 1955 to april 4, 1968.
00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:52.373
And, yes, i am talking about the man, the wordsmith,
00:20:52.373 --> 00:20:56.243
The absolute legend, dr. martin luther king, jr.
00:20:56.243 --> 00:21:01.215
His leadership was pivotal to ending segregation for
00:21:01.215 --> 00:21:04.485
African-americans and to the creation of the civil rights
00:21:04.485 --> 00:21:07.588
Act of 1964, one of the most significant legislative
00:21:07.588 --> 00:21:11.759
Achievements in u.s. history.
00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:14.562
>> pharaoh: civil rights?
00:21:14.562 --> 00:21:15.796
I don't know.
00:21:15.796 --> 00:21:16.664
[pffft]
00:21:16.664 --> 00:21:18.766
>> cody: though dr. king's leadership was abruptly ended on
00:21:18.766 --> 00:21:22.136
April 4, 1968, his legacy will never be silenced.
00:21:22.136 --> 00:21:25.139
The impact of his life lives on.
00:21:25.139 --> 00:21:28.976
So what's in this king's name?
00:21:28.976 --> 00:21:31.979
Did you know that this legend was named michael king at birth?
00:21:31.979 --> 00:21:34.949
When he was five years old, his father took a trip to europe and
00:21:34.949 --> 00:21:37.284
Was inspired by the reformation movement led by martin luther.
00:21:37.284 --> 00:21:41.489
His father, pastor michael king, sr.,
00:21:41.489 --> 00:21:45.159
Changed both his name and that of his son to
00:21:45.159 --> 00:21:48.729
Martin luther king.
00:21:48.729 --> 00:21:50.097
And just like his namesake,
00:21:50.097 --> 00:21:52.266
He upset the establishment in the name of truth.
00:21:52.266 --> 00:21:54.468
[music]
00:21:54.468 --> 00:21:56.504
>> frederick: in 1955,
00:21:56.504 --> 00:21:59.373
Dr. king was recruited to serve as spokesman
00:21:59.373 --> 00:22:01.008
For the montgomery bus boycotts, and it worked.
00:22:01.008 --> 00:22:03.677
The united states supreme court ruled that racial segregation in
00:22:03.677 --> 00:22:07.615
Transportation is unconstitutional.
00:22:07.615 --> 00:22:13.854
>> sojourner: in 1963, he was in the center of it all in
00:22:13.854 --> 00:22:17.158
Birmingham, alabama, when the news was filled with horrific
00:22:17.158 --> 00:22:19.894
Images of young blacks being assaulted by
00:22:19.894 --> 00:22:23.264
Fire hoses and dogs.
00:22:23.264 --> 00:22:25.299
>> george: he wrote his famous letter from a birmingham jail.
00:22:25.299 --> 00:22:31.906
It was more like a manifesto, and it hit like a hurricane.
00:22:31.906 --> 00:22:32.773
Ladies and gentlemen,
00:22:32.773 --> 00:22:33.674
Martin luther king, jr. [applause]
00:22:33.674 --> 00:22:36.110
[music]
00:22:36.110 --> 00:22:42.917
>> martin luther king, jr.: injustice anywhere is a threat
00:22:42.917 --> 00:22:45.553
To justice everywhere.
00:22:45.553 --> 00:22:48.656
Whichever affects one directly affects all indirectly.
00:22:48.656 --> 00:22:51.959
>> cody: when it comes to mic drops,
00:22:51.959 --> 00:22:53.694
No one hits harder than mlk.
00:22:53.694 --> 00:22:57.298
>> dr. king: i still believe that one day mankind will bow
00:22:57.298 --> 00:23:02.269
Down before the altars of god and be crowned triumphant over
00:23:02.269 --> 00:23:04.905
War and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will
00:23:04.905 --> 00:23:07.441
Proclaim the rule of the land.
00:23:07.441 --> 00:23:09.543
"and the lion and the lamb shall lie down together,
00:23:09.543 --> 00:23:11.946
And mankind shall sit under their own vine and fig tree,
00:23:11.946 --> 00:23:16.917
And none shall be afraid."
00:23:16.917 --> 00:23:17.785
Still believe we shall overcome.
00:23:17.785 --> 00:23:20.988
>> cody: there's so much i could say to close this show,
00:23:20.988 --> 00:23:23.324
But i couldn't say it any better than dr. king himself,
00:23:23.324 --> 00:23:26.494
So i'm gonna pass the mic one last time for what might be the
00:23:26.494 --> 00:23:31.732
Greatest mic drop of all time.
00:23:31.732 --> 00:23:36.103
[applause]
00:23:36.103 --> 00:23:37.271
>> dr. king: i have a dream this nation will rise up,
00:23:37.271 --> 00:23:43.577
Live out the true meaning of its creed:
00:23:43.577 --> 00:23:46.914
'we hold these truths to
00:23:46.914 --> 00:23:50.885
Be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'
00:23:50.885 --> 00:23:52.887
[cheers & applause]
00:23:52.887 --> 00:24:02.029
I have a dream that my four little children will one
00:24:02.029 --> 00:24:08.736
Day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color
00:24:08.736 --> 00:24:12.473
Of their skin but by the content of their character.
00:24:12.473 --> 00:24:14.241
I have a dream today.
00:24:14.241 --> 00:24:16.210
[applause]
00:24:16.210 --> 00:24:20.080
[music]
00:24:20.080 --> 00:24:24.318
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be
00:24:24.318 --> 00:24:26.754
Exalted,
00:24:26.754 --> 00:24:28.556
Every hill and mountain shall be made low,
00:24:28.556 --> 00:24:30.724
The rough places will be made plain,
00:24:30.724 --> 00:24:33.827
And the crooked places will be made straight,
00:24:33.827 --> 00:24:35.329
And the glory the lord shall be revealed,
00:24:35.329 --> 00:24:37.331
And all flesh shall see it together--
00:24:37.331 --> 00:24:42.102
Will be able to join hands
00:24:42.102 --> 00:24:44.071
And sing in the words of the old negro spiritual:
00:24:44.071 --> 00:24:46.173
Free at last.
00:24:46.173 --> 00:24:48.275
Thank god almighty, we are free at last.
00:24:47.274 --> 00:24:51.545
[cheers & applause]
00:24:51.545 --> 00:24:54.248
[music]
00:24:54.248 --> 00:24:54.248

Cody Crouch: Drop The Mic | Centuries Collide

December 4, 2024 | S2:E12

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