Host Cody Crouch takes us on an unforgettable ride through the moments that made the U.S.A. the country it is today.
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Centuries Collide | Cody Crouch: Drop The Mic | Centuries Collide | February 1, 2025
- Cody crouch: i'm cody crouch, and this is the craziest crash
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- Course on american history you'll ever see.
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- Cody: buckle up, it's time for "centuries collide."
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- ♪♪♪
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- Cody: the verbal smackdown, the clapback, the diss, 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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- Mic drops have been around for a long time, even before they were
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- Even mics to drop.
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- America has always been about liberty and equality, it's right
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- There in our declaration of independence.
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- Yet somehow 25 years after, "all men are created equal," was
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- Written into parchment, some people did not have the same
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- Rights as white dudes.
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- And that's not right, right?
- 00:00:47.871 --> 00:00:54.310
- After we won our independence from britain, a lot of americans
- 00:00:54.310 --> 00:00:57.747
- Risked their lives to change that, including a few masters of
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- The microphone who used their words as weapons.
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- Male: give me liberty or give me death.
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- Cody: tonight, we're revisiting some of the greatest mic drops
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- In civil rights history.
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- Buckle up, it's time for "centuries collide."
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- Civil rights in america is about everyone having equal rights
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- By law.
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- Equal value, equal freedoms, and an equal voice.
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- It sounds like a no brainer, right?
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- But shocker, throughout history the idea of everyone having the
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- Same rights would sound completely crazy.
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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 of pyramids.
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- The throne is sphincter-- sphinx.
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- Cody: turns out most rulers throughout history had a bit of
- 00:01:53.102 --> 00:01:57.140
- A god complex.
- 00:01:57.140 --> 00:01:58.975
- Rulers and peasants alike believe that if you were
- 00:01:58.975 --> 00:02:01.778
- Emperor, king, or chief, you could basically do whatever you
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- Wanted with whomever you wanted.
- 00:02:06.316 --> 00:02:09.786
- Pharaoh: oscillate that thing, baby.
- 00:02:09.786 --> 00:02:11.921
- 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?
- 00:02:20.730 --> 00:02:22.065
- Cody: slavery was everywhere, which meant equal rights
- 00:02:22.065 --> 00:02:25.468
- Were nowhere.
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- Pharaoh: oh, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- 00:02:26.803 --> 00:02:28.171
- Moses, moses, moses.
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- Baby, listen, there's nothing wrong with slavery, i mean
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- Everybody's doing it.
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- Tell him, baby.
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- She's a total fan girl.
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- Cody: from the roman empire to the mayan civilization.
- 00:02:39.582 --> 00:02:43.253
- From asians to africans, indians, and american indians,
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- Which brings us back to america.
- 00:02:48.057 --> 00:02:50.560
- After ditching king george iii in the revolutionary war, our
- 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:54.130
- Founding fathers decided not to keep doing what everybody else
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- Had been doing.
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- They were inspired by great thinkers like john locke and
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- Algernon sidney, who said revolutionary things like, "no
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- One has god-given power over anyone else."
- 00:03:07.944 --> 00:03:10.913
- And, "the king of england is not the direct heir of adam."
- 00:03:10.913 --> 00:03:15.218
- These guys inspired thomas jefferson to add some pretty
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- Bold language to the declaration of independence.
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- Male: whenever any form of government becomes destructive
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- Of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or
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- Abolish it, and to institute a new government.
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- Cody: the declaration of independence written by this guy
- 00:03:47.383 --> 00:03:49.686
- Right here, thomas jefferson, was a mic drop heard around
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- 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: or a king?
- 00:03:58.127 --> 00:03:59.462
- That'll never work.
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- Pharaoh: i'm with georgie on this one brother.
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- Male 3: we'll call it the united states of america.
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- Cody: forty-two years after john hancock put his john hancock on
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- The declaration of independence, the biggest civil rights
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- Influencer of the century was 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?
- 00:04:22.919 --> 00:04:26.856
- He was shocked.
- 00:04:26.856 --> 00:04:28.191
- He had no idea that there were any white people
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- Against slavery.
- 00:04:31.327 --> 00:04:33.262
- Born right here in talbot county, maryland, his mother was
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- Harriet bailey.
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- His father was most likely his slave owner, captain aaron
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- Anthony, and he was the great frederick douglass.
- 00:04:41.437 --> 00:04:50.012
- Which brings up an important question: 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, and a
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- President, which is awesome.
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- But by the age of 21, frederick was leased or transferred eight
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- Times as a slave.
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- Pharaoh: good.
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- Slavery good.
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- Cody: on september 3, 1838, frederick finally escaped
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- Slavery with the help of his fiance, anna.
- 00:05:21.244 --> 00:05:24.480
- Two days later, they were married, but frederick's freedom
- 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:28.151
- Wasn't enough.
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- Frederick: my freedom isn't enough.
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- I want everyone to be free.
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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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- At just 25 years old frederick douglass was the face of the
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- Abolitionist movement.
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- When slave owners warned how dangerous it would be for slaves
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- To read, douglass learned to read and write.
- 00:05:47.069 --> 00:05:50.907
- Douglass wrote his worldwide best seller.
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- The "narrative of the life of frederick douglass" is
- 00:05:54.310 --> 00:05:57.346
- Considered one of the most influential pieces of literature
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- To fuel the abolitionist movement.
- 00:06:01.551 --> 00:06:03.953
- Douglass was asked to speak at an independence day celebration,
- 00:06:03.953 --> 00:06:07.390
- Where he delivered one of the greatest anti-slavery mic drops
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- Of all time.
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- Frederick: this fourth of july is yours, not mine.
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- You may rejoice, i must mourn.
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- To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of
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- Liberty 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, "what
- 00:06:39.155 --> 00:06:41.858
- To the slave is the fourth of july?"
- 00:06:41.858 --> 00:06:44.827
- And it couldn't be ignored.
- 00:06:44.827 --> 00:06:46.329
- It exploded into history like a fireworks finale.
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- Frederick: what to the american slave, is your fourth of july?
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- I'll answer.
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- A day that reveals to him more
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- Than all of the days in the year
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- The gross injustice and cruelty
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- To which he is the constant victim.
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- Cody: so to avoid being recaptured, he spent two years
- 00:07:10.686 --> 00:07:14.457
- Dropping the mic over in england and ireland, and eventually his
- 00:07:14.457 --> 00:07:18.761
- Friends from across the pond raised enough support to
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- Permanently buy back his freedom.
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- ♪♪♪
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- ♪♪♪
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- ♪♪♪
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- Cody: before his death in 1895, douglass got to see america use
- 00:07:40.349 --> 00:07:44.186
- Her voice with the passing of three constitutional amendments.
- 00:07:44.186 --> 00:07:49.158
- The 13th amendment, slavery was finally abolished.
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- The 14th amendment, all former slaves and their children are
- 00:07:53.095 --> 00:07:57.033
- Now us citizens with rights.
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- And the 15th amendment, all black men have the right
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- To vote.
- 00:08:03.306 --> 00:08:07.810
- Frederick douglass was one of the many instigators for the
- 00:08:07.810 --> 00:08:10.479
- Abolition of slavery in the mid 1800s.
- 00:08:10.479 --> 00:08:13.749
- The second was, well, the second great awakening.
- 00:08:13.749 --> 00:08:17.053
- A huge spiritual revival throughout the united states.
- 00:08:17.053 --> 00:08:21.190
- 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 our next mic
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- Dropper arrived.
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- ♪♪♪
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- Isabella baumfree, a name you're probably not familiar with yet.
- 00:08:37.506 --> 00:08:43.045
- She was like the wonder woman of abolitionists, but she had been
- 00:08:43.045 --> 00:08:47.950
- Brainwashed to believe that her captor's control over her was a
- 00:08:47.950 --> 00:08:51.988
- Good thing.
- 00:08:51.988 --> 00:08:53.356
- Pharaoh: i don't know what they're complaining about, all i
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- Wanna do is go 1,000 miles in that direction while seven
- 00:08:55.358 --> 00:08:59.095
- People carry me, fan me, feed me, and change my diaper.
- 00:08:59.095 --> 00:09:04.166
- Cody: isabella's parents knew the bible and raised her until
- 00:09:05.368 --> 00:09:08.571
- The age of nine, when she was sold along with a flock of sheep
- 00:09:08.571 --> 00:09:12.708
- For $100.
- 00:09:12.708 --> 00:09:15.211
- Think about that for a second.
- 00:09:15.211 --> 00:09:16.746
- A human being was sold like livestock.
- 00:09:16.746 --> 00:09:20.249
- That's the reality of the horrors that was happening only
- 00:09:20.249 --> 00:09:23.019
- 200 years ago.
- 00:09:23.019 --> 00:09:24.954
- Finally, in 1817 abolitionists helped pass the new york
- 00:09:24.954 --> 00:09:29.425
- Anti-slavery law, but the law didn't go into effect for
- 00:09:29.425 --> 00:09:33.362
- 10 years.
- 00:09:33.362 --> 00:09:34.864
- So early in the morning, she picked up her infant sophia, and
- 00:09:34.864 --> 00:09:38.768
- Calmly walked away from her captors.
- 00:09:38.768 --> 00:09:41.737
- Isabella: i did not run off, but i did walk off, believing that
- 00:09:41.737 --> 00:09:47.376
- To be all right.
- 00:09:47.376 --> 00:09:48.778
- Cody: at 27 years old isabella was a free woman.
- 00:09:48.778 --> 00:09:57.453
- Then one day like in 19th century joan of arc, isabella
- 00:09:57.453 --> 00:10:01.924
- Had an encounter with god that changed her life and the way we
- 00:10:01.924 --> 00:10:06.228
- Know her.
- 00:10:06.228 --> 00:10:07.596
- She believed god gave her a new name.
- 00:10:07.596 --> 00:10:11.200
- Isabella: dear lord, please give me a vision for my new life as a
- 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:14.236
- Free woman.
- 00:10:14.236 --> 00:10:18.307
- Oh, that was quick.
- 00:10:18.307 --> 00:10:19.875
- Cody: with her heart set on truth, isabella baumfree changed
- 00:10:19.875 --> 00:10:23.479
- Her name to sojourner truth.
- 00:10:23.479 --> 00:10:25.381
- So what's in her name?
- 00:10:25.381 --> 00:10:27.883
- Well, sojourner, because god had given her a new vision.
- 00:10:27.883 --> 00:10:31.721
- Sojourner: and the lord gave me sojourner because i was to
- 00:10:31.721 --> 00:10:35.091
- Travel up and down the lands, showing the people their sins
- 00:10:35.091 --> 00:10:38.894
- And being a sign unto them.
- 00:10:38.894 --> 00:10:40.963
- Cody: and truth because, well, she needed to speak it.
- 00:10:40.963 --> 00:10:44.667
- Sojourner: and because i was to declare truth unto the people.
- 00:10:44.667 --> 00:10:48.337
- Cody: her speeches started drawing massive crowds and her
- 00:10:48.337 --> 00:10:51.640
- Singing, yes, her legendary singing commanded some
- 00:10:51.640 --> 00:10:55.745
- Serious r-e-s-p-e-c-t.
- 00:10:55.745 --> 00:10:57.847
- There's even stories of her silencing an entire crowd with
- 00:10:57.847 --> 00:11:02.017
- A song.
- 00:11:02.017 --> 00:11:09.725
- [man arguing]
- 00:11:09.725 --> 00:11:13.262
- ♪ amazing grace, how sweet the sound. ♪♪
- 00:11:13.262 --> 00:11:20.035
- Cody: at one point, sojourner truth met
- 00:11:20.035 --> 00:11:22.138
- Frederick douglass and his pal william lloyd garrison
- 00:11:22.138 --> 00:11:25.107
- At an abolitionist community in north hampton.
- 00:11:25.107 --> 00:11:28.511
- Garrison soon had sojourner on her own speaking tour, and even
- 00:11:28.511 --> 00:11:32.248
- Encouraged her to write a book.
- 00:11:32.248 --> 00:11:33.983
- Frederick: you know, miss truth, you should write a book.
- 00:11:33.983 --> 00:11:36.252
- Sojourner: oh, well about that, i can't read or write.
- 00:11:36.252 --> 00:11:39.822
- Olive: i can read and write.
- 00:11:39.822 --> 00:11:41.223
- I'll write everything down.
- 00:11:41.223 --> 00:11:42.625
- Why, i'm writing everything down right now!
- 00:11:42.625 --> 00:11:44.827
- Male 2: who are you?
- 00:11:44.827 --> 00:11:46.195
- Olive: olive gilbert, sojourner's friend.
- 00:11:46.195 --> 00:11:48.531
- Male 2: nice to meet you.
- 00:11:48.531 --> 00:11:49.865
- Cody: olive gilbert wrote down every word sojourner truth said
- 00:11:49.865 --> 00:11:53.269
- About her life.
- 00:11:53.269 --> 00:11:54.637
- "the narrative of sojourner truth" was published in 1850,
- 00:11:54.637 --> 00:11:57.006
- And like douglass's book, it was a wake-up call to the horrors of
- 00:11:57.006 --> 00:12:01.844
- Slavery that gave momentum to the abolitionist movement.
- 00:12:01.844 --> 00:12:06.115
- ♪♪♪
- 00:12:06.115 --> 00:12:10.009
- ♪♪♪
- 00:12:10.031 --> 00:12:15.570
- Cody: sojourner's life was full of mic drops,
- 00:12:15.570 --> 00:12:18.840
- But by far her most famous was delivered at
- 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:21.409
- The 1851 ohio women's rights convention.
- 00:12:21.409 --> 00:12:25.046
- Sojourner: that man right there said that women need to be
- 00:12:25.046 --> 00:12:27.415
- Helped into carriages, lifted over ditches, and given the best
- 00:12:27.415 --> 00:12:31.452
- Of everything.
- 00:12:31.452 --> 00:12:32.820
- Well, nobody's ever helped me into a carriage or lifted me
- 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:35.223
- Over a mud puddle or giving me the best of anything.
- 00:12:35.223 --> 00:12:37.758
- And ain't i a woman?
- 00:12:37.758 --> 00:12:39.660
- And that man in black right there says that women can't have
- 00:12:39.660 --> 00:12:42.864
- The same rights as men because christ wasn't a woman.
- 00:12:42.864 --> 00:12:46.868
- Well, where did your christ come from?
- 00:12:46.868 --> 00:12:49.270
- From god and a woman.
- 00:12:49.270 --> 00:12:52.139
- Man didn't have no part in that.
- 00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:54.175
- And if the first creature god ever created was a woman and she
- 00:12:54.175 --> 00:12:57.411
- Was strong enough to turn this world upside down all on her
- 00:12:57.411 --> 00:13:00.214
- Own, don't you think they ought to have enough strength to turn
- 00:13:00.214 --> 00:13:03.484
- It right side up again?
- 00:13:03.484 --> 00:13:05.219
- And now that they asking to the men better let them.
- 00:13:05.219 --> 00:13:12.426
- ♪♪♪
- 00:13:12.426 --> 00:13:14.395
- Cody: sojourner truth earned the respect of crowds all across the
- 00:13:14.395 --> 00:13:17.231
- United states, as well as three presidents, and she never
- 00:13:17.231 --> 00:13:21.969
- Stopped fighting for social justice.
- 00:13:21.969 --> 00:13:24.472
- Sojourner truth passed away on november 26, 1883.
- 00:13:24.472 --> 00:13:28.876
- And guess who gave her eulogy?
- 00:13:28.876 --> 00:13:30.811
- Frederick: she has been for the last 40 years an object of
- 00:13:30.811 --> 00:13:35.883
- Respect and admiration to social reformers everywhere.
- 00:13:35.883 --> 00:13:39.887
- Cody: frederick douglass and sojourner truth had been on the
- 00:13:39.887 --> 00:13:42.723
- Front lines of the abolitionist movement leading up to the
- 00:13:42.723 --> 00:13:46.527
- Civil war.
- 00:13:46.527 --> 00:13:47.862
- But our next mic dropper built upon their legacy.
- 00:13:47.862 --> 00:13:52.166
- He was known for being a little nutty, and would one day be
- 00:13:52.166 --> 00:13:55.670
- Affectionately called mr. peanut.
- 00:13:55.670 --> 00:13:58.539
- Ladies and gentlemen, george washington carver.
- 00:13:58.539 --> 00:14:05.513
- Born toward the end of the civil war in diamond, missouri, this
- 00:14:05.513 --> 00:14:08.816
- Young man was considered legally owned by moses and susan carver.
- 00:14:08.816 --> 00:14:14.055
- When he was just a few weeks old, he was kidnapped by
- 00:14:14.055 --> 00:14:16.757
- Confederate raiders, along with his mother and his sister.
- 00:14:16.757 --> 00:14:20.861
- He was the only one found.
- 00:14:20.861 --> 00:14:22.964
- After the war, the carver family took him in and raised him and
- 00:14:22.964 --> 00:14:26.667
- Taught him to read and write.
- 00:14:26.667 --> 00:14:28.202
- So, what's in his name?
- 00:14:28.202 --> 00:14:30.938
- Well, he was simply george carver, until as an adult, he
- 00:14:30.938 --> 00:14:35.476
- Added the middle initial w for washington to seem
- 00:14:35.476 --> 00:14:39.613
- More dignified.
- 00:14:39.613 --> 00:14:43.284
- Here in this house, george washington carver grew up a
- 00:14:43.284 --> 00:14:46.354
- Rather sickly child.
- 00:14:46.354 --> 00:14:47.822
- After his adopted mother, susan carver, taught him to make
- 00:14:47.822 --> 00:14:51.058
- Herbal medicines, george was hooked.
- 00:14:51.058 --> 00:14:53.995
- He started making his own natural pesticides, herbicides,
- 00:14:53.995 --> 00:14:57.898
- And soil conditioner.
- 00:14:57.898 --> 00:15:00.468
- It was here where his love for plants began to grow.
- 00:15:00.468 --> 00:15:03.371
- Even as a kid, carver collected plants, and his neighbors would
- 00:15:03.371 --> 00:15:07.274
- Soon start calling him the plant doctor.
- 00:15:07.274 --> 00:15:10.544
- Carver accomplished a lot of firsts.
- 00:15:10.544 --> 00:15:13.247
- In 1888, he was the first black student accepted at simpson's
- 00:15:13.247 --> 00:15:17.451
- College in indianola, iowa.
- 00:15:17.451 --> 00:15:19.620
- And at iowa state university, he was the first african american
- 00:15:19.620 --> 00:15:23.491
- Student to earn his bachelor of science degree in 1894.
- 00:15:23.491 --> 00:15:31.432
- His professors were so impressed by his work that they asked him
- 00:15:31.432 --> 00:15:35.069
- To stay and teach.
- 00:15:35.069 --> 00:15:36.637
- So he became the first black professor while he worked on his
- 00:15:36.637 --> 00:15:40.474
- Master's degree.
- 00:15:40.474 --> 00:15:42.209
- But carver had a bigger goal.
- 00:15:42.209 --> 00:15:44.412
- In 1896 he was appointed the agricultural director here at
- 00:15:44.412 --> 00:15:48.115
- Tuskegee university.
- 00:15:48.115 --> 00:15:49.817
- He wanted to help southern farmers not be so dependent
- 00:15:49.817 --> 00:15:53.354
- On cotton.
- 00:15:53.354 --> 00:15:54.789
- Farmers were thrilled when his crop rotation practices yielded
- 00:15:54.789 --> 00:15:59.060
- Huge crops for them, but not thrilled that they had all these
- 00:15:59.060 --> 00:16:03.364
- Peanuts lying around, to which carver got to thinking
- 00:16:03.364 --> 00:16:06.867
- And praying.
- 00:16:06.867 --> 00:16:08.569
- Carver: all my life i've risen regularly in the morning at 4 to
- 00:16:08.569 --> 00:16:11.705
- Talk with god.
- 00:16:11.705 --> 00:16:13.808
- That's where he reveals his secrets to me.
- 00:16:13.808 --> 00:16:16.911
- When everybody's asleep, i hear from god, and learn my plan.
- 00:16:16.911 --> 00:16:25.519
- Cody: fast forward 10 years, and carver had developed so many
- 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:28.689
- Products from peanuts that he distributed brochures to the
- 00:16:28.689 --> 00:16:32.493
- Public listing all of their uses.
- 00:16:32.493 --> 00:16:35.162
- Male: you can salt them, roast them, crack 'em, grind 'em
- 00:16:35.162 --> 00:16:39.266
- Into flour.
- 00:16:39.266 --> 00:16:40.601
- Male 2: oh, let me see this.
- 00:16:40.601 --> 00:16:42.636
- Cody: the market for peanuts skyrocketed.
- 00:16:42.636 --> 00:16:45.639
- But how did he do it, people wondered.
- 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.275
- Well, he had an answer.
- 00:16:48.275 --> 00:16:50.578
- Carver: god told me, "separate the peanut into water, fats,
- 00:16:50.578 --> 00:16:57.451
- Oils, gum, resin, starches, sugar, and amino acids."
- 00:16:57.451 --> 00:17:03.591
- Then the lord said, "you will know why i made the peanut."
- 00:17:03.591 --> 00:17:13.200
- Cody: by 1938, largely due to carver's influence, peanuts had
- 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:17.738
- Grown to be a $200 million per year crop in the united states,
- 00:17:17.738 --> 00:17:22.776
- And was the chief agricultural product grown in the state
- 00:17:22.776 --> 00:17:27.148
- Of alabama.
- 00:17:27.148 --> 00:17:28.516
- Male: peanut paste, peanut paper, peanut soap, what about
- 00:17:28.516 --> 00:17:34.989
- Peanut butter?
- 00:17:34.989 --> 00:17:37.791
- Male 2: don't be ridiculous.
- 00:17:37.791 --> 00:17:39.393
- Cody: why did he give away all of this information for free?
- 00:17:39.393 --> 00:17:43.130
- Well, he wanted the poorest of farmers to have the same
- 00:17:43.130 --> 00:17:46.233
- Information as a college student.
- 00:17:46.233 --> 00:17:49.603
- Male: they were just giving these away for free.
- 00:17:49.603 --> 00:17:53.374
- Cody: can a brochure count as a mic drop?
- 00:17:53.374 --> 00:17:55.843
- Well, if so, he's got at least 43 silent mic drops.
- 00:17:55.843 --> 00:18:00.781
- ♪♪♪
- 00:18:00.781 --> 00:18:04.016
- ♪♪♪
- 00:18:04.224 --> 00:18:09.162
- Cody: george washington carver wasn't known for a singular
- 00:18:09.162 --> 00:18:12.299
- Mic drop moment, he lived his life as a mic drop.
- 00:18:12.299 --> 00:18:16.203
- Carver: when you do common things in life in an uncommon
- 00:18:16.203 --> 00:18:19.673
- Way, you command the attention of the world.
- 00:18:19.673 --> 00:18:26.112
- Cody: that quote could sum up the life of our last
- 00:18:26.112 --> 00:18:29.349
- Mic dropper.
- 00:18:29.349 --> 00:18:30.684
- He led the modern american civil rights movement for just under
- 00:18:30.684 --> 00:18:33.186
- 13 years, from december 1955 to april 4, 1968.
- 00:18:33.186 --> 00:18:38.892
- And yes, i am talking about the man, the wordsmith, the absolute
- 00:18:38.892 --> 00:18:43.997
- Legend, doctor martin luther king junior.
- 00:18:43.997 --> 00:18:48.001
- His leadership was pivotal to ending segregation for african
- 00:18:48.001 --> 00:18:51.738
- Americans and to the creation of the civil rights act of 1964,
- 00:18:51.738 --> 00:18:56.042
- One of the most significant legislative achievements in
- 00:18:56.042 --> 00:18:59.946
- Us history.
- 00:18:59.946 --> 00:19:01.281
- Pharaoh: civil rights?
- 00:19:01.281 --> 00:19:02.649
- I don't know her.
- 00:19:02.649 --> 00:19:04.985
- Cody: though dr. king's leadership was abruptly ended on
- 00:19:04.985 --> 00:19:07.454
- April 4, 1968, his legacy will never be silenced.
- 00:19:07.454 --> 00:19:12.525
- The impact of his life lives on.
- 00:19:12.525 --> 00:19:15.262
- So, what's in this king's name?
- 00:19:15.262 --> 00:19:17.330
- Did you know that this legend was named michael king at birth?
- 00:19:17.330 --> 00:19:20.934
- When he was five years old, his father took a trip to europe and
- 00:19:20.934 --> 00:19:23.937
- Was inspired by the reformation movement led by martin luther.
- 00:19:23.937 --> 00:19:28.108
- His father, pastor michael king senior, changed both his name
- 00:19:28.108 --> 00:19:32.379
- And that of his son to martin luther king.
- 00:19:32.379 --> 00:19:36.082
- And just like his namesake, he upset the establishment in the
- 00:19:36.082 --> 00:19:39.886
- Name of truth.
- 00:19:39.886 --> 00:19:43.957
- Frederick: in 1955, dr. king was recruited to serve
- 00:19:43.957 --> 00:19:47.961
- As spokesman for the montgomery bus boycotts, and it worked.
- 00:19:47.961 --> 00:19:51.431
- The united states supreme court ruled that racial segregation in
- 00:19:51.431 --> 00:19:55.468
- Transportation is unconstitutional.
- 00:19:55.468 --> 00:19:59.639
- Sojourner: in 1963, he was in the center of it all
- 00:19:59.639 --> 00:20:02.609
- In birmingham, alabama,
- 00:20:02.609 --> 00:20:04.244
- When the news was filled with horrific images of
- 00:20:04.244 --> 00:20:07.147
- Young blacks being assaulted by fire hoses and dogs.
- 00:20:07.147 --> 00:20:12.018
- Carver: he wrote his famous letter from a birmingham jail.
- 00:20:12.018 --> 00:20:15.088
- It was more like a manifesto, and it hit like a hurricane.
- 00:20:15.088 --> 00:20:19.025
- Ladies and gentlemen, martin luther king junior.
- 00:20:19.025 --> 00:20:24.164
- [applauding]
- 00:20:24.164 --> 00:20:29.836
- Martin: injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- 00:20:29.836 --> 00:20:33.973
- Whichever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
- 00:20:33.973 --> 00:20:38.712
- Cody: when it comes to mic drops, no one hits harder
- 00:20:38.712 --> 00:20:41.581
- Than mlk.
- 00:20:41.581 --> 00:20:42.949
- Martin: i still believe that one day mankind will bow down before
- 00:20:42.949 --> 00:20:47.120
- The altars of god, and be crowned triumphant over war
- 00:20:47.120 --> 00:20:50.657
- And bloodshed.
- 00:20:50.657 --> 00:20:52.025
- And nonviolent, redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the
- 00:20:52.025 --> 00:20:55.295
- Land, and the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and
- 00:20:55.295 --> 00:20:59.065
- Mankind shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and none
- 00:20:59.065 --> 00:21:03.236
- Shall be afraid.
- 00:21:03.236 --> 00:21:04.604
- I still believe we shall overcome.
- 00:21:04.604 --> 00:21:07.540
- Cody: there's so much i could say to close this show, but i
- 00:21:07.540 --> 00:21:10.744
- Couldn't say it any better than doctor king himself.
- 00:21:10.744 --> 00:21:13.980
- So, i'm gonna pass the mic one last time for what might be the
- 00:21:13.980 --> 00:21:18.918
- Greatest mic drop of all time.
- 00:21:18.918 --> 00:21:23.490
- Dr. martin luther king jr.: i have a dream that my
- 00:21:24.524 --> 00:21:26.926
- Four little children will one day live in a nation where they
- 00:21:26.926 --> 00:21:31.598
- Will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content
- 00:21:31.598 --> 00:21:35.335
- Of their character.
- 00:21:35.335 --> 00:21:36.669
- I have a dream today.
- 00:21:36.669 --> 00:21:45.879
- I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted.
- 00:21:45.879 --> 00:21:50.583
- Every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places would
- 00:21:50.583 --> 00:21:54.087
- Be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight,
- 00:21:54.087 --> 00:21:57.757
- And the glory of the lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
- 00:21:57.757 --> 00:22:01.528
- See it together.
- 00:22:01.528 --> 00:22:03.129
- We'll be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old
- 00:22:03.129 --> 00:22:06.866
- Negro spiritual, "free at last, free at last.
- 00:22:06.866 --> 00:22:09.702
- Thank god almighty, we are free at last."
- 00:22:09.702 --> 00:22:14.574
- [applauding]
- 00:22:14.908 --> 00:22:19.345
- ♪♪♪
- 00:22:19.612 --> 00:22:19.612