 A few weeks before she died,
I went to visit her 
in the hospital. 
And in what would be our
final conversation,
she said something
that I will always remember.
"I'm scared!" 
she said.
I haven't been this scared
since my first night
in Parchman.
"What are you afraid of?"
I asked.
She replied: 
"Not knowing
what's going to happen
next."
   Music: We shall  
  overcome.
  We shall
  overcome.
  We shall
  overcome
  someday.
   Whoa
   deep
  in my
  heart.
  I
  do
   believe.
  That we shall  
  overcome
  someday.
 (We'll walk hand-in-hand.)
 We'll walk hand-in-hand.
 We'll walk hand-in-hand.
  We'll walk hand-in-hand
  someday.
The day...
The day I saw 
the newspaper picture
of the burning bus...
This was the original bus
with the original freedom riders
on it.
It was attacked
and set on fire.
The picture was on the
front page of the Chicago
newspaper that I was reading.
I was just, um ...
Well, enraged is the wrong word.
That doesn't...
I was both sad 
and angry.
And
the thought of that
just seeing that picture
in the paper
just horrified me!
I just felt: 
How can this go on
in our country?
Someone's got to do something.
So I decided I would do it.
Audience member: "Did you  
 ask yourself:
 'Why me?'
 'Why am I doing this?'"
 Versus...
 I mean, other people
 could  have done it.
 What made you?
Well everyone can't do it.
Well, that's what I'm saying.  
 Why you?
Why me?
Well, I was 22, I was 
unmarried.
I had no children
um
and I'd been interested 
in civil rights,
um
I said, "Why not me?"
News reporter: One of the most
dramatic applications of the
principles of nonviolence
came with the freedom riders.
 These were organized by
the Congress of Racial Equality.
These members, both Negro
 and white
 intended to challenge
the practice of providing
separate facilities for Negro
and white travelers in the South
From all over the country 
 mixed groups 
traveling by bus over the South
 beleaguered segregated  
waiting rooms and restaurants
 in many Southern cities.
 Negroes were jailed for
entering white waiting rooms;
whites were jailed for entering
 Negro waiting rooms.
But they were determined 
 to succeed  
even if it meant going to jail.
F.Harris: These are the 
 other people that you
 you were arrested with.
Well, see we never saw the men 
after, um, 
once we got to...
once we got to Parchman.
 Over 300 freedom riders
 went to jail.
Nearly half of those were white.
 Nearly half were women.
As a woman, I know that there
 were only two women
on this particular trip
and you were the only black 
 person in this group.
 What was that like?
I wish there had been
 more blacks, but it was good
that whites were willing to
to take the same risks
that I was willing to take.
And so
I guess I didn't feel
bad about it.
But I wish there had been
more
more blacks.
There were a lot of blacks
who took part
in the freedom rides, 
but they just weren't many
on my particular group.
I think the whites took more
verbal abuse
and maybe more physical abuse.
Because we were doing it
for ourselves.
Well, they were doing it for
for themselves too, really
when you think about it because
what kind of a country
would allow 
other citizens to be treated
that way?
They weren't doing us a favor.
They were doing it for
for themselves too.
You didn't tell your parents,
 I believe.
I didn't tell him
He was living here in New Haven
at that time
and I was in Chicago
I knew my father would probably 
try to talk me out of going.
So I didn't want to argue
with him
and I already had made
  
up my mind that I was going.
And so the night before
I left Chicago,
I wrote him a card 
from the bus station
 (Audience Laughter)
as I left Chicago:
"Dear daddy,
If you don't hear from me
for a long time it's because
I'm in jail in Mississippi. 
 (Audience laughter)
I'm in jail in Mississippi.
I'm going on the freedom rides.
Don't worry."
He was very old-fashioned.
He thought this is something
you leave to men to do.
And, you know, actually about 
a third of the freedom riders
were female.
But I didn't feel that it had 
anything to do with, um,     
one's gender.
 Was there any fear?
 Any concern?
Oh, yeah! 
You know
I'm not totally crazy.
I didn't want to get killed.
You know, but I thought...
You know, I was worried that
if someone hit me that I would
run
or that I might 
strike them back.
And I knew that everybody
in the movement had to be 
nonviolent.
We role-played
so we knew what it was like
to be yelled at.
We knew what it was like 
to be spit upon.
We trained.
Because everyone isn't
nonviolent by nature.
And I don't think I'm
one of those people.
 (Audience laughter)
I mean, I would
normally rise up and
defend myself.
I knew that I, I
I didn't want to 
embarrass anyone.
But I was afraid.
Um.
That something would happen.   
 What did you do
 the night before?
Who were you staying with
 the night before?
We stayed at
Reverend Abernathy's house.
I remember being nervous
at night because his house had
once been, um...
fire-bombed.
And so there were 
lights on outside.
There were people walking around
guarding the house.
Audience member: I would like to
get a historical background.
 The freedom ride.
 There was only one?
I thought there had been...
No. No there was one in 
Albany, Georgia.
There was one in Mississippi.
And I was involved in the one
in Mississippi.
That's why I went to Parchman.
 F.Harris: This is 
 the police record:
"Received information that a  
a group of people were coming by
coming by bus from Montgomery
 to Jackson.
These people call themselves 
freedom riders were on the
Trailways bus due in at the 
 station at 1:15 p.m.
At 1:38 p.m., the bus pulled 
 into dock 8.
 A group of eight people
discharged from the bus 
consisting of seven white
 and one colored."     
 F.Harris: Who was the
first one to step off the bus?
Uh, I believe I was because 
I had a seat right up front.
And so, um, 
I stepped off the bus and
looked to see
 which sign said 
"White"
and which sign said
"Colored."
So as soon as I saw 
the sign that said 
"White Waiting Room,"
I headed in that direction
with the two guys.
You'd lived in the North for
a considerable time where you 
didn't really have to deal with
 all of the different
"Colored" and "White" signs
So was this the first time 
 that you'd...
No and I was quite familiar 
with it
because
well, we went back to Alabama
to see the rest of his family
almost yearly.
So I was used to
separate facilities, you know 
like drinking fountains.
When we went to the movies
we sat in the balcony 
with our cousins
while the whites sat
on the main floor.
So I was quite used to the fact
that there was segregation.  
You know, I didn't like it
one bit.
But there was...
It never occurred to me 
to do anything
until
the bus boycott began.
And then I realized that
people could...
you could actually change things
just by refusing to go along
with segregation
you could actually       
change things.
Captain John Ray approached
the group that went to the 
colored waiting room and ordered
 them to move on.
 No one moved.
 He stated "Move out of 
 the station."
 Again, no one moved.
At this time Captain Ray
placed them under arrest.
I think I said to him.  
When he said to move 
the first time, I said:
"I have a constitutional right
to be here." 
That's what I said to him.
 What did he say?
He just said "Move!" again.
 Did he physically 
 move you?
No.
No.
 Was there any threat
 of violence?
The only threat of violence
was in my head.
You know, when I got there
I saw all those people who were
waiting for the bus.
They were, they seemed to be  
just hanging around. 
They were waiting to see who...
if anything was going to happen.
Were these mostly whites?
These were whites, yeah.
Blacks made themselves scarce.
They were yelling 
and making a lot of noise
and I think that's what 
frightened me as I stepped
off the bus.  
I didn't know whether one of
the crazies would come up to me
and hit me or
what they would do 
but they were waiting.
They apparently waited for
every bus that came in.
Whenever they heard that there 
was a bus coming in carrying
carrying freedom riders
it was always a sort of  
welcoming committee.
So you, you get off the bus.
 They take you...
What was Captain Ray like?  
 What was he like?
Um.
Well, he behaved well.
I mean he didn't call us
any names.
The only time he, he, he seemed
a little upset was when he was
asking me for the race of 
everybody in my group
and I answered "human."
He said, "Well aren't you black?
I said, "No. Human."
(Laughing)
So he looked a bit annoyed
about that.
But, but he wasn't, um,
threatening.
I pretty much I felt much safer
in the police station than I had
felt outside at the bus station.
 Were you surprised
 that he was as...
 he was?
He was used to it.
He had arrested
almost all the freedom riders
who had ever come to Jackson.
It must have been old hat to him
(Took us) to the city jail
And that's where they
interrogated us,
took our fingerprints
asked us questions
and then they got locked up.
This was the first time I'd seen
the inside of a 
of a jail.
 What was that like?
 Here you are a 
 University of Chicago
 graduate?
 Very good student,
 never been in trouble 
in your life, I presume  
and now you're in, in jail.
It was the usual Saturday night/
Sunday crowd:
prostitutes and other people
who had been arrested
for fighting and
or gambling.
But they were very nice to us.
 Were they mostly black?
Oh, they were black. Yes.
Because they put you in...
in separate...right.
They know why you were there?
Well, they asked me and so 
I said: "Well, I went into the
'White' Waiting Room."   
Then they went "Yea, yea!"
You know. 
So they were very,
they were very supportive.
Um.
I guess the first day 
we were there was probably
the most vivid because, um, 
They, um, 
I remember that they, they
they did a body cavity search   
and I was absolutely outraged 
but there was nothing
I could do about it.
I mean, I couldn't win.
Um.
So just let them do it.
We did a lot of singing and
and, and talking because they   
took our books away.
I had carried two books with me:
I brought the complete works
of Shakespeare
and I brought King James 
version of the Bible    
because those were the 
two things I thought 
I could read all summer long. 
But they
the jailer took that book away.
And he took away also
the complete works
of Shakespeare. 
So we had no books.
No newspapers.
No visitors.
The only news we got was when
new freedom riders got arrested
they would come in and tell us
everything that had happened
since we got arrested.
They were like our
news reporters.
Audience member: How did you
 get through it after it
 taking all that in
 for a long time?
 How did you find peace
 within yourself?
Well, I found peace
the first time I
walked into the
 "White" Waiting Room.
I...just...
That was peace to me.
Just doing it.
Just the act of doing it was
It...it felt wonderful.
Even though I knew I was going 
to be arrested
it still felt great.
My spirits were lifted
by the other prisoners.  
The other freedom riders 
sang a lot of songs.
They talked about their lives.
They talked about 
what we were doing.
Audience member: How do you feel
 about the progress 
 this far?
Up and down.
The day I voted for Obama
the first time
tears poured down my cheeks.
tears started coming down
my cheeks
as I marked "Obama."
You know.
Marked the ballot.
And I didn't expect that
because I'm not
all that emotional.
So I really was surprised
but I felt
It gave me the same feeling
that I got when I 
went into that
bus station.
That...
I was swearing off the past
You know and
Rejecting the past
and just doing something that
uplifted me.
I never thought I'd 
live long enough 
to see 
a black president 
and so that was very emotional.
Now, with Trump in
who knows what's going to happen
I'm looking for places 
I can go in case I have to
go to Canada.
 (Audience laughter)
Audience member: It was the
right thing for you to do.
 What would you tell
our young people today?  
It's the right thing to do
to get involved.
Depends on what 
what's going on though.   
We don't have
LEGAL 
segregation anymore.
But we still have
We still have racism
and all the evils
that that has brought to us.
So I would encourage
young people to get involved 
in any level they can.
 (Audience applause)
 (Audience applause)
 (Audience applause)
F.Harris: I commend you for
 what you've done and
 as a lot of people do
 with service people:  
 I thank you   
 for
 your service.
 And I
 I look upon you as
 a freedom fighter,
 a soldier.
 It's important that
the younger generation know
 what went on before
 and that's part of why 
 I wanted to do this
 to kind of record this
 to write about it.
I just think it's important
 for people to know
 because without you
and without others like you
 we would not
 have the opportunity.
It's everybody's responsibility
to do whatever they can do.  
These are just small tokens
 of love.
 There is nothing 
that we really can give you
for all that you've done 
 for us.
 The Essence of Beauty
 presented to
 Lula Mae White
 Southern Connecticut
 State University
 March 30, 2011   
and there's a glove here
 so we don't get our 
fingerprints all over it.
 (Audience laughter)
Thank you.
 We thank you.
 (Audience applause)
I appreciate all of this.
But you know, the fight goes on.
 Yes it does.
You know, I carried on
doing things that the generation
before me  
had wanted to do.
The fight goes on.
It never ends.
  Music: We shall 
  overcome
  We shall
  overcome
  We shall
  overcome
  someday
  Whoa
  Deep  
  in my
  heart
  I do
  believe
  that we shall
  overcome
  someday
