I am a child of segregation having grown up in the South, in the Deep South, in fact, and in, in an area that most embraced segregation and rigid laws affecting people of color. The Civil Rights Movement, in my opinion, really began only 30 miles from where I live, because it was there that people in the community of Clarendon County, Somerton, South Carolina, 30 miles from Orangeburg, started a protest, and a boycott, and a petition that is called the Briggs v. Elliott petition. Now initially,
they were just asking for better facilities. The second and third petition turned into the first suit against segregation in American schools. There's also an iconic photograph of you when you were 19-years-old drinking from a whites only water fountain. What is the story behind this photograph? And who took it? A friend of mine and I went to the coast of South Carolina where there was going to be a test of the segregated facilities in also places like even the Atlantic Ocean, and they prohibite
d African Americans from either going to the beach front, and my friend and I, Rendall Harper, we went to photograph that. On the way back, we got thirsty, and we stopped at a filling station, and I took a picture of him drinking out of the "white only" water fountain. He took a picture of me. His photograph of you became the famous one. Yes, I haven't been able to find my picture where I, that I took of him. One of your photographs made the cover of Jet Magazine. In working for Jet, probably ar
ound 15 or 20 years, I only made one cover. It was always something that those correspondents who worked with Jet wanted to do. It was always our eyes were on the prize of making the front cover, but for me it did not happen until 1969, a year after the death of the Reverend Martin Luther King. The people in Charleston, South Carolina, especially with the hospital workers, found themselves in a situation where they only were receiving half as much as their white counterparts who were doing the s
ame job they were. Right. And they started a boycott, and march, and demonstrations in Charleston. And Mrs. King, Andrew Young, and many other Civil Rights leaders at that time, came to Charleston to engage in that. My picture of Mrs. King on the front cover of Jet wearing the hat of the local union that supported the Black workers who really wanted to make the same wages as everyone else because they did the same job. Did you ever photograph Dr. King? I had four encounters with Reverend Dr. Mar
tin Luther King. I filmed him with my 16 millimeter camera. He was a very brave person and he had accepted the mantle of leadership at the time. I think it was something that he didn't really seek. But again, he had this bestowed upon him. Right. And his presence, again at a time in history, December 1, 1955 when Rosa Parks becomes arrested, and he is elected again to lead that movement in Montgomery, Alabama. I'm very happy also that the power and impact of imagery, which has been the cornersto
ne of my profession, photography, one image worth a thousand words it's often been said. And now with video being able to add elements as well. I'm hoping that people will realize that there's no such thing as race. We all are one kind. I think the astronauts can explain it best that when they're in outer space, looking back at an amazing planet, and look back at that planet and say, "On that planet, there are people." Not African Americans, not Black, not white. Not even when it comes down to i
nternational relations when all of us, China, Russia, everyone can really just appreciate the fact that we have a great gift, the gift of life. And let's not waste it fighting against each other. Let's, you know, work towards one accord, and one race, one people, so that we can make our planet a better place to live. Thanks for watching. For more Brad Show Live, like and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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