1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: By the time she had boarded the bus home in 7 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: October of nineteen fifty five, Georgia had already had a 8 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: very long day. Tired from work, she dropped her fare 9 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: in the till and went to go sit in the 10 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:50,199 Speaker 1: segregated back of the bus. She stopped shorts when the 11 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: bus driver began to yell at her. He ordered her 12 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: not to walk through the white section at the front 13 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: of the bus. She would need to get off and 14 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: re enter at the back of the Busia couldn't believe it. 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: She was already on the bus, wasn't she, But seeing 16 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: as he wasn't going to budge and deciding that she 17 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: would rather get home than fight with a power tripping driver, 18 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: Georgia sighed and got off the bus. But the moment 19 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: she stepped foot on the sidewalk, the bus sped off 20 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: with her fare still on board, and it wasn't the 21 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: first time the Montgomery, Alabama bus system had discriminated against 22 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: black writers, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Two 23 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: months later, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give 24 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: up her seat to a white writer, and when Georgia 25 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,119 Speaker 1: Gilmore heard that local leaders were planning a bus boycott, 26 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: she knew she had to be involved. On December fifth 27 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,639 Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty five, Georgia watched as the Reverend Martin 28 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: Luther King Junior spoke before a crowd of thousands at 29 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: the Holt Street Baptist Church. He proposed that the black 30 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: community should put together their own form of transportation in protest, 31 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: using donated cars and personal vehicles to ferry black people 32 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: to work in schools across Montgomery. His idea was met 33 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: with thunderous applause, Georgia included, but she was already thinking ahead. 34 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: Even if dozens of community members donated cars, it would 35 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: still cost money to keep up the boycott. Cars needed 36 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: gas and oil, and drivers needed wages. But Georgia had 37 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: just the idea to fund the boycott. She was a 38 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: cook by trade, working for the National Lunch Company, so 39 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: she decided to put her skills to use. She started 40 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: selling food at protest meetings and black owned businesses, showing 41 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: up with baskets full of fried fish, pork chops, sweet 42 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:32,799 Speaker 1: potato pies, and pound cakes, and soon enough Georgia had 43 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: organized dozens of women across the city to do the same. 44 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: Many black people in Montgomery worked for white families and 45 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,239 Speaker 1: were afraid that being a visible part of the protest 46 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: might cost them their jobs, but cooking and selling food 47 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,519 Speaker 1: was a quiet way to support the cause. Georgia dubbed 48 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: her network the Club from Nowhere. If people asked where 49 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 1: the food had come from, the cooks could truthfully say 50 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: it came from nowhere. Georgia became a welcome site at 51 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: every weekly boycott meeting, where she would sing and dance 52 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,920 Speaker 1: down the church aisle and report each week's fundraising numbers. 53 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: The Club from Nowhere typically raised the equivalent of fifteen 54 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: hundred dollars a week, and Georgia herself probably raised most 55 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: of the money of any person in Montgomery for three 56 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty one days. Georgia's cooking kept the boycotters 57 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: fed and funded. When Doctor King and other leaders were arrested, 58 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: for conspiring against the bus system's business. In nineteen fifty six, 59 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: Georgia testified at the trial, telling her story of the 60 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: white bus driver driving off with her fare. The testimony 61 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: made Georgia even more of a celebrity among Montgomery's black community, 62 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: but also made her visible to the white opposition. The 63 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: National Lunch Company fired her shortly after. Now, Georgia was 64 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: a clever and resilient woman, but this was a setback. 65 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: She had six children to feed on top of managing 66 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: the club from nowhere, and she was having trouble finding 67 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: another cooking job. When she brought these concerns to Martin 68 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: Luther King, Junior, he told her he had a solution, 69 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: why not work for yourself. With some capital from doctor King, 70 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: Georgia opened a restaurant in her home from which she 71 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: could continue to feed the revolution. Doctor King began to 72 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: use it as a meeting house, and he brought Robert 73 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson to meet Georgia and 74 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: eat her food. Finally, on November thirteenth of nineteen fifty six, 75 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court ruled Montgomery's segregated bus lines were unconstitutional. 76 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 1: A month later, the bus boycott ended for good, Georgia 77 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:31,119 Speaker 1: Gilmore continued to be a civil rights activist and beloved chef. 78 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: In fact, the day she died on March ninth of 79 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety, she had been up early cooking meals for 80 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:40,119 Speaker 1: the twenty fifth anniversary celebration of the Selma to Montgomery March. 81 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: Her family instead served the food to the hundreds who 82 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,919 Speaker 1: came to mourn her. Dead or alive. Georgia was still 83 00:04:47,960 --> 00:05:03,720 Speaker 1: feeding the fire. The Korean War was part of the 84 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: larger Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. 85 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: As such, it contained layers of legitimate disagreement between the 86 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: actual people of Korea, as well as layers of propaganda 87 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: and interference from the larger superpowers on opposite sides. While 88 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 1: the war ended in a truce in nineteen fifty three, 89 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: that didn't mean the ideological war between the Americans and 90 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 1: the Soviets had come to an end, not even close. 91 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,920 Speaker 1: Korea was divided into North and South, with the North 92 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: becoming communist and the South becoming a capitalist republic. However, 93 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: the North quickly became a dictatorship with a stagnant economy 94 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,359 Speaker 1: due in part to US embargo, and the South became 95 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,839 Speaker 1: a major military installation for the US to keep tabs 96 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 1: on the Soviets. And it was amidst this clash between 97 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: Titanic forces that one man sought to carve out a 98 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: life for himself against all odds. No Kumsuk was born 99 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: during the Japanese occupation of Korea, only to grow up 100 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,279 Speaker 1: and see his hometown change hands from Japanese RS rule 101 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: to North Korean dictatorship. His parents always resented the anti 102 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: American propaganda fed to them for decades by both regimes. 103 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 1: They wanted a chance to make up their own minds. 104 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,799 Speaker 1: As Kumsuk got older, he just wanted to eat. Food 105 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 1: was scarce under the dictatorship and American embargo. When he 106 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: heard that North Korean Air Force pilots were well fed, 107 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: he enlisted. During the war, he flew over a hundred 108 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,600 Speaker 1: missions and rose to the rank of lieutenant. Kumsuk claims 109 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: that he never actually shot down any enemy planes. He 110 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: says that he made a point to shoot past them. Again, 111 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: he had been raised to not believe everything that he 112 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: heard about Americans and South Koreans. Now that being said, 113 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: it is hard to believe that he was able to 114 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,599 Speaker 1: fly so many missions without ever killing an enemy pilot, 115 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: and that his superiors would never notice this. But if true, 116 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: it only makes his determination more impressive, and it also 117 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:55,600 Speaker 1: maybe explains why eventually Kumsuk realized that he had to 118 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: flee the country. He couldn't continue to fight for a 119 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: regime he didn't believe in, and he saw no future 120 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: in his destitute homeland, and he knew his chances of 121 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: escaping were pretty slim. In fact, he gave himself a 122 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: twenty percent chance of success, but he was willing to 123 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: take those odds if it meant a better future. He 124 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 1: was only twenty one, after all. In September of nineteen 125 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: fifty three, Kumsuk took his Soviet built MiG fifteen fighter 126 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: jet off the runway in North Korea under the guise 127 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: of running a mission. Instead, he flew south, boldly crossing 128 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: into enemy territory. He located an American Air Force base, 129 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: skidding to a stop on the runway, nearly colliding with 130 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 1: a departing jet, but confused personnel scrambled to the site, 131 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: assuming that he was an American pilot. But when they 132 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: got a good look at his plane and watched an 133 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: astonishment as he stepped out of the cockpit, they saw 134 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: him throw a picture of North Korean dictator Kim Ilsung 135 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: to the ground. And if Kumsuk was worried about a 136 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 1: frosty reception, he shouldn't have been, because as the Americans 137 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: examined his jet, they soon realized that it was a 138 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: MiG fifteen. An American general had recently put a bounty 139 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: on this mone it had a unique engine that made 140 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: it more advanced than American aircraft. Comsuk was awarded one 141 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars or about a million dollars in today's currency. 142 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: With this money, he was able to set up a 143 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: trust and eventually move himself to the United States so 144 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 1: that he could see for himself what Americans were like. 145 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: Once in the US, he excelled, earning a degree in 146 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: engineering from the University of Delaware. He changed his name 147 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: to Kenneth Rowe, married a fellow Korean immigrant, and in 148 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:32,080 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two finally became a US citizen. Kenneth eventually 149 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 1: settled in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he became a professor 150 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:39,199 Speaker 1: of aerospace engineering. In many ways, it was the American's 151 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: greatest dream, a former Communist citizen defecting, coming to America 152 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 1: and living his best life. But more than that, it 153 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: was one man taking his destiny into his own hands 154 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: and finding himself a home. I hope you've enjoyed today's 155 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,440 Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosity. Subscribe for free 156 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by 157 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by 158 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I 159 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 160 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 161 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,959 Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until 162 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.