WEBVTT - The Real-Life Rosa Parks 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:11.160 On Theme is a production of iHeartRadio and Fairweather Friends Media. 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:27.640 You are class, Settle down, class. 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.440 We've been learning about civil rights activists this unit. Let's 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.520 see how much we've been paying attention. Show we which 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.760 NAACP activists sparked the Montgomery bus boycott by refusing to 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:40.800 give up her seat on a segregated bus. 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:43.080 Rosa Hugs. 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.400 Good job class. Why were Rosa Parks and many other 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.840 civil rights activists arrested in nineteen fifty six after the boycotts? 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.000 Raise your hand if you know the answer, me. 0:00:54.560 --> 0:01:00.880 Me because the Alabama government said blaycotts were illegal. That's right. Okay. 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:04.360 Last question, who was the first woman to lie in 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:10.240 honor at the US Capitol? Rosa Pikes? Great class, Now 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.360 you know all you need to know about Rosa Parks. 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:30.760 Most of us in the US have been learning about 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.400 Rosa Parks since elementary school or before. 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:38.160 Yes, the Rosa Parks, the activists, the mother of the movement. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.000 We learned about her act of defiance at least every 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:44.160 Black History Month, and it's always a great reminder how 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:48.280 history is made by ordinary people deciding that enough is enough. 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.840 For sure, And while we've known the name Rosa Parks 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.640 and her contribution to the civil rights movement. For a 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:58.880 long time, most curricula limit Missus Parks to a few 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.680 trivia like facts, and sometimes those few facts we hear 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.960 about Rosa Parks are used as punchlines in movies and songs. 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:09.800 But thankfully we can learn more about Missus Parks through 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:11.560 her own words and the memories of those who were 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.200 closest to her, her own family. We'll be talking to 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.679 her seventh niece, Miss Sheila Macaulay Keys. 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:22.760 I'm Katie and I'm Eves today's episode The Real Life 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:28.160 Rosa Parks. 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.400 Do you remember your first impression of Rosa Parks? 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:41.240 Uh. I don't know if I remember my very first impression, 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.480 but I'm pretty sure it was sometime around elementary school 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.520 or pre k or whatever. And I remember getting those 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.560 same things that so many other young students got, those 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.800 black and white contour drawings of all the civil rights leaders, 0:02:57.800 --> 0:02:59.880 and then you would color them man with their crayon 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.440 are your colored pencils and put them up on the wall. 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:09.160 I remember hearing about her and the busboycott and her 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.519 refusing to give up her seat, and that's pretty much 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.079 where my early knowledge of Rosa Parks ended. I don't 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.480 remember watching any films about her. I don't remember talking 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:22.320 about her beyond Black History Month. It was pretty contained 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.440 experience of my knowledge of Rosa Parks at the time. 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.320 I remember thinking that she was like so small and old. 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:33.640 But she's like in her forties when she did that, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.360 so she really wasn't that old. And I also remember 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.000 my mind being blown that she was still alive because 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.720 they make the Civil rights movement seems like so far away, 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.800 so it's like feels like ancient history to a kid. 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:48.800 But I was like, wait, she's still alive. Yeah, she's 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:49.440 indeed trite. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:50.520 Yeah, oh shit. 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:54.880 And I remember like seeing her in media a lot 0:03:55.120 --> 0:04:00.120 beyond just the you know, Black History Month PSAs or 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.480 McDonald's Black three six five or whatever the case may be. Like, 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.880 I remember seeing her in just like random like pieces 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:10.440 of media that I was like, ugh, Like that barbershop 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.000 movie mm hmm, they're like making fun of Rose of 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:14.440 Parks in two thousand and two. Do you remember that? 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:15.880 Refresh my memory? 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.680 So in the barbershop movie Cedric, the entertainer's character is 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:23.680 a loud, opinionated old barber who shares his offensive takes 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.280 with anyone who will listen, and I see where the 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:30.240 cast is participating in typical barbershop talk. Cedric's character takes wife, 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:35.000 said Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson, and Rosa Parks. Exactly, 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:41.960 Rosa Parks. He says, he's only the founder of the 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:43.119 modern civil rights movement. 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.400 But because she saw on the. 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:49.960 Book Edie, Yeah, what did folks say in response to that? 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.320 Well, the filmmakers in the studio apologize for the line 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.480 and said that you know, it was one character's opinion 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:58.640 and not the opinion shared by the film itself, the 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:02.680 filmmakers or MGM Picture. But even though they apologize, Jesse 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:04.960 Jackson still told the Associated Press that he would like 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.000 the producers to cut the offending lines from the home 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:12.200 video release, remember physical media. So Jackson said that there 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.320 are some heroes who are sacred to a people, and 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.360 these comments poisoned an otherwise funny movie. Referring to doctor 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:20.520 King and Missus Parks, he said, he could let the 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:23.159 little swipe at him, He could let that fly, but 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:25.599 you know, talking about doctor King and Missus Parks was 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.200 a step too far. And Cedric, the entertainer, the one 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.960 who said it in the movie, said he wasn't really 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.479 comfortable with saying the line, but he told USA Today 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:38.160 that quote, personally, I had some qualms with saying it, 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.279 But every situation has an instigator, someone who likes to 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:43.680 charge the room and say something controversial. That's what my 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.760 character does in the movie. So everyone was offended or 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:51.599 trying to distance themselves from it. Well not everyone. Ice Cube, 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:55.120 who also started in the movie, told USA Today, quote, 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.200 people are making too much of it. It's a funny 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.960 movie about a barbershop, and no one is exempt at 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.760 the barbershop. Just because we talk about people doesn't mean 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.200 we don't love these people too. End quote. 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:07.280 So what do you think about it? Or what did 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:08.160 you think at the time. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.480 So at the time, I remember being a kid and 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.920 being confused why people were mad over a joke. So 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.039 I asked my mom and she said it was disrespectful, 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.440 Like she saw the joke as disrespectful too, especially because 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.760 Rosa Parks was still alive to hear them belitterally what 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.680 she did. But in the scene, Eddie, the character Cedric 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.880 is playing, is instantly rebuffed by everyone in the barbershop. 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:33.280 And I mean, I don't spend that much time in barbershops, 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.800 but they are known for being a place where most 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.880 topics are fair game, even civil rights icons. But I 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.200 do think the flattening of Rosa Park's story as just 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.320 the woman who sat down on a buss contributes to 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.280 these portrayals. It's like, we're all taught a few things 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.440 about this lady, but everyone is taught those few things, 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.880 so she's a cultural touchstone who anyone will understand if referenced. 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.000 Like if I were to make a joke about like 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.000 Mary Church, Terrelle or Dorothy Hye or Elli Baker, most 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:04.599 people wouldn't get it, but that's not the case for 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:06.919 Rosa Parks. So I think it makes it easier for 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:08.880 people to just like insert her in there, and it's 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.200 like everyone's gonna get this joke, whether they think it's 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:11.880 offensive or not. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:17.040 I think the whole barbershops thing is interesting because it's 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:21.240 like one of those quote unquote safe spaces or like 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:26.560 protected spaces where that I think we generally, like culturally 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.840 make a lot of excuses for anything in anything goes situation. 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:34.720 But I like your point that, like there was pushback 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.920 in the scene. People did say, you know who Rosa 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:42.120 Parks is, stop playing she deserves respect, and so I 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.360 think it's a worthy conversation to have to say, like, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:49.200 how are we respecting and how are we talking about 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.800 our elders. Because things that are portrayed in media, like 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.760 they are disseminated broadly, a lot of people see them. 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:57.880 Those are the things that are repeated over and over 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:02.880 in different people's minds. So from that perspective of like 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.880 what are we actually transmitting, then I think it matters. 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:07.720 But I do also think that it was a lot 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:12.200 more lighthearted and also like treat it with care than 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:16.720 a lot of people were making it seem. 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.040 Because I went to YouTube and looked at this scene 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:23.239 and the comments on the scene are crazy, Like people 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.120 are like, yeah, Rosa Parks, they do shit. She was 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:27.920 the first one to sit on the bus, that was 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:32.040 Claude Kelvin. If they didn't like her because she was duskied, pregnant, 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.679 team much oh people, the park's bitter fitted for colorism. 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.920 I'm like yeah, wow, yeah, And so I do think, 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:42.480 sure it's a joke, and like I don't think they 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:47.960 meant any harm by it, No, But we what twenty 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.720 two years later and I'm seeing these comments from people 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.760 on YouTube like kind of bashing Rosa Parks and like 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:57.000 in They're Dead Ass series, you know. 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.400 Yeah, but that's not on the movie though, that's not 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:01.120 on the writers of that scene. 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:03.839 But I do think it's interesting to see, like how 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:08.120 you said, like transmitting things like where does it go? Like, yeah, 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.120 how do How are people reacting to it? They're not 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.640 taking it as like a joke for real, They're like, yeah, 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:14.400 down with ros you. 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:16.480 Know what that's really about. Though, that's funny. I didn't 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:18.720 see those comments. This is really about how people learned 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:20.880 about Claude at Covin and they felt like they were 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:24.400 right after that. They were like, I learned about Claude 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.120 at COVID. Oh there was a person before Rosa Parks. Now, 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.400 even though I learned about this from this article that 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.680 nine hundred thousand other people read, I am about to 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:33.480 spread the word. 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.160 Yeah, and I mean absolutely give claud it caving her 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.599 her props. Yeah, but it's like, you know, i'd be 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:45.280 Wells refused to get off of a train plusy versus Ferguson, 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:46.840 Like that's what that whole case is about, Like a 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.160 black guy refusing to like move. So it's like it's 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:52.640 okay that more than one person did this thing. It's 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.400 like we're building on We're building on it. So I 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:59.000 do think it's like a weird like pattern of using 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:01.960 Rosa Parks as a bunch of but hey, after the break, 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.000 we'll look at how other media portrays Rose Parks and 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:07.800 speak with her niece, Sheila McAuley keys about her auntie Rosa. 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:18.520 See you on the other side of this break. Okay, 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.920 So you know I have a complicated relationship with Tyler Perry. 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:23.160 Oh yes, I know. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.239 So you know in his movie Homecoming release on Netflix 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.520 in twenty twenty two. I wasn't rushing to see it, 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.160 but I watched it one day just to see what 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:32.559 Tyler was talking about or whatever. 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:34.920 Okay, fair enough, And to. 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.920 My surprise, like I didn't see this promoted anywhere, I 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.360 didn't see people talking about it online. But there was 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:46.000 a very superfluous flashback scene where Medea inserts herself in 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.760 the civil rights movement the day Rosa Parks decides to 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:51.800 not move from her seat on the bus. 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:54.599 Madea inserts herself how. 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:59.520 Basically, she says, Rosa Parks ran off with her man 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.080 and was on the bus with him. Give a town. 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.480 She says, you know why Rose didn't get off that bus. 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:08.160 People think she was trying to have black people, but 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.120 that is not at all what happened. All the reason 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:11.679 Rosa didn't get off that bus, she din won't get 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.319 our ass whooped because she has stole my man. That's 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.079 an interesting creative choice, to say the least. So were 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.120 people up in arms about it like they were about 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:19.760 barber shop. 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.320 Not at all. Like I said, I didn't see anything 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.120 about it. I didn't even know the movie had it 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.440 in there until I watched it well after it was released, 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.920 because nobody was talking about it. Tyler Perry told Variety 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.240 that he actually did this joke in front of Missus 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.440 Parks during Diary of a Mad Black Woman in Detroit, 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.240 which was one of his most famous plays, and she 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.480 said she thought it was funny. Really well, you know, 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.480 according to Tager Perry. 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:49.360 Right now, is that a trusted source or is it 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:50.080 a bias to her? 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:51.880 You know, he might have put it a little extra 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.280 on it, but he said, initially I was nervous. I 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.920 was like, oh Lord, what's she going to say? Her 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:00.280 caregiver was someone who worked with Sicily type and for 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.079 many years, and they would call me up and tell 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:03.839 me how much she enjoyed it, how much it made 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:04.319 her laugh. 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.080 It's definitely in the same spirit as the barbershop joke. 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:11.960 So I'm curious about why the response is different. What 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.880 do you think, Well, I do wonder about the reach 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.480 of the movies, Like movies work a lot different now 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.120 than they did in barbershops time, Like there were more 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.160 cultural touch points, and Barbershop was definitely one of those movies, 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:27.319 especially for black culture, and especially because it was about 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.400 a barber shop. Like, Oh, black people love talking about 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.400 the camaraderie of the barbershop and how it's just for us, 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.120 and how the conversations that happened there don't happen anywhere else, 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.640 Like that is a long standing thing that Black people 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.880 love to talk about. So I wonder if the whole 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:47.000 the the culture around movies being cultural touch points, things 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.280 that people gathered around at a single moment in time 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:52.120 that like it was back in that day versus how 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.400 it is now, Like it's a lot more dispersed. The 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.040 way we watch films, we don't watch them at the 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.959 same time, the conversations that happened around it happened in 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:05.120 so many different places that I think it's harder to 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:07.960 distill it down to a single point, so I think 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.440 that might have something to do with it. But I 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:16.240 also think that I don't know, maybe there's something about 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:21.720 context to where the comment that subject the entertainer's character 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:25.479 made in barber Shop was more pointed and the language 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.920 was a lot clearer, like who is Rosa Parks versus 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:34.120 what Medea said was more like this created fantastical fantasy 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.720 set within a part of the movie that was clearly 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:45.040 about like a situation that was more fictional versus something 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:47.280 that felt like more nonfictional. 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:53.360 Yeah, I can see that. Also, it's interesting that Tyler 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:55.640 Perry said that he did the joke in Diary and 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.200 Mad Black Woman, like the play version, but took it 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.000 out of Diary of a Mad Black Woman, the movie version, 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.760 because when the movie came out, I think it might 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:09.719 have been a similar time in movies closer to Barbershop. 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:12.160 But I think it was like a calculated decision, Like 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.240 I saw what happened with barber Shop, I'm going to 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.480 just like avoid all this smoke and like put it 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.360 in like years and years later and then kind of 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.160 like preemptively being on on the record saying Missus Parks 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.840 heard this joke and she thought it was funny, Like 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.360 you know what I'm saying. Also, it was twenty twenty two, 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:35.120 the reckoning, yeah, not even the reckoning like we were 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.920 going to ask Molly wopped. Oh yeah, ye yeah, you know, COVID. 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:39.120 Was going on. 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.960 The racial working was slowing down a little bit. But 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:44.400 I think people were just like fucking tired. 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:46.960 We were also grasping at straws for things that we 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.080 could enjoy. Yeah, and media. 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.080 So it's like, okay, whatever, I think. 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.000 So what you're saying is we're all very disenchanted. Yeah, 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.560 we're all cynical at this point. Yeah, we have tie, 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:06.960 we don't energy. Eggs are seventeen dollars? Are we really 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:08.280 going to fight chickens? 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.600 And also she's no longer alive at this point too, 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:13.120 So I think that was a big part of the 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:15.520 thing in two thousand and two, is like you talk 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:19.320 about this old woman who you should like have like 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.480 a lot of respect for and be showing some reverence towards. 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:24.760 You make a front of her say she ain't do nothing, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.280 she can hear you. So I think that that also 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.160 might play a part into it too. I'm not saying 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.480 there were no positive depictions of Rosa Parks beyond our textbooks. 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.520 We've got the two thousand and two biopics Starrying Angela 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.160 Bassett so came out the same year as Barbershop, and 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.080 then twenty years later The Rebellious Life of Missus Rosa Parks, 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:43.920 which is a documentary that came out in twenty joy two, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.320 so that's actually the same year as Homecoming of the 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:47.360 Tyler Perry movie. 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:51.040 She also wrote an autobiography titled Rosa Parks My Story. 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:55.120 Indeed, there's so much said and written about Roads of Parks, 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:57.960 but I was interested in knowing more about her as 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:02.040 not the legendary civil rights that she is now, but 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.600 also as a person, what she did beyond the movement, 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.560 which I think sometimes gets overlooked. In twenty sixteen, Rosa 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.600 Parks's nieces and nephews released the book Our Auntie Rosa. 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.640 The Family of Rosa Parks Remembers her Life and Lessons. 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:17.120 It's full of beautiful personal memories they had with their 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:18.920 aunt and the lessons they learned from her. 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:24.640 My name is Sheila McAuley Keys. I am the seventh 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:30.120 niece of Rosa McAuley Parks. My father was her brother 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:34.240 and the only sibling. I am an author, and Rosa 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:39.200 Parks was my aunt and also my mother. 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:44.280 After the break, we'll speak with Sheila McCauley Keys, Rosa 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.800 Parks's seventh niece and the author of the book Our 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:57.040 Auntie Rosa. 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.440 We saw the book that you and your brothers and 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.600 sisters and nieces and nephews wrote, and we were really 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.800 excited to read it and learn more about Rosa Parks 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.760 from y'all's perspective. And I was wondering, with so many 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.280 books written about your aunt, why was it important for 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.159 your family to write a book from a more personal perspective. 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:22.200 The reason why it was important for us to come 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:27.400 from our perspective because we were her brother's children and 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.840 we wanted the public to know of our experiences with 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:36.880 our aunt. She basically raised us. Most of of us 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:42.359 were grown already, but my parents, her brother, Sylvester McCauley, 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:47.320 died in nineteen seventy seven, her husband died in seventy seven. 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:52.240 My grandmother died soon thereafter. That's Rosa Parks's mom, and 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.800 then my mother died in eighty two. So she was 0:17:56.040 --> 0:18:00.199 a matriarch. She became the matriarch of our family, and 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.080 she was the glue that held us all together. Believe 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.200 it or not, there was thirteen of us, and she 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.560 was so strong. She went on about giving us away 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:13.960 at weddings, showing up to high school graduation. She showed 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.680 up to my son's middle school graduation. She was everywhere. 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:21.439 Anytime there was a picnic, she was there. She arranged 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:26.119 family reunions, She was the matriarch. She became the leader 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.639 of our family, the Macaulay family, after all the other 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:36.280 adults had passed on, had transitioned. So we felt it 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.000 necessary because it was a lot going on in two 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:44.280 thousand and five. When she passed, we were left out 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:50.040 of a lot of any type of actual arrangements. We 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.520 weren't taken into consideration the things she told us. This 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:55.480 is what I wanted my funeral. I don't want people 0:18:55.520 --> 0:19:00.800 talking in me, you know. But the funeral was of 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.840 epic proportions. I would say it was like seven and 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:08.080 a half hours long, and every political figure you could 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:12.000 imagine was there, and it was you know, it was 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:16.240 okay because everyone wanted to pay their respects, you know. 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:20.080 So I understood that. But then we decided to write. 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.280 You know, it helped us to grieve, That's what it did. 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:28.000 It was a grieving process. Our young people really need 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:30.680 to know her, and so that's what I look at 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:34.119 it as they need to know what a treasure she was. 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.120 I was hoping if you could read from page twenty eight, 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.080 you're talking about when your father died and like Auntie 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.360 Rosa like stepping into that more parental figure cryay. 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:52.680 It showed in the manner that she parented us naturally 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:58.720 without having experienced parenthood for herself at all. Thinking about 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:03.560 it now, we realize that nearly thirty years of bonding 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:08.480 with Auntie Rosa after her brother passed was an extension 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:12.200 of the bond she had first formed with him during 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:17.720 their childhood. Her devotion to all of us grew from 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:21.159 one of the most important relationships she had ever had. 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:27.120 Oh that was something to read. I forgot about that one. 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:31.040 When father died of stomach cancer in nineteen seventy seven, 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.320 Auntie Rosa said she would always be grateful to our 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:41.280 mother because she was by father's side every day. We 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:46.200 had never seen Auntie Rosa cry until she spoke at 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:53.199 his funeral. Auntie Rosa probably never expected brother to be 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:57.000 the first of them to die. Some of us were 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:02.520 still teenagers, and she seemed to feel responsible for us 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:06.840 even more after he was gone. It showed in so 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:11.000 many of the ways that she became a bigger presence 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:12.080 in our lives. 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.880 It's a really beautiful tribute, and reading it, I was like, Wow, 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:19.760 everyone should do this for their family member because it's 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:24.280 such a rich text. It's a document that would be 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:27.679 very hard to get otherwise. It's really touching seeing you 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:31.919 and Rhea write that about Missus Parks and her stepping 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:36.840 up to be that figure for y'all when your father died, 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:39.199 and it was nice to hear about y'all living in 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:41.440 the house together and just be a really tight knit 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:45.639 community and tight knit family. Did you discover anything new 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:48.200 about her while you were writing this book. 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:53.359 The only thing I discovered was what deep love she 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:56.200 had for her husband and the love letters that they 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:59.480 had written back and forth to each other. I discovered that, 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:02.280 and I said, while she was a human, you know, 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:04.399 because I always saw she walked on water and she 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:08.720 floated through the room, and she was Auntie Rosa. The 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:13.399 thing that I learned more about her personal side with 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:17.160 her own husband uncle Parks was a great guy. He's 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:23.960 a great, great person. He was a sweet man. So 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:28.920 that when I learned that about how they really did 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:32.679 love each other. They wrote those love letters back and forth, 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:37.920 I was like, whoa they they were really married. I'm 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:40.760 so silly. I was just a kid, and I didn't 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:44.000 really know they had she she really had a life 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:48.200 with this man. And I did see her her voice 0:22:48.359 --> 0:22:51.800 wavered when she called my mother and said Park said died. 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:56.440 She told called my mother and said Parks pasted the day, 0:22:57.040 --> 0:23:00.480 and her voice shook. I was like, oh, my goodness, 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:04.280 you know, and I found that she had feelings, and 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:07.359 I thought, you know, she was rough and tough. She 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:11.520 rosa Parks. She got the powerful fists up and stuff. 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:17.080 She was a beautiful lady. That's what she was, beautiful 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:23.359 lady of faith. So I just found out more on 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:27.879 the personal side, she was just like everybody else. I 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:32.000 really wish I think I would have treated her differently. 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:36.880 I treated her like Auntie Rosa. I think I would 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:42.520 have tried to have more open conversations with her. But 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:46.480