E-mail a friendDecember 1, 2005
On the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott, Tavis talks to Rev. Joseph Lowery, Rep. John Lewis and Johnnie Carr.
Rev. Joseph Lowery
Rev. Joseph Lowery
Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery is called the dean of the civil rights movement. Along with his friend, Dr. Martin Luther King, Lowery co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization that played a major role in desegregating the South. He was also prominent in civil rights activities in Mobile, Selma and Birmingham, AL. Lowery is chairman emeritus of Black Leadership Forum, a consortium of major national advocacy organizations, and chair of the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda.
Johnnie Carr
Johnnie Carr
Activist Johnnie Carr has been committed to equal rights for a more than a half-century. She took part in voter registration campaigns and worked as a polling official. She worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and was a close friend and classmate of Rosa Parks. Carr helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott and is the longtime president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization created to support it. At age 94, she's still energetic and dedicated to racial understanding.
Rep. John Lewis
Rep. John Lewis
Georgia Rep. John Lewis is recognized as one of the "Big Six" civil rights movement leaders. As a student, he organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters. He also helmed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The son of sharecroppers, the Alabama native was educated at Nashville's Fisk University and American Baptist Theological Seminary. He was on the Atlanta City Council before being elected to the U.S. House in '86. Lewis is the last surviving speaker from the '63 March on Washington.