the poor people's campaign of 1968 next on booktv. he examines the anti-poverty effort organized by martin luther king jr. and the relationship between african-americans and mexican americans within the movement. it's about one hour. >> thanks, tom. i appreciate it. thank you everyone for being here tonight. i appreciate it. i feel a little like an airline pilot and telling you i know we have choices and so thank you for flying southwest.

there are increased three of 3 cents going to write about economic justice that care about these issues and it also says a lot about the state of the country that these solutions we are talking about. but i really appreciate you being here. i also want to thank tom for having me here. a means a lot to launch the book here. and we moved to durham in 2002. i started the graduate program in the history department in the fall of 2002. and i had heard about the regulator before even moving to durham and other folks in the academy and people that do history and just love to read. i came here as an avid reader and i brought my books here and now as someone who teaches at duke in the writing program, i ordered my textbooks through

here. so if there is anybody that is an academic that doesn't order textbooks through the regulator, then you can see tom for that. so, it means a lot to be here tonight and to start this year. as tom said, the plan will be talking for 35 or 40 minutes at the most and i will do some reading from the book and i look forward to the robust dialogue and questions and answers at the end for the next 20 or 25 minutes after that and then i will sign some books over there. if they can read my chicken scratch writing. so that is the plan. we are going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a number of civil rights flashpoints. 1963 was a pretty important year in the civil rights movement or

would i will call the black freedom struggle for the rest of the talk and none will be more celebrated than the march on washington that happened on august 28, 1963. i think we can imagine that the focus will be -- this is probably what we are going to see a lot of. dr. king, the celebrity of dr. king and the i have a dream speech. maybe there will be some mentioning of the complex of the march on washington, the labor unions and the practice and made it possible and did all of the organizing. maybe we will hear about the full name of the march on washington which was the march on washington for jobs and freedom, and maybe we will even hear about the kennedy administration horror about this march. they didn't want this to happen. a were concerned there would lead to the point president kennedy's shut down the federal government other than for the

essential personnel the day that this occurred in 63. but, i am pretty certain that the commemoration is mostly going to focus on dr. king and i have a dream. and i know that -- we all know this and most of us can recite parts of it and chunks of it especially towards the end. it's a great speech. it's optimistic, hopeful, it is king at his best when it comes to the delivery and the style and emotional appeal but also frees as dr. king in 1963 in this moment. he's talking about ecology and the brotherhood, which are fine themes and messages but it freezes him and obscures' the complexity of king and of the freedom struggle and the complexity of the 1960's. so tonight i want to talk more about another march, the poor people's campaign in 1968 which

is what dr. king was working on when he was assassinated in memphis. alarmed by what he saw as a vicious circle of violence by the state with police harassment and brutality or as well u.s. military involvement in southeast asia and then the response by frustrated african-americans and very frustrated at the slow pace of change and civil rights change particularly in urban areas in the north and west dr. king disparate in late 1967 that he thought the united states was moving quickly towards a fascist, towards fascism, towards a fascist state but the inevitable response the violence that is occurring both by the police and the right into the signal from the symbolism of vietnam was that we are quickly turning towards fascism.

and so in december of 1967 he announces the poor people's campaign in which his organization would bring waves of the nation's poor and disinherited to washington, d.c. to demand for the redress of the grievances by the government to secure the jobs and income for all adding that the poor would stay on till america responds. but he envisioned this campaign has not just black and white but one that included mexican-americans, puerto ricans and native americans as well and he had hoped the campaign would do the number of things, three primary goals. transform the struggle of human-rights, bring about the federal government's re-dedication to the war on poverty declared four years earlier by president lyndon johnson but never fully funded and to hopefully restore the

nonviolence and social justice organizer which had lost ground considerably and then calls for any means necessary. i will read my first excerpt here in ways that capture why it's so important and how it's been treated up to this point by most scholars and the public memory. the same the most ambitious campaign undertaken by king in the southern christian leadership conference. the campaign king didn't live to see has been dismissed by journalists, scholars, biographers and even some activists as either irrelevant or disastrous. one former official referred to the campaign as little big horn

of the civil rights movement and eye-catching but rather precise analogy because it isn't clear who feed lakota and general custer are in that movie intact. it often was with symbolism. it didn't spark a war on poverty or nonviolent strategy and it did not achieve many of the stated goals including the new deal style jobs program. yet a closer look at the campaign reveals a unique and remarkably instructive experiment to build a multiracial movement designed to wage a sustained fight against poverty even in the assassinations and political turmoil in the spring. they capture the attention and imagination only in washington in the spring of 1968 did the local, regional and activists as symbols of many different backgrounds from veterans in the labor and southern civil-rights movement activists of the american indian, and i war

struggles attempt to construct the physical and spiritual community explosively about justice and poverty that went beyond the rally. by bringing such a every of activists the campaign highlighted how the multiracial, collision of politics operated alongside the identity politics of black and chicano power. was messy at times and exacerbated by other forces. martin luther king, and marian wright and thousands of others didn't choose either identity politics or cultural politics at this time. they chose vote and participate in both. so this last part, and most of those names i think are recognizable and a few of them i will explain a little bit. the last part, the relationship between coalition and identity or class and race is central to the book. the public memory -- most

scholars still break down the 1960's into pieces. the decade is seen as the good 1960's and the bad 1960's so the good 1960's are the moment of kennedy liberalism and the early civil rights coalition that is most active in the early 1960's of 1964 and 65 but then this collision and this is how the narrative is normally told the coalition evolves into conflict, urban uprisings, black power and identity politics. the reality of what i argue is the coalition conflict or always into existence. there isn't this declension narrative from good to bad. the class and race really are not at odds with each other all the time that they are mutually interdependent and reinforcing and i think the poor people's campaign is a great illustration of this process and this

relationship. it takes months for people to pay for dr. king's call especially outside of the traditional civil rights circles. sclc hasn't really reached out to chicanos, american indians or anyone for traditional civil rights blight liberal kind of constituency. so, this is a new thing for them. the minority group conference, which he announces in early march is where he invites 80 some activists from across the country all across the spectrum and to the left to come to atlanta for a conference on march 14th, 1968 for him to pitch with the poor people's campaign was all about and why they should be involved. it really is a remarkable moment that has been almost completely forgotten in the history of books.

we never talk about this when we talk about dr. king usually but i think it is one of the most important moments in the last years of his life and certainly one of the most important achievements in the sense of the poor people's campaign just getting all these folks in the same room together to talk about what they have in common and their differences as well. some of the most important leaders of the chicano movement are present. so this is who i mentioned earlier. the leader from new mexico and this goes way back to the 19th century was that people of mexican descent and the mexico and southern colorado were poor because of the loss of land, land that was stolen from them at the end after the mexican war that was supposed to be protected by the which ends the mexican war but that is taken from them over a generation or two.

if this land is restored, these people wouldn't be poor. he build a movement in mexico that increased, that had more and more -- it gets more and more attention from the chicano activists around the south west indies and nationally. so come here is sitting where she knows next to dr. king we have a mexican-american leaders from california who cut his teeth and labor organizing in the 1930's and 40's in southern california coming and then found a political organization called the mexican-american political organization association in california. jose gutierez who is one of the founders of the organization in texas and then corky had gonzalez a boxer turned political walked just turned chicano movement leader, one of the more charismatic folks to come out of the chicano movement in denver. and so, he will be pretty prominent in the poor people's

campaign. these gentlemen do not make it to the campaign that they are a part of the initial stage and organizing. in addition to the chicano movement there are welfare rights activists here. there are members of, you know, the liberal, the religious left and the service committee which you may know as the activist arm of the quakers from the national council of churches is represented. there are american indian activists interested and treaty rights and interested in fishing rights. the ability to fish in ancestral waters that were once protected by treaties signed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that were being prosecuted for doing that kind of fishing. other student leaders, coal miners that worked around the environmental land issues as well. so all these people were together in this one place and hear king pitches the idea for the campaign.

one that was not just about how sclc defines poverty and the solutions to poverty. but talking to them about how do you define your poverty. .. this. >> was no "human-rights

effort that the nation has mixed a priorities and to look at the david against the goliaths of trust is. the poor people's campaign was designed to get the nation right side up but it was only possible for those new joint sclc that spring after he received a pro -- applause he had an answer questions not to mention the vastly different ways the president thought about poverty. after goodyear as the others asked to want support or demands to include the whole ball of wax? characteristically the other was more pointed arguing if king wanted to confer he must understand that quebec it is a two-way street that the non black representation

of policy-making and with their issue. but they repeated the concerns and captivated the room with table rattling defense one of the land grant struggle of guadeloupe and the destruction of violence and armed self-defense. "whites bring their own crimes they're not afraid of violence. the liberty bell cracked in rebellion against the betrayal against the country. he concluded by asking about abernathy's standing in for dr. king that evening as he supported the treaty couching answers and usher that they were with him in spirit and the room exploded with applause. over the next several hours you can sense the attention they're not sure what to make of each other or if it will work but over the next several hours day bond over

culture and music and food. and the growing realization that they are stronger together and more importantly taking their issues seriously. which a training center for civil-rights him a rat activists going back to the 1930's after the conference wrote dr. king "i believe we caught a glimpse of the future in the making of a coalition. >> sparking urban disorders in more than 100 cities across the country and sparking concerns and for those who were opposed to the campaign, the violence

would break up -- break out and we cannot have that. and conventional wisdom would say that's with his staff it would make sense if it was canceled to explain who is your abernathy abernathy, coretta scott king, andrew young, harry belafonte and to organize the march on washington so this is the memorial march for dr. king. so they said the campaign should be cancelled who else could do this but in the aftermath of the violence in the morning that we should

not do this but abernathy said we will go on and the support flooded and this is the irony that those were critical initially said i will set this out i don't agree with there doing with this strategy that it would not succeed, changed their mind. the of black panthers as outmoded said as one panther told me i will go as a tribute to dr. king. so they will come the longtime leader of the naacp and a rival for fund-raising and attention who said the campaign would provoke violence and make it even harder to make any kind of

progress with civil-rights in '67 and '68 with the vietnam war and issues like that. not to support the campaign but withdraws his opposition from the campaign. there are many other nameless people, black, white, brown who want to do something and upset by his death and a poor people's campaign is a good way to channel their energy whether donations are going to washington so you see an explosion of support for the campaign that sclc was not prepared to do with. the often did things by the seat of their pants and it worked out but they add as a

major campaign to bring thousands of people to washington d.c. building the encampment on the national mall to house those people and run a small city all while trying to mourn the death of their friend and a leader. it becomes obvious how difficult this will be as the campaign moves forward. and a series of caravans' brings people across the country from the pacific northwest and southwest and the south to bring folks across the country to washington to descend on congress and did ministration to say you need to take property seriously. here is example number one probably the most famous caravan that brought people to d.c. a classic symbol of

southern poverty of black-and-white sharecropping. one of the rallies that happens later but what is interesting is while this is the most important symbols of the pork people's campaign, it is misleading because it reinforces the idea that the campaign was worried about black poverty in the races not deliberately but in the multiracial makeup of mexican-americans, of porter ricans and appellation whites and all those participating in the campaign and it doesn't capture there poverty.

so another symbol is the encampment on the washington mall. of softball, soccer, depending on the season but this is where they set up camp with a-frame tents to fit up to 3,000 people and this would be a launch pad for lobbying of congress on the lighthouse but there has always been a plan to do this since the beginning and tell america responds will stay here and tell their respond but the resurrection city takes on a life of its own and becomes a symbol of the campaign of good and bad.

>> resurrection city was home to almost 2500 people at its peak and described by one magazine with a carnival with it and are a camp camp, resurrection city to gone a unique personality for a rich diversity of people and a high lovell of identifying the grassy streets with tents with names and with the cleveland rat patrol and dd with the clevd rat patrol and doctors of the medical community make calls and marshals tried to keep the peace and children played in the day care center while men played checkers they did not meet during periodic demonstrations or meeting with a member of congress but saw each other in nine and a newspaper written

solely by the inhabitants began to publish in the entertainment with top-flight entertainers resurrection city became a renowned and then you and it even had its own zip code to allow for government benefits. resurrection city also witnessed a sharing of differing cultural style and knowledge through the soles center and for people's university and located in the white part of the city prompted intercultural exchange among campaign for dissipates to music and dancing coordinated by the islanders' goal the smithsonian is a tuition this center organized activities ranging from historical discussions to live performance while they

sponsored other artist a particular interest was fighting musicians and artists themselves and just as they inspire poetry. a shelter was built above the fire wear coffee was boiling and singing was taking place. and while having cultural understanding through music and art become a came way through a formal discussion arguing and singing and coffee drinking and for the informal sing-alongs singing freedom songs and reforming traditional balance and had a daily symphony of sorts. they recall this evening at the seoul center of one of the earliest moments go back i saw musicians relating over new material ecology

and the relationship to they were and somebody else. one of the folks i did the oral history with her i did about 40 of them talked about how it rained like in the bible. 99 of 31 days with the pork people's campaign late may early june and you can see right here that the mud that it would leave behind and it became a remarkable mess to

make this city work. you can see the better days with barber's cutting hair better trained so hard resurrection city had to be evacuated twice and the mess hall collapsed and there were concerns about flu epidemics of disease and that never happened human rights were on top of that to make sure they run on spending too much time on water by getting water to drink and rosetta -- correct scott king was carried it through the flooding rather than walk through. they arise if two weeks later in late may

resurrections city is not an attractive place to live what is the great understatement denigrate'' from the book, "we did not see what we hope to see for understandable reasons. dr. king was assassinated by refigure fiddle have their clap together we wish them the best of luck but may well have to get on with what we want to do with while we are here. he actually did not say crap [laughter] so most chicanos so when they get to washington and they go to the experimental high-school from resurrection city of hawthorne school was critical not only was it warm and dry but in much of

this base and a constructive relationship building takes place. especially for chicanos to the point* where many referred to as the multi-ethnic community. so the initial rain stopped and then within the, fines of the hawthorne school. list to replace the then the cultural exchange with the hawthorne common area and a white man "starts to play the kick gas boogie-woogie on the piano then they were kicking up their heels and the african-americans would tap their toes there was the interesting cross pollination one of the gonzalez said he played with

kids of many backgrounds during their stay at hawthorne. we had a blast in a specially to introduce for root whites quebec i had not seen for whites before dirt for some hardly had shoes and despite the young age he was not alone nearly all activist echoed this sentiment cities suppress the rights of others and go over the power structure they were not more impoverished than them but when a contingent from appalachia arrive they were shocked they said i felt i was born in tel they got there. some who had grown up without indoor plumbing but gonzales record that some of the job was to gather the extra shoes and jackets thank give it to the white counterparts. some produced a more sophisticated way to view poverty being exposed to

poverty of all kinds in the organizing tradition but it gave younger activists something to think about it was the first time in u.s. had contact with that election weizmann you have never been that of the state not even more than 100 miles to come in contact with these people in different cultures and subcultures with the education, it helped to crystallize the concept of winter political change from the nationalists to international perspective for i saw the struggle at home. and rather vilifying white men began to criticize the space structure of rich white men. a change that proved invaluable and then as the war organizer later on. >> this is the big take away that the participants have.

the opportunity to interact with folks that they did not have a chance to normally such as the appalachian whites they got them thinking and more sophisticated ways and a lot of people went to washington were relatively young teenagers and their 20s or 30s. there were older folks there but it was a majority of people who went to washington who stayed there for any period of time were younger. they had more time and did not have this kind of thinking form to through life yet the more important is the relationship between the chicano activists saying a great take away for them they got to meet people from

the southwest even less angeles saying when when i have gotten together with the crusade toward with with them are broken bread with them? this is an opportunity to meet the guys from mexico and chicago and it made them much more willing to be involved and participate elsewhere where gonzalez calls for people to come from all over the country they're much more willing to go. these interactions verso important and is one of the great legacies of the pork people that is completely lost by typical media and scholarly accounts. one of the skull of a protest outside the supreme

court i mentioned fishing rights earlier as an issue of great importance to the american indians and the idea they should have the ability to fission and sister waters despite state law because they had treaties with the national government to protect that. the supreme court ruled against them to say they cannot fish gin your ancestral waters beyond what the law says. there is a protest of 400 black chicano american indians who demonstrate outside the supreme court did not change their mind but it is an important bonding moment. and and the walk back and there were attacked by the d.c. police in many say putting your feet together and sitting in jail together you find a common cause. you really do when you sit in a jail cell.

solidarity day was a climactic moment and that looks like the march on@ looks like the march on washington five years earlier and was compared to the march on washington as well. there let's talk about the negative tone that this is 1968, knight -- not 1963 and the media talked-about fell lumbering and terrible speech not the "i have a dream" speech, it was smaller but there were those that were relatively unfair but they were made. to me, the solidarity day was important but not one of the most important legacies are moments of the campaign

but it was the interactions people had with each other in to it was one of the great lessons of the campaign so five days later after solidarity day ochered he had to have a park permit to have being kamen on the washington mall the government chose not to renew it and the police evacuated those left to resurrection city and flat and the place because this affects what historical documents are left about the pork people's campaign. most documents were destroyed because they were here. it took me several years going to archives and dozens

of oral histories and underground magazines and newspapers to piece together the story of the campaign on the ground because i could not have a cachet fall of documents. many people stuck around in the capital many people went home emboldened by their experience and even if it had not accomplished everything they had hoped to achieve even behind the scenes there was some policy objectives met and a lot of times the media focused on resurrection city, the meal trading and on the policy goals they had that was not

an immediate withdrawal from vietnam or a rededication and so many said the campaign was a failure because of this but there were some policy achievements made the founder of the children's defense fund to get the era of many bureaucrats when it came to hunker issues and those looking for a more humane welfare system and every american should have a guaranteed income to not follow a certain standard of living they even had the

seat at the table for the next administration which is hard to believe. the welfare rights had some voice in in 1969 and 70. a lot of it due to the poor people's campaign but it was not the little bighorn. the campaign takes up half of the book and the rest is a great conceptualization particularly among african-americans and i spend time looking at the civil-rights coalition and the farm workers who they had across the country and in particular in chicago not

just land rights and around community control and in committee institutions huh and talk about the early rainbow coalition and this is before jesse jackson uses the term in the '80s so why doesn't matter? i was asked by my advisor and i asked my students know so what is the activism matter or the poor people's campaign matter? with the political culture may live in today with a sequestered the night before literally but i argue by

looking at this type of activism but coalition can be production even if leading it doesn't have to be sustained from now to eternity where they come together to get something done and that is the event natural to be together so justice should be recognized differently with the different struggle trajectory i also think the relationship between race and class is important but

to have a coalition to work along class lines the pork people can pay represents that. and is it if we focus on in the "i have a dream" speech is it the message of brotherhood and equality where we can work together in this very positive way or was the freedom struggle about hard demands that went well beyond voting rights? included economic justice. even by the terms of a rights with citizenship in a narrow way so the poor

people's campaign to talk about the occupied pitcher i want to end with a short excerpt that thinks about coalition but speaking of feminist the pork people's campaign capture the quandary act of the '60s and '70s coalition workers now work done in your home she said it has to be done in the streets in some of the most dangerous work you can do. thank you so much. [applause] if.

>> i went much longer. i am sorry. we do a little bit of cute and day. comments or questions? >> so with occupied people just came but when you talk about the city with 2500 people? to they just come or are they selected? >> not hand selected per se but the initial concept was bring 3,000 people to washington but then with a very deliberate lobby in these places with federal agencies and congress so the concept was will not hand selected but limit the number of people that come because that way we can

control it. after everybody wanted to come to d.c. because of this as a tribute to dr. king to do something they get flooded with people going to resurrection city, living there, trying to help to the point* where sclc lost control of some level and they did have some partners but sclc was the main organization. of lot of people just came especially for solidarity day. but you have thousands of people part of the campaign and it is important to know a lot of people came for a day or two or a weekend or a week some people stayed federation of the time -- duration of the time through middle july. but they stayed and other places in d.c. that many

people say it looks like occupied but it is different because it is not clear what occupy wanted it was not a clear statement of goals like the poor people's campaign. there was a 53 page document of goals of the sclc had laid out with the cooperation of others. and for me i did not know what occupy was seeking other than a challenge to the very easy to. but oftentimes it was a private sector as much as the public sector but on the campaign they made very specific claims on the state. start spending more money on poverty funding and funding is a word we declared on for

years ago. so there was certainly some spontaneity of the campaign but there were attempts do try to control it. those coming from the southwest sclc spend all this money to bus them across the country and sclc would pay for plane tickets home. their resolve the so much they could do. even after dr. king's death. great question. >> what happened to the other movement? >> they still exist. there are still lawsuits over land grants to this day. it starts in the 19th century, there is a mission

and growing up in a pentecostal tradition and said god told him to help support, this is the issue in the movement he needed to pursue. he goes to jail for property damage. one of the tactics they used was to sit in on the national forest that was federal land in northern new mexico and they burned some signs. the park rangers said they threaten them, but it is up to an interpretation but he had federal and state charges and went to jail. when he came out, he was

talking about getting the king of spain to okay the movement he was allowed it'll crazy in some ways with what he brings energy and attention to but he is more of a preacher, no offense. [laughter] wore a preacher and an organizer. so it goes back to more litigation than the direct action he champions the. >> what is the role of women? >> so if it expands for

women who do not see the national organization for women that was more middle-class, mostly white with particular goals about glass ceilings and a professional life in particular but those you didn't see the no agenda as responsive or addressing their issues there were people like korea who was a part of student nonviolent coordinating committee who ended up being an involved activist pushing chicano men that issues are important in this movement not just masculinity and working with the land grant issues.

peggy terry is the appellation might grant to came from the clan family who migrates to uptown chicago to become a welfare rights activist and she goes to washington and and is able to bring activists together and she ends up getting so much credibility to the campaign she is tapped for the vice-presidential candidate for the freedom party a small third party that does not win a lot of votes but she is the nominee like kin in 10 states it was an

opportunity for women to flex their muscles and issue directions that now does not allow them to. that is a great question. >> that whole idea that we were comfortable with that and more humane welfare system also a guaranteed income for everybody and an idea even the knicks and administration played with. not for the same reasons as the last but they sought a guaranteed annual income as a great way to get rid of the welfare state and they said we will check whoever falls below a substantial level so it is a weird moment the left and the right sort of agreed on the

concept of the abstract but it never came to fruition. >> other questions? >> where are these movements going today? the problems are still here. they are less or different but they are still here. >> as a reference to the occupied movement people seem to think congress is not worth trying to address. there so many claims on the private sector and the challenge to wall street it is striking that occupy this a star in washington but in new york i think there is our -- organizing on the ground those i have been

involved with when drum gets together it is stivers that is where black and latino whites get together to make a difference but it is often small policy changes but certainly not a trace -- addressing the great inequality and there is a risk of becoming nostalgic about the '60s and i try not to do that because there is some great progress we made in the 21st century but problems persist and trying to make a difference but that national stature of

leading these kinds of movements. one question is not to play counterfactual but if he lived what would happen to the poor people's campaign? it probably would not be anymore successful. that is the sad truth. what they try to do was so difficult and this was a democratic majority congress and it was a different party back then was white supremacist from the south but similar conditions major budget cutting the cleveland rat patrol was a reference to congress refusing to give money to the wrapped extermination there was a specific program in such a public health issue but

those led by southern democrats said nope we will not do that. keep putting money into south vietnam. not a great dancer but that is where we are right now. >> i know even though the campaign started with sclc that when it actually happened would be fair to say by the time it happened and of all the groups involved, possibly the chicano movement had the most to gain? i ask this because just thinking about on the one hand one can say nationally there is a lack of awareness of chicano poverty but especially on the east coast there is such a tremendous ignorance of even the

existence of chicano americans and other reactions to king's death and in atlanta the first idea that preceded the king museum was the institute for the black world or in durham it was mostly white but a black and white coalition. i don't know much about chicano activism so was there a vague upshot even though the poor people's campaign was not successful successful.it raise awareness? >> absolutely. one of the central arguments is it is a building block for the chicano movement for this very reason. it certainly is not well-known in the halls of power and washington but it

is trickier than this because it does raise the profile of chicanos at some level and certainly in washington because "the washington post" is one of the few that covers the mexican-american and importer we can presence. most do not. if you look at "the new york times" you did not know they were there so it does raise the profile for them and connects them with each other with activists from the east they are concentrated in the southwest, california, a seattle and there is a contingent to rural wisconsin of harvesting and

migration but there is the opportunity to hook up with folks that banff think of as latino and the constructions that we use today, but no question it raises profile because the attention they want to get it was too worried about resurrection city and those covering the civil-rights movement were more comfortable to say at a know what is going on with these other folks but it was a sad but funny moment there

is a man we could put it backwards. american indian activists the washington post labels them as a white activist interested in rights they did not know how to identify these if they were not black or right but they were so persistent how leander stood race in the country but now if you go out west and said bay area there is a new once understanding here is the chicano community and african-american community and more knowledge of it

dictating people are policy what people are reading and the ivy league dictating what historians were working on takes a generation to even pay attention to the multiracial nation long negative relationships. >> seems like it was a blueprint that civil-rights were a multi faceted thing so that it attlee's got to the point* with civil-rights you knew you had to add the rest and i don't think anything else could have done that. >> there are moments where there are these efforts but

no question of four people's campaign was the best profile that was that king tried to do this that we have forgotten generally. that is a great comment. thank you for coming. [applause] >> i want to move to the role of publishers and used to be there would take care of all distribution, production, and provide the advance and that series of services led

them to take a hefty 85 percent cut. now you don't need production companies need an advance because it doesn't cost that much anteater need the distribution. so what is the changing role of publishers where production and distribution and financing have different technologies? >> there is a lot in there but i disagree fundamentally production, distribution been, at cost, it is a very common misunderstanding and it is easy to sink digital is three. it is not.

there is a lot of backlash over the error of the books and we have thousands of titles that we have converted. there is a conversion process that takes a lot of care and feeding because in their early-- when you are literally scanning books to get them into said be formatted so this is still a entirely new competency of the digital book i am actually looking at head of children's publishing who is smiling because we have these conversations all the time with children books and how to produce something that is for color to conveys the gorgeous illustration that the artist intended. >> of that is true that is only for the first copy

because it after that it is free because there is no marginal cost to make 10 million copies. >> you do lose paper, printing, binding. the unearthing. >> and shipping and warehousing. [laughter] not necessarily. there is a deep infrastructure needed to support digital operations. be other things that i mentioned with the states of publishing today, to talk about the future of reading and publishing where will e. books go? is it a complete swapping out for his digital media? with film and photography

but in books, i believe there will not be that swapping out 100 percent i think they are a great example they have a strong desire to have a physical book to flip through with your child. 10 years from now we may have something different but today publishers are in the world where they cannot we jumping tracks from digital to support those print business will support the digital business underline that is the third business that you are cultivating getting to the place we're not talking about the conversion but the creation from creating a digital process from conception initially conceived

developed with the author to be a digital product. the one thing you had forgotten on your list of what publishers do it is the heart of the editorial to bring that story with the author to bring it to the market and the best possible way and even in a more exciting way to talk about the creation of digital products. >> shaping the story could be the only one because there is almost nothing left >> it is wrong. [laughter] but seriously, you are wrong. [laughter] i will say this she is not my a publisher but she is a publisher. we are partners.

but i had the exclusive arrangement with harper who is doing what because they came from a digital foundation was skeptical of everything. i can do that. i can spell check. [laughter] it turns out i was wrong about a few things but i learned a lot in the process now i could have hired a great editor to put me through the process but the dish a region of the physical that i ignored completely free advertising across the nation on bookshelves i could not buy that no single person could afford to distribute 20,000 books to hundreds of bookstores and libraries over the world and digital only does not do that if you cut off physical marketing

when they ran out of physical books might evoke helped so there was a level of demand regardless that they would have got and a physical one then the actual marketing me and my campaign manager built the internet army digital plan and harper did the more traditional big media plan with them as nbc that is a network game and that is a rolodex game and there is a finite amount of people who can make that happen. and the flood of authors cannot pull that off on their own. i was wrong that publishers are used less. [laughter] and i was glad for it to. it was their money i want to make sure we are both doing

something. [laughter] and i learned about the excitement and the limits of individual authors to create their own presence but there is a flood of trading with tweets or blocks to a and how you discover or convince somebody you are worth their time? attention is the currency and if you are watching a cat play a fiddle on you to where the future of blackness could be an equal choice for some people competing for pixels or mental real estate there are so many extra writers competing for attention that a publisher who knows what they're doing can add some extra weight onto the individual kickstart your.

>> that is true if you are the exception because you approach the best seller because the shelf life is a matter of weeks or. . . over the previous