sure that these come to make the record of this kind of work and ministry of mercy known to the world but that also so that researchers can have access to that record. >> twice a month c-span's city tours take book tv and american history tv on the road to explore the literary life of city, we visit many literary and historic sites as we interview local historians, authors and civic leaders. you can watch any past interviews and tours online by going to booktv.org and selecting c-span cities tour from the series dropdown at the top of the page or by visiting c-span.org/cities tour, you can also follow the c-span's cities tour with video of visit, c-span cities.

[inaudible conversations] >> good evening, everyone, welcome to lamiera bookstore, we are delighted to be hosted eric motly as he share it is story of madison park a place of hope, before we get started would everyone please silence their cell phones. we are also very glad that c-span book tv is here to film this event and introducing eric this evening is dona and bill bynum, they are instrumental in setting this event and are tireless advocating for getting eric's story out there. we will give them a warm welcome, please. [applause]

>> thank you all so much for coming at our invitation tonight. we are thrilled to have eric visit with us and we are calling it his first visit. i think he said use both, is that better? you hold that one. >> both. >> one is for camera. >> okay. well, as i said, we are thrilled to have eric here visiting with us and i hope this is just his first visit. bill and i are lucky enough to be board members of the aspen institution and that's how we got to know eric and his leadership there. he is -- would you call him the number two person? really the number one person. >> i would say that. i've had the privilege of knowing eric for about 20 years. we were henry brown fellows and aspen institution has recently gone through a transition of leadership, wallter, stepped

down as president of institute and eric got process with diplomacy and will make you shake your head, a very desired position and no one could have handled it as well and we -- many of us think that eric should and could have been the president. >> he will be next. >> we expect him to be there at some point but we are really proud to have him here with us today, a fellow southerner and tells amazing story in his book. >> his story is so compelling, we will let him tell it himself, thank you, eric. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i thought you were going to do a duo for a second, the two of you. what a real pleasure, what a pleasure being here, lemuria,

one of the independent bookstores is one of the greatest bookstores in the country and wonderful reminder from latin origins of important ideas and how ideas bring us together and really shape community and i really want to thank dona, bill bynum and i see some of you who have been tagging along, i was at bailey magnet this morning, it was the most incredible experience with the most interesting students and you should feel very proud about the investment you're making about education in the city. they were wonderful gm's and bright lights and to be here and to celebrate this evening with you is absolutely incredible. i had mentor who once said to me in a very nice note towards the end of his life that if you're very fortunate to some total

culmination of life is rem and you're probably thing rapid eye movement or you're probably thinking of the group, but really it's relationships, experience and memories and i've had the most good fortune of having wonderful relationships with people like the barksdales and hope and bill and the experience that is they have afforded me on this journey has been unforgettable. so i have a book to sell and i have a book for you to read and it's called madison park. there are health two stories, it's a memoir and you think, well, a memoir, what do you have to tell us about your life, you're only 46-something year's old and it's memoir of place and intersections of my own life, grace and gratitude with a very special place. so i tell you two stories very briefly, the first is about a place called madison park and how it came into being, in 1880 a group of freed slaves with

nothing except with the shirts on their back and a little money that they had saved and hopes and aspirations of what it could be for them to create community and to realize that jeffersonian ideals of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. they were led by e lurks i who could read and write and he invited seven other friends to join him in the great venture. my grandfather's grandfather was one of those, they purchased a plantation in 1880 called the maize plantation and the first two structures they developed on that plantation were a church to express gratitude to a god whod that delivered them to this new promise land and a school, he felt that true liberation was realized to the opportunity that only an education could afford. that was true liberty. and in that place in evidence of god's grace, those individuals put hearts and minds and all efforts together to create a community.

martin luther king once wrote, we are all part of inescapable and what impacts you impacts me. now, that is the story of a group of people who had the highest ideals and we wanted to live into the american legacy. now the second story involves an individual named george washington motley, grandson of a founder john wesley motley. george washington motley remembers two things about visiting grandfather in early years as a little boy, that in the shotgun house on the plantation over the front door was a cross that he had developed with his own hands, just a simple wooden cross. a reminder that in his coming he was created by something much larger than himself, but other the back door was a picture of abraham lincoln that his great grandfather had extracted from a

newspaper to remind him in his going that god uses individuals to bring about change and transformation in society. so my story, my story intersects with this very interesting place because in the 1960's a little girl was adopted by george and amy motley, one of 14 kids in the family, the mother discovers that she's dying of cancer, she asked the neighbor ifs they would consider one of 14 rand how you choose to select one of 14, i had the slightest idea but they chose her, she had prom -- promise and great potentiality and if perhaps nurtured she might realize her own aspirations, so little barbara and perry became barbara and motley, she was 9 year's old and at age 19 she gave birth to a bundle of unformed possibility, that's me.

[laughter] >> and george and amy motley decided not to embrace her all the more but embrace the child and the hopes and aspirations of the people in the community became manifested in their dreams and hopes for this little baby, they had three great desires, one that this little child could realize that he was no less than the trees and the stars, he had a right to be here and that he was created by a god who second desire that i would realize that i was part of community, member of madison park community and with that i came with responsibilities and also a citizen of this great country and the last great desire for me was that i had the opportunity of enlightenment that only an education can provide and so everywhere they went they made it known to neighbors and friends that we have a little boy that we want to get a education, we want to

go to college. my grandmother could meet a guy at grocery stores and he could have a university of wisconsin sweatshirt and she would say, did you go to university of wisconsin, could you go talk to him, man, i did not go to college, i don't have the slightest idea where it is, just talk to him. [laughter] >> we look back and we remember and remember them all the more when we look at rear-view mirror life and madison park i tell a couple of stories about individual who is were there at every twist and turn along the way. in first grade, the teachers sent a note home to my grandparents informing them of my academic failure. in madison park i was known as the interesting, interested kid, they had designated me as designated university kid dupe and everywhere i went people called me einstein, i'm not sure

how many people knew who einstein was but it sounded pretty good and when i go up to first grade, the teacher writes a note to grandmother informing her that i had been demoted from the rabbit to the turtles. my grandmother is not one to discriminate but she knows the difference between rabbits and turtles and phones one individual in our town that thought could help remedy the situation, she called emma madison bell, the great grandfather of eli madison, the founder of madison park. we called her aunt shine because everywhere she went light followed. she was a muscular lady both in physique and principles. retired teacher already some 45 years in her early 80's and tucked a note and all i could hear her say from the kitchen is we believe in resurrection. she excused me from the room and she and my grandmother start

today -- started to talk and aunt looked at me and she said, we believe in resurrection, you will be a rabbit again, i promise. a couple of days later as if it was public service announcement and stood up before the entire congregation and looked out and she said brothers and sisters, little eric motley over here with grandparents, one of our bright stars is growing just a bit dim he was a rabbit but now a turtle but we believe in resurrection, amen, sister, we believe in resurrection and we will restore him to rabbit status. [laughter] >> i tell you the story because it's a story about community. two things that changed my life, looking across at congregation she said, i'm going to be at the motley's house this afternoon and i've committed to building him a library to help him with his reading and whenever reading matter you have, i want you to bring it by the motley household

this afternoon and for two hours unshine and my grandparents and i sat on the back porch and you would have thought that a paper drive was taking place at my house, someone dropped by a 1945almanac predicting weather and 1972 life magazine and jet magazine, volume l of encyclopedia brit an-- britanica but also someone brought wonderful english verse but rich with the words of shakespeare and the first poem was a poem that i committed to memory, there's a time where meadow

grows and peril in freshness of dream, as it is it is no more and this i know which air i go that is passed away a glory from the earth. unshine and her sisters all retired in their 70's came by the motley house for two years to tutor a little turtle back into rabbithood, every session began with four basic precepts, this is the house that your grandfather's grandfather built, he was a slave who believed in the american dream. you have to memorize the american constitution and the declaration of independence, the whole thing, we will start with preamble, i had to stand and recite in memory and heart and

we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. .. .. he retired teacher who had nothing but love in their heart and wisdom. last, social security, mathematics, history the basic precepts of the american hood. i tell you that story because it underscores the basic essence of this memoir that we are all a part of that inescapable network of neutrality and in madison park we worked for destiny.

as a place that was inspired by those who had dreamed and aspiration to make america work and who believed individual sacrifices, one sacrifice at a time for the good of the entire community was far better than individualism. i tell you this story because there are a lot of eric motley's in the world. little eric motley's desiring to grow into their own personhood and realizing their own aspirations and it's only through community that we can experience the fullness of who we are collectively. we live in a very politically polarize culturally confusing and fragmented society where we are told daily what's wrong with america and what doesn't work. the madison park reminds us that at best there is things at work and community is one of those beautiful institutions that binds us together. he reminds us that there are principles and values and precepts that under gird our own

sense of community. it reminds us that each of us have a part in being the bearers of light and creating community wherever we go. i will tell you one last story. my grandfather had a great desire of ideas so it's a very fitting place for me to be speaking to you. after the books that were delivered at 34 motley driver had an appetite for anything that had a page to be turned and he organized all of our neighbors to weekly take you to the mob armory public library so that i could experience the joy of being surrounded by books and all of its troops enveloped in its pages. my grandfather would sit in the parking lot for two hours and he would just wait. emotionally and psychologically unable to go into place that he

had been forbade it to go into for so long. he would turn on -- not turn on his radio for fear would run down the battery and we had no air-conditioning in the chevy impala. he would just sit looking in his notebook. i would go in like i was going into the great library of alexandria's surround myself with books. on this one occasion. the books that surrounded me i looked up and i saw a very elderly white man in a wheelchair. there was a black valet standing at his side turning pages for him. i would look up and he would look down and i would look down and he would look up. we caught each other's gaze one or two times and at the very end of the day the library and said to me okay little motley boy it's time to go. as i gathered my books and got my satellite looked up and the elderly gentleman was staring at

me. and with a long pause he nodded as if affirming something. as i raced out of the library too scared to tell my grandfather just to ahip at i said you will never guess who i just met in the library and wanting to treat me to the guessing game he said who, tell me who. george wallace himself. history has a long ark. my grandfather and understanding of history for sure, and understanding of the complexities of history for sure but to live through the promise of things that could the and at that library experience in 1982 while sitting there i realized that history does have a long arch. the great social philosopher

said nothing that is worth doing can be accomplished in a lifetime. therefore we are saved by hope. nothing that is good or beautiful makes complete sense in its immediate context and history. therefore we are saved by faith. nothing no matter how beautiful and good and virtuous we accomplish alone therefore we are saved by love. we are saved by community. life is filled with incidents, accidents and providence and all along the way at every turn i have been fortunate enough to meet teachers and preachers and local philanthropist and people who cared and teachers who stayed after school to help me to realize my own potential. as faulkner said to nurture the human material of life to see it through to its execution and for

that a tremendous odyssey of grace and gratitude. thank you so much for being here and i hope you enjoy my new book. thank you. [applause] and i was just reminded that i was supposed to read something but i will take any questions if anyone has questions and i will read you a paragraph or so if i will. any questions? i will tell you, yes sir. i knew very little about george wallace but you can come from montgomery alabama not knowing something about george wallace. new here embodied everything that went into that library. my grandfather upon telling him in a very thoughtful measured way and my grandfather who i

tried to capture in the memoir was a very edwardian type of individual. his sensibilities were just remarkable. his sense of decorum is something that inspires and informs the way i engage with people today and my grandfather not wanting to incite anger but always wanted to create a frame around every photograph of hope began to explain to me the complexities of history around george wallace and told me who he was and helped me to understand what had occurred and framed it in such a way that i could appreciate that in 1880 these individuals who had nothing but these dreams and hopes who created this place, their decisions were living through the challenges of american history before a nation of who we are as a people and a country and my grandfather wanted me to realize that much had changed. progress had been made. oftentimes slow the progress had

been made and that was worth acknowledged meant. he also wanted me to see myself beyond that particular moment in the library and all that moment held for me in the future and for that i will always be grateful. when my grandmother -- my grandmother was a housekeeper for a white family in montgomery and the family happens to be a scott fitzgerald pitch he lived right next door. she got to know them as much as a housekeeper could get to know the fitzgeralds or anyone else. what the doctors of the family went to washington d.c. on the trip and she brought my grandmother back a gift and the gift was a snow globe and the snow globe of the white house. my grandmother the snow globe on her dressing table and like every southern woman like grandmother gets up on sundays

before church, on saturdays before weddings and funerals and bar mitzvahs were the principle occasions for us. i would always stand by her side as she told me stories and i would always fumble with a snow globe and she would always say to me one day you can be in that snow globe. my first time going into the white house every now and then green and fantasy meets reality. all i could think about was going into the white house with my grandmother and standing by her side holding the snow globe. my grandmother also was very fortunate to work for a woman who always sent things home. your little boy needs to learn to read. here is a copy of "the news york times." i think i was only kid in the second grade reading "the news york times" are trying to put a lot of time she she sent, creative albums and in this creative albums maybe 15 or 20

long playing records in a row albums that had wonderful pictures on the bottom. i never will forget my grandfather pulling up and going in and taking in this vegetable crate in bringing the creative albums on the back porch and my grandmother telling me about mrs. peabody. mrs. peabody said tate these records home and cleaning out the attic to give your little boy something to listen to. my grandfather said choose an album. he brought a record player out of the back porch and i chose an album and the photo on the front page of the album was in this glorious costume of color and great array. we put on the album and the sound was like nothing i had ever heard before. it was jesse norman singing the last four songs of strauss. absolutely divine. the human voice performing

somersaults in midair. it was my first introduction to oprah and i turned up the volume so loud that the kids next door never having experienced anything like this at most a church choir singing amazing grace at one or two high octaves had heard nothing like this and the kids across the street and nextdoor ran over asking what are you listening to? too curious to ridicule, to open to ideas to polk fun and it was one of those wonderful defining moments when you are introduced to a new idea that is beyond your comprehension that changes your life forever. mrs. donna has heard me tell so many of these stories. i knew teachers all along the way. i went to stanford university in birmingham alabama because i had a high school teacher who believe that i have a great

potential to study literature and she stayed after school everyday to help me with my applications. i got a scholarship and i went away to stanford. the university president talked me under his arms and assured my grandparents unbeknownst to me that he would take care of me during my time there. i got a rotary ambassadorial scholarship to go anywhere in the world and i choose scotland. little did i know that there were no black people in scotland except tiger woods won him i was always mistaken for an eye showed up in scotland on an ambassadorial scholarship and i had a lifetime of pleasure. the president of the university pulls me aside at the end of that first year and he challenges me. we had developed a beautiful relationship. he said to me what you going to do once you leave? i said i haven't really decided just yet. he looked at me totally amazed. knowing my story and knowing the sacrifice and the commitment of

all these people in this little place who believed in me and he said this is the first time i think i've ever heard you not knowing what's next. whatever you think about it in tomorrow and the garden. i laughed left and i returned and he looked at me and he said if you are serious about your future than i will provide you a full scholarship to stay here in scotland for four years to do a ph.d. because i want you to not accept a job or an opportunity to fill in the blank because you feel you are intellectually just as capable of everyone else who is applying for the opportunities that are before you. and i stayed at st. andrews for another three years. that wonderful experience. on one occasion a classmate asked me if i would go home for

the weekend to experience another part of the countryside in scotland and he thought we would hit it off. he would smoke free cigarettes every minute and i thought this will be a nightmare going home. he picked me up clean-shaven. we got into his card car and started to try to the countryside of scotland. i knew very little about his parents except his parents worked in london but had a house in scotland and every three weeks he would come back to the family home. that's all i knew. so we are driving through the countryside where jm barry wrote peter pan, beautiful scenic hillsides and grazing. we pass by this castle, the queen mother's birthplace and we go-round the great band and another hill and then we came to this great drive and we started down the drive and i looked at him and i said patty where i am

from its against the law to trespass. patty said no, no this is my home. this is your home, one of those godly moments and he said that's the ground keepers cottage. and then we went down this winding path for another 10 or 15 minutes and sitting majestically is this great castle, corky castle,, cattle, a moat everything that disney informed you that is castle should look like. patty gets out of the car and he runs in, a valet comes out and helps me with my luggage and i turned to the valet trying to maintain a sense of composure and dignity like this was normal stuff for me. i turned to the attended and i said you know i recognize that flag but what is the other

flight he said oh gosh that is lord patrick. lord patrick? he meet patty? that's lord patrick's father's flag. lord patrick's father's flag, yeah, yeah and the other flag in his office in his office being, don't you know that it is the majesty the queen and his mother is the lady in waiting to the majesty of the queen? oh yes the lady in waiting. so three or four weeks later because when they are not at the castle dare at buckingham they invite me to be their guests at the queens annual garden party. i met the queens annual garden party and it's a white tie affair with tales and arrows and bows and swords. i'm standing in line at this great receiving line british

decorum at its best and the trump sounds and all of a sudden everyone starts to sing what i think is my country too zippy but it's god save the queen and the queen comes out with her ladies in waiting and patrick's mom. and they drive near me and patrick's mom comes over and she says a couple of words and i am told what the protocol is when an introduction is about to be made and with the sense of southern decorum i stand and i take it all in and this woman standing to our side was most curious as to who i was. at the very end of the ceremony after the greetings had been made and i had been given the introduction the ladies in waiting following the queen back to the castle stop and says to me why don't you come in for a cup of tea before you go back to scotland.

they lady turns and after having had too much to drink said who is he? might date having had too much to drink said don't you know the ambassador of nigeria when you see him? laughed a all i remember the lady sang to me is good evening your excellency. [laughter] i left scotland and i came to the white house and i worked for president bush. it was an incredible experience and i met incredible people who are committed to public service. president bush on one occasion while sitting in the oval office turned to me and he said i know your story. i know the places you come from. i know that your grandparents gave up everything they had to rereview. it's an honor to have you here and i know you have heard it before but to whom much is given much is required. throughout my life that mantle

has been a constant refrain to whom much is given, much is required. on one occasion i was sitting in the oval office and i was transfixed looking at a painting on the wall and president bush is only president bush could say hey motley, what's you look in that? y. are you looking at in abraham lincoln? all i could think of was to tell him the story that my grandfather had told me about his early visits to his great-grandfather's house and over the front door was a cross and over the backdoor was a picture of abraham lincoln. for a moment i realized how far i had come from madison park. the day that i was leaving to go to scotland was one that i will forever remember. i was having my suitcase is a bit heavy of heart knowing that

her hats, just perhaps this opportunity would not allow me to the opportunity to see my grandparents live out their lives. one of them surely with probably died while i was away. could i abandon this couple that it meant so much to me and made such a sacrifice for my own development and growth? hurrying into the house to finish packing my grandmother came in and she said to me you need to come out. there is a lot of noise outside. i went out to the back porch and i swear all of madison park was there. all the people who had done jobs on the site to help me save money for college, the retired teachers who had tutored me every day after school, the minister of the baptist church in my own methodist church were there in my minister came up and gave me an envelope.

i later learned it was about $150 that the congregation had collected in a special offering just to support means i went away to school. he gave me the envelope. another lady gave me as if she was making a sacrificial claim to god as a container of collard greens just in case they didn't have collard greens and scotland. the minister said a prayer and after the prayer was said and he took out a map which he won over to the hood of the car and laid out the map and she said show me scotland. proudly i approached the car ready to show her scotland and i looked at the map and the map was of montgomery alabama. and b. bea had never been outside of montgomery alabama let alone alabama let alone the

united states and it occurred to me my going to scotland was like sending an astronaut to outer space and with we were not only going to prayers but their hopes and their aspirations and their dreams and imaginings of the unknown and the wondrous world that was before me. and yet again i was reminded that to whom much is given much is required. a washington d.c. friend recently found himself the conference and in the company of a very successful white attorney from montgomery alabama. i immediately attempted to play the name and place game. do you know eric motley? he lives in madison park. the attorney politely replied no i don't know him and where is

madison park? my friend was taken aback tickets he assumed after hearing me talk about madison park so much over the last decade everyone in alabama let alone montgomery knew of madison park. i'm telling you the story he incredulously added the guy looked at me as if madison park did not exist as if that were invisible. i guess in many ways madison park does not exist on the radar of any navigational systems are printed maps except for those who work in the government or public schools of montgomery or know the story of our community. madison park no doubt to them is invisible. and invisible madison park is an incredible idea for me because those came from the place of madison park is as much an idea as it is a living breathing organism. to those who have never heard of our little community it may not

exist but to the founders who bought the land, cleared the brush and laid the cornerstone's and their descendents who still care for it whether they live there or not looms as large as america. the seeds were planted and nurtured and they minds of madison park citizens over 100 years ago that people have been trying ever since to make it work the same as people do in a less obscure places where light shine bright and all the roads are paved. a self-reliant and self-sustaining community where people can come and work and improve their state of life remains. over the last decade aside public shared the story of madison park and washington dinner parties and rotary meetings, church and work and with friends others have affirmed they too once lived in a similar place. in many ways madison park has

become a metaphor of places that can seem invisible or nonexistence. these places still exist but are their days numbered? are they at risk of becoming extinct in the face of increasing atomization? i can only hope not. despite the changing landscape the same strong pride and commitment to community remains among the people of madison park park. it is planted deep in the earth powerfully cultivated by her great-great-grandfather and the slaves who began the community. it's tied extra could lead to a sense of who i am and the spiritual locus that continues to offer refuge instruction and most importantly meaning to the ever-changing flux of daily existence. wherever i go madison park goes

with me. when i reflect on the roadblocks i am so grateful for the madison park community. they set in a different path my race, relative poverty, rural southern roots and biological parents. the people of madison park disc vote -- bestowed their gifts of grace which i could never repay pre-life is like that. we are forever in the debt of suppositions. we never get the thank you circuit dies properly said but each one living with the burden of gratitude. for as long as i can remember my indebtedness to others have been a prism through which my life experience has been filtered. that awareness has served to keep my vanity at a and my concern for others.

from my first day i was taught by example to count my blessings though their total run so high i could no longer name them one by one. the composites have been blessed with my most cherished possession the hundreds i have found in life thanks to everyday mentors and circumstances in providence far outweighs what i might have earned her what i deserve. thank you very much. [applause] thank you, thank you. [inaudible conversations]

>> how many of you are here for the very first time? wow so an extra special welcome to all of you. if you have been here before,