adam powell was no exception to that. until the united nations that young people were able to see on television people are black and beautiful. the criteria a beautiful had always been european beauty -- of beautiful had always been european beauty. the resident -- president was greeted by a black mother and her son and the son looked up and said, good i rub your hair, mr. president? he looked up with pride said, mom, the president has hair just like mine. you cannot put into emotions what that means. malcolm x took it one step further. you should not be a shamed of the way you look. you should be proud. it depends on how far you have to go in order to get people to realize that god has given them the same genetic ability to do what anyone has done. as an opportunity. when i talk about education, i'm talking about releasing millions of people with potential from jails they wouldn't have been in it they had ability to do something positive. country thatbout a really leaves they can go beyond where they are. .'m talking abo

i was one of only 13 republicans who voted to seat adam clayton powell. purely on a constitutional grounds. only one of 13. i may be one of less than that tonight, who knows. and more than that, who cares. i'm doing this the way i think it should be done. this is the way i believe i pledged my oath of office. there were only 13 republicans who voted to seat adam in the united states supreme court but only 13 republicans were correct. because they reversed the congress and seated adam. now for the first time in my life, i have to judge a republican, a man who holds the most -- and make no mistake about that. i look back over history and i try to judge what i should do here. this is the most important thing i shall ever do in my whole life, and i know it. it's far more important than whatever happens to me as a result of this vote. and i know history tells me that 107 years ago the country was thrown into a fit of hysteria. in less than three, president johnson was impeached during that fit of hysteria. that has dpoen down in history as one of the darkest m

. >> i want to show you some video of adam clayton powell back in 1968. >> ok.video clip] >> it means black dignity. surely as you are proud to be white we are proud to be black. black is beautiful, baby. it is pretty. [applause] i say to my brothers, baby, don't worry about the white chicks. black is beautiful. black is beautiful. black power means dignity. it means we're going to walk side-by-side with you, or through you. we are going to be with dignity and integrity. we don't want any more than you have and we aren't going to accept any less than you have. [applause] >> what do you see there? >> i see there a person that was ideal to fulfill the lack of self-esteem that black folks, most black folks, had in this country since slavery. when i was a kid, it wasn't nigger. it was to call them black or african. this is a white country, and later you were, the more accepted you were. powell was the exception to that. it wasn't until the united nations that young people -- people were black and beautiful. the criteria of beauty has always been -- i said, "what is

>> well, here to perform the title track of the film "stars" adam powell and kaitlyn nichols thomas. great to have you here. one of the things i hope our audience realizes is that it's important for them to come out and see films like this. especially on opening weekend. give it a big boost. first of all, it's a great film. but secondly, because the best way we ensure that we have quality faith-positive films is to make sure they're big hits at the box office. hollywood can't ignore that, and they can't ignore you guys either. we're going to do the title track of the film. i hope people love it enough that they'll go see "the song." ♪ i've been waiting all year to come along ♪ see notes on the page ♪ the laugh the song ♪ had a hole in my heart ♪ pain so strong ♪ oh, a woman like you ♪ could take me on ♪ we've been taken doing this right ♪ ♪ tonight i'm not just going to kiss you good night ♪ ♪ i want you to know ♪ we're making love ♪ deeper than our bodies ♪ you are in my soul ♪ your guys like the sun ♪ you are beauty ♪ the touch of your skin ♪ consumes me ♪ you shine like the sun ♪

i was one of only 13 republicans who voted to seat adam clayton powell. purely on a constitutional grounds. only one of 13. i may be one of less than that tonight, who knows. and more than that, who cares. i'm doing this the way i think it should be done. this is the way i believe i pledged my oath of office. there were only 13 republicans who voted to seat adam in the united states supreme court but only 13 republicans were correct. because they reversed the congress and seated adam. now for the first time in my life, i have to judge a republican, a man who holds the most -- and make no mistake about that. i look back over history and i try to judge what i should do here. this is the most important thing i shall ever do in my whole life, and i know it. it's far more important than whatever happens to me as a result of this vote. and i know history tells me that 107 years ago the country was thrown into a fit of hysteria. in less than three, president johnson was impeached during that fit of hysteria. that has dpoen down in history as one of the darkest m

adam clayton powell and the group. all right? they settle, but guess what the agreement entailed? we'll hire black women. you've got it already. we'll hire black women because before you could only be janitors, elevator -- but they have to be light-skinned. that's the truth. yeah. >> thank you. >> [inaudible] still true today. [inaudible conversations] well, professor sammons, professor green, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> and we want to thank our audience for coming out. thank you, professor green, head of the english department, and clarns reynolds, director of the center for black literature and all of our senior military personnel -- [laughter] we thank you for coming out. and, again, this is a pivotal moment in our history. >> where uh-huh. >> we are able to tell our story. for real, and not leave anything out. the good, the bad, the ugly, it's all in the book. >> that's right. >> so you need to go and get the book. teach this to your children. we are going to bring it to our teachers so that they have it as a resource. keep this story going. keep this story alive and m

adam clayton powell wouldn't have to worry about me. there's enough room for all of us. that small vignette would help you understand even though there was some issue of coming together whether it was the women's right in 1913 we still came together out of necessity as women to accomplish the goal. and in that regard where you see the absence of certain images of certain faces then we have to find those names and add them. dr. rosslyn has a new database out talking about black suffragettes. she's an excellent person and she's semiretired she would be a good human resource to include as well as some of your more actively predominantly black colleges where they have students working in that kind of literature. i represent the association of black women historians which is lay and professional historians. we would like to collaborate with you to tease out some stories or link our websites together. i can't think of any one particular organization, definitely this black women's research initiative that i mentioned. so i think if we kind of link up ourselves to individuals we