parks, and claudette colvin and her family who wanted something done about the buses. and mrs.inson after setting up that meeting, she had had a personal experience back in 1948 on the buses. we would keep a record of it, and i knew there were some people who wanted it, and there would be a later date and another opportunity, and that opportunity came with mrs. parks on december 1, 1955. >> that's a great segue, and i know you said you are meeting with her, having lunch, so, you know, one of the perceptions is she was this sort of quiet timid seamstress who just decided one day she was tired and didn't want to get up. but in fact, you said she was involved in the naacp, and the two of you were talking about what to do, whatnot to do, so that day when she sat down, were you ready or waiting for the call? tell us a little bit about that. >> so on december 1st, was a typical december day in alabama. i told mrs. parks, when we finished, that i had to go out of town, so i kind of wanted her to know that i would not be there, and while she never told me that if she received the oppor

>> oh, because i mentioned to you about claudette colvin. you know, that was the first case that i handled. and we know about rosa parks' case. but because of the deep-seeded segregation that we had, with help along the way, i was able to file lawsuits that ended up doing away with segregation, public transportation, improving the right to vote, public education, discrimination, bond subs subsidies, almost every law we've now been able to get declared unconstitutional at all these aspects, and we have done it on a non-violent basis, using the law in order to accomplish those things. while those of us involved in it had some personal problems that we incurred, it didn't stop us from doing it. but the struggle for equal justice continues, and we have to keep trying. >> for our audience who may not be familiar with your whole personal story, the irony here is in 2002, you were elected as the first black president of the alabama state bar association. when you were approached for that, was that stunning to you? how did you feel? how did that unf