her name was doctor mary mcleod mid thin. through my great grandfather, i actually met, would often get to go to daytona beach with my mom and my sister. and if she was on campus, my sister and i would go into the office of the legendary doctor mary mcleod but then. >> lewis and dr. mary mcleod within, they are going to come galen and hot mean. >> that's exactly what i was wondering. but was the impact that you had even at the dinner table with your great grandfather but then? and even in your young adulthood with dorothy height. you had people who were mentors and heroes, who were at your dinner table at some point. you had first access at some point. how did that impact who you became as a educator? >> very strong influences. let me also say that my parents were a typical. and this will be a big plug for each bc. my parents each graduated from college. my mother went to morris brown as a high school student. she then went to well before so college. now will be forced university. my father went to knoxville college in knoxvi

they were both cofounders of the women's cause and she also interacted with mary mcleod the thune and she had a friendship with susan b anthony. then in chicago she worked with jane addams. she did interact with women and it was in a slightly different way. there was a fight for women's rights and racial equality. >> i have an interest in things that are legal. when you described the court battles, i was intrigued. at the age of 22, she decides to take on the powerful chesapeake, ohio and southwestern railroad. can you give the back story? you started to tell a little bit. what is the back story that led up to her deciding she was going to sue the railroad? >> my great grandmother, ida b wells, was teaching in memphis -- well, living in memphis and teaching woodstock tennessee, which is about 14 miles away. so she had to commute from where she lived to where she worked and had to take the train. in 1881, tennessee passed a law segregating public transportation. my great-grandmother had to get to work so she just ignored the law and continued the way she had before which was on the lad