when she was working as a crossing guard in savannah at the martin luther king exit off of 95 she thought the children were not bringing books back and forth to school and asked them why and they said because they were not allowed to take the books home from school so she brought everybody a dictionary and told them to use it to help them because she didn't want their life opportunities to be i guess diminished because they didn't have a large vocabulary. and she stamped in each book "a mind is a terrible thing to waste." she used her own money from cleaning houses. i met her and i know that area. [inaudible] she's had a huge impact on people and it was a great idea to make sure that everybody has a dictionary. >> since 1995 when you founded the project along with french, how many dictionaries have gone out to children? >> over 33,700,000. >> how do you get them out there? >> this project started out with grants and then i spoke to different organizations about this idea because they were intrigued in the idea of the dictionaries and the literacy that is so important to everyone always tr

the martin luther king jr. memorial, dedicated in 2001, sits on the northwest corner of the tidal basin. it was designed, among the cherry trees, which are generally in blue each year, on the anniversary of dr. king's death. the memorial design, is drawn from passages, which he says out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. dr. king himself, is depicted as that stone of hope, emerging from the mountain of despair. which sits behind him at the memorial. and there are a number of quotations from his famous speeches. one of the most famous, or perhaps infamous incidents in the history of the tidal basin, -- wilbur mills, one time a car being driven down radically driven down the avenue, they had mills and ate an exotic dancer name fanny fox. fox and her panic, jumped out of the limousine, and went into the tidal basin. for meals, the scandal cost him his chairman ship. >> the gift of the cherry trees, from the people of japan has not been a one way street. the united states intern, has gifted the people of j

the martin luther king jr. memorial dedicated in 2011 sits on the northwest corner of the tidal basin its location was specifically designed among the cherry trees which are generally in bloom each year on the anniversary of dr. king's death. the memorial design is drawn from a passage in his i have a dream speech in which he says out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. dr. king himself is depicted as that stone of hope emerging from the mountain of despair which sits behind him at the memorial and at the base of of the of that are a number of quotations from his speeches sermons and writings. one of the most famous or perhaps infamous incidents in the history of the tidal basin involved us congressman, wilbur mills chairman of house ways and means committee one night in october of 1974 car being driven erratically down independence avenue was pulled over and everyone was surprised to find in the back not only mills but an exotic dancer named fanny fox known as the argentine firecracker. fox in her panic

when she was working as a crossing guard in savannah, the martin luther king exit off of 95 she saw that children weren't bringing books back and forth to school and she asked them why because they weren't allowed to take books from home and she bought everybody a dictionary and told them to use it because they didn't want their opportunity lives to be diminished because they didn't have a large vocabulary and wrote mind is a terrible thing to waste. i met her and i actually -- some actually clean their house. she died in 2000 from breast cancer. so she has had a huge impact on people and it was a great idea to make sure that everybody has a dictionary. >> so since 1995 when you founded the dictionary project with arnold french, how many dictionaries have gone out to children? >> over 33,700,000. >> how do you get them out there? >> civic organizations. this project started out with writing grants and then i spoke to different organizations about this idea because they were intrigued with the idea of dictionaries and, of course, literacy so they took on the literacy project, most organiz

first new national holiday since the creation of martin luther king day. i'm grateful to the members of congress, in particular the congressional black caucus who did so much to make thisday possible . i please we show the nation we can come together as rats republicans to commemorate this day in overwhelming bipartisansupport of congress . i hope this is the beginning of a change in the way wedeal with one another . we are blessed to mark this day. [applause] i had the honor to meet her in nevada more than a year ago. she told me she loved meand i believe it . i wanted to believe it. daughter of texas, grandmother of the movement to make juneteenth a federal holiday and you won't believe it, she's 49 years old. or 94 years old. you are an incredible woman. you really are. as a child growing up in texas, she and her family would celebrate juneteenth. and juneteenth 1939 when she was 12 years old, a white's mom torched herfamily home . but such heat never stopped her anymore than it stopped thevast majority of you that i'm looking at on this podium . over th

act making it the 11th federal national holiday in the first one established since the creation of martin luther king day. juneteenth celebrated on june 19 commemorates the end of slavery. here's a look at the white house commemoration and signing. [applause]

king, help me out here! the ceo of the king center and daughter of dr. martin luther king herself joins us. >>> michael wolf's frightening abdication of his duties as he pursued the big lie. >>> as singer olivia rodrigo joins the fight, tonight's absolute worst are doing the opposite, fighting science instead. >>> plus, my thoughts on the separate but equal doctrine in plexi versus ferguson in today's gq feed. "the reid out" continues after this. and come straight from the earth. and last time i checked, pretzels don't grow on trees. just saying. planters. a nut above. i've never slept like this before. we gave new zzzquil pure zzzs restorative herbal sleep to people who were tired of being tired. what is even in this? clinically-studied plant based ingredients passion flower, valerian root, and hops. new zzzquil pure zzzs restorative herbal sleep. (realtor) the previous owners left in a hurry, so the house comes with everything you see. follow me. ♪ (realtor) so, any questions? (wife) we'll take it! (realtor) great. (vo) it will haunt your senses. the heart-pounding

we embrace the ideals let's do a better job of living up to them can you say the same of the martin luther king i have a dream speech it declaration is a promissory note and in neither case are they attacking our foundations are suggesting america is a redeemable. but simply we have work to do and as lovers of this country we have to get about the work to live up to the ideals that we all share. not constructive your patriotism that the narrative that americans will embrace of how they should see the country. >> at the risk of shameless self-promotion. making it available to parents and others. so to be on the board of education you have colleagues who don't agree with you so you are astounded the position you are taking and what type of arguments or discussions and those fall from the sky is in the moment? >> one of the things i demand of all my colleagues on the board always tell my children there are three sides your side in my site in the truth. to have a supplement even with critical race period when of the tenants is knowledge is socially constructed but that's not true. so put away scien

but it's cindy black stock who's she's like the martin luther king of this generation. she says children only have one childhood. once it's gone, it never comes back. we have to protect that childhood now. so the prime minister. yeah, no more symbols, no more teddy bears justin get stop fighting in court. commit to clean water miss scanned to go 26 years. children have grown up and are having their own children with clean water in the country with the richest water resources on the planet. you do that and people will take it seriously. i know i'm going to, i'm going to end with cindy black. so because we are actually in danger of doing an entire new tv show, i so allow me allow me to wrap it up, but can yeah, and charlie and brandy. you are now some friends of the stream. you have an open invitation to come back anytime and with cindy black stop. thank you so much appreciate you make which wilful and reckless discrimination in a worst case scenario, causing the unnecessary family separations for 1st nations harm to children. and sadly, the desa some children. this isn't

and the first new national holiday since the creation of martin luther king holiday nearly four decades ago. i'm grateful. to the members of congress here today in the congressional black caucus who did so much to make this day possible? i'm especially pleased that we showed the nation that we can come together as democrats and republicans to commemorate. this day with an overwhelming bipartisan support of the congress. i hope this is the beginning of a change in the way we deal with one another. and we're blessed. we're blessed to mark the day in the president's opal lee as my mother say god love it. i the honor a meeting her in nevada more than a year ago. she told me she loved me and i believed it. i wanted to believe it. because over your incredible. a daughter of texas grandmother of the movement to make juneteenth the federal holiday and his opal is you won't believe it. she's 49 years old. before years old i you are incredible woman is opal you really are. as a child growing up in texas. she and her family would celebrate juneteenth. in june 10th 1939 when she was 12 years old. t

the supreme court. he represented rosa parks, martin luther king, john lewis, among many other civil rights luminaries. s success in the courtroom on civil rights is what makes up much of today's textbook for law students. i could go on. let's hear from mr. gray. are you with us? >> thank you very much. >> terrific. we're happy to have you today. how are you doing? >> i'm doing fine, and i want to thank the foundation and those of you who are responsible for having this program. i sat and listened some of the incidents from slavery time forward and just happy to be a part of your program here today. thanks for the invitation. >> absolutely. we're honored. we talked a few days ago. i've had the honor to read your biography and seen some of your other interviews. i have my own questions. we will get to the audience questions along the way as well. i wanted to start with a quote that i pulled out of your biography that struck me. you opened up with one of your chapters with the words segregation was the order of the day. when i was admitted to practice law in alabama, in september of 1954, we were segregat

. >> ads you say, standing on the shoulders of john lewis and others, martin luther king iii -- and we us there at the martin luther king monument there in washington to stand in the shadows of dr. king with his family, with his son and daughter-in-law, and me that comes out of that organization to have a prayer for y'all's strength and to show solidarity this wednesday to show graphiccly what you are saying, you stand on those shoulders. we look forward to being with you wednesday. >> thank you, rev. we appreciate you and those civil rights giants, the national action network and mlk, iii, we appreciate that. god bless you. >> god bless you. >>> joining me now, congresswoman deborah ross, democrat of north carolina. congresswoman, you are vice chair of the judiciary committee -- subcommittee on constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties. let's circle back to the starting numbers out of the brennan center's reports. over 400 bills with voter restriction provisions have been introduced in 49 states this year alone. what do you think is at the core of this aggressive wave of suppres

one year after the assassination of dr. martin luther kingwas the fact that when martin luther king was assassinated all of america, inner city america, went up in flames with rioting and not wanting a repeat performance of what happened. that made it easier for the city to okay the idea of having some sort of event that would keep people occupied during the weekend. >> the festival's main goal was to remind us of who we are. remind us of what's important to us. remind us of where we came from and the community that we've managed to build in spice of everything that this country has done to try to tear us down. >> reporter: the festival showcased an astonishing group of performances. the likes of david ruffin of the temptations. ♪ i've got sunshine ♪ ♪ on a cloudy day ♪ a babyfaced 19-year-old stevie wonder. the chambers brothers. ♪ pop-soul group the fifth dimension. ♪ this is the dawning of the age o aquarius ♪ the crowd who'd come to see those acts, 300,000 strong. >> as far as i could see, it was just black people. this was the first time

as a result of what we did there, that was the conclusion, martin luther king, we will have to sew the seeds around and get him to be the chair of the president. e.d. nixon was the treasurer. rufus lewis was chairman of the transportation money. and the lawyer out of law school to serve as lawyer for them. we sowed those seeds and joann said let's get through with the meeting. we assigned responsibilities to each one of us. she said i will go. another black woman has been arrested on the buses. a trial this monday. as a protest, stay off the buses. there will be a meeting on monday evening. when the meetings were made, as a result of the seeds we sowed, neither one of us, it could not be known that we were doing this planning. if she -- if it had been known what she was doing as a teacher of a state-supported school, she would have been fired. she was fired anyway, but it was much later. i would have been disbarred before i got barred. the seeds were sown, the information was given out. when the buses started on monday morning, very few blacks rode the buses. we had mrs. parks' trial.

the supreme court. he represented rosa parks, martin luther king among many other civil rights movement luminaries. his success in the courtroom is what makes up much of today's textbooks for today's law students and i could go on let's hear from mr. gray. are you with us? >> thank you very much. >> terrific. we are happy to have you today. how are you doing? >> i am doing fine and i would like to thank the national archive foundation and those of you that are responsible for having this program. i sat and listened and saw some of the incidents from slavery forward and i am happy to be a part of your program here today and thanks for the imitation. >> absolutely. we are honored. i want to jump right in. we talked a few days ago. i was honored to read your biography and see some of your other interview so i have my own questions but we will get some audience questions along the way. i wanted to start with a quote that i pulled out of your biography that really struck me. you opened up one of your chapters with the words "segregation was the order of the day. when i was admitted to practice law in ala

state in this repressive voting bill they proposed, and we stood with them in the shadows of the martin luther kingng to show that dr. king, we feel works have been proud of their stand. and we spent the day on the hill meeting with majority leader chuck schumer just hours after he had met with the eight democrats that are trying to deal with a new kind of voting rights bill. letting him know what we felt. nullification and other things must be there. we met with senator lindsey graham opposed to voting rights bill and the john lewis bill to let him know why we will not stop putting pressure on and met with senator manchin, and he's a part of this compromised bill to let him know where we are, and met with house speaker pelosi who has been a firm leader in dealing with voting rights on both bills to let her know what we were going to do to keep street heat up in georgia, in the states around the country leading to the national march. we met with former civil rights activist and now the whip of the house of representatives congressman james clyburn and head of the democratic caucus congressman hkeem

very similar to the kind of meeting that the reverend dr. martin luther king jr. from now, be in the white house having meetings about voting rights? >> well, we -- we should be, lawrence. you know, i think dr. cole's said it well. it's not only a privilege to be in the room but it's where we should be, right? we like to think that progress is linear but it's not as linear or as smooth as we would ever like. there will always be, either, improvements or at the very least refinements to be made. so i don't think this issue is going away. just like the issue of racism in this country isn't going away. even when we see progress, there is still work to do. that's why our organization, which is almost 60 years old and was founded at a meeting convened by president kennedy, almost 60 years ago. in the -- in the east room of the white house. that's why we're still here. and we expect to be here 60 years from now, as well. fighting similar fights but, hopefully, not the exact same ones. but look. as long as the clock keeps being turned back or as long as someone tries to

. >>> and coming up on the "morning joe" we're going to hear from the martin luther king family with general joins us over the dangers of health misinformation as covid cases continue to rise across the country. "morning joe" just minutes away. . c keeping her comfortable, protected, and undeniably sleek. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love, more adventure, more community. depend. but with my hiv treatment, there's not more medicines in my pill. i talked to my doctor and switched to fewer medicines with dovato. dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regimen. with just 2 medicines in 1 pill, dovato is as effective as a 3-drug regimen... to help you reach and stay undetectable. research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit hiv through sex. don't take dovato if you're allergic to its ingredients or if you take dofetilide. taking dovato with dofetilide can cause serious or life-threatening side effect

she's received much public recognition and many awards including the martin luther king justice and peace award and he humanitarian award. the leadership award, the humanitarian and truth telling prize in the 2018 at the list of the most influential people of the world for her leadership in the aftermath of hurricane maria and in the past two years she's been awarded the championship for justice award, the core foundation of the humanitarian award and from the united states hispanic leadership institute. it is entirely the first event in the series brings julie into conversations with the honorable ayanna pressley who since her election served as the congresswoman for the congressional district of massachusetts. as an advocate, policymaker, activist and survivor, the congresswoman has become the first woman of color to be elected in the commonwealth of massachusetts. the district is the most diverse in the state requiring a representative reflective of the people and the kind of courageous and bold leadership that inspires this community. like many in the district she's enjoyed numerous h

the 66th anniversary of emmett till's death, the 50th anniversary of "i have a dream" speech. martin luther kingam and senator manchin as well as speaker pelosi. and we're going to the martin luther king monument with some of those texas legislators who were in washington because they want to make sure texas doesn't get a quorum to continue these battles that they're waging to suppress our vote. so we can't stop. we must, in many ways, pick up that baton and keep fighting. yes, we're tired. but as fannie lou hamer said, i'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, so i'm going to keep fighting. >> absolutely. let me just give our viewers some background on what bob moses went through as a voting rights activist. when he was organizing in mississippi, a sheriff's cousin bashed him in the head with a knife handle. bleeding, this man kept going, staggering up the steps of a courthouse to continue to register black voters. he was riding this a car with someone and the klan shot through the window. he had to cradle the driver while the car was still moving just to get it on the right road. reverend, i

also - the way that the narrative have been shaped around taking the knee as a not the narrative of martin luther kingn selma in 19 625, but around this idea that it is something to do with communism and, you know, black lives matter being linked to defunding the police and all of that kind of stuff. the fact that the players are saying themselves it's got nothing to do with that, it's actually about wanting a call for anti—discrimination in this country is something that a lot of people don't, orsome is something that a lot of people don't, or some people don't want to believe. and i suppose steve baker is making the point why don't we want to believe it? if the cause is equality should surely we all agree with that. and johnny mercer put in a way that's quite interesting and in a form of words that might resonate with some conservatives. he says i support wearing the poppy even though it's appropriating sometimes by extremist right—wing groups that may not agree with. and, you know, ithink groups that may not agree with. and, you know, i think what he is trying to say there is you can still support

and i was confident that my election, certainly, put a small asterisks on the fact that dr. martin luther king had lead the groundwork and had made the sacrifice, and had set the stage for this to happen. and i think if it had to happen, chapel hill was the place it should happen. and i'm just obviously very delighted that i was the person who was ♪ the assault has begun on the dictatorship of fidel castro cuban army pilots opened the first phase of organized revolts with bombing raids on three military bases two of the b-26 light bombers then seek asylum in florida on the heels of the air raids landing

the question goes like this, how should we look at kennedy's complicated relationship with martin luther kingth wiretapping him, with following hoover's instructions against king? i think that question is asking about the fact that robert kennedy authorized the wiretaps of martin luther king. how should we think about that? >> you should read my book because i was concerned about that. very complicated. hoover's pressure, hoover's power, you know, they knew -- he knew that -- [inaudible]. hoover kept pressing, the whole levinson thing. i don't want to get too deeply into it, but the pressure to -- hoover's pressure on kennedy and the evidence he had -- martin luther king -- talking to levinson and all of this, finally in october of 63, he agreed to a temporary 30-day wiretap on king's phone in atlanta and new york. and if you read about it, so he did it. there are a couple of reasons that people speculate. hoover had things on the president, on his private life. and the civil rights bill, this is october. they're fighting to get the civil rights bill moved through the house judiciary committe

women's round table, we are moving in conjunction, many of us, the national action network, the martin luther king's group, to me nationally, because we cannot risk their moving this dime of the voting rights that was guaranteed after the '60s. after the '65 voting rights act that was damaged in 2013 with shelby versus holder, that now has come into almost irreparable harm with section two. so time is not something that we have, and we wanted to put the president on alert on that. you must remember that the voting rights act did not come from lyndon johnson down. it came from the fights in selma, alabama, up, and that's what we intend to do to make shup that this country stands for the right for people to use their vote. democracy is at stake here. >> reverend al sharp ton, thank you. you can catch the rev coming up at 5:00 p.m. eastern on "politicsnation" right after this show, right here, of course, on msnbc. so we are watching some live pictures right now and keeping an eye on the 75th anniversary celebration for former president carter and his wife, former first lady rosalyn carter, in plains,

it was about the relationship between martin luther king and reagan. hat was interesting about that one martin luther king stood for what he stood for, reagan and his early career, anti-king, reagan came around and reagan was the one who established martin luther king day as a celebration of king and later in his career really spoke to the power and value of king. it is an interesting story. martin luther king, you know, who am i to say, got it right. you have to stand up for what you believe in. but you do not do it violently. as soon as you do that, you lose your leverage. you lose your credibility. you lose your own kind of decency. my position is that what has happened today with this toxicity is that it is much easier to vilify the other, not speak to them and have a get to a fever pitch where we see things like january 6 happened. we need to pivot enough to bring the guardrails back in. agree to disagree. fight the fight. march in the streets where we need to, but do not light buildings on fire. do not break windows. this is taking things too far.

let's do a better job of living up to them and you can see the same thing with martin luther king and his i have a dream speech where he yes the declaration as a promissory note that needs to be redeemed in neither case. are they attacking our foundations or suggesting that america is irredeemable? but simply that we have work to do and as lovers of this country we need to get about that work to live up to the ideals that we all share and that sort of constructive view of patriotism rather than one that is critical that seeks to tear down that seeks to divide is i think a narrative that americans will embrace. i think it is honest and true and it gives a complete picture to our children of how they should see this country. yet thank you for that bill. that's just terrific and i just say at the shameless self-promotion here at the heritage foundation other people are working on this as well, of course, but a heritage we are trying to produce that kind of material a little mini film series. we're working on right now to make available to parents and others, but i want to take it back to