washington and george washington carver, but she lectured about the contribution of frederick douglass, w.e.b. dubois, and how jackie robinson had broken the baseball barrier. and we remembered the opera singer who was not allowed to sing in the hall and had to sing in lincoln center. all the discrimination and the local in justices. like, everything was separate and unequal. the school was inadequate. we could not go to the hospitals. they built a house adjacent to the main hospital. the white people were not supposed to be in the same room with an n-person. you know the n-word? i said to myself at the end of the day that i love my country and i'm glad that that day, i took a stand. i saw through the supreme court that the flaws that america had tried to correct them by removing those horrible signs -- "white" and "colored." i said when i testified at the trial, i went through how we were treated, and the lady dramatize it, so i do not have to go through that, but it is the whole system of separate but unequal. it is understates rights -- is under states' rights. after lincoln had freed us from slav

king and w.e.b. duboisn terms of the efforts in trying to help women take 0 control of their reproductive health. in order to have this conversation we need to, as he suggests, look at the history and not just go on wikipedia and grab quotes off of there. the story is more detailed than that. >> okay. okay. we'll end that part there. let's talk about this a little bit. i don't want to give a short trip, but i have been hearing a lot about this on-line, on radio. i was listening to a radio show last week and it said what happens in an obama versus cain in 2012, if that happens and they said if cain runs against obama and samuel l. jackson is highest grossing movie star of all times, racism is officially over, lz. >> it is the over simplification of how we look at racism today, that will be over but we haven't begun to talk about the racism in terms of internalized racism and minorities against whites and other than just black and white like latinos and whites and latinos and blacks. there's a lot of nuances

in 2009, she is the youngest scholar to deliver the the w.e.b. dubois lecture.e year, she is the youngest woman ever to deliver the where dexter. she is the author of the book "barbershops, bibles, and b.e.t. -- everyday talk and black political thought." donna brazil has described her most recent book, "sister cinema," as insightful and provocative. a must read for those interested in learning more about american politics. the title of her lecture today is "reconstruction lessons -- current u.s. racial politics and the lessons of the civil war." please welcome melissa harris- perry. [applause] >> thank you for that lovely introduction. it is very kind. let me start by telling you a story. i am from the south. i grew up in charlottesville, virginia and richmond, virginia. i went to college and graduate school in north carolina. i live now in new orleans. at some point, maybe six, seven, or even longer months ago, i got the invitation here. it came through the woman who handles my lectures. i heard her say it on the phone. i typed and to my googol -- into my goog