Sons of the South

WNPT, public television in Nashville, has done another valuable service to American history by posting an extraordinary 1998 interview by John Seigenthaler with Congressman John Lewis.

It was an episode of Seigenthaler’s popular TV series about books and authors, called A Word on Words. The occasion for this installment was the publication that year of Lewis’ book Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement.

If you want to learn a lot in a little time about the history of civil rights, of Nashville, of these two distinguished men, I recommend you go to this link soon: https://video.wnpt.org/video/john-lewis-a-word-on-words-with-john-seigenthaler-npt-slvj0c/?fbclid=IwAR0ABpmJYnC98yCqgrvbqt7RRAl054xs-XwOnl2KwaCefhBOS3J2XKWo-Zc

I sat with it yesterday, on Sunday afternoon, and watched as they spoke of what each remembered. At the time of this recording, it had been nearly thirty years since both, in different roles, walked into history in Montgomery, Alabama.

They recalled, they laughed, they even learned something they hadn’t known about each other until the day of this interview. On my side of the screen there were smiles, and there were tears.

Lewis and Seigenthaler had much in common. Both were sons of the south, though hailing from different states and circumstances - Lewis from Alabama, and Seigenthaler from Tennessee - and their early years brought them into direct contact with people and causes now famous in our country.

Of course they looked different now, with the passing of years. Lewis more portly, his host if anything more Irish. Seigenthaler’s hair curly and grey now, Lewis’ gone. Their voices indelible. Both men could be quiet, and both could boom as necessary. In spite of the blood and the beatings they remembered, both could flash an easy smile. Both could laugh while remembering lighter moments.

And both are now gone. Seigenthaler passed six years ago last week, Lewis on Friday. But they left behind much that we ought to remember, all of us.

I am grateful for this archival recording, this glimpse of two friends and heroes. I recommend it to you.

© Keel Hunt, 2020