Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson is a prominent progressive American activist and politician best known for being the co-founder of Memphis Community Against Pollution and as a member of the "Tennessee Three." He is a candidate for U.S. Congress. He tells the story of the historic labor strike in 1968 that would be Dr. Martin Luther King's final campaign.

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Unless otherwise noted, all images used in this video are in the public domain.

Excerpt of Martin Luther King’s Last Speech “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop,” 1968-04-03. © The King Estate.

Memphis Local 1733 picket. 1965-07. Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

Memphis sanitation workers strike. 1968. Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

National Guard, Memphis. 1968. Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

Lorraine Motel by Bubba73. 20 October 2022. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Award-winning journalist Amna Nawaz is co-anchor and co-managing editor of the PBS News Hour. Her reporting spans politics, foreign affairs, immigration, culture and sports. Nawaz profiles Roberto Clemente, the Puerto Rican baseball legend whose brilliance on the field was matched by the humanitarianism that cost him his life.

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Unless otherwise noted, all images used in this video are in the public domain.

The Brothers Three—Tyler, Ryan, and Clay Hereth—completed a southbound thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail together July 16 to November 22, 2011. Their history of the Appalachian Trail is a reminder of the importance of volunteerism and environmental stewardship.

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Unless otherwise noted, all images used in this video are in the public domain.

Appalachian Trail In Maine Completion Marker (CCC). 2014. Magicpiano. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Benton MacKaye. before 1952. ATC. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Winchester and Potomac Railroad Bridge, Harpers Ferry, WV - Appalachian Trail sign. 2 September 2021. Zeete. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Annapolis Rocks Overlook, Maryland. 22 May 2015. Patorjk. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

McAfee Knob. 20 January 2012. Something Original. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Crossing a River Along the Appalachian Trail in Maryland. National Capital Region Public Affairs Photo Collection, Photographer Abbie Rowe, NCRO 6.

Hikers on the Appalachian Trail Overlooking the Potomac River. National Capital Region Public Affairs Photo Collection, Photographer Abbie Rowe, NCRO 6.

Zohran Mamdani is the 112th Mayor of the City of New York. He previously represented the 36th New York State Assembly District and its neighborhoods of Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway, and Astoria Heights. Mamdani recounts the history of the colony that, in 1665, would become New York.

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Daniel Lurie is San Francisco’s 46th Mayor. He has focused on public safety, building housing, getting people off the streets and on a path to stability, and San Francisco’s long-term economic recovery. He honors the murals in San Francisco’s Coit Tower, which portray the lives and histories of everyday Americans.

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“Men at Work” sign, 2010 by Sandra Cohen-Rose and Colin Rose. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Journalists, 2010 by Sandra Cohen-Rose and Colin Rose. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Cowboys, 2010 by Sandra Cohen-Rose and Colin Rose. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

“Old Man Weather,” Ray Boynton, 2010 by Sandra Cohen-Rose and Colin Rose. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Hallway shot, 2015 by Oren Rozen. This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

“Railroad and Shipping,” William Hesthal, 2008 by Gary Stevens. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Lakefront Airport New Orleans - WPA murals restored, 2016 by Infrogmation of New Orleans. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Andrew J. Huebner is a Professor of History at the University of Alabama who focuses on modern U.S. cultural and military history. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians (OAH), author of the acclaimed books Love and Death in the Great War and The Warrior Image, and co-editor of The Cambridge History of War and Society in America. He is currently finishing a new history of the buffalo soldiers, the first Black regular army units in US history, established by Congress in 1866.

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Heather Booth is an organizer and political strategist who has worked in civil rights and the feminist movement. She was a founder of the underground abortion service provider known as the Jane Collective.

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Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) and her lawyer Gloria Allred on the steps of the Supreme Court, 1989 by Lorie Shaull. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Arctic Lights Cigarettes WBMX Chicago 1970s Skyline Crush by Mobilus In Mobili. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Defend Roe v. Wade by Susan Ruggles from Milwaukee, USA. 7 May 2022. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Jack Reed, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island and Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, is a West Point graduate and Army veteran known as a bipartisan deal-maker on defense and consumer protection. This is the story of the First Rhode Island Regiment, widely recognized as America’s first Black military regiment, which saw its first combat experience at the Battle of Rhode Island on August 29, 1778.

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NAACP Memorial Stone for African Troops. JBowie17. This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández represents the 3rd Congressional District of New Mexico. She serves on the House Rules Committee and the Committee on Natural Resources and is chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus. New Mexico’s Bilingual Multicultural Education Act (BMEA) of 1973 was the country’s first legislation intended to honor multilingual and multicultural identity.

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New Mexico State Capitol building, inaugurated 1966. Jim Bowen. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

American soprano Melissa Givens is an Associate Professor at Pomona College, specializing in music of women and African Americans. She is a frequent recitalist and clinician and sings with Grammy© winning Conspirare: A Company of Voices. Givens tells the story of Marian Anderson’s historic performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939—one that she repeated at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.

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Stacey Abrams is a New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur and political leader. She served as Minority Leader in the Georgia House of Representatives. Abrams profiles W.E.B. Du Bois, the pioneering scholar and activist who co-founded the Niagara Movement and helped build the NAACP's fight for equality.

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Michelle Wu is the mayor of Boston. She is one of the youngest mayors in the city's history and is the first woman and the first Asian American to be elected to the office. Wu tells how Boston built America's first subway in 1897, relieving a congested city and laying the groundwork for modern transit nationwide.

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is an award-winning journalist, #1 New York Times best-selling author of "Going There," co-founder of Stand Up To Cancer, founder of Katie Couric Media (KCM), and the first woman to solo anchor a network evening newscast. Couric profiles Nellie Bly, a pioneer of investigative journalism whose undercover exposé drove reform in mental health facilities.

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The executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson is a public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. Stevenson recounts the displacement of staggering numbers of people forced to flee the dangers and violence of the Jim Crow-era South.

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Slaid Cleaves is a Texas-based singer/songwriter whose music is rooted in traditional country and folk forms. He has been putting out highly acclaimed records for 25 years. Cleaves profiles Johnny Cash, the "Man in Black" whose songs of rebels and outsiders made him a champion for the voiceless.

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Johnny Cash, Bremen September 1972. Heinrich Klaffs. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Katie Paris is an Ohio suburban mom and 25-year political veteran. In 2019, Paris quit her job in national politics to found Red Wine & Blue, a community of over half a million diverse suburban women, working together to defeat extremism, one friend at a time. Paris explores the women's club movement, whose millions of members shaped Progressive Era reform and the fight for civil rights.

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is a writer, activist, and military veteran. She writes Charlotte’s Web Thoughts, a popular, award-winning Substack newsletter about politics, religion, foreign policy, and culture. Here, Clymer honors the unbroken 89-year vigil at Arlington's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a solemn promise never to forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

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A Sentinel assigned to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, 4th Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) walks the mat while guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 29 June 2020. US GOVT 1. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Joshua Turek is an Iowa House Representative, 4x Paralympian, 2x Gold Medalist in wheelchair basketball, disability advocate, and candidate for the U.S. Senate in Iowa. Turek recounts the Dust Bowl, the 1930s environmental catastrophe that drove families from the Great Plains and taught America the value of soil conservation.

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Ken Lincoln is president of the Thompson Ice House Preservation Corporation, which operates an onsite museum and sponsors an annual ice harvest. Lincoln chronicles America's forgotten ice trade, which revolutionized how the nation ate and drank before mechanical refrigeration melted the business away.

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Photo of vintage Coca-Cola sign by Dsdugan. 2 February 2019. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Serving ice cold cola by Reiner Schubert. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

is an acclaimed American humorist, New York Times bestselling author, and creator of the popular satire site The Borowitz Report. Borowitz celebrates Molly Ivins, the razor-tongued Texas columnist who skewered politicians and made a career of speaking uncomfortable truths.

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