What was I? A junior?
Yes.
And Shirley was a freshman.
And back in 1963 in Tallahassee, everything
was totally segregated.
FAMU was basically this black bastion
in the middle of this segregated city called Tallahassee.
And Shirley, she's a freshman.
And she's not there a week--
- Two weeks. - Huh?
Two weeks.
And decided that she's going to march, because Florida A&M,
the entire campus was basically getting arrested.
And the whole idea was to fill the jails.
And that's how we met.
So when she got out of jail, I saw her.
I saw this cute little young lady.
And I remember it right now.
And I really thought about how much courage
she had to be able to go.
Because Tallahassee in 1963 was--
well St. Augustine, Tallahassee, was Montgomery and Selma.
That's what the equivalent in Florida.
People don't know how difficult it was.
And Shirley's from St. Augustine.
They poured acid in the pool so black
people couldn't-- couldn't go in their swimming pool.
That kind of thing.
So that kind of courage, you know, was pretty extraordinary.
Interesting enough, he usually says,
I met her when you got out of jail.