The Rick Smith Show

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 30, 2015

Gloss Larry Edgerson Pettaway was a student marcher and tells the tale behind his peculiar name and about family members murdered by the Ku Klux Klan.

Jacqueline Taylor was a student who walked out of class in 1963 because she knew that segregation was wrong from a young age. 

Eddgra Fallin is from Decatur, Alabama, which is in the northern part of the state, and she was one of the first black students to integrate the city's schools.  Eddgra shares the challenges she faced from other students after she arrived at the local high school.  

Gloria Washington Lewis Randal was a student marcher in 1963 and she shares stories about paying for bus fare and then being left behind when going to the back of the bus & more. 

Ervin Philemon Hill was a teenager when he had a chance encounter with Martin Luther King months before the 1963 Children's Crusade.

Dr. Earl Cunningham was a former County Commissioner in Shelby, Alabama and he was a litigant on the Shelby Supreme Court Case.  Dr. Cunningham dives into what it was like voting pre Voting Rights Act

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 29, 2015

Richard Franklin is the AFT Birmingham Local 2115 President and he explains the history of the white John Herbert Philips School, school desegregation and the education challenges we're still fighting today.

Marion Orange Easleyis a Birmingham resident and the sister of James Orange, who was Martin Luther King's right hand man.  She explains how James Orange got involved in the civil rights movement, his involvement in the famous Children's Crusade and rose up the ranks of the movement

Ahmad Ward is the Head of Education at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.  Ahmad sheds light on some of the city's civil rights icons that are left out of the history books & talks about the tour he gave the show through the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

William Bell is the Mayor of Birmingham and he talks about economic equality, the city's effort to raise the wage and how he came up through the civil rights movement

Mary Moore is a State Representative from Birmingham who was part of the 1963 Children's Crusade and instead of talking about her involvement in the march, she talks about what it was like growing up black in Alabama. 

Janice Wesley Kelsey was part of the Birmingham Children's Crusade.  She was in the first group of students who marched out of the 16th Street Baptist Church in May 1963, and she shares her story about the march and getting arrested. 

Horace Huntley is a Professor of History at the University of Alabama and he came on the Peoples Tour to talk about Birmingham's history of using convict mine workers that pitted black miners against white miners. 

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 28, 2015

Hezekiah Watkins is a life long Jackson, Mississippi resident and civil rights activist.  At 13, he was arrested and placed on death row for watching the arrival of Freedom Riders in Jackson, Mississippi.  

Robert Luckett, Director of the Margaret Walker Center, explains why history forgets the Gibbs-Green police murders that happened on Jackson State's Campus and more of our walking tour through Jackson, Mississippi. 

Frank Figgers is the Jackson, Mississippi NAACP Chapter President and he gives the detailed history behind the NAACP's building and Medgar Evers' office.

Minnie Watson is the Director of the Medgar Evers House, which is owned and operated by Tougaloo College, and she talks about the life and death of the famous civil rights icon Medgar Evers and the house he and his family lived in. 

Isaiah Poole is the Online Editor at Campaign For America's Future and he joins the Peoples Tour to talk about his experiences and how economic justice is part of the civil rights movement.    

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 25, 2015

Dana Columbo is a member of United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 60 in New Orleans and he shares his experiences after losing his home during Hurricane Katrina & the rebuild that happened in the decade since.

Kendrick Jones moved back to New Orleans for an apprenticeship a month before Hurricane Katrina struck and he shares his experiences in the wake of the disaster

Donnie Small, President of Local 1535 ATU Jefferson Parrish, discusses the transportation issues facing Jefferson Parish in the wake of Katrina

Joseph Prier is the President of ATU Local 1560, which represents the streetcar and bus drivers, and he discusses transportation issues affecting New Orleans' poor In the decade since Hurricane Katrina

Leo Gerard is the President of the United Steelworkers Union and he disccuses the USW's past and present involvement in the civil rights movement

William LeFevre is the Senior Processing Archivist at the Walter Reuther Library on Wayne State University and he joins the Peoples Tour to talk about former United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther's involvement in funding the Civil Rights Movement. 

Robert Luckett is a Civil Rights History Professor and the Director of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University and he previews what the Peoples Tour should visit while travelling through Jackson, Mississippi

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 24, 2015

The Peoples Tour is in Montgomery, Selma and Tuskeege, Alabama.  

To see our pictures, click HERE:

Bren Riley is the President of the Alabama AFL-CIO and he joins the tour to talk about Alabama's labor history and the challenges facing the labor and civil rights movement 

Derryn Moten is the Acting History Department Chair at Alabama State University and he joins the tour to talk about Alabama's Civil Right's History. 

Ricky Brown is a curator at the Rosa Parks Museum and he gives an in-depth knowledge of the museum, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and how the museum was fortunate to get a hold of the historical documents. 

Norman Hill is from the A. Phillip Randolph Institute and he explains how he met the iconic civil rights and labor leader and how it was working under A. Philip Randolph

Nelson Johnson is the Pastor of the Faith Community Church and the Executive Director for the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro and he gives a general overview of the Beloved Center's Mission

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 23, 2015

Curtis Howard, President & Business Agent of ATU Local 732 chapter in Atlanta, Georgia, Talks About Public Transportation as a Civil Rights Issue.

Naomi R. Williams is a Visiting Associate History Professor at Georgia Tech who teaches labor history.  Naomi joined the Peoples Tour in Atlanta to talk about Atlanta's civil rights and labor history with strikes and actions dating back to the 1870's.   

State Senator Vincent Fort is a member of the Georgia Legislature and he joined the program to talk about the 1996 Olympics, how labor and the local community came together to build apprenticeship programs, and more 

James P. Hoffa, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, joins the Peoples Tour to talk about his father's and the Teamsters' involvement in the Civil Rights Movement.  

Dr. Felicia Bell is the Director of the Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University and she gives us a preview on what to expect at the museum and in the Alabama State Capitol

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 22, 2015

Vaughnette Goode-Walker is the President of the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum in Savannah, Georgia and she discusses slavery and the early organizing that took place in the South.

Phil LaPorte is the Director of Labor History at the University of Georgia and he discusses labor's involvement in funding the Civil Rights Movement.

Charlie Fleming is the President of the Georgia AFL-CIO and he gives the show some perspective on Georgia's labor history. 

Eric Robertson is the Political Director for Teamsters Local 728 and he talks about the Civil Rights history in Georgia.

Ben Speight is the lead organizer for Teamsters Local 728 and he talks about the history of labor's organizing in the South.

Richard Ray is the Georgia AFL-CIO President Emeritus and he explains how some of the prominent Civil Rights Leaders from Atalanta and the Labor Movement worked together during the Civil Rights movement and up until this day. 

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 21, 2015

Chester Dunham is a Savannah Celebrity from the Dunham Report and he joined the Peoples Tour to talk about his experience in the local labor and civil rights movements.

Gerald Spaulding is a port truck driver in Savannah, Georgia who is tired of getting ripped off at work.  He explains what it is like to be the first member of his family to ever be a part of a union drive. 

Floyd Cohens has been trucking for over 40 years and talks about his prior organizing experience with freight and container drivers and why he joined the Teamsters organizing drive.  

Carol Cauley is a port truck driver and she explains what it is like when employers want employees living off of government assistance.

Jerome Irwin is an organizer with Teamsters Local 728 and he explains the importance of organizing port truck drivers

John Jackson is a 25 year veteran and he explains why he's joining a union movement.

Robert Whittington is a project manager and he explains how port truck drivers have been getting screwed out of wages and why they're finally fighting back.

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 18, 2015

William Saunders was an organizer of the famous 1969 SEIU 1199B Healthcare Workers Strike at the Medical University of South Carolina.  He explains how the organizing process that happened in the two years leading up to the strike. 

Louise Brown was a nurse at the Medical University of South Carolina and was one of twelve nurses fired for insubordination that sparked the four month strike.

Jack Bradford was the local SEIU 1199B vice president and he shared his stories about his time working at the Medical University of South Carolina and what it was like participating in the 1969 strike.

Kerry Taylor is a local labor historian from The Citadel and on the fast part of our tour through Charleston, Kerry recalls the city's early history, Denmark Vesey's planned slave rebellion, how Hampton Park was used during the Civil War and the liberation of Beaufort, South Carolina.

In our second segment with Kerry Taylor, a historian from The Citadel, we dive into Charleston's rich labor history.  Besides the 1969 healthcare workers strike at the Medical University of South Carolina, Kerry talks about some of Charleston's other important labor actions, especially the 1944-1945 American Tobacco Cigar Factory Strike, which was the origin for the famous "I Shall Overcome" protest song.

Christine G. Nelson was a nurse at the Medical University of South Carolina and she explains how little has changed in the 45 years since the famous strike.  She was fired from her job for insubordination, but luckily she has been able to land work with the International Longshoremen Association.  

Pastor Thomas Dixon, community organizer and co-founder of The Coalition (People United to Take Back Our Community), explains how the Fight For 15, Public Transportation and Black Lives Matter are part of the modern Civil Rights Movement taking place in Charleston, South Carolina

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 17, 2015

James Andrews President of the North Carolina AFL-CIO joins Rick on the People’s Tour for America to discuss his experiences during the Civil Rights Era and what the Labor community has done to help fight for rights for all workers. 

Rebecca Cerese, Director of the documentary February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four joins Rick to discuss the film and share the story of one of history’s most important moments.

Erin Mckee, President of the South Carolina AFL-CIO joins Rick to talk about culture shock associated with moving to South Carolina and what her organization is doing to advance Civil and Worker’s rights. 

Dr. George Hopkins, President of Charleston Chapter of the South Carolina Progressive Network joins Rick to talk about the grassroots progressive movement that is growing in South Carolina.

James Felder, Author and Civil and Voting Rights Activist joins Rick to share his experiences and talk about his book about South Carolina’s history of struggle from the days in the streets to the victories in the courtroom.

Brett Bursey, Executive Director of the South Carolina Progressive Network tells Rick about the Modjeska Monteith Simkins House and the amazing woman who was viewed by many as the matriarch of the civil rights movement in South Carolina.

Civil Right Tour Holiday Encore Full Three Hour Show for December 16, 2015

From the road in North Carolina. We visited the Historical Stagville plantation site in Durham, The Beloved Community Center and the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, NC. 

Listen it each individual interview by click on the guests name.

Claude Barnes, Researcher at the Jubilee Institute in Greensboro, North Carolina joins Rick to talk about his being elected to student body president as a write-in candidate and how that event turned into he and his classmates being tear gassed and some arrested.

Stephanie Cobert, Managing Director of Historic Stagville takes time to sit down with Rick to talk about the largest plantation in North Carolina history and their mission to keep the history alive.

Beverly McNeill, President of the Stagville Foundation takes Rick on a walk through the slave quarters being maintained on the Historic Stagville Plantation. 

Joyce Johnson Co-Director of the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro NC shares her courageous story as a young girl from Richmond, VA going away to college at Duke University as one of the first African-American women in the school’s history and all of the struggles she has seen.

Lewis Brandon, Grassroots History Coordinator at the Beloved Community Center sits down with Rick to share his story of being a part of history joining four fellow North Carolina A & T sit in of the lunch counter in Greensboro.

Nelson Johnson Executive director Pastor of the Faith Community Church joins Rick to talk about Labor’s involvement in the Greensboro area and the victories workers have had in North Carolina. 

Richard Koritz, Solidarity Representative for APWU and a Board Member at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum joins Rick to talk about the Civil Rights Center and Museum and shares his family’s history of standing up for workers and equality. 

Full Three Hour Show for December 15, 2015

Mark Price, Labor Economist at the Keystone Research Center joins Rick to look back at the year that was in Pennsylvania’s economy and look to 2016 with higher hopes.

Will Bunch, author of The Bern Identity joins Rick to talk about the recent release of his book on Senator Bernie Sander’s, the run for the White House, and work to organize a political movement to change America for the better.

Chelsea Parsons, Vice President of Gun Policy at the Center for American Progress joins Rick to discuss a new report, “Framework for Action” she has co-authored on how states can prevent gun violence and cut down on gun related crimes.

Doug Cunningham, Worker’s Independent News joins Rick to highlight the news that is important to workers across the nation. 

Mark Price Brings the Optimism for the New Year

Mark Price, Labor Economist at the Keystone Research Center joins Rick to look back at the year that was in Pennsylvania’s economy and look to 2016 with higher hopes.

Will Bunch Feeling the Bern, Writes the Book

Will Bunch, author of The Bern Identity joins Rick to talk about the recent release of his book on Senator Bernie Sander’s, the run for the White House, and work to organize a political movement to change America for the better.

Chelsea Parsons on Guns

Chelsea Parsons, Vice President of Gun Policy at the Center for American Progress joins Rick to discuss a new report, “Framework for Action” she has co-authored on how states can prevent gun violence and cut down on gun related crimes.

Doug Cunningham Brings the Labor News

Doug Cunningham, Worker’s Independent News joins Rick to highlight the news that is important to workers across the nation. 

Full Three Hour Show for December 14, 2015

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, a candidate for the US Senate joins Rick to share what his weekend experience in NYC at the Pennsylvania Society Gala and to talk about his campaign.

Kevin Mahoney, Editor Zero at Raging Chicken Press joins Rick to talk budget, budget, budget and what the prolonged impasse is doing to institutions of higher learning across the commonwealth.

Tyler Cherry, Researcher at Media Matters joins Rick to discuss his latest article on many right wing talkers revolting against the GOP leadership over talk of a brokered convention.   

Robin Lowry, PhD, Wister Elementary School teacher joins Rick to talk about Tuesday’s scheduled protest against a proposed charter takeover at John Wister Elementary School in Philadelphia.  Wister parents voted by a 2-to-1 margin to reject the proposed charter conversion and to maintain control of their community based neighborhood school.

Kathleen Jeskey, 6th grade teacher in the Portland, Oregon area joins Rick to talk about the threats of termination she encountered from her school superintendent as she attempted to opt-out of administering her school’s high stakes test and the positive responses she’s received from fellow teachers and parents. 

Beth Dimino, 8th grade science teacher from Long Island, New York joins Rick to share her experience of refusing to administer her school’s high stakes test and found an administration, while not supportive, did not attempt to threaten and intimidation for her stance.

John Fetterman on Pennsylvania Society Gala in NYC

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, a candidate for the US Senate joins Rick to share what his weekend experience in NYC at the Pennsylvania Society Gala and to talk about his campaign.

Kevin Mahoney, It's Raging Chicken Monday

Kevin Mahoney, Editor Zero at Raging Chicken Press joins Rick to talk budget, budget, budget and what the prolonged impasse is doing to institutions of higher learning across the commonwealth.

Tyler Cherry Talks GOP Panic & Right Wing Lunacy

Tyler Cherry, Researcher at Media Matters joins Rick to discuss his latest article on many right wing talkers revolting against the GOP leadership over talk of a brokered convention.