[00:00:00.000]
[00:00:00.167]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:00:03.667]
[00:00:49.033]
- I know who I am.
[00:00:50.434]
[00:00:54.434]
I'm standing on the shoulders of people
[00:00:56.400]
I can identify over the centuries.
[00:00:58.701]
[00:01:00.434]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:01:04.767]
[00:01:13.100]
My story is important because I represent an important part
[00:01:17.501]
of the American narrative.
[00:01:19.300]
[00:01:21.501]
And when I'm on this stool, my story will not be forgotten.
[00:01:26.200]
[00:01:28.100]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:01:31.567]
[00:01:40.100]
And I'm the only person of color in the room,
[00:01:43.067]
and the only person who could look
[00:01:45.200]
at the scattered sites that lay throughout the city
[00:01:47.501]
and instantly recognize them as sites of racial segregation.
[00:01:51.801]
[00:01:52.734]
Because what gets remembered
[00:01:54.300]
is determined by who's in the room doing the remembering.
[00:01:57.701]
- Betty Reid Soskin is the most amazing woman
[00:01:59.767]
I've ever met in my life.
[00:02:01.734]
- Oh, she is a national treasure.
[00:02:04.667]
- History is what happens to us every day,
[00:02:07.567]
[00:02:08.534]
that we're all making history.
[00:02:10.634]
- She is a phenomenal woman. A walking history book.
[00:02:15.133]
- It's probably the beginnings of this national park.
[00:02:18.300]
- It's hard not to know about Betty.
[00:02:20.234]
Betty is kind of a national figure.
[00:02:22.067]
- There's very little to be nostalgic about,
[00:02:24.567]
[00:02:25.467]
if you're not white, of the periods of 1942 to 1945.
[00:02:29.667]
[00:02:31.167]
- [Dan Howe] I had heard several years ago, I think,
[00:02:33.400]
about the ranger in California
[00:02:36.234]
who, you know, is older than any other ranger
[00:02:39.534]
and was incredibly articulate
[00:02:41.434]
and told this incredible story.
[00:02:43.100]
[00:02:44.734]
- That dramatic arc of my life from 20 to 15 years ago
[00:02:49.767]
[00:02:50.734]
in no way is a sign of personal achievement.
[00:02:54.667]
- She seems like someone's grandma or aunt or sister.
[00:02:59.334]
[00:03:00.200]
- Wow, she's just an incredible woman with an amazing story.
[00:03:04.100]
- Instead,
[00:03:05.167]
it's a solid indication of how much social change
[00:03:09.100]
occurred in this country over those intervening years.
[00:03:13.367]
- Betty is a force of nature.
[00:03:17.367]
- She's sorta like Bette Davis, Angela Davis
[00:03:20.033]
and Yoda all rolled into one. (laughing)
[00:03:23.100]
[00:03:24.434]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:03:28.734]
- My great grandmother was born into slavery
[00:03:31.100]
[00:03:32.534]
in 1846, in St. James Parish, Louisiana.
[00:03:37.267]
[00:03:38.734]
Enslaved for 19 years,
[00:03:41.501]
which means that she was owned by a family,
[00:03:45.000]
[00:03:45.801]
owned physically by a family called the Breaux.
[00:03:50.567]
[00:03:52.067]
I was 27 years old, married and a mother
[00:03:55.434]
by the time my slave ancestor died.
[00:03:57.400]
I knew her as a matriarch of my family.
[00:04:00.667]
She was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation
[00:04:03.334]
when she was 19.
[00:04:05.234]
Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln and my great grandmother
[00:04:09.067]
[00:04:10.767]
were alive at the same time.
[00:04:12.267]
[00:04:14.667]
It was his action that freed her from slavery.
[00:04:19.067]
[00:04:21.033]
- I have never seen anyone have quite the impact
[00:04:23.267]
that Betty has.
[00:04:25.000]
She's able to talk about these incredibly difficult topics
[00:04:28.000]
that can be almost borderline controversial
[00:04:30.300]
depending on your point of view.
[00:04:32.634]
- Yes?
[00:04:33.767]
- [Kelli English] But she does it
[00:04:34.734]
where you can really put yourself in her shoes
[00:04:37.067]
and understand her perspective.
[00:04:39.167]
[00:04:41.801]
- I grew up in the city of Oakland
[00:04:44.667]
[00:04:45.734]
as a child of the service worker's generation.
[00:04:48.200]
[00:04:49.133]
Our fathers and our uncles were the Red Caps
[00:04:52.534]
and the Pullman porters and the waiters
[00:04:54.367]
and the janitors and the bellhops and laborers.
[00:04:57.667]
And our mothers were pretty much 50-cents-an-hour
[00:05:00.734]
domestic servants taking care of white people's children,
[00:05:05.100]
white people's homes,
[00:05:06.000]
because that's who we were as a nation in those years.
[00:05:09.567]
[00:05:13.167]
- What did you originally wanna be when you grow up?
[00:05:16.300]
- You know, I never really knew.
[00:05:18.501]
I think I wanted to be a mother, most of all.
[00:05:21.400]
Women's roles were pretty well dictated by society.
[00:05:25.634]
I could have been a nurse or a librarian or a teacher,
[00:05:29.501]
if I were white.
[00:05:31.367]
But I could only have been an agriculture worker
[00:05:35.100]
or a service worker because I was a person of color.
[00:05:39.467]
Being a clerk,
[00:05:41.367]
even in a segregated Jim Crow Union Hall, was a step up.
[00:05:46.400]
[00:05:47.033]
My folks were really proud of me, I was a clerk.
[00:05:50.133]
I wasn't making beds in a hotel.
[00:05:52.334]
I wasn't taking care of white people's children.
[00:05:54.701]
I wasn't cleaning white people's houses.
[00:05:56.767]
I was a clerk.
[00:05:58.067]
[00:05:59.133]
That in 1942 would have been the equivalent
[00:06:03.067]
of today's young woman of color
[00:06:04.667]
being the first in her family to enter college.
[00:06:07.200]
[00:06:08.467]
- This is a slice of history
[00:06:10.200]
that is so fundamental to American history
[00:06:13.567]
that to not learn it is really not to know America.
[00:06:17.634]
[00:06:17.667]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:06:21.267]
[00:06:26.334]
- [Narrator] Betty Reid Soskin has been writing
[00:06:28.300]
about the life she has lived on a blog she began in 2003,
[00:06:33.300]
[00:06:33.767]
when she was 81 years old.
[00:06:35.734]
[00:06:38.667]
- Maybe I'll be worth reading
[00:06:41.167]
because mine is a voice of hope.
[00:06:43.501]
[00:06:47.567]
- [Narrator] Born in Detroit in 1921
[00:06:50.367]
because her father escaped New Orleans
[00:06:52.434]
for three years to avoid lynching
[00:06:55.434]
after speaking his mind to a prominent white man.
[00:06:58.467]
[00:06:59.467]
Then fleeing New Orleans during the great flood of 1927,
[00:07:04.067]
when the levees were bombed,
[00:07:05.767]
drowning her family's home in the Seventh Ward
[00:07:09.067]
in order to save white neighborhoods.
[00:07:11.234]
[00:07:14.133]
Arriving in Oakland at age six
[00:07:16.367]
and growing up under the nurturing eye
[00:07:18.334]
of her beloved grandfather, Papa George.
[00:07:21.167]
[00:07:22.434]
Graduating from Oakland's Castlemont High
[00:07:25.234]
and working in the segregated Boilermakers Union Hall
[00:07:28.400]
at the Richmond Shipyards to help win World War II.
[00:07:31.801]
[00:07:33.434]
Marrying Mel Reid, a professional football player,
[00:07:36.801]
starting a small business, Reid's Records, in Berkeley.
[00:07:41.033]
And moving their young family to a suburb
[00:07:43.367]
where, as the only black family,
[00:07:45.601]
they received death threats,
[00:07:47.400]
[00:07:48.300]
and the PTA fundraiser at their young son's school
[00:07:51.601]
was a Minstrel Show in blackface.
[00:07:54.200]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:07:57.701]
[00:07:59.367]
- In these final years, I'm empowered by that history.
[00:08:02.667]
[00:08:05.367]
- [Narrator] Becoming politically active
[00:08:07.367]
and 20 years after those death threats,
[00:08:10.067]
being elected by that same community
[00:08:12.400]
to represent them at the Democratic National Convention.
[00:08:16.067]
[00:08:17.601]
Working as a Field Representative for a State Legislator
[00:08:21.133]
and attending a planning meeting for a new National Park
[00:08:24.634]
to commemorate the World War II Homefront experience.
[00:08:28.467]
[00:08:30.534]
- And I attend my first public meeting
[00:08:33.601]
and I see that my country is in danger
[00:08:36.734]
of establishing a park
[00:08:38.634]
that can amount to a little more than a bumper sticker
[00:08:41.033]
saying "We can do it."
[00:08:42.601]
[00:08:43.567]
And by so doing, my history is being obliterated.
[00:08:47.367]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:08:51.000]
[00:08:51.767]
- [Narrator] The National Park Service
[00:08:53.234]
heard Betty's objections.
[00:08:55.067]
[00:08:56.033]
They didn't push back.
[00:08:57.634]
Instead, they offered her a uniform
[00:09:00.334]
and an opportunity to publicly share a more inclusive story.
[00:09:04.501]
[00:09:07.400]
This brand new ranger was 85 years old.
[00:09:11.000]
[00:09:12.434]
- I became a park ranger
[00:09:14.534]
because somebody put a uniform on the life
[00:09:17.334]
that I was already living.
[00:09:18.801]
[00:09:21.334]
"We the people of the United States of America
[00:09:25.501]
"in order to form a more perfect union..."
[00:09:29.100]
These are the first stirring words of our Constitution.
[00:09:32.400]
[00:09:33.567]
I once heard those words as describing birth rights.
[00:09:37.234]
As divinely inclusive,
[00:09:39.300]
despite the fact that my African-American enslaved ancestors
[00:09:43.601]
were denied the freedom to describe their end
[00:09:46.567]
by the Founding Fathers.
[00:09:48.234]
[00:09:49.534]
And I'm so now aware of the patterns in life
[00:09:54.300]
that we're on an ascending upward spiral.
[00:09:58.334]
We keep touching the same places
[00:10:00.200]
at higher and higher levels.
[00:10:02.033]
I'm not enslaved like my great-grandmother was.
[00:10:04.334]
[00:10:06.567]
Our nation will continue to change
[00:10:09.067]
and to evolve for your having become a part of this
[00:10:12.200]
neverending striving toward the attainment of
[00:10:15.801]
a more perfect union.
[00:10:18.100]
[00:10:20.067]
We welcome your voice and your dreams
[00:10:22.300]
and your presence among us,
[00:10:24.067]
as together we continue the neverending grand experiment
[00:10:29.067]
[00:10:29.300]
of government of the people by the people and for the people
[00:10:34.300]
[00:10:34.701]
as citizens of these United States of America.
[00:10:39.467]
Welcome to each of you from each of us, Americans all.
[00:10:44.133]
[00:10:46.033]
Thank you.
[00:10:47.000]
(audience clapping)
[00:10:49.634]
[00:11:01.334]
(upbeat music)
[00:11:04.067]
[00:11:06.634]
I have a deep sense of being in my last decade.
[00:11:11.000]
I don't have any time to waste.
[00:11:13.067]
Hey!
[00:11:14.000]
- Hey, morning.
[00:11:14.701]
[00:11:16.601]
- If I don't get it right, I don't have time to do it over.
[00:11:20.000]
That every word I utter has to be right.
[00:11:24.300]
- Hi Betty, how are you?
[00:11:25.701]
- Fine. How are you?
[00:11:27.100]
- Good. - I think that she feels like
[00:11:28.701]
this is one of the more important things that she has done,
[00:11:31.167]
that all of what she's experienced in her life,
[00:11:34.000]
she's now able to articulate and to share with the world.
[00:11:38.801]
[00:11:39.567]
- I'm not really a historian, I'm sharing my oral history.
[00:11:43.801]
And so I'm depending upon memory.
[00:11:46.100]
[00:11:47.133]
That I get to spend it this way, as a ranger,
[00:11:51.267]
is such a privilege.
[00:11:54.033]
[00:11:55.267]
You know,
[00:11:56.133]
it's like I'm running a federally funded revolution.
[00:11:59.734]
(laughing)
[00:12:01.267]
(soft jazz music)
[00:12:04.767]
[00:12:07.234]
- [Narrator] Betty's revolution
[00:12:09.000]
is waged on the Richmond, California waterfront,
[00:12:11.734]
at Rosie the Riveter World War II Homefront
[00:12:14.567]
National Historical Park.
[00:12:16.567]
[00:12:18.234]
- I've been given a theater and a stool
[00:12:20.434]
and a microphone and a soap box,
[00:12:22.501]
and I get to tell truth to generations
[00:12:27.501]
[00:12:28.167]
that will be able to use it.
[00:12:29.734]
(marching band music)
[00:12:32.601]
[00:12:39.067]
- [Narrator] Here in one of America's newer National Parks,
[00:12:42.334]
the story of civilian efforts to win World War II
[00:12:46.167]
is preserved and celebrated.
[00:12:48.734]
[00:12:57.567]
- The Homefront story itself is a little told story.
[00:13:00.467]
You know, all the memorials,
[00:13:02.100]
all the museums in the country in the world
[00:13:04.501]
are really about wars and the military.
[00:13:07.133]
But the other side of the equation,
[00:13:08.734]
and that's the reason that this whole park is here,
[00:13:11.167]
is to tell the Homefront story.
[00:13:13.434]
The guys that were building ships
[00:13:14.801]
for the British under Henry Kaiser in 1940 went off to war.
[00:13:19.067]
So all of a sudden your work force changes dramatically.
[00:13:22.167]
So you have people that are housewives and sharecroppers
[00:13:25.434]
coming to California, coming to the Bay Area,
[00:13:28.167]
to build ships.
[00:13:29.667]
[00:13:43.601]
- When the film is over,
[00:13:45.734]
a film that the National Park Service
[00:13:48.801]
has gone to great length to get put in there,
[00:13:52.300]
and I say, "Yes, but." (laughing)
[00:13:56.033]
There was nothing that was familiar in this film.
[00:13:59.567]
But if you're going to try to tell that story,
[00:14:02.434]
that Homefront story, in 15 minutes,
[00:14:05.634]
you know, what do you do?
[00:14:07.033]
[00:14:08.067]
You go for the Hollywood ending,
[00:14:09.634]
that we all got together for the sake of democracy
[00:14:12.133]
and we set our differences aside and we built the ships
[00:14:14.601]
and we won the war.
[00:14:15.634]
And that tends to be pretty much
[00:14:17.501]
the way history gets written.
[00:14:19.734]
I didn't like it at all.
[00:14:21.067]
[00:14:22.133]
The history as I had lived it was nowhere in sight,
[00:14:24.801]
[00:14:25.767]
not one minute of it.
[00:14:28.634]
- How do you look at the awkward parts of the story?
[00:14:31.300]
And that's one thing that this park does well,
[00:14:33.434]
and that's one thing that Betty does well.
[00:14:35.300]
It's not a pretty picture.
[00:14:37.167]
There were all these contradictions.
[00:14:39.000]
You know, yes, there were union jobs,
[00:14:40.467]
but they were segregated union jobs.
[00:14:42.701]
Yes, there were places for women,
[00:14:44.601]
but there was also discrimination in the workforce.
[00:14:47.567]
- And first they hired the men who were too old to fight,
[00:14:51.033]
followed by the boys who were too young to be drafted,
[00:14:53.701]
and then single white women.
[00:14:55.467]
And when that pool's exhausted, married white women.
[00:14:58.667]
In 1943, a first,
[00:15:00.567]
a black man hired to do the heavy lifting.
[00:15:03.501]
It wasn't until late in 1944
[00:15:08.133]
when black women began to be trained as welders.
[00:15:11.567]
[00:15:12.434]
And if you know that sequence
[00:15:14.234]
and you look at that picture on our wall upstairs,
[00:15:17.167]
or in this film
[00:15:18.534]
with all these people standing together
[00:15:20.300]
like brothers and sisters.
[00:15:22.167]
Color, all colors and sizes and shapes
[00:15:24.601]
and ethnicities and ages.
[00:15:27.033]
And we come from a more enlightened time,
[00:15:30.100]
and we look at that picture and we think,
[00:15:32.467]
"Look how they got along back there in 1942.
[00:15:35.334]
"Why can't we do that?"
[00:15:37.300]
What you have to know
[00:15:38.334]
is that those pictures have to date
[00:15:40.534]
from late 1944 or early in 1945,
[00:15:45.067]
because in 1942 you couldn't have gotten to stand together
[00:15:48.000]
to have their pictures taken.
[00:15:49.501]
But what you also see in those pictures
[00:15:52.501]
is that acceleration of social change.
[00:15:56.000]
They came in as sharecroppers,
[00:15:58.367]
but by the time the war ended they were shipbuilders.
[00:16:02.801]
[00:16:03.734]
And it began to occur to me somewhere along the line
[00:16:07.567]
that if we had a place on the planet
[00:16:10.167]
where we could go back and revisit that era
[00:16:12.534]
not by the myths that we made up about it—
[00:16:16.467]
you know, none of this "greatest generation" stuff,
[00:16:19.734]
you know, no skin-crawling American exceptionalism,
[00:16:24.534]
none of that.
[00:16:25.567]
But if we could go back and revisit that era
[00:16:28.133]
as it was lived in truth, by those of us who lived it,
[00:16:32.067]
[00:16:33.234]
what we could get is a baseline
[00:16:35.300]
against which to measure how far we've come.
[00:16:37.467]
[00:16:39.167]
But you got to know where we started.
[00:16:41.033]
[00:16:41.767]
Remember that trajectory?
[00:16:43.133]
[00:16:44.734]
That was the reason that at 85 I became a park ranger,
[00:16:48.434]
because that story was so important.
[00:16:51.033]
[00:16:52.133]
To preserve and mark that place in history.
[00:16:55.767]
[00:16:57.567]
It's an amazing, amazing story.
[00:17:00.534]
(bus engine revving)
[00:17:03.601]
[00:17:05.400]
And since I've outlived most of the people
[00:17:08.334]
whose memories don't agree with mine,
[00:17:10.200]
[00:17:12.000]
I'm now an authority. (laughing)
[00:17:13.133]
[00:17:15.167]
- Prior to the opening of the Visitor Center in 2012,
[00:17:18.334]
[00:17:19.234]
Betty was primarily doing programs on the bus.
[00:17:24.000]
- Which became famous.
[00:17:26.501]
I would say almost that was her first claim to fame,
[00:17:28.334]
and everybody wanted to go on Betty's bus tour.
[00:17:31.100]
[00:17:32.100]
- And I had never ever identified
[00:17:34.467]
with the Rosie the Riveter story,
[00:17:36.067]
[00:17:36.801]
because for me that was a white woman's story.
[00:17:39.601]
However, one day I walked to the Memorial
[00:17:43.567]
and I found myself there.
[00:17:45.801]
I found myself in the story,
[00:17:47.434]
and that is part of the magic of the Memorial.
[00:17:50.534]
[00:17:53.701]
What began to happen for me
[00:17:55.534]
[00:17:56.667]
is that it was not necessarily Rosie the Riveter
[00:18:01.501]
that attracted my attention,
[00:18:04.067]
but how much social change began to occur
[00:18:07.133]
that was initiated in that period of 1941 to 1945.
[00:18:11.434]
[00:18:13.000]
Here you've got widespread opposition
[00:18:17.267]
to hiring women and minority workers.
[00:18:22.000]
Roosevelt had signed Executive Order 8802,
[00:18:26.567]
which was to ban segregation in defense work.
[00:18:31.567]
[00:18:33.767]
It was never executed.
[00:18:35.334]
[00:18:36.334]
I think that it came into being
[00:18:37.734]
because of Eleanor's nagging.
[00:18:39.400]
[00:18:40.400]
I don't think that—
[00:18:41.501]
[00:18:42.734]
We have to realize that the racism was structural.
[00:18:47.634]
[00:18:48.567]
It was not in our personal behaviors, it was structural.
[00:18:52.133]
It was supported by everything
[00:18:54.100]
that came out of Washington at this time.
[00:18:56.267]
[00:18:58.067]
The opportunity to insert the African-American stories
[00:19:02.801]
on that bus tour is the first place where I started.
[00:19:07.033]
[00:19:08.334]
- [Narrator] One story Betty tells
[00:19:10.067]
took place at nearby Port Chicago,
[00:19:12.634]
a US Navy munitions depot where African-American sailors
[00:19:16.767]
loaded artillery shells onto transport ships.
[00:19:20.300]
[00:19:22.801]
These American servicemen
[00:19:24.367]
were not welcome at the white-only USO,
[00:19:27.400]
so Betty and her husband Mel Reid
[00:19:29.801]
invited the young sailors into their home.
[00:19:32.434]
[00:19:33.434]
- On July 17th of 1944,
[00:19:36.067]
there were a group of sailors who he'd brought home.
[00:19:40.067]
And we had spent the afternoon,
[00:19:44.067]
as usual, listening to records, talking.
[00:19:48.033]
That evening, they were on a curfew.
[00:19:50.133]
They left at about five o'clock.
[00:19:52.400]
(loud explosion)
[00:19:55.200]
[00:19:56.667]
At 10:47, the explosion occurred.
[00:20:00.033]
Two Kaiser ships were blown up—
[00:20:03.234]
vaporized actually— and 320 men were killed.
[00:20:07.467]
[00:20:09.367]
I never knew which of those youngsters survived that.
[00:20:13.467]
[00:20:15.067]
And whenever I go out to do anything at Port Chicago,
[00:20:20.067]
[00:20:20.300]
to this day I scan for names and wonder.
[00:20:25.067]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:20:28.567]
[00:20:38.567]
- [Narrator] The sailors who were fortunate
[00:20:40.234]
to survive the devastation
[00:20:42.300]
refused to return to the Navy's dangerous work
[00:20:45.767]
without new safety protections.
[00:20:48.601]
50 men were court-martialed, convicted of mutiny,
[00:20:52.634]
and sentenced to prison.
[00:20:54.534]
[00:20:57.167]
The unfortunate who died
[00:20:59.234]
were subjected to even more indignity.
[00:21:01.767]
[00:21:03.634]
- There were 22 caskets
[00:21:05.501]
into which body parts were separated out
[00:21:10.067]
and buried in the Colored section of San Bruno Cemetery
[00:21:15.067]
[00:21:15.100]
in California.
[00:21:16.367]
[00:21:17.400]
Even knowing that there is a Colored section
[00:21:19.601]
in a federal cemetery for me was a shock.
[00:21:23.367]
[00:21:24.601]
How they went about deciding which were the body parts
[00:21:29.567]
[00:21:30.801]
to go into those 22 caskets—
[00:21:33.601]
[00:21:35.367]
Where would I have gone?
[00:21:36.534]
[00:21:38.067]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:21:42.434]
[00:21:50.267]
- [Narrator] When the Visitor Center opened in 2012,
[00:21:53.634]
Betty began making presentations in the basement theater.
[00:21:57.534]
Some days only a handful of people showed up.
[00:22:01.367]
Nevertheless, she presented,
[00:22:04.767]
determined to change the world one conversation at a time.
[00:22:09.300]
[00:22:10.200]
- I didn't know about Rosie the Riveter Memorial,
[00:22:13.234]
[00:22:14.200]
because it had not freed anyone that I knew.
[00:22:19.167]
[00:22:19.300]
Our mothers and our aunts had been working outside
[00:22:21.567]
of their homes in slavery.
[00:22:23.133]
[00:22:24.067]
So I didn't have a sense of emancipation of women at all.
[00:22:28.534]
[00:22:29.567]
- And I don't think she really quite realizes
[00:22:31.767]
the incredible magic
[00:22:33.300]
that happens when she's in front of an audience.
[00:22:35.701]
It's a combination of things.
[00:22:38.000]
She speaks with the weight of her experience, but also,
[00:22:41.634]
and what's most remarkable is that at her age,
[00:22:44.167]
she still has the communication skills
[00:22:46.534]
to be able to articulate that experience.
[00:22:50.133]
- If we don't know where we started,
[00:22:52.400]
we have no conception of where we are or how we got here.
[00:22:57.434]
[00:22:59.133]
Only if we go back and retrace our steps,
[00:23:01.501]
and that's what the park became for me.
[00:23:03.734]
[00:23:04.667]
- For those of us who are African-American rangers,
[00:23:07.100]
talking about and interpreting this history
[00:23:10.033]
can be really challenging at times.
[00:23:12.400]
- She's willing to share herself.
[00:23:13.767]
She's willing to be vulnerable and share the emotions
[00:23:17.167]
and not just talk about the history and the facts,
[00:23:20.267]
and share the hard stuff.
[00:23:23.667]
[00:23:25.033]
- And that I'm able to speak my truth without fear
[00:23:30.033]
[00:23:30.534]
that might be disturbing to a white person
[00:23:34.467]
is the last thing in my mind,
[00:23:39.367]
[00:23:41.033]
because that would require
[00:23:43.300]
that I think that there's something wrong
[00:23:45.033]
with what I'm feeling.
[00:23:47.033]
- It's very easy to be angry about the past.
[00:23:49.067]
It's very easy to have that rage,
[00:23:51.400]
to have that sense of wrongdoing having been done.
[00:23:55.601]
But it's not so easy to make it as accessible as Betty does.
[00:24:00.601]
- Even her anger can come across in a way
[00:24:02.400]
that inspires people.
[00:24:04.334]
- Every now and then I remind them, you know,
[00:24:06.234]
"This is who we were back there,"
[00:24:08.200]
[00:24:09.767]
in order to free them to come with me to where we are.
[00:24:13.667]
[00:24:14.601]
Because that's not where we are.
[00:24:17.067]
On January 20th of 2009,
[00:24:20.300]
[00:24:21.501]
I'm a seated guest with a picture of my great grandmother
[00:24:24.467]
in my breast pocket at the inauguration
[00:24:29.133]
[00:24:30.133]
of America's first African-American president
[00:24:33.467]
in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial,
[00:24:35.367]
whose life was contemporary
[00:24:37.434]
with the life of my great grandmother.
[00:24:39.300]
And if that doesn't blow your mind, check your pulse.
[00:24:42.033]
[00:24:45.067]
- Most of the time her programs are completely full,
[00:24:47.701]
and we have had to institute reservation systems of a sort.
[00:24:52.000]
But I think she's also increased the diversity of visitation,
[00:24:54.300]
that a lot of folks are coming specifically
[00:24:56.000]
to hear her perspective.
[00:24:57.434]
- Okay.
[00:24:58.300]
- Even got the camera guy behind you.
[00:25:00.067]
- Okay.
[00:25:01.534]
That is just unreal.
[00:25:03.801]
My life is so limited to being here
[00:25:08.734]
in this tiny little apartment
[00:25:11.367]
and going to work at the Visitor Center
[00:25:13.701]
and being in a little theater of 48 seats.
[00:25:16.734]
(upbeat music)
[00:25:19.467]
[00:25:20.400]
- Well, she's 92 years old, and she's not happy.
[00:25:23.100]
[00:25:24.200]
The nation's oldest full-time Park Ranger
[00:25:27.100]
is sounding off about the shutdown.
[00:25:29.801]
- [Narrator] In 2013, when the government shut down,
[00:25:33.634]
Betty lost precious time
[00:25:35.334]
with her small but growing audience.
[00:25:37.634]
[00:25:38.567]
- Betty was— started getting contacted by reporters.
[00:25:42.100]
And she was getting interviewed by Arsenio Hall,
[00:25:44.200]
she was getting interviewed by Anderson Cooper,
[00:25:46.367]
and they were asking her all these questions
[00:25:48.434]
about the shutdown.
[00:25:49.767]
What Betty tried to focus on is her experiences.
[00:25:53.234]
- I feel like I am being given the privilege
[00:25:56.100]
of helping to shape a National Park.
[00:25:58.501]
And who can resist that?
[00:26:00.267]
- And then the stories were all of a sudden
[00:26:02.334]
not about the shutdown, but it's,
[00:26:04.567]
"We want— we now want Betty.
[00:26:06.701]
"We want this person who was able to share those experiences."
[00:26:10.300]
And that really snowballed into, you know,
[00:26:13.133]
follow-up newspaper articles, follow-up radio interviews,
[00:26:16.501]
[00:26:17.634]
- [Narrator] Coverage from national
[00:26:19.067]
and local media allowed Betty's quiet determined voice
[00:26:22.734]
to reach a new audience,
[00:26:24.601]
one that extended far beyond her kitchen stool.
[00:26:28.434]
- I don't know how to deal with what's happened to my life.
[00:26:33.434]
[00:26:34.200]
I'm probably the hottest thing in the Safeway checkout line,
[00:26:37.400]
but I don't know what that's about.
[00:26:39.367]
- (laughing) Oh, she,
[00:26:42.033]
Betty's a rockstar in the park service.
[00:26:44.334]
There's no question about that.
[00:26:45.801]
Everybody will elbow their way through the crowd
[00:26:49.200]
to get to say "Hi" to Betty.
[00:26:51.400]
[00:26:53.567]
- [Narrator] One day while speaking to high school students,
[00:26:56.634]
Betty was called out of her presentation
[00:26:59.033]
to take a phone call.
[00:27:00.167]
[00:27:04.234]
- That's crazy.
[00:27:05.400]
[00:27:05.501]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:27:09.033]
[00:27:27.567]
- [Narrator] Her colleagues worried
[00:27:29.000]
that Betty had received bad news.
[00:27:31.767]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:27:36.767]
[00:27:37.100]
(laughing)
[00:27:39.167]
[00:27:40.234]
- You thought, "Yes, yes I will."
[00:27:41.701]
- [Narrator] In fact, the news was very good.
[00:27:45.267]
- This is what one lives for.
[00:27:47.334]
[00:27:48.601]
- [Narrator] She returned to the theater
[00:27:50.334]
and couldn't resist sharing it with her young audience.
[00:27:54.334]
- Inviting me to participate in the Tree Lighting Ceremony
[00:27:59.267]
and introduce the president of the United States.
[00:28:01.734]
[00:28:02.767]
(audience clapping)
[00:28:05.567]
[00:28:09.167]
- [Narrator] Betty was going to meet Barack Obama.
[00:28:12.167]
[00:28:13.567]
- We all thought it was natural
[00:28:15.067]
for her at some point to meet the President.
[00:28:16.601]
I mean, she's an amazing, inspiring person.
[00:28:19.200]
And why wouldn't the President want to meet her?
[00:28:21.701]
- She asked if it was okay
[00:28:22.567]
if she could bring her granddaughters with her.
[00:28:25.501]
And we figured that out, brought them along.
[00:28:28.601]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:28:32.267]
[00:28:39.167]
- Oh, and at night it's lit up with lights.
[00:28:42.167]
[00:28:43.634]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:28:48.133]
[00:28:49.200]
Isn't that beautiful?
[00:28:51.200]
- It's pretty.
[00:28:53.000]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:28:57.334]
[00:29:17.567]
- It just felt this wonderful continuum of family,
[00:29:22.567]
[00:29:22.801]
of story, of history reaching across the years
[00:29:26.367]
from Betty's great grandmother to Betty's granddaughters
[00:29:29.767]
as young women getting to experience that.
[00:29:33.501]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:29:37.167]
[00:29:42.033]
(upbeat Christmas music)
[00:29:44.601]
[00:29:47.767]
- Tonight, it is my great honor to introduce to you
[00:29:50.667]
someone very special to us in the National Park Service.
[00:29:54.400]
Betty Soskin is 94 years old, and the oldest park ranger.
[00:29:59.400]
[00:29:59.634]
She— (audience cheering)
[00:30:02.801]
And Betty was nervous and excited
[00:30:06.601]
that she was gonna get to introduce the President,
[00:30:09.267]
but she also got to meet him before that, right.
[00:30:11.501]
Of course.
[00:30:12.367]
And the curtains opened
[00:30:13.300]
and out come President Obama and Mrs. Obama,
[00:30:18.067]
and the President just walks right up to Betty
[00:30:20.400]
and says, "Hi, Betty, you know, I've heard all about you."
[00:30:24.334]
- And he puts out his hand
[00:30:26.734]
and I put out my hand to receive it,
[00:30:29.133]
[00:30:30.267]
and he cups his hand over mine
[00:30:33.501]
and transfers the Presidential Seal to my hand.
[00:30:38.367]
And it's a total surprise.
[00:30:40.434]
[00:30:41.501]
- It is my pleasure to introduce a woman whose experience
[00:30:44.801]
and dedication to sharing a more complete American story
[00:30:48.534]
has inspired so many, including me.
[00:30:51.767]
Please welcome Betty Soskin.
[00:30:54.267]
(audience cheering)
[00:30:56.000]
(upbeat Christmas music)
[00:30:59.501]
[00:31:06.133]
- Thank you, Director Jarvis.
[00:31:08.267]
[00:31:09.167]
I was last in Washington on January 20th of 2009
[00:31:12.667]
[00:31:14.734]
for the presidential inauguration.
[00:31:17.200]
[00:31:18.200]
In my breast pocket was a picture of my great grandmother,
[00:31:23.200]
[00:31:23.267]
Leontyne Breaux Allen,
[00:31:26.000]
a woman born into slavery in 1846
[00:31:29.534]
in St. James Parish, Louisiana.
[00:31:32.234]
[00:31:33.467]
It is fitting that I've returned to Washington tonight
[00:31:37.467]
with my granddaughters in an area known as the Ellipse,
[00:31:42.467]
[00:31:42.801]
because this is a full circle moment.
[00:31:45.501]
[00:31:47.300]
In this season of hope and promise,
[00:31:52.300]
[00:31:52.501]
reflection and celebration,
[00:31:55.400]
it is my honor to present to you the President
[00:31:59.534]
[00:32:00.734]
of the United States, Barack Obama.
[00:32:04.133]
(audience cheering)
[00:32:05.567]
(upbeat jazz music)
[00:32:08.300]
[00:32:12.100]
And when he was hugging me, suddenly I realized,
[00:32:15.801]
I know why he's feared in Washington,
[00:32:19.200]
because he puts the lie to white supremacy.
[00:32:23.100]
[00:32:23.234]
- Merry Christmas, everybody.
[00:32:24.801]
(audience cheering)
[00:32:28.100]
Thank you, Betty, for that introduction,
[00:32:32.501]
for your extraordinary service as one of our park rangers,
[00:32:37.501]
[00:32:39.033]
and for all of your
[00:32:41.033]
and your great grandmother's contributions to this country.
[00:32:44.334]
Please give Betty a big round of applause.
[00:32:46.300]
(audience applauding)
[00:32:48.367]
- And it was an amazing experience.
[00:32:50.667]
It was like going up the yellow brick road
[00:32:52.467]
and finding the Wizard.
[00:32:53.667]
(audience laughing)
[00:32:55.634]
Seriously.
[00:32:56.501]
It was absolutely just the most—
[00:32:58.667]
the greatest thing I think that ever happened to me.
[00:33:01.300]
(pensive instrumental music)
[00:33:05.300]
- A 94 year old woman attacked and robbed in her home.
[00:33:08.200]
One of the items stolen is a commemorative coin
[00:33:11.133]
given to her by President Obama himself.
[00:33:14.200]
- Police in Richmond say a home invasion, turned violent.
[00:33:17.501]
- A man broke into Soskin's second floor apartment
[00:33:19.767]
before making his way into her room,
[00:33:21.567]
where she was asleep.
[00:33:22.701]
And then he dragged her from her bed through the hallway.
[00:33:25.734]
- I fully expected he was going to kill me.
[00:33:28.567]
- [Reporter] The man hit Soskin several times
[00:33:30.734]
but she managed to get away,
[00:33:33.067]
locking herself into the bathroom for the next 45 minutes.
[00:33:36.734]
The suspect managed to get away with an iPad, laptop
[00:33:39.434]
and cell phone.
[00:33:40.534]
He also took some commemorative coins,
[00:33:42.467]
including this one given to her by President Obama.
[00:33:45.634]
Soskin says most of the items she can live without,
[00:33:48.667]
but the coin she received from the President in December
[00:33:51.234]
is dear to her.
[00:33:52.200]
- If I got that coin back, I think I can forgive anything.
[00:33:57.200]
[00:33:57.467]
- You know, my immediate reaction was, you know,
[00:33:59.367]
"Do you wanna go, do you wanna go somewhere
[00:34:01.501]
"and get out of here?"
[00:34:02.367]
Like, "I don't wanna be in this place,"
[00:34:04.634]
this all happened to you right here.
[00:34:07.334]
And in that moment, you know, this 95 year old woman
[00:34:11.200]
[00:34:12.634]
said to me, "If I leave, I may never come back.
[00:34:16.434]
"So I don't wanna leave my house,
[00:34:18.033]
"and I don't want this person to take my house from me."
[00:34:23.000]
[00:34:24.634]
- [Narrator] Despite Betty's resolve,
[00:34:26.534]
many of her colleagues wondered
[00:34:28.234]
if the assault had taken such a heavy toll
[00:34:31.167]
that she would decide to retire.
[00:34:33.501]
- You know, cause I was, you know, I'm like,
[00:34:35.234]
"Is this the time, Betty,
[00:34:36.267]
"where you're gonna sorta wanna step away?"
[00:34:38.467]
[00:34:41.167]
(Betty's colleagues clapping)
[00:34:44.667]
[00:34:46.734]
- [Narrator] Just two weeks after the attack,
[00:34:49.234]
Betty came back to work.
[00:34:50.667]
[00:34:53.701]
- She's tough,
[00:34:55.434]
incredibly tough for her age, and incredibly resilient—
[00:34:59.601]
which says a whole lot more
[00:35:02.100]
than we even knew about her character
[00:35:04.667]
and her ability to recover from something like that.
[00:35:09.000]
[00:35:09.701]
- I don't think there's any way
[00:35:11.367]
[00:35:12.567]
to prepare myself for this morning.
[00:35:14.701]
[00:35:18.100]
It's good to see all of you
[00:35:19.667]
[00:35:21.133]
and to feel the support that the community has given me.
[00:35:24.501]
[00:35:27.701]
- What are you gonna do on your first day back?
[00:35:30.000]
- Get back into the saddle. (laughing)
[00:35:32.033]
I'm going to go into the theater at two o'clock
[00:35:35.701]
and do my talk.
[00:35:38.000]
[00:35:41.000]
- I think it's there that I realized, you know,
[00:35:43.701]
she draws energy from the program that she does
[00:35:48.000]
and the Visitors Center.
[00:35:49.133]
And the idea that she wasn't going to be able to come back
[00:35:52.033]
and do that was actually scarier
[00:35:54.234]
than a lot of things for her.
[00:35:56.067]
She didn't wanna lose those things that she had built.
[00:36:00.734]
And one of those things that she had built was
[00:36:03.667]
this ability to share her personal stories
[00:36:05.801]
with people in the audience.
[00:36:07.300]
[00:36:12.267]
- You've been my hero for so long
[00:36:13.634]
and an inspiration for me doing park service.
[00:36:16.000]
[00:36:17.033]
- Could I ask Ranger Betty Reid Soskin
[00:36:19.434]
to come join me here on stage?
[00:36:21.100]
(audience cheering)
[00:36:23.801]
[00:36:35.434]
So everybody here clearly knows and loves Betty.
[00:36:39.067]
And you probably know the story
[00:36:40.567]
that made the national news recently,
[00:36:42.501]
which is she was a victim of a home robbery.
[00:36:46.501]
[00:36:48.701]
I was telling her,
[00:36:49.567]
I hope I have the presence of mind
[00:36:51.033]
that as I've locked myself in the bathroom
[00:36:52.801]
so the bad guy can't get to me that I'd plug in my iron.
[00:36:55.634]
So if he gets through the door, I'm gonna brand him,
[00:36:58.501]
[00:36:59.567]
so that they can identify him when he gets to the hospital.
[00:37:03.801]
[00:37:08.534]
Betty's pretty tough.
[00:37:10.367]
But in that home robbery,
[00:37:12.033]
among things that were taken was a coin
[00:37:15.801]
that she'd been given by the President.
[00:37:17.734]
So the president's been pretty active at this event,
[00:37:20.200]
and I just wanna tell you he's not done
[00:37:22.234]
because there's a replacement coin
[00:37:23.634]
and a letter from the President of the United States right here.
[00:37:26.400]
(audience cheering) (soft instrumental music)
[00:37:31.400]
[00:37:46.734]
- "Dear Betty,
[00:37:48.400]
"I was deeply saddened to hear everything
[00:37:50.267]
"you've been through recently,
[00:37:51.601]
"and I wanted to extend my warmest regards
[00:37:54.767]
"and send you a new challenge coin.
[00:37:57.567]
"As I said at the Tree Lighting Ceremony in December,
[00:38:00.300]
"your service is profoundly inspiring to me
[00:38:03.701]
"and to people across our country.
[00:38:06.133]
"In the dedication that guides you every day,
[00:38:08.701]
"we see the optimistic, resilient spirit
[00:38:12.067]
"that has always been central to America's promise.
[00:38:16.434]
"Please know that I'm keeping you in my thoughts.
[00:38:19.534]
"Sincerely, Barack Obama."
[00:38:22.534]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:38:26.133]
[00:38:34.434]
What's happened is I feel as if I dropped formally
[00:38:39.434]
[00:38:40.367]
into the 21st century for the first time.
[00:38:43.567]
[00:38:46.667]
There's a sense of wonder about it all,
[00:38:49.534]
and I certainly am enjoying the attention
[00:38:52.701]
but it doesn't feel real.
[00:38:56.400]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:39:00.000]
[00:39:03.667]
- Hi, you're here! I'm Monica.
[00:39:06.434]
Nice to meet you.
[00:39:08.567]
We're so glad to have you.
[00:39:10.100]
- It's like waking up in tomorrow every day.
[00:39:14.100]
Oh, look at this!
[00:39:15.734]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:39:19.367]
[00:39:21.033]
I am having first-time experiences.
[00:39:24.667]
[00:39:26.567]
Well, can you imagine how crazy that is?
[00:39:29.234]
[00:39:30.701]
Oh, my goodness!
[00:39:32.033]
[00:39:35.601]
- [Narrator] A woman born in 1921
[00:39:38.534]
finds her voice resonating in the 21st century.
[00:39:43.400]
- I'm a late bloomer. (laughing)
[00:39:46.200]
[00:39:47.334]
For life for me is a grand improvisation day after day.
[00:39:52.067]
I get to make it up as I go along.
[00:39:54.167]
[00:39:55.634]
- [Narrator] Betty has been flooded with invitations
[00:39:57.734]
to speak to technology conferences and civic organizations.
[00:40:01.501]
[00:40:02.400]
Profiled on the Today Show,
[00:40:04.801]
celebrated at The Makers Conference,
[00:40:08.033]
featured in a social media post viewed 11 million times,
[00:40:12.601]
named one of ten Women of the Year by Glamour Magazine,
[00:40:17.000]
and been the subject
[00:40:18.067]
of countless elementary school book reports.
[00:40:21.300]
[00:40:22.300]
Her appearance on the Tavis Smiley Show
[00:40:24.701]
led to publishing of a book
[00:40:26.367]
drawn from Betty's oral histories
[00:40:29.300]
and the over 13,000 entries on her blog.
[00:40:33.000]
[00:40:34.133]
- Hi, it's so nice to meet you!
[00:40:37.734]
- [Kelli English] And aside from that,
[00:40:39.033]
she's had an impact on the Park Service as well.
[00:40:41.467]
We visited several DC area sites
[00:40:43.667]
and a number of them really wanted to pick her brain
[00:40:46.767]
a little bit about how they can take an approach
[00:40:48.567]
that's similar to hers at their sites
[00:40:50.000]
and make it work for the stories that they're telling
[00:40:52.300]
and the history that they're charged with preserving
[00:40:55.234]
and protecting and teaching folks about.
[00:40:57.601]
- And that's the work that we're involved in,
[00:41:00.367]
in the National Park Service.
[00:41:02.200]
And that's what's being expressed in my park.
[00:41:05.400]
And if our parks remain in the past,
[00:41:08.634]
we will have lost all our message.
[00:41:10.601]
I went to Frederick Douglas's home yesterday
[00:41:15.133]
and it felt like a mausoleum.
[00:41:16.701]
[00:41:17.567]
Because here was this activist man from his generation,
[00:41:22.400]
and here's a story of the freshening
[00:41:25.501]
of the Civil Rights Movement
[00:41:26.767]
that we're seeing through Black Lives Matter
[00:41:29.367]
not represented there.
[00:41:31.033]
[00:41:32.334]
And the dynamism in the history that we're now creating
[00:41:37.300]
[00:41:37.667]
has to reflect itself in our park systems.
[00:41:41.367]
And that was not present.
[00:41:42.701]
[00:41:44.534]
Maybe I shouldn't have said that?
[00:41:45.767]
- [Audience] No.
[00:41:46.634]
[00:41:47.534]
- Okay.
[00:41:48.701]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:41:51.434]
- Me and Betty.
[00:41:52.767]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:41:56.434]
[00:41:58.334]
- [Kelli English] That's the kind of impact
[00:41:59.234]
that Betty's having throughout the park system.
[00:42:01.434]
- We work together.
[00:42:02.667]
[00:42:04.701]
- And then looking at how we tell stories—
[00:42:06.767]
not just the style and the storytelling, you know, nuances,
[00:42:11.534]
but really just the overall approach
[00:42:13.367]
to really bringing in those multiple truths
[00:42:16.667]
and getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.
[00:42:19.100]
[00:42:20.534]
- And so the young interpreters that are at these places
[00:42:23.267]
are looking to Betty as a leader
[00:42:26.067]
in how you tell these stories,
[00:42:27.567]
in how you engage the American people
[00:42:29.300]
in learning about their own story
[00:42:32.200]
and the dark sides of it as well.
[00:42:34.000]
- Is that okay?
[00:42:34.734]
- If it's out, then it's totally fine...
[00:42:36.267]
- [Narrator] Desiree Munoz
[00:42:37.400]
is one of those young park rangers.
[00:42:40.100]
She is a Native American trying to find an effective way
[00:42:43.567]
to tell her people's history
[00:42:45.667]
on lands that are now a National Park.
[00:42:48.467]
[00:42:50.267]
- How do you tell your story that has such deep heartache?
[00:42:53.567]
You know, how do you make it personal
[00:42:55.734]
so people don't get offended?
[00:42:58.067]
- [Narrator] She had heard about Betty's presentations
[00:43:00.667]
and sent her an email.
[00:43:02.133]
[00:43:03.200]
- And not even a day went by and I got a response
[00:43:05.734]
and I was like, wow, like she does exist
[00:43:08.434]
and she's such a sweet person
[00:43:10.601]
that will actually give me the time of day.
[00:43:14.167]
And she wants me to actually learn.
[00:43:16.734]
- Desiree is an alumni.
[00:43:18.601]
[00:43:20.067]
And her history is missing.
[00:43:22.300]
And she's come here to see how she can introduce that
[00:43:25.767]
into the park system.
[00:43:27.200]
[00:43:28.167]
Did you find your answers, I hope?
[00:43:30.601]
- I really did.
[00:43:31.567]
And you really inspired me to make it personal
[00:43:34.767]
'cause your story is personal.
[00:43:36.801]
- And so many people have lived my history,
[00:43:39.501]
and so many people have lived your history.
[00:43:42.000]
[00:43:43.467]
And the nation is bereft without those.
[00:43:47.100]
- I've learned from Betty that no matter
[00:43:49.734]
[00:43:50.634]
who is in your audience,
[00:43:52.334]
don't be afraid to let people know the true history.
[00:43:55.801]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:43:59.133]
- [Theresa Pierno] Welcome to the
[00:44:00.133]
[00:44:00.167]
37th Annual Salute To The Park
[00:44:02.667]
for the National Parks Conservation Association.
[00:44:05.167]
[00:44:07.033]
- The National Parks provides
[00:44:09.300]
[00:44:10.634]
a place where it's possible now
[00:44:14.033]
for current generations to visit almost any era
[00:44:19.033]
[00:44:19.100]
in our history.
[00:44:20.067]
[00:44:20.801]
The heroic places and contemplative places
[00:44:24.300]
and the scenic wonders like Grand Canyon
[00:44:28.267]
or Yosemite or Yellowstone.
[00:44:31.467]
[00:44:32.534]
The shameful places, in some cases the painful places,
[00:44:37.200]
[00:44:38.501]
in order to own that history,
[00:44:41.167]
own it that we can process it,
[00:44:45.133]
[00:44:46.000]
because I don't think that as a people
[00:44:49.534]
we have yet processed the Civil War.
[00:44:51.667]
[00:44:54.000]
But the generations now can process that history
[00:44:58.400]
in order to begin to forgive ourselves,
[00:45:03.167]
in order to move into a more compassionate future together.
[00:45:06.801]
[00:45:07.701]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:45:11.334]
[00:45:14.000]
- [Narrator] The telling of America's story
[00:45:15.601]
by the National Parks is now becoming more complete,
[00:45:20.200]
thanks in part to the work of Betty and others
[00:45:22.667]
who refuse to allow their own history to be ignored.
[00:45:26.801]
[00:45:28.000]
- I think the long-term impact of Betty
[00:45:31.634]
to the National Park System,
[00:45:32.667]
we may not know that even in our lifetimes.
[00:45:35.133]
[00:45:36.434]
Like if we talk about the ripples of Betty's work,
[00:45:38.567]
I think are ripples that are probably will be sustained
[00:45:43.567]
[00:45:45.133]
through long distance and through time.
[00:45:48.534]
[00:45:50.133]
- And it is truly our sincere pleasure
[00:45:53.200]
to recognize the significant contributions
[00:45:56.234]
of Betty Reid Soskin.
[00:45:58.367]
(audience clapping)
[00:46:01.133]
[00:46:05.701]
- It took her the better part of her life
[00:46:08.734]
to really find her own voice
[00:46:11.200]
and to feel empowered enough to use that voice.
[00:46:14.634]
[00:46:17.367]
And so now she has a platform
[00:46:19.634]
and a willing co-conspirator in the National Park Service
[00:46:22.667]
to give her that space and that platform
[00:46:24.734]
to share her perspective.
[00:46:26.767]
- And thanks to the National Park Service
[00:46:29.734]
and its generosity,
[00:46:31.033]
and it's awakening to the complexity of our history
[00:46:36.033]
[00:46:36.434]
and allowing that to be inclusive
[00:46:40.000]
and to capture those stories
[00:46:42.167]
that were so important to all of us.
[00:46:43.801]
Because they're not Black history,
[00:46:45.434]
they're not Japanese history, they're American history.
[00:46:49.267]
[00:46:50.701]
They're what we all are, because it's the only way
[00:46:55.701]
that we can find our way back to the path
[00:46:58.801]
[00:46:59.801]
that was spelled out in those founding documents
[00:47:03.767]
[00:47:06.000]
of those crazy white men back there. (laughing)
[00:47:08.200]
[00:47:12.234]
So thank you very, very much for inviting me to be here.
[00:47:15.367]
(audience clapping)
[00:47:18.167]
[00:47:26.133]
(gentle piano music)
[00:47:29.634]
[00:48:45.400]
The future is made up of what I personally do
[00:48:49.701]
or fail to do in the days that become weeks
[00:48:53.501]
that become months that become years that become decades.
[00:48:56.534]
[00:48:57.467]
That eventually become eternity.
[00:48:59.234]
[00:49:02.667]
I am still forming that more perfect union
[00:49:05.334]
[00:49:08.200]
and promoting a general welfare,
[00:49:09.767]
and I will do that until I'm called away.
[00:49:13.200]
[00:49:14.300]
(gentle piano music)
[00:49:17.801]
[00:49:32.000]
(upbeat instrumental music)
[00:49:35.100]
(laughing)
[00:49:37.167]
[00:49:39.434]
- Oh, my god!
[00:49:40.434]
- Happy birthday! Make a wish!
[00:49:43.033]
[00:49:44.133]
- Oh, my god!
[00:49:45.200]
[00:49:46.334]
Thank you.
[00:49:47.467]
- Make a wish.
[00:49:48.334]
- Make a wish though, you have to make a wish.
[00:49:49.300]
- And you have to blow it out.
[00:49:50.167]
- I got it all! (laughing)
[00:49:52.467]
[00:49:55.133]
(soft instrumental music)
[00:49:59.601]