The most powerful woman you've never heard of

T. Morgan Dixon: I would like to tell you

about the most powerful woman
you've never heard of.

This is Septima Clark.

Remember her name --

Septima Clark.

Dr. King called her the "the architect"
of the civil rights movement.

She created something
called citizenship schools,

and in those schools,

she taught ordinary women
the practical skills

to go back into their communities
and teach people to read,

because if they could read,

they could vote.

All these women took
those organizing skills,

and they became some of the most
legendary civil rights activisits

this country has ever seen.

Women like Diane Nash.

You may know her.

She orchestrated the entire walk
from Selma to Montgomery.

She was the co-founder of the student
non-violent coordinating committee,

and they integrated lunch counters

and they created the freedom rides.

Or you may remember Fanny Lou Hamer,

who say on the floor of the Democratic
National Convention,

and talked about being
beaten in jail cells

as she registered people
to vote in Mississippi.

And her most famous student:

Rosa Parks.

She said Septima Clark was the one

who taught her the peaceful
act of resistance.

And when she sat down,

she inspired a nation to stand.

These were just three
of her 10,000 students.

These women stood
on the frontlines of change,

and by doing so,

they taught people to read
in her citizenship school model

and empowered 700,000 new voters.

And that's not it.

She created a new culture
of social activism.

Pete Seeger said it was Septima Clark
who changed the lyrics

to the old gospel song,

and made the anthem we all know:

"We Shall Overcome."

Vanessa Garrison: Now