Music Credit: “Some Are More Equal,” written and performed by Paul Rucker and Hans Teuber, from the album, Oil. (Music Up) Meta Golding: This film tells the story from the day that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to four days later when the boycott started. So it's a behind-the-scenes look at how the boycott was organized and put together. And it’s also the personal journey of Mrs. Parks becoming the face of the movement. Jo Reed: That’s actor Meta Golding, talking about her role of Rosa Parks in the new TV movie Behind the Movement. And this is Art Works, the weekly podcast produced at the National Endowment for the Arts. I’m Josephine Reed. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white passenger and was arrested in Montgomery Alabama. On December 5th, the black community of Montgomery began a boycott of the bus company that lasted until December 20, 1956. Behind the Movement is an original film produced for TV One that tells the story of the people who decided Rosa Park’s arrest would be the catalyst that would challenge the segregation of public transportation. And it also shows how they brought the 55,000 members of the black community to create the most successful boycott in American history. As the name suggests, Behind the Movement focuses on lesser-known figures whose work ensured the boycotts success and who helped launch the modern civil rights movement. But, Rosa Parks, of course occupies a central role as the woman who said “No." Mrs. Parks' quiet determination comes through in Meta Golding's strong performance. In films, Meta is probably best known for the Hunger Games playing the warrior Enobaria and she also has a television resume as long as my arm including Criminal Minds, Dark Blue, CSI, and Colony. And although Meta Golding is an accomplished and experienced actor—she wasn’t quite prepared for the phone call from TV One. Meta Golding: Believe it or not they asked—there was no audition. I just simply got a call and asked if I would be interested in playing this role? And at first, I was like “what Rosa Parks? Would I be interested?” You know, it seemed like a crazy concept. And then I read the script and I was like “Oh my goodness, it's a really well-done script.” So it was extra humbling to have this just kind of show up-- it was like a miracle. Jo Reed: You’re embodying an icon like Rosa Parks. Was that daunting? Meta Golding: Yes. <laughs> Yes, of course. Well, it was such an honor. I mean it was such an honor to be—to even be asked. And at first as I started to learn more about Mrs. Parks I was like “I can't do this, How am I supposed to”— I mean she was really an incredible woman her entire life. And I mean you could do a movie of many different parts of her life and many different things that she did. So it was completely daunting. But then it was kind of what an actor waits for, you know, to play someone who meant so much to so many people and was such a complicated person and a brave person. So it was a huge challenge, incredibly intimidating. But something that I just was kind of like I don't know how I could not do this. Jo Reed: Now, how did you begin to get inside of her? What was your entry point? Meta Golding: There's also some video and audio of her in the fifties being interviewed about the boycott. Those are a little stilted because they’re interviews but you still get a sense of what she sounded like. There is also this wonderful book that her family wrote, her nephews and nieces, and that really gave a look inside her intimacy. And also, she was really churchgoing. And so I entered it also that way. I went to a lot of church and entered it in there because her faith really carried her very far. It gave her a lot of courage. She felt that it was greater than her or what she had done. Jo Reed: Yeah, her faith was really key to her activism wasn't it? Meta Golding: Yes. Yes. She was very humble but she had faith. And I always go back to her faith and God and the dignity of human beings and humankind. And her whole life she was an activist and she always stood up for human rights whether it was Native American, LGBTQ. I mean she was a lifelong believer in humanity. It was very inspiring to be a little bit in her shoes. <laughs> Jo Reed: Well, let's talk about you being in her shoes because you created this similar physicality to her that was uncanny. Meta Golding: Oh, thank you. Jo Reed: I mean the way you would hold yourself there was such a stillness that you created. Can you talk about physically how you worked this out? Meta Golding: Well, I think in listening to how she spoke and some of her interviews you would see that she really listened and absorbed first before she responded. Even like in prayer, I always feel like prayer is very much about listening besides asking. It's allowing. And also, at the time a lot of people she was surrounded by were men and, you know, huge larger-than-life, you know, Martin Luther King and E.D. Nixon, and these were very vocal and communicative people. Jo Reed: And E.D. Nixon was one of the primary organizers of the boycott. Meta Golding: Yes. And Rosa was a much more internal person. So, I don’t know, I think I started just by listening and how that affected the body. Or I always felt like she always really took a person in. If she was going to talk to anyone she really was present with them. And what that does to the body it kind of shifts it. And also once I was there and I thought our costume designer did such a beautiful job putting on those clothes and, you know, her hair was always back. There's this beautiful story about how she had long, long hair all the way to her bottom but she always wore it back. And she only let her hair down for her husband or her very intimate family members. And so there was always this modesty and humility that I thought was really beautiful. And, I don't know, I just was so inspired by her. And I just tried to allow it to come through. Jo Reed: But you weren't mimicking her— Meta Golding: No. Jo Reed: at all. It really was an interpretation. Meta Golding: Exactly. Well, to my benefit or maybe not, I didn't know what Rosa Parks sounded like. I knew Rosa Parks more in terms of her image. And it wasn't like, you know, somebody who is playing Martin Luther King the minute you hear his timber you're like “Ah! That's Martin Luther King”, you know. So I felt like it’s this interpretation of how she comes through me. Jo Reed: She wasn't the first woman who refused to give up her seat. But she was the first one there was a real public rally around. Why was that? Meta Golding: Well, it was a strategy, frankly. There had been several women. But at that time in the fifties in the segregated South, it was such a dangerous time for anyone in the black community that the activists knew that they only had one shot to rally all their resources around. And, in fact, Mrs. Parks was the secretary of the NAACP so she was very much looking for someone to be the face of the boycott that they had been sort of loosely planning. And it's not that Mrs. Parks was planted there on purpose. She just had had enough and refused to give up her seat that day. All of the activists felt that in order to convince everyone to get behind this boycott and join the boycott it had to be a person that seemed responsible. Mrs. Parks was regarded very highly in her community. She was churchgoing. She was educated. She had a job. She was a seamstress. Her demeanor was very reserved. So she seemed like a good image for people to trust in, not just the white media but also folks in the black community who had to actually by being part of the boycott they were putting their own livelihood at risk. Jo Reed: They needed someone beyond reproach, in other words. Meta Golding: Exactly. Jo Reed: And the film, also, focuses on the church ladies and the women’s clubs, which made my heart sing— Meta Golding: <laughs> Jo Reed: because without the women there was no boycott. They really were the prime organizers who got the word out. Meta Golding: The church played such a huge role in activism for a very, very long time. But it was also women's groups that really organized—but women had so much to do with it. (Audio Clip from Behind the Movement) Jo Reed: The brutal murder Emmett Till in Mississippi is mentioned a few times in the film. And I really hadn't realized it was the same year. For whatever reason, I thought it was a couple of years earlier. But that child's death had a tremendous impact. Meta Golding: It did. Earlier that year Emmett Till was murdered. He was a 14-year-old boy who was visiting—he was from Chicago and he was visiting his family in the South. And he was at a grocery store and supposedly whistled at a white woman and that evening he was kidnapped from his home, tortured and then brutally murdered and thrown into a river. His mother had his body shipped back to Chicago and then invited a photographer from Jet magazine to photograph his body. And so it was everywhere. Everybody was seeing this image of this disfigured child. And everybody was horrified. So the murderers—when they had to stand trial the verdict was that they were innocent. Jo Reed: And this of course was an all-white jury and the defendants, who publicly confessed later were seen taking the boy. Meta Golding: Exactly. And this just upset so many people and especially Rosa Parks. And it was just kind of a tipping point. And not just for her, I think for everyone at the time. And it was just kind of a tipping point. And not just for her, I think for everyone at the time, it just was like, “Well they said they did it. And even now the law is against us.” And so it was just one indignity after another dignity after another indignity. But Emmett Till's murder was a huge catalyst for Rosa's defiance, and later on, she became very, very good friends and colleagues with Emmett Till's mother. Jo Reed: Who was an incredibly brave woman herself. Meta Golding: Yes, because that was her only child. And she really made a point of making sure that these photographs of her child were seen by everyone. So it was probably incredibly difficult for her. But it was outrageously brave and had a tremendous impact. Jo Reed: The film really focuses on those four days between her arrest and when the boycott began. And boy, they are really four days that shook the world. Could you just recount a little bit about what had to get done in that short amount of time? It was really monumental. Meta Golding: It was monumental because the atmosphere of the time it was—it was just terrorism. And so people were so afraid of being murdered, raped, killed, you lose your job. And the poverty also was pretty intense. So in order to convince people and actually get the word out, get people to know that this is what was going to happen on Monday and this is pre, obviously, social media. A lot of people didn't have telephones. How people organized so it was really through the church and through school and through word-of-mouth. And everyone, I think, said, “It's time”, and they believed that Rosa was the person to do it. But it was a big, big risk. And it took a lot of convincing, you know, even Rosa gave a speech--her family didn't want her to do this. So it just took a lot of convincing, talking, cajoling, and, I think, really getting the church and also the women's groups on their side. But it was monumental because there were 55,000 people who boycotted on Monday which is huge.

Jo Reed: Yeah. Getting the word out to 55,000 people that's a lot of the mimeographs.

Meta Golding: It really is. I think I heard it was they got out 35,000 mimeographs out. And then everything else was word-of-mouth.

Jo Reed: One thing I really liked about this film is that they showed people working—yes, having day jobs and working during the day—but working on organizing, working on activism, working on civil rights. That the movement happened because ordinary people made it happen.

Meta Golding: Exactly. Rosa Parks was a seamstress. E.D. Nixon was a porter man on the train. These were regular people who just were activists on the side. I mean that was really their lives. But they had regular jobs. This was one woman who had just had had enough and, you know, it was teachers, churchgoing people, regular people that weren't paid to do this but just had to do this. And we always think about oh Martin Luther King, what an icon. Rosa Parks what an icon. She didn't think she was an icon. She was just a regular person who just, you know, your regular working-class person who just couldn't take it anymore, you know. And was committed.

Jo Reed: The press for Behind the Movement said that the film was put together very quickly. So it was a tight schedule. How long did you have to prepare?

Meta Golding: Oh, not that long. Three weeks. Yeah. And then we shot it in thirteen days.

Jo Reed: Oh my God.

Meta Golding: Yeah. So it is really, “Okay we’re doing this and let's just jump in.” And I think that for me I just was like “Well, you know, I've been acting for a while. I'm just going to trust that this is just going to come through.” And, you know, the other actors are phenomenal and have been kind of my idols. So they just jumped in as well and they also really know what they're doing. This is the deal, so we all got the script and I think everyone felt like this was bigger than us. And that this story is really, really important to tell. And it hadn’t been told like this before. So everyone just kind of dropped everything and just jumped into this including the grips, including the makeup/hair people. I mean the schedule, you know, for what we achieved not that anybody gets any medals for working fast. But I just think there was this sense that this story was really relevant today and really an important American story that needed to be told.

Jo Reed: And we should mention, Isaiah Washington played E.D. Nixon—

Meta Golding: Yes. Yes.

Jo Reed: Loretta Devine was Jo Ann Robinson.

Meta Golding: Yes. Roger Guenveur Smith was Raymond Parks. They’re just beautiful, beautiful actors. And I think you see that in the film.

Jo Reed: And to compound this and the schedule—it's a period piece!

Meta Golding: Yes, I know. <laughs> Yes. Yes. It's a period piece. Sometimes extras had to be sent back home because their do’s were a little too 2017 and not 1955. So it was a lot of work.

Jo Reed: But it was put together so beautifully. The costumes, as you mentioned earlier, were particularly striking—they really set the mood. I really loved the lace collars that Rosa Parks wore. It was beautiful.

Meta Golding: Beautiful. And the costume Rosa in the church, that was made specially and it's a replica of the dress she actually wore. We shot this in Atlanta and so the vintage selection there is fantastic. They pulled from just regular vintage stores and it was clothes from the fifties.

Jo Reed: So many people involved with the production of this film are African American. TV One is an African-American owned media company. The director was African-American, the editor was African-American, the screenwriter was African-American—there just seemed to be a conscious effort to involve as many African-Americans as possible not just in front of the camera but behind the camera as well.

Meta Golding: Oh, yes. I think it's just I think it's beautiful and I think it's timely and I think it's fantastic that we are getting to have our own narrative. And also TV One has a lot of women running the show for their TV shows. So I think it was just like a natural fit. Like, of course, we’re going to hire a black writer. And there are so many wonderful black writers and black directors. And so, it was fantastic. And I felt like Aric Avelino is a wonderful filmmaker and I was really surprised to find out that there had only been one other movie about Rosa Parks.

Jo Reed: I was too! I was surprised when I learned the film was done in such a short period of time because it is such a rich-looking film.

Meta Golding: It is, isn't it? Yeah. That's what I think too. You know, yeah. Again, I think it's because everybody just really loved the story and really fell in love with the importance of telling the story and so everybody just gave it their all. And many times on the set while I was there people would be crying, like grips, you know, or extras. And so it was this feeling that this was history. Because the power of film is profound. But I also think that when you're dealing with historical fiction nowadays that becomes the history. You know? And so like when I think of a film like Zero Dark Thirty I'm like, “Okay so now that's what I think about Osama bin Laden”, the image is in my head, you know? So we all felt like Well besides whether this film is going to do well, this is something that will be perhaps a teaching tool, you know? Or perhaps now people will think about that the Montgomery Bus Boycott through viewing this film. And so it just felt like, “Oh we’re doing something that is going to affect the way people think about our own history.”

Jo Reed: Because film holds a collective memory in some ways.

Meta Golding: Exactly.

Jo Reed: Now, you have a multinational background.

Meta Golding: I do you, yes. My mother is from Haiti and my father is American. And we followed my father's career and he worked for the United Nations and CARE and that kind of work. And so I was almost like a military brat and that I moved around a lot as a kid. And I think it’s part of the reason that I’m an actor is because I always had to—I was always the new kid and it was a new culture and a new language, everything. And I was like a little anthropologist and was always very curious about oh, wow, everybody is the same but everybody does things so differently. So even though I always was upset when we had to move looking back now I'm so grateful for my upbringing.

Jo Reed: Had you always wanted to act from the time you were a kid?

Meta Golding: Pretty much. Yeah. I mean I was also a figure skater. I was a competitive figure skater. So I was always doing plays but I was always performing and dancing and training. And I always had like a career even as a kid. And so when I stopped skating team competitively around 15, 16 I felt like what am I—like I can't just go to school. You know, I had too much energy. And so I started doing theater and it just stayed with me and I went to college and did theater there. And then I got out of school and got a job. I've always been an actor.

Jo Reed: Can you talk about what about acting or what about theater or film appeals to you?

Meta Golding: It's funny, I was just having this conversation yesterday. Besides the fact that I just like to perform, right, like there's something about getting on stage or being in front of the camera that physically I enjoy. What it feels like to be Rosa Parks is an amazing feeling that just kind of in a selfish way it's all of these new experiences that I can kind of explore within myself. But then I also I really like telling stories and making people feel or think. You know, if anybody gets at all moved or has a little bit of relief or people think a little bit differently after they see—I know that when I go to the movies and when I go to theater if something makes me feel I really enjoy it and that's what I hope that people take away from what I do.

Jo Reed: Do you remember your first paying role?

Meta Golding: Yes, of course! It was a soap opera. It was called Loving which it was a little twin sister of All My Children. And it was the lowest rated soap opera on television. But I loved it. <laughs> And I was straight out of college. And, in fact, I ran into Alimi Ballard, this actor--we were like the teenage kids on the show and we were boyfriend and girlfriend. And I couldn't believe it. I remember just being so excited to be there and I just was like, “This is amazing!”

Jo Reed: Well, people talk about what good training soap operas are because, you know, you get sides every day.

Meta Golding: Yeah, and you shoot a show in one day, like a whole show.

Jo Reed: Right. No time to be precious here. <laughs>

Jo Reed: Yeah, exactly. And now, I think, the soaps are kind of on their decline. But for a long time that was training ground for so many people and where people pulled young talent from. So yeah, that was a big deal and really exciting for me.

Jo Reed: Do you do stage too?

Meta Golding: I do. I do. Not as much as I would like to. Yeah, in fact, I'm so excited about Meghan Markle because a couple of years ago I did a play about Queen Charlotte who was married to King George. And supposedly, Queen Charlotte, she was a German princess and she was part African. And it was a time when everybody went into whiteface. So she was always in whiteface and always hiding her African background. And so that was a beautiful play. So the playwright and I are like, “Oh my God! Now with Meghan Markle, we can really take this to Broadway!” <laughs>

Jo Reed: Now, as an actress what is it that you would like people to take away from Behind the Movement?

Meta Golding: I would like people to really take away how much Rosa Parks, and all of the other activists in Montgomery, how brave they were and how brave everyone at the time was to get on board and how much strategy and faith. Because a lot of people thought they were crazy to be doing this, to be resisting, to be standing up. But they just knew that things had to change and they risked their lives. This is our collective history and so I hope that people are more proud of us as Americans and also maybe even a little courage to stand up for things that you believe in or that you think are not right and to participate in community because you can't just complain about things. I think it's really important to participate in community.

Jo Reed: And tell me, what's next for you?

Meta Golding: Well, I'm going to be starring as Cleopatra next with Steven Spielberg. No, I'm kidding. <laughs>

Meta Golding: I am trying to figure that out as we speak. But this is definitely a hard act to follow.

Jo Reed: That's exactly where I was going because you must need some time to just keep breathing through it.

Meta Golding: Yeah, exactly.

Jo Reed: Well, Meta thank you so much for giving me your time. I appreciate it.

Meta Golding: It's such an honor for me to be here. This makes my family so happy and me so happy. So thank you so much for all of your support. I really appreciate it.

Jo Reed: You're very welcome.

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Jo Reed: That’s actor Meta Golding, she’s playing Rosa Parks in the film Behind the Movement. Behind the Movement airs on TV One on Feb 11th. You’ve been listening to Art Works produced at the National Endowment for the Arts. And you can find Art Works your podcast app on your Apple phone. So please, subscribe and leave us a rating—it will help people to find us.

For the National Endowment for the Arts, I'm Josephine Reed. Thanks for listening.

Music

“Some Are More Equal” written and performed by Hans Teuber and Paul Rucker from album Oil.