The highly-anticipated educational interview series C.O.O.L.™ Talks, published by SR1’s C.O.O.L.™ Media Network, premiered Wednesday on YouTube.
“I’m so excited to share this with the world,” remarked Arin Inge, SR1 Videographer and Producer of the series. “So many of us at SR1 have worked for months–well, just over a year–to get this project to where it is, and finally being able to release it is a wonderful feeling.”
The first episode of the series features Civil Rights Activist, Freedom Rider, and Woolworth’s Sit-In participant Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. In the interview, Mulholland talks of her upbringing, her entrance into the Civil Rights Movement as a protestor across the Southeast, and her many arrests. “In Sunday school, we always learned Bible verses every week. There were things like ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ I could tell that in the South, we weren’t doing that,” Mulholland said, explaining that activism was–and still is–an integral part of her life.
Throughout the episode are striking images of Mulholland and fellow activists John Salter, Anne Moody, and Memphis Norman attending sit-ins in the Jackson, Mississippi area, as well as rare archival footage of various sit-ins, protests, and arrests made during the height of the Civil Rights Movement in Jackson. This footage was made available in stunning quality to SR1 by the Mississippi Department of Archives & History.
The episode is hosted by Morgan Authement, former educator at SR1. The nonprofit also worked closely with the Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation to make this episode, which is headed by Loki Mulholland, Joan’s son.
The series is slated for a monthly release schedule, the next episode tentatively set to premiere January 5th. The full episode can be viewed below.