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Before Rosa: The Unsung Contribution of Sara Mae Flemming by Steve Crump


Seventeen months before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on an Alabama bus in 1955, a little-known Civil Rights heroine named Sara Mae Fleming refused to obey a similar ordinance on a bus in Columbia, S.C. Flemming’s story has largely faded from the public’s memory. “Before Rosa” tells of Flemming’s experience with an angry bus driver and her struggle to get her lawsuit against the bus company to court. Eventually, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that segregated seating in Flemming’s case was unconstitutional. The ruling became a precedent that played an important role later in the Parks case. Filmmaker Steve Crump is a news reporter in Charlotte, NC and produces black history documentaries as an independent producer for WTVI-TV, the PBS affiliate in Charlotte. Pictured are Sara Mae's brothers Odell and Malachi Flemming. (Photo courtesy of The State newspaper)

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Response by: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/07/2012  at  06:22 PM
WOW! Another piece of our very own history here in Columbia, SC. When I read the story of Sarah Mae Flemming as our Black History person, we discovered that she is related to our First Lady of MANIFESTATION Church whose maiden name is Flemming, also from Eastover, SC.
Response by: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  02/19/2012  at  07:50 PM
Sarah Mae Flemming is my father's older sister. I would like to be able to view this documentary. Could you please post it in your catalog of videos. Thank you
Response by: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  01/15/2012  at  01:51 AM
So Basically the Rosa's story is a lie. Sara Mae Fleming is the first and her case set the precedent for Rosa's win. Martin luther King's story is a lie as well. He did not change anything by the protests, marching, and meeting. The changing power lay with the Judge, Frank Minis Johnson. Judge told segregated Governor, George Wallace what to do. MLK did not change the laws, but only protested the laws for change.
Response by: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/24/2011  at  10:04 PM
I just caught the tail-end of the follwoing documentary, "Before Rosa: The Unsung Contribution of Sara Mae Flemming by Steve Crump", on Thursday night around 9:55pm, on channel 15 (Time Warner Cable, Charlotte, NC.

Can you please tell me when this will be showing again. I really would like to see the whole program.

Thanks for you assistance.
Response by: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  02/02/2010  at  06:20 AM
thank God for history and truth!
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