Original subtitles

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Whenever I have the opportunity

to speak my mother's name in public, I do.

Erma Gene Christian was her name.

And I know that I am the man that I am because she

was the woman that she was.

My mother was an English teacher,

and so in Erma Gene's house, reading was not optional.

You were either going to read a book in my mother's home,

or you were going to get hit with one.

It was your choice, but you were going

to have an experience with the written word.

My mother not only read to us--

I have two sisters--

she not only read to us when we were kids,

she read in front of us.

My mother was an avid, voracious reader.

My mother was the first person in her family

to attend college.

And so that legacy of learning that she

has forged in our family--

I mean, my-- my personal storytelling

was largely shaped by my mother.

And it wasn't just her love of literature.

It was her value system that she also taught and communicated

to me while I was growing up.

The idea that you put forth your best effort

no matter what, that even if it's unpleasant,

if it is yours to do, do it to the very best of your ability.

I was also taught that one's life really

should be about something larger than oneself,

that service was a really important aspect of being

human.

And after her first career as a teacher,

my mother had a second career as a social worker.

So I grew up in this environment where literature and service

were stressed.

She also had a really strong intention

to give us the tools that we needed

to survive in this world, especially as Black children.

My mother was really very clear that I would grow up

and inherit a world that would sometimes

be hostile to my presence simply because of the color

of my skin.

And what she wanted to do more than anything

was give me the tools with which I could compete on a level

playing field with what I call my melanin-challenged peers.

And so that was really important to me growing up,

knowing that my life was not going to be easy necessarily,

and that there would be challenges and struggles.

But that as Erma Gene's son, I had the wherewithal

to not just endure it all, whatever came my way,

but that I could actually flourish in life, that I could

actually find fulfillment, and be a part of that family

tradition of teacher.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I've been incredibly blessed in my life

to have had storytelling mentors that I've

been able to learn from.

Alex Haley was my first mentor.

Alex Haley was probably the most authentic human being

I've ever met.

And what I learned from Alex is that every one has

a particular voice, and that voice is informed by your life

experience, as is your story.

And to find your authentic voice is critically important.

And by way of example, I was with Alex many, many times

when he was in public making a speech talking about "Roots"

and his journey of writing the novel "Roots."

And as often as I heard Alex tell that story,

as often as I heard it directly from the storyteller's lips,

it was always fresh for me, because he

was in his authentic self.

He was telling his story from his personal experience,

and that's really powerful.

When I read Alex's words, I actually

hear his voice, his rhythm, his inflection,

his intonations in my head.

And I don't have that experience with any other writer

that I've ever read, and I think that's because Alex's

storytelling was able to penetrate

to a part of my heart, a part of my soul, that was really

thirsting for the message that he delivered.

The message that people of African descent

are the strongest of the strong, that we survived

the horrors of slavery, and in doing so,

have forged a legacy that we continue to pass on

to successive generations.

What a powerful message to receive as a 19-year-old kid,

right?

It was absolutely instrumental in me forming

a positive, healthy self-image.

LEVAR BURTON: Gene Roddenberry, I've

been a "Star Trek" fan my whole life.

My family, my mother, my sisters and I, we watched "Star Trek"

all the time.

"Star Trek" was so important to me growing up.

Science fiction, speculative fiction,

is my go-to body of literature when I'm reading for my own

pleasure and personal enjoyment.

It had been very rare for me as a kid

to encounter heroes in the pages of those novels

that I read who looked like me.

Gene's vision of the future was one

that absolutely embraced me.

As a kid growing up in Sacramento, California,

watching that show on television, it reassured me.

By the presence of Michelle Nichols being on that bridge,

it reassured me that when the future came, that there

would be a place for me.

And again, in terms of forging my own identity, that was huge.

It is difficult, I believe, if not impossible,

to develop a healthy self-image absent seeing a reflection

of oneself in popular culture.

And it was, in fact, you know, rare and uncommon,

not just in literature, but on TV.

And the kinds of images of Black people

that I was exposed to on TV were very monolithic,

which is to say, we were always being

portrayed as pimps, or prostitutes, or maids,

or in trouble with the law.

And so "Star Trek" was revelationary to me

in terms of it revealed a world that

revealed a point of view that was expansive and inclusive

because it included me.

LEVAR BURTON: Fred Rogers, Fred and I

met on the field of service.

Fred was a Presbyterian minister,

and I studied for the priesthood earlier in my life.

And when I first met Fred, I was really excited.

We met at a PBS function.

And in advance of that cocktail party,

I was really excited, because I wanted

to know what the man Fred Rogers was really like.

I assumed that that was a character that he

was playing on his show.

Come to find out, that's exactly who Fred was.

He was that patient, he was that present.

Fred was the sort of man who, when you were in conversation

with him, there was no question but that he was focused

completely and totally on you.

That sense of concentration was always present in Fred.

And it was Fred who really taught me

that it was OK to use the medium for something

more than entertainment.

Because of that awareness that it was possible,

that it was really incumbent upon me, especially

in my work with children, to bring

my authentic self to that job.

And to really be OK, be comfortable with sharing myself

with my audience.

And that's a really overlooked aspect of storytelling,

being vulnerable enough to share your story, being

able to be honest enough, warts and all,

to reveal who you are through your story.

And Fred was really instrumental in encouraging

me to find that authentic part of myself

to share with my audience, especially an audience of kids.

What I learned from Fred, what I learned from Gene, what

I learned from Alex, what I learned from my mother,

those truths reside inside of me.

They have become a part of me to the point

where they are integral to the stories that I tell.

They're integral to who I am as a human being.

Their influences have shaped me, and the stories

that they have told have not only shaped me,

they've gone on to shape the world in large measure.

And so the power of storytelling I learned right up

close and personal.