229 Rosa Parks Beyond the Bus: Life, Lessons, and Leadership with H.H. Leonards Founder and Chair of the O Street Museum Foundation & the Mansion on O Street| Greater Washington DC DMV Changemaker

[00:00:00] Mahan Tavakoli: , welcome to Partnering Leadership. I'm really excited to speak to you in welcoming HH Leonards. HH is the founder of All Museum in Mansion in Washington DC and that's where she befriended Rosa Parks, which is also the basis of her book Rosa Parks: Beyond the Bus Life Lessons and Leadership. Leadership Lessons from this incredible american Hero.

I really enjoyed the conversation and I'm sure you will too. There is also a beautiful song that was produced called Enough. We are going to end this episode, thanks to HH Leonards with that song. The lyrics are by Paul Williams, Oscar winning songwriter. The music was written by Mark Bryant, who was the lead guitarist for Hootie and the Blowfish.

So I'm sure you will both enjoy the conversation and enjoy the ending of this episode with the song honoring Rosa Parks and her leadership impact.

Now here is my conversation with HH Leonards.

HH Leonards. Welcome to Partnering Leadership. I'm thrilled to have you in this conversation with me.

[00:01:48] HH Leonards: I am honored.

[00:01:50] Mahan Tavakoli: I'm so excited H both to talk a little bit about your own journey and most especially your book, Rosa Parks: Beyond the Bus, Life Lessons, and Leadership, there is so much in there that I didn't know having studied some of Ms. Park's journey, so can't wait to get to that. Before we do though, would love to know about your upbringing, whereabouts you grew up, and how did your upbringing impact the kind of person you've become?

[00:02:21] HH Leonards: I grew up in Indiana, right in the center of the state. My parents were quite extraordinary. I was brought up in a day where you never spoke as a child unless you were spoken to. Our conversations at dinner were not about what we did, but about what we learned. Every night my father used to ask me, are you happy?

 I could never answer him. And every night I go, I don't know what that word means. And he said it means helping other people. What did you do today to help other people? That is the kind of environment I grew up. Another huge lesson that my father gave me was that we should celebrate every birthday, but not with gifts, but gifts you give to other people.

And the other thing was that, do different things in your life because when you are in your seventies, you'll be able to take the accumulation of those experiences to really narrow down all the things that you learned and truly help people. I can't wait until I'm in my seventies to be able to do that.

So it was a wonderful gift. I wasn't upset about turning 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 because of that great gift that he gave me.

[00:03:43] Mahan Tavakoli: H, what a beautiful way to think about life, and now I understand even better why you and Rosa Parks when you met connected so well on such a deep level. Because the philosophy that you grew up with is a big part of the philosophy of her life, which is that selfless giving and focus on other people.

[00:04:11] HH Leonards: And what's interesting is when she came to live with me, I did not know who she was. I knew her name it was Mrs. Rosa Parks, but I didn't know how she changed the world until she was with me for three years. So we bonded on the simple things that matter in life, family, love of God helping other people.

It was quite humiliating to find out how ignorant I was. But there's a reason for everything because we wouldn't have become close friends, I don't think, if I had known who she was, I would've been intimidated by her. I wouldn't have reached out to her as a friend in need. And she was not in great shape when she came here.

[00:04:55] Mahan Tavakoli: H there two beautiful leadership lessons in my mind in that statement that you made, and as I was reading the book. First of all, it takes tremendous humility on your part also to admit, your own ignorance at that point, not knowing who Rosa Parks was. A lot of times we as individuals and leaders want to portray an image of perfection.

So I've found myself connecting more to you and your story with your willingness to admit that. And then secondarily, you actually apologized to Ms. Parks that you didn't know who she was, and I found her response to you to be inspiring.

[00:05:49] HH Leonards: Yes. Breath that Mrs. Parks took was inspiring. She also did speak unless she had something to say. I never asked any questions. I just accepted through blind faith even after I found out who she was. I never asked her any questions about the civil rights movement or anything she ever did, but she was so happy that I did find out on my own who she was because then I started traveling with her so I could sit in her meetings and when she talked to people and listened to their questions and learn. What's interesting is back then we didn't have the internet. You had to go to the library. But still today, I don't Google people to find out who they are because I wanna know from the heart who I'm meeting.

It's not about fame, it's about that essence of the people's soul, that's important to me, which is why I said to you earlier, you beam through the screen. You have this air about you that emulates right into me, run a zoom call and I feel it. That's such an important thing.

[00:07:01] Mahan Tavakoli: I appreciate that, and I think it's really important for us to connect with each other's humanity and it's obvious that when Ms. Parks came to Washington, you were able to connect with her humanity while to many people, they might have seen her as this civil rights icon and not been able to move beyond that.

But I wanna find out why did Ms. Parks end up in 1995, coming here to Washington to stay with you.

[00:07:40] HH Leonards: She had been severely accosted in her home. She was so badly beaten that her pacemaker was dislodged, but if you read any press accounts, She was taken to the emergency room, released immediately and was fine. What happened was quite extraordinary and really explains the essence of who she was. She was of sound mind enough to have everyone in the hospital sign NDAs, so she never was in the hospital even though she was there for weeks because she did not want the children of the world to be afraid that this could happen in their own home.

She knew what it was like to be fearful of the Klan in the South when she was a small child, and her grandfather would sit at the door in a chair with his rifle across his knees to protect them. So she did not want that to happen which is amazing. She also wanted her privacy. She refused to go back to her home in Detroit ever again where it happened? But she needed to disappear from the press also , to gain her equilibrium to figure out who she wanted to become, to hear spiritually and physically and we have a privacy policy that whoever graces our door, whether they're a hero and resident, an artisan resident at no expense, or whether they're a paying hotel guest that no one knows they're here.

So her team had heard about that policy through other people and needed a place for her. She had no money. She never had any money her entire life. Any money that she earned went back to help other people that were less fortunate. So when she came here, she did not leave her room for, I would say, probably six months.

Church was very important to her. Ministers would come in and pray with in her room, and then she started to venture out. She never left the house without security though after that, even if she was going for a walk around the block. So she took those precautions where she hadn't felt she needed to before, but she was 81 and the last 10 years of her life were the strongest years because she retreated into herself to heal.

It wasn't something she did for the public. Her way of healing from the times that she was knocked down in horrible situations was to retreat within herself, figure out who she wanted to become in helping other people. When her husband and brother died in short succession, she moved herself and her mother into a nursing home because she knew she couldn't care for herself.

No one knew she was there, but she was there approximately a year, and when she came out, she started the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute in Detroit for inner city children. That gave her the purpose to live and continue to live it. So it was a valuable, valuable lesson. Just go within yourself, take the time to heal emotionally and physically and help other people.

[00:10:50] Mahan Tavakoli: Part of what had a big impact on her and her belief in that need for healing is, early on in her childhood and her upbringing. What was her childhood like?

[00:11:07] HH Leonards: She would say it was the best childhood ever because she always looked at things in a positive way, but in other people's, Looking at it, would not view it that way. Her father left when she was two. Her mother was ill prepared to be a mother, and she eloquently writes this in one of her books that she was passed on to her grandparents, but she viewed her grandparents as just wonderful.

She had empathy for her mother and understood and took care of her mother for the rest of her life. because that's what you do. She was very poor. She worked in the fields for 25 cents a day, she didn't have any shoes. So in other people's eyes, it was not the best childhood in her eyes, it was glorious and wonderful.

And nothing that ever happened to her was viewed as negative. She always said, you have a choice of who you wanna become, reach out and help other people.

[00:12:05] Mahan Tavakoli: Even the fact that she became an advocate for women's rights, she was one of the founders of National Organization for Women, came about as a result of an assault in her late teen years.

[00:12:23] HH Leonards: She started documenting rape victims in the 1930s in Alabama. And that was her way of healing herself by documenting for other people, she could come to terms with what had happened to herself, which is extraordinary. She did it at her own peril. And she was a petite woman. She weighed 90 pounds.

But she had the strength of Hercules to be able to have the fortitude to do those things. Also when she helped the found, now she didn't want her name to be associated with it, so she gets credit from the founders, but she didn't want it to be about Mrs. Parks. She wanted it to stand on its own two feet.

So that shows you how humble and how focused she was. It was all about a cause. It was never about herself as a person. To me, that's what leadership is and wouldn't the world be a better place if there were more people like her?

[00:13:26] Mahan Tavakoli: Which is why I love the book, because some of the leadership that we are celebrating and recognizing is not this kind of leadership. We're spending too much time focused on the individuals that shine the light on themselves for what they have done as opposed to people like Ms. Parks that did it for the benefit of others.

[00:13:51] HH Leonards: What's an interesting lesson for everybody listening and really important is. You think about Mozart or Beethoven or Bach, and we remember them, but we don't remember any leaders of when they were in power. And you think about, here is this woman that had such courage, everyone, or nearly everyone. I didn't.

But most people know Mrs. Rosa Parks, but they don't know other people. So that you can do things without money. You can do things without presenting yourself as the miracle person and be remembered. It's a wonderful lesson, and her focus was on children, and that's part of why she will always be remembered because she felt they were the future.

[00:14:41] Mahan Tavakoli: She loved it so much that you mentioned in the book she wanted to sometimes be called Mother Parks.

[00:14:50] HH Leonards: Yes, but she didn't have any birth children herself, but she had the children of the world. Another exciting way of looking at what some people would say is negative in their life if they can't bear children, and how you make it a positive. You include the children of the world. You help those less fortunate always.

[00:15:11] Mahan Tavakoli: So H this beautiful woman who is involved in contributing to others in the civil rights movement, there's been a lot of misunderstanding and there are lots of myths around that moment. December 1st, 1955 when she said, enough is enough. What was that like? There are myths about whether it was planned or she sat in the white section, when the buses were segregated, there was a white section, black section. What actually happened at that moment?

[00:15:48] HH Leonards: This was one of Mrs. Parks' most frustrating things because no matter what she said, history got written the way people wanted it to be and not what actually happened. She said that, when she got on the bus, she was looking down in her purse, trying to get the money to give to the bus driver.

She got up, put it in, and then looked up. She was horrified because she had a horrible experience with that particular bus driver. She would never have gotten on that particular bus. So the NAACP was talking about doing that, but she would never have gotten on that bus to start with. So that was an interesting thing.

And you have to understand also with the buses back then if you were the last woman on the bus, they would go to the end of the line and the bus driver and the police would be there and they'd rape that one woman. So she was really horrified of this bus driver. And she sat in the black section of the bus. It was not the white section of the bus. And when he saw her, he also remembered her. So he was quite ugly on the bus. But she said it was just after Emmett Till's mother opened the casket. She saw the picture of Emmett Till, and it was really that photograph that kept her glued to the seat.

She was not tired. It was Emmett's face that kept her there. It wasn't her strength. And also what's interesting is Emmett's mother used to frequently visit Mrs. Parks here, and the two of them became very close friends. She reached out to her after this to tell her that it was really her son that had given her the courage. And they used to sit out of the balcony of the country room on the fourth floor and watch this beautiful treeline street of the O Museum in the mansion.

Hold hands and just talk for hours and hours and hours.

[00:17:42] Mahan Tavakoli: She had the courage at that moments and continued with that courage. One of the things you say in the book is believing in yourself takes courage. It's all about letting go, taking risks, and opening your heart. She did all of that and continued fighting. However, I was surprised at her ongoing struggles, including with her husband after this moment.

So this is not a moment that all of a sudden then she becomes celebrated or has an easy path from there on out.

[00:18:23] HH Leonards: Homes were burned, ransacked she lost her job. , her husband lost his job when they moved to Detroit thinking there would be a better life there. And she brought her mother with her. They couldn't get a job because they thought here comes trouble because of her fame. She moved to Hampton, Virginia and became a maid to support her family and sent all the money that she earned back to her family in Detroit. Many days they did not eat. It was tough. And also in 1968, her husband had a barbershop. And during the riots in Detroit, the police burned his barbershop down. And Mrs. Parks told me that, they both went to a diner and she wrote on a brown bag, and it's in the Library of Congress today.

The simple words. The struggle continues. The struggle continues. The struggle continues, and it was that philosophy that kept her equilibrium to continue after the burning of her husband's shop.

[00:19:28] Mahan Tavakoli: In continuing that she eventually got the chance to tell many of these stories to you and a special bond form between the two of you to the point H that when she went to visit Pope John Paul II, she asked you to go along with her.

Would love to hear about that experience combined with the reporter that had come to interview you, because I think both of those experiences say a lot about Mrs. Parks and her humanity.

[00:20:08] HH Leonards: And the spirituality of Hope. When I heard that the Pope was coming to the United States, it was Two days before he arrived, which is also embarrassing. But I said to her, I thought that it would be great if she met the Pope and she thought that was a good idea. And Mr. Willis Edwards, who was the magic man, was also staying at the O Museum in the mansion and was tasked to make this happen.

And within 24 hours, Mrs. Parks had a private meeting with the Pope, which is amazing. Brother Willis got us free flight to St. Louis. He got us a free hotel which was amazing. And on the plane there, I asked Mrs. Parks, of all people in the world, why did you invite me? Because I'm white. And she was holding my hand on the plane and she thought for three or four minutes because she never responded quickly to any question, asked her, and she looked at me and she grinned and said, oh my dear, I didn't know you were white.

And then about 10 minutes later, she said, the real reason I asked you is I want to write a message to the Pope. And I need it to be short. And you're good writer, so I wondered if you could help me cuz my hands have arthritis and I can't do something that's long. So we had been holding hands and not really talking on the plane, but just holding hands and I could feel what she wanted me to say.

So I had a little baby Sony laptop at the time that I pulled out on my purse and wrote something for her. And the only thing she changed was I had said. I'm honored to meet a great leader, and she said, nobody is a great leader. And I said, how can that be? This is the Pope. And she said, everyone in their heart has the potential to be great, so I need to change the word could you change it to moral leader. Which was so perfect. And when we got to the hotel, she wrote a note to him and put it in one of the books she wrote, I think it was Quiet Strength. And when we went to this huge room to meet him and she was in a wheelchair. And she asked me what the protocol was and I got a page over to ask him and he said, do not walk up to the pope.

The pope will walk up to you. And she said, okay. And the doors opened in this huge hall and in walked all the bishops and cardinals first. And the first man in line was from Africa, And the bishop got to the floor about three feet from Mrs. Parks and crawled to her feet and kissed her feet and time stopped for me, it was an extraordinary gesture. And then she had 'em stand and they had a quiet conversation together, and then after that was anti-climatic because of that extraordinary event that I got to witness. And then when the Pope came in, he had the big hat and he had the big staff and he had these heavy robes.

And Mrs. Parks was sitting in her wheelchair and she asked me to please help her get up and she walked to him even though she was told not. . And when she got to him, she said, I could see that you're in a lot of pain, so I wanted to come and see you, so you didn't have to walk across the room.

And he was so thankful to her. She gave him the book and she said, please read my note. And I am hoping that you and I can have a press conference tomorrow to talk about cancer in American society, which is racism. And he did exactly that. And after that, whenever he got the opportunity, he talked about racism in the world.

She had a huge impact on him. And he had a huge impact on her. She had studied all religions including Catholicism because she felt that as long as you believed in something bigger than yourself, that was what was important. In all the religion she studied, Hinduism, Buddhism everything, and it wasn't just books.

She actually went to Ashrams to learn. And afterwards, I said to her that I was just so excited to get to meet the Pope. I didn't realized that you needed to take the next step. And she said, God brings you to meet these people for a reason. You have to take advantage of that reason. So it wasn't just a meeting, there was a purpose behind why she wanted to meet him, and that was a huge lesson I learned.

[00:25:19] Mahan Tavakoli: What beautiful way for her to not only connect with the Pope, but love and share that love in a way that she can then channel the energy toward fighting racism . You mentioned a lot H in the book that she kept saying, love is all that matters, be positive, always focus on the good. And that seems to have been a big part of who she was

[00:25:53] HH Leonards: Absolutely. And some of the things she told me I didn't understand until the last few years, she kept on telling me that everybody is hiding behind the laws and if they don't start meeting people from the heart to change people's hearts. The laws are gonna roll back. So every time we went somewhere, she talked about love is all that matters.

She felt that if she shook someone's hand or talked to them, that they would no longer fear her. That was a huge important thing. It's why she would talk to two people, 15 people, it didn't matter. Whenever she was invited to speak, she went. And many times she would ask for meetings to be able to do that.

And look what's happening today. Nobody spent 50 years meeting with the people that are still racists. And I think racism comes from fear. So if we spend time reaching out and teaching the love is all that matters, maybe we wouldn't be where we are today. And that's how I view this book as being so important.

It gives me the opportunity to go out and tell people the lessons I learned from her. Very important ones. Writing this book, I got to take the journey of finding out what an extraordinary woman this woman was and how her lessons do make a difference.

[00:27:26] Mahan Tavakoli: They do, and I'm really glad that you wrote the book because this magnifies that message and that humanity. Now, you referred to it a couple of times in this conversation and mentioned it in the book quite often, that there was something magical about her hands and her touch.

What was so magical?

[00:27:47] HH Leonards: You could feel what she was thinking just by holding hands with her. She had creator's hands. And it's really how we bonded the moment I touched her hand to gently shake it. When she was brought into the mansion for the first time, I felt everything that had ever happened to her. I could feel her soul, I could feel her heart, and it was reciprocal. So many times people talk when they don't really need to. If you just sit and hold hands with somebody or share time with somebody, even if it's driving to a destination, just feel the moment. You don't have to talk it through. And I think that everything that I've written and done since she crossed our doorstep that day in August, 1994. I now know I should credit to her. It wasn't me being creative or me writing these books. It was really channeled through her. So I'm saying thank you.

[00:28:52] Mahan Tavakoli: This is a great way to say thank you. Now, this beautiful woman before she passed away was recognized and got the Congressional Medal of Honor the presidential medal. So she got some of that recognition. What impact did that have on her?

[00:29:13] HH Leonards: It was not about her ever. It gave her each time an opportunity to speak about her message and meet more people to speak about her message. She was an extremely humble woman that didn't breathe except for her mission vision. And it kept her alive. It kept her going. It was just extraordinary to watch that.

One thing I wanna say. You talked about letting go and I wanted to take it just one more step cuz she talked about letting go. But it was always in respect to letting go of your ego. That is the only way that you can really serve others and be a true leader. And let me tell you the story that also helps to define her and who we all can become if we listen to the lessons she teaches. She was asked to sit with Mrs. Clinton when President Clinton had his first State of the Union address after the Monica Lewinsky fiasco. It was televised. No one on either side of the aisle, not the Supreme Court, not friends. Anytime the president would say something, which was a extraordinary speech, if you read it outta context, really extraordinary.

No one clapped until he introduced Mrs. Park sitting next to his wife, and everyone stood up and clapped what seemed to me to be 15 minutes. I don't know how long it was, but it was resounding, it was unbelievable. So when we got back to the Mansion, I said, Mrs. Parks, that must have been extraordinary for you to hear that.

What was it like? And she thought for three or four minutes, and she said, I'm so happy I helped my country. It was extraordinary. If you asked other people that question, they would not think in that context.

[00:31:27] Mahan Tavakoli: It's incredible. H when I reflect on leaders and humanity that people like her had in that I think many aspects of our lives, including the selfie nature of our focus and our leadership runs counter to that where the ego becomes bigger and we become more the center of what's happening, whether it's the images that are taken, the messages that are communicated or the leadership.

So what a beautiful example of a person that even at that moment is looking at her impact on others. Now in 2005 she passed away and her body went to three different cities. You talk about that experience

[00:32:25] HH Leonards: it was very somber. I was honored to be asked to be a pallbearer at the three funerals. I was honored to be on the plane with her body as it was flown to the three cities. Every funeral was different and was a piece of. Mrs. Parks, she loved Montgomery, and that was the first funeral in a very simple church that she loved. She didn't want politicians there, but one did demand to speak. And unfortunately the people there weren't respectful and booed when this politician got up, which Mrs. Parks would not have liked.

But in Washington it was all politicians , but that was just part of what Washington is. But all of the ministers that presided and all the people that spoke, spoke from their heart, it was extraordinary to be there. But the gentle man, brother Willis, that brought her to us to start with and was an amazing, selfless man who also had no money, gave back was sitting in their house in a pair of jeans.

He coordinated everything. And my husband said, Mr. Willis, where's your suit? And he looked down and he didn't even know he didn't have one, it was still on the plane. So Ted said, how long do we have before we get to the church? And he ran to Brooks Brothers. And Mr. Willis is a huge man and you can't buy a suit off the shelf, but somehow he got him a suit that fit and in time and he came out with his suit and tie and was able to wear it at the memorial, at the US Capitol also, but selfless people need other people to take care of them too. So here was this man taking care of Mrs. Parks and he needed people to take care of them. It's a wonderful circle in life and it's a great karma that somehow these people find each other and in order to be a leader, I think you have to understand the concept of being a caretaker. So if our politicians view themselves as caretakers wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?

[00:34:52] Mahan Tavakoli: It would be and learning these life lessons and leadership lessons from someone like Rosa Parks would help us become more like that. Now, one of the things that I didn't know is that Mrs. Park still had an outstanding warrant for her arrest in Alabama at the time of her funeral in 2005.

[00:35:19] HH Leonards: Yeah, ironies of life. I don't know what it's called legally, but they absolved her of that after she passed.

[00:35:27] Mahan Tavakoli: Many of these ironies, but many lessons and leadership lessons along with that. Now, H for the audience to find out more about the book and Rosa Parks, where would you send them?

[00:35:47] HH Leonards: They can go to o museum.org to our shop to get a copy. They can go to Amazon they can go to rhboyd.com, who is the oldest African American publisher in the country, published the book. They're in fifth generation, 125 years old. The original publisher was a slave that had not been allowed to read or write.

And when he became 28, he was freed and wanted to become a minister. So the church taught him how to read and write and that was his gift back to people. It's a wonderful company and a wonderful organization, and it's now run by a 37 year old woman Dr. LaDonna Boyd. So yay one of the few women publishers in the country.

Young publishers, no less. So Mrs. Parks would love the fact that they published her book.

[00:36:40] Mahan Tavakoli: And I love the fact that you took the time and effort to write this book. Really appreciate the book and the conversation and want to end with a message you share in the book, you say become her messenger. She would like that. Thank you so much H H Leonards.

[00:37:07] HH Leonards: It means so much to me for the opportunity. Thank you.