Heather Sullivan

• Character List

• They get in the way of success by either delaying it, frustrating it or stopping it altogether.
• We think that success tells us a lot about a person. But I think we’re wrong. Listen to the words of Booker T. Washington: “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”
• Booker T. Washington knew about obstacles, the major ones. Born a slave, he spent his early childhood years in poverty, ignorance and hard work. He never knew his father. At age 9, when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Washington moved to West Virginia with his family, where he worked long days packing salt. Think about it. By age 9, Booker T. Washington had faced the kind of obstacles that could have prevented him from ever being successful.

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• Story Highlights
• • "Selma" tells the story of the 1965 civil rights march led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • A group of black CEOs, at a holiday dinner, decided to raise money to give away tickets to "Selma"
  • Michael Littlejohn, an IBM exec, joined the campaign with three Westchester theaters.

• "What happened in 1965 was a seminal moment in civil rights," said the New Rochelle resident. "It paved the way for civil-rights transformation going forward. If you are any population where you've had to struggle for something, which is a wide swath of folks — whether sexual orientation, race or gender — Selma was a seminal moment for all global rights.

  "That's why all students, from every background, should see it, from every background and socioeconomic level. It's important for them to understand the history."

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