Bryan Stevenson

He didn't do anything wrong, but they ignored me.

And they got that man near the door, and I'll never forget how when he got near the door, he planted his feet.

And when they tried to shove him through the door, he didn't move.

And then he turned to me and he looked at me and he said, Brian, don't worry about this.

You just come back.

And then he did this thing I'll never, ever forget.

I stood there and I watched him close his eyes.

throw his head back, and then he started to sing.

And he started singing this hymn.

He started singing, I'm pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining every day, still praying as I'm onward bound.

And then he said, Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Everybody stopped.

And then the guards recovered and they started pushing him down the hallway.

And you could hear the chains clanging as they pushed him down the hallway.

But you could hear this condemned man singing about higher ground.

And when I heard that song, when I heard him sing, that's when everything changed for me.

That was the moment that I knew.

I wanted to help condemned people get to higher ground.

But I also knew at that moment that my journey to higher ground was going to be tied to his journey.

And when I went back to Harvard Law School, I was completely changed.