Hello and thank you for downloading the witness history podcast on the BBC World

Service with me Ashley Byrne.

Today I'm taking you back to the creation of the Little Black Book, a list of survival

rules for young black men in America written by New York mom Carol Taylor.

I felt angry and I felt sad for your experience in what you did.

Now in the 90s Carol began typing up the rules in 1985 after her son Lawrence LeGal,

then 16, was attacked on the streets of Brooklyn.

We were walking down the road here where the flea market was and we had to walk under

the trestle and it was about eight black individuals.

They said run the shoes and give us the bike.

We had a few choice words that started the fists and the cuffs.

Lawrence and his friends were outnumbered and overpowered by their attackers.

All eight of them jumped on us and took the shoes and took the bike and all I remember

is looking up from the ground and seeing them running off laughing.

And then we saw police officers driving across the street.

Lawrence waved the police down and tried to explain the situation.

So they began to ask us questions like where do you live, what are you doing around

here, you're not supposed to be around here, making us feel like we were the criminals.

Lawrence went home and told his mom what had happened.

I felt angry for what the police did, which was nothing.

Carol Taylor worked as a registered nurse for many years before making history by becoming

the first African American flight attendant in 1957.

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