[gentle piano music] [steamboat chugging] [gentle music continues] [singers humming] - I'm a working man, a proud man.

Son of folks who was born enslaved.

Good folks.

I had 12 brothers and sisters, and only six of us made it.

We've seen a whole lot of loss, but we got a whole lot of love.

My name's Thomas Lee.

They call me Tom.

♪ Tom Lee rolled on the still waters ♪ ♪ The still waters, the still waters ♪ - I take care of folks in the way I know how.

That's how I ended up on the Mississippi, making a living and trying to feed my family.

♪ Working man on the still waters ♪ ♪ The still waters, the still waters ♪ ♪ Doing what he can ♪ - Folks was worried about me being on the river, seeing as how I couldn't swim.

But I asked them, who has time to learn how to swim?

We were just poor folks trying to make it.

I had people depending on me, so I did what I had to do.

♪ The still waters ♪ [engine rumbling] [water rushing] - It was 1925, May 8th.

I was coming back from Helena, Arkansas, had to drop off the boss man.

The river carried me as it always did, back and forth, back and forth.

Then everything changed.

My Zev wasn't the only boat on the water that day.

A mightier one, the M.E.

Norman was on the river carrying white folks.

[steamboat chugging] [passengers laughing] This was its first voyage with living cargo.

[steamboat whistles] [passengers shrieking] Sad to say it would also be its last.

There was trouble on the water.

[wood creaking] [tense music] [water splashing] As I said, I can't swim- - Help!

- But I had a decision to make.

[passengers screaming] It was just me, my boat, my will and God.

[melancholic piano music] [melancholic piano music continues] They made a big fuss for me.

They brought me gifts, they gave me a job with the city, garbage collecting.

It was a decent living, best part was I didn't have to deal with that water anymore.

[melancholic music brightens] They named a pool after me.

What's a man who can't swim gonna do with a pool?

[chuckles] I even met the President of these United States.

I shook his hand.

I told him I didn't do anything special, I just did what anyone would do.

But I only asked for one thing, a house for me and my wife, a home, something that's mine.

[birds chirping] [tender music] - They say after I died they built a monument for me that pointed up to the sky.

The stone read, "A very worthy Negro."

Honor me by calling me a man.

[tender music continues] - (male announcer) We the African Methodist Episcopal Church pass the following resolution.

We hail you as the patron knight of this new age of chivalry and heroism and extol your manly virtue as worthy of the best heart of your proud but humble race.

Shine on, Tom Lee.

Shine on!

- Shine on.

[gentle piano music] [gentle piano music continues] ♪ On the mighty Mississippi ♪ ♪ Was an ordinary man ♪ ♪ Making a living on the water ♪ ♪ Working and doing what he can ♪ ♪ Then came a fateful evening ♪ ♪ When a steamboat met its end ♪ ♪ And the man became a hero ♪ ♪ When he saved his fellow man ♪ ♪ Shine on, shine on ♪ ♪ He bravely faced the raging river ♪ ♪ Shine on ♪ ♪ Shine on ♪ ♪ Shine on ♪ ♪ Shine on ♪ ♪ Tom Lee, a Memphis legend, shine on ♪♪