He's one of the most well known actors in the country and this week in both Watertown and Syracuse, Danny Glover is honoring Black History Month by taking on the role of one of the country's most influential activists. He's hoping it sparks conversation and thought in both students and their communities. Glover sat down exclusively with our Brian Dwyer.

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WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- He may be best known for his roles in “The Color Purple,” “Angels in the Outfield” and the “Lethal Weapon” series, but in honor of Black History month, actor Danny Glover is paying respect to of one of the nation's most influential civil rights activists, Langston Hughes.

Glover, at both Jefferson and Onondaga Community Colleges this week, reciting speeches from Hughes, hoping it sparks a dialogue between himself and audiences.

"I don't want to come here and sit up and talk about what it does and how it feels making four ‘Lethal Weapons.’ That's not my mission in life. It's part of what happened, but I also understand that because that happened, it's given me access in another different way to people, communities and that's the beautiful thing about it," Glover said.

Glover says Hughes, a writer most known for his influence with the Harlem Renaissance, fought with immense passion for what he believed in. Many issues that still affect people today.

"The issues that I care about are the issues that we all think about and worry about. Working people, communities, raising our children, education, health care. All of those are important in my own dialogue and my own discourse with myself," Glover said.

During his performance, Glover breaks character to offer his thoughts.

"The ideas that I may have, they're not my sole ideas, solely my ideas. It's just part of a general climate in which the dialogue, I believe, has raised the ante of things we need to think about."

Glover appears with longtime friend and fellow actor Felix Justice. Justice performing the “I've Been to the Mountaintop” speech Dr. Martin Luther King gave on April 3rd, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. It was the day before he was assassinated.

"We use that as an inducement to produce audiences into a conversation. Most of the conversation is going to be, if you talk, about people who are essential to another moment in U.S. history and world history," Glover said.

Glover says it's those conversations that will keep alive the memories and the meaning of the words Hughes wrote and Dr. King spoke.

As for his career, Danny Glover is in the middle of shooting a series for the FOX network called “Touch.” It also stars Keifer Sutherland.