Wednesday, February 10, 2010
In honor of Black History Month we bring back Bob’s 2005 interview with late historian John Hope Franklin about his autobiography titled, Mirror to America. The nonagenarian was involved in some of the most important events in American civil rights history. He’s worked with Thurgood Marshall, served as the first black department chairperson of an American all-white college, and marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Franklin died in 2009 at the age of 93. Then, we replay Bob’s 2006 conversation with filmmaker Bill Jersey about his documentary. A Time for Burning explores the civil rights issue from one of the least likely of vantage points—a white, middle-class congregation in Nebraska—and reveals some of the more powerful observations about race and equality to come out of the ’60s. His documentary was named to the National Film Registry.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
We continue to celebrate Black History Month with Bob’s 2006 conversation with Clarence Jones. He served as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s lieutenant for eight years and helped Dr. King to craft some of his most beloved speeches. Then, Bob talks with our music reviewer Anthony DeCurtis about a new collection of CDs titled Let Freedom Sing: The Music of the Civil Rights Movement.
Friday, February 12, 2010
David Rose is the advertising director of Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland: More Personal Ads from the London Review of Books, the second compilation of personal ads from the LRB. He edited 2006’s They Call Me Naughty Lola and is an editor for the London Review of Books. Next, photographer Jennifer Greenburg spent the past 8 years traveling the U.S. documenting the Rockabillies, a small subculture celebrating the style and sound of post-war 1950s America. Her book, The Rockabillies, is published by The University of Chicago Press. Then, in this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, Bob talks with curator Dan Gediman about the essay of Harry S. Truman. He was the 33rd President of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. Born and raised in Missouri, Truman was a farmer, businessman, World War I veteran and U. S. senator. As President, his order to drop atomic bombs on Japan helped end World War II.