HOUR ONE:
Political reporter Jesse Holland seeks to answer a big question about notable tourist attractions in the nation’s capital – “Where’s the Black history?” Holland walks and talks with Bob on Capitol Hill about the contributions that African Americans have made to historic sites discussed in his book Black Men Built the Capitol: Discovering African American History In and Around Washington, D.C.
MIT history professor Craig Steven Wilder has documented a shocking history of Ivy League universities. Not only were they funded by slave-owners and built by slave labor, many actually had slaves working on the campus – and had their endowments enriched by the slave trade. Wilder’s book is titled Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities.
HOUR TWO:
In the 1930’s, Rosetta Tharpe started singing at the southern Pentecostal church with her preacher mother, but soon Tharpe crossed over to rock-and-roll and was filling stadiums with thousands of fans. She was Americas first female “stadium rocker.” Bob talks to Gayle Wald, author of the biography titled Shout, Sister, Shout! The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Grammy award-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre is one of the few living composers who has topped the classical charts. Best-known for his “Virtual Choir” projects on YouTube, Whitacre is a musician who pushes the boundaries of music and still finds popular acclaim. He talks with Bob about his collaborative online work and about the spiritual music from his album Water Night.