Thursdays at Noon, February 2012

We're celebrating Black History Month with civil rights specials from Maya Angelou and American RadioWorks, stories from black gospel singers, and the swinging music of Wynton Marsalis.

Maya Angelou's Black History Month Special
Thursday, February 2 at Noon

Maya Angelou defines Black History, as it is embraced in our popular culture with an emphasis on the civil rights era and a poetic acknowledgement of late activist, Rosa Parks. This one hour historical trek takes us from the 1950's thru the 1990's. Dr. Maya Angelou renders a poetic portrait of the day-to-day lives of African Americans during the civil rights era, when artists and activists, musicians and ministers joined hands with people from all walks of life to bring about a historic change in our culture.

Heavenly Sight: Of Vision Lost and Found
Thursday, February 9 at Noon

Since the time of Aristotle, blind seers have been regarded as bearers of special insight. Host David Marash brings us the stories, music and this insight from the blind gospel tradition that transformed American song and gave it soul. We hear the music and stories of black gospel singers including: Arizona Dranes, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Blind Willie Johnson, Ray Charles - Flora Molton —who survived by singing on the streets of Washington DC - and Reverend Gary Davis whose "holy blues" influenced Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan.

American RadioWorks Presents Say It Loud: Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African American Identity
Thursday, February 16 at Noon

Say It Loud traces the last 50 years of black history through stirring, historically important speeches by African Americans from across the political spectrum. The documentary illuminates tidal changes in African American political power and questions of black identity through the speeches of deeply influential black Americans. With recordings unearthed from libraries and sound archives, and made widely available here for the first time, Say It Loud includes landmark speeches by Malcolm X, Lorraine Hansberry, Angela Davis, Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Louis Gates, and many others.

Wynton Marsalis - Swinging into the 21st Century
Thursday, February 23 at Noon

Jazz is dead! Well, it's not true -- but in the history of the music, that statement is heard very often. Wynton Marsalis has found that the best way to combat that idea is simple - keep creating. Like any art form, jazz lives as an ongoing interaction between the artist, audience and larger culture. In this hour, Wynton reflects on his life and music in the 20th century and its continuation into the 21st.