Did you know that the state of California had a history of slavery?
If you didn’t know – and most people see California as a long time bastion of liberalism and freedom – then please check out the video below. It was spearheaded by one of my good friends and the ACLU of Northern California’s communications director, Candice Francis. She enlisted a former star student of mine, Howard University alum Pendarvis Harshaw, to tell this story.
It’s eye opening.
About 25 years ago, in March 1998 to be exact, NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday aired a documentary I produced that explored how affirmative action policies in higher education admissions and hiring practices affected students, faculty and staff at a specific university from the 1960s through the 1990s.
The piece, Affirmative Action and Higher Education: An Aural History, actually was an aural case study in which I captured the opinions and experiences of various members of the University of Chicago community – including prominent faculty like historian John Hope Franklin and sociologist William Julius Wilson, the university’s vice president for research (and former Morehouse College president) Walter Massey, and former students Christopher Kang and novelist A.J. Verdelle.
The insights of those interviewees along with many others at this elite university, continue to resonate in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s current ruling against the affirmative action policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina – and its broader implications for higher ed.
To hear my piece, please click on the following link: Affirmative Action and Higher Education
In this year’s Pomegranate calendar edition, pioneering radio and TV dramatist, journalist and activist Richard Durham is being featured during the month of June. Check out this calendar entry, and here’s a sample (from my audiobook) of his creative radio drama magic. Enjoy!
Find some amazing books – on sale – from the University of Illinois Press during the next few weeks. And yes, my book, Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom is part of this sale.
Have fun checking out all of the possibilities!
Althea Gibson.
She was a one-of-a-kind tennis star and golf professional.
Back in 1957 and 1958, Gibson became the first African American ever to win the coveted championship titles in Wimbledon and in what is now the U.S. Open. By the time her tennis career ended, she had walked away with about 58 national and international singles and doubles titles.
Then in 1964, Gibson became the first Black American woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), where she broke course records in several tournaments.
But there was much more to Gibson than her sporting conquests. She was a talented singer, an aspiring actress, a businesswoman and a New Jersey state athletic commissioner.
And there’s more.
So if you’re interested in finding out more about this dynamic woman who inspired scores of younger athletes – including Venus and Serena Williams – you should check out my interview with Ashley Brown, assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Brown’s biography of Gibson was published in February of this year, and it’s a fascinating account of Gibson’s life and times.
Click here to listen to my intervew with Professor Ashley Brown (via the Biographers International Organization podcast series), and enjoy!