In this edition of From the Vault we present a newly-discovered recording of the extraordinary Audre Lorde, a black feminist and lesbian writer, poet and activist who died of breast cancer in 1992. This rare recording, made on December 12, 1980 at Barnard College in New York City, includes an early reading from Lorde’s book The Cancer Journals as well as selected poetry, laced together with Lorde’s perspective on racism, sexism, and the general lack of humanity in the world. Eileen Zelisk, host of the WBAI series The Velvet Sledgehammer (a production of the WBAI Women’s Department), introduces Audre Lorde to the audience.
From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.
First broadcast on Friday, August 26, 2011.
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