American Women — Women of Color and discrimination

  • Women and the New Right / produced by Helene Rosenbluth.

    On Saturday, March 7, 1981, Los Angeles City College sponsored a day of panels celebrating International Women’s Day. Erica Silverman of the Jewish Feminist Coalition and Cecily Kahn of the Southern California Anti-Klan Network spoke on the rise of the New Right. Silverman voices her concerns about anti-Semitism infiltrating both the right and the left…

  • Lesbian sisters / Deborah Posey and Rita Mae Brown interviewed by Helene Rosenbluth

    This episode of “Lesbian Sisters” features an interview with Deborah Posey, a Black lesbian mother from Detroit and member of the Revolutionary Socialist League, who talks about the gay movement in Detroit, her family’s recent harassment and forcible eviction by a homophobic landlord, and how gay liberation can only truly be achieved in a socialist…

  • To be young, lesbian and Black in the ’50s / Audre Lorde ; produced by Helene Rosenbluth.

    The writer Audre Lorde (1934 – 1992) describes her experiences growing up as a Black lesbian in New York City in the 1950s, touching on subjects such as frequenting gay and lesbian bars in the Greenwich Village and communal-style living experiments. She reads excerpts from her book, Zami: A new spelling of my name: a…

  • Women of color : voices of resistance / produced by Miya Iwataki.

    This mixture of music and poetry was produced for International Women’s Day, 1982 by the Third World Women’s Cultural Hour. Heard is the poetry of Miya Iwataki and Imani Wilkins, the music of Dolce de Priest[sp?] and Lisa Abe (with Warren Furutani), and Charlotte Heth and Babette Vasquez performing contemporary and traditional Indian songs. Produced…

  • Tar baby / Toni Morrison ; interviewed by Barbara Cady.

    Author Toni Morrison (1931 – ) discusses her latest book, Tar Baby (Alfred A. Knopf, 1981) with KPFK’s Barbara Cady. Morrison discusses class conflicts between Black people as one of the book’s themes, her feelings about authors’ personalities showing in their books, and about other Black women writers.

  • Our sheroes and heroes / Maya Angelou ; interviewed by Susan Anderson.

    Recording contains Susan Anderson’s 1976 interview with Maya Angelou, talking about her new book “Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas,” her first friendship with a white woman, her sense of religion, her career, and her never ending sense of frustration with her writing. Recording also includes excerpts from Angelou’s 1982 speech given at…

  • An interview with Yuri Kochiyama / produced by Miya Iwataki.

    On May 19, 1982, KPFK celebrated Malcolm X’s birthday with special programming on the civil rights leader. As part of this celebration, Miya Iwataki conducted a telephone interview with Yuri Kochiyama about the impact of Malcolm X on Asians. Kochiyama discusses the fateful day that Malcolm X was assassinated and her feelings as a person…

  • Interracial gay relationships / hosted by Helene Rosenbluth and David S. Fradkin

    Five interracial gay and lesbian couples discuss their relationships. Aspects include how and when race and oppression come up in arguments, pressures from family, and societal expectations placed upon both gays/lesbians and people of color. The couples, most of whom are identified by first name only, are Warren, a Black man, and his lover Steve,…

  • The effects of racism on the economic rights of women

    This is the first tape of a symposium sponsored by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) recorded in Spring 1981. In this symposium, women from diverse ethnic backgrounds discuss racism: why it exists, who is racist, who benefits from racism, its effects both nationally and globally, and what Affirmative Action may mean to…

  • Atlanta mothers / Venus Taylor and Willie Mae Mathis

    Venus Taylor and Willie Mae Mathis, both mothers of children murdered in Atlanta (Angel Lenair and Jeffrey Mathis, respectively), address an audience in Los Angeles. They stress that Blacks get together, watch out for one another, and love each other. Produced by Sly Rivers, KPFK, 1981.