Pacifica Radio Archives 2013 1-Day Fund Drive Premium

"Clips from American Women Making History and Culture: 1963-1982" [1 hour sampler CD]

The American Women collection is a two-year preservation and access project funded by a matching grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission at the National Archives (NARA). The project will both document the emergence and evolution of the Women's movement in cities across the United States, and the unique role Pacifica Radio played by providing a communications hub to create and broadcast programs expressing their struggles, philosophies, and victories.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection:

1. I Have a Dream: A Documentary on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (45 minutes BB4608) A documentary based on the life of Martin Luther King that includes actuality and interviews - A documentary based on the life of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that includes actuality of speeches and interviews with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his associates. Produced the day after King's assassination for the Pacifica Radio network. Winner of the Golden Mike Award for Distinguished Broadcasting, 1968. Narrated by Rege Cordic. Produced by Jerry Zelinger and Bob Klein.

2. On The Power Of Peaceful Persuasion (June 24, 1957); 45 min, from BB0115 Speech and interview on the use of nonviolence in the civil rights movement. A speech in which Dr. King opens with a history of Africans in America, starting with the year 1619. He moves to the years 1955 and 1956, focusing on the Montgomery bus boycott. He describes the spirit and organization behind the successful protest: "...it was ultimately more honorable to walk in dignity than ride in humiliation." King concludes with a commitment to nonviolent resistance in the Ghandi tradition, and outlines what this philosophical approach means to him.

3. The Future of Integration (Ford Hall, June 22, 1961) - 38 min, from BB3598

4. We Want to be Free (Freedom Rally, May 26, 1963 - 23 min, from BB4745a-b With Dr. King, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Dick Gregory, Paul Newman, Dorothy Dandridge, Joanne Woodward and others.

5. The Dimensions of a Complete Life (Yale University, Conn., 14 Jan. 1962.) - 35 min, from BB4438

6. America's Chief Moral Dilemma (UC Berkeley, May 17, 1967) - 1 hr 13, BB1195 Speech about the immoral consequence of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Recorded on the Sproul Hall steps at the University of California at Berkeley on May 17, 1967. Dr. King appeared under the auspices of the Inter-Fraternity Council.

7. But If Not (Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, November, 1967) - 18 min, SZ0177 Dr. King speech on civil disobedience and the moral law above governmental law.

8. Men and Women In the Arts Concerned with Vietnam: A Benefit for Martin Luther King, Jr. (March 16, 1968) - 39 min, from BB4661

9. Domestic Urgencies vs. Military Costs (February, 1967) - 53 min, from BB4470.04 10. The Civil Rights Movement and its Goals for the Future (April, 1967) - 53 min, from BB1230 11. Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial in Central Park (April 5, 1968) 79 min, from BB3172

"FROM THE VAULT: Civil Rights" NEW episodes (7 hours) includes:

• "Bayard Rustin" (2 hours) Rustin ponders the changing roles for African Americans in society in a speech entitled "The Future of Minorities"; "A Choice of Two Roads"--A rare debate between Bayard Rustin and Malcolm X where the two leaders discuss the direction of the civil rights movement; "Negro Rights in Africa and America"--a discussion between Rustin and Kenneth Kaunda (then-President of the United National Independence Party in Rhodesia) in which the two leaders examine civil rights in their respective countries. Guest Michael G. Long, editor of "I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters," a new book from City Lights Publishers which chronicles the life of the openly-gay and pacifist civil rights leader.
• "A Salute to Ella Baker" In 1968, several important Civil Rights leaders and activists decided to honor this tireless activist, and the resulting recording, "A Salute to Ella Baker," became an instant Pacifica classic. It includes the voices of C.O.R.E. National Director Floyd Bixler McKissick; Anne Braden, a white woman from Kentucky whose work in the Civil Rights Movement resulted in her getting blacklisted from local employment; Black Power heavy-hitters Stokely Charmichael and H. Rap Brown; Karen Molloy, wife of imprisoned draft resister Joe Malloy; and professor, author, and friend Howard Zinn.
• "Medgar Evers Funeral" Medgar Evers, a prominent civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi, was gunned down in his driveway 50 years ago on June 12, 1963. Four days later a memorial service was held in Jackson, Mississippi and veteran Pacifica journalist Dale Minor was there with a portable audio recorder, gathering field recordings he would soon craft into a captivating documentary titled "Where Do We Go from Here?" We present this timeless Pacifica documentary that seats the listener front and center at the funeral of Medgar Evers, the following mourning procession, and the demonstrations and near-riot that ensued in its aftermath.
• "Day of Absence" (radio play) by Douglas Turner Ward, 1963 the earliest known recording of Douglas Turner Ward's play Day of Absence, the story about a small town in the Deep South that descends into economic panic when it discovers that its entire black population has vanished, and, accordingly, its blue-collar labor force. While Douglas Turner Ward gained fame as an original cast member of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, it was his provocative play Day of Absence where he ultimately earned notoriety. Pacifica Radio invited Ward and the Day of Absence cast to the WBAI studios in May 1963 for the first-ever live taping of the play, which was broadcast two weeks later on June 11, 1963. Ward's play would eventually premiere at the Saint Mark's Playhouse in Manhattan in 1965
• "Lillian Smith, 1964" One of the first prominent white southern women to denounce racial segregation, author Lillian Smith, reading from her 1964 book, Our Faces, Our Words. Although, probably best known for her stunning 1944 novel Strange Fruit, this human rights advocate spellbinds once again with her southern lyrical rhythm as she reads from her latest novel.
• Black August, 1993 in conducting interviews and listening to recordings from Pacifica Radio Archives, producers focused on the treatment of prisoners and the human rights abuses related to solitary confinement in California penal institutions. Highlights from two-decade-old special include an interview with Georgia Bea Jackson (George Jackson's mother) and selections of George Jackson in his own voice. We'll also speak with Paige St. John, a writer with the Los Angeles Times covering prison issues, on the contemporary human rights issues in correctional institutions.