This week on From the Vault, we split the hour into two parts, both celebrating our recent preservation efforts; archival footage includes the voices of Ossie Davis, Langston Hughes, and Rosa Parks among others.

First we feature a special edition of KPFK’s Uprising with Sonali Kolhatkar, who reviews the our special Civil Rights Collection restored thanks to a grant from the American Archives Pilot Program. Then we’ll hear from Pacifica Radio Archives Director Brian DeShazor in conversation with composer/multi-media artist Allee Willis, as they recap highlights from this year’s “Sound of Soul” Party. On February 22, 2010, the Archives and Grammy and Tony Award-winning Willis co-hosted the “Sound of Soul” party and fundraiser for Pacifica Radio Archives at her Los Angeles home. Allee and her friends sponsored over forty schools with the exclusive new Allee Willis Sound of Soul Collection, which features 68 historic recordings preserved specifically in honor of Black History Month!

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

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PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

This week on From the Vault we conclude our celebration of Black History month by paying tribute to American jazz icon Billie Holiday and presenting the final installment of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. We’ll start with Lady Day, a program produced for Pacifica Radio in 1967 about Holiday, a blues and jazz legend. Produced by Gene and Fabs Dealessi, it features commentary from Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, Studs Terkel, and others. Actor LeVar Burton then helps us finish our series of celebrity readings of Ellison’s Invisible Man, produced in 1995 by Roy Hurst and Gloria Mashunga.

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

PURCHASE a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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This week on From the Vault we continue our celebration of Black History month by presenting the third part of our newest acquisition, a celebrity reading of Ralph Ellison’s landmark novel Invisible Man, produced for radio in 1995 by Roy Hurst and Gloria Mashunga Roberts. This radio reading breathes new life into the first and only novel published during the life of Ralph Ellison, not only blending celebrity readers such as Lawrence Fishburne, Alfree Woodard, Roscoe Lee Browne, Levar Burton, and Wynton Marsallis, but also utilizing the voice of the average ‘invisible’ man. This week’s focus, presented by Alfre Woodard, is women’s voices, starting with a tribute to American Black Lesbian Poet Audre Lorde.

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This week on From the Vault we continue our celebration of Black History month by presenting the second part of our newest acquisition, a celebrity reading of Ralph Ellison’s landmark novel Invisible Man, produced for radio in 1995 by Roy Hurst and Gloria Mashunga Roberts. This radio reading breathes new life into the first and only novel published during the life of Ralph Ellison, not only blending celebrity readers such as Lawrence Fishburne, Alfree Woodard, Roscoe Lee Browne, Levar Burton, and Wynton Marsallis, but also utilizing the voice of the average invisible man. This week’s reading is by the late Roscoe Lee Browne.

First, though, we will feature a 1958 reading by Langston Hughes, and hear an insightful and intimate peak into the personal life of one of America’s great poets, novelists, and playwrights.

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download