Archive for May, 2011

FTV 263 The Freedom Riders’ 50th Anniversary

Posted in Update on May 27th, 2011

This week on From the Vault we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides that began in May of 1961. The Freedom Rides were an organized effort by Civil Rights activists to ride interstate buses to test two Supreme Court rulings: Boynton vs. Virginia, which prohibited racial segregation in restaurants and waiting rooms of bus terminals that crossed state lines, and Sarah Keys vs. Carolina Coach Company, which outlawed discrimination in interstate bus travel.

We begin with a 1960 conversation between legendary KPFA Public Affairs Director Elsa Knight Thompson and Civil Rights activist James Farmer, one of the co-founders of The Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.); this group helped organize and sponsor not only the Freedom Rides of 1961, but also the Sit-In Movement that began in 1960 at the Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina. Farmer and Thompson discuss the early non-violent campaign that would permeate the Civil Rights Movement, led by himself and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, John Lewis – first president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Roy Wilkins – Executive Director of the NAACP, and labor leader A. Phillip Randolph – Executive Director of the National Urban League. Then we turn our attention to another historic recording: Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Field Secretary Matthew Jones reflecting on his role in the Civil Rights Movement, including the Sit-In Movement, the Freedom Rides, and later the voter registration drive leading up to the 1964 Presidential election.

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.

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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FTV 262 Ganienkeh: An Iroquois Tale

Posted in Update on May 20th, 2011

This week on From the Vault, we continue our exploration of treaties signed and treaties broken between the United States and the indigenous tribes of North America with a presentation of Tim McGovern’s 1976 documentary Ganienkeh, an eye-opening probe into the theft of over nine million acres of land from the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, traditional land that was guaranteed and titled by six separate treaties, including a 1792 agreement signed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Striking and profound, Ganienkeh excels at weaving together oral tradition passed down from tribal elders to tell the story of the Six Nations’ formation and prosperity, treaties made with and broken by the United States and Canada, and struggle since 1974 to formally reclaim their traditional homeland at Ganienkeh, an area in present-day northeastern New York.

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.

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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FTV 261 Peggy Berryhill’s Why Wounded Knee?

Posted in Update on May 13th, 2011

This week on From the Vault we honor Peggy Berryhill, the 2011 winner of the prestigious Bader Award, given by the National Federation of Community Broadcasters in recognition of significant contributions to community radio. Peggy Berryhill’s work with Pacifica Radio stretches back several decades, starting with her insightful 1975 documentary Why Wounded Knee?, which chronicles the 71-day standoff in 1973 between federal law enforcement and indigenous American Indian tribes in the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. On February 27th, 1973, members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), led by Russell Means and Dennis Banks, occupied Wounded Knee (site of the 1890 massacre) to call attention to the deplorable conditions of the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and other reservations across America. As it might be, the United States Department of Justice responded with an onslaught of government officials, law enforcement officers, and soldiers with armored personnel carriers – surrounding the tiny town and actively engaging in firefights with AIM members for over two months. Why Wounded Knee? masterfully weaves actuality, music, and interviews together to examine the lives, problems, and struggles of Native Americans both on and off the reservation.

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.

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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FTV 260 Manning Marable

Posted in Update on May 6th, 2011

This week on From The Vault we pay respect to one of the great American Historians, Manning Marable, who passed away on April 21, 2011. Born May 13, 1950, Marable was most recently professor of public affairs, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University, and had just completed a biography of human rights activist Malcolm X titled Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. Although he never had the opportunity to discuss the biography on a book tour, Pacifica Radio produced a panel to commemorate on the birthday of Malcolm X in May of 1993, inviting four panelists, including Manning Marable, to explore Malcolm X’s philosophy and how his ideas relevant today and into the future. The resulting discussion addressed issues such as America a racist society, Malcolm X’s consideration as a hero for African Americans, and the evolution of Malcolm X’s positions over the course of his career as a Black Liberation leader.

Participants included Charlene Mitchell, Chair of the Committee of Correspondents and leader of the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression; Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, National Spokesman of the Honorable Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam; Tom Porter,
General Manager of Pacifica station WPFW; and Manning Marable, Professor of History at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Produced by Pacifica National Executive Producer Bill Wax.

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.

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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