This week on From The Vault we are excited to present a recently restored series from 1959 and 1960 called The American Woman. This comprehensive 14-part series is a masterpiece of scholarly research that profiles women in America from the colonial era in the 1600’s, through the Abolition and Suffrage Movements in the 1800’s, including the ongoing struggle of women for social justice. Special guest commentator, Cultural Herstorian Amy Simon, leads us through Part One of The American Woman, which focuses on pioneer settler Anne Hutchinson.

The American Woman was preserved thanks to a grant from the American Archive Pilot Program.

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.

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In this episode of From the Vault, we begin our month-long celebration of Women’s History Month with a program that paints an audio portrait of the American playwright Lorraine Hansberry, author of the classic A Raisin in the Sun.

In 1967, two years after Hansberry passed away at the age of 34, the theatrical world came together to pay tribute to her by bringing her words and works to life for Pacifica Radio listeners. Along with an all-star cast is the voice of Hansberry herself reciting Hamlet’s soliloquy.

This program was adopted for preservation by Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner. We extend our thanks to them for making this broadcast possible.

And now we are proud to present Anne Bancroft, Melvin Douglas, Geraldine Page, Roscoe Lee Brown, Julie Harris, Rod Steiger, Cicely Tyson, E.G. Marshall, Rosemary Harris, Colleen Dewhurst and Howard De Silva in the 1967 Pacifica program, Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words, narrated by Ossie Davis.

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

LISTEN to this episode.

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 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.

LISTEN to this episode.

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.

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.

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.

This week on From the Vault we kick off our celebration of Black History month by presenting the first part of our newest acquisition, a celebrity reading of Ralph Ellison’s landmark novel, Invisible Man. Pacifica Radio Archives is excited and proud to present the first installment of a 48 part community radio reading of Invisible Man, produced 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.

We’ll also feature one of the recently restored Black History recordings of James Baldwin, courtesy of the American Archive Pilot Project funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This previously unheard speech by James Baldwin was recorded at the Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1963.

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.

This week on From the Vault we present historical recordings on Haiti, where on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck that was centered very close to Port-au-Prince, the capitol city that now lies in ruins. Our first selection is from a recording of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from 1990, being interviewed just months before his election as President of Haiti. Then we feature a voodoo ceremony recorded with special permission by Pacifica producer Verna Gilles in 1975. Finally, KPFK host Margaret Prescod outlines the ousting of Aristide in 2004 on a special edition of the Sojourner Truth radio program.

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

LISTEN to this episode.

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.

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This week on From The Vault we profile one of the great innovative thinkers and visionary geniuses of the 20th Century…. and the man who helped create the field of modern music: John Cage.

We invited KPFK Los Angeles’ Global Village music host and admirer of John Cage’s life and work John Schneider to help us navigate through some of the remarkable Cage recordings contained in the Pacifica Radio Archives, including the only known recording of his “45 minutes for a Speaker” performance. Schneider also introduces The Pacifica Radio Archive’s recording of John Cage speaking about his collaborations with artists such as Robert Rauschenberg (recorded in 1965 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art), and John Cage and Morton Feldman from a 1966 conversation recorded on Pacifica Radio’s New York Station WBAI.

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

LISTEN to this episode.

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.

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This week on From the Vault Pacifica Radio Archives is proud to present a historic panel discussion on comprehensive immigration reform legislation. In 1982, KPFA Producer Richard Gonzalez assembled three diverse panel members to discuss the historical, emotional and legal issues raised by immigration reform: Joaquin Avila, then-President and Lead Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund; Elizabeth Martinez, a Chicana feminist best known for work, “500 years of Chicano History in Pictures;” and Ignacio de la Fuente of the International Molders and Allied Workers Union, Local 164. The panel was moderated by Armando Valdez, the Director of the Center for Chicano Research at Stanford University.

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

LISTEN to this episode.

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.

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