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Program 10-11-14-A

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It's been more than four decades since the Civil Rights movement ended racial segregation in America. Yet few would say African-Americans are now fully integrated – or assimilated. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, African American writers talk about race….and how black history – from segregation to the Great Migration to the culture of hip hop – continues to shape our racial conversation today.

SEGMENT 1:

Michele Norris is best-known to public radio listeners as the co-host of NPR's All Things Considered. She's also the author of a memoir called The Grace of Silence. She talks with Anne Strainchamps about her family's hidden racial past.

SEGMENT 2:

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson tells the story of America's Great Migration in her book, The Warmth of Other Suns. The book chronicles the epic struggle for freedom of the six million people who migrated North from the southern states before the era of civil rights and equal opportunity. Wilkerson speaks with Steve Paulson. Also, Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison says that while her childhood in Ohio was dramatically different from her parents' experiences in the segregated South, racial integration had the unintended effect of magnifying class differences among African Americans.

SEGMENT 3:

Producer Cynthia Woodland introduces us to "The Bid Whist Ladies" - a small group of African American women in Madison, Wisconsin who've been meeting once a week to play cards for over 25 years. Bid Whist has been a staple of African American culture for generations. Also, Thomas Chatterton Williams is a young writer who grew up listening to hip hop. His scholarly father instilled in him a passion for reading books. He tells Jim Fleming that when he went to college, hip hop began to lose its appeal. His memoir is called Losing My Cool: How A Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip Hop Culture.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 10-11-07-B.

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Books & CDs:

Michele Norris, The Grace of Silence: a memoir (Pantheon)
Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration (Random House)
Thomas Chatterton Williams, Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture (Penguin)

Websites:

• Isabel Wilkerson:
  http://isabelwilkerson.com/
• Thomas Chatterton Williams
  http://thechattertonreview.com/

Music:

• in the return: Dominique Fauchard, Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho, from the album Piano Spirituals: La Magie Des Plus Beaux Negro Spirituals Au Piano
  
• after Norris: Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Russell Garcia, Summertime, from Porgy and Bess
  
• after Wilkerson: Sonny Rollins, Way Out West
  
• after Morrison: Dominique Fauchard, Deep river
  
• In the Williams Hip Hop mix and show outro:
  Eminem, Say Goodbye to Hollywood, The Eminem Show
  Dr. Dre, Let Me Ride, The Chronic
  Young Jeezy, Thug Motivation 101, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101
  Jay-Z, Can't Knock the Hustle (feat. Mary J. Blige), Reasonable Doubt
  John Coltrane Quartet, Bessie's Blues, The Very Best of John Coltrane

Distribution dates: week of 11/14/2010 - hour 1 click HERE for timings and cues

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: ttbook@wpr.org

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