Browse shows on: Literature and Language
An audiovisual record offers the unique and significant documentation of changing street vernaculars and the evolution of new forms of interpersonal communication. ABJ shows trace the transformation of letters and language in the black community through the ideas and reflections of important authors and speakers. The sermonic rhetoric of black ministers-turned-politicians and the formal styles of academic discourse are contrasted with the languages of family, neighborhood, and street that germinated new forms of music and literature.
Colored People's Time 13 (1968)Guests: Inkster Community Choir, Lorenzo Wright, The Brothers of Soul, Martha Jean, Wild Bill Davis, Stokely Carmichael, John Lewis, John Conyers
Host : Tony Brown
Producer : Gilbert Maddox, Tony Brown
Duration: 01:01:04
Description: This program from the fall of 1968 is interesting for a variety of reasons. It's wide-ranging content mix of news, music, fashion, theater and cultural commentary offers fascinating insight into the concerns and interests of Detroit's African American community of the period. In addition, it provides an enlightening example of local television production style in the late 1960s. Moreover, the program is remarkable for the number of cast and crew members who went on to notable careers in the mass media and academia.
Alex Haley: The Man Behind The Roots (1977)Guests: Alex Haley
Host : Ron Scott
Producer : Tony Mottley
Duration: 00:30:07
Description: This special broadcast from 1977 features an extended interview with Alex Haley, author of Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Ossie Davis (1980)Guests: Ossie Davis
Host : Gene Elzy
Producer : Deborah Ray
Duration: 0:28:55
Description: This features an interview with actor Ossie Davis about his career and his upcoming PBS television series, "Ossie and Ruby," which he has created with his wife, actress Ruby Dee.
To Be Woman, Gifted, and Black: From One Generation to Another (1980)Guests: Lena Horne, Nikki Giovanni
Host : Gene Elzy
Producer : Alfa Harrison, Deborah Ray
Duration: 0:28:57
Description: This show features interviews with Lena Horne and Nikki Giovanni about their careers, work, and what it means to be a black woman in modern-day society.
