KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

In the documentary "As Black As We Wish To Be," producer Lu Olkowski visits a tiny town in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio where, for a century, residents have shared the common bond of identifying as African-American despite the fact that they look white. Racial lines have been blurred to invisibility, and people inside the same family can vehemently disagree about whether they are black or white. It can be tense and confusing. As a result, everyone’s choosing: Am I black? Am I mixed race? Or, am I white? Adding to the confusion, there’s a movement afoot to recognize their Native-American heritage. For a behind-the-scenes interview with Olkowski, check out the show page at the Third Coast International Audio Festival Library .

Bayard Rustin: Who Is This Man? produced by Tina Antolini Another special hour-long program this week for Black History Month . We will be presenting an episode of Al Letson's award-winning State of the Re:Union which discovers the words and wisdom of an unsung hero who changed the course of American history. You see, MLK Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech has become the shorthand of the Civil Rights Movement - but we might never have heard it, if it were not for another man, who’s largely been purposefully forgotten by history: Bayard Rustin . Rustin mentored Dr. King, helped to engineer the March on Washington, and frame the Montgomery bus boycott. Over this hour , we explore the life and legacy of Mr. Rustin, a black, homosexual, pacifist who brought Gandhian non-violent protest to America.

Introduction to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from Project '62 An hour-long look at the life, career, and ideals of Dr. King and his growing belief in the philosophy of non-violence. Produced nearly two years before he made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech which established him as one of the great orators of his time and cemented his place in American history. When o riginally aired in January 1962 on Radio-Canada , King was 33 years old, just becoming a national figure, and only one of many leaders igniting civil resistance in efforts to end segregation. This broadcast served as a crash course by the CBC on the American Civil Rights movement for their Canadian audience. The program was written and prepared by Eleanor Fischer and presented by Harry Mannis.

Life in the City from Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening Professor David Hendy considers the comforts and irritations of next-door's noise . As cities grew, neighbor's hullabaloo became increasingly hard to escape. We will explore the writer Thomas Carlyle ’s grumpy attempts at soundproofing, before travelling to New York to imagine the teaming, boisterous world of the Lower East Side tenements in the early twentieth century. Capturing Sound from Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening Sounds were ephemeral until recording technology made it possible to capture them. Professor Hendy of the University of Sussex introduces bottled moments from the past, including the voices of Robert Browning and Florence Nightingale as well as 9/11 answerphone messages.