Tag Archives: civil rights

Podcast

Ben Passmore on Black Resistance & David Baron on the Martian Craze

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

In our first segment, comic artist Ben Passmore takes us on a time-bending, darkly funny journey through more than a century of Black resistance in his graphic history Black Arms to Hold You Up. It’s a story of struggle, rebellion, and what liberation really means when the fight never ends.

“We’re in a life-or-death struggle, and I think we need to accept that.” — Ben Passmore

Then, science journalist David Baron joins us to talk about The Martians — the true story of how turn-of-the-(last)-century America fell in love with the idea of life on Mars. From telescopes to tabloid headlines, Baron shows how our dreams of other worlds reveal who we really are.

“It was a time of great unrest… and so the idea that maybe Earth was clearly turning out not to be a very perfect place — and that maybe there was a better civilization on the planet next door — really captured the public’s imagination.” — David Baron

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Key Words: Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon, Ben Passmore, David Baron, Black Arms to Hold You Up, The Martians, graphic novels, civil rights, alien craze, Black resistance, Mars, Percival Lowell, H.G. Wells, podcast author interview,

You Might Also Like: Tamara Payne on Les Payne’s THE DEAD ARE ARISING, Aaron Robertson, THE BLACK UTOPIANS.

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Podcast

Paul Kix on the fight to end Jim Crow, YOU HAVE TO BE PREPARED TO DIE BEFORE YOU CAN BEGIN TO LIVE

Paul Kix tells us the thrilling story of the fight to end Jim Crow, led by the greatest figures of the Civil Rights Movement—and won by children. We spend the hour with Kix talking about his book, You Have To Be Prepared To Die Before You Can Begin To Live: Ten Weeks In Birmingham That Changed America.

Read Transcript of Interview with Paul Kix

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

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key words: writers voice, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, creative nonfiction, history, Paul Kix, Civil Rights Continue reading

Podcast

James Forman, Jr., LOCKING UP OUR OWN

Writer’s Voice spends the hour with James Forman, Jr., talking about his groundbreaking book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, April 2017). 

It’s a groundbreaking look at how black civil rights leaders and other leaders in the black community contributed to the phenomenon of mass incarceration out of the best of intentions: a fierce desire to protect their communities and the young people in them. Continue reading