A live audio drama that picks up where the first nationwide African-American radio drama, produced in Chicago by Richard Durham more than sixty years ago, left off. The show walked a daring line between reform and revolution, and was shut down by its network in 1950, as McCarthyism and anti-communism tightened its grip on American broadcasting. As well as drawing on the archive of Destination Freedom (now branded Destination Freedom Black Radio Days, this program illuminates a largely unknown, but important chapter in the history of human rights and tells how radio played its part from the very beginning. That boundary-breaking program, Destination Freedom, dramatized the lives of great figures in African-American and other people of color past and present, continues in its spirit with all-new scripts. This series honors and expands on that theme. Part of the Broadway Podcast Network
https://broadwaypodcastnetwork.com/podcast/destination-freedom-black-radio-days/
episode 21: Freedom Riders
From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans laid their lives—many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders’ belief in non-violent activism was tested as mob violence and bitter racism greeted them along the way. “Freedom Riders” examines the 1961 and earlier Freedom Rides from many perspectives -especially from the many women who were on the front lines, that of the Riders themselves, the Kennedy administration, and the international community.
Featuring Carlton Bacon, Leonard Barrett, Jada Dixon, Kurt Soderson, Candy Brown, Kris Angela Washington, Itha Gabriel on Foley. Special guest James Lawson, Terry Sutherland, riders from the summer of 1961, plus Dr. Vincent Harding. They will join the audience for a community dialogue on race and other issues that face our nation, plus share the firsthand account of the rides. Featuring singers from ‘Southern Journey’ performing songs from the Southern Freedom Movement.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices