Before there was Sidney Poitier and Harry Bellafonte, there was Canada Lee...who along with Paul Robeson was among the very few black actors to scratch out a dignified living in Hollywood movies during the 1930s and 40s. Lee was born in New York City on March 3rd, 1907. He studied music as a child, but at age 19 Lee became a professional boxer. Even though he was rich and successful, Lee quit boxing 1933 after losing sight in his right eye. Lee then formed a dance band, took up acting, and began performing in live theater productions. Canada Lee made his film debut in Keep Punching, a 1939 movie about boxing. In 1944 he appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Lifeboat. In 1947, he appeared as Ben Chaplin in the boxing film noir, Body and Soul starring John Garfield.

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The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all-women's band in the United States. The Sweethearts were formed at Piney Woods Country Life School in Mississippi in 1938, to help raise funds for the facility which served poor, orphaned, and African American children. By 1941, the band was so successful they hit the road, playing swing and jazz across the nation including New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Europe. In addition to black women, members of the band included Latina, Asian, Caucasian, Indian and Puerto Rican females, making touring the Jim Crow South very difficult. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the era. They made radio and movie appearances, but despite their success, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm disbanded in 1949, as members left to start their families, as big bands started to decline in popularity. You will hear two radio appearances by the Sweethearts on the show Jubilee in 1944, and 1945.

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The life and times of John Fitzgerald Kennedy have been the subject of many history books. The public got to see him up close and personal after Senator Kennedy announced his campaign for president in 1960. The Democrat appeared on Meet The Press, which aired on NBC radio and television. We have two of his appearances, the first on January 3rd, 1960, and on October 16th, 1960 just a few weeks before the general election, when he beat Republican rival Richard Nixon to win the White House. After taking office, President Kennedy appointed his brother Robert as U.S. Attorney General, who appeared on Meet the Press September 9th, 1961 to provide the administration's progress report. Both men would die from the bullets of assassins before the end of the decade.

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Ghetto is a word that dates back to 1516. It's an Italian word that was used describe part of a city where Jewish people were restricted to live. Since the 20th century ghetto is used in the United States to describe impoverished African-Americans are segregated away from the general population. You're going to hear about the history of the American ghetto from the classic radio show, New World A Comin'. There are two episodes from 1944 hosted by African-American stage and screen actor Canada Lee.

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In April 1947, modern day baseball changed forever. That's when Jackie Robinson played his first major league game as a Brooklyn Dodger. After that day, there were a string of African-American firsts in baseball. Four months later, Dan Bankhead of the Dodgers became the first black pitcher to play in a major league game. In 1948, Roy Campanella became the first black catcher. Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians became the first Black player to hit a home run in a World Series. In 1949, there were three African-Americans playing in the World Series when just 3 years earlier Blacks were still excluded from Major League Baseball. All three were playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, and pitcher Don Newcombe. Robinson and Campanella would become Hall of Famers, and Newcombe would win both the Cy Young and National League Most Valuable Player awards during the same season. You'll hear all three playing in Game 4 of the 1949 World Series against the Yankees. Newcombe took the mound with only 2 days rest, from striking out 11 Yankees in Game One, but the Yankees won 1-to-nothing and would go on to take the series.

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The Golden Gate Quartet is an African-American vocal group, that was founded in 1934 by four students at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, Virginia. Willie Johnson, William Langford, Henry Owens, and Orlandus Wilson started singing gospel and folks songs in churches and then at radio stations. In 1937 the foursome signed their first recording contract. They performed at Carnegie Hall, and nite clubs in New York City causing their popularity to grow. In 1940 they had a nationally syndicated radio show. In 1941, the Golden Gate Quartet became the first black musical group to sing at Constitution Hall, and performed several times at the White House. The Quartet was inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998. You're going to here 5 episodes from their national radio show which aired in 1940 and 1941.

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They were the first presidential debates since 1960. President Gerald Ford, and Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter were in a close race for the White House, and squared off in series of three debates just weeks before the 1976 election. It was the first presidential debate in 16 years, and was only the 3rd U.S. Presidential debate held between the final two contenders. You'll hear coverage of the second Ford-Carter debate by the Mutual radio network. It was held on October 6, 1976 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The candidates will touch on some subjects that are relevant even today, and others that have been lost to history.

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It's one of only a few classic radio shows by African-Americas. Destination Freedom was a weekly radio program produced by NBC radio station WMAQ in Chicago from 1948 to 1950. It presented biographical histories of prominent African-Americans as written by the program's producer Richard Durham. You are going to hear a 1950 episode about the creation of the National Urban League, the nonpartisan historic civil rights organization that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Americans, and against racial discrimination in the United States. Plus a 1949 episode about the founder of the city of Chicago. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable was an African-American trader who established the settlement of Chicago in the 1780s. Get ready for living history, right after this break.

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