Vernon Jarrett Videotape Collection

Vernon Jarrett Videotape Collection, 1991-1998
Dates: 1991-1998
Size: 3 linear feet (150 videotapes migrated to DVDs)
Repository: Chicago Public Library, Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research collection of Afro-American History and Literature, 9525 S. Halsted St., Chicago, IL 60628
Collection Number: 1999/02
Provenance: Gift of WLS-TV (ABC, Chicago), Emily Barr, general manager, at the suggestion of Vernon Jarrett, 1999.
Access: No restrictions
Citation: When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is: Vernon Jarrett Videotape Collection [Box #, Folder #], Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Chicago Public Library.
Processed by: Traci Parker, Harsh Archival Processing Project
Supervised by: Michael Flug, Senior Archivist, Harsh Archival Processing Project

Biographical Note

Vernon Jarrett, 1918-2004
Vernon Jarrett, journalist and activist, was born June 19, 1918 in Saulsbury, Tenn., and raised in Paris, Tenn. He was the second child of William Robert Jarrett and Annie Sybil Jarrett—both of whom were educators and children of ex-slaves. Collectively, William and Annie Jarrett spent 95 years teaching in small-town classrooms. From their parents, Jarrett and older brother Thomas Dunbar Jarrett (who served as the seventh president of Atlanta University from 1968 to 1977 and was a visiting professor of literature at Oxford University) developed a deep appreciation for education.

Jarrett earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from Knoxville College in 1941. Upon graduating, he joined and served in the United States Navy until his discharge in 1946. In subsequent years, Jarrett did postgraduate work in journalism at Northwestern University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In the 1950s, he studied urban sociology at the University of Chicago.

In 1946 Jarrett came to Chicago to work at the Chicago Defender . Jarrett recalled that, “I came to Chicago specifically to apply for a job at the Chicago Defender , which I did in March of 1946. I think it’s important to understand that when I came to Chicago, specifically to work on a black newspaper, and even more specifically to be a writer with the Chicago Defender , I just didn’t come as people might do today to enter a field of journalism. I came here to help change the world.” Some of Jarrett’s early assignments included covering the Airport Homes Riot in December 1946 and the story of a white man from Milwaukee passing as black in Chicago in 1947. He covered both of these stories with photographer Wayne F. Miller. Jarrett remained at the Chicago Defender until 1948.

He then went to work at the Associated Negro Press (ANP). In the early 1950s, Jarrett left ANP to start the Chicago Globe , a radical black newspaper, with Metz “Doc” Lochard. The Chicago Globe found limited success and closed after only a few years. Upon the paper’s closing, Jarrett returned to ANP, where he worked through the late 1960s. In 1970, Jarrett became the first African American syndicated columnist at the Chicago Tribune. In 1972 he received the first of seven Pulitzer Prize nominations for his writing. He remained at the Tribune for 13 years. In 1983 he began writing for the Chicago Sun-Times , where he wrote nearly 4,000 commentaries and served on the paper’s editorial board. Jarrett retired from the Sun-Times in 1994. In his “retirement,” Jarrett launched a radio commentary, Jarrett Journal , on WVON-AM and began writing columns for the New York Times. In 2000, he returned to his roots, writing regular columns for the Chicago Defender . He continued writing for the Defender until the last month of his life.

During his career, Jarrett also achieved much success in radio and television. From 1948 to 1951, Jarrett collaborated with actor and musician Oscar Brown, Jr. to produce Negro Newsfront , the nation’s first black daily radio newscast. This radio program was broadcast on WJJD-AM. In the 1960s and 1970s, he hosted another radio show, the Jarrett Report , on WJPC-AM. In 1968, Jarrett began his 30-year career in television, producing and hosting African American public affairs programming. His first show was Black on Black , later renamed For Blacks Only , for WLS-TV (an ABC affiliate). He produced and hosted this program with Warner Saunders and Holmes “Daddy-O” Daylie. Jarrett later produced and hosted Face to Face and Sunday in Chicago , also on WLS-TV.

In addition to his achievements in journalism, Jarrett devoted his energies to many organizations, especially those concerned with African American civil rights, education and history. In 1951, Vivian G. Harsh appointed Jarrett to serve on the Book Review and Lecture Forum committee for the George Cleveland Hall Branch of the Chicago Public Library. He served on the Citizens Schools Committee, an organization that pushed for integration and quality in the Chicago Public Schools. In 1975, he was one of the founders of the National Association of Black Journalists and, two years later, became its second national president. According to Jarrett, “The idea of these organizations was not for us to segregate ourselves from mainstream journalism...but to give us a better community foundation from which we could become involved in the mainstream more effectively.”

He was a senior fellow for the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute, served on the board of directors for the DuSable Museum of African American History and Knoxville College’s Board of Trustees. Jarrett was a leader in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Jarrett also was a member of the advisory board of Fisk University’s Race Relations Institute and served on the editorial board of the NAACP’s Crisis magazine.

In 1977, Jarrett partnered with the NAACP to found the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO). ACT-SO is a youth program “designed to recruit, stimulate, improve and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African American high school students.” In 1994, he started the Vernon Jarrett Oratorical Society for Kids. Four years later, hoping to encourage respect for reading, he created a joint self-education program for children and their parents called “The Freedom Readers,” which took its name from the civil rights movement’s “Freedom Riders.” He also was the curator of oral history for the Rosa Parks Pathways to Freedom Program for Youths.

Over the course of his career, Jarrett received more than 100 awards and special recognitions. These awards include the American Civil Liberties Union James P. McGuire Award in 1988, the NABJ Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990, the National Association of Black School Educators President’s Award in 1993, the NABJ President’s Award in 1997 and the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Chicago/Midwest Chapter in 2001. Jarrett also was the first recipient of the NAACP’s James Weldon Johnson Achievement Award. He was recognized as one of the nation’s top five communicators in a national poll of black leaders conducted by Ebony magazineand was inducted into the National Literary Hall of Fame at Chicago State University’s Gwendolyn Brooks Center. Posthumously, he was honored with the Legacy Award from NABJ in August 2004.

Jarrett married Fernetta Hobbs, a teacher, in 1949. He and his wife were dedicated members of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church in Chicago. They had two sons, William Robert Jarrett and Thomas S. Jarrett. Following in his father’s footsteps, Thomas is a photojournalist for ABC-TV Chicago. William became a physician and an advocate for medical care for the poor; he preceded his father in death in 1993.

Vernon Jarrett died of esophageal cancer on May 23, 2004.

Bibliography

  • Brown, C. Stone. “Vernon Jarrett: Distinguished Journalist, Community Activist, Eminent Scholar and Mentor to the Young.” The New Crisis , v. 107, n. 3 (May/June 2000): 14-19.
  • Dawkins, Wayne. Black Journalists: The NABJ Story . August Press, 1997.
  • Henderson, Ashyia N. and Ralph G. Zerbonia, eds. Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community . Thomson Gale, 2004.
  • McDonald, Trevy A. “Vernon Jarrett,” in Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds., African American National Biography, Vol. 4 . Oxford University Press, 2008.

Scope and Content Note

The Vernon Jarrett Videotape Collection contains 150 DVD recordings (migrated from original videotapes) of the television programs Face to Face and Sunday in Chicago , from 1991 to 1998 . This collection has been arranged chronologically. The recordings in the Vernon Jarrett Collection represent only a small portion of the nearly 2,000 broadcasts hosted and produced by Jarrett from 1968 to 1999. Face to Face and Sunday in Chicago (as well as Black on Black , which was later renamed For Blacks Only , for which no known recordings exist) were African American service programs broadcast on Sunday mornings on WLS-TV. Jarrett interviewed local and nationally renowned guests about topics related to the history and experience of African Americans. Topics included discrimination, politics, law, health and medicine, the arts, education, and upcoming celebrations and events. Some of his guests were Timuel Black, Charles Branham, Carol Moseley Braun, Margaret Burroughs, Cardiss Collins, Leon Finney, Danny Glover, Hermann Hartmann, Aldon Morris, Steve Neal, Hedy Ratner, Chinta Strausberg, Jackie Taylor, Paul Vallas and Addie Wyatt. Jarrett frequently invited Chicago students to co-host the shows with him.

Related Collections

At the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature:

  • Robert S. Abbott-John H. Sengstacke Family Papers
  • Barbara E. Allen Papers
  • Timuel D. Black Papers
  • Alice Browning Papers
  • Chicago Public Library, George Cleveland Hall Branch Library Archives
  • Chicago SNCC History Project Archives
  • Coalition to Save the ‘Met’ Archives
  • Chester Commodore Papers
  • Richard Durham Papers
  • Marion Perkins/Perkins Family Papers
  • Leonard Wash Papers
  • Rev. Addie and Rev. Claude Wyatt Papers

Container List

Box AV Episode Number Air Date Subject(s) Discussed Interviewee(s)
1 001 19584 3/17/1991 Regal Theater; “Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame” Flip Fraser, director and writer; J.D. Douglas, writer; Ernie Robinson, actor
1 002 19597 1991 Holy Angels Church, Ministry in Africa Father George Clements, activist
1 003 19721 1/30/1994 Illinois gubernatorial election; Richard M. Daley; Democratic machine, Harold Washington movement, black political movement Steve Neal, political columnist, Chicago Sun-Times ; Chinta Strausberg, columnist, Chicago Defender
1 004 19722 2/6/1994 Regal Theater; “Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame”; Black History Month Ed Gardner, creator of Regal Theater and founder and CEO of Soft Sheen Products; Angie Pounder, CEO of Lady Roll Productions, creator of “Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame”; Flip Fraser, director and writer, creator of “Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame”
1 005 19723 2/13/1994 Coffee Will Make You Black [book]; development and promotion of African American writers April Sinclair, author of Coffee Will Make You Black
1 006 19724 2/20/1994 African suffrage and presidential election Cardiss Collins, Congresswoman and chair of Africa Subcommittee; Danny Glover, actor and activist; Robert Bennett, attorney
1 007 19725 2/27/1994 An Expo for Today’s Black Woman Merry Green, WVAZ-FM Radio, promotion director and founder of Expo; Dorothy Leavell, publisher, Crusader newspaper; Jocelyn Brown, Essence magazine
1 008 19726 3/6/1994 Addie Wyatt Addie Wyatt, labor/civic leader, activist and pastor
1 009 19727 3/12/1994 Black History Month and its yearlong celebration Charles Branham, visiting professor of history, Indiana University
1 010 19728 3/20/1994 The Rage of a Privileged Class: Why Are Middle-Class Blacks Angry? Why Should America Care? [book] Ellis Cose, writer, Chicago Sun-Times and Newsweek , and author of The Rage of a Privileged Class: Why Are Middle-Class Blacks Angry? Why Should America Care?
1 011 19729 3/26/1994 Observation of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination;
significance of black music in the black struggle
Milton Davis, chairman of South Shore Bank; Samuel Floyd, Jr., founder of Center for Black Music at Columbia College; Morehouse College Glee Club; Barrett Sisters
1 012 19730 4/2/1994 Lying Eyes: The Truth Behind the Corruption and Brutality of the LAPD and the Beating of Rodney King [book] Tom Owens, former Los Angeles police officer and author of Lying Eyes: The Truth Behind the Corruption and Brutality of the LAPD and the Beating of Rodney King
1 013 19733 4/24/1994 Celebration of Timuel Black’s accomplishments Erica Myles, University of Illinois at Chicago student, co-host; Timuel Black, educator, civic leader, initiator of protest
1 014 19734 5/1/1994 Relocations of the Spirit [book] Leon Forest, chairman of African American Studies and professor in English Department, Northwestern University
1 015 19735 5/8/1994 Nelson Mandela Elkin Sethole, professor, Northeastern Illinois University
1 016 19736 5/15/1994 Brown v. Board of Education, 40th anniversary Lascelles Anderson, professor of education, University of Illinois at Chicago; Twiley Barker, professor of political science, University of Illinois at Chicago
1 017 19738 5/20/1994 Impact of migration on political and racial scene in cities, including Chicago; postscript on Brown v. Board of Education Charles Branham, professor, Indiana University, chief historian at DuSable Museum of African American History
1 018 19739 6/12/1994 Black education in Chicago; black college admissions Sila Purnell, director of educational services at Ada S. McKinley House, 2961 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago
1 019 19741 6/26/1994 Black education; alternative, independent schools Safisha Madhubuti, professor, Northwestern University
1 020 19742 7/3/1994 “No Crime Day” Frances Gutter, coordinator, Black on Black Love; Rev. Harold Bailey, founder and president, Probation Challenge; Kublai Toure, director of Amer-i-can Program
1 021 19743 7/10/1994 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People convention in Chicago Herbert Bates, president of South Side Branch of the NAACP; Joyce Toran, chairman of Women’s Auxiliary, NAACP; Sid Findley, executive director, South Side Branch of the NAACP; Nicole Houston, graduate student, University of Cincinnati, and opera singer
1 022 19744 7/24/1994 Civil rights, employment and money Ardell Walcott, project manager, NAACP’s Community Development Resource Center; Eddie Read, executive director, Chicago Black United Communities; Leon Finney, Ph.D., chair, The Woodlawn Organization
1 023 19745 7/31/1994 Chicago Police Department’s promotion test and policies; racial discrimination of CPD promotion test; African American Career Women’s Business Conference (AACWBC) Yvonne Greene, AACWBC; Pat Hill, president, African American Police League; Howard Saffold, P.A.C.T.; Jerry Crawley, board member, African American Police League
1 024 19746
(Problems: audio breakup)
8/7/1994 Education Joseph Johnson, president, Talladega College; James Hefner, president, Tennessee State University; Eleanor Horne, corporate secretary, Educational Testing Services
2 025 19747 8/21/1994 Chicago Police Department promotion testing Frank Morris, dean of graduate studies and research, Morgan State University; Pat Hill, president, African American Police League; Edward “Buzz” Palmer, founder, African American Patrolmen’s League/African American Police League
2 026 19749 9/4/1994 Chicago mayoral election Joseph Gardner, mayoral candidate, commissioner of Water Reclamation District; Chinta Strausberg, political reporter, Chicago Defender
2 027 19750 9/11/1994 Chicago City Hall layoffs, fair employment Janet Moore, city hall employee; R. Eugene Pincham, attorney; P. Scott Neville, attorney
2 028 19751 9/18/1994 Duke Ellington; upcoming sacred concert Mercedes Ellington, granddaughter of Duke Ellington; William A. Johnson, music director, Park Manor Congregational Church
2 029 19752 9/25/1994 Black theaters and play productions Jackie Taylor, director, Black Ensemble; Kemati Porter, director, Steppers’ Ball, ETA Creative Arts Foundation; Delia Gray, founding board president, Chicago Theater Company; Runako Jahi, artistic director, ETA Creative Arts Foundation
2 030 19753 10/3/1994 Troubled children, dysfunctional families Dr. Denise Tollivar, chairperson, Chicago Association of Black Psychologists; Dr. Patricia Jones, licensed clinical psychologist
2 031 19754 10/9/1994 Street violence Carol Davis Dillard, journalist, co-host; Kenneth G. Cloud, special agent in charge, Drug Enforcement Administration; Gerald Cooper, chief of police, Evanston Police Department
2 032 19755 10/16/1994 Hunger in Africa; eye health; visually related learning problems among children Carol Davis Dillard, journalist, co-host; Mpho Mashinini, executive director, Operation Hunger USA; Dr. Stephanie Johnson, executive director, Plano; Dr. Robert Johnson, board president, Plano
2 033 19756 10/23/1994 Coalition with a Mission; Coalition of Young Professional Blacks Carol Davis Dillard, journalist, co-host; Julia Lewis, president, National Black MBA Association; Talayah Stovall, Urban Bankers Forum; Janice Turner, National Society of Black Engineers
2 034 19757 10/30/1994 What Can African Americans Learn from Their Enslaved Ancestors?; DuSable Museum of African American History exhibit, “Before Freedom Came” Carol Davis Dillard, journalist, co-host; Charles Branham, assistant professor of history, Indiana University, and senior historian at DuSable Museum of African American History
2 035 19758 11/6/1994 Blackface [book]; Effects of blackface on African American self image and identity Kyra Evans, Rust College student, co-host; Nelson George, author of Blackface
2 036 19759 11/13/1994 Black intelligence; The Bell Curve [book] Adolph Reed, Jr., professor, Department of Political Science, Northwestern University
2 037 19761 11/27/1994 Conservative sweep of Congress, November election Hermene Hartmann, publisher and editor, Indigo ; Steve Neal, political columnist, Chicago Sun-Times ; Chinta Strausberg, political columnist, Chicago Defender
2 038 19762 12/4/1994 General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (G.A.T.T.) and its relation to race Dr. David Ranney, acting director, Center for Urban Economic Development, University of Illinois at Chicago; Dr. Cedric Herring, president, Association for Black Sociologists
2 039 19763 12/11/1994 Origins of the civil rights movement; impact of Rosa Parks and Montgomery Improvement Association Aldon D. Morris, chair, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University
2 040 19764 12/18/1994 Significance of Republican sweep of Congress Kendall Hines, Princeton University alumna, co-host; Michael C. Dawson, professor, Department of Political Science, University of Chicago; William Grimshaw, professor, Department of Political Science, Illinois Institute of Technology
2 041 19765 1/1/1995 Kenwood Concert Choir Kenwood Concert Choir
2 042 19766 1/8/1995 Inauguration of the Year of the Reader; Ghosts in Our Blood [book]; Malcolm X Jan Carew, professor emeritus, Northwestern University, professor, Lincoln University, and author of Ghosts in Our Blood
2 043 19767 1/15/1995 Carrington & Carrington, African American headhunter corporation; black employment Willie Carrington, black executive recruiter; Marian Carrington, black executive recruiter; Nelvia Brady, Ph.D., black executive recruiter
2 044 19768 (Problems: visual breakup) 2/12/1995 Significance of African American history; discussion of violence in the African American community Charles Branham, assistant professor of history, Indiana University, and senior historian at DuSable Museum of African American History
2 045 19769 2/19/1995 Paul Revere Williams, African American architect and principal designer of LAX; black architecture Vernon Williams, architect; Wendell Campbell, architect; William E. Brazley, architect
2 046 19772 2/26/1995 Black History Month Margaret Burroughs, founder, DuSable Museum of African American History; Ramon Price, chief curator, DuSable Museum; Virginia Hopson, program coordinator, DuSable Museum
2 047 19773
(Problems: audio and visual breakup)
3/5/1995 Future of African Americans in the world of economics; African Americans in business Crystal Kuykendall, author of From Rage to Hope ; Maye Foster-Thompson, executive director, Chicago Minority Development Council
2 048 19774 3/12/1995 Carl Stokes and Richard Hatcher’s mayoral elections of 1968; changes in climate, expectancy and future of the Democratic Party; affirmative action Richard Hatcher, former mayor of Gary, Ind.
3 049 19775 3/19/1995 Northstar ; Public housing in Chicago Lori Langston, University of Illinois student, co-host; Leslie Holland, actress; Gloria Bond Clunie, Evanston schoolteacher and playwright of Northstar ; Vincent Lane, chairman of the board, Chicago Housing Authority
3 050 19776 3/26/1995 Race and politics in Chicago and America Lori Langston, University of Illinois student, co-host; Michael Dawson, University of Chicago; William Grimshaw, Illinois Institute of Technology
3 051 19777 4/2/1995 National Association of Manufacturers, Clinton administration Ron Brown, United States commerce secretary
3 052 19778 4/9/1995 Black art and theater Carla Venaan, co-host; Joan Gray, Muntu Dance Theater; Kevin Iega Jeff, artistic director, Joseph Holmes Dance Theater; Leslie Holland, director, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
3 053 19779 4/16/1995 Visions of Africa Through African Eyes (All African film festival in Chicago sponsored by Columbia College) Lori Langston, University of Illinois graduate, co-host; Alice Stephens, artistic director, Columbia College festival
3 054 19780 4/23/1995 Legacy of Harold Washington Jacky Grimshaw, Center for Neighborhood Technology; Danny Davis, Cook County Commissioner; Dorothy Tillman, Chicago 3rd Ward alderman
3 055 19781 4/30/1995 Distinguished achievers in the world of academia Whitney Young Magnet Academy students, U.S. Decathlon medalists in mathematics; Argie Johnson, superintendent, Chicago Public Schools; Larry Minkoff, decathlon coach; Powhatan Collins, principal, Whitney Young High School; Walter Washington, chairman, Chicago ACTSO
3 056 19782 5/7/1995 What can we do to raise the spirit of achievement among African American students? Walter Washington, chairman, Chicago ACTSO; Juanita Turner, principal, Wendell Phillips High School; Argie Johnson, superintendent, Chicago Public Schools
3 057 19783 5/14/1995 Supporting academic excellence in school systems Rev. B. Herbert Martin; Charles E. Mingo, principal, DuSable High School; Frances M. Oden, principal, Beethoven Elementary School; Reva Hairston, principal, Terrell Elementary School
3 058 19784 5/21/1995 Gospel music, education Vicki Winans, gospel singer; L. Stanley Davis, gospel scholar and instructor at Northwestern University and DePaul University; James Compton, president, Chicago Urban League; Deborah Sawyer, chairperson, School Board Nominating Committee
3 059 19785
(Problems: audio and visual breakup)
5/28/1995 Race and the economy, American industry, labor movement Virginia Beckett, Service Employees International Union; Adolph Reed, Jr., Ph.D., Coalition for New Priorities
3 060 19786 6/11/1995 Public education in Chicago, frequency of school superintendent turnover (especially when it involves African American superintendents) Manford Byrd, Ph.D., former superintendent, Chicago Public Schools
3 061 19787 6/18/1995 Real Men Cook Kevin Washington, vice president, South Side YMCA; Don Kindle, Real Men Cook; Lafayette Ford, Real Men Cook
3 062 19789 7/2/1995 The inner-city child Jessie Beckom, Jr., author of Chicago Style ; Leon Finney, Ph.D., chairman, The Woodlawn Organization; Victoria Snow, director, Child Project; Pat Chesler, deputy director, Department of Children and Family Services; Loretta Flanagan, senior vice president, The Woodlawn Organization
3 063 19792 7/23/1995 Power of women; 90th anniversary of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church, reopening of Academy for Young People Hedy Ratner, Women’s Business Development Center; Katie Johnson, Coalition of Labor Union Women; Shelley Davis, Chicago Women in Trade; Rev. Richard Tolliver, rector, St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church; Gladys Ray, headmistress, St. Edmund’s Academy; Jane Stuart, Cook County assistant state’s attorney
3 064 19793 7/30/1995 Future of affirmative action Lorenzo Padron, director, Latin American Chamber of Commerce; James Shirley, president, Cosmopolitan Chamber of Commerce
3 065 19794 8/6/1995 Black business institutions and influence on black community, Chicago State University; public interest and public affairs, Executive Service Corporation Dolores Cross, Ph.D., president, Chicago State University; Jacoby Dickens, banker; Edward Huskisson, Executive Service Corporation; Clara Pate, Executive Service Corporation
3 066 19795 8/20/1995 Grassroots organizations, longevity of Woodlawn Organization; No Crime Day and Black on Black Love Rev. Thomas Ellis, chairman emeritus, The Woodlawn Organization; Rosa Scott, charter member and corporate secretary, The Woodlawn Organization; Leon Finney, Ph.D., chairman, The Woodlawn Organization; Frances Cutter, executive director, Black on Black Love; Rev. Harold Bailey, chairman, No Crime Day
3 067 19796 8/27/1995 African Art Festival at DuSable Museum of African American History Festival Marketplace Raynard Hall, magazine publisher; Gwen Luster, director, Marketplace; Patrick Woodtor, art gallery owner
3 068 19797 9/3/1995 U.S. militias in the 1990s James Coates, columnist, Chicago Tribune , and author of Armed and Dangerous: The Rise of the Survivalist Right
3 069 19798 9/10/1995 Women’s Business Development Center and Women’s Entrepreneurial Conference Anita Ponder, Women’s conference chair; Soyini Walton, businesswoman
3 070 19799 9/17/1995 O.J. Simpson trial James D. Montgomery, former assistant U.S. attorney; Marianne Jackson, criminal defense attorney; Lawrence Kennon, former criminal defense attorney; R. Eugene Pincham, former state appellate justice
3 071 19800 10/8/1995 Michael Jackson Michael Jackson, computer program director
3 072 19801 10/1/1995 New South Africa: pros, cons and the promise Hon. Franklin Sonn, South Africa ambassador to the United States; Justin Beckett, president, CEO, New Africa Advisers
4 073 19803 10/15/1995 O.J. Simpson decision James D. Montgomery, former assistant U.S. attorney; Lawrence Kennon, former criminal defense attorney
4 074 19805 10/29/1995 Million Man March John Steele, 6th Ward alderman and attorney; Dino McNeal, community activist; Ben Ward, high school football coach; Delano O’Banlon, public school teacher
4 075 19806 11/5/1995 Million Man March Leon Finney, Ph.D., director, African American Leadership Partnership, and chairman, The Woodlawn Organization; Edward “Buzz” Palmer, Black Press Institute and community activist; Salim Muwakkil, columnist, Chicago Sun-Times ; Laura Washington, publisher and editor, The Reporter
4 076 19807 11/12/1995 African American Family Commission Terry Soloman, African American Family Commission; Jesse Madison, Abraham Lincoln Center; Donald Dew, Habilitative Systems, Inc.
4 077 19809 11/26/1995 African Americans earning Ph.D.s and in higher education Sheila T. Goins, The Ph.D. Project; Frank Morris, Ph.D., Council of Historically Black Graduate Schools
4 078 19810 12/3/1995 Lay Down Body: Living History in African American Cemeteries [book] Yvonne Orr-Richardson, co-host; Roberta Hughes Wright, author of Lay Down Body ; Wilbur B. Hughes, author of Lay Down Body
4 079 19811 12/10/1995 Black Ensemble production of Sammy Davis, Jr. play Jackie Taylor, head, Black Ensemble Theater; Kenny Davis, Black Ensemble Theater; Reginald McLaughlin, Black Ensemble Theater
4 080 19812 12/17/1995 What plagues us? And what can give us some sense of hope? Karen May, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, co-host; John K. Holton, Ph.D., Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods; Lorrie Rickman-Stone, Ph.D., deputy director, Cohort Assessment
4 081 19813 12/24/1995 Kenwood Academy Choir Kenwood Academy Choir
4 082 19814 1/7/1996 Radio Tom Joyner, DJ, V-103; Herb Kent, DJ, V-103; Don Moore, general manager, V-103
4 083 19816 1/14/1996 Black and White Strangers: Race and American Literary Realism [book] Kenneth W. Warren, Ph.D., associate professor, English, University of Chicago, and author of Black and White Strangers: Race and American Literary Realism
4 084 19817 1/28/1996 ETA Square, ETA Creative Arts Foundation Woodie King, theatrical director; Runako Jahi, ETA Creative Arts Foundation
4 085 19818 2/4/1996 Jamaica Kincaid, The Autobiography of My Mother [book] Jamaica Kincaid
4 086 19819 2/1996 African American History Month; dedication of United Airlines airplane to William R. Norwood William R. Norwood, captain, commercial airline pilot; Molly Norwood, wife of William R. Norwood; Charles Branham, Ph.D., historian
4 087 19820 2/18/1996 Engineering careers Tyrone Taborn, publisher of Black Engineer Magazine and CEO of Career Communications; Roberta W. Gutman, vice president and Motorola director of global diversity
4 088 19821 2/25/1996 Black entrepreneurs Jory Luster, The Luster Black Heritage Foundation; Marcus K. Hughes, president, Moorgate Investments; Frank A. Goss, III, executive vice president, Moorgate Investments; Pierre Dunagan, retirement specialist, Dean Witter Reynolds
4 089 19822 3/3/1996 Two-year city colleges Dr. Wayne Watson, president, Kennedy King College; Debra Morrissette, DDS, director, Dental Hygiene Program, Kennedy King College; Frank Hayashida, professor, Radio-TV Broadcast Program, Kennedy King College
4 090 19826 3/31/1996 Chicago school board Dr. Paul G. Vallas, CEO, Chicago Public Schools
4 091 19827 4/14/1996 Black Church Expo Rev. Tyrone Cryder, New Hope Baptist Church, Black Church Expo; Rev. James Demus, Park Manor Christian Church, Black Church Expo
4 092 19828 4/21/1996 56th annual NAACP Tea; black women volunteers Henrietta Leak, general chair, 56th annual NAACP Tea; Cleopatra Robinson, secretary of Chicago-NAACP and coordinator of the 56th annual NAACP Tea; Regina Lewis, table chairman, 56th annual NAACP Tea; Alice E. Stephens, artistic director, Columbia College’s African Film Festival
4 093 19829
(Problems: poor video quality)
4/28/1996 City hall corruption John Steele, 6th Ward alderman; Richard Barnett, independent political activist; Michael D. Chandler, 24th Ward alderman; Barbara Holt, 5th Ward alderman
4 094 19830 5/5/1996 Michael Lawson and William Warfield Michael Lawson, student of the viola, Northwestern University; William Warfield, concert artist; Earl Calloway, fine arts editor, Chicago Defender
4 095 19832 5/19/1996 New South African constitution Robert Bennett, attorney, consultant on South Africa; Lucas Singape, South Africa vice consul, Chicago
4 096 19833 5/26/1996 History of Fascism, 1914-1945 [book], fascism and the possibilities of it being revived Stanley G. Payne, Ph.D., author of History of Fascism, 1914-1945
5 097 19835 6/16/1996 Affirmative action Peter R. Martinez, MacArthur Foundation; Larry Huggins, president, Black Contractors United and founder of Riteway Construction Services, Inc.; Hedy Ratner, Women’s Business Development Center; Joseph A. Williams, president, Target Group, Inc.
5 098 19836 6/23/1996 Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection Collins Ramusi, member of South African Parliament; Robert Miller, curator,  Harsh Research Collection, Chicago Public Library; Aldon Morris, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, chairman, Northwestern University; B.J. Bolden, Ph.D., Chicago State University
5 099 19837 6/30/1996 Attacks on black churches; Black Expo; Carol Robertson Center Alpha Robertson, mother of Carol Robertson (church bomb victim); Joyce Wade, board president, Carol Robertson Center; Suzanne Stantley, president and CEO, Black Expo; Rev. James Demus, vice president, Black Expo
5 100 19838 7/7/1996 Chicago Children’s Choir Chicago Children’s Choir
5 101 19840 7/21/1996 Prison guards and sexual assault Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times ; Donna Williams, Sister Feelgood
5 102 19841 7/28/1996 Paul Vallas, Chicago Public Schools Paul Vallas, CEO, Chicago Public Schools
5 103 19842 8/4/1996 Revival of African American cultural appreciation, Old 114 Club Oscar Brown, Jr.; Deborah Crable, Kuumba Theater
5 104 19843 8/11/1996 Reaffirmation of respect and loyalty to Africa, seventh annual African Festival at DuSable Museum Patrick Woodtor, Liberian businessman; David Olupitan, African Chamber of Commerce; Yakini Ajanaku, Haitian Cultural Liaison; Dee Woodtor, Ph.D., political scientist, Northwestern University; Malachi Thompson, Africa Brass
5 105 19844 8/18/1996 Chicago State University Dolores Cross, Ph.D., president, Chicago State University
5 106 19845 8/25/1996 College education for inner-city children; City Colleges of Chicago Zerrie D. Campbell, president, Malcolm X College; Wayne Watson, Ph.D., president, Kennedy King College; Lawrence Cox, Ph.D., Olive-Harvey College
5 107 19847 9/8/1996 Presidential election of 1996 R. Eugene Pincham, former appellate judge
5 108 19848 9/15/1996 Black theater in Chicago; women-owned businesses; affirmative action Llydia Gartin, actress; Vincent Williams, president, Black Theater Alliance; Darryl Alan Reed, actor; Deborah Sawyer, National Association of Women Business Owners; Hedy Ratner, Women’s Business Development Center
5 109 19849 9/22/1996 Presidential election, local politics Steve Neal, columnist, Chicago Sun-Times ; Salim Muwakkil, columnist, Chicago Sun-Times
5 110 19850 10/6/1996 Education Morris Lewis Honore, United Negro College Fund; Renita Reynolds, United Negro College Fund
5 111 19851 10/20/1996 African dance; Delmarie Cobb Bomani Johnson, Dance Africa; Andrea Vinson, Dance Africa; Delmarie Cobb, The Publicity Works
5 112 19852 11/3/1996 Necessity of HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) in the integration era Antonio Carney, fifth-grader, Reavis Elementary School, co-host; William H. Gray, president and CEO, United Negro College Fund, former U.S. representative (Pennsylvania), former majority whip, U.S. Congress, former chairman, House Budget Committee
5 113 19853 11/17/1996 New makeup of presidential politics Antonio Carney, fifth-grader, Reavis Elementary School, co-host; Steve Neal, columnist, Chicago Sun-Times ; F. Richard Ciccone, author of Daley: Power and Presidential Politics
5 114 19854 12/1/1996 Carol Moseley Braun Carol Moseley Braun
5 115 19855 12/15/1996 Report on Chicago Public Schools and advice on public education Paul Vallas, CEO of Chicago Public Schools System
5 116 19856 12/29/1996 Christmas special, Kenwood Academy Choir Antonio Carney, fifth-grader, Reavis Elementary School, co-host; Kenwood Academy Choir
5 117 19857 1/12/1996 Ebonics: Is it black English? Antonio Carney, fifth-grader, Reavis Elementary School, co-host; Donn F. Bailey, Ph.D., linguist and speech pathologist; Hazel B. Steward, Ph.D., education officer, Region 3, Chicago Public Schools; Jo Ann Roberts, Ph.D., superintendent, Hazelcrest Public Schools
5 118 24380 6/8/1996 The New South Africa, Nelson Mandela and the End of Apartheid in South Africa, filmed in Cape Town, South Africa Collins Ramusi, member of South African Parliament; Desmond M. Tutu, Anglican archbishop of Cape Town; Adelaide Tambo, widow of Oliver Tambo; Walter Sisulu, African National Congress; Albertina Sisulu, wife of Walter Sisulu; Max Sisulu, member of South African Parliament
6 119 13001 1/26/1997 “The Meeting,” theater production at Paul Robeson Theater, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X Brandye Phillips, student, Joliet Central High School, co-host; Greg Alan Williams, actor, “The Meeting” as Martin Luther King, Jr.; Kevin McIlvaine, actor, “The Meeting” as Malcolm X
6 120 13003 2/9/1997 Frederick Douglass speeches Brandye Phillips, student, Joliet Central High School, co-host; Jason A. Hutton, eighth-grader, Franklin Fine Arts Center; Xavier Marshall, eighth-grader, Franklin Fine Arts Center
6 121 13005 2/23/1997 Medgar Evers Brandye Phillips, student, Joliet Central High School, co-host; Charles Evers, brother of Medgar Evers, author of Have No Fear: A Black Man’s Fight for Respect in America
6 122 13008 3/23/1997 Paul Simon Paul Simon, former U.S. representative and former U.S. senator from Illinois, former Illinois lieutenant governor
6 123 13010 4/7/1997 Jackie Robinson, sociology of sports Rick Telander, sports columnist, Chicago Sun-Times and author of In the Year of the Bull: Zen, Air and the Pursuit of Sacred and Profane Hoops
6 124 13012 4/20/1997 Public Relations Society in America, working poor Dr. Debra Miller, president, Public Relations Society in America (first black person to head PRSA); Paul Kleppner, Social Policy Research Department, Northern Illinois University; James Compton, CEO, Chicago Urban League; Sylvia Puente, Latino Institute
6 125 13014 5/4/1997 Health and disease in the black community Thomas McDaniel, prostate cancer patient; Kenneth Jamerson, MD, University of Michigan Medical Center; Cletus Georges, MD, Northwestern University Medical Center; Clyde E. Murphy, Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
6 126 13016 5/18/1997 U.S. foreign policy Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize winner, historian, professor of history, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Promise Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter with the World Since 1776
6 127 13018 6/15/1997 Chicago Children’s Choir William Chin, artistic director, Chicago Children’s Choir; Pat Washington, marketing director, Chicago Children’s Choir; Mary Carlson, associate director, Chicago Children’s Choir
6 128 13020 6/29/1997 Seven Chicago public schools deemed failures and the reconstruction of these schools Richard Parker, principal, Harper High School; James Breashears, principal, Paul Robeson High School, Englewood
6 129 13022 7/13/1997 Crime in the Big City, Black on Black Love, No Crime Day Edward Gardner, founder, Black on Black Love; Frances Gutter, executive director, Black on Black Love; Denise McDaniel, former client, Black on Black Love
6 130 13024 10/4/1997 Kuumba Workshop Brandye Phillips, student, Joliet Central High School, co-host; Francis Ward, co-founder, Kuumba Workshop; Val Gray Ward, co-founder, Kuumba Workshop
6 131 13026 8/10/1997 Black achievement in higher education Antoinette Malveaux, executive director, National Black MBA Association; Guy Summers, senior vice president, Northern Trust Bank
6 132 13028 8/24/1997 Matt Rodriguez Matt Rodriguez, Chicago police superintendent
6 133 13030 9/7/1997 Billy Eckstine, Black Greats, Racial System in South Africa Antonio Carney, sixth-grader, Reavis Elementary School, co-host; Jackie Taylor, founder, Black Ensemble Theatre, author and journalist; Lawrence Walden, Black Ensemble Theatre; Stan West, author and journalist
6 134 13032 9/21/1997 Black leadership in the era of Louis Martin, NAACP ACTSO Awards Antonio Carney, sixth-grader, Reavis Elementary School, co-host; Alex Poinsett, author of Walking With Presidents: The Life of Louis Martin ; Don Jackson, Central Cities Productions; Walter Washington, chairman, Chicago ACTSO
6 135 13036 10/19/1997 Black psyche, creating positive images of African American children, black professionals in the suburbs Dr. Dana Kerry, “BUPP Stage VI”; Nora Blakely, Chocolate Chips Theater; Jan Spivey GilChrist, children’s book illustrator and author
6 136 13038 11/2/1997 Margaret Burroughs Zandra Hughes, Rust College graduate, co-host; Margaret Burroughs, founder, DuSable Museum; Ramon Price, chief curator, DuSable Museum
6 137 13040 11/16/1997 Harold Washington (10th anniversary of his death) Zandra Hughes, Rust College graduate, co-host; Frank Lee, Harold Washington’s security officer; Alton Miller, Harold Washington’s press secretary
6 138 13041 11/30/1997 Harold Washington’s legacy, gift of oratory among black youths Venson S. Curington, II, sixth-grader, Beaubien Gifted Center; Keyona Monice Jarrett, eighth-grader, H.G. Solomon School; William Jarrett, father of Keyona; Angela Gordon, teacher, H.G. Solomon School; Yvette R. Curington, mother of Venson, II
6 139 13044
(Problems: audio and visual breakup)
12/21/1997 Holiday special, Kenwood Academy Choir Kenwood Academy Choir, Venson S. Curington, II, sixth-grader, Beaubien Gifted Center; Keyona Monice Jarrett, eighth-grader, H.G. Solomon School; Brandye Phillips, senior, Joliet Central High School; Paul Vallas, CEO, Chicago Public Schools; Emily Barr, president, general manager, ABC 7
6 140 13046 12/28/1997 Welfare reform and employment Paul Kleppner, Ph.D., Northern Illinois University, director, Social Policy Research Department; James Lewis, vice president, Chicago Urban League; Robert Wordlaw, executive director, Chicago Jobs Council
7 141 13050 1/11/1998 Future of America from the perspective of women in the media Cheryl Butler, Ph.D., Montclair State University; Laura Washington, editor/publisher, The Chicago Reporter ; Hermene Hartman, editor/publisher, N’Digo ; Dorothy Leavell, editor/publisher, New Crusader
7 142 13051 1/25/1998 25th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, proponents of the Supreme Court decision Colleen Connell, ACLU, associate legal director; Pamela Bozeman, vice chair, Chicago Abortion Fund
7 143 13053 2/8/1998 25th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, opponents of the Supreme Court decision Gloria Materre, co-host; Joseph Scheidler, director, Pro-Life Action League; Joronda Crawford, Ed.D., pro-life activist
7 144 13055 2/22/1998 Black achievements, Black History Month Dennis P. Kimbro, Ph.D., author of What Makes the Great Great! ; Adolph Reed, Jr., Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago
7 145 13057 3/22/1998 African Americans’ hunger for education, Piney Woods Country Life School Dr. Charles H. Beady, Jr., president, Piney Woods Country Life School; Clarie Lattimore, president, Piney Woods Alumni; Jolene Evan, Piney Woods alumna; James Lockhart, Piney Woods alumnus
7 146 13059 4/5/1998 Civil rights movement David Halberstam, journalist and author of The Children of the Civil Rights Movement ; Curtis Murphy, assistant principal, Carver High School; Diane Nash, Fisk University alumna and civil rights activist
7 147 13062 5/17/1998 Martin Luther King, Jr., assassination Gerald Posner, author of Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
7 148 13066 6/14/1998 Future of public education in Chicago Paul Vallas, CEO, Chicago Public Schools; Cozette Buckney, Ed.D., chief education officer, Chicago Public Schools
7 149 13078 9/6/1998 Freedom Readers, 160th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’ escape to freedom Cozette Buckney, Ed.D., chief education officer, Chicago Public Schools; Leon B. Finney, Jr., Ph.D., executive director, The Woodlawn Organization; Lloyd Walton, James Jordan Boys and Girls Club; Zenobia Johnson-Black, Chicago Housing Authority
7 150 13084 10/18/1998 Political elections of 1998, Senate race Between Carol Moseley Braun and Peter Fitzgerald, potential impeachment of President William Clinton Steve Neal, Chicago Sun-Times ; Salim Muwakkil, Chicago Tribune
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