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Arthur Ashe: The Fresh Air Interview.

Former tennis champion Arthur Ashe. In 1980, after quadruple bypass surgery, Ashe retired from professional competition. For the last several years, Ashe has been teaching and writing about the barriers and discrimination which black atheletes have faced. A Hard Road To Glory is his three-volume history of African-American athletes. (Rebroadcast. Originally broadcast on Friday, January 6, 1989.)

22:55
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Other segments from the episode on September 19, 1989

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, September 19, 1989: Interview with Arthur Ashe; Commentary on British punk music; Interview with Gary Taylor; Review of Cynthia Ozick's book "The Shawl."
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06:57

When Punk Rock Erupted in London.

Rock historian Ed Ward looks back to the dawn of the British punk scene, and the creation of acts such as the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Billy Idol, and Siouxie and the Banshees.

Commentary
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11:02

Investigating Shakespeare's "Literary Supremacy."

Shakespearean scholar Gary Taylor. Four years ago, Taylor made headlines when he claimed to have discovered a new Shakespeare poem. Now Taylor's written a cultural history of the Bard of Stratford, called Reinventing Shakespeare. In it, Taylor asks `is Shakespeare really as great as everyone says?' Taylor looks at how changing societies have reinterpreted Shakespeare, and to some extent all great literature, to correspond with changing social mores and opinions.

Interview

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27:26

Arthur Ashe: The Fresh Air Interview

Ashe was a boundary-breaking African American tennis player who won Wimbeldon, the U.S. Open, and the Australian open. He started playing the sport in the 1950s, when courts were still segregated. In 1979, heart bypass surgery cut his career short. Ashe now writes books about the history of the black athletes. His latest, a three volume series, is called A Hard Road to Glory.

Tennis player Arthur Ashe
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16:10

Arthur Ashe's Cowriter on the Athlete's Posthumous Memoir

Arnold Rampersad, professor of Literature at Princeton, biographer of Langston Hughes, is coauthor of tennis star Arthur Ashe's memoir, "Days of Grace." Ashe died this year at age 49 from AIDS he contracted during open heart surgery. He was the first African American tennis champion, winning the United States Open in 1968, and going on to capture three Grand Slam titles. He has remained a vital presence in the sport, and his autobiography features portraits of the great celebrities of tennis.

Interview
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11:43

From the Archives: Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities.

Former major league baseball scout John Young. He is special assistant to the general manager of the Chicago Cubs. In 1988 he began a program in south central Los Angeles to get inner city kids playing baseball. Known as RBI ("Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities"), the program has since expanded to include 51 cities and 40,000 youth. (For information about RBI contact: Tom Brasuell, Baseball Office of the Commissioner, 350 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022, phone 212-339-7844) (REBROADCAST from 4/29/97) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Interview

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