African American issues

Contributing Editor and essayist for Newsweek magazine Ellis Cose. His new book, "The Rage of a Privileged Class: Why are Middle-Class Blacks Angry? Why Should America Care?" (HarperCollins) is about what many middle-class blacks feel, but few white americans understand: that middle-class blacks still struggle against racial stereotyping, discrimination, and alienation, despite their financial success and their best efforts to "play by the rules." Cose argues that many white americans make assumptions about Blacks which are at odds with reality.

Writer Gloria Wade-Gayles. Growing up in Memphis in the 1940's Wade-Gayles experienced Jim Crow discrimination first hand. In her new book of autobiographical essays, "Pushed Back To Strength: A Black Woman's Journey Home" (Beacon), she reflects on her childhood, the civil-rights movements, abortion in the African-American community, and the death of her mother. Wade-Gayles is a professor of English and women's studies at Spelman College. She also wrote "No Crystal Stair: Visions of Race and Sex in Black Women's Fiction" (Pilgrim Press).

Ralph Wiley: journalist, staff writer at "Sports Illustrated" for nine years, he's now an essayist on the dynamics of race in America. His pieces have been collected in two books, "Why Black People Tend to Shout" (Penguin) and newly, "What Black People Should Do Now" (Ballantine).

Journalist and former anchor of the CBS News, Walter Cronkite. Thirty years after Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech, Cronkite questions whether African-Americans choose to integrate into society or socialize primarily with each other. Cronkite's newest project "The Faltering Dream," questions whether integration is still a goal or if a "equal but separate" is a more appropriate approach to race relations. In "The Faltering Dream," Cronkite interviews notable black leaders including Reverend Jesse Jackson and Spike Lee.

Lawyer, professor, and former nominee to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, Lani Guinier. Guinier's nomination was withdrawn by President Clinton, after Republicans and Democrats started to question her views, as expressed in her academic writings, labeling her a "racial separatist," and the "quota queen." Guinier talks with Terry about her views, her work with the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational fund to amend the the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and how she was misunderstood and misrepresented during the nomination process.

Professor Patricia Turner, of the African American Studies department at University of California, Davis. Her new book "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (U. of California Press) examines the historical and social ramifications of rumor in African American culture. From Ku Klux Klan-owned clothing and cigarette companies to a military conspiracy to infect Africans with AIDS, she looks at the role of legend and rumor, finding it has long been a feature of the community.

Commentator Gayle Pemberton on the importance of African-American magazines.

Commentator Gayle Pemberton remembers the "Birmingham Bombing", which killed four young girls and galvanized support for the Civil Rights Movement.

Atlanta-based writer, performance artist, and award-winning playwright Pearl Cleage. She's also a columnist for the Atlanta Tribune," and, more importantly, a "third-generation black nationalist feminist." She has a new book of essays, "Deals with the Devil: And other Reasons to Riot," (Ballatine Books). One of her columns, "Mad At Miles," is about her anger at Miles Davis for his "violent crimes against women," about our willingness to forgive the sins of a genius, and the violence done to black women by black men.

Kristin Clark Taylor worked in the Bush administration, and was the first African-American woman in history to hold that post. She's written a new book about it, "The First to Speak: A Woman of Color inside the White House."