African American issues

Writer Eddy L. Harris. Like many African Americans, Harris felt a kinship to the continent of his ancestors. He went to Africa, traveled throughout the continent, and came away feeling disillusioned and feeling that he was not an African at heart after all. He's written about his journey in the new book, "Native Stranger" (published by Simon and Schuster). Harris' earlier book was the critically acclaimed "Mississippi Solo."

Terry Gross talks with two people who are working to spread the word about AIDS.
1) Rashidah Hassan ("reh-shee-dah heh-ssan") is the Executive Director of BEBASHI ("beh-bah-shee"), short for "Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues." It's a Philadelphia-based group that used down-to-earth strategies to warn people of color about AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Ronald Walters, chairman of the department of political science at Howard University. He'll discuss the influence of the black vote in the presidential election.

On Martin Luther King, Junior Day, we devote the show to a look at the present and future of the Civil Rights movement. Terry talks with columnist, radio commentator, and professor Manning Marable. He'll discuss what issues the civil rights movement should address, now that the basic legal rights that Martin Luther King, Junior worked for have largely been secured.

Continuing our look at the future of the civil rights movement, Terry talks with journalist and professor Roger Wilkins. He'll discuss how there's a vacuum in leadership in the civil rights movement. Wilkins says more and more, the traditional organizations like the NAACP are seen to be of a previous generation, and not adequately addressing the current issues.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new collection of writings by African-American author Richard Wright.

On the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, junior, we discus his legacy with Clayborne Carson, the Director and Senior Editor of the Martin Luther King, Junior Papers Project. Next month, they release the first of 14 volumes of Kings's writings. Carson is a professor of history at Stanford University.

Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson. He shot all of Spike Lee's films. He's now making his debut as a film director with the movie, "Juice," for which he also wrote the script.

English professor Arnold Rampersad. He's just edited a new edition of the works of black writer Richard Wright. Wright's novel, "Native Son," was a breakthrough in African American literature when it was published in 1940. It also turns out many scenes dealing with the sexual activities of the main character were removed, to make the novel more palatable to Book Month Club subscribers. Those cuts have been restored in this new edition (by The Library of America).

Writer Jake Lamar. In his new memoir, "Bourgeois Blues," Lamar examines the issue of race in his life, and in American society. (published by Summit Books).