Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast

Iain Haley Pollock is the author of Spit Back A Boy, winner of the 2010 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, selected by Elizabeth Alexander. Pollock teaches English at Chestnut Hill Academy.(www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/spit_back) Derrick Weston Brown is the author of Wisdom Teeth (2011).He serves as poet-in-residence at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC. (www.pmpress.org/content/article.php?story=DerrickWestonBrown) Khadijah Queen is the author of two poetry collections, Conduit and Black Peculiar, which won the 2010 Noemi Book Award for Poetry.(http://khadijahqueen.com//home.html) Evie Shockley is the author of two books of poetry, the new black (2011)and a half-red sea.  She teaches African American literature and creative writing at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.(www.redroom.com/author/evie-shockley) Recorded On: Sunday, December 4, 2011

Harriet Lynn, local theater and sports activist, will moderate a discussion with African-American tennis pioneers, Leon Bowser, Joseph Parham, Sr. and Jean Powell. This discussion follows the documentary, Tennis, Everyone!  based on oral history interviews with tennis pioneers conducted by Ms. Lynn and sponsored by the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks. The panelists will share their experiences about the integration and advancement of the sport at Druid Hill Park.    Recorded On: Thursday, November 17, 2011

Ella's Umbrella pairs the mesmerizing voice of jazz singer and songwriter, Nita Paul, with the joyful music-making of guitarist and singer, Paul Iwancio. With original songs on topics like hope, acceptance, joy, love, and gender issues, their live shows are heartfelt, upbeat, energetic fun events, contrasting sweet ballads with rhythmic smart-hook rockers.   Recorded On: Saturday, November 12, 2011

Jeremiah Baker uses saxophone to bridge the gap between the worlds of popular and classical music. Already the winner of numerous prizes and competitions, he is now a doctoral candidate at the Peabody Conservatory. When finished, he will be the first saxophonist to ever earn this degree from Peabody.   Recorded On: Saturday, November 19, 2011

 American Emperor traces Burr from the threshold of the presidency in the contested election of 1800, through his duel with Alexander Hamilton, and then across the American West. A daring and perhaps deluded figure whose political career was in tatters following his indictment for Hamilton's murder, Burr conceived and plotted an insurrection in New Orleans and an invasion of the Spanish colonies of Mexico and Florida.Thomas Jefferson finally had Burr arrested and charged him with treason. Burr led his own legal defense in an historic treason trial before Chief Justice John Marshall, winning an acquittal and freedom. David O. Stewart is the author of The Summer of 1787. He has practiced law in Washington, D.C., for more than a quarter century. He served as law clerk to Justice Lewis Powell of the U.S. Supreme Court and has argued appeals before the Supreme Court.The Ivy Bookshop will have copies of the book for sale at the program.  Recorded On: Thursday, November 17, 2011

Between its founding in 1966 and its formal end in 1980, the Black Panther Party blazed a distinctive trail in American political culture. In Body and Soul, Alondra Nelson chronicles the Black Panther Party's health activism. Its nework of free health clinics, its campaign to raise awareness about genetic disease, and its challenges to medical discrimination, all were an expression of its founding political philosophy.Alondra Nelson is associate professor of sociology at Columbia University, where she also holds an appointment in the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. She is coeditor of Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life and Genetics and Unsettled Past: The Collison of DNA, Race, and History.Barnes & Noble will have copies of the book for sale at the program. Recorded On: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Mamie "Peanut" Johnson joins author Michelle Green for this special program. "She looks the batter in the eye, stretches her 5'2" frame and pops a surefire, windup pitch smack dab over the plate -- one that lets the batter know that this 'peanut of a girl' means business. Fueled by her passion for the game and buoyed by the inspiration of Jackie Robinson, Mamie Johnson was determined to be a professional baseball pitcher. From the time she tried out for the all-male, all-white Police Athletic League team until she became one of only three women to play in the Negro Leagues, Mamie Johnson showed that courage -- and a fierce curveball -- could make a dream come true.Michelle Green, author of A Strong Right Arm, is a graduate of the University of Maryland College of Journalism and the Johns Hopkins University Masters Program in Writing. She is the author of an award-winning children's book series, Willie Pearl. Recorded On: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

After sifting through hundreds of documents including articles from the leading black weeklies, the papers of pivotal figures such as Effa Manley, Branch Rickey, and Jackie Robinson, and interviews with Negro League players and their fans, Bob Luke tells the story of Negro League baseball in the context of the Jim Crow society in which it thrived. He shows the inner workings of the leagues and their teams, the conflicts between players and owners, the uplifting impact the games had on African Americans, and the tireless contributions to the game of  Effa Manley, the only woman in the Baseball Hall of Fame.Sociologist Bob Luke had a 40 year career in human resource development before authoring The Baltimore Elite Giants and The Most Famous Woman in Baseball: Effa Manley and the Negro Leagues. Recorded On: Thursday, November 10, 2011

Larry Doyle is one funny guy. Deliriously Happy is his new collection of short humor writing covering everything from childhood to evil genius, pets to parenthood, Mark Twain to Twitter. A former writer for The Simpsons, Doyle works in showbiz and writes funny pieces for The New Yorker. He is the author of I Love You, Beth Cooper, which won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor and was made into a major motion picture, and Go, Mutants! Recorded On: Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Lesa Cline-Ransome's spirited, folksy narrative tells the story of the colorful life of Leroy "Satchel" Paige, and her husband James Ransome illustrates the text with boldly colored paintings. After just one year in the semi-pros, Satchel Paige was playing in the Negro major leagues. He went on to become the first African American to pitch in a major league World Series, and the first black to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. For ages 4 - 8 and their parents Recorded On: Monday, November 7, 2011

Neil Lanctot teaches modern American history at the University of Delaware. Recipient of the Seymour Medal from the Society for American Baseball Research, he is the author of Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution. His new book, Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella, is the first biography of the Dodger great in decades and the most authoritative ever published. Campanella played eight years in the Negro Leagues with the Washington (later Baltimore) Elite Giants. When he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, he became the first African-American catcher in the 20th century in the major leagues. Campy was a mainstay of the great Dodger teams of the late 1940s and 1950s and was a three-time MVP. Following an automobile accident in 1958 which left him paralyzed below the neck, Roy Campanella became another sort of pioneer, learning new physical therapy techniques and becoming an inspiration to other athletes and physically handicapped people.Award-winning historian Rob Ruck teaches at the Univer

Hear tales from an American storyteller.  Larry McMurty is the 2011 Pratt Lifetime Literacy Achievement Award Recipient.Recorded On: Saturday, November 5, 2011

Lucia Greenhouse grew up in an affluent and loving family, but her parents never took her to a doctor or hospital, not even when she got chicken pox or was knocked unconscious in a bicycle accident. As Christian Scientists, they believed that there were no such things as germs or diseases and that you could not get sick because you were perfect. fathermothergod is Greenhouse's memoir about growing up in the Christian Science faith and the painful consequences the family faced when her mother grew terribly ill.   Recorded On: Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Across the history of black baseball, ball players and musicians played off each other in a lifetime mutual admiration and inspiration society. They were constantly meeting on their travels, crossing paths as they moved across the country. They enjoyed, indeed loved, what each other did, and they enjoyed each other's company. Larry Hogan and Bob Cvornyek explore the many-pronged connection between black music and black baseball found in the history of both genres.Dr. Lawrence Hogan is Senior Professor of History at Union County College. Dr. Robert Cvornyek is Professor of History at Rhode Island College. Recorded On: Saturday, October 29, 2011

Through extensive research and hundreds of interviews with Negro Leaguers, Major Leaguers, family and friends. Larry Tye has tracked down the truth about Satchel Paige, the majestic and enigmatic pitcher. Through Paige's hardscrabble years in Jim Crow Alabama to his time with the Kansas City Monarchs, one of the powerhouses of the Negro Leagues, Tye dissects his mastery of pitching, his accuracy, power and velocity, and his signature pitch, the sizzler. He reveals how Paige, hurt and angry when Jackie Robinson beat him to the Majors, emerged at the age of 42 to help propel the Cleveland Indians to the World Series.Larry Tye was a prize-winning journalist at The Boston Globe and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. An avid baseball fan, he now runs a Boston-based training progrm for medical journalists. He is th author of The Father of Spin, Home Lands, and Rising from the Rails. Recorded On: Sunday, October 30, 2011

A growing number of black activists and artists claim that rap and hip-hop are the basis of an influential new urban social movement. Simultaneously, black citizens express concern with the effect that rap and hip-hop culture exerts on African American communities. According to a recent Pew survey, 71% of blacks think that rap is a bad influence.In his new book, Stare in the Darkness, Lester Spence finds that rap does in fact influence black political attitudes. However, rap also reproduces rather than critiques neoliberal ideology. Black activists seeking to create an innovative model of hip-hop politics are hamstrung by their reliance on outmoded forms of organizing. In a clear and practical manner, Stare in the Darkness reveals the political consequences of rap culture for black politics.Lester K. Spence is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University. His work has been published in both academic journals and the popular press, and he appears regularly on NPR. I

Grant Wood: A Life tells the often heartbreaking story of the man who became "America's Painter." From the moment his now-iconic American Gothic caught the nation's attention in 1930, Grant Wood and his work have served as a blank canvas for American audiences, who see what they will in his dreamy landscapes, quirky history paintings, and forbidding portraits.The first biography of the artist to appear in almost 70 years, and the only one to explore Wood's closeted sexuality, Evans' book draws upon extensive research and important archival discoveries.Since 1997, Tripp Evans has been an assistant professor of art and art history at Wheaton College. He is the author of Romancing the Maya: Mexican Antiquity in the American Imagination, 1820-1915. His biography of Grant Wood won the 2010 Marfield Prize, National Award for Arts Writing. Recorded On: Sunday, October 23, 2011

Jesse Billauer was surfing at Zuma Beach in Californis in 1996 and was pushed headfirst into a shallow sandbar, leaving him a quadriplegic. Jesse left the hospital knowing two things: he had to surf again; and he had to help others be inspired to follow their passions. As founder and ambassador of the Life Rolls On Foundation, Jesse brings people together and changes lives one day, one program, and one person at a time. Jesse Billauer is a professional surfer and Nike athlete. Featured in the surf epic, Step Into Liquid, Jesse's life has also been made into a feature film, Jesse's Story. Recorded On: Thursday, October 20, 2011

With black males graduating at a declining rate -- only 50% will graduate from high school according to the Open Society Foundation's Campaign for Black Male Achievement -- educators, parents and families must make a commitment to reverse this trend.  Dr. Ivory A. Toldson, associate professor at Howard University,and Dr. Raymond Winbush, director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University, will talk about what educators, parents and families can do to ensure that these young men succeed. Shawn Dove, campaign manager for the Open Socity Foundation's Campaign for Black Male Achievement, will serve as moderator.Dr. Toldson serves as senior research analyst for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Negro Education, the country's oldest black continuous academic publication. He is the author of the "Breaking Barriers" series which analyzes academic success indicators from national surveys that together give voice to nearly 10,000 black male pupils from

As she approached her 70th year, Dorothy Bailey decided to find women born in or before 1940, listen to their stories, and use their wisdom as a guide to the silver years of her life. In a Different Light illuminates a moment in the lives of 90 beautiful, well-lived women, all of whom live in Maryland or have strong ties to the state. "Their stories inspire us, make us laugh, make us think, and impart a special joy to our lives," says Bailey.Dorothy Bailey has been recognized by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the area's most powerful women. As an elected official, she represented the citizens of Prince George's County on the County Council for eight years. She is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and has done postgraduate work at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Maryland.  Recorded On: Wednesday, October 19, 2011