Writing Audio Drama by Tim Crook published by Routledge 31st March 2023
Book Description
Writing Audio Drama offers a comprehensive and intelligent guide to writing sound drama for broadcasting and online. This book uses original research on the history of writing radio plays in the UK and USA to explore how this has informed and developed the art form for more than 100 years.
Audio drama in the context of podcasting is now experiencing a global and exponential expansion. Through analysis of examples of past and present writing, the author explains how to create drama which can explore deeply psychological and intimate themes and achieve emotional, truthful, entertaining and thought-provoking impact. Practical analysis of the key factors required to write successful audio drama is covered in chapters focusing on audio play beginnings and openings, sound story dialogue, sustaining the sound story, plotting for sound drama, and the best ways of ending audio plays. Chapters are supported by online resources which expand visually on subjects discussed and point to exemplary sound dramas referenced in the chapters.
This textbook will be an important resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses such as Podcasting, Radio, Audio Drama, Scriptwriting, and Media Writing.
The content of all the companion web-pages for this project is in the process of development, and completion is expected 31st December 2024 following the publication of the printed book 31st March 2023. Many thanks for your patience and consideration.
The significance of Richard Durham as a radio playwright
Richard Durham researched and scripted 91 of the Destination Freedom programmes. This resource has managed to locate the archive of 62 of them.
Why is the creative and cultural success of this project so important? Nothing like it has ever been produced in US broadcasting history, or indeed in the history of UK broadcasting.
It is not enough to say that Richard Durham is considered the most significant African-American dramatist in broadcasting history. It would be right to say he is one of the most significant radio dramatists in English-speaking radio history throughout the world.
He combined history, art, journalism, culture, politics, human rights and drama to make a contribution in story telling that had impact and represents a milestone in the literature of human struggle and progress. Durham created 91 unique chapters of drama charting US black history which resonate across the panoply of understanding human history.
Professor J. Fred MacDonald’s 1989 volume published by Praeger includes 15 scripts for:
Dark Explorers; Citizen Toussaint; Denmark Vesey; Railway to Freedom; The Liberators I: William Lloyd Garrison; The Story of 1875; The Heart of George Cotton; The Long Road; Peace Mediator; The Death of Aesop; Tales of Stackalee; The Trumpet Talks; The Rime of the Ancient Dodger, and Premonition of the Panther.
The series premiered on NBC/WMAQ January 27, 1948, and ran for two years.
The 91 original episodes were written solely by African American dramatist Richard Durham.
Richard Durham was an insightful and prolific writer who championed equality, understanding and racial dignity in his work.
See: https://interactive.wttw.com/dusable-to-obama/durhams-destination-freedom
Durham’s scripts were stirring appeals for racial equality and freedom.
His programmes are mainstream icons of significance in radio history because of their innovation in style, subject and genre, and the quality of writing, production and performance.
During a time when little was written on black history, Durham would meticulously research the events and people in each episode to bring historical truth to light.
Characters were written to cut across the pervasive stereotypes in popular culture that portrayed African Americans as clowns, menials or slackers.
In contrast, Durham’s historical characters were given complex personalities that were “rebellious, biting, scornful, angry, and cocky, as the occasion calls for.”
In his later career he originated and wrote the 1960s television soap opera ‘Birds of an Iron Feather’ featuring black lives in Chicago.
He edited ‘Muhammad Speaks’, the widely-read newspaper produced by the Nation of Islam. He also ghost-wrote Mohammed Ali’s autobiography.
He campaigned for and wrote speeches for Chicago Mayor Harold Lee Washington (1922-1987) between 1983 to 1987.
Washington was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st Mayor of Chicago, and became the first African American to be elected as the city’s mayor in April 1983 after a coalition of Black-brown unity supported his election.
Destination Freedom received financial support for its first 13 broadcasts from the Chicago Defender newspaper, which along with the Pittsburg Courier, was regarded as one of the leading black newspapers in the US.
The Urban League of Chicago sponsored several broadcasts in the early 1950s.
The efforts of Durham and the series’ nearly all black cast were recognized by various local and statewide organizations as making a significant contribution toward the American ideal of Democracy.
Posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2007, Richard Durham creatively chronicled and brought to life the significant events of his times.
Durham’s trademark narrative style engaged listeners with fascinating characters, compelling details, and sharp images of pivotal moments in American and African American history and culture.
Academic article about Richard Durham in the Journal of Radio & Audio Media
‘Destination Freedom: A Historic Radio Series About Black Life’ by Sonja D. Williams
To cite this article: Sonja D. Williams (2016) Destination Freedom: A Historic Radio Series About
Black Life, Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 23:2, 263-277, DOI: 10.1080/19376529.2016.1223973
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2016.1223973
Abstract:
‘From 1948 to 1950, NBC’s Chicago affiliate, WMAQ, aired a unique, half-hour long weekly drama series. Destination Freedom featured tales of contemporary and historic black leaders representing a wide range of careers and accomplishments. The series’ creator and sole scriptwriter, Richard Durham (1917–1984), lyrically demonstrated how each of his subjects, in their own way, advocated for freedom, justice, and equality. Durham earned numerous awards for his series, including posthumous induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame (2007). After Destination Freedom’s demise, Durham worked as a labor organizer, newspaper editor, television scriptwriter, credited ghost-writer for boxer Muhammad Ali, and speechwriter/campaign strategist for Harold Washington, Chicago’s first black mayor.
The following article examines the creative energy and political struggles Durham navigated to bring his more than 90 Destination Freedom radio dramas to life. This essay is excerpted from Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom. Copyright 2015 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, and used with the permission of the University of Illinois Press.’
Sonja Williams’ 2015 biography and study of Richard Durham Word Warrier: Richard Durham, Radio and Freedom. University of Illinois Press and Oxford University Press.
See: https://academic.oup.com/illinois-scholarship-online/book/15068
From radio dramas to print journalism to political activism, Chicago writer Richard Durham celebrated the depth of black history and the nuanced lives of American people of color.
Motivated by a love of storytelling and passion for equality, Durham was responsible for groundbreaking programs on radio and TV. Author Sonja Williams first learned about Durham’s radio series “Destination Freedom” chronicling notable African-American historical figures when she was researching a documentary for the Smithsonian Institution.
“I had never heard of (him),” said Williams, a Peabody-winning radio producer and a professor of media, journalism and film at Howard University. “I was fascinated by not just his work, but the more that I looked into him, his personal story was fascinating. There wasn’t much written about him outside of the ‘Destination Freedom’ radio series that was on from 1948-‘50. That was my introduction.”
Durham’s worked crossed media. He was the editor for Muhammad Speaks, the widely-read newspaper produced by the Nation of Islam. He helped Muhammad Ali write his autobiography. He wrote a groundbreaking soap opera produced by WTTW chronicling the lives of black Chicagoans. And he even served as an advisor to Harold Washington during his first campaign for mayor.
Williams traces the course of Durham’s uncommon life in the book “Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom.” To Williams, Durham had two key motivations. “He loved telling stories. As his consciousness developed, he knew he wanted to tell stories about black people, African-Americans, that really countered the prevailing stereotypes that existed.”
And, Williams said, Durham came from a family that valued education highly. “He knew, or realized after a certain point, that he could not only tell stories, but in those stories help educate while entertaining people. He was really using media, whether it was radio or TV or print, to provide information, but do it in entertaining ways, so you’re not knocking people over head with, ‘This is important, you have to understand this!’”
Sonja Williams presented a lecture on Richard Durham for the Library of Congress in 2016
‘Award-winning radio producer Sonja D. Williams illuminates Durham’s extraordinary career in her book “Word Warrior”, which draws on archives and hard-to-access family records, as well as interviews with family and such colleagues as Studs Terkel and Toni Morrison. She discussed and signed her book. Speaker Biography: Sonja Williams is a professor in the Howard University Department of Media, Journalism and Film in Washington. She has worked as a broadcast journalist and media trainer in the Caribbean, Africa and the U.S. and has received numerous awards, including three Peabody awards for significant and meritorious achievement.’
‘Word Warrior’ Traces Uncommon Life of Chicago Writer Richard Durham by Nick Blumberg on the Chicago television station WTTW website. There is a nine minute interview with Sonja Williams.
See: https://news.wttw.com/2017/10/12/word-warrior-traces-uncommon-life-chicago-writer-richard-durham
Analysing and presenting many of the plays in Destination Freedom written by Richard Durham
Destination Freedom – Woman with a Mission (Ida B. Wells) 04/10/49, episode 41
The story of Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) who became an “investigative reporter.” She started an anti-lynching campaign in the south and became a part-owner of “The Memphis Free Speech and Headlight.” The story is told in the first person and is well-written and performed. The unusual combination of organ and tympani is very effective. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Wezlynn Tildon (Ida Wells), Janice Kingslow, Jonathan Hole, George Kluge, Jack Lester, Fred Pinkard, Jess Pugh, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Richard Durham’s dramatisation of one of the most significant investigative campaigning journalists in world history- not just US history was broadcast on 10th April 1949.
It would not be until 2020 when she was properly recognised in US professional journalism for her campaigning against lynching and racial injustice with the posthumous award of a Pulitzer prize.
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (1862 – 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and an early leader in the civil rights movement.
She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Her life was focused on fighting prejudice and violence, and achieving for African Americans, especially women.
The Washington Post explained why the Pulitzer prize award is so significant in 2020.
She was offered an editorial position for the Evening Star in Washington, D.C., and she began writing weekly articles for The Living Way weekly newspaper under the pen name “Iola.” Under her pen name, she wrote articles attacking racist Jim Crow policies.
In 1889, she became editor and co-owner with J. L. Fleming of The Free Speech and Headlight, a black-owned newspaper established by the Reverend Taylor Nightingale and based at the Beale Street Baptist Church in Memphis.
On October 26, 1892, Wells began to publish her research on lynching in a pamphlet titled Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.
Having examined many accounts of lynchings due to the alleged “rape of white women”, she concluded that Southerners cried rape as an excuse to hide their real reasons for lynchings: black economic progress, which threatened white Southerners with competition, and white ideas of enforcing black second-class status in the society.
In 1894, before leaving the US for her second visit to Great Britain, Wells called on William Penn Nixon, the editor of the Daily Inter-Ocean, a Republican newspaper in Chicago.
It was the only major white paper that persistently denounced lynching.[ After she told Nixon about her planned tour, he asked her to write for the newspaper while in England. She was the first African-American woman to be a paid correspondent for a mainstream white newspaper.
“The Heart of George Cotton”- Destination Freedom broadcast 8th August 1948
Destination Freedom – 08/08/48, episode 7
Professor J. Fred MacDonald writes:
‘This was Richard Durham’s most-praised radio production, one for which he was awarded first-place honors in a competition sponsored by the Institute for Education by Radio, and one that was restaged in 1957 on the prestigious CBS Radio Workshop.
In this drama about the accomplishments of pioneering heart surgeons, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931) and Dr. Ulysses Grant Dailey (1885-1961),
Durham probed one of the most significant contributions made by black doctors to American medicine: the first successful suturing of the human heart as performed by Dr. Williams in 1893.
In terms of the production, two devices make this an especially compelling drama: The narrative role assumed by a human heart offers a compelling perspective on the medical technique developed by Drs. Williams and Dailey, and the repetitive sound of heartbeats heard during much of the script adds relentless urgency to the unfolding story line.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Dr. Dailey), Larry Alexander, Oscar Brown Jr., Donald Gallagher, Janice Kingslow, Curt Kupfer, William Nicks, Tony Parrish, Arthur Peterson, Dorothy Van Zant, Greg Pascal (singer), Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
“Peace Mediator”- (Dr. Ralph Bunche) Destination Freedom broadcast 20th February 1949
Destination Freedom – 02/20/49, episode 34
This Destination Freedom episode dramatises the work of African-American US diplomat Ralph Bunche (1904-1971).
His outstanding work for the United Nations furthering the cause of peace led to his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950.
It can be argued that the play was more contemporary drama-documentary journalism because when produced and broadcast all of the events- as with many other Destination Freedom episodes- were about contemporary current affairs, people and issues.
Professor J. Fred MacDonald writes:
‘In terms of his international focus, this was Durham’s most ambitious script.
Through the eyes of Ralph Bunche, particularly in his role as a mediator for the United Nations in the years immediately following World War II, Durham demonstrated that anywhere in the world—be it in Palestine, South Africa, or Washington, D.C.—massive social damage occurred when race prejudice was allowed to become state policy.
In Bunche’s understanding of history and politics is substantiation for Durham’s underlying thesis that the African-American struggle is a paradigm for all those struggling for justice and dignity.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Dr. Bunche), Oscar Brown Jr., Everett Clark, Jack Lester, Ted Liss, Arthur McCoo, Tony Parrish, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
“The Trumpet Talks”- Durham’s dramatisation of the life of Louis Armstrong
Destination Freedom – 07/31/49, episode 55
Professor Fred J MacDonald writes:
‘Durham wrote several scripts highlighting black culture and its creative practitioners. ‘Durham wrote several scripts highlighting black culture and its creative practitioners.
Whether treating a musician, dancer, pop or opera singer, actor, poet, or novelist, Durham framed his dramas to communicate the ironic message that internationally recognized cultural beauty could emerge from the brute discrimination pervading American society but that the collective people from whom this cultural genius emerged continued to be socially abused, economically deprived, and politically exploited.’
Cast: Homer Heck (producer), Richard Durham (writer), Dick Loughran (director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Louis Armstrong), Tony Parrish (narrator), Janice Kingslow, Fred Pinkard, Dean Olmquist, Sid McCoy, Larry Auerbach (record production), Mitsy Shine (record production), Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
“Anatomy of an Ordinance”- Destination Freedom, broadcast 5th June 1949
Destination Freedom – 06/05/49, episode 48
The story of Reverend Archibald Carey, Jr. (1908-1981) of the Quinn Chapel AME Church and an alderman from Chicago’s Third Ward, who “tried to run slums out of town.” Archibald Carey, Jr. appears by transcription at the end of the episode.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Archibald Carey, Jr. (himself), Oscar Brown Jr. (Archibald Carey), Janice Kingslow, Wezlynn Tildon, Dean Olmquist, Harvey Hayes, Tony Parrish, Arthur Peterson, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
This script and production is further proof of the stature and quality of Richard Durham as a radio playwright.
I would argue that he was more mature, versatile and accomplished than Orson Welles and any of the writers in Mercury Theatre on the Air.
In this dramatisation of the black Alderman Archibald Carey, Durham characterises with voice and political and philosophical ontology the force of the Chicago slums. He makes them metaphysical, giving them a single personality and consciousness which is menacing, cunning and the force of indifference, cynicism, injustice and indeed evil.
His ability to invest dramatic identity, characterisation into inanimate or indeed biophysical and chemical forms shows how his understanding of the radio dramatic medium was supreme and originally creative.
Durham could write for sonic imaginative reception and understood the phenomenology of the listener. His writing art in the sound medium was utterly exceptional.
This skill and artistry is present in the Heart of George Cotton and the Trumpet Speaks.
In Anatomy of an Ordinance he elevates the power of his writing so eloquently into the political dimension and turns it into a battle of human rights where poverty and human dignity are at war with each other.
Archibald James Carey Jr. (1908-1981) was an American lawyer, judge, politician, diplomat, and clergyman from the South Side of Chicago.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Archibald James Carey Sr., he began his public service in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), where he became a prominent African American leader and advocate for social justice in Chicago.
In 1957 he was the first African-American appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as Chair of his committee on government employment policy, working to reduce racial discrimination.
In 1966 he became a judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois and he served in this role until his death.
It has been argued that he gave a speech in 1952 which ended with a very similar crescendo that Martin Luther King Jr. would make famous 11 years later in his “I Have A Dream” speech.
They both knew each other well and Pastor Carey could well have been a significance influence on Dr. King.
“The Ballad of Satchel Paige” Destination Freedom 15th May 1949
Destination Freedom – 05/15/49, episode 45
Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige (1906-1982) was an African-American league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who is notable for his longevity in the game, and for attracting record crowds wherever he pitched.
He was the first player who had played in the ‘Negro leagues’ to pitch in the World Series, in 1948, and was the first electee of the ‘Negro League’ Committee to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.
This episode is unique for the creative use of ballad singing as the narrative drive in the play performed by Oscar Brown Jr.
Oscar Brown jr (1926-2005) was an American singer, songwriter, playwright, poet, civil rights activist, and actor. He also ran unsuccessfully for office in both the Illinois state legislature and the U.S. Congress.
Brown wrote many songs. 125 have been published and his legacy includes 12 albums, and more than a dozen musical plays.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Harris Gaines (Satchel Paige), Oscar Brown Jr. (balladeer), Dean Olmquist, Harvey Hayes, Ted Liss, Tony Parrish, Fred Pinkard, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Lou Kessler (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Richard Durham and his representation of black women in Destination Freedom
Professor J.Fred MacDonald observed in his introduction to the Praeger published book of 1989 ‘Scripts from Radio’s Black Legacy, 1948-50’:
If Durham’s projection of his dramatic message toward the exploited Third World was ahead of its time, even more remarkable for its foresight was his posture regarding women’s rights. He felt that in his black characterizations there were models for exploited women.
Professor J.Fred MacDonald observed in his introduction to the Praeger published book of 1989 ‘Scripts from Radio’s Black Legacy, 1948-50’:
‘If Durham’s projection of his dramatic message toward the exploited Third World was ahead of its time, even more remarkable for its foresight was his posture regarding women’s rights. He felt that in his black characterizations there were models for exploited women.
“One half the population of the world,” he told an interviewer, “the women of the world of all races and creeds in their upward swing toward a real emancipation, find it natural to identify their striving with the direction and emotional realism in Negro life today.”
In relating the stories of leading black women—among them Harriet Tubman, Mary McLeod Bethune, Dorothy Maynor, Hazel Scott, Katherine Dunham, Lena Horne, and Gwendolyn Brooks—he propounded an egalitarian theme well enunciated in the slow, sad words of Sojourner Truth.
I’ve heard men say women are not their equals. I’ve heard them laugh because they say women must be helped into carriages, lifted over ditches, and have the best of everything. Nobody ever helped me into carriages or over mud puddles or gave me any best (pause) and ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arms and hands! I have plowed and planted and gathered crops into barns—and no man could do it better (pause) and ain’t I a woman? I have borne five children and seen most of ’em sold off into slavery, and when I called out for men to help me, there was none willin’ to do it. I have been nurse to children, black and white, and bred them all from the cradle, seen ’em grow up to be slaves and a seller of slaves. And I have gotten out on the road alone to teach better. And I have felt a mother’s grief and done a man’s job—(pause) and ain’t I a woman? In this world—few men have had a fair chance to live and grow—and almost no women. When men run the world alone, it runs into wars and slavery for men and women. It’ll do no harm to have man and woman run it better together!
For the most part Richard Durham’s women exhibited a strong, independent mentality in a society prejudiced against them by reasons of race and gender.
They all demonstrated personalities similar to that of Ida B. Wells, described by one character as being “a stormy old woman. Restless like a river and a tongue like a flamin’ sword.”
Durham’s most impressive statement in favor of women’s rights—and conversely, his most powerful appeal for women to resist the chronic domination of’ male chauvinism, or as he termed it “masculinism”–came when he caused the noted humanitarian, Mary Church Terrell, to exclaim to a group of racist white women:
The only protecting women need is protection by equality under the law. Equality of opportunities and the right to share the benefits of this land, alongside men. Equality to choose their associates without fear of intimidation from bigots and the hissing of cowards. That is why I’m staying in the South and getting Negro and white women together to find their freedom together. In the right to vote and the right to work will freedom be found—for once a white woman bows down before white masculinism she is ready for slavery!
Although he clearly developed political and social principles in Destination Freedom, Durham failed to delineate a consistent economic interpretation.
Occasionally, his characters touched on economic issues, declaring in such instances notions that might have generated greater elaboration.
For example, more questions were raised than answered when he caused Ida B. Wells to explain racism as a function of economics.
I knew as no one else in Memphis seemed to know: that the real motive behind all lynching was not the “moral” issue pretended—but underneath it was a matter of murder for money and jobs. The base of all race terror pounded itself into my head as a weapon to enslave a people at the bottom of the economic scale—and the “moral” charges were just the envelope of the letter.
Professor J. Fred MacDonald curated two Richard Durham scripts focusing on the history of African-American Women:
Railway to Freedom- dramatising the story of Harriet Tubman.
Destination Freedom – 07/04/48, episode 2
Professor MacDonald writes:
‘In his dramatization of the activities of Harriet Tubman (1821-1913), Richard Durham made clear early—it was the third Destination Freedom program—that women were an integral part of the black experience and that women would be major actors in his interpretation of the historic struggle. Durham offered Tubman as a modern Moses, personally escaping slavery in 1849 only to spend the next decade slipping in and out of the South to organize and guide others northward to freedom. In terms of their response to slavery, it is interesting to contrast Tubman’s nonviolent response with that of the rebel Denmark Vesey. Likewise interesting is Durham’s understanding that in the historical scheme black women had been equal partners with black men and that the struggle for social justice could only be achieved in awareness of that balance.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Wezlynn Tildon (Harriet Tubman), Hope Summers, Melva Williams, Maurice Copeland, Curley Ellison, George Kluge, Arthur McCoo, Charles Mountain, Cliff Norton, Fred Pinkard, Greg Pascal (singer), Richard Shores (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
The Long Road- dramatizing the story of Mary Church Terrell
Destination Freedom – 08/07/49, episode 56
Professor MacDonald writes:
‘Durham used the story of educator, author, and humanitarian, Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) to broaden his assault on discrimination. While he portrayed Terrell as a black woman overcoming great obstacles that resulted from racial prejudice, Durham emphasized her own argument that discrimination for reasons of gender was equally destructive to the nation’s professed liberal democratic values. The closing scene remains particularly touching as this elderly woman of great achievement and renown is rudely forced from a public bus in Washington, D.C., because she refused to sit in the rear.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Wezlynn Tildon (Mary Church Terrell), Janice Kingslow (Mary Church Terrell), Oscar Brown Jr., Dorothy Tate, Alma Platts, Fred Pinkard, Dean Olmquist, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Chan (announcer)
Other Destination Freedom episodes written by Richard Durham curated on YouTube by Old Time Radio Reserchers
See: https://www.youtube.com/@OTRR/about (As of 11th May 2023)
Destination Freedom – The Knock-Kneed Man (Crispus Attucks)
Destination Freedom – 06/27/48, episode 1
The story of the life of Crispus Attucks (c. 1723-1770), the first man to strike a blow for freedom in the American colonies. He was also the first man to be killed at the Boston Massacre. This is the first show of the series. Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Crispus Attucks), Arthur McCoo (narrator), Donald Gallagher (captain), Jess Pugh (skipper), Janice Kingslow (Abigail), Arthur Peterson (Quaker), Maurice Copeland (mate), Charles Mountain (guard), Marvin Pisner (editor), Greg Pascal (singer), Richard Shores (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Dark Explorers (Blacks accompanying Pizzarro and Balboa)
Destination Freedom – 07/11/48, episode 3
Professor MacDonald writes:
‘In his metaphoric tale of the Black men who accompanied the earliest Spanish conquistadores to the Americas, Durham made the point that men of many races were integral to the discovery and settlement of the New World. In fact, it is in his Black characters that Durham placed those sympathetic, nurturing characteristics so much more vital to settlement than the brutality the European leaders demonstrated toward the indigenous peoples. That his Black characters strived from the beginning to be free illustrated Durham’s thesis that the struggle for human freedom was of long-standing and of particular relevance to the society that would emerge in this New World.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Boris Aplon, Oscar Brown Jr., Donald Gallagher, William Key, George Kluge, Charles Mountain, Arthur McCoo, Fred Pinkard, Jess Pugh, Greg Pascal (singer), Richard Shores (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Saga of Denmark Vesey
Destination Freedom – 07/18/48, episode 4
Professor MacDonald writes:
‘n his dramatization of the life of Denmark Vesey (1767-1822), Durham proffered as a role model the principal organizer of an abortive slave rebellion that in 1822 involved as many as 9,000 conspirators. Here Durham has condensed the events in Vesey’s evolution from slave to freedman to revolutionary. But his plans for armed uprising against the white enslavers are detailed in a chillingly frank fashion. And in his final courtroom defense–appealing for the revolution of Jefferson and Paine and Franklin to be extended to those still trapped in racial subjugation–Durham projected Vesey into the modern debate over Black rights. Vesey’s words constitute one of the most damning critiques of racial abuse ever heard on US radio.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Oscar Brown Jr., Ray Grant, Howard Hall, Curt Kupfer, Jack Lester, Charles Mountain, Arthur McCoo, Cliff Norton, Fred Pinkard, Louise Pruitt, Greg Pascal (singer), Richard Shores (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Franklin Ferguson (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Making of a Man (Frederick Douglass – part I)
Destination Freedom – 07/25/48, episode 5
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. Part one of the story of Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), a slave who fought for the freedom of his race. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Ernie Andrews, Oscar Brown Jr., Donald Gallagher, Ken Griffin, George Kluge, Sherman Marks, Arthur McCoo, Fred Pinkard, Jess Pugh, Russ Reed, Greg Pascal (singer), Richard Shores (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Dick Noble (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Key to Freedom (Frederick Douglass – part II)
Destination Freedom – 08/01/48, episode 6
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. Part two (conclusion) of the story of Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), the famous editor and abolitionist. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Wezlynn Tildon, Ernie Andrews, Boris Aplon, Oscar Brown Jr., Maurice Copeland, Donald Gallagher, Arthur McCoo, Cliff Norton, Fred Pinkard, Jess Pugh, Greg Pascal (singer), Richard Shores (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Truth Goes to Washington (Sojourner Truth)
Destination Freedom – 08/15/48, episode 8
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), a mystic, abolitionist and fighter for women’s suffrage. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Wezlynn Tildon (Sojourner Truth), Ernie Andrews, Oscar Brown Jr., Donald Gallagher, Ken Griffin, Sherman Marks, Charles Mountain, Tony Parrish, Fred Pinkard, Russ Reed, Greg Pascal (singer), Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Maurice Leshon (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Arctic Autograph (Matthew Henson)
Destination Freedom – 08/22/48, episode 9
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of Matthew Henson (1866-1955), the first man to reach the North Pole. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Matthew Henson), Maurice Copeland (Commander Peary), Janice Kingslow, Louise Pruitt, Oscar Brown Jr., Horace Games, Jonathan Hole, Charles Mountain, Arthur Peterson, Stuart Sklam, Greg Pascal (singer), Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Story of 1875 (Senator Charles Caldwell)
Destination Freedom – 08/29/48, episode 10
Professor MacDonald wrote:
‘More than a story of a year, this radio drama was a metaphor for the end of congressional reconstruction of the South and the imposition of socially repressive controls over Blacks that would last a century. Here Durham dramatized the life of Charles Caldwell (1831-1875), a Black state senator in Mississippi following the Civil War—using Caldwell’s assassination in late 1875 as symbolic of the lot of emancipated Blacks and their white supporters. The story has been streamlined but tensely communicated, especially by Durham’s selection of narrators, who take the listener from bright festivities of a hopeful New Year’s Day to the morose realities of late December. But the social issues are also here, clearly delineated in this tale of opportunity lost and promises unfulfilled.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), William Nicks (Senator Caldwell), Ernie Andrews, Oscar Brown Jr., Donald Gallagher, Ken Griffin, Jonathon Hole, Janice Kingslow, Charles Mountain, Arthur McCoo, Fred Pinkard, Cliff Soubier, Greg Pascal (singer), Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Poet in Pine Mill (James Weldon Johnson)
Destination Freedom – 09/05/48, episode 11
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), a rural teacher from the big city, determined to have a law passed outlawing the lynching of Blacks. He was a poet, educator, and editor. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Tony Parrish (James Weldon Johnson), Maude McElroy, Oscar Brown Jr., Donald Gallagher, Ted Liss, Fred Pinkard, Les Spears, Louis Vernon, Duke Watson, Louise Pruitt, Greg Pascal (singer), Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Father of the Blues (W.C. Handy)
Destination Freedom – 09/12/48, episode 12
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of W.C. Handy (1873-1958), who called himself “the Father of the Blues”.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (W.C. Handy), Louise Pruitt, Gladys Williams, Oscar Brown Jr., George Kluge, Curt Kupfer, Charles Mountain, William Nicks, Cliff Norton, Tony Parrish, Arthur Peterson, Les Spears, Greg Pascal (singer), Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Claude Shiner (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Boy with a Dream (Dr. J. Ernest Wilkins)
Destination Freedom – 09/19/48, episode 13
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of Dr. J. Ernest Wilkins (1923-2011), noted young mathematician.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Dr. Wilkins), Janice Kingslow, Boris Aplon, George Kluge, Charles Mountain, Cliff Norton, Tony Parrish, Fred Pinkard, Russ Reed, Cliff Soubier, Greg Pascal (singer), Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Shakespeare of Harlem (Langston Hughes)
Destination Freedom – 09/26/48, episode 14
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of Langston Hughes (1902-1967), famous Black poet, illustrated with several of his works. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Langston Hughes), Janice Kingslow, Louise Pruitt, Oscar Brown Jr., Charles Mountain, Sherman Marks, Les Spears, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Citizen Toussaint (Toussaint L’Ouverture)
Destination Freedom – 10/03/48, episode 15
Professor MacDonald writes:
‘That Richard Durham looked beyond national boundaries to embrace the worldwide struggle for freedom is evident in his drama about Francois Dominique Toussaint L’Ouverture (1743-1803), one of the liberators of Haiti. There was much for Durham to admire in the Haitian revolutionary legacy: Slaves had risen successfully against their masters, native strategy and fervor had militarily overcome the colonial armies of Napoleonic France, and the first Black-led modern state in history was founded with the declaration of Haitian independence in 1804. But this drama reflects the ambiguity in Durham’s understanding of how oppressed humanity would reach its destination in freedom, for here he praised those resorting to armed rebellion, while in other programs he lauded those employing nonviolent methods.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Harold Young (Toussaint L’Ouverture), Wezlynn Tildon, Oscar Brown Jr., Maurice Copeland, Sherman Marks, Tony Parrish, Fred Pinkard, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Little David (Joe Lewis)
Destination Freedom – 10/10/48, episode 16
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of Joe Louis (1914-1981), the heavyweight boxing champion. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Joe Lewis), Oscar Brown Jr., Harry Elders, Janice Kingslow, Charles Mountain, Les Spears, Studs Terkel, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Jack Moss (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Boy Who Was Traded for a Horse (George Washington Carver)
Destination Freedom – 10/17/48, episode 17
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of George Washington Carver (1864-1943), the great scientist of agriculture. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (George Washington Carver), Hope Summers, Gladys Williams, Oscar Brown Jr., Ken Griffin, George Kluge, Arthur Peterson, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Echoes of Harlem (Duke Ellington)
Destination Freedom – 11/07/48, episode 19
The story of Duke Ellington (1899-1974) and how he put his band together. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Larry Auerbach (assistant director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Duke Ellington), Gladys Williams, Charles Mountain, Cliff Norton, Tony Parrish, Fred Pinkard, Les Spears, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Henry Cook (announcer)
Destination Freedom – One Out of Seventeen (Mary McLeod Bethune)
Destination Freedom – 11/14/48, episode 20
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), a noted Southern educator. She appears on the program after her life story is told. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Mary McLeod Bethune (herself), Janice Kingslow (Mary McLeod Bethune), Wezlynn Tildon, George Kluge, Cliff Norton, Charles Mountain, Fred Pinkard, Jess Pugh, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), John Holtman (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Rime of the Ancient Dodger (Jackie Robinson)
Destination Freedom – 11/21/48, episode 21
Professor MacDonald writes:
‘It is hard to overestimate the symbolic importance of the integration of American major-league baseball accomplished in 1947 by Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) of the Brooklyn Dodgers. This one act epitomized the advancement of Blacks toward social acceptance based on talent and work. It stood as tangible proof of an improving Black condition as promised in the battle against racism that had been World War II. In “The Rime of the Ancient Dodger” Durham was at his wistful, creative best. In the character of Sammy the Whammy—played rascalishly by Studs Terkel in the original broadcast—Durham employed verse and dialect conversation to deliver, less than two years after Robinson had broken the color bar, his hopeful message that one more step had been taken toward realization of a destiny in freedom that the radio dramatist felt to be inevitable.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Jackie Robinson), Studs Terkel (Ancient Dodger), Everett Clark (Branch Rickey), Tony Parrish (Clyde Sukeforth), Janice Kingslow, Ernie Andrews, Jack Lester, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (music), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Investigator for Democracy (Walter White)
Destination Freedom – 11/28/48, episode 22
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of Walter White (1893-1955), the executive secretary of the NAACP. [Goldin]
Walter White (NAACP) wikipedia biography See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_White_(NAACP)
Walter Francis White by Clara Sipprell.jpg
Created: circa 1950 date QS:P,+1950-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902
White, Walter (June 14, 1954). “All or Nothing”. This I Believe.
See: https://thisibelieve.org/essay/17092/
A Man Called White The Autobiography of Walter White University of Georgia Press
See: https://ugapress.org/book/9780820316987/a-man-called-white/
Baime, A.J., White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America’s Darkest Secret. New York: Mariner Books, 2022.
Cortner, Richard C., A Mob Intent on Death: The NAACP and the Arkansas Riot Cases. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1988.
Kluger, Richard. Simple Justice. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1977.
Zangrando, Robert L. and Ronald L. Lewis, Walter F. White: The NAACP’s Ambassador for Racial Justice. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2019.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Arthur Peterson (Walter White), Gladys Williams, Maurice Copeland, Ken Griffin, Larry McKinley, Charles Mountain, Fred Pinkard, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Autobiography of a Hero (Dorie Miller)
Destination Freedom – 12/05/48, episode 23
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Defender. The story of Doris “Dorie” Miller (1919-1943), a mess steward in the Navy who won the Navy Cross for bravery. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Bob Wombold (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Dorie Miller), Wezlynn Tildon, Jess Pugh, Maurice Copeland, Ken Griffin, Donald Gallagher, Oscar Brown Jr., Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Pied Piper Versus Paul Revere (Albert Merritt)
Destination Freedom – 12/12/48, episode 24
The story of Albert Merritt (1871-1958) of Martinsville, Indiana, who ran a club for the city’s poor boys for more than 40 years – impacting the lives of around 2,000 boys.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Albert Merritt), Jonathan Hole (Mr. Batte), Geraldine Kay, Paul Belvedere, Cliff Norton, George Kluge, Fred Pinkard, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Choir Girl from Philadelphia (Marian Anderson)
Destination Freedom – 12/19/48, episode 25
The story of the great contralto, Marian Anderson (1897-1993).
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Bob Wombold (producer, director), Wezlynn Tildon (Marian Anderson), Arthur Peterson (narrator), Janice Kingslow, Fred Pinkard, Gladys Williams, Oscar Brown Jr., George Kluge, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Maurice Leshon (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Mike Rex (Willard Motley)
Destination Freedom – 12/26/48, episode 26
he story of the author of the best seller, “Knock on Any Door”, Willard Motley (1909-1965).
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Bob Wombold (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Willard Motley), Oscar Brown Jr. (Mike Rex), Claire Baum, Frank Dane, Janice Kingslow, Tony Parrish, George Kluge, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Maurice Leshon (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Maiden Speech (Congressman Oscar De Priest)
Destination Freedom – 01/02/49, episode 27
The story of former Illinois Congressman Oscar De Priest (1871-1951), the first Black elected to Congress in the 20th century.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Bob Wombold (producer, director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Oscar De Priest), Maurice Copeland (father), Wezlynn Tildon (mother), Ted Liss (Lewis), Ken Griffin, Charles Mountain, Forest Lewis, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Maurice Leshon (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Boy Who Beat the Bus (Governor William H. Hastie)
Destination Freedom – 01/09/49, episode 28
The story of William H. Hastie (1904-1976), the first Black to serve as Governor of the US Virgin Islands.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Governor Hastie), Geraldine Kay, Oscar Brown Jr., George Kluge, Jack Lester, Charles Mountain, Jess Pugh, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Houses That Paul Built (Paul Williams)
Destination Freedom – 02/27/49, episode 35
The story of Paul Williams (1894-1980), a Black architect who became one of the nation’s leading builders and designers. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Forrest Lewis (Paul Williams), Oscar Brown Jr. (Paul as a boy), Janice Kingslow (Della), Art Hearn, Fred Pinkard, Maurice Copeland, Arthur Peterson, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Bobby Christian (music), Elwyn Owen (organist), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Do Something! Be Somebody! (Canada Lee)
Destination Freedom – 03/06/49, episode 36
The story of Canada Lee (1907-1952), an actor who pioneered roles for Blacks in the United States.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Canada Lee), Wezlynn Tildon, Oscar Brown Jr., Harlan Hensley, George Kluge, Cliff Norton, Studs Terkel, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Bobby Christian (music), Henry Cook (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Up From Slavery (Booker T. Washington)
Destination Freedom – 03/13/49, episode 37
The story of Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), who became “the undisputed leader of Southern Negro educators.” [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Booker T. Washington), Wezlynn Tildon, Oscar Brown Jr., Donald Gallagher, Charles Mountain, Tony Parrish, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Black Boy (Richard Wright)
Destination Freedom – 03/20/49, episode 38
The story of Richard Wright (1908-1960), author of the “literary bombshell, ‘Native Son’.” [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (adaptor), Richard Wright (author), Homer Heck (producer, director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Richard Wright), Janice Kingslow, Tony Parrish, Fred Pinkard, Jess Pugh, Studs Terkel, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Transfusion (Dr. Charles R. Drew)
Destination Freedom – 03/27/49, episode 39
The story of Dr. Charles Drew (1904-1950), who developed a practical blood substitute (plasma) and the system of transfusions called a “blood bank.” [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Dr. Charles Drew), Janice Kingslow, Paul Barnes, Everett Clark, Donald Gallagher, George Kluge, Russ Reed, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Pagan Poet (Countee Cullen)
Destination Freedom – 04/03/49, episode 40
A biography of Countee Cullen (1903-1946), the famous poet. His was considered the most “representative voice” of the Harlem renaissance. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Countee Cullen), Janice Kingslow, Dean Olmquist, Maurice Copeland, Fred Pinkard, Russ Reed, Studs Terkel, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bettencourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Before I Sleep (Paul Lawrence Dunbar)
Destination Freedom – 04/17/49, episode 42
The story of poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906) from Dayton, Ohio, one of the first Black poets to gain national recognition.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Paul Lawrence Dunbar), Wezlynn Tildon, Dean Olmquist, Oscar Brown Jr., Cliff Norton, Jess Pugh, Russ Reed, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Help the Blind (Josh White)
Destination Freedom – 05/01/49, episode 44
The story of Josh White (1914-1969), one of the leading folk artists, who lived the stories he learned to sing. [Goldin]
Cast: Homer Heck (producer), Richard Durham (writer), Dick Loughran (director), Larry Auerbach (assistant director), Josh White (by recording), Fred Pinkard (Josh White), Wezlynn Tildon, Oscar Brown Jr., Jess Pugh, Dean Olmquist, Russ Reed, Everett Clark, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Saga of Melody Jackson (Henry Armstrong)
Destination Freedom – 05/29/49, episode 47
The story of Black boxer Henry Jackson Jr. (1912-1988) – who fought under the name Henry Armstrong – the only fighter in history (at the time of this recording) to hold three world titles at one time. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Fred Pinkard (Henry Armstrong), Louise Pruett, Dorothy Tate, Oscar Brown Jr., Fred Smith, Studs Terkel, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Otto Kristofeck (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Negro Cinderella (Lena Horne)
Destination Freedom – 06/12/49, episode 49
The story of Lena Horne (1917-2010), a singer-actress hailed as one of the greatest single entertainers of our time.
Cast: Homer Heck (producer), Richard Durham (writer), Dick Loughran (director), Janice Kingslow (Lena Horne), Wezlynn Tildon, Oscar Brown Jr., Fred Pinkard, Russ Reed, Dorothy Tate, George Kluge, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Ghost Editor (Roscoe Dunjee)
Destination Freedom – 06/19/49, episode 50
The story of Roscoe Dunjee (1883-1965), founder, publisher and editor of Oklahoma City’s first Black newspaper, the “Black Dispatch”.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Fred Pinkard (Roscoe Dunjee), Gladys Williams, Jess Pugh, Oscar Brown Jr., Dean Olmquist, Harvey Hayes, Tom Manley, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Harriet’s Children (First anniversary program)
Destination Freedom – 06/26/49, episode 51
The first anniversary broadcast. Excerpts from the show’s first year on the air are featured. A transcribed message from Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson is played. The executive director of The Chicago Urban League, Sidney Williams, is also heard. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Adlai Stevenson (himself), Sidney Williams (himself), Wezlynn Tildon (Harriet Tubman), Janice Kingslow, Jess Pugh, Dean Olmquist, George Kluge, Oscar Brown Jr., Fred Pinkard, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Norfolk Miracle (Dorothy Maynor)
Destination Freedom – 07/03/49, episode 52
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Wezlynn Tildon (Dorothy Maynor), Louise Pruitt, Oscar Brown Jr., Dean Olmquist, Russ Reed, Fred Pinkard, Bob McKee, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Larry Auerbach (record production), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Tales of Stackalee (Black folklore hero)
Destination Freedom – 07/17/49, episode 53
Professor MacDonald writes:
‘This was the first of two consecutive dramatizations drawn by Richard Durham from Black folktales—the other being “The Story of John Henry.” Stackalee sometimes known as Stagger Lee or Stack OLee—is a curious amalgam of cultural influences. He is primarily a Black American character, wiser and tougher than the society at large, yet still a victim of racial peculiarities in the United States. In Durham’s words, moreover, Stackalee is “the mythical Paul Bunyan of the outlaws,” possessing those exaggerated traits of strength and innocence widely associated with the legendary American lumberjack. Obviously, too, Stackalee is a Black Faust, a Black version of that vulnerable Germanic soul whose compact with the devil became the basis for a life of dissipation, but ultimate redemption.’
Cast: Homer Heck (producer), Richard Durham (writer), Dick Loughran (director), Fred Pinkard (Stackalee), Dean Olmquist (narrator), Wezlynn Tildon, Oscar Brown Jr., Jess Pugh, George Kluge, Sid McCoy, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The John Henry Story (Black folklore hero)
Destination Freedom – 07/24/49, episode 54
The story of the Black folklore hero, a “natural man,” and a “steel drivin’ man.” [Goldin]
Cast: Homer Heck (producer), Richard Durham (writer), Dick Loughran (director), Fred Pinkard (John Henry), Dean Olmquist (narrator, singer), Oscar Brown Jr. (narrator, singer), Wezlynn Tildon, Jess Pugh, Sid McCoy, Cliff Norton, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Claude Shiner (music), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Black Hamlet – Part I (Henri Christophe)
Destination Freedom – 08/14/49, episode 57
The story of King Henri Christophe (1767-1820), liberator of Haiti. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Henri Christophe), Tony Parrish (narrator), George Kluge, Fred Pinkard, Russ Reed, Dean Olmquist, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Helen Westbrook (music), Jose Bethancourt (music), Al Johnson (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Black Hamlet – Part II (Henri Christophe)
Destination Freedom – 08/21/49, episode 58
Conclusion. How King Henri Christophe (1767-1820) eliminated the practice of slavery on the island of Haiti. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Henri Christophe), Tony Parrish (narrator), Fred Pinkard, Dean Olmquist, Wezlynn Tildon, George Kluge, Sam Gordon, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Roy Graham (music), Al Johnson (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Segregation, Incorporated
Destination Freedom – 08/28/49, episode 59
Professor MacDonald writes:
‘This drama deviates from the normal Richard Durham product. Rather than focusing on the accomplishments of a person, the writer here brought to life a report issued in December 1948 by the ninety-member National Committee Against Segregation in the Nation’s Capital. In its widely distributed report (even President Truman read a copy) the committee—whose membership included the likes of Charming Tobias, Eleanor Roosevelt, Walter Reuther, Phillip Murray, Helen Hayes, Marshall Field, Hubert H. Humphrey, and George N. Schuster—soundly rebuked the racial discrimination it found rampant in Washington, D.C. To Durham, as to the membership of the committee, racial prejudice had created an untenable condition that embarrassed the United States and condemned as hypocrisy the moral values on which the laws of the nation were established.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Tony Parrish (narrator), Bob McKee (narrator), Janice Kingslow, Dean Olmquist, Oscar Brown Jr., George Kluge, Fred Pinkard, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Roy Graham (music), Al Johnson (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Saga of Senator Blanche K. Bruce
Destination Freedom – 09/04/49, episode 60
The story of a Mississippi printer during Reconstruction who fought for freedom for all, using the power of the printed word. Blanche K. Bruce (1841-1898) became the first ex-slave to be elected to the United States Senate. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Fred Pinkard (Blanche K. Bruce), Tony Parrish (narrator), Oscar Brown Jr., Ken Griffin, Jess Pugh, Dean Olmquist, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Al Johnson (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Tiger Hunt (761st Tank Battalion)
Destination Freedom – 09/11/49, episode 61
The story of the 761st Tank Battalion during World War II, primarily made up of Black soldiers, told through the eyes of one of its heroes.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Fred Pinkard (Lt. Mitchell), Tony Parrish (narrator), Russ Reed, Oscar Brown Jr., Jess Pugh, Sam Gordon, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Al Johnson (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), William Rose (sound effects), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Poet in Bronzeville (Gwendolyn Brooks)
Destination Freedom – 09/18/49, episode 62
The story of poet, author and teacher Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000), who in the year after this episode aired became the first Black to win a Pulitzer Prize. Ms. Brooks reads one of her stories at the conclusion of the episode.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Gwendolyn Brooks (herself), Wezlynn Tildon (Gwendolyn Brooks), Dean Olmquist, Oscar Brown Jr., Janice Kingslow, Fred Pinkard, Hope Summers, Dorothy Tate, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), William Rose (sound effects), Al Johnson (technician), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – A Garage in Gainesville (Part I in a series on prejudice)
Destination Freedom – 09/25/49, episode 63
The first story in a two-part series bearing directly on one of the most pressing problems in American society: race prejudice. This episode analyzes the forces of prejudice and mob violence in a small southern town.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Bob Gilbert (program consultant), Homer Heck (producer, director), Russ Reed (Joe), Fred Pinkard (Buddy), Dean Olmquist, Ken Griffin, Janice Kingslow, Jess Pugh, Wezlynn Tildon, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Cliff Mueller (sound technician), Dave Squires (sound technician), Gary Dublee (control operator), George Kluge (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Execution Awaited (Part II in a series on prejudice)
Destination Freedom – 10/02/49, episode 64
The second chapter of a two-week series bearing directly on race prejudice. Race prejudice is put on trial, with multiple examples of direct and casual racism provided.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Bob Gilbert (program consultant), Homer Heck (producer, director), Everett Clark (Prejudice), Ken Nordine (attorney), Alma Platts, Dean Olmquist, Oscar Brown Jr., George Kluge, Fred Pinkard, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Gary Dublee (control operator), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Father to Son (Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and Jr.)
Destination Freedom – 10/09/49, episode 65
The story of Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Sr. (1865-1953) was a pastor with the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and a founder of the National Urban League. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (1908-1972), who represented Harlem in Congress starting in 1945, was the first Black to be elected to Congress from New York.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Dean Olmquist (A. Clayton Powell Sr.), Oscar Brown Jr. (A. Clayton Powell Jr.), Stan Gordon, Ted Liss, Sid McCoy, Fred Pinkard, Jess Pugh, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Dave Squires (sound effects), Gary Dublee (control operator), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Of Blood and the Boogie (Albert Ammons)
Destination Freedom – 10/16/49, episode 66
The story of Chicago boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons (1907-1949). Ammons (who does not appear in this episode) died of natural causes less than two months after the airing of this episode at the age of 42.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Ralph Knowles (assistant director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Albert Ammons), Wezlynn Tildon (mother), Johnny Kuhns (Yancy), Tony Parrish (butcher), Fred Pinkard (Prime Top Smith), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Tom Evans (sound effects), Gary Dublee (engineer), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Keeper of the Dream (Captain Hugh Mulzac)
Destination Freedom – 10/30/49, episode 68
The story of Hugh Mulzac (1886-1971), the first Black ship commander in the US Merchant Marine, the SS Booker T. Washington, in 1942. Born in the British colony of Saint Vincent Grenadines, he originally served on several British merchant vessels, before immigrating to the US in 1918 and becoming an American citizen.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Maurice Copeland (Hugh Mulzac), Dean Olmquist, Oscar Brown Jr., George Kluge, Fred Pinkard, Russ Reed, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Gary Dublee (engineer), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Man Who Owned Chicago (Jean-Baptiste Point du Sable)
Destination Freedom – 11/06/49, episode 69
The story of Jean-Baptiste Point du Sable (c. 1750-1818), believed to have originally been from Haiti, who founded a trading post in what became Chicago and was the first non-indigenous settler of the area.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Jean-Baptiste Point du Sable), Fred Pinkard, Dean Olmquist, Wezlynn Tildon, Russ Reed, Tonny Parrish, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Gary Dublee (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Dave Squires (sound effects), Hugh Downs (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Birth of a League (Urban League founding)
Destination Freedom – 01/15/50, episode 74
Produced in cooperation with The Chicago Urban League. The migration of Blacks to the Northern cities and the story of the start of the Urban League. The executive director of the Chicago Urban League, Sidney Williams, is interviewed by transcription.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Sidney Williams (himself), Dean Olmquist (narrator), Oscar Brown Jr., Maurice Copeland, Jack Lester, Fred Pinkard, Jess Pugh, Russ Reed, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Gary Dublee (engineer), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Recorder of History (Dr. Carter G. Woodson)
Destination Freedom – 02/12/50, episode 78
The story of historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), founder of “The Journal of Negro History” and Negro History Week (precursor to Black History Month). This episode was broadcast for the 25th anniversary of Negro History Week. Dr. Woodson (who does not appear in this episode) died less than two months after the airing of this episode at the age of 74.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer, director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Dr. Woodson), Wezlynn Tildon, Maurice Copeland, Jack Lester, Fred Pinkard, Bob White, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Dave Squires (sound effects), Gary Dublee (engineer), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Premonition of the Panther (Sugar Ray Robinson)
Destination Freedom – 03/12/50, episode 82
Professor MacDonald writes:
‘Appearing late in the history of Destination Freedom, this episode probed new dimensions of the Black experience. In this portrait from the career of boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson (1921-1989), Durham focused his criticism on boxing and the commercial forces shaping it. Robinson was one of the most successful boxers in the history of the sport: welterweight champion at the time Durham wrote, and middleweight champ through most of the 1950s. Although this drama could have been a celebration of a Black sports hero, it was instead a melancholy exploration of the inner motives of fighter, promoter, and fan. In “Premonition of the Panther,” and in an earlier boxing drama about Henry Armstrong, Durham first touched themes he fully developed three decades later when writing The Greatest, the autobiography of heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali.’
Cast: Homer Heck (producer), Richard Durham (writer), Dick Loughran (director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Ray Robinson), Wezlynn Tildon, Dean Olmquist, Fred Pinkard, Jess Pugh, Russ Reed, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Gary Dublee (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Dave Squires (sound effects), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Liberators – Part I (William Lloyd Garrison)
Destination Freedom – 03/26/50, episode 84
Professor MacDonald writes: ‘
Note: part two is not known to exist.
As a chronicler of the Black experience, Durham did not fail to applaud the historically supportive role played by whites in the struggle against prejudice. Usually, such characters appeared in stories focusing on black central figures, but in a two-part series entitled “The Liberators,” Durham treated two of the leading white abolitionists of the decades before emancipation: William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. Particularly in the play about Garrison (1805-1879) and his earlier years in Boston as publisher of the influential Liberator newspaper, there is a balance between Durham’s understanding of freedom attainable through interracial cooperation and the historic reality of persons of moral rectitude transcending race to stand alone, sometimes dangerously so, against the passion and prejudice of the ignorant.’
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Homer Heck (producer), Dick Loughran (director), George Kluge (William Lloyd Garrison), Maurice Copeland (Wendell Phillips), Fred Pinkard, Janice Kingslow, Wiley Hancock, Dean Olmquist, Oscar Brown Jr., Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Gary Dublee (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Buddy Young Story
Destination Freedom – 04/09/50, episode 86
The story of Claude Henry K. “Buddy” Young (1926-1983), former University of Illinois track and football star, who at 5’4” was one of the shortest people to ever play professional football. At the time of recording, the “Bronze Bullet” had played three seasons for the New York Yankees of the All-America Football League. The league merged with the NFL at the end of 1949, and he would play for the New York Yanks of the NFL the next two seasons. All told, he played professional football for 10 seasons, retiring in 1955. Buddy Young appears in person at the end of the episode.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Larry Auerbach (director), Buddy Young (himself), Oscar Brown Jr. (Buddy Young), Fred Pinkard, Russ Reed, Jack Lester, Wezlynn Tildon, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Gary Dublee (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Dave Squires (sound effects), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Fifth District Crime Fighter (Captain Kinzie Blueitt)
Destination Freedom – 04/16/50, episode 87
The story Captain Kinzie Blueitt of the Fifth District, Wabash Avenue Station (Chicago), second-largest police district in the world. Captain Blueitt speaks about juvenile delinquency at the end of the episode.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Larry Auerbach (director), Kinzie Blueitt (himself), Fred Pinkard (Kinzie Blueitt), Oscar Brown Jr., Russ Reed, Bob White, Janice Kingslow, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Gary Dublee (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Dave Squires (sound effects), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Dance Anthropologist (Katherine Dunham)
Destination Freedom – 04/23/50, episode 88
The story of Illinois-born dancer Katherine Dunham (1909-2006), noted as one of the great interpreters of Caribbean dance.
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Larry Auerbach (director), Wezlynn Tildon (Katherine Dunham), Oscar Brown Jr., Janice Kingslow, Fred Pinkard, Jonathan Hole, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Elwyn Owen (organist), Jose Bethancourt (music), Gary Dublee (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Shy Boy (Thomas “Fats” Waller)
Destination Freedom – 06/11/50, episode 93
The story of Thomas “Fats” Waller (1904-1943), told from the viewpoint of James P. Johnson, his teacher and mentor. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), Larry Auerbach (producer), Oscar Brown Jr. (“Fats” Waller), Fred Pinkard, Janice Kingslow, Wezlynn Tildon, Bob White, Mary Sinclair (music), Jose Bethancourt (music), Gary Dublee (technician), Dave Squires (sound effects), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Case of the Congressman’s Train Ride (Richard Westbrooks)
Destination Freedom – 06/18/50, episode 94
A biography of Richard Westbrooks (1886-1952), a Chicago lawyer and founder of The Cook County Bar Association. He found that “the law” was used for white people and against Black people. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), John Keown (producer), Oscar Brown Jr. (Richard Westbrooks), Wezlynn Tildon, George Kluge, Bob White, Russ Reed, Dean Olmquist, Richard Shores (composer), Mary Sinclair (organist), Jose Bettencourt (music), Gary Dublee (technician), Dave Squires (sound effects), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – The Angel of Federal Street (Ruth Blue Turnquest)
Destination Freedom – 06/25/50, episode 95
The story of Ruth Blue Turnquest, the assistant principal of The Hardigan School. [Goldin]
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), John Keown (producer, director), Janice Kingslow (Ruth Blue Turnquest), Arthur Peterson (Saint Peter), Wezlynn Tildon, George Kluge, Ken Griffin, Stewart Splan, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Mary Sinclair (organ), Jose Bethancourt (music), Gary Dublee (technician), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Mountain (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Kansas City Phone Call (Nat King Cole)
Destination Freedom – 07/02/50, episode 96
The story of Nat “King” Cole (1919-1965). A surprisingly poor script, told through the device of a white teen-aged girl talking about the singer on the phone to her girlfriend “Marge.” [Goldin]
Nat King Cole Wikipedia. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_King_Cole
Los Angelese Times From the Archives: Nat ‘King’ Cole dies of cancer at 45. See: https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/archives/la-me-nat-king-cole-19650216-story.html
Nat King Cole Encylcopedia Britannica. See: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nat-King-Cole
Created: October 1959-date stamp in clipping Processed By eBay with ImageMagick, z1.1.0. ||B2
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), John Keown (producer, director), Oscar Brown Jr. (Nat “King” Cole), Norma Ransome (narrator), Wezlynn Tildon, Dean Olmquist, Russ Reed, George Kluge, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Mary Sinclair (music), Jose Bethancourt (music), Mitsy Shine (records), John Brookman (records supervision), Gary Dublee (engineer), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Mr. Jericho Adjusts a Claim (William Nickerson, Jr.)
Destination Freedom – 07/09/50, episode 97
The story of a Texas businessman, William Nickerson, Jr. (1879-1945), founder of The Golden State Life Insurance Company. [Goldin]
William Nickerson Jr. Wikipedia. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Nickerson_Jr.
Texas State Historicial Association Nickerson, William N., Jr. (1879–1945). See: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/nickerson-william-n-jr
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), John Keown (producer), Fred Pinkard (William Nickerson, Jr.), George Kluge (Mr. Jericho), Janice Kingslow, Jack Lester, Donald Gallagher, Stanley Gordon, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Mary Sinclair (music), Jose Bethancourt (music), Gary Dublee (engineer), Cliff Mueller (sound effects), Charles Chan (announcer)
Destination Freedom – Last Letter Home (332nd Fighter Group)
Destination Freedom – 08/13/50, episode 102
The story of Wilbur Evans and the men of the 332nd Fighter Group (an all-Black unit) during World War II. [Goldin]
Tuskegee Airmen Wikipedia. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen
Tuskegee Airmen Facts Tuskegee University. See: https://www.tuskegee.edu/support-tu/tuskegee-airmen/tuskegee-airmen-facts
Tuskegee Airmen — 1941 – 1945. See: https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/blackwings/tuskegee.cfm
Explore the remarkable stories of the men and women who made up the “Tuskegee Experience”. See: https://tuskegeeairmen.org/legacy/the-people/
Cast: Richard Durham (writer), John Keown (producer), Oscar Brown Jr. (Wilbur Evans), Donald Gallagher, Stanley Gordon, Janice Kingslow, Fred Pinkard, Russ Reed, Emil Soderstrom (composer), Mary Sinclair (music), Jose Bethancourt (music), George Wilson (engineer), Cliff Mueller (sound effects)
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