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Democracy Now!
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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 7-04-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Independence Day Special: A Dramatic Reading of Howard Zinn’s
A People’s History of the United States with James Earl
Jones, Alfre Woodard, Kurt Vonnegut, Danny Glover, Harris
Yulin and others
Today is a national holiday commemorating July 4th when American
colonies declared their independence from England in 1776.
While many in the US hang flags, attend parades and watch
fireworks, Independence Day is not a cause of celebration
for everyone.
For Native Americans it is a bitter reminder of colonialism,
which brought disease, genocide and the destruction of their
culture and way of life.
For African Americans Independence Day did not extend to
them. While white colonists were declaring their freedom from
the crown, that liberation was not shared with millions of
Africans who were captured, beaten, separated from their families
and forced into slavery thousands of miles from home.
Today we will go back more than 150 years to hear one of
the most powerful voices of the abolition movement - Frederick
Douglas.
Born a slave in Maryland in 1818, Douglas escaped from slavery
in the 1830s and became a leader in the growing abolition
campaign through lectures and his anti-slavery newspaper The
Northstar. He would become a major civil right leader in the
Unites States.
Douglas gave his Independence Day oration in 1852.
Today we’ll hear excerpts of that speech as part of
a dramatic reading of Howard Zinn’s classic work: A
People’s History of the United States.
The great historian gathered with actors and writers several
months ago at the 92nd Street Y in New York.
The cast included Alfre Woodard, Danny Glover, Marisa Tomei,
Kurt Vonnegut, James Earl Jones and others.
- Howard Zinn, author, A People’s History of the
United States
- Jeff Zinn, Howard Zinn's son
- Alice Walker, author, novelist and essayist
9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Ana Nogueira and Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo
is our music maestro and engineer.
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