many years with document the environment and the economy not be in battling. they are not pitted against each other. it is a good thing for the environment and the economy when the environment is working. and in california, that has been a big issue. climate change is a huge issue. oil imports are a huge economic issue for california. so he is saying listen, take heart in these messages because we need to think ahead. california hopefully will be the export of these technologies. >> call ahor of "two billion cars: driving toward sustainability." . .

>> i'm on honored that you chose to be here with us. i will bring up to people who will help me read, lee kirk. come up. [applauding]

and joshua who is a junior here at the college of arts and science. [applauding] so as dean carrington said, this was a labor of love. it is one that for five years i worked on going through archives and anthologies in attics trying to find the letters of aican americans that could help sketch an intimate portrait of people from the dusty plantation to the white house with the election of barack obama. and during this time i was surprised by distance i encountered many surprised some of these matters left as

documents a people's history. securing permission to publish many of the letters and archives. there was enough support that allowed me to weave together more than 200 letters that span from the 1700's to 2008. and we will give you a piece, a glimpse of the letters that are in this book. but what i tried to do is weave together and letters that traced the footprints large and small of the people from bondage , from the civil war, and from dusty plantations to the glistening white house. the correspondents of slaves, soldiers are woven together with

historical giants. langston hughes the benjamin banneker,frederick douglas. the likenesses of the extraordinary are matched by the equally poignant letters of the ordinary. this letter is from haven't been over to her son. written june 3rd 1805. my dear son, i won't concede you in my oldge. i live in caldwell with mr. grov, the minister of bad plays. now, my dear son, i pray you come to see your dear old mother or send me $20 up we will come and see you in philadelphi and if you can't come to see your old mother sent me a letter

and tell me where he lived, what family you have him and what. i am a poor old servant. and one for freedom. my master will free me. you love your mother. this from your affectionate mother. my dear son, i have not seen you since i saw you at staton island. if you have any love for your poor old mother pray or send to

me. my dear son, i love you with all my heart. >> this is a letter to dina september 19th, 1858. i take the pleasure of writing used these few words with much regret to to inform you that i am being sold to a man by the name of pearson, a trader is days in the mornings. your, but i expect to build a form of. when i do go of what to send you some things. i don't know who to se them by, but i will try to send them to you and my children. give my love to my father in a

moment. tobin could blind. and if we shall not meet i hope to meet them in heaven. my dear wife, for you and my children this plan cannot express the grief that i feel. >> we are taken behind scholar and activists. dr. martin luther king junior's letter from a birmingham jail this year. in 1960 he read from a state prison. >> this is a letter from dr. martin king jr. to his wife. on october 206th 1960. the the, the island. today i find myself a long way

from you and the children. i and at the state prison and reads bill which is about 230 miles away fromdmonton. they picked me up from the big help sell at 4:00 a.m. this morning. i know this whole experience is very difficult for you, especially in the conditions of your pregnancy, but as i said to you yesterday this is the cross that we must bear for the freedom of all people. so i urge you to be strong and safe and this will in turn strengthen me. i can if you bet it is extremely difficult to think of being away from you for four months. but and ask god our lead for the power and endurance. i have the fai to believe that

this excess of suffering which has now come to or family will in some blue line serve to make atlanta and a better city, georgia a better state, and american a better country. to his talent i do not yet know, but i have the faith to believe it will. and if i am right then or suffering is not in vain. >> and w.b. dubois, the eminent scholar and activists morphs into the doting father. >> dear little daughter, i have waited for you to get well settle before writing. byhis time i hope some of the

strangeness has worn off and that my little girl is working hard and regularly. of course everything is new and unusual. you missed the newness of america. gradually you are going to sense the beau of the old world. it's called an eternity. you will grow to love it. above all remember that you have a great opportunity. you are in one of the world's best schools in one of the world's greatest modern empires. millions of boys and girls all over thi world would give almost anything they possess to be where you are. their by no desert one merit of yours, but by lucky chance. deserve it then. study. work hard. be honest, frank, and fearless and get some grasp of the real value of life. you will be, of course, carries

little annoyances. people will wonder and your dear, brown, crinkly hair. that is simply of no importance and will be soon forgotten. remember that most folks laugh at anying unusual whether it be beautiful, fine, or not. you, however must not laugh at yourself. you must know that brown hair is as pretty as white or prettier and crinkly. the will to conquer, the determination to understand and no this great wonderful to reform. >> and the beautiful actress

freddie washington morphs into the activist. >> freddie washington to dawn smith. dear dawn smith, excerpts from your column in which you quote a director of lost boundaries has just been brought to my attention. i a so appalled and not a little fighting mad to think that a so-called intelligent adult could be so viciously ignorant as to give as his reas for not casting any growth in the above mentioned picture that the majory of negro actors are of the uncle tom show shuffling canter type of performer. well, i would like to say

something for public print on the subject. in the first place neither offered workers nor a new expression on from the beginning of the production plans ever considered usi a negro actors to portray the rules of the johnson family. therefore negros having the physical appearance and ability needed for those res were never. there aren't many negro actors and actresses who are consistently turned down for plays and screens on the excuse that they are too fair, too intelligent, to modern looking. i know because i am one who falls into this category. it was i who played the ball of the neurotic negro girl in

univerl imitation of life. but did that get me an interview for by the? no he did not. he simply was not interested in learning what he evidently did not know. there are many legitimate negro actors and actresses to are far more intelligent than worker provisions of to the. >> and in 2008 following brock obama is historic election ali walker wrote him to express a soaring pride a an african american and as a southerner. >> to president-elect morocco, november 5th 2008.

dear, brother president. you have no idea of how profound this moment is for us, as being a black people of the southern united states. you think you know because yo are thoughul and you have to ignore historybut seeing you deliver the torch so many of us. year after yr decade after decade century after century only to be brought down befor igniting the flange of justice and law is almost more than a harkin there. and yet thiobservation is not intended to burden you, for you are of a different time and in the because of all the b lemon and before you put american is it different place. it is really only to say well done. been through all the generations that you were with him of the best of africa and of the

americans. is that you would actually appear sunday, that was part of our strength. seeing you take your rightful place based solely on your wisdom, it's imminent, and character is a balm for the weary worries of hope. previously only son about. >> what emerges is of modena and the national portrait of black line, all live blanc sought to be fraught with parches and injustice. in the end it is apparent that while america often fell short of this ideal african-americans burn the tape up on ameca. here they love their families, served the country in war and civilian life, expressed their humanity in art, and fght a valiant and uphill battle for

equality. they've remained on the soil they had killed and on which the blood spilled determined to someday reap the benefits of their efforts. we all have much to gain from the wisdom, passion, anchorage, and uncompromising commitment to justice in these matters. it was of privilege to assemble and contextualize them, and it is my hope that this volume will help inspire a greater appreciation for the collection and. thank you for your interest, and i hope you havequestions. [applauding] >> any questions? [inaudible]

>> wait. >> of very valuable is. oh, my god. yes, okay. thank you so much. this is fantastic. thank you. a and interested in knowing how you went about this. how did you get the letters and the forces? >> well, the letters, thousands of lette are deposited in part perhaps a round the country. a travel to many of them. i also have taken it to trips to gonna during which time i also visited the archives. in addition to the archival research and launched public appeal from letters. suffice it appeals to people in academia and medicine and law. you know, domestic workers, veterans. i t to do a pretty wide

spread. of went on this service. a put and in newspapers. i sent letters appealing to many people in public life to contribute. so it was the pretty intense effort. >> i would like to know, obviously you must have read hundreds and hundreds of these letters. >> thousands. >> but who's counting. >> how did you decide which ones should be included? that is a huge amount of correspondence. was it supposed to be a representative sample? >> it is the pretty quirky process. first i tried to look at the arc of history. so i try to find the earliest letters that i could find and

also look at the high end would african americans were doing a that point. still and looked at the time during slavery. i've looked at after slavery and reconstruction. and tried to lomk at, you know, all of the high and low moments in history and where i believed we should have some sense to the bourse's of the people who lived through the history of what was going on. there is no way that with 200 some of matters you could hope to map the full history of african-american life. but of wanted to at least suggest that this is what was happening in the lives of real people during these great moments in history. and then there was also the matter of what i can get permission to publish.

i have. he was one of the people i've reached out to rally in this process. one of the kind people who actually responded and contributed a very moving letter that his mother wrote to him while he was in dawn and. and in that he is this : who won not one but two pulitzer prizes for is to bonds that. in the letter his mother actually talks and says, well, you probably don't know him now years later he knows him better than anyone else. thank you for being here. is there another question?

>> could you speak more about that and why they wanted these voices to be silenced? >> the reasons were so vied. with some estates they didn't sense that they didn't appreciate the importance of legacy. as i said, based on these matters more as personal relics and not important pieces of a puzzle of a pieces collected h istory. they did not see how this fit in to the story of rican americans life. and saw it as their own and their own possession. for others it was a a question of there wasn't enough money on the table, i have to say. for many at think it was a resistance born of theind of portrayals of african americans throughout history. and there is a deep mistrust of sharing or contributing to any

kind of public record. many african americans had been burned, and so i believe that for many it was just a lack faith. it didn't know have on these matters would be used and if it would be properly contextualized. i have to set that the application some people have expressed. >> did you get a sense in the shape of the reasons that there was a moment at which african american and writing took off? can you say something about that? >> obviously during slavery reckon a letr was an illegal act. i guess i was most moved by the water and written by slaves because it took an act of courage and also it showed what they had to overcome to acquire

the skill write a letter. and what it really took to not distract the letter, but to somehow to get it across the plantation, across the county, across state lines. this involved a lot on their part and on the part of those who help them. so the letters of slaves are, of course, rare. illiteracy was legally mandated but fortunately there are matters in archives and national archives and occam's around the country partly because sometimes place to find their is a letter from of a woman named any davis who wrote to president lincoln. th was after the emancipation proclamation, but she was still being held. she said, tears president lincoln, are we free? can youell me what the story is? my master did get the memo.

some of those letters are rare. there are enough to give you a sense of the striving of african americans not only to be free, but to reunite with their families. in a letter after better after lynn and you heard this, you know, your need to be reconnected with husbands, wives. a part of our history that we don't often hear about because there is the assumption that this is contrite and they weren't writing to their families or to love one's and expense in these human designers for love a for, you know, connection. so that is the long way of answering your question. the slave masters of ram. reconstruction, during the construction you had many highly educated african americans who were serving in all kind of

political posts. you know, there was that shining moment. but there was that time when you had african americans writing from the hallowed halls of some of the greatest universities and right in each other beautiful cars, beautiful prose. and so there were many letters written during thatime, not just an african american life, but in american life. before the popularity of phones and the kind of technology that we now take for granted people wrote letters. did not only wrote letters, but these matters are easily anticipated and savored. there were chairs like family jewels. people kept them. it was something that you passed down. so there were many, many letters. i would from that time during the construction up until maybe

the 1920's is when you saw kind of a drop in the ninth of the letters. letters continued to get shorter and shorter and shorter after that time because of course with the telephone took off people were communicating that way. and then you saw it also, telegrams and postcards. and i include some of them. and of course we all know what is happening rightow. we stay connected to e-mail and text messaging and gun bans how many of the place. the art of letter writing has taken of bills wind. i don't and many of us would want to be judged by the e mail that be right. some of the quality and the quantity of letters took a dive with the emergence of technologies that we have become

accustomed to, which makes the collection and preservation of these letters more important than ever. >> i am thrilled, of course. >> i want him and when did you came across quantity weiss letters written by parents getting their children into colleges and universities at time when they might have been the first to get there. parents are struggling to do that. did you come across any number of letters? and if you did with the letters written to universities? >> college presidents. i remember seeing an exhibition some very long time ago where there was an exhibition of a

number of things. letters back into it. there were the jurors written to college presidents. with parents who were struggling. here is $5. that sort of thing. >> yes. i actually did. and more so in the collection of book he washington where ey will always be public appeals to help the student pay for her scholarship or, yeah, i did come across those. not so much from parents. mainly the people, yeah, who were being reset to to help with students who were trying to stay in college. >> over here. >> you have wtten other books. i wonder if from writing those of the books did it give you the idea and i was there a connection?

what made you get started? >> thank you for that insightful question. people see the range of my work and say how did you get from being a journalist and writing about media and guard to make collection of african american love letters. i think it is because i've spent so many years as a journalist struggling to try to present this multi-dimensional portrait of black life. it is such an uphill climb. for so many people of perversity of black life is more eccentc than what i know to be true. and so that is one thing. another thing is i grew up in a home where the history of african americans was revered. we learned about people like

benjamin banneker. as long as i knew that african-americans ha made important contributions. and also knew i did not see the contributions fairly reflected in my history books, library. a l of my peers did not seem to know about the people who find that o heroes. so i knew there was a need to fill in the gaps. so it is a gap that i tired to fill in as a daily journalist. i wrote about it the daily media. all lot of this history is not african american history, american history. their is a letter that benjamin banner wrote to thomas jefferson in 1791,nd basically thomas jefferson at the time was

the secretary of state, and benjamin banneker was this accomplished astronomer who, you know, helped plan the blueprint for the nation's capitol. he was this accomplished man. he published annual almanac's that predicted crops. so he was this accomplished man. he was making, it. i can go on and on about his accomplishments. here with thomas jefferson insisting that african americans were inferior. still the right this minute that should be a part of our education begins he is basically appealing to him as an american and as a scholar, as the christian. he is saying, yakima my skin is as black as night, but i'm

equal. how could you see otherwise? we are equal. sure, we are integrated. some y don't see, you know, as in full flower. theñr potential is there. he sends in his almanac. the need for me to help fill in that information deficit and to think you have people who assume that african americans weren't contributing because it's not reflected in what we learn. i know they are just like i know that the portrayals and i often saw of african americans in my newsroom were in sharp contrast to what i knew. and so that is the connection. the love letters book was an attempt to presentn underrepresented facet of african american life. it was just a pure and simple, if these letters had been fairly

integrated into the many many collections i had seen that would not be in need for my little volume, but because there was that, that book was an attempt to at least showed its imminent. african americans have struggled. they have watched. they have also want. they have romantic lines. so that was that attempt. this book is an attempt to at ast suggest the debt and the brandt of african american life in the words of the people. thank you. >> hi. was the one that stood out to you?

>> there were so many that stood out. they become like little children. and like you. no, like you. but a think the one that some deeply resinated with new was the one that joshua to bleed red in 1914 trying to prepare plans a party and a daughter of what she would encounter in this british boarding school. an african american parent i know that i too have to sometimes prepared by children for the curiosity of race. i just think that letter speaks through the ages. it still speaks to me know. >> professor, hearing you talk about the disconnect between benjamin banneker and thomas jefferson crystallizefor me

how important your work is. so just as a commendation it really overwhelmed me in the way that you could capture all of that history and in the energy would you describe. i guess my question would be first to you have in some st of measures for authentication of intensity to magnify and validate? their is a movement that question an africaamerican the ability to price of produce moderate. of wonder how your research involvement. and secondly, did you have any 0ethe tone of the letter?date were you able to speak to the more modern and really have been been made to you what the heart of the message was? were you able to incorporate

that? >> yes. i had to read a lot. i mean, for every letter in addition to reading that thousands of letters and read to break it down to the 201 and are included, had to be a lot of history to contactor lines. so in terms of the authentication of the letters many of them are in our hands and have been researched and studied,o i could have to go wheel. the benjamin banneker letter is well-documented. it is this not widely shared. someone like professor lewis knows about so many of these matters because he spends a lot of his times and archives. historians know about it. it is just not well integrated into the telling of american history. so, in, the of the dictation was not an issue for me because i used my of the authority to taxed to help contextualized the

letters that exist. but i do -- i heard this question before, particularly regarding the letters of sleaze. many people said how to divide those letters? it could not write these letters. it is treated for some of the letters they were translated because they did not have the ability and they found someone on the plantation and would help them when it was, you know, añi kind misters or one of the children were another slave who had somehow acquired the ability to write. but when you read the letters the question of authenticity, a think it just flies out the window. when you beat a mother writing her son, well, just thinking about it and tearing up.

>> hello. i knew your work is ever evolving. i am just wondering, and of jumping the gun of little bit. if youre asking what i'm doing next. >> yes. >> how are you going to represent the black community. >> i will tell you. this ione time i have to say i am of and stomped. this is still so new. the book came out two weeks ago. i have kind of looked from o document to the next, and there are many of the events of the calendar. i'm happy to say that there is terest in the work. i would imagine that for the next year i'll still deal very closely with this work. and after that i have a lot of ideas, but nothing really yet.

another questi here. >> thanks again. was a pleasure to be part of this great event. >> thank you, joshua. but a great reader you are. [applauding] >> i have axd question regarding your journalistic background. black in america came out and talks about how in the media increased amount of the information regarding blacks is mostly negative violence and homicide, an that contributes to the stereotypes which

americans create involving blacks. and he says it is an insane amount, like 70 percent of the information you see in the news is entirely negative. can you talk about that? >> well, but i don't have the precise figure. there have been many, man studies of this. blacks portrayed as criminals or entertainers or somehow engaged in pathology. i think that has been found to be true year after year. and happy to say that this year with barack obama's ascendancy and his election that you will see more positive portrayals of african-american males. that is a biggie. you know, to see every day in african american in a positive way is something that is still new and different, and i think

it's new for all americans, black and white. every year i teach a class called -- iike to call it so-called minorities in the media. in that class i have my students to make content analysis of the publication because rabin abandon mean forced it or tell them that the media does x, y, or c, with rabin and tell me what they found in their own alyses. every year i am hoping that a. i am hoping that a student will show african-americans portrait in the wondrous variety of ways in which the action in the. i hope that they will show the representation of african-americans outside of the realm of pathology. i hope that will be a more

common portrayal. in 1968 president johnson -- or 1967, actually, he impaneled a commission to look at race in the united states. one of their charges was to look at the media and the role that it may have played and the unrest that has grippedñi this country. and with that panel found is that the media report from the standpoint of a white man's world treats the negro as if he doesn't marry. soren theñi under represented. in we plants forward 40 years, 41 years african-american and now with the people of color are

still sore the underrepresented despite many efforts to integrate them. we still have a problem iv portrayals. we are all but hopeful right now the notes. >> i don't have a question, but i do have a statement that that would like to make publicly. >> don't make me cry. >> i am so proud of you. [applauding] >> make you cry, make me cry. but really when i look back at you as a little girl.

i have to say this to you. the uncovering, the discovering of the preakness of our people r people of color to be acknowledged by anyone is just. but for me particularly when it comes from my knees, i applaud you. i love you. keep on. [applauding] >> thank you. >> are there any other questions that won'take you cry? >> one more. and while the mike mic is goingo him i would like to acknowledge the presence of professor rrick bell. [applauding] >> who also was one of the wonderful people who early on in this project contributed a few

letters. in fact, i went to u's library where derric has so graciously given his papers. he has the most amazing collection of letters. it traces the civil rights movement. their is is a letter in the book that derrick wrote to thurgood marshall which he begins dear boss. because he worked for thurgood marshall. so he helped him in the effort to desegregate public schools throughout the south. so he has this letr that he bought saying, dear boss' i am writing to tell you that i am now worng at harvard university. that was 1971. anyway, their became the first tenured african american law professor at harvard university.

[applauding] as if that wasn't enough then i also have the letter that derrick wrote to the dean in 1990 which out wind his protest to hire women of color. such an activist, such a man of great humanity. it has been a blessing for me to learn from him, to be hisriend and colleague. while. we un lucky to have in year. >> of want to know 100 years

from now, what do we do to preserve this impact in a. >> the most important thing we can do is to preserve the bidders already enormous. >> incredible letters. and spoke to adam clayton powell's first one. i had an hour-long conversation. she told me about these amazing letters that they wrote to each and a. she was a showgirl. when we get a divorce. at. [laughter]

>> and so, you know, these important historical relics have away from getting away from us. it takes a lot to step outside. that is what they are that is what historians used to help states together the history of a person, of a country. r african-americans because of our turbulent history in this country we don't fully have a sense of these matters as a historical document. for soong these letters were undervalued. many are cones were given clton. not just the letters of the high

and mighty, but the letters of the comet in know, common person. the most important thing you can do is save your own letters. you that a properly prisoners. if you have a really important collection, for instance if you know of anyone who has a nice collection of vietnam war letters they are almost impossible to find, especially from african aricans. won letters after world war ii on almost impossible to find. and so that, you know, i'm not going to tell you to give to writing letters. i would say make sure that the matters that have already been written ritten are preserved.

thank you so muc [applauding] >> pamela newkirk is an associate journalism professor at new york university. the author of "when in the veil" which won the national press club award. for more information visit journalism .nyu.edu. >> adam bradley, what is rap? >> rhythmic speech to a beat. it comes out of the african-american oral tradition the last poets.

and it brings in the western poetic tradition. all the way back to beowolf. >> what is hip-hop? >> hip-hop is the umbrella term for all of the elements of rap culture which include emceeing or rapp, deejaying or t urntableism, dancing, and finally graffiti art. rap is only one. >> you quote in your book, book of rhymes, the politics of hip-hop. rap is the cnn for black folk. >> yeah. >> he said that because he speaks about hip-hop as being a news on the streets, the front line. urban communities. and of course over the years rappers reported on a host of things from the struggles in

inner-city neighborhood to the south bronx all the way through the rodney king beating all the way up to today and talking about obama and the kind of impact that brought the bombing campaign has had upon and people. what is going on in the black culture, but you culture. >> what does lil' wayne bring to the american experience? >> a consummate artist new brands -- i would compare him to a romantic poet who is fond of his substances for inspiration, but also a real word spread, someone who has a sense of rhythm and rhyme. and what he does is prangs almost an intergalactic perspective. hip-hop has been so much about region.

it was east coast west coast. butñi he comes on the scene and says i am a martian. that expands the whole concept of what it is and the terms of its art form. >> does rap need to be defended? >> you know, that was the question and dealt with so much in thinking about how to rephrase my book. a think rap is a reflection of our culture. the good and the bad. so in some ways what we might criticize, finds, sexism, homophobia is the very thing that we would criticize it in other aspects of our culture more broadly whether it is in our civil war politics. so i guess i try not to be an apologist for hip-hop. a trto say, this is what it is.

here is how we can talk about it. here is how we can understand it. and here is how you and the listener or reader can make your judgment. >> who is your favorite rapper? >> so many in the tradition. i guess i would say jay-z. he embodies the best elements of the past while also showing how hip-hop can emerge into a kind of middle age. a remarkable thing to think about rap as an art form that is entering its middle w3age. would jay-z is rapping about in his 20's and what he is rapping about now in his mid-to-late 30's is markedly different. i think that the breadth of his art is the thing that draws me to jay-z. >> you spe quite a bit of time in your book breaking down the syntax of rap and hip-hop music. why? >> because it's overlooked. we think about rap as the clear

cellophane wrapping, no pun intended, around this content. and people just tear that away. they start talking about the controversy in rap or the subject matter, the mathematics, those things are important, but what i've wanted to do is say, let's also look at the form so that you can have an artist. talking -- take jay-z. on his first album he's talking about something like carrying a gun. but instead of saying i have a gap in my waist and he says like short sleeves and bear arms. just that the bit of wordplay, the somali within that. it creates and expands upon that which is close at hand and makes it something new, takes the committee and makes it unfamiliar. still licking and rap on the bubble of language and its rhythm, and its work by expands it in such a waiver at the beacon begin to appreciate test

what rap is that with the language, just what it's done for american cultureand poetry. >> he said that perhaps dates back throughout the african american experience. can you expand on that of little better? >> if you simply think about the verbal linguistics and acrobatics you can hear within it elements of the black church, the wordplay of a preacher like martin, the language of someone like malcolm x, you can also hear within it elements of the spirituals, the work songs, slavery. there are those that even trace it back to west africa. my intervention is to say tt in addition to that rich tradition of word play that we find we also have the western

political traditions, strong strands. these elements of politics that have been at the center of the english nine which since its origin that have made e made the connection to trees. hip-hop at its best employers all of those. masters of the african-american oral tradition and the broader american western tradition of which that oral tradition is a part. so highly literate individuals at their best. the kinds of things they are doing, particurly when we see it on the page are really marvels of poec innovation and suggest to me a renaissance of the word this. a renaissance o the word. a reintroduction of rhythm and rhyme. >> for somebody who reads beowulf who would you compare

them to? >> well, maybe just a story teller. you think about the early tradition of storytelling. the reason why it's so effective in beowulf is that it helps with memory and memorization. we can think of that same four beat line employed by someone like slick rick during rap's early days. or someone likeandre 3000. these artists or story tellers. they use rhythm and rhyme to create moments of inspiration and ñrinsight, move them from se ple to another while not moving at a. and that is what hip-hop can do. that is what the best in the political tradition has always done. >> how did you get interested in writing about hip-hop? >> i grew up in salt lake city, utah. not a lot of hip-hop, a