karen: karen: they on "cityline ," we have never before seen images of blacks in victorian england. karen: hello, i am karen holmes ward. welcome to "cityline ." coming up, we welcome the cast of a musical, carole king. for the past 50 years, the -- newspaper has engaged its citizens, citizens of color in discourse surrounding politics and community issues.

to highlighting boston service and beyond will be showcased this tuesday at the edwin encarnacion said. >> when the banner get started in 1965, there are a number of issues that the community feels need to be improved and solved. most of them related to segregation. you have residential segregation, you also have a considerable amount of employment segregation. and the issue that gets the most publicity in the community is the segregation in the schools. >> it was a widespread feeling that blacks did not have a voice. they didn' t have a voice in the the community in which we lived. the banner is part of a tradition. when the guardian started, there

the banner took an example from the guardian. >> the bay state banner is very important for democratic discourse in the city of boston. we have issues, challenges and problems that can be defined in any number of ways, that can be reported on or not reported on. >> it is black press reporting stories of national and international and citywide interests that aren' t being covered by the mainstream press. >> issues relating to economic justice on a national basis. national politics with african-americans. >> it covers redlining, police courts and corrections and the disproportionate number of people of color who are serving time. >> the banner was very

anti-apartheid movement. s release. ed: joining us now -- karen: joining us now on the studio is the founder and editor and with him is a documentarian. was put together. and get more on why you thought it was important to start the going. >> once you started, you just drop it and you begin to understand how important it is for the welfare of the community. you have to understand, i am a community. one which i love very dearly and it was hard for me to turn my , even though it wasn' t always profitable.

karen: you are very modest, you have put a lot of passion and blood, sweat and tears into this paper. talk more about what it was like to keep it going in the face of all the other things that were happening. >> you know, it was sort of exciting. you have to understand that. it was ever dull. one of the things that has always been a source of frustration, i look at particularly for black people, and you see such greatness and our capacity. and i guess that drives me to get us to do even more for ourselves. we believe we can do it. karen: we just showed a clip seems like it is just wonderful. now we can talk about the press.

>> the banner is a really important institution for the commonwealth of massachusetts, as well as the city of boston. it is part of the tradition of african-americans telling their own story. the black press has traditionally covered international stories, if you look back in other papers in other cities, these were the ways that the community state tight together nationally and locally. karen: we should emphasize that the reason the black press has been so important is because there were stories that were not being covered in mainstream media that the community of color needed to know about. >> absolutely. not only were they not being covered, there were distortions. there was a study made, and out west , and whenever people talk

person or family demonstrating the poverty. so out west, they did a study and found that a lot of white people out there really thought that poverty was a black affliction. [laughter] it wasn' t something that white people had. it is bizarre that we permit this misunderstanding to infect our whole culture. karen: images in the media impacts people' s perceptions. what kind of stories would you cover in the banner that you might not see in the globe or harold. >> it is not that the stories -- first of all, we started a new section and if you are not a fortune 500 company or about to become one, what we' re doing in the commercial side gets no attention. and the people who are

still in the dock and i think in order to improve the economic welfare of african-americans, we have to show that we can do these things. karen: and banner business is a magazine, about the same size of the bostonian, but it covers people of color doing great things in business. >> emerging businesses, primarily. we are not trying to compete with fortune 500 were black enterprise, because a lot of the companies in black enterprise are doing very well. karen: this is an outgrowth coming out of banner publications. >> it is, and we hope that can

there are two sources of secular power, politics and wealth. we are doing pretty well in politics, we are moving ahead, it has been a hard struggle but we are doing better if you look at the statistics. the last presidential election, there was a higher percentage of blacks more than any other ethnic group that voted. that is a wonderful achievement. karen: newspapers across the country are having difficulties. in the daily papers, they are having difficulties. how has the banner been able to move forward and move on? >> with great difficulty. it is not easy and to tell you the truth, much of the means of communication is going digital and so that will be a problem. but for people of my generation

newspapers and magazines in their hands. it is interesting, when they see it come along, they pick it up. they love to hold it. it is not the same reaction looking at your computer screen. karen: i know you are a documentarian and you lived in boston for a time, it must have been interesting for you to learn about boston' s history? >> i grew up in the suburbs of harrisburg pennsylvania, so even though i lived here for years, i was not familiar with the banner and its story. it was great to conduct the research that we did to learn about how the banner has contributed to the community. it was quite an honor. karen: the name of the documentary? >> we are calling it a state banner. unity, progress

karen: it premieres next week at the anniversary? >> yes, we are very excited about it, we think people will be moved. people will learn things about the banner that they didn' t know about. hopefully they will feel as emotional as he did when he side. karen: congratulations on 50 years of the a state banner. don' t forget the 50th anniversary celebration is on november 10. i will look forward to seeing you there. up next, images of africans in victorian england on display for the first time in the united states.

karen: welcome back, the hutchins center cooper gallery is now showing a critically acclaimed exhibition, it shows lack subjects in 19th-century britain. these are on view for the first time in the united states, they defy and identify racial stereotypes of people of color in victorian england. we are joined by the gallery

give us more background on what we will see in black chronicles to? >> i have to tell you, as images are exquisite. the experience of encountering them in the valley -- in the gallery, you really want to come and join us for this. people have been moved by these. it is part of an ongoing research project . they are giving us a gift . we brought them over here and last year and it has been thrilling to see the response. karen: tell us how this fits into the bigger initiative at

images of people of color throughout history. >> the center itself is involved in this ongoing research dealing with african-american studies and on a postgraduate level, there are many portions that deal directly with imagery. i think the most widely renowned is the image of the lack and western art projects that have been going on for years. that project came to us from the -- foundation and was recently republished by harvard university press. then we went into the 20th century and that was when art was reclaimed by the black subject and artist. it is a similar process. karen: let' s take a look at one of them, they are fascinating. tell me about this one?

wonderful. i think this photograph comes from the 1870' s, as opposed to the maturity of the ones on the african choir. peter jackson was born in st. croix in the mid-19th century, a danish colony, but today it is in u.s. possession. you see the fluidity behind the stories. karen: as i look at his style of dress, he is very well put together with a top hat and the watch chain, a beautiful suit. african americans that we see from this time are sharecroppers or people who have just been released from slavery. this is an interesting juxtaposition. right. that is what is significant because they counter the flood

of degenerate and diminishing photographs that we normally see of african-americans in the 19th century. first of all, you never saw some of these beautiful images of our own archives. scholars are working to pull project. but peter jackson went to london, he had a career as an athlete, he was a heavyweight boxer and ended up in australia, he was a man about town. he was a well-to-do traveling athlete and he stopped to take a studio portrait in london. so the dress and the finery shows that there were many people of color moving about in the world in a global fashion who were well-to-do. we didn' t get to see those images in the united states so that is the significance of bringing them out here from london. karen: let' s take a look at the next image.

tell me about this one? >> this is one of the images , there are two sets of vintage photographs and they are pulled from private collections, they are things we are learning something about and some of them are anonymous. we know right now is that the project will continue, people came from london to have their photograph taken. they may have been involved in the missionary efforts. servants would have been there, soldiers would have been there and other people who have a reason to be in the hall in the city. karen: we have one more photo that we will show in this segment. i want to see this one. this is beautiful. >> this is fantastic. this is one of the members of

saw the fifth choir jubilee singers of south africa, they college. you can see them performing in london in 1891. t wait to see this in the first segment we talked about untold stories about baystate banner. why is it important for these displayed? history? >> the african-americans have face an overwhelming campaign of denigration through caricature. there is a haunting of images that were taken to justify slavery.

images that were taken to show only a negative presentation and this is what we have had to live with for years. these images counter them beautifully and they are raising many ways we can do research against the visual archives. karen: thank you for being here. next sunday at the cooper gallery, they will host a free event called 19th-century lack fashion. there is a discussion, cb styles and portraits of black chronicles two. up next, a musical about a woman

karen: many they be surprised to learn that carole king is responsible for classic hits for the drifters and aretha franklin. the musical illuminates her rise to stardom and the inspiration to write these records. it is the boston opera house now through november 13. joining us now are some ensemble cast members. how are you both? >>

karen: i have to say, i did not realize that carol king wrote all of these songs. tell us what we learn about her in this broadway production. >> well, i think you learn all of the behind the scenes background information on her life. she started when she was 16 years old, writing music. in 1650 in times square, she tried to write music for the drifters, and you learn the story of her life. it is more of a background information. karen: who was her writing partner? >> jerry goffin.

yes. barry mann and cynthia weil. to get the next big hit. karen: that is amazing. going to see, what were some of being a young writer like carol king , across color lines. >> yes, it was very difficult was 16. so she was working as a single these big hits out across the country and we sort of touch on those subjects throughout the show.

it is a show about perseverance and how she found her own voice. by the time she was able to record the album, tapestry, it took a lot for her to get to that place where she was able to decide that it was her that she wanted to write about and seeing her own stuff. instead of writing for other people who came before hand. karen: tapestry was her coming out. tell me about your roles? >> i play one of the four drifters, we get to come out and don' to do with. karen: some kind of wonderful? and locomotion. karen: oh good.

her babysitter and they got her to saying and it became this big hit. karen: give us a little -- >> everybody' s doing a brand-new dance now -- [laughter] karen: i love those songs. it must be so much fun being a part of this musical. >> definitely. hearing the reactions of people , childhood, when they were in school, even you back. >> that is why it is a thrill for us, we feel like we barely have to do any work. people come to the show are ready loving the music and having a personal collection to it -- personal connection to it. there is an energy that we can reaction to it.

karen: do you find that the audience sings along? >> yes. [laughter] >> it can be a little bit distracting. karen: keep it down. >> but he want to see people moving in their seats. >> and they are involved in the story. they know that it is not a concert. people are invested in hearing story. >> it is interesting, people don' t know what was happening behind the scenes. it is amazing to watch and see her put that into her music. karen: what would you like us to leave the opera house with? what message or feeling after seeing the musical? >> i would say that life has its ups and downs, twists and turns, but you can' you have to keep moving forward

that is exactly what carol king did. -- that is exactly what carole king did. >> as she said, you have to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show all the world the love in your heart. that is her lyric and that is what our show is all about. karen: she is very special to us here in the boston area and i' m so thrilled to be learning more about her life and career. >> we look forward to seeing you. -- the carole king musical, learn more about everyone be featured on today' s program by logging on watching.