governments african leaders or african people and citizens as somehow victimized by the internationalsystem i think that they are fully in charge and can play this game of balancing of interests balancing of interests. that you know they have tremendous leverage that they could utilize if they would do so ok robert if i go to you if you were an african leader and you wanted to get foreign investment needed money would you go to the i.m.f. or would you go to the chinese what which would you prefer if you put yourself in a position of being an african leader of the i.m.f. doesn't do foreign investment may i.m.f. rescues. rescue you know rescue ok rescue by the chinese say they have ten billion dollars in the economy ask questions. well i think what you would do is you would say what's the problem we're looking at if the problem is you want lots of people to come and do business in your country then you wouldn't pick either or you'd say we're open for business for both chinese and the americans and anyone else who wants to come so long as they abide by the law and the basic minimum stand

this training program for african americans in tuskegee, alabama. i found a memo where he figured out when the press deadline would be for the weekly black newspapers on the last day before the 1940 election and he released this press announcement that roosevelt was doing all these things for african-americans just hours before that deadline so he guaranteed the top headline on every black newspaper in the united states on the day of the election was going to be roosevelt create programs for blacks, promotes first black general, all these things. very astute political. there are moral reasons for doing this. there are political reasons for doing this. you don't have to be too much of the senate to believe roosevelt did this more for political reasons than for anything else but he did create the program and tuskegee. that created some divisions within the african-american community. the naacp had been lobbying all along for the creation of integrated flight training. it is easy to get african-americans into flight training. just let them in existing

he always felt he was under attack by african-americans and hated it. he explain the chain of command in the air force, general arnold got his from general marshall he got his from the secretary and he got his from mrs. roosevelt. these people hate the civilian pressure coming down on their heads forcing them to desegregate but had it not been for this they would have served in the pacific. a long answer to your short question. >>ur is that in your book? >> absolutely. >> we are a lot of time. [applause] >> thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] >> todd moye, associate history professor of the university of north texas and his book "freedom flyer: the tuskegee airmen of world war ii". coming up in 15 minutes philip terzian will discuss his latest publication "architects of power: roosevelt, eisenhower, and the american century". more of booktv's live coverage from the 2011 roosevelt reading festival hosted by the franklin d. roosevelt presidential library and museum in hyde park, new york, after this break. >> part of this book group is an impri

we in the african-american community have no time to waste. i am going to stand up with a bold stance. the black press needs to sit down with whomever is running this ship pier that does not know -- this ship here that does not know about oversight. anything other than that would be in dignity. here you have a department head saying it is an oversight. there has been an oversight on the african-american community for 40 years. my name is ace and i'm on the case. i have been here at silly call for 20 years and i have experienced the indignity of the african-american community. in the media, particularly. i meeting today with the city and county. i am in the city hall and now they are trying to get rid of me, y'all. but i done made history. never, ever has there been an african-american organization here. [tone] supervisor campos: next speaker, please. >> i'm the publish -- the publisher of the "west portal monthly" newspaper and the chair of the san francisco neighborhood association newspaper. if you have any questions regarding some of the ne

world of african-americans, but just a shadow over anyone who has thought about african-american identity. part of the idea's going back to the canine and engaging to block -- dubois political thought, if we arrive at some of the assumptions and our own thinking about many of these issues. >> in the west 113 years are so, what practical effect has dubois had? where is his lineage? >> of course he was one of the great inspiration's of the civilized movement. i think it is well known that john mearsheimer is deaf. i used that, roger wilkinson. the announcement of du bois as an epigraph. and he says there, you know, there is one thinker whose double overshadows both the movement happening here today is du bois. so real connection in between not only what is going on the level of contemporary writers. there is thinking about these issues, is used to my income having to do with identity, conflicts in the aftermath of segregation, the aftermath of obama, but also the voice has had an enormous impact on activists. >> what was his relationship, professor, with bush -- booker t. washington. >> tha

, an african american woman would protect her man's manhood. there's this interracial romance that happens, black man, white woman, and how this is all viewed. she said how she felt her character had to really stand up to protect her man and as a consequence it became part of the play. the african american woman will not tell earl that his wife has actually left him already and run off with another man. she doesn't tell him that because she's trying to protect his manhood. those are things i think if you are a smart playwright, you really take advantage of your very smart actors and your very smart directors. again, this thing where it's always coming down it ego. at sundance, in every rehearsal process, i like being part of a very generous workshop. if you were in there you would say, wow, it's pretty free-wheeling. for example, you have 9 characters, 9 story lines that all are trying to be pieced together so they all are introduced, they all intertwine and at the end they are all resolved in some form or fashion. it's a delicate architecture.

from the dispersal of africans throughout the world. we do that through compelling and innovative exhibitions, public programs, and education programs. our goal is to celebrate and present for appreciation to our broad and diverse public the controversial energy contributions of people of african descent to world culture in all aspects in all areas, including politics, culture, economics, education, just in all aspects of cultural forms of expression. >> one of the fascinating things since 2005 when the museum was established, is that it has become clear from science that all of humanity originates in africa. how does that influence the education programs or presentation here at moad? >> obviously, being able to attenuate that, and there is a sign at the door that says, "when did you know that you were african?" our point is that we share a common dna, and it connects us on a number of different levels. this institution is an institution available to everyone, a resourced for everyone. >> you have both permanent and temporary exhibition

at this point this was a novel in the case of african-american life.to think about the fact that in 1940-19501 is looking at turn in black five for people are beginning to really understand that there needs to be these different institutional mediators in order to create the capacity to broadcast african-american identity and that appeal out to a wide audience, all familiar national audience which is something that in many ways is at the heart of the chicago stories. i begin with this story in a sense. and the book with a story about martin luther king and the fact that we all understand martin luther king is an iconic figure of the last half of the 20th century. many people understand this to be the results of the ways in which whites, when the rules, and mainstream media in brisking as exemplary. we know, perhaps, that many years before king was actually brought up to that level of prominence he was being presented as an iconic and exemplary african-american public celebrity figure by ebony magazine. directly in the wake of the boycott. so that abili

saying that obama's election creates more opportunities for african-americans. it's down. it's gone down a bit since his election and certainly in my own surveys, it's not as high as 70%. it's closer to around 30%, 40% who are saying that it's going to help them. but i also think that the obama election is not just -- it's not just one phenomenon that accounts for all of this. i think it takes place against a backdrop of many things. it's certainly a huge event. and one that for at least many people of color and others as well indicates that things may be possible in this country that a lot of people thought wasn't possible even a few years ago. it's an event which sort of -- i call it, you know, the final revelation in the series of things that happened which caused a lot of people to sit back and say wait a minute, let me rethink some fundamental assumptions that i've always made about where this country is and where it's possible for people to go. >> so what if he loses in 2012? and the gain that you saw from his election in 2008, will there be a resumption o

they marched from the first african baptist church 400 young black people to this building for it to become the first friedman's schools here in the city of savannah in 1865. >> next on booktv, ellis cose spoke about his latest book "the end of anger" at the "chicago tribune" printers row lit fest. he took questions from the lit fest audience. this is about 45 minutes. [applause] >> thank you and, ellis welcome to chicago. he's a native son. ellis has a new book out and to put it in some context, 18 years ago, you wrote the "rage of a privileged class" which talked about african-american, middle class african-americans being and feeling in excruciating pain, i think, was the flays you got a new book just coming out the end of this month, "the end of anger." oh, they're feeling pretty good. so what happened. what changed? >> a lot changed. let me say since the book has come out it's interesting. you're right i did write a book about rage. and the fundamental point that one person after another made in that book -- and i conducted, you know, well over 100 interviews for it on very succ

the school board initially was 50% african-american and soon it was a majority african-american. the same was true of the city council over time. mayor jackson became mayor and over time atlanta, like many other cities, became a black-controlled city. and the theory that the african-american middle class had was that same race representation controlled by african-americans would yield progress for the entire group. and what ms. matthews was challenging -- she was challenging that premise as early as the 19 -- late 1960s and the 1970s, certainly. and i can tell you that certainly it was the case that pretty soon in the evolution of the atlanta school board it became clear of the city schools, that having same race representation was not enough to make the city schools good schools for the majority of children and certainly for children who had the most needs. and, of course, those are typically going to be the children of the -- what william julius williams calls the truly disadvantaged, right? so the african-americans who are living in poverty. so i do think that her fears that t

community -- african- american community and the chinese community. we were also able to recommend a neighborhood paper, and in addition to those papers we recommended, the board added the "bayview" for the african- american community and others for the asian and chinese community and the western addition as the second neighborhood l reach newspaper. in addition to the bidders to bid last year, we did it additional outreach to neighborhood newspapers, the central city extra -- the "west side observer" andy -- and of the "single side light." we received one new bid in day hispanic community -- they did not bid last year but have been in prior years. we did receive for new bids for a neighborhood outreach -- we did receive four new bids for neighborhood outreach. we are pleased to recommend the response of bidders this year and the new responsive better was in the neighborhood area, "marina *." and the company that bid for them and the "no. * san francisco." there is no change in the reasons and the other communities were unresponsive. for all of the no

lots of african-american -- prominent african-american leaders. but this does not stop matthews and other women from the housing projects from pushing ahead. they challenge the sthment and they met the resistance of, say, lonnie king who was the head of the local naacp. he defended it with these words, among others. he said, if i have to choose between sitting beside whitey and a job that pays, i want the job. matthews shot back, quote, why should our children be pawned for a few greenbacks? and, thus, you can see that matthews and her neighbors were concerned about their children. she knew, they knew that they would never be wealthy, but they did want the opportunity for their children to climb out of poverty and they thought the way for them to do that was to get a good education and they associated racially mixed schools with that opportunity. so they pushed ahead. they hired margerie pitts-haines who was a lawyer associated with the aclu to back them up in court. challenging the settlement. matthews confronted and other women confronted powerf

i want to know how many companies were african-american own. we heard testimony this afternoon about the fact that there are not enough. i agree with that. i want to know what companies were present that are african- american owned? >> there are several, actually. >> as part of each team, i do not know how many for each team, but there were african american companies on each one. i know that -- i'm just going off the top of my head. commissioner torres: i can wait. i'm not a supporter of proposition 209. i think it is embarrassing that a minority person sponsored a that initiative. be that as it may, i think it is our duty as a public agency to make sure that when we go over all of these proposals and, in fact, there is some concern, and some concern i shared over the years, that we need to make sure we have out reached so that not only african-american, but latino-owned companies are included, especially with the local hire provisions that i know will be difficult to implement. you have done an incredible job of doing that. how are we going to

identity and african-american appeal out to a wide audience. that's something that in many ways is at the heart of the chicago store in the 1940s and 1950s. i begin with this story in the photograph. eyed in the book with the story of martin luther king. and the fact that we all understand martin luther king is an iconic figure of the last half of the 20th century. many people understand this to be the result of the way in which whites, whites liberals, embracing as exemplary of the form of the country. but we don't perhaps know is that many years before team was actually brought up to the level of prominence, he was being present as an iconic and exemplary african-american public and celebrity figured by ebony magazine, 1955-9056 directly in the wake of the montgomery us boycott. so that promotional machine, the ability to make people seem larger-than-life and impact for good and sometimes for ill that he had on african-american, is something that comes out of the black community even more so than it comes out of the broader mainstream comedic

in the country, we too much attention to african-americans, etc.. so it would be naive to think that he doesn't have this going on in his head. should he make some strong statements and should he have a strong policies as regards to poverty? of course, people claim he does, he just has talked to some other things that clearly that is a major issue and dealing with it as vigorously as with any other issue. >> you brought up the tea party and i feel when you say in the tea party and conservatism is going to cost controversy. i'm going to read a couple of paragraphs from the book. what it all adds up to is an america that is psychologically and politically divided in the most bizarre way. one american celebrating the rise of a black president and the beginning of the end of racism while the other drowns in paranoia and racial fear. in one american anger is mellow and in the other it explodes and the future seems brighter than ever while in the other is cloaked in gloom. the biggest locus of anger these days seems to be not in the nation's black and bro

and really destabilizing our entire community with african-american male, one-third of african american male get caught up in the criminal justice system by the time to 24 years old. what that means is you've eliminate a whole lot of opportunities to build to cast a vote, to the differences and in challenge that most people are not connecting the law that was just passed in florida adding five years to rehabilitating your franchise, your right to vote for those who pay their debt to society already back on the street. they have to wait five more years before they can vote. most people think about who that affected it affects our folks. so many other things. some of our folks are buying into it as well. when you talk about things like photo ids, photo ids to be able to vote. why not? i got a drivers license. well, we did a little statistical analysis as well. that's what we do. we found out that the 25%, one quarter of all voting age african-americans would not be able to vote under the present photo id system. we do not have acceptable level of photo ids to go to the polls and vote in n

blacks we're kept from then polls and between 1882 and 1927, there were 517 african-americans lynched in the state of mississippi. the highest number in the t nation during any period of a backward political oppressive culture rooted in violence was firmly established by the early 20th century making mississippi symbolic with everything undemocratic and oppressive and in that repressive environment turning it into which medger evers was born july 2nd 1925 james was employed as a sacker and jesse took him on tree and ironing for local white families and the evers family was never well-to-do but yet managed to acquire land and a modest degree of security a devout christian and actuant active in the church of god and heard the phrase had an effect in all of her children attending one of the town's baptist churches and both parents q reached preach the qualities of self-reliance and pride and self-respect values directly a contradicted by the customary values that african americans and estate were supposed to assume as a tau child medger was taught that his maternal great-grandfather duri

there was only one african leader at the time, african political leader at the time who had anything to say about rwanda. would anyone like to hasten a guess as to who that was? nelson mendel -- madella, of course it was. he was a religious leader rather than a political leader, and only nelson mandella who had anything to say about this. that's the tragedy of africa. that's the tragedy now in abia although that photograph was taken in darfur. this takes me to the reason that i wrote a novel about darfur. since i went there in 2004 about the refugee camps, i have written numerous articles and always preaching to the choir. i was inspired by the example the kite runner, a guy who wrote a novel about afghanistan, and hundreds of thousands of people who never would read about afghanistan bought the novel and got interested. i thought why not try? i had a rather more important reason to try to write this, and that's because of the women of darfur who actually ask me to write it when i was there interviewing them, and i said to the people i was speaking to, i'm a privileged white woman, h

for african-americans, that number is 2 million. 2 million african-americans cannot vote. the majority of those convictions are because of drug convictions. as reverend jackson said, with cody generation and we certainly took their political viability. it's not to say that the impact is so was born on those individual shoulders who had been convicted for what they may, or as mr. garrison shared with us, may have not been done what they were accused of. the burden really falls on these families and offline communities who have had these individuals stripped out of those communities. you know, there are whole community is where can ask, either in an in african-american men between the ages of 18 and 35 there to help raise the community's children in some communities there are none. they're just simply are none. the voting rights is not the only area in which this problem occurs. there are a number of other bands. people have a difficult time accessing public housing. public essays such as food stamps. they also have a hard time accessing federal student aid for higher educat