he also organized youth marchs for integrated schools, and that's where jackie robinson, jackie robinson's life converges with bayard. bayard was smart enough to know that jackie was a really good public figure, and maybe we should get jackie to lead the march, and jackie stepped up to the occasion. but in all these memos you can see bayard's tactical brilliance at work. >> as we turn to looking at some of the letters in particular, can you, can you talk a little bit about your process in finding the letters, deciding between them, um, choosing which ones to spotlight? i mean, the breadth and depth of his correspondence over the 45 years, maybe, that you have documented in the book is extraordinary. how -- tell us about how you did it. >> well, it's tough to pick letters, i'll say that. and at first i wasn't sure whether there would be enough letters for the book. later it became pretty clear to me that i had enough letters for at least several books. early on after i started getting interested in bayard's life, i decided that i'd better call walter, the executor of the estate of bayard ru

jackie robinson is good enough for me. the new book, which i cannot give justice to in one conversation, is called "over time, my life as a sportswriter." as he said earlier, it is not so much about him but about his life and the people he has encountered, the story is that he was able to break. >> i really enjoyed it. tavis: thank you, sir. that is our show tonight. you can download the app from the app store. good night, and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with -- a three-time grammy winner, shawn colvin. that is next time. will see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.

he passed away three months before jackie robinson signed with the brooklyn dodgers breaking the colorrrier i don't i'll quickly mention frank frank howard, probably the greatest senator. he is 6' 8" and very impressive numbers. played from 195-208-1973. he led the majors in home runs in 1969 with 48. >> cranked out 247 homes are for the senators and spent his entire career with the senators. >> walter johnson who we told you about, out of the -- okay, get this. tile are, our intern put this -- >> he is all dressed up. >> can we move a camera over to him? >> no, we can't. >> walter johnson, out of the 258 # games started by pitchers in the national league in 2008, there were 61 complete games total. walter johnson in 1910 and 1911 started 79 games. 74 of them were come met games. muched for the entire game. baseball has -- all sports have become very special used. >> who will the next national be that has his own statue out front. strasbourg. >> maybe. we are talking years from now. i love how they've honored him. i love the nats. not crazy about the statues. >> i could tell what you s

rough-and-tumble life of a baseball legend and rapid robert, the saga of interracial baseball before jackie robinson. we will follow the usual format. spiegel's will discuss the book for 40 minutes and we will take questions from the audience for 20 minutes and kim will sign copies of the book. i will turn the pan over to tim. >> thank you. much appreciated. it does this irish heart good to see so many old pals at the table. a wonderful thing. can't tell you how much it means to me. as you can tell, it is a little awkward here. i managed to tear up my knee of few weeks ago. i wish i could tell you i got wounded while storming a nazi stronghold at normandy but the truth is i tripped heading toward a poolside bar in search of a strawberry margaritas. it is pathetic. ernest hemingway just a fepuke. it was that a well-known family resort in florida. it really would have been ernest hemingway who hosted on christmas day, 1944, in luxembourg city, a very liquid christmas bash for fellow correspondents. he wrote for collier's magazine. all the other correspondents following a little thing called the battle

>> if in so many ways, jackie robinson. he was also a will model. >> host: you are on another campus. [laughter] >> guest: is okay. th [laughter] it is then example and b 2.doubt they this withgard regard to economics he wasver very much a role model inin man many aspects of his life. >> thank you for taking my call. is an honor to talk with you i knew you weren't offered what is the title of your first book and how do you decide on the subject? >> it is my biography.pers, i te i take long steps. with reg how to impact people whatlly aw they are notar aware of. >> host: how does your partnership work? >> guest: i put together bremenr in great ways. -- we sit down and work together and defined areas that we want to touch on. i will give him notes, and he will write some of the things that i want to say. if he has captured my voice on it, then we go back and forth. i rewrite things to give him things to edit and vice versa. >> is writing easy for you or is it a real labor? >> writing is a labor for everybody. you have to real

the rough-and-tumble life of baseball legend and the wild saga of interracial baseball before jackie robinson. we will follow her usual format. speakers will discuss it there for 30 or 40 minutes and then take questions from the audience for 20 minutes and 10 will sign copies of the book in turn the panel over to 10. >> thank you, larry. much appreciated. it's good to see so many out thç audience a nap on the table. can't tell you how much it means to me. as you can tell, it hurts a little awkwardly here. i wish i could tell you i got wounded while storming a nasty stronghold, but the truth is -- the truth is i tripped heading towards a poolside bar and in search of a strawberry margarita. it's pathetic and i know somewhere ernest hemingway chest peter. they're sensitive legal matters that i cannot just go up a lot of back and forth here in just a bit. we've got a great panel and i just want you to know how honored i have then stewart spent the last three years and how lucky i am to be paid to write something i care about is passionately about as world war ii journalists meant to follow these

jackie robinson. you talk about the integration of baseball.aying look at who lives here and look at who does not come to dodgers stadium. >> i think it create answer imperative for latinos and african-americans to start working together politically. when you look at the migrations happening in other ways, georgia, in each of those states hispanics are not 8% or more of the population. states like virginia where they are tipping presidential elections. we're not a big enough population by ourselves. and if you can actually get these two groups to start working in unison, i think you'll see a much faster pace towards that change. >> obviously, that question of background coalitions was initially an urban question. it was initially los angeles and the big cities, but it is becoming a sbuburban question ad whether or not we can end up with black brown coalitions that provide some of this same kind of incentive from the democratic party. >> and these populations are putting states like virginia and north carolina into play in a big way. >> there's

i told him less jacki robinson and more sam jackson.cond. >> barring that, i'll get -- >> stephanie: a little more ving rhames. hi john. you're on "the stephanie miller show." >> caller: hi, how you doing? the bush administration very effectively used access to the white house and access to the president and this administration is doing that. it just -- what really bothers me is it kind of gives the right wing press the football in these kinds of incidents because they're going to make up what they can. if that guy had not been there if they had better control over who was in the rose garden, none of this would have happened. he could be on his merry way. more brass knuckles are called for. >> stephanie: brass knuckles. the president always gives statements in the rose garden. what's unprecedented is heckling him before he's finished giving his statement. >> i don't think they should be giving press passes to firebombing far right bloggers. they're not journalists. they're opinion columnists. they don't need to be at the press conferenc

they laid the groundwork as to what a america could stand for before jackie robinson, before martin lutherwhen these men went out to war and fought and represented this country, they were so great -- they had to integrate the armed services. let's give them another hand. [applause] and i think it is very important that we define history. recently i was on a program with several women from the different branches. we were talking about the tuskegee airmen. i mentioned the montfort point marines. they were not aware of it. marines are boots on the ground. boots on the ground. we owe a debt of gratitude to the general. stand up. he led the fight. [applause] i have to tell you, this bill was probably the most bipartisan bill we have passed and we will pass in this congress. 290 signatures in order to get it engendered in the house and you needed a about 90 in the senate. and so when we got it passed in the house, you know, i thought my work was over. the general said, do you know anybody in the senate. i said, sir, what happens when failure is not an option? you get it done. he said, corrine, y

ryan heads off to guyana, with the nbc crew, his assistant jackie speier, print reporters tim ryderman and charles krause, photographer greg robinsoncomes this man into our community. we face them coming in secretly, some of them coming in, that we know of, on a commercial plane. it will be easy to handle. >> the only interest the united states government had in jonestown is americans were being held against their will. which is why i don't understand why jones adopted the only strategy that would bring the united states government to our doorstep. >> they say we are communists. we are degenerates. we are against christ. if we have to kill some of them or provoke them to kill each other, we will do that. they come here with that full knowledge. >> i remember thinking, this is dangerous. i was in the process of purchasing a condominium in arlington at the time and i made the purchase contingent on my surviving the trip. because i didn't want my parents to be saddled with the responsibility if i didn't live. >> i've had no direct response from the peoples temple of any kind so far. none. zero. none. >> it was made very clear to us th

jackie robinson was also a role model in other ways. my mom always pointed out that he was very intelligent and articulate. he went to ucla. he ended up going to do ucla. >> you are on the campus of usc. >> we won't get excited about that. so much of what he did with his life was an example. after his sports career, he became a businessman. a very successful businessman. he pointed out things and with regard to economics that black americans needed to know about. he was very -- very much a wall model and mentor in many of the aspects of his life. >> that's call from our viewing audience is lisa in nashville. caller: thank you for taking my call. i love c-span 2 and "book tv." mr. kareem abdul-jabbar, it is such an honor to talk you into here about the book you have written. i knew you were an author, but i did not realize how many books you have written. what was the title of your first book and how do you decide on the subjects of iraq's? >> the title of my first book was a giant steps. it is my biography. i'm a pretty tall person, i t