so did james baldwin, the author who organized the whole event. fact, i talked with the man who took them to a tv station for live interview, henry morgenthau. and henry told me that james baldwin was so shaken not, he was so physically disturbed that he just sighed henri, you need to take me to a bar and we need to get a drink. it you refused to do it and said no, we need to get to the tv station. in the interview thought it was still shaken not. this is a pivotal moment for the summer. it is only a few weeks later the president john kennedy announced his support for the most overreaching civil rights legislation since reconstruction and in a speech on june 11, he gave the most far-reaching statement of support for the civil rights movement as a moral cause, as an american cause. there had never been a speech as pro-civil rights in american history by a president. now, jerome smith was speaking intelligently. he was getting to the heart of the matter, which is that segregation in all ecosystems in fact depend on the consent of the people. it may

including author james baldwin.he cities art commission still has to approve the sidewalk plaque. >>> time now 6:47. let's get you to where you need to go. sal, how are we look something >> we are doing pretty well. things are getting busier. i want to show you 280 a little slower. this is one of the big bottlenecks in the south bay. so far so good. getting up to the toll plaza we have a backup that stretches from eight minutes all the way back to the 880 crossing. san francisco northbound 101 a lot more crowded. still looking okay as you approach the 80 split. let's go to steve. >>> sal, thank you, sir. mostly clear. we do have a clouds coming down. today will be just be slightly. some patchy fog has also formed. incredible as that sounds. sunny and nice today. so you that can't last. tuesday and one sunny clouds. as we get toward the weekend more clouds and rain getting closer. i won't say it yet. it looks like by this time next week the change the first part of the change is right there slicing through nevada and

activists are woven together with those of historical giants from phillis wheatley, langston hughes, james baldwin, alice walker, toni morrison, to benjamin banneker, frederick douglass, w.e.b. du bois, ida b. wells barnett and colin powell. the likenesses of the extraordinary are matched by the equally poignant letters of the ordinary hoop in an hand share their joy and pain, ecstasy and hard. >> this letter is from hannah grover to her son, cato. it was written june 3, 1805. my dear son, i long to see you in my old age. i live in caldwell this -- with mr. grover, the minister of that place. my dear son, i pray you come to see your dear old mother, or send me $20 i will come to see you in philadelphia. and if you can't come to see your old mother, pray, send me a letter and tell me where you live, what family you have, and what you do for a living. i am a poor old servant. i long for freedom, and my master will free me if anybody will engage to maintain the so that i don't come upon him. i love you, cato. you love your mother? you are my only son. this from the affectionate mother, hannah, hannah

quite nice compared to the parts of the rural south where a lot of -- it's much nicer than what james baldwin grew up in and ralph ellison grew up and far more -- >> the guy was a drug dealer. >> i grew up in the suburbs around guys who chose to deal drugs because it was very cool. >> right, right. >> his mother was a school teacher and he didn't to have deal drugs to feed himself. >> right, but that was his choice -- >> it was, exactly. >> so let me ask you this. what is good hip hop to you? >> well, i want -- i want to be very clear about this. my book is not about music. it's not -- it's not a critique of the artistic merit of hip hop which i don't dispute. >> well, let me repeat your title. losing my cool: how a father's love and 15,000 books beat hip hop culture. >> it's about a system of values that the music doesn't create but it provides a soundtrack and an echo chamber -- it magnifies often and it glorifies and romanticizes these things i'm not -- a lot of older black critics of hip hop have a problem with hip hop on a musical level and find it inferior of black music. that's not my

but nonetheless interesting and compelling documentation of debates he had, for example, with james baldwinhere was a debate he had either at cambridge or oxford -- >> [inaudible] >> in, like, 1950 or something. it's a very interesting debate. so we don't have them, or i don't have them, but they exist. >> yeah. we have, we have a lot of still photos, but not terribly well organized. but hoover, as roger says, has the entire firing line archive, and they are working, they have a couple of donors who have given money specifically for that. so as they can they're making these available, and they're selling them through amazon. >> it's interesting that linda and i were talking about this because we had heard some rumors about documentaries being done of, of bill; history channel, bbc -- >> there is at least one, actually, because i was interviewed for it. >> okay, please. >> i think it's bbc, some establish group. >> but that's been killed, unfortunately. >> oh, it has? >> lack of funding, yeah. >> so the incredible fact is that at this point i to not believe that there is any documentary film

. >> we're going to go into alec baldwin's dream and get some hosting tips. >> are you buying this? >> james franco and anne hathaway managed to amuse in their opening statement, getting inception style. part of the job for ann was seven costume changes, while jayne up staged her in this one. >> you got to wear a tuxedo so i wore this. >> eight-time oscar host billy crystal got an ovation that some hoped would make him consider coming back as host next year. ♪ ♪ somewhere over the rainbow ♪ >> the night ended with a class picture, the elite class of this year's oscar winners. over the moon while a staten island school choir sang "over the rainbow." ♪ ♪ over the rainbow why oh why can't i ♪ "the king's speech" got four as course last night, but so did inception, although for inessential,in inessential all were in the technical categories, best actor, best original screenplay. the cohen brothers "true grit" second, and now here's jeff glor. the news desk in new york with a check of the day's other headlines. we'll be back in los angeles in a couple minutes. good morning, jeff. >> good morning,