they got to work but it was not what langston hughes wanted to urdu. he had bigger projects in mind bigger artistic projects operettas are of musicals. sova to his biography was not top on his agenda. the product that he eventually produced some 80,000 words is pure liro cold brilliance with long passages they you have difficulty following sometimes. you don't know who the people are that are being referred to, and there is no real narrative drive. worse than that, these two men there was no real mainstream publisher who was ready to publish a biography of a strong black hero who challenged the are prevailing racism of the time, particularly the new york police department. so it was all put away. and it sat 65 years and tell i happen to come across tony who told me he had the manuscript. from there it was a question of recreating the life to find out what they were actually talking about and from the vantage point of 60 years later, and the lessons learned since then of their day of the civil-rights movement to stand above it to put everything into the

theston use i traveled world and have very strong feelings on segregation -- langston hughes had traveled the world and has very some phillies on segregation and they worked on it. he finally decided to get serious about his work and dealing with these problems. the last event that really got him is that he was traveling with some friends from baltimore back to pennsylvania. , so theyroke down stopped in a maryland town. up and says, boys, what are you doing here? and they said, we are just getting her car fixed. he said, good, get it fixed. i don't want you here by sundown stop if you are here by sundown, you won't be leaving. thurgood had wandered off and as they are leaving, he is wanting to catch up and he jumps onto the car and doesn't quite make it fully and ends up injuring himself in a very private place. up having to take a semester off to recover from this injury. that aspect, that threat, "leave by sundown or else," that affected his young life. and then in law school he found a way to channel that anger, that frustration. when he graduated from law --ool in pennsylvania, he th

paul plan or langston hughes? you were told they were not worthy of inclusion on a college curriculum. students had to fight for their own education and i'd think what they have one has a rich higher education leading to a transformation of knowledge and college teaching that has certainly influence black studies and latino studies but all disciplines have been impacted for the better. >> given your book you address some of the critiques of african-american studies and that it is not a rigorous. >> when the students won the simeons the after first they started by negotiants and meetings to do research to demonstrate to the faculty at administrators it is inappropriate area of inquiry but so it was time to escalate the tactics. so they engaged in direct action protest they went on strike, occupied buildings organized demonstrations demonstrations, because this was the time with the summer after summer of very serious urban unrest many were nervous about the urban unrest coming into campus and nervous about escalati

playwright, a woman she shared her home with for most of her life who was also in community with langston hughes and a number of the writers associated with the harlem renaissance. they would meet on saturday nights in washington, d.c., and write and plan and thing together. it was a vary in the black artistic space that was created and she was a part of that. so there was community behind her, but there were gender norms and even in the community at large. >> she had the role in founding an african-american sorority. >> yes, founded at howard university in 1908. she is not a technical founding member but she is in the first cohort of women. it was another way to create space for black women's leadership and the on the front lines of cultivating something vary particular, a particular space for black women. >> did she continue to be an advocate for women's education? >> absolutely. she is pushing for the campus. she was pushing for what was rolled back. she is still mentoring howard students, mentoring students who may come to howard at some point. so she is a lifelong advocate for women on camp

professor ask why are there no writers on the syllabus quiz where is richard wright are where's langston hughes or james old went you would probably be told that they weren't worthy of inclusion on the college curriculum. so students really had to fight. had to fight for their own education and i think what they want has enriched american higher education and lead to a transformation in american intellectual life, a transformation in knowledge production and college teaching that certainly influenced black studies and latino studies but all the disciplines in liberal arts have been impacted for the better. >> host: in your book's "the black revolution on campus" you address some of the critiques of ethnic studies as not being intellectually rigorous. >> guest: when the students when these demands and they were one after first the students started by just negotiations and meetings and trying to do research and to demonstrate to the faculty and to demonstrate to administrators that this was an appropriate area of inquiry but in light of foot-dragging and a lack of change students decided in the l

took my breath away in the course of the conversation by saying did i know that he had hired langston hughes in 1949 to do the biography. >> so you worked with that material, your own research, and put together this book that, as i said, really is not only samuel battle's history, but a history of new york city with, i mean, every colorful character you could name from that period that he was part of the police department. >> i hope so because samuel battle was both a super-intelligent person, and he had this large outgoing personality that, from the time he arrived in new york city, around the turn of the 20th century, he engaged with every major black figure of the time, whether it was jack johnson the boxer or entertainers or gangsters or politicians -- whoever it was, sam battle got involved, and he got involved in the civil rights struggle. and, really, what he was part of was an american civil rights movement before america knew that it had a civil rights movement. and so, because he was so engaged, his life story became a natural vehicle for telling the history of black new york from

the elements of langston hughes. a question and a call and a prayer. black lives matter. it is research into it this story of ota benga and african male who went into the local headlines after he was exhibited in the bronx zoo monkey house with an orangutan. , then why was the disgraced african who did not leave behind any record third leave behind a remarkable feat become a priority? when i started research five years ago i could not know some will see his life as a metaphor for the black lives today. but somehow i knew his story mattered. how he came to be so monumentally degraded in their world-class city at the dawn of the 20th century during the progressive era. so i began to explore this historical case. i began with a book published in 1982 that has become the definitive account of ota benga life. the pig we in this new was written by the grandson of the african explorer who brought ota benga to the united states. according to the introduction in the book was the story of friendship between ota benga and samuel burns from the first few pages i was intrigued by the

of those of you who grew up reading the langston hughes as i do remember he may take years in a defense plant and he did hard physical labor. the health issue is tied to the kind of work people do. i'm retired professor -- professor. i'm in good health but i didn't do hard physical labor. most people of color to really hard physical labor and their worn-out a lot sooner so that the efforts to raise the social security beyond 65 because they want to do that because they think people are living healthy and later. but not all people are living longer. not all people are living healthier. i thought that was an important point to make because that's another area of inequality. just people being worn-out through how they have to earn their living. i just wanted to add that. >> so vesla can you work on citizenship and criminal justice. how do you do your research? how have you seen the relationship between wealth inequality and -- >> i mean, i think we were talking a financial instrument earlier. one of the biggest things that is not on the public radar. it is not a political savings right now

combine and relate to his own language, prophecy, the american dream and the dream poetry or langston hughes sun. thank you so much. incredible find. >> it's been my pleasure. thank you. >> next photo, going viral. showing these two police officers both as you can see on their hands, his life matters, pointing to one another. one of those officers will join me live. also an update on the breaking news. the blast so massive it was felt and heard from miles away in a city that is the fourth largest port city in the world. we'll take you to china next. because 100% whole grain oats are incredibly good for you. because they're heart healthy because they're good for kids. and granddads and everyone else in the family. everything we do is because of what really matters most. the goodness of oats and the people we love. yoabout summer pizza?ng it tastes light. it tastes fresh. and it's pizza. try our new grilled chicken margherita pizza. a large for only $12.00. and, add a chocolate chip cookie for only $5.00 more. better ingredients. better pizza. papajohns.com. >>> we're following this breaking n