History

National

Medgar Evers' Son Honors Civil Rights Icon In His Own Way

8:06pm August 12, 2013

by Karen Grigsby Bates

James Van Dyke Evers was only 3 when his father, civil rights leader Medgar Evers, was shot and killed in the family's driveway. Van Evers chose not to follow in his father's footsteps — at what cost?

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Florida's Highwaymen Painted Idealized Landscapes In Jim Crow South

1:26pm August 12, 2013

by Jacki Lyden

In the Jim Crow Florida of the 1960's a group of young African-American landscape painters became famous for their art. They also made a lot of money selling oil paintings that depicted an idealized, candy-colored Florida of palms and beaches, and sleepy inlets. These young painters came to be known as the Highwaymen, and they painted thousands of these paintings until the market was saturated and the whole genre vanished. Host Jacki Lyden traveled to Florida and explored their fascinating story. (This piece originally aired on All Things Considered on Sept. 19, 2012.)

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John Tateishi was incarcerated at Manzanar internment camp in California from age 3 until he was 6.

National

From Wrong To Right: A U.S. Apology For Japanese Internment

5:45pm August 09, 2013

by Bilal Qureshi

More than 100,000 people of Japanese descent were put in camps during World War II. Decades later and inspired by the civil rights movement, Japanese-Americans launched a campaign for redress that culminated in an official apology. The community marks the 25th anniversary of that victory this week.

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Louis Marcell and Adam Jones prepare to search for old logs, known as sinker wood, on the bottom of Ashley River near Charleston, S.C. They use sonar and a book of old train lines to find the timber, some of which has been preserved in the mud since the 1

Dredging South Carolina's Rivers For Long-Forgotten Timber

12:56pm August 06, 2013

by Sam Harnett

Dense forests of old-growth pines and cypress once blanketed South Carolina. As farming spread, nearly all the state's virgin trees were logged, but some sank into rivers en route to the sawmills. Now, some entrepreneurs are raising the preserved trees from the muck — and selling them for big money.

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National

Museum Tries To Save The Plant Where Rosie Riveted

6:38pm August 04, 2013

by Tracy Samilton

The Yankee Air Museum must raise $3.5 million to buy a portion of the former Willow Run bomber plant in Michigan, where Rosie the Riveter worked during World War II. Otherwise, the factory is due for demolition.

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Books
Arts

Charles Manson: Master Manipulator, Even As A Child

6:38pm August 04, 2013

by NPR Staff

More than four decades after the cult leader planned nine vicious murders, he is still part of American culture. Jeff Guinn's new biography digs through details of Manson's troubled childhood, with access to family members and photos never reported on before.

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Pioneering 'Masters Of Sex' Brought Science To The Bedroom

4:40pm July 30, 2013

William Masters and Virginia Johnson became famous in the 1960s for their research into the physiology of human sexuality. In Masters of Sex, biographer Thomas Maier explores the duo's research methods, which for years remained shrouded in secrecy.

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Former Democratic Rep. Lindy Claiborne Boggs attends the Distinguished Service Award ceremony at the Capitol in May 2006 in Washington, D.C.

Politics & Government

Ex-Rep. Lindy Boggs: Advocate For Women, Dedicated To Family

1:01pm July 27, 2013

by Linda Wertheimer

The former congresswoman from New Orleans and U.S. ambassador to the Vatican died Saturday morning. She was 97. NPR's Linda Wertheimer traces her life and accomplishments, along with her personal legacy.

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When Gene Krupa's orchestra was cast in 1941's Ball of Fire, trumpeter Roy Eldridge's presence was not negotiable.

How Musicians Helped Integrate The Silver Screen

12:28pm July 25, 2013

by John McDonough

America's first Freedom Riders may well have been the black musicians who, in the '30s and '40s, broke ground in Hollywood. Those could have been milestone moments, but the industry responded to provincial concerns and allowed Jim Crow markets to cut out integrated scenes.

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Remembering The North's First Black Civil War Unit

5:13pm July 22, 2013

The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry fought a historic battle Civil War battle 150 years ago, historic in part because it was the first all-black regiment from the North to do battle in the war to end slavery. Host Jacki Lyden discusses the assault on Fort Wagner with historian Steven Hill.

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