Race

Fannie Lou Hamer was an activist who spoke out for black rights during Freedom Summer.

50 Years Ago, Students Fought For Black Rights During 'Freedom Summer'

4:50pm June 23, 2014

A PBS documentary about the 1964 movement to get blacks to vote in Mississippi airs Tuesday. Freedom Summer director Stanley Nelson and organizer Charles Cobb discuss the dangers the students faced.

Queue Listen Now

National

Grappling With Gangs, Salt Lake City Turns To Racketeering Laws

8:05am June 19, 2014

by Whittney Evans

Law enforcement in Utah's capital is using federal organized-crime charges to try to rein in groups like the Tongan Crips. One officer says it's sometimes the only way to send a message to criminals.

Queue Listen Now

Edward Pitchford is a responsible-fatherhood specialist with the Center for Urban Families in Baltimore.

National

For These Inner-City Dads, Fatherhood Comes With Homework

5:32pm June 18, 2014

by Shereen Marisol Meraji

For Father's Day, we visited a class in West Baltimore that teaches parenting skills to dads, many of whom grew up in poverty and spent time in and out of the criminal justice system.

Queue Listen Now

Ralph Ellison in 1957, four years after his novel Invisible Man won the National Book Award. Ellison died in 1994.

Books
Arts

Ralph Ellison: No Longer The 'Invisible Man' 100 Years After His Birth

7:07pm May 30, 2014

by Tom Vitale

Ellison's exploration of race and identity won the National Book Award in 1953 and has been called one of the best novels of the 20th century.

Queue Listen Now

Zain Lodhia plays an original song at a Mawlid, a birthday celebration for the Prophet Muhammad. The event was sponsored by the Webb Foundation, a so-called "Third Space" Muslim faith community outside the traditional mosque.

Religion

'Unmosqued' Examines Muslim Variant Of Unchurched Youth

11:00am May 23, 2014

by Monique Parsons

A new documentary making the rounds on college campuses is striking a chord with young Muslims. It depicts them drifting away from Islam and argues that mosques are to blame.

Queue Listen Now

Navajo elder Stella Peshlakai Smith, 89, stands at a traditional dwelling on her homestead at Wupatki National Monument in 2014. The National Park Service says her children cannot stay when she dies.

National

Federal Goverment Jeopardizes Navajo Family's Ties To Its Home

10:46am May 17, 2014

by Laurel Morales

The National Park Service says that an 89-year-old Navajo elder will be the last to live at Wupatki National Monument. Stella Peshlakai Smith's family faces eviction when she dies.

Queue Listen Now

Several white supremacist groups have roots near Harrison, Ark. Residents believe a yellow billboard in town is a reaction to a local effort to make the town more inclusive.

National

Tale Of Two Billboards: An Ozark Town's Struggle To Unseat Hate

7:58pm May 12, 2014

by Frank Morris

In Harrison, Ark., residents troubled by the area's reputation as a hate group hotbed are working hard to make the town more inclusive. White supremacists say the effort amounts to "white genocide."

Queue Listen Now

A group of Asian-Americans, including descendants of Chinese railroad workers, recreated an iconic photo on the 145th anniversary of the first transcontinental railroad's completion at Promontory Summit, Utah.

Descendants Of Chinese Laborers Reclaim Railroad's History

9:55pm May 10, 2014

by Hansi Lo Wang

America's first transcontinental railroad was completed with a golden spike 145 years ago. Thousands of Chinese workers helped build it, but their faces were left out of photos from that historic day.

Queue Listen Now

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., (left) and ranking member Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, are proposing a major overhaul of the U.S. mortgage market.

Overhaul Bill Criticized For Ending Affordable Housing Goals

10:27am May 06, 2014

by Chris Arnold

The Obama administration is trying to gain more support for a bipartisan bill to dramatically reshape the housing finance industry. Others say the bill would weaken affordable housing regulations.

Queue Listen Now

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar On Sterling: 'There's Light Now'

7:46pm May 03, 2014

by NPR Staff

The Hall of Famer calls the punishment for Donald Sterling's racist remarks wise and just, but wonders why the NBA tolerated the Clippers owner's "shameful record" for so many years.

Queue Listen Now