Race

Civil Rights Highlighted On Inauguration Day

by Mara Liasson

Monday's inaugural ceremonies were smaller and a little more subdued than President Obama's historic celebration four years ago. The coincidence of the King holiday, in the year that marks the 150th anniversary of emancipation, made civil rights a theme throughout the day's events.
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Shifts In Race Relations Since Obama's Election

President Barack Obama's election in 2008, sparked many discussions about how race relations would change in the United States. Many Americans hoped that the election of a black man to the highest office would provide opportunities for breakthroughs in racial equality and understanding.
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Living Single (1993-1998) featured four young, black, professional women in New York — including Queen Latifah as the ambitious head of a small magazine.

'Living' In Color, Long Before 'Girls'

by Karen Grigsby Bates

HBO's series Girls has been criticized for not being diverse enough. Long before Girls, two shows — Living Single and Girlfriends — featured professional African-American women. But the creator of Girlfriends says times have changed, and the shows she now produces have more multicultural casts to reflect changing demographics.
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Talking About What It Means 'To Be Black'

In his 2012 book, How To Be Black, comedian Baratunde Thurston offers a humorous and poignant commentary on race in America. As part of our annual series on books we missed, Thurston shares his take on the conversations Americans have about race — as well as the ones we should have, but avoid altogether.
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America's First Black Heavyweight Champ

Jack Johnson was America's first black heavyweight boxing champion. NPR's Tavis Smiley talks with Geoffrey Ward about Ward's book Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, a biography about the boxer, and with filmmaker Ken Burns, who produced a documentary based on Ward's book.