The segmentation of the African-Americans into a new middle class and an existing underclass was a major theme in American economy and society during the last quarter of the 20th century. ABJ interviews with black leaders and reformers highlight the ways that the restructuring of the rustbelt economy perpetuated some barriers to achievement as it opened new opportunities to the increasing number of skilled African-Americans.
Description: Clips from several different segments: an obituary of Fannie Lou Hamer, an interview with Pearl Cleage, poetry by Arna Bontemps, a slideshow of black artists and political figures, and a slideshow of African art. None of the clips are complete segments.
Description: Host Candy Shannon and guest Tony Brown discuss the importance of black-focused media outlets and Brown's history with Detroit Black Journal.
Description: Paul Clements presents a documentary about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his work with the civil rights movement.
Description: A special about economic issues faced by the African-American community.
Description: A yearly special with clips of topics covered during 1984.
Description: Moderator Roger Wilkins and panelists Robert Woodson, Mayor Unita Blackwell, Randall Robinson, Eleanor Holmes-Norton, Arthur Fletcher, and Amiri Baraka discuss progress made and challenges faced by black Americans.
Guests: Robert Woodson, Ernest Green, M. Carl Holman, Marc Stepp, Geraldine Daniels, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Pendleton, Clarence M., Jr.
Description: Moderator Roger Wilkins and panelists Robert Woodson, Ernest Green, M. Carl Holman, Marc Stepp, Geraldine Daniels, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr. discuss economic issues faced by black Americans and take audience questions.
Description: This hour-long program from 1985 examines the status of African Americans in America's corporate world, in particular, the barriers that prevent black executives from advancing into the upper levels of corporate management.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guests Chris Wathen and Bobby Calhoun discuss black men and their role in their families and community.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guest F. Edward Johnson discuss black voters and political parties.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guests Chauncey Bailey, Emery King, and Bill Black discuss recent allegations of racial bias in Detroit's news media outlets.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guests Arthur Featherstone, Howard Simon, and Joe Madison discuss whether boycotting is still an effective method of protesting for civil rights.
Description: The search for economic autonomy and self-determination has long been an important concern in the African American community. This 1986 program explores the state of that search through a discussion between host Ed Gordon and two prominent African American businessmen: Earl Graves, editor and publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine, and Dave Bing, president of Bing Steel and a former member of the Detroit Pistons.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guest Rev. Charles Adams discuss the relevance of the NAACP and its plans for the future.
Description: This show is about financial planning, addressing the lack of understanding on the topic for many. The guest is Keith Mason, a financial planner for IDS American Express Financial Services.
Description: This program from June 1986 is a fascinating look at the intersection of race and media in the mid 1980s. Host Ed Gordon begins by playing a clip from the previous week's program in which Detroit Mayor Coleman Young criticizes news coverage in the city as unfair and racially biased.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guest Arthur Johnson discuss the controversial election that led to Johnson's appointment as President-Elect of the Detroit branch of the NAACP and his plans for the next two years as the head of the organization.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guests Erma Henderson, Imam Talib Karim-Muhammed, and Rev. Jim Holly discuss issues that will be faced by Detroit's black community in the upcoming year.
Description: This program, in which host Ed Gordon interviews civil rights leader and former Georgia state legislator Julian Bond, was broadcast in January 1987 on the national observance of the Martin Luther King Holiday.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guest Dr. Lenora Fulani discuss Rev. Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guests Pat Coleman-Burns, Dr. Lyn Lewis, and Valerie Childs discuss the rising number of single-parent black households.
Description: This show is about the ramifications of recent massive GM layoffs for Detroit.
Guests include congressmen John Conyers; and Joe Wilson, the president of UAW local 15, who was recently laid off.
Description: A local favorite was the late Coleman A. Young, Detroit's Mayor for twenty years, who appeared on the show numerous times to discuss his efforts to shape Detroit, confront critics, and fight for racial justice. Young's dynamic manner made for several lively appearances, particularly in his early years as mayor in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Description: Host Ed Gordon and guest Les Brown discuss how the black community can benefit from using motivational speaking techniques.
Description: This show is about relationships between black consumers and entrepreneurs. It begins with a recording of a speech by entrepreneur Porterfield Wilson, and comments from Reverend Sampson Mathews of the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit, and Gerald Davis of the Thursday Luncheon Group.
Description: This show is about the allowance of more casinos in Detroit. Guests include Lawrence Doss and Helen Kelly, both of the Casino Gaming Study Commission; Reverend Keith Butler, president of the Alliance Against Casino Gambling; and Michael Jefferson from Citizens for Detroit's Future.
Description: This show is about the pyramid operation that was exclusively black, and whether that's the only reason it gained so much attention.
Guests include Richard Smart, the assistant deputy attorney general for Detroit; Detroit Free Press columnist Susan Watson, who wrote an article about the situation and has been receiving hate mail and threats because of it; and Robert McTyre of the Michigan Chronicle.
Description: This program, originally broadcast in late 1989, consists of an interview by Trudy Gallant of Detroit City Council President Erma Henderson. At the time, Henderson was preparing to leave the council after her fourth term. Henderson, who was the first black woman elected to the council and the first black person to serve as the council's president, had passed up an opportunity to run for reelection to the council to make an unsuccessful bid to be elected mayor.
Description: This program from February 1989 crosses a range of categories as it explores the history of Detroit's black neighborhoods in the first half of the 20th century. Host Trudy Gallant discusses that history with a panel which includes two Detroiters who grew up in the Black Bottom/Paradise Valley area on the city's near east side, and the curator of a new exhibit about the period on display at the Detroit Historical Museum.
Description: This program, broadcast in January 1989, discusses a report recently issued by the National Urban League assessing the economic and social challenges facing African Americans.
Description: Host Trudy Gallant and guests Dorothy DeMorcia, Wardell Polk, and Silvia Williams discuss an exhibit about Detroit's historical black community at the Detroit Historical Museum.
Description: Host Trudy Gallant and guests Rev. James Kennedy, Larry Kitchen, Dennis James, and William Sebastian discuss a recent lawsuit against GM for discriminatory workplace policies.
Description: Host Trudy Gallant and guests Dr. Tyrone Tillery, Carl Edwards, and Dr. Zaida Giraldo discuss a recent Supreme Court ruling that limits affirmative action.
Description: This show is about the history of Detroit Black Journal, and is filled with clips from old shows.
Guests include the first host of the show, Tony Brown, Gil Maddox, who originally wrote the proposal for the show, Abe Ulmer, another host of CPT, Juanita Anderson, former executive producer of DBJ, Ron Scott, former producer and host of DBJ, and George Martin, who worked on CPT and DBJ.
Description: This show is about Nigeria and American trade opportunities there. Michigan opened an African trade office in Nigeria in the previous year, and set record sales, prompting the discussion topic.
Guests are Sadiq Mohamed, the deputy minister of the Nigerian Ministry of Trade; and Dean Johnson, of the Michigan Export Development Authority.
Description: In early 1865, shortly before the end of the Civil War, General William T. Sherman began distributing parcels of land confiscated from Confederate supporters to former slaves along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. He also loaned army mules to the former slaves to help them farm their newly acquired land.
Description: This show is about the decrease in blacks in higher education.
Guests include Dr. Harriet Slocom, the director of the urban teachers program at Wayne County Community College; Dr. Walter Edwards, assistant dean of the graduate school at Wayne State University; and Blenda Wilson, the chancellor of University of Michigan, Dearborn. There is also a short reading by Dudley Randall, a Detroit poet laureate, from his poem "Booker T. and W.E.B." that is interrupted by various performers reciting the poem.
Description: Host Trudy Gallant and guests Bunyon Bryant Ph.D., Grace Boggs, and Gayle Rocker discuss environmental issues that impact black urban communities. Also, Avery Brooks talks about a play about the life of Paul Robeson.
Description: Host Trudy Gallant and guest Dr. Joseph Lowery discuss his work with the civil rights movement.
Description: This show is an interview with Detroit mayor Coleman Young.
Description: This show is an interview with Minister Rasul Muhammad, the Nation of Islam's local leader. Includes clips of a speech by Louis Farrakhan.
Description: This program from the fall of 1991 is the first of two DBJ broadcasts examining one of the hot-button issues in Michigan at that time - the state's decision to balance its budget by slashing its spending on general assistance welfare.
Description: This is the second of two DBJ programs broadcast in the fall of 1991 as cutbacks in Michigan's state budget were throwing 90,000 state residents off of the general assistance welfare rolls.
Description: Nkenge Zola interviews Matty Rich about his debut film, Straight Out of Brooklyn.
Description: Host Trudy Gallant and guest Joan Doyen discuss recent budget cuts made to social programs in Michigan.
Description: Host Trudy Gallant and guests Dr. Arthur Johnson, Joann Watson, and Dr. Lionel Swan discuss the 36th Annual NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner.
Description: Host Trudy Gallant and guests Rosa Parks and Rev. Charleszetta "Mother" Waddles discuss their work to promote civil rights and charity. Also, a video about the Henry O. Tanner exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Description: Guest host Darryl Wood and guests N. Charles Anderson and Dr. Alan L. Keyes discuss the recently released State of Black America and its accusations that tax dollars are unfairly distributed.
Description: Host Trudy Gallant and guests Lloyd Storey and Amani Henry Kashaka discuss tap dancing for National Tap Dance Day. Also, Paul D. Lee and Wilfred Little discuss the life of Malcolm X.
Description: This show is about budget cuts in Michigan and how it is affecting the poor. The show starts with a statement from John Engler, governor of Michigan at the time; and ends with clips of A & M Gospel Choir.
Guests include Olivia Wilcox from the Coalition on Temporary Shelter; Sergeant Major Otis Green, bed and bread coordinator for the Salvation Army Harbor Light; Maureen Taylor, director of the community based restitution program; "Faith" of the Shepherd House, and some homeless people from the area that aren't named.
Description: This show is about what educational, civic, and healthcare are available for young black people.
Guests include Lynn Smith, director of the Youth Advisory Commission; Ron Hall, assistant vice president of New Detroit, Inc; and N. Charles Anderson, president and CEO of the Detroit Urban League.
Description: Guest host Regina Benjamin-Steiger and guests Mary Hollens, Donele Wilkins, and Akua Budu Watkins discuss environmental issues, how they affect the black community, and the First National People of Color Leadership Summit.
Description: This program from the fall of 1992 examines the question of collective economics in the black community: Do African American consumers adequately support black-owned businesses, and if not, why not?
Description: Host Cliff Russell and guests Robert Fletcher, James Thompson, Paul Rease, and Wayne F. Smith discuss challenges faced by black returning veterans in front of a live audience.
Description: This show is an interview with Don Barden after he was named one of the 100 most successful black business entities by Black Enterprise magazine.
Description: This show is an interview with Reverend Cecil Williams. He founded the Liberation of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, and is known not only as a minister, but also as an author, activist, and leader.
Description: This show is about the problem of unemployment and whether a CCC type government program is necessary and would work.
Guests include John Roundtree, president of the Detroit CCC; Johnnie Johnson, the founder of the Detroit CCC Alumni; and Reverend William Elum, chaplain of the Detroit CCC.
Description: Originally broadcast in January 1993, the program consists of a roundtable discussion, moderated by host Cliff Russell, between four prominent African American auto dealers from the Detroit area: Mel Farr, a former star athlete with the Detroit Lions, owner of Mel Farr Ford, and chairman of the Black Auto Dealers Association; Charles Harrell, owner of Harrell Chevrolet; Theresa Jones, owner of Northwestern Dodge and former director of nursing at Henry Ford Hospital; and Nathan Conyers, owner of Riverside Ford. This program explores the status and progress of African Americans in the U.S. auto industry as the owners of auto dealerships.
Description: This show is about black entrepreneurship.
Guests include David Gamlin, a board member of Joy of Jesus (an organization dedicated to helping urban youth succeed) and instructor for Detroit Center of Entrepreneurship, and Clifton Morton, a recent high school graduate and student at the Detroit Center for Entrepreneurship.
Description: Host Cliff Russell and guests Linda D. Bernard and Leon A. Gant discuss the legal resources for Detroit residents that are offered by the Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services Department.
Description: This show is about effective management of financial affairs.
Guests include CPA George Johnson; Agnes Patterson, a small business developer; attorney David Robinson; and Wanda Young, an insurance, life annuity, and mutual fund specialist. Guest host is Al Martin.
Description: This show is a discussion with local auto dealers.
Guests include Mel Farr, former football player and currently (at the time) chairman of National Black Automakers Association; Nathan Conyers of Riverside Ford; Chuck Harrell of Harrell Chevrolet; and Theresa Jones of Northwestern Dodge.
Description: Founder of Motown Records, Berry Gordy is a legend in Detroit and around the country. Broadcast in 1994 as part of Gordy's tour to promote his autobiography, "To Be Loved," host Darryl Wood talks with Gordy about the early days of his career.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guests Ken Cockrel, Jr. and Justin Ravitz discuss Ken Cockrel Sr.'s political work. Also, an interview with Michael E. Fisher about his book, "Mike's Guide to the Motor City"
Description: This show focuses on business, and considers solutions to inner city problems - specifically a joint venture between a bank and churches trying to spark development.
Guests include Wayne County Commissioner, Ricardo Solomon; Richard W. Shealey, president and chief executive officer of First Independence National Bank; and Nezaa Bandele, owner of Alkebulan Arts, a Detroit store that sells African cultural goods.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Mel Farr discuss Farr's work ethic and his plan for success. Also, an interview with Susan Taylor about her work as the editor-in-chief of Essence magazine.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Dr. Claud Anderson discuss Anderson's new book and potential solutions to economic inequality.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Dr. Claud Anderson discuss Anderson's new book and the causes of economic inequality.
Description: This 1995 program, most of which consists of an interview of Jesse Jackson by host Darryl Wood, is fascinating because of the light it sheds on the political atmosphere of the mid 1990s.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Leslie Dunner discuss Dunner's life and his work to introduce younger generations to orchestra music. Also, Amyre Makupson talks about her experiences as a biracial woman in journalism.
Description: Footage of a speech given by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson at an Economic Club of Detroit luncheon.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Dr. Claud Anderson discuss Anderson's new book and economic inequality.
Description: A special about the discrimination faced by African-American steelworkers.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guests Gerald H. Miller and Beverly McDonald discuss recent changes made to Michigan's welfare system. Also, a segment on an award given to Derinda Roberts and a segment where Fr. William Cunningham discusses job training.
Description: This show is an interview with Dr. Claud Anderson about his books on economic empowerment for blacks. Dr. Anderson is the president of PowerNomics Corporation of America, a company aimed at making African Americans more self-sufficient and competitive.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Dr. Charles H. Wright discuss controversy regarding the new Museum of African-American History and the Museum's history. Also, a segment on the death of Fr. William Cunningham, including an interview done with him shortly before his death.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Gail Perry-Mason discuss investing and financial planning strategies. Also, W. Howard Morris talks about investing in the stock market.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guests Vicki Thomas, Desiree Cooper, and Cliff Russell discuss recent building projects in Detroit, challenges faced by minority-owned contractors, and criticism of the mayor.
Description: This show is an interview with Loida Lewis about her husband's book and her view of corporate America. Loida Lewis is known as a lawyer, author, industrialist, philanthropist, and motivational speaker. She was also married to Reginald Lewis, the owner of the largest U.S. company to be owned by an African American.
Description: In this program, from 1998, host Darryl Wood interviews highly regarded African American scholar Cornel West about the publication of his recently published book, "Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America." The book explores the meaning of community for African Americans and ideas for building a more hopeful future through a series of interviews with important public figures, such as Maya Angelou, Harry Belafonte, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Bill Bradley and Wynton Marsalis.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guests Adolph Mongo and John Arnold discuss controversy regarding new casinos in Detroit. Also, Don Barden discusses his attempt to bid on one of the casino licenses.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Tavis Smiley discuss Smiley's new book, opportunities for black journalists, and the importance of political activism.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Juan Williams discuss the life of Thurgood Marshall.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Samuel Chambers discuss recent proposed changes to the welfare system.
Description: Influential members of the black community discuss challenges that will be faced by civil rights groups in the new millennium.
Description: This show is a an interview with Bari-Ellen Roberts about her legal battle with Texaco and her book, "Roberts vs. Texaco: A True Story of Race and Corporate America". Bari-Ellen Roberts lead the lawsuit against Texaco, which was the largest discrimination suit in history.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guests Gwen Wright, Sherry McGee, Gail Perry Mason, and Pam Rodgers discuss their experiences as African-American businesswomen.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Dr. Melvin Williams discuss how racial discrimination in cities has an impact on the average lifespan of African-American residents.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Joseph Jett discuss Jett's role in the Kidder Peabody trading loss and the book that he wrote about his experiences as a black man working on Wall Street.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Dr. Claud Anderson discuss the economic status of black Americans and whether reparations should be made in compensation for the economic challenges faced by black Americans.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guests Monice Mitchell and Ryeal Sims discuss the need for black actors, writers, and filmmakers.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Dr. Claud Anderson discuss Anderson's new book and how African-Americans can gain economic power and use it to advance socially.
Description: Host Darryl Wood and guest Tavis Smiley discuss Smiley's new book and challenges faced by the black community.