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James Baldwin (09/29/1962)

May 15, 2020, 11:00 pm

James Baldwin, 1955 (Photo: Carl Van Vechten loc.gov)

In 1962 James Baldwin, the American novelist, essayist, playwright and civil rights activist, spoke with Studs Terkel about life, literature, boxing, and the signs of the changing times. This is one of the most popular historical broadcasts in the Studs Terkel Radio Archives which opened to the public on May 16, 2018.

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Meet the Host

Studs Terkel (1912-2008) radically redefined the concept of radio interviews. For 45 years starting in 1952, WFMT was his homebase. His daily radio show was a pillar of WFMT’s programming, with its eclectic and astute mix of music and conversation. Studs juxtaposed interviews with the many of the 20th century’s most significant figures with the voices of uncelebrated, working people from Chicago. As a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Studs helped established oral history as a popular and socially ambitious literary genre. Some of his titles include: Division Street, Hard Times, Working, Race and And They All Sang (Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey). Studs was also a recipient of the National Book Award.

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James Baldwin (09/29/1962)