Toni Morrison talks about her books and themes of memory, excessive love, possession, and recovery. It includes an excerpt from an interview with Emanuel Dunn.

The blues and jazz are topics covered by Ralph Ellison. Ellison himself started to play the trumpet at the age of seven. Ellison said for him, when hearing classical music, he then had to go and find classical literature.

Ralph Ellison, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction for his book "Invisible Man," discusses his early life and education and his life as a writer and lifetime scholar. He speaks on being a musician (trumpet), the joy of music and the Church and how they fit into the lives of African Americans.

Tribute to William Faulkner with Leon Forrest

Interviewing novelist and Northwestern University Professor Leon Forrest.

Discussing the book "The Furious Voice For Freedom: Essays" (published by Asphodel Press) with author Leon Forrest.

Interviewing novelist and fighter for civil rights for all, James Baldwin and discussion on the book "Nobody Knows My Name more notes of a native son". They discuss the book and Mr. Baldwin's political beliefs and his work towards change in the civil rights movement.

John O. Killens reads aloud from his book "Sippi."

Dempsey Travis presents a jazz program and discusses the life, the music, and the community of Chicago jazz from before The Great Depression until World War II. Travis discusses 1920s-1930s Chicago for Black families including rent parties, breakfast dances, employment opportunities, union strikes, and jazz.

Dempsey Travis, author and jazz historian, recalls his memories meeting Jazz artists of the 1920-1940s. Some artists discussed include Jimmie Lunceford, Sy Oliver, Duke Ellington, Chick Webb, Chu Berry, Andy Kirk and others. Travis also discusses his father and his own time playing Jazz.

Dempsey Travis, real estate entrepreneur and civil rights activist turned historian and author, recalls his earlier days meeting and listening to many of the African American jazz artists. Some of the musicans mentioned are Louis Armstrong, Jimmie Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Art Tatum, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, and Benny Goodman.