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.

Folk singer Odetta discusses her music; her songs "Another Man Done Gone," "Riding in My Car (Car Song)," "Gallows Pole," "Kaeshite Okure Ima Suguni," "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and "Whyn Why" are played throughout the program.

Stuckey talks about her childhood in Memphis, writing "in the dialect", and reads "Rigamarole", "Daylight Savings Time", "Defense", "Old Man" and "Old King Cotton".

Anna Deavere Smith discusses and demonstrates her unique character portrayals from her works "Fires in the Mirror" and "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992."