Using the backdrop of James Baldwin's "Nobody Knows My Name" and Baldwin's feelings that Blacks were ashamed of where they came from, Terkel interviews Professor and Chairman of the Political Science Department of Roosevelt University on his book coauthored with Stokely Carmichael entitled" Black Power: Politics of Liberation in America". Hamilton states that Blacks were taught to hate themselves and leave school believing that. Institutional racism and the deliberate oppression it creates, holds blacks back. Blacks are left out of crucial decision making processes that concern them.

The virtuoso percussionist, Stomu Yamash'ta, sits down with Studs Terkel and discusses from his heart how he creates the sound of his music. Sound is created in your head and heart. The ocean creates a different sound by day and night. Yamash'ta writes down his thoughts on the sounds he hears and creates the music. For the Akira Kurasawa film "YoJimbo" where he did solo musical work, he analyzed the character and what type of sound was in his mind and thought how to create it and convey that to his audience musically. Technology is not the answer to the development of sound.

Friedrich Luft, Chief Drama Critic for Die Welt discusses German theater and Bertolt Brecht as well as new playwrights such as Peter Weiss. Unlike American theaters, Germany has over 200 theaters that are subsidized and each town of 50,000 has a theater. Just like the days of The People's Stage (which still exists) the grocer and cobbler of Germany enjoy the theater. They are as devoted to the theater as going to a museum or church. They are treated to 12 to 16 new or old plays from Sophocles to Sartre or Pinter.

Studs Terkel interviews Doc Watson about his music career. The interview includes recordings and live sections of different songs that have shaped his career.

Discussing "Discrimination in metropolitan Chicago" with Curtiss Brooks, employment specialist, Chicago Urban League, Jane Weston, housing specialist, American Friends Service Committee, and Philip Hauser, Sociology Department of University of Chicago. Brooks, Weston and Hauser provide data, reports and statistics to debunk the myths concerning the Black market for housing in Chicago. Weston states that public attitudes have changed and Real Estate must listen and accommodate open occupancy. Another myth that is discussed is that property values will go down if Blacks move in.

Terkel wraps up his discussion with Frank Norman. Norman gives his opinion on present conditions in prisons and orphanages. He opens up about his relationship with his daughter and a family he has never met.

Terkel delves into the life of Frank Norman, a London ex-con who turned his life around and became a novelist and playwright by writing on his experiences. He wrote "Bang to Rights" shortly after his prison release which brought him great fame. He followed that with "The Monkey Pulled it's Hair" that had a U.S. release under the name "Don't Darling Me Darling". Norman opened up to Terkel discussing his illegitimacy, his illiteracy till age 14, his institutionalization in an orphanage which he turned into the novel "Banana Boy".

Sandra Cisneros recounts the creation of her works from her new release "Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories" as well as "House on Mango Street". The following have been removed due to copyright restrictions: "Eleven", "Mexican Movies", "Eyes of Zapata", "Bien Pretty" and "One Holy Night". From "House on Mango Street" she reads "A Smart Cookie", "Hips", "My Name", and "Mi Tocayo," "Those Who Don't."

A hotel porter tells Studs Terkel that he's had his job as a porter for five years, thanks to someone's recommendation. Prior to being a porter, he was a gentleman's taylor and he worked in the armed forces, too The porter explained he really liked his job a lot because of all the different and interesting people that he meets. A man off the street, asked Studs Terkel, why he was talking to himself, not realizing that Studs was making a recording.

Studs Terkel heads to the British town of Stratford-upon-Avon (the birthplace of William Shakespeare) intending to interview Sir John Gielgud, and getting a few words before Studs realizes that Sir John is not intending to be interviewed. He speaks instead to other members of the company. Then he meets Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence in the Falcon Hotel.

Studs Terkel interviews Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Studs Terkel returns to his alma mater, McLaren school, prior to its destruction to gain reactions on the loss of a newly created mural by the school children. Terkel provides the reactions of the student artists who can't understand why they were told to complete the oceanography mural when it was to be destroyed with the building. He also talks with parents, teachers and administrators about this loss. Parents pledge $500 to create negatives of mural to save as photographs.

Kenneth Allsop, literary critic for the Daily Mail, BBC host of Tonight and author of "The Bootleggers and Their Era" sits down with Studs Terkel to discuss everything from the Social Realism of Arnold Wesker, Allen Sillitoe, and Shelagh Delaney known as the Backstreet Kids to the class warfare of "The Fourth of July" author David Benedictus. The two key groups of theater, the Royal Court led by George Devine and the Theater Workshop led by Joan Littlewood is also discussed.