Part 1 of this program begins with Studs Terkel reading an excerpt from the book "Giants of Jazz" , which describes Dizzy Gillespie's early life. Gillespie discusses the following: the state of jazz; his fellow musicians; jazz contributors; jazz fundamentals; and his tours abroad. Gillespie's "Groovin' High" is played towards the end of this part of the program.

Discussing the book "The courting of Marcus DuPree" with the author Willie Morris.

Jones discusses the play "Othello" where he plays the lead character Othello.

Discussing the book "Race Hoss: Big Emma's Boy" with the author Albert Race Sample. Includes Sample reading a section of the book.Content Warning: This conversation has the presence of outdated, biased, or offensive language. Rather than remove this content, we present it in the context of twentieth-century social history to acknowledge and learn from its impact and to inspire awareness and discussion.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

"Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films is Donald Bogle's study of Black actors and the roles they played in movies. Bogle believed it was important for Black people to see Black heroes in movies. Bogle concluded there were too few roles available for Black actors and too many roles were of stereotypes.

*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

James Baldwin discusses his book "Another Country" and his trip to Africa. Mr.Baldwin and Studs speak about his place in social reform and his fight for civil rights for all.

Some people thought the 60's were glorious years and other people thought they were destructive years. "The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage," is Todd Gitlin's autobiography where he offers his perspective of those years.

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.