This special episode explores the incredible legacy of businessman and visionary philanthropist Julius Rosenwald. How he was born to German Jewish immigrants, rose to become the President of Sears Roebuck and the meaningful way that his legacy continues to live on and have meaningful impact to this day…!

Inspired by the Jewish ideals of tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world) and a deep concern over racial inequality in America, Rosenwald used his wealth to become one of America's most effective philanthropists. Influenced by the writings of the educator Booker T. Washington, Rosenwald joined forces with African American communities during the Jim Crow era to build 5,300 schools, providing 660,000 black children with access to education in the segregated American South. The Rosenwald Fund also provided grants to support a who's who of African American artists and intellectuals and numerous artists that Eric represents and promotes, including Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, William Artis and others who were greatly helped by Rosenwald Foundation funds.

Featuring Community Leader Roger Smith; Eric’s cousin from Virginia - from the very school that Eric’s Mother attended that was built thanks to the generosity of Rosenwald that is an historic landmark… They discuss how Dunbar Schoolhouse came about, how the building itself had been assembled and how Roger, alongside his Family have been instrumental in restoring and maintaining the school. Preserving its history through an on-sight museum — committed to keeping the story of Dunbar Schoolhouse alive..! The various wonderful community programs that they currently run and the significant role that the school plays in the community.

Filmmaker Aviva Kempner joins Eric from Washington. They discuss her feature-length historical documentary about Julius Rosenwald entitled “Rosenwald: A Remarkable Story of a Jewish Partnership with African American Communities” and all the wonderful things she learned in the process of making the film. They discuss Rosenwald’s background and life — the role of his Rabbi and how it motivated his philanthropic efforts… meeting Booker T. Washington and the strong friendship that they forged. Realizing the need for and power of education as a way to uplift communities and becoming involved in building schools in the rural south. Addressing the needs for housing brought about by the Great Migration, funding the building of housing and YMCAs for African Americans and supporting countess artists and intellectuals including Marian Anderson, James Baldwin, Ralph Bunche, W.E.B. DuBois, Katherine Dunham, Ralph Ellison, John Hope Franklin, Zora Neale Hurston, Jacob Lawrence, Dr. Charles Drew, Augusta Savage, and Langston Hughes. His genius in “matching grants”, the way it made the community feel self-empowered and invested in the mission. The theory of ‘spending down’ and how its principles helped inspire other philanthropic institutions. The unique design and ingenuity of the building construction… the power of community and how his work continues to live on today. They explore what lead to her making movies — from being the daughter of a Holocaust Survivor, a passionate activist and viewing movies as a powerful tool to educate people. The many films she’s made throughout her life and is in the process of producing and her dedication to telling stories that celebrate the lives of lesser-known Jewish heroes for over forty years…!

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In this episode, Eric sits down with civil rights activist and award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault. They discuss her childhood - from being born in South Carolina during segregation, moving frequently as her father was an army chaplain but spending most of her time in Atlanta. Her early education and the values that were instilled in her at a young age that lent to inspiring her to have high aspirations, self-belief and providing “armor” to shield her throughout her life… and how she gravitated to and was inspired to become a journalist.

They discuss the Brown v. Board of Education landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, how Hunter, along with Hamilton Holmes were the two students selected by a committee to integrate white universities in Atlanta… A successful legal challenge that culminated in her admission to the University of Georgia in January 1961—making her one of the first two Black students to integrate the institution.

Her illustrious career in journalism, from beginning at the New Yorker magazine, to joining The New York Times as a metropolitan reporter specializing in coverage of the urban black community, becoming a foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, CNN and the Public Broadcasting… She reflects on covering Apartheid in South Africa and interviewing nelson Nelson Mandela! To eventually authoring five books — her most recent one being “My People: Five Decades of Writing about Black Lives”.

Her passion for writing about Black Lives and History in a way that shows the full, honest picture and her mission of creating a coalition across generations, in order to preserve and honor the path that was paved by her ancestors… and continue to work together, to strive toward a more perfect union in the United States of America…!

Guest Bio: Award-winning journalist, author, and school desegregation pioneer Charlayne Hunter-Gault was born on February 27, 1942, in Due West, South Carolina.

In 1961, Hunter became the first African American woman to enroll in the University of Georgia; she was also among the first African American women to graduate from the university, earning a degree in journalism in 1963.

After completing college, Hunter moved to New York City, where she worked for The New Yorker magazine in an administrative job and contributed pieces to the “Talk of the Town” section. Hunter-Gault gained a national audience after she joined the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) news program MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1978. When the program grew into the 60-minute MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour in 1983, she became its national correspondent and reported on topics that included racism, Vietnam veterans, life under apartheid, drug abuse, and human rights issues.

In 1997 Hunter-Gault left PBS to become the Africa bureau chief for National Public Radio (NPR), and in 1999 she was named Johannesburg bureau chief for the Cable News Network (CNN), a post she held until 2005. She published a memoir, In My Place (1992), and New News Out of Africa (2006), a book documenting positive developments in Africa. In 2005 Hunter-Gault was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Hall of Fame.

Hunter-Gault lives in Florida and on Martha’s Vineyard.

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In this episode, Eric sits down with pioneering video artist, performing artist and painter Anthony Ramos. They discuss his background - being raised in Providence, Rhode Island and tracing his ancestor’s journey to America from Cape Verde. How he discovered his love for making art at a young age and how his mother and father encouraged his interests. How he cultivated his artistic abilities. How he began his studies as a Political Science Major… to converting to art — studying painting at Southern Illinois University, where he was a graduate assistant to Allan Kaprow and eventually received an M.F.A. from CalArts. Having a video studio in New York. A conscientious objector of the Vietnam war… being jailed for draft evasion… and how all of these experiences have shaped his life.

The artists that have inspired him and the many exciting adventures he has had - while traveling widely in Europe, Africa, China and the Middle East during the 1970s and 1980s. Documenting the end of Portugal's colonial rule in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. They discuss how his work has evolved through the years… being known as “The Grandfather Video" — to his passion for painting which is now his primary medium.

Why he left the United States to now — living in the South of France and the exciting projects he has in store..!

Guest Bio: Performance and media artist Anthony Ramos was among the earliest video artists to use the medium as a tool for mass media critiques and cultural documentation, and to examine media presentations of "truth." In his powerful but rarely seen video works of the 1970s, Ramos sought to combine art and activism, giving agency to marginalized individuals and communities. In his earliest black-and-white video pieces, Ramos engaged in forceful, direct performances for the camera, often using physical endurance and actions to confront political issues.

Ramos has traveled widely in Europe, Africa, China and the Middle East. He videotaped the end of Portugal's colonial rule of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, Teheran during the 1980 hostage crisis, and Beijing just prior to the Tiananmen Square massacre. Ramos produced a number of video works that critique the media through deconstruction and appropriation, and explore the relation of mass cultural imagery, African-American identity, and the politics of race in America. In the late 1980s he turned to painting as his primary medium.

Ramos was born in 1944 in Providence, Rhode Island. He received an M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts, where he was assistant to Allan Kaprow. Among his awards are a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts Fellowship and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship. In the 1970s Ramos was a video consultant for the United Nations and the National Council of Churches. In the 1980s, he lived in Paris where he was a Professor at the American Center, and oversaw the television cabling of ten blocks of Paris for the first time. He has also taught at Rhode Island School of Design, New York University, and the University of California at San Diego.

Ramos lives in Eyguieres, France.

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