Harlem In Revolt (3 Parts)

The year was 1963, a little more than fifty years ago. It was a time of great upheaval with the fight for civil rights in full force. Martin Luther King Jr., Stokeley Carmichael and Malcolm X were making headlines. During this historic time, CBC Radio commissioned a young writer called Austin Clarke to travel to Harlem and make a radio documentary. He wanted to find out first hand what life was like for the African-Americans who lived there.

He found a world quite different from that just blocks away in uptown Manhattan. It was a world or racism, grinding poverty and despair. Clarke spent several weeks living in Harlem, watching, listening and recording interviews. Clarke is a black man and felt that gave him an in to a world that might otherwise be hidden from outsiders. He interviewed the people who lived in Harlem, as well as community workers, historians, journalists and civil rights activists. Names like Malcolm X, Richard B. Moore, and James Hicks, editor of The New York Amsterdam News.

In later years Austin Clarke would go on to become a celebrated author, whose novel 'The Polished Hoe' won major prizes for literature. But in 1963, he was a young freelancer with a microphone and a notebook. The results were powerful. Hide full description

The year was 1963, a little more than fifty years ago. It was a time of great upheaval with the fight for civil rights in full force. Martin Luther King Jr., Stokeley Carmichael and Malcolm X were making headlines. During this historic time, CBC Radio commissioned a young writer called Austin Clarke to travel to Harlem and make a radio documentary. He wanted to find out first hand what life was like for the African-Americans who lived there. He found a world quite different from that just blocks away in uptown Manhattan. It was a world or racism, grinding poverty and despair. Clarke spent several weeks living in Harlem, watching, listening and recording interviews. Clarke is a black man and felt that gave him an in to a world that might otherwise be hidden from outsiders. He... Show full description