For the Fourth of July, I present a cool audio artifact.In 1948, Chicago radio station WMAQ (owned by NBC) created a drama series called “Destination Freedom.” It told the stories of notable African Americans.
The first episode (aired June 27, 1948) was about Crispus Attucks, remembered as the first man to die in the American Revolution. The radio play, titled “The Knock Kneed Man,” was written by Richard Durham.
A journalist for the Chicago Defender and an experienced radio dramatist, Richard Durham wrote 91 scripts for “Destination Freedom.” Fifteen of those scripts were published in book form in 1989.
To hear the complete half-hour episode about Crispus Attucks, click here. This and other episodes of “Destination Freedom” can be downloaded (for free) from the Internet Archive.
8 comments:
Dave, in the middle of one of my Anti-4th mixes. Featured artists: Charles Mingus, Don Byron, Funkadelic, Jimi Hendrix, Jean-Paul Bourelly, Meshell, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, Fela, Jill Scott, Public Enemy, Fishbone along with comments by Malcolm X, Gil Scott Heron, Robert Brock, Richard Pryor, Bobby Wright, and Paul Mooney.
Hello there UBM! {waves}
Thank you so much for sharing this gem!
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa
P.S. You will do me the honor of absorbing your wisdom at my blog from time to time, won't you? The door is always open.
This is good stuff! I'll be listening to the entire collection.
^ The only thing slowing me down is the stitled style of radio drama in general. Before TV, this was what people had... but I've tried sitting through old radio classics like "Dragnet" and "Gunsmoke," and it's hard to do.
Lisa, I will most definitely be checking you out. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks a bunch!
By the way, that Richard Durham was the co-author of Muhammad Ali's 1975 autobiography, "The Greatest - My Own Story." He got fly-on-the-wall access to Ali for an extended period. I'm sure that access produced some fascinating stories above and beyond what made it into the book.
^ Thanks for that info, A.
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