For this last week of National Black History Month, From the Vault brings you a startling rarity from deep within the collection - a recording that might have been lost forever if not for Pacifica Radio Archives’ ongoing preservation efforts. The efforts include the 1968 Project, an initiative that has saved hundreds of significant recordings from that tumultuous and pivotal year, including the tape that inspired this week’s episode. Jump back a bit, to 1966, when Donald Harper and Ken Dewey — program producers for WBAI-New York — set out to catch a natural perspective of America by visiting Chicago to examine conditions of minorities in the city. The voices Don and Ken gathered became part of fascinating audio experiment - a portrait of a city in rage, of real people speaking their minds. Although recorded in 1966, the program found itself broadcast only once, in the summer of 1968, as the Democratic National Convention in Chicago exploded onto the world stage. Today, this extraordinary sound lives again, as these voices sew the social fabric of America forty years past.
From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.
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