This week on From the Vault we kick off our celebration of Black History month by presenting the first part of our newest acquisition, a celebrity reading of Ralph Ellison’s landmark novel, Invisible Man. Pacifica Radio Archives is excited and proud to present the first installment of a 48 part community radio reading of Invisible Man, produced in 1995 by Roy Hurst and Gloria Mushonga-Roberts. This radio reading breathes new life into the first and only novel published during the life of Ralph Ellison, not only blending celebrity readers such as Lawrence Fishburne, Alfree Woodard, Roscoe Lee Browne, Levar Burton, and Wynton Marsallis, but also utilizing the voice of the average invisible man.
We’ll also feature one of the recently restored Black History recordings of James Baldwin, courtesy of the American Archive Pilot Project funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This previously unheard speech by James Baldwin was recorded at the Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1963.
From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.
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