From the Archives to the Air: Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, plus Brass Roots and the Underground Railroad

Bobby Seale, John Sinclair Freedom Rally, Ann Arbor, Michigan, December 10, 1971, Michiganensian, 1972, p. 204

This episode of From The Archives to the Air begins with a 2011 interview with filmmaker Alejandro de los Rios.

He is a New Orleans filmmaker who, when he spoke to KGNU, was working on a documentary called Brass Roots. The film explores the history and evolution of a musical style that is inseparable from the Crescent City. While Brass Roots remains incomplete, you can check out a trailer for it on YouTube.

For more about Alejandro de los Rios and his work, visit From the River Films.

Also in this episode is a 2008 interview with the late historian Carl Westmoreland (d. 2022). He spoke with us about his work with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, where he served as Senior Historian and was a founding staff person.

The episode concludes with an interview with Bobby Seale, a co-founder (with Huey Newton) of the Black Panther Party in 1966. During his visit to KGNU, Seale discussed the party’s Ten-Point Program, and reflected on his years of activism. Learn more about the FBI’s notorious COINTELPRO surveillance of the Panthers, and the legacy of that surveillance.

Bobby Seale’s official website is inactive, but he has a Facebook page.

Listen:

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    From the Archives to the Air: Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, plus Brass Roots and the Underground Railroad John Kelin

From The Archive to the Air features audio drawn from the KGNU Archives. It is written and produced by John Kelin, with the able assistance of Alexis Kenyon, and hosted by Jackie Sedley.

CREDITS/NOTES

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From The Archives to the Air opening music: Circus by Portron Portron Lopez is licensed under an attribution-noncommercial-share-alike license.

The photograph heading this page is The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, performing in Louisville, CO, June 2017. Photo © by John Kelin.

Picture of John Kelin

John Kelin

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