'Dealin'' with African drummer Babatunde Olatunji. Program consists of numerous segments related to African heritage, the first of which is an excerpt from a filmstrip on the fall of the Songhay Empire in West Africa by the Afro Audiovisual Company of Boston. Additional segments include 'Bookbeat,' a 'Spotlight' stage performance by actress Beah Richards, 'Dealin'' with African drummer Babatunde Olatunji, 'Information' on traveling to Africa, and 'Commentary' by Sarah-Ann Shaw on the lack of African history lessons in the American classroom. Produced by Marita Rivero. Directed by Conrad White.

Al Jarreau performs 'You Don't See Me'Program focuses on three different African American theater productions. Host Barbara Barrow introduces the topic of Black theater and stage works Raisin (the Tony-Award-winning musical for 1974), The Black Dyad (about Black male and female relationships) and 'Theatre in Reverse,' a Say Brother theater piece with an in-studio vocal performance by Al Jarreau with dance performances (with the intent of drawing the audience's attention to sound and light, rather than to the performers). Program contains excerpts from each production, and an in-studio discussion with writers/directors Evelyn and Melvin Moore about the excerpt 'The Date' from The Black Dyad, which was the only segment of the three aired on the program. Produced by Marita Muhammad Rivero. Directed by Conrad White.

Employees of the Two O'Clock, a Boston strip joint, talk about their lives and work. George, a bartender, talks about what it takes to be a bartender in a place like the Two O'Clock.

Excerpt from 'Black Nativity,' performed by vocalists from the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts. This musical production is based on the play 'Black Nativity.' by Langston Hughes.

'Blast from the Past' with vocalist Miriam Makeba. Program is divided into two halves: the first consisting of three segments related to African American theater in Boston, the second of newsmagazine-style segments. Harold Stuart, Director of the Boston Black Repertory Company and company actors Mattye 'Mama' Long and Frederick Tyson discuss the differences between 'theater' and 'Black theater,' how Black theater affects members of the community, how talented individuals find the time to act, problems financially supporting Black theater, and why there is so little Black theater in Boston. Following the discussion is an eleven minute excerpt from the Company's latest production, A Raisin in the Sun, and a short interview with two Emerson students who helped film the production (Stephen Farrier and Jacquie Gales, both members of the Emerson student group EBONI Productions). Additional program segments include 'Access' (about the Sav-Mor government-funded security program), 'Blast from the Past' (with an excerpt from a 1971 interview with vocalist Miriam Makeba on how her marriage to Stokely Carmichael affected her singing career and her opinion on Guinea's response to a recent invasion attempt by the Portuguese), 'Information' (on minority recruitment for the Peace Corps' Vista program), the 'Community Calendar,' 'Commentary' by Marita Rivero (who reads a reworked version of 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'), and three 'Philosophy of Life' segments with musician Herbie Hancock. Produced by Marita Rivero. Directed by Conrad White.

'Blast from the Past' features an excerpt from the 1969 interview with actor Julian Mayfield who talks about the breadth of artistic creativity and ability in the African American community, and the need to avoid straight jacketing this artistic ability into proscribed narrow disciplines.

Blast from the Past' features an excerpt from a 1970 interview with actor Raymond St. Jacques on Hollywood's prescribed roles for African American actors. He talks about his role in the John Wayne film, The Green Berets, and the continual struggle to get African American actors chosen and represented properly on film.

'A contemporary interpretation of the Bizet opera, this late twentieth century story of ill-fated romance set on New York's Lower East Side features Carmen as a rock-and-roll singer and Don Jose as a record producer. The drama is interrupted and examined through a series of audiovisual asides that serve as commentary, with images of fire and ice poetically illuminating the romantic and tragic elements. Carmen is played by New York musician Emily XYZ...." In this piece written, directed, and produced by Ann-Sargent Wooster, a man and a woman reflect on their roles in an obsessive relationship. The work assumes a mock documentary style, as the story unfolds through interviews and confessions juxtaposed with the events depicted. Music includes 'Cloud' and 'Fire and Water' by Brook Williams and Ann-Sargent Wooster, excerpts of Andrew Nadelman's 'Tapestry' and 'Rhapsody,' clarinet solo by Michael Isenberg, and opera singing by Janeal Sugars, Meth Genies, and Clay Steward. The work was broadcast as a segment of episode 612 (1990) of 'New Television.'

'Black Nativity.'A Say Brother special presentation, 'Christmas in Color', features the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts' musical adaptation of Langston Hughes' 'Black Nativity,' which was performed in-studio. Additional segments include a mime performance by Halim Adbur Rashid (Fred Johnson) and a 'Christmas Cabaret' featuring four songs by vocalist Chip Garnett with back-up vocalists Cheryl Freeman and Sheryl Shell. Produced by Barbara Barrow-Murray.

'City Archives' was written and directed by Richard Foreman, founder and director of the Ontological Hysteric Theater. He serves as the narrator for this work, discussing the power of 'the foreign' and images, talking directly into a microphone in a purposely stilted manner and addressing questions to the viewer. A sort of classroom overpopulated by adults sets the stage for the work. Phrases are written and erased on a blackboard, and women gaze out a window, physically supporting planks of wood. The cast gathers around the makeshift bedside of a woman and wanders through what appears to be a library. The performers appear in a small garden and at a movie theater, speaking only to occasionally echo Foreman's remarks and with elaborately choreographed movements and stillnesses. Foreman's text questions strategies for documenting experience, the notion of place and a city, and the process of writing. Produced by the Minnesota Public Programming Corporation. Directed by Richard Foreman. Originally created with the support of the Walker Arts Center, 'City Archives' was broadcast as an episode of the WNET Television Laboratory's series 'Video/Film Review,' ca. 1979. At WGBH, it was broadcast as part of 'Artist's Showcase.''Artist's Showcase' was a series designed to showcase video art and experimental work from WGBH. The program ran on Sunday evenings at 11 P.M., from the fall of 1976 through 1982. In the early 1970's, 'Artist's Showcase' was the only consistent broadcast outlet for many of the Workshop productions. Most materials of broadcast quality created at WGBH in the mid-1970's were shown as part of this series. Additionally, earlier video art experiments and segments of related shows, such as 'Mixed Bag' or 'What's Happening Mr. Silver' were broadcast under these auspices. This series was also a broadcast outlet for a handful of works by video artists that were not created at WGBH but only acquired for this purpose. Some compilation reels showing highlights of Workshop activity were also broadcast.

List of suitable pieces for classroom use together with a description of the features of each piece, details of the composer, style and level of difficulty, and the name of the publisher and cost.

'Collisions' was written by Jane Wagner and is an unusual comedy/drama. It stars Lily Tomlin and other well known performers, such as Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner. The work attempts to integrate short video works by Stephen Beck, Ed Emshwiller, Louis Falco, Ron Hays, Stan Vanderbeek, and William Wegman. 'Collisions' tells the story of Eartha, a creature from the planet of Zymus, who agrees to take a human form and to observe the planet earth. Eartha inhabits Beth Barber (Lily Tomlin), a news reporter. At one point, Beth visits her family in Kentucky, who are played by Tomlin's actual family. Meanwhile, a panel of experts on a television program on Zymus monitor Eartha's impressions and contemplate whether or not to blow up the earth. Eventually, Eartha, who has come to respect the humans' vulnerability and depth of feeling, has a falling out with the panel. The fate of earth remains uncertain. Produced by Fred Barzyk and David Loxton. A coproduction of the WNET Television Laboratory and the WGBH New Television Workshop. This work was considered a 'failure' by Fred Barzyk and was never broadcast.

African drummer Babatunde Olatunji talks about the formation of the Olatunji Dancers, Singers and Drummers as a reaction to the misconceptions of Africans and the culture of Africa portrayed in the Hollywood films of the 1950s.

From the Say Brother Studio, E.L. Jones performs an excerpt from The Face of Love, a one-man musical theatre piece written by Vantile Whitfield and E.L. Jones, with music and lyrics by Payton-James-Payton and Glaude.

Barbara Barrow-Murray interviews the vocalist and actress Eartha Kitt about her difficult childhood, her experience of not being a wanted child, and the pride she feels at having survived the prejudice of her childhood.

Gregory Spence comments on new testing criteria for students. Host Barbara Barrow discusses the lack of communication between educators and students in the Boston school district, with community members Gregory Spence (an attorney for the City of Boston), Kenya Clemens (of the Youth Activities Commission), Jeannette Bolt (playwright and author of A Minority Child's Day), and Dr. Alvin Pouissant (noted psychiatrist and Harvard professor). Issues addressed include the different social backgrounds of educators and students, Black English in the classroom, the role of standardized achievement tests in student evaluations, and the need for more humanity in the classroom. Also included in the program are 'man on the street' interviews conducted by Associate Producer Vickie Jones (in which she asks people their opinion of African American schools with white educators and whether or not Black children should be taught by Black teachers), an interview with Barbara Sizemore conducted by Jon Brim (on the problems of the Washington, DC school system and Sizemore's experiences as a former Superintendent of Schools there), an excerpt from a filmed performance of Bolt's play A Minority Child's Day; and the 'Community Calendar.' Produced by Marita Muhammad Rivero. Directed by Conrad White.

'Blast from the Past' with musician Jerry 'Iceman' Butler. Program focuses on the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, Roxbury, Mass. Host Matthew Goode (education specialist for the Committee of the Massachusetts Department of Education) speaks with Reverend George Thomas (Chairman of the Board for the National Center of Afro-American Artists and Chairman of the 25th Anniversary Committee), Vernon Blackman (Drama Director at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts) and Margret Morgan (longtime friend, supporter, and 'Honorary Mother' of Lewis's school) to discuss the history of the school, its importance, the community it serves, and the events that will comprise the celebration. Additional program segments include a mime performance by Halim Adbur Rashid (Fred Johnson), 'Access' (on the work of the Roxbury Medical Technical Institute), 'Information' (on how to purchase safe toys for children), 'Blast from the Past' (with an early 1970s Say Brother interview with musician Jerry 'Iceman' Butler), 'The Word' (with commentary by professor and historian A.B. Spellman), the 'Community Calendar,' and 'Commentary' by Producer Marita Rivero. Directed by Conrad White.

Elma Lewis reads the poem 'Sympathy' by Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Program is divided into two halves: the first featuring a 30-minute in-studio poetry reading by Elma Lewis, the second of magazine-style segments. Elma Lewis, Director of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, seated with children around her, talks about what poetry is, what a poem can make you feel, and why people used to write in rhymes. Lewis focuses on two African American poets, Langston Hughes (who is 'of this time') and Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and reads selections from each. The second half contains the following segments: a mime performance by Halim Adbur Rashid (Fred Johnson) titled 'The Writer,' 'Access' (with A.D. Saunders, who describes the Boston Jazz Society), 'The Word' (with professor and historian A.B. Spellman, who comments on Black History Week), the 'Community Calendar,' 'Information' (on Minority Recruitment Month for the Peace Corps), and 'Commentary' by Producer Marita Rivero. Original air date estimated. Directed by Conrad White.

Eartha Kitt talks about her early childhood. Host Barbara Barrow-Murray speaks with vocalist and actress Eartha Kitt, in Boston with the production of Timbuktu! Topics include Timbuktu! as an extension of Kitt's Kismet, how long the show has been traveling, her role in Timbuktu! , the music in the production, interpreting her character Sahleem-La-Lume (which is not an essential one), her political positions and stance on the Vietnam War, and her difficult childhood. Program opens with excerpts from Kitt's interview with WGBH Radio FM's Ron Della Chiesa (host of the program Music America), and includes a studio dance performance of 'Birds of Paradise' from Timbuktu! (performed by Martial Roumain and Cheryl Cummings), and a vocal performance by Kitt. Produced by Barbara Barrow-Murray. Directed by Brian Clarke.