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"Then I'll Be Free To
Travel Home"
Radio Series: Distributed by
PRI
“It is with much
pleasure that I inform you that, following the
audition of the EVT Educational Productions pilot
program about the New York Colonial African Burial
Ground, and the impact and legacy of Northern Slavery
on the development of our nation, WBGO is a firm
believer in the project... I believe that the project
has the potential to reach a diverse general
audience. Because of this, we are eager to work with
you...and look forward to a long and rewarding
relationship...” -- Cephas Bowles, General Manager,
WBGO/88.3FM
Much like the eye-opening history unveiled in the TV
series, Roots, a quarter of a century ago, this new
series brings to radio the virtually unknown history
of Africans in Colonial America from the early 1600s
to the Civil War era. It’s concluding episode
powerfully connects the historical past with
present-day concerns. The 13-part series covers not
just the enslaved, but also the free Africans who
were traders, trappers, and interpreters just like
their European counterparts in the first decades of
the 17th Century. Each hour chronicles the
contributions made by these courageous people to the
survival and development of the colonies into a
unified nation. Those Africans and an army of allies
of every race, color and creed battled ceaselessly to
end slavery’s yoke. That riveting, never-ending
struggle to gain full, first-class citizenship is
eloquently captured in “Then I’ll Be Free
To Travel Home.”
...it’s important to
recognize...the importance of slavery to the nation
as a whole. We sometimes think of slavery as...
something that was important, but only in the deep
south....All of the original 13 colonies, all of the
original 13 states, were slave-holding states. -
Prof. James Horton
 Thurston Briscoe
Narrator
Thurston is Series Narrator and brings a strong
voice to the project from years of production at NPR.
From production assistant and later assignment editor
for the Arts Unit for NPR’s Morning Edition. He
also became associate producer for the successful
series “Jazz Alive” hosted by Ben Sidran,
interviewer of the mostly jazz, blues and pop
musicians featured on the show. From later serving as
a features producer, in ten years he had become the
Senior Arts producer for NPR’s entire News and
Information Division. He is now the program director
of WBGO JAZZ 88 in Newark, New Jersey, and is
responsible for the broadcast sound of the station.
He continues to encourage the staff to develop
innovative ways to present the station’s music,
news and information.
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 Prof. James Horton, PhD.
Series Advisor
Professor Horton is the Benjamin Banneker Professor
of American Studies and History at George Washington
University in Washington, DC.
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 Eric V. Tait,Jr.
Executive Producer
A veteran broadcast journalist and documentarian
whose credits include ABC World News Tonight,
Nightline, 20/20 and Our World. He is the Executive
Producer/Director of the original multiple
award-winning “Then I’ll Be Free To
Travel Home” video documentary. Among other
documentaries Mr. Tait has produced and directed, the
following have aired on PBS: "Across The River with
Hedrick Smith," "Fire In Their Eyes," and "The Legacy
of Maggie's American Dream." He has been selected as
the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcasting
Honoree by the New York Association of Black
Journalists.
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Jacquie Gales Webb
Chief Editor and Consulting Producer
Jacquie produced THE JAZZ SINGERS, REMEMBERING SLAVERY,
BLACK RADIO and TELLING IT LIKE IT WAS.
She is a winner of two New York Festivals Awards, as well
as the Dupont and Peabody Awards.
She also produced the video documentary BEYOND CATEGORY
about Duke Ellington.
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DISTRIBUTION:
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888.330.4139.
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Copyright © 1999-2009 by EVT Educational Productions
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