Nine-Year-Old Rouses Chicago Schools Rally
Amazing 9 year old Asean Johnson brings a Chicago crowd to their feet, defending his public school and calling for a struggle to save Chicago's schools.
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The Heart Makers
How do you make a working human heart? Scientists can turn stem cells into beating heart cells, but getting them to organize into a 3D heart requires a scaffold.
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August 24: 50th Anniversary March on Washington
On August 24th peace and anti-war activist are gathering in DC to remember the historic March on Washington 50 years ago and to give voice to calls to end the plague of war, the injustice of economic, racial and social inequality and the destruction of our planet. The March on Washington Film Festival (trailer shown here) toured major cities in 2013 and will tour again in 2014.
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Bradley Manning Verdict
If Bradley Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy but convicted of espionage, who was he spying for, us?
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Johnny Cash -- Deportee
Lyrics by folk trailblazer Woody Guthrie, and set to music by Martin Hoffman, in honor of 28 Mexican nationals who died in a plane crash while being flown back to Mexico. They were buried in an unmarked grave, their names unknown until 65 years later, when a remarkable piece of detective work brought them to light. This performance is by The Highwaymen -- Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. For more Songs of Immigration, Deportation and Identity, go here.
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Paul Robeson -- Ballad for Americans
Written by John La Touche, with music by Earl Robinson, as part of a WPA theatre project in 1939, Ballad for Americans was first performed by Paul Robeson. The song emphatically asserts the democratic character of Amerian nationality from class, ethnic and racial, and religious angles, declaring that to be American is to be "Irish, Negro, Jewish, Italian, French and English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish, Scotch, Hungarian, Litwak, Swedish, Finnish, Canadian, Greek and Turk and Czech ... and lots more." For more Songs of Immigration, Deportation and Identity, go here.
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Black Eyed Peas -- Where Is the Love?
Lead rapper will.i.am (William Adams) introduces this 2011 performance in New York's Central Park with an impassioned explanation of the debt the Black Eyed Peas owes to immigrants and their supporters: fellow BEP Allan Pineda (apl.de.ap) immigrated "from a third world country." Where Is the Love was written by Ralph MacDonald and William Salter, and originally performed by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. For more Songs of Immigration, Deportation and Identity, go here.
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West Side Story -- America
The musical West Side Story is a Romeo and Juliet crossing rival Italian and Puerto Rican gangs in New York City. In the song America, George Chakiris and Rita Moreno debate whether life is better in the adopted country or the native land. The music is by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. For more Songs of Immigration, Deportation and Identity, go here.
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The Limeliters -- Rumania, Rumania
A nostalgic Yiddish song about 'The Old Country,' here performed by the Limeliters in Yiddish and with English translation and wry commentary by Lou Gottlieb. Rumania, Rumania was written by Aaron Lebedeff, who immigrated to the United States in 1920. For more Songs of Immigration, Deportation and Identity, go here.
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Tommy Makem -- No Irish Need Apply
No Irish Need Apply is performed by Pete Seeger, Earl Robinson, Odetta, Ronnie Gilbert, Alan Lomax, Tommy Makem and Chet Washington on the album Songs of the Working People -- From the American Revolution to the Civil War (1987). For more Songs of Immigration, Deportation and Identity, go here.
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