Juan Williams, one of America's leading journalists, is a news analyst, appearing regularly on NPR's Morning Edition. Knowledgeable and charismatic, Williams brings insight and depth — hallmarks of NPR programs — to a wide spectrum of issues and ideas.
Growing up, the only authors Walter Dean Myers read in school were white and British. But when he discovered Langston Hughes and Richard Wright, he realized that he, too, could be a writer. Now, Myers works to encourage the next generation.
A century after Richard Wright's birth, his books still resonate — both with his daughter, Julia, and with a new generation of fans, some of whom are just discovering the author.
When Edward Perkins went to South Africa as the first black U.S. ambassador to the then apartheid nation, he recalls its leader angrily telling him to stay out of the country's affairs. Perkins refused to heed the warning and visited black townships.