Shelley’s Plumbline Shelley Stewart

Two of the most popular episodes of Shelley’s Plumbline were Episode 1 of Season 2,  "The Final Interview with Eddie Kendricks."  A lot of folks also liked Episode 2 of Season 2 … about Shelley’s life scouting for musical talent on the Chitlin' Circuit.
So to kick off Season Four, we’re going to give you more stories about Shelley’s life in music – this time with his friend, Riley King – or should we say, BB King. Yup, THE BB King.

Stay tuned. Give it a listen. We think you’re going to like it.
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From time to time, Shelley would conduct an open forum during his show, and listeners would call in. Today’s episode features a discussion from 1996 with Shelley and a listener regarding a speech given by William Raspberry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Washington Post. The discussion focuses on how racism is often used as an excuse or crutch against progress.
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Today we continue our exploration of one of the many organizers in the Movement who had great influence but were not as well-known. This episode features an interview from January of 1998 when Shelley sat down with Tommy Wrenn.
Active in the movement in both Birmingham and Selma, Wrenn worked as a field staffer for the Dr King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Wrenn would go into towns to set up routes for protest marchers before King would arrive, doing the groundwork to make the event a success.
He expresses his frustration at the lack of support he received and how many people believed in the mission of the movement but stayed in the background.
Even after retiring as a dental technician, he remained active in politics and the movement until his death in 2010.
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Today’s episode features an interview from 1998 with the author of The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Be Black, Yvonne Willie.
She and Shelley discuss the role of racial identity and self-worth, revealing that internalized racism is a learned behavior.
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Today we continue to share little-known stories of the struggle during the early 60s with an interview with James Armstrong. He recounts the many artificial obstacles city officials presented him when he attempted to enroll his children in Graymont School in Birmingham, Alabama, at a time when it was segregated. 

He prevailed, however, and his sons Floyd and Dwight were the first students to integrate the school. 

This interview, conducted by Ron January, first aired on Shelley’s program “Open Mic” in 1993.
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Today, we feature an interview with author and historian Dr. Vincent Harding. A social activist, he was perhaps best known for his work with and writings about Martin Luther King Jr., whom Harding knew personally. 

In this episode, Dr Harding sits down with Shelley and talks about not only the Black struggle – but how several different vectors of society then, as now, are engaged in a struggle for freedom.
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