Tuesday, February 14th at 8PM on 93.9 FM, AM 820, and NJPR; Sunday, February 19th at 9PM on AM 820

During the vibrant years of the Harlem Renaissance, music, religion, and spirituality were interconnected - not just in the religious setting of the church, but in the jazz club, the dance hall, the rent party, even the political street rally.  Writer Carl Hancock Rux, Reverend Calvin Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, historian Farah Griffin, Professors Josef Sorett and Obery Hendricks, and others explore these powerful interconnections.  Hosted by Norris J. Chumley of the Columbia University Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life.

Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 9PM on 820 AM and Monday, February 13, 2012 at 8PM on 93.9 FM, 820 FM, and NJPR

In the '60s, highway projects nearly destroyed African American communities. Now in this collaborative reporting project from Transportation Nation and WNYC, "Back of the Bus" investigates why America's people of color still struggle for equal treatment in public transportation.

Saturday, February 11 at 6AM on 93.9 FM and NJPR; Saturday, February 11 at 2PM on AM 820; and Sunday, February 12 at 8PM on AM 820 and NJPR

This American RadioWorks program traces the last half-century of black history through stirring, historically important speeches by African Americans from across the political spectrum.

Whose democracy is it?  Who gets to participate and who gets left out? Political influence is bought and sold these days and more and more Americans are opting out.  How do we deal with the tensions of Democracy?  In this program we hear answers from poets and theologians, jazz musicians and exiled dictators.  

Before there was Wikipedia… Before there was Facebook and Twitter… there was Ward Cunningham.  The computer programmer who invented the first wiki, back in 1995.  Cunningham also did something even more radical – he didn’t patent his invention.  He passed up billions of dollars of potential revenue.  Why?  Because he believed the internet needed to be more democratic. How do you live your democratic ideals?

Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up listening to and singing church songs, and saw gospel and folk music as natural tools to further the civil rights movement. In this hour-long special from WNYC, host Terrance McKnight interweaves musical examples with Dr. King's own speeches and sermons to illustrate the powerful place that music held in his work--and examines how the musical community responded to and participated in Dr. King's cause.

This documentary will trace the final year of King’s life. It was one of the most challenging and controversial chapters of the civil rights leader’s career, yet it has not been the focus of significant public attention. For many, the image of King is of a social and political leader at the height of his powers – especially the period up through 1965.But that's not the way he was viewed in the last year of his life.

Some people put their bodies on the line for democracy.  Some pick up weapons.  And some put pen to paper.   Writers who use their gifts to speak truth to power have a special place in the annals of literature.  We revere them for their conscience and their courage.  We'll talk with some of the world’s most celebrated writers talk with us about the literature of democracy. Including and interview with the poet in blue jeans, the dissident playwright who inspired the Velvet Revolution that overthrew the Soviet Union. Vaclav Havel, the former president of the Czech Republic, may have recently passed away, but his ideas live on.

When your country doesn’t live up to its own values, what do you do?  Put your head under the covers or man the barricades?  Fighting for freedom means different things to different people. In this hour,  we talk with some of them -- from Wikileaks’ controversial founder Julian Assange, to the first Tea Party activist, to the influential media duo of Cornel West and Tavis Smiley.   What do they all have in common?  They’re Demanding Democracy.

Hear highlights from "JS:30," a Greene Space concert celebrating John Schaefer's 30 years on the air at WNYC. Guests include singer Angelique Kidjo, musician Laurie Anderson, composer Steve Reich and others. Plus: a roast in John's honor.

In the words of Blaise Pascal, mathematician and Catholic, “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.” Does religion breed intolerance, violence, and the promotion of medieval ideas? Or should we concede that overall, it has been a source for good, giving followers purpose, while encouraging morality and ethical behavior?

In a modern, post-industrial economy that seems better suited to women than men, many are wondering if men have been permanently left behind. Education and employment statistics point to a clear and growing dominance in women’s status at home and in the workplace. Are men primed for a comeback or have the old rules changed for good? The debaters are Hanna Rosin, Dan Abrams, Christina Hoff Sommers, and David Zinczenko.

Where does our food come from? Since we pay close attention to so many aspects of food in the holiday season, host Majora Carter visits Cheryl Rogowski, a fourth-generation farmer and the first farmer to receive a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship. Cheryl gives us a tour of her farm, and we'll hear from people she works with in the many programs she has created - from mentoring migrant farmers to creating low-cost CSAs for senior citizens. 

Commitments made to seniors decades ago failed to foresee the harsh economic realities of the present. Do entitlements saddle our children with unmanageable debt, asking them to sacrifice their future for the sake of the elderly? Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid were created to provide a social safety net. But if we cut these programs, are we balancing the budget on the backs of the aged and sick, leaving behind society’s most vulnerable? The debaters are Margaret Hoover, Mort Zuckerman, Howard Dean, and Jeff Madrick.