FIRST THINGS FIRST, hip-hop is not just the music, and women have played a big role in shaping the way it looks today. FIRST THINGS FIRST takes readers on a journey through some notable firsts by women in hip-hop history and their importance. Factual firsts like Queen Latifah becoming the first rapper to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lauryn Hill making history as the first rapper to win the coveted Album of the Year Award at the GRAMMYs, April Walker being the first woman to dominate in the hip-hop fashion game, and Da Brat being the first solo woman rapper to have an album go platinum, and metaphorical firsts like Missy Elliott being the first woman rapper to go to the future.

Laura Pappano is a veteran journalist who has covered the heated disagreements that surround K-12 education for over thirty years. Yet, today's high stakes battle is unlike anything she's seen before. "It isn't rooted in a passion for the success of all children," she writes. "Rather, it's about the hijacking of public education by a far-right Christian movement and the quest to do away with the community-rooted education enterprise." Parent involvement is no longer about baking treats or donating classroom supplies, she notes. It's about organizing to protect the very existence of public schools.

Join us when award-winning journalist and founder of The New Haven Student Journalism Project, operated through Yale University’s Office of New Haven Affairs chronicles how this cultural and political war has unfolded in hot spots across the country and how mom activists, including in some cases conservative Christian women, are holding the line against the far-right takeover of public schools, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.

According to Award-winning journalist and Regular Contributor Robert Hennelly, most of the labor activists that are reviving the American union movement were not on the planet when Martin Luther King Jr walked the earth. But the torch has been passed and the “dream” endures when ever there’s collective non-violent action that moves US forward.

Hennelly, has a passion for uncovering the News behind the News. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, he has always had a keen interest in the roles of immigration, local politics, business, labor unions, real estate ownership, and environmental protection in the evolution of the United States.

For more than 30 years, he has reported on a broad spectrum of major public policy questions, ranging from homeland security to the economy, environmental contamination to corruption, and occupational safety to homelessness.

Join us today on Leonard Lopate at Large. When Bob Hennelly covers extend medical and compensation benefits to those involved in rescue operations following the 9/11 attacks and more on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.

Leonard Lopate, the Peabody and James Beard Award-winning broadcaster, is on WBAI where he began his radio career. Tune in weekdays from 1-2pm at 99.5fm New York or you can listen to the show live at WBAI.org. Join us for conversation on current events and call-in into the station to let your voice be heard (212) 209-2877.

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A site by site, crime by crime, outlaw by outlaw walking tour through the seedy underbelly of Roaring Twenties Manhattan—where gamblers and gangsters, crooks and cops, showgirls and speakeasies ruled the day and, always, the night.

In Gangsterland, historian David Pietrusza tours the Big Apple’s rotten core. The Roaring Twenties blaze and sparkle with Times Square’s bright lights and showgirls, but its dark shadows mask a web of notorious gangsters ruling New York City.

Max Roach Centennial Celebrations in January Include Film Screening, Panel Discussion and Local NYC-NJ Concerts

The revolutionary 1960 album We Insist!: Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite explored issues of social justice and racial inequality through the lens of jazz and poetry. In celebration of the centennial of Max Roach (1924-2007)—drummer, bebop pioneer and civil rights activist—this landmark work is reimagined for today’s world. In affiliation with Jazz at Lincoln Center, this special one-night only concert is led by musical director Nasheet Waits (of Max’s percussion ensemble M’Boom) featuring vocalist Cassandra Wilson, poets Sonia Sanchez and Saul Williams, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, and bassist Eric Revis.

Join us for an in-depth discussion with Drummer and Music Educator, Nasheet Waits who’s interest in playing the drums was encouraged by his father, legendary percussionist, Frederick Waits, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.

Richard Rothstein is the co-author of JUST ACTION: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute, and Senior Fellow (Emeritus) of the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Leah Rothstein is the co-author of JUST ACTION: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law that describes how local community groups can redress the wrongs of segregation. Leah has worked on public policy and community change, from the grassroots to the halls of government.

Join us for conversation on reforming community policy and practice to be focused on rehabilitation, not punishment on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.

Bestselling author and historian Steven Ujifusa tells the largely forgotten, colorful story of three businessmen who, driven by very different motives, made much of this immigration possible and forever changed the fates of millions.

The men were Jacob Schiff, the managing partner of an investment bank who used his immense wealth to help Jews to leave Europe; Albert Ballin, managing director of the Hamburg-American Line, who created a transportation network of trains and steamships; and the notorious J.P. Morgan, who tried to take over the lucrative steamship business. Join us for a discussion on these titans of industry who forged powerful alliances and compelling rivalries on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.

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We'd like to hear from you during this Holiday season. How have you been coping with winter, Municipal, State, and Global concerns? Although this is the mos festive time of year it sometimes doesnt feel that way. We would like you to share your remedies on dealing with the winter blues. Call-in in Join the discussion.

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Edited by Jennifer Cognard-Black and Melissa A. Goldthwaite - Good Eats: 32 Writers on Eating Ethically features a highly diverse ensemble of award-winning writers, activists, educators, chefs, farmers, and journalists, Good Eats invites readers to think about what it means to eat according to our values. These essays tell the stories of real people—real bellies, real bodies—including the writers themselves, who seek to understand the experiences, families, cultures, histories, and systems that have shaped their eating and their ethics.

From gardening as an alternative to factory farming, to the indigenous cultures surrounding salmon and the corporate cultures surrounding chocolate, the topics featured in this collection expand our understanding of what ethical eating can be.

Join us when Melissa A. Goldthwaite a Professor of English at Saint Joseph's University share the stories which describe efforts to change how food is made on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.