A new book, Stars for Freedom, by historian Emilie Raymond (Virginia Commonwealth University) tells the little-known story of how black actors and entertainers in Hollywood contributed their money, connections, and fame to aid the civil rights movement. Plus: D.W. Griffith’s Civil War epic Birth of a Nation is notorious for its racist scenes. Avi Santo (Old Dominion University) has organized the writing and shooting of the ambitious short film Our Nation, which tells the story of a young African American teenager’s response to the film in Norfolk, Virginia in 1915.

Later in the show: Julian Bond, who passed away on August 15th, was at the cutting edge of social change since he was a college student leading sit-in demonstrations in Atlanta in 1960. The civil rights leader faced jail for his activism and helped create the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. He spent 20 years as a Georgia lawmaker and was also a writer, college lecturer, and former chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In a 2004 interview, Bond, whose grandfather was born into slavery, talks candidly about race in America 50 years after the Brown v. Board decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.