Fresh Air

The Legacies Of Sam Cooke, Muhammad Ali & Malcolm X

02.26.2021 - By NPRPlay

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The movie 'One Night in Miami,' directed by Regina King, imagines the conversations between four Black icons in 1964: Cassius Clay, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Malcolm X, on the night of Clay's surprise win over Sonny Liston. We listen back to archival interviews about three of those men. We hear from Peter Guralnick, who wrote a biography of Sam Cooke, the popular singer and one of the first gospel artists to cross over to soul music; with Jonathan Eig, who spent four years researching and writing a biography of Muhammad Ali (previously known as Cassius Clay); and with Alex Haley, who was chosen by Malcolm X to help write his now famous autobiography. This was before Haley wrote his seminal book 'Roots'.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the film 'The United States vs. Billie Holiday' on Hulu.

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