Tue, Feb 10, 1998
In this FRONTLINE report, correspondent Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Harvard scholar, explores the gaping chasm between the upper and lower classes of black America and probes why it has happened: "How have we reached this point where we have both the largest black middle class and the largest black underclass in our history?" His personal essay draws a picture of growing black success along with deepening black despair and argues that black upper classes now have more in common with their white colleagues and peers than with those they have left behind in the inner cities. Reviewing the thirty years that have passes since the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., Gates shows that while many blacks reaped the reward of the civil rights movement and affirmative action and gained middle class status , just as many were left behind in an expanding underclass of poverty. The program features interviews with prominent blacks such as Cornel West, William Julius Wilson and Maulana Karenga as well as civil rights veterans like Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis and Julian Bond. While they differ on historical interpretation, they all agree that the next phase of the black liberation struggle must be focused on economic deprivation and the class divide.
Mon, Sep 21, 1998
"The Farmer's Wife" takes us deep inside the world of Juanita and Darrel Buschkoetter, a remarkable young Nebraska farm couple, to tell a compelling love story. It follows the Buschkoetters over three years as they face seemingly insurmountable economic hardship, only to confront an even greater challenge: repairing their damaged marriage. What emerges is an epic story of faith, perseverance, and triumph, and an indelible portrait of a real American family's struggle to hold onto their dreams, and to each other.