“Soundtrack to the Struggle” is an on-going series of short features, spotlighting a jazz artist or an element of jazz that contributed to the fight for racial equality. This Sevareid Award-winning series is hosted and co-written by Hollis Monroe, produced and co-written by Ron Adkins. Executive Producer, Dennis Green.
Episode 1 – Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey & Mamie Smith
Episode 2 – Coltrane’s “Alabama”
Episode 3 – Charles Mingus “Fables of Faubus”
Episode 4 – Ella and Marilyn
Episode 5 – Miles “You’re Under Arrest”
Episode 6 – Duke Ellington “Black, Brown, and Beige”
Episode 7 – Count Basie “It’s The Same Old South”
Episode 8 – “Work Song”
Episode 9 – Nina Simone
Episode 10 – Big Jay and The Photograph
Episode 11 – Cab and Minnie
Episode 12 – Carl Van Vechten
Episode 13 – Eartha Kitt
Episode 14 – Gladys Bentley
Episode 15 – Nichelle Nichols
Episode 16 – Lena Horne
Episode 17 – Lester Young
Episode 18 – Louis Armstrong “Black and Blue”
Episode 19 – Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit”
Episode 20 – Melba Liston