Project Audion Episode 37: Little Ham from Harlem

Larry Groebe is back with Project Audion's look into African American Month. Black poet Langston Hughes, who did write a few special radio programs, also tried to sell a full-fledged Black soap opera. Times being what they were, there were no takers. But his two pilot scripts got stashed away in an archive, and over Christmas I requested and received copies. And so, for the first time, we can hear his proposed show "Little Ham from Harlem" - a comedic soap opera set at a shoe shine stand. Yes, a radio soap opera - but one about Black lives in the 1940s. It's a glimpse at an alternate radio universe with people of color in leading roles - in fact, in ALL roles.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices