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Cesar Chavez's love of jazz and pachuco culture

3m 27s
Labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez expressed an interest in music from an early age. He grew up identifying as a pachuco, a young Mexican-American who wore zoot suits and listened to jazz, blues and swing music. "A lot of people have no idea that the leader of the Farm Workers Union was this guy that had this urban soul inside him," said filmmaker Luis Valdez.
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How the farmworkers’ movement used concerts to fundraise

3m 40s
Music promoter Jim Cassell organized concerts as fundraisers for the farmworkers’ movement with the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Garcia, Cheech and Chong, Crosby and Nash, Taj Mahal, Malo, Tower of Power and others. “It was an era when the United Farm Workers Union movement was so supported by everybody, so the bands would perform basically for free," said Cassell.
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A Song for Cesar

1m 52s
Trace the life and legacy of labor activist Cesar Chavez. Through interviews with Maya Angelou, Joan Baez, Carlos Santana and more, see how music and the arts were instrumental to the success of the farmworkers’ movement Chavez helped found.
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The music of America’s farmworkers

3m 10s
When musician and composer Daniel Valdez first read the poem "Brown-Eyed Children of the Sun," he was reminded of his parents, who were migrant farmers from Mexico. He was inspired to create a bolero, typically a romantic ballad, dedicated to farmworkers and their families.
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Peaceful protest with Joan Baez

2m 31s
Members of the farmworkers’ movement were committed to nonviolence amidst danger on the picket lines. Singer-songwriter Joan Baez was one of those peaceful protesters. "I've always been the happiest when I was doing activism and music at the same time,” said Baez. “So that was an obvious place for me to be, with Cesar."
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Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely

2m 20s
Follow the 50-year career of preeminent First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams. See how his landmark cases—from the Pentagon Papers to Citizens United to Clearview AI—helped define free speech as it is known today. Join Dan Abrams, Ari Melber, Nina Totenberg and more as they explore how Abrams' career has shaped major changes in law, public discourse and civic action since the 1960s.
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The case that protected corporate spending in elections

2m 26s
During the 2008 presidential elections, Citizens United, a conservative non-profit organization, wanted to air a film criticizing then-democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Although Abrams disagreed with the politics of the film, he argued that Citizens United were within their rights to air the film, declaring that the First Amendment protects independent spending by corporations in elections.
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When The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers

2m 22s
The New York Times sought the legal counsel of First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams after publishing the Pentagon Papers. The media organization was accused of being disloyal to the country, but Abrams successfully argued that The Times were within their First Amendment rights. The case later became known as a landmark case for protecting press freedom.
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The history of the First Amendment

2m 48s
Did you know that the Supreme Court didn't begin interpreting the First Amendment as law until 1919? "We were making up, in a sense, First Amendment law as we went along," said lawyer Floyd Abrams. Free speech as we know it today was established through national security cases and gains made during the civil rights movement.
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The moment Jerry Brown found politics

1m 15s
While studying for the bar exam at the Governor's Mansion, Jerry Brown overheard his father talking politics. "There was a vitality and intensity, maybe like watching an exciting movie," recalls Brown. "But it wasn't a movie; it was a reality that was imaginable for me to be a part of."
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Jerry Brown's second shot at governor

2m 12s
28 years after his first term, Jerry Brown runs for governor a second time and becomes the oldest sitting governor in California's history. "One of the things that made him so effective in his second tour as governor was that he remained what he'd always been, the un-politician's politician," said journalist and author Todd Purdum.
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Jerry Brown: The Disrupter

2m 8s
Experience the political and personal journey of Jerry Brown, the longest serving governor in California history. First elected at 36 years old and again at 72, explore Brown’s 50-year career tackling climate change and inequality.
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Thought Leaders: A series on innovative American thinkers

38s
Political discourse in the United States is shaped by audacious ideas of what a society should be. But who are the influencers and disruptors of American political thought that have paved the way for the systems that we currently have—and those still to come? Examine the lives of Floyd Abrams, Jerry Brown, Max Roach, William F. Buckley Jr., Cesar Chavez and Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
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The king and queen of rock 'n' roll—and Sunset Boulevard

1m 33s
By 1985, Little Richard had abandoned rock 'n' roll, the music genre that he helped pioneer in the 1950s, and was living in a hotel in Los Angeles. "He would embrace people and they would ask him to sign autographs ... He would just wanna ride," said Ron Jones, his bandmate and friend.
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Little Richard preaches the gospel

2m
Little Richard had a fervid relationship with religion, and even quit rock and roll music for religion once in 1957, only to return years later. He was regularly preaching in 1984, claiming that his days "should be spent now, at the age of 52, spreading the gospel."
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The origins of "Tutti Frutti"

1m 41s
Little Richard first originated the famous "awop-bop-a-loo-mop alop-bam-boom" refrain in his hit song "Tutti Frutti" early in his career while performing at the Dew Drop Inn in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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