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-60- [[underlined]] Smithsonian [[/underlined]] Magazine In recent months [[underlined]] Smithsonian [[/underlined]] Magazine has run stories on Jacob Lawrence, the noted Black painter; the National Museum of American History's exhibition "From Field to Factory"; Henry Christophe, the early nineteenth-century Haitian leader; the opening of the National Museum of African Art; and Solomon Brown, the Smithsonian's first Black researcher. Other stories of special interest to the Afro-American community included a piece on James Madison which focused on how he grappled with the issue of slavery; an article on Moses Asch and Folkways records which brought the music of Leadbelly and other Blacks to a larger public; and the story of the Pitt-Rivers Museum's development from its creation on principles of social Darwinism. Articles planned include stories on Kenyan entomologist Thomas Odhiambo; the Dance Theater of Harlem; photographer, novelist, poet and film maker Gordon Parks' and his ballet on Martin Luther King; the movement of American Blacks to Liberia in the nineteenth century; the Louis-Schmeling fight, the fiftieth anniversary of which comes this year; Hazel Brannon Smith, the White Southern newspaper editor who defiantly fought for Black rights in the fifties and sixties and who, now old, impoverished, and ill, is supported by the Black community of Mississippi; and a story on new directions in jazz. Smithsonian World While, since its inception, Smithsonian World has infused issues of cultural interest to the Afro-American community into its programming, it has not actively displayed "Afro-American" in the series but has melded this concern into its overall structure. Past broadcasts have included "American Pie," a composite of four stories about American life in which two significant Black aviators are profiled, and "Islam," which was praised by Muslims from Africa, the United States, the Far East and Near East as "having accurately captured the spirit of our faith." In the 1988-89 season Smithsonian World will take a look at complexities of affirmative action at the traditionalist Groton school, and World will also explore "The Unknown Smithsonian," focussing on the Institution's efforts to represent American's people and on several outstanding Afro-American members of the staff. For the following season Smithsonian World is planning on developing programs on African Art and its relationship with Black American folk art and modern art; an hour on "History and Ethics," examining the relationship between the historians' work and its impact on society; and "Baseball," which will include treatment of the shame of segregation in America's pastime. Visitor Information and Associates' Reception Center For the past several years the Visitor Information and Associates' Reception Center has made a concerted effort to broaden minority participation in its volunteer programs and to conduct audience sensitivity training for all volunteers in public information activities. Recruitment efforts, including public service announcements for selected radio and television stations, have resulted in a nearly 12% minority participation in the last year and a half. The Center also engages in telephone and mailing services for a variety of special celebrations at the Institution such as Black History Month. A primary interface for the
