PUB: FOUR WAY BOOKS Poetry Book Contest: Guidelines

2010 FOUR WAY BOOKS INTRO PRIZE IN POETRY
2010 FOUR WAY BOOKS INTRO PRIZE IN POETRY
Judge: Alan Shapiro

Submission Dates: January 1 – March 31, 2010 (postmark or email deadline) by online submission manager or regular mail. Postmark deadline March 31 and email deadline (by 3 am EST April 1).

Awarding publication of a book-length collection and $1000.

Open to any poet writing in English who has not previously published a book-length poetry collection.

Submissions accepted on-line (preferred) and by mail.

Please read the following instructions carefully.


Online submission:
Submitting to us online is easy, saves you money, and saves trees.

    • Fill out our
online entry form and follow the directions for online credit card payment on our secure site.
• You will be assigned an online entry number. You will then submit your manuscript through our online submissions program.


By mail:

    • Submit a previously unpublished, full-length poetry manuscript by regular mail (USPS only).

• Please include a completed Entry Form. Click here to download the Entry Form (PDF format). (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print the Entry Form.)
• Include one cover page with the title of your work and all of your contact information, including your email address if you have one. Your name and contact information should not appear anywhere else in the manuscript.
• You must include a second cover page with just the title of your work, no other contact info.
• No more than one poem per page, please. More than one section of a poem can appear on a page, of course.
• No page limit, but we recommend a length of between 48 and 80 pages of poetry. This page limit does not include your title page, notes, etc.
• Do not include art work.
• Please use a legible font of 12 point.
• Include an entry fee of $25 with your submission, by check, made payable to Four Way Books. A stamped self-addressed postcard may be included to confirm receipt of manuscript. Multiple submissions may be mailed together. If you submit more than one manuscript, please supply contact info for both and an increased fee ($25 per submission).
• Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
• Material in your manuscript may have been published previously in a chapbook, magazines, journals or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished.
• Translations and previously self-published books are not eligible.

* Please do not submit to this contest if you are close enough to Alan Shapiro that his integrity, your integrity, and the integrity of Four Way Books would be called into question should you be selected as the winner. You may query us if you have questions regarding this matter. We will allow you to submit to us outside of the contest if you feel that you are treading deep water in this regard. Please query by email to editors@fourwaybooks.com.

• Mail submission and entry fee to:

    Four Way Books
    POB 535 Village Station
    New York NY 10014

    Our Reading Policy

    Each manuscript is delivered to our readers as a blind submission. That is, it is stripped of identifying material. Only the manuscript, inclusive of any text notes, is sent to the readers and, if chosen as a finalist, to the judge. We do not give a list of submitters to the judge.

    Our preliminary readers for the contest are selected by the director of the press and are published poets, experienced editors, and/or poets who have received a graduate degree in creative writing or literature. Each manuscript is read by at least two readers. We regularly rotate our readers.

    Our readers select an average of 20-40 manuscripts as finalist selections. They look for work that is beautifully crafted–manuscripts that feel whole and well shaped. They do not try to second guess a judge’s preference. Rather, they look to present a wide range of excellent work to the judge.

    Finalists are notified in May that their work will be sent on to the judge. On occasion, a judge may ask to see more work – the judge is not allowed to ask for specific work by a specific writer, but may ask to see a wider sampling of strong work. If that is the case, the press reviews the submissions again and more manuscripts are sent to the judge as finalists. Therefore, we do not inform the public of finalist selections since that list may grow after May.

    The judge is instructed to notify the press of any indiscretions. If a submitter contacts the judge regarding the contest, that person will be disqualified. If the judge does not select a winner, the press’s director and senior editor will select a finalist’s manuscript to publish.

    * Please do not submit to this contest if you are close enough to Alan Shapiro that his integrity, your integrity, and the integrity of Four Way Books would be called into question should you be selected as the winner. You may query us if you have questions regarding this matter. We will allow you to submit to us outside of the contest if you feel that you are treading deep water in this regard. Please query by email to editors@fourwaybooks.com.

    PUB: The Shenandoah/Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers :: Washington and Lee University

    The Shenandoah/Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers

    2009 Shenandoah/Glasgow Prize Winner

    Aaron Baker of Charlottesville, Virginia has been named recipient of the 2009 Shenandoah/Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers, awarded annually by Shenandoah and Washington and Lee University, for his book Mission Work (Houghton Mifflin, 2008). The book was also winner of the 2007 Bakeless Poetry Prize. Baker received the MFA from the University of Virginia and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing at Stanford University. He has lived in Mexico, Germany and Paupa, New Guinea, where his parents were missionaries in a remote village of the Chimbu Highlands. His poems have appeared in Poetry, New England Review, Prairie Schooner and elsewhere. Baker lives in Charlottesville and teaches in the creative writing program at Hollins University. Writers who have published one book of poetry were eligible for consideration for the prize. Judge for the 2009 Prize was Alice Friman.

    2010 Prize: $2,000

    Eligibility for 2010 Prize:

    All writers of POETRY with only one published book in that genre.

    To apply:

    Send first book,* five unpublished poems and biographical information along with an s.a.s.e. and a check for $25 (from either author or publisher), which brings two issues of Shenandoah, between March 15 and March 31, 2010 to:

    R. T. Smith
    The Shenandoah/Glasgow Prize
     SHENANDOAH
    Mattingly House / 2 Lee Avenue
    Washington and Lee University
    Lexington, VA 24450-2116

    * Books submitted for consideration will not be returned and will be donated to a local library after the contest has been judged.

    via wlu.edu

     

    PUB: call for submissions—GirlChild Press Seeking Manuscripts

    Although we have set the publishing slate for 2010 with the anticipated release of Woman's Work: The Short Stories (the final anthology from the girls series) and our first single-author book, A Little Truth on Your Shirt, by Sonya Renee Taylor, we are already preparing for 2011. 

    In line with the GirlChild Press mission, we are interested in publishing the works of women and girl writers. We are especially interested in submissions from writers 21-years-old and younger, although writers of all ages are invited to submit their work. 

    We are currently looking for manuscripts in the following areas:
    * YA Novels(with special interest in a Native American/Latina/Arab/Asian protagonist)
    * Speculative Fiction
    * Historical Fiction
    * Poetry
    * Memoirs
    * How to (with an emphasis on girls)
    No exclusively erotica manuscripts at this time. Also no anthologies. 

    Submission Guidelines:
    1. Submit the first ten (10) pages of your manuscript electronically to girlchildpress@aol.com. 

    2. The subject line of the email should include the title of the work, your name and the genre. Example: Black Swan submitted by Michelle Sewell - memoir. 

    3. A basic summary of the work should be included in the body of the email, along with your bio. 

    4. Also share why you believe this book should be published and who is the intended audience. 

    5. Please allow 3-4 weeks for reveiw. If we are interested in seeing the entire manuscript we will contact you for a hard copy.

    Michelle

    PUB: Princeton 10-minute Play Contest for High School Juniors

     

     Princeton in the service of the imagination 

    Princeton University 

    Ten-Minute Play Contest

    for the best ten-minute play written by a high school junior

     

    How to Apply:

     

    Any student who is in the eleventh grade in the 2009-10 academic year is eligible for the Princeton University Ten-Minute Play Prize. Applicants may submit only one play.

    Entries are not returnable. The jury will consist of members of the Princeton University Theater faculty. 

     

    Submissions must be postmarked by March 30, 2010 and addressed to:

     

    Unfortunately, we cannot acknowledge receipt of submissions or provide critical feedback. Due to the volume of entries, only winners will be notified. Results will be posted on the Lewis Center for the Arts website at www.princeton.edu/arts by June 1, 2010. We hope this contest encourages young people to engage in the art of playwriting.

     

    First Prize: $500

    Second Prize: $250

    Third Prize: $100

     

    Princeton Ten-Minute Play Contest

    Program in Theater

    Lewis Center for the Arts

    185 Nassau Street

    Princeton University

    Princeton, NJ 08542

    Michael Cadden, Director

     

    The Theater Faculty at Princeton University 2009-10

    Suzanne AginsGabriel Bauriedel*

    Tracy Bersley

    Jill Dolan

    Rinde Eckert

    John Guare**

    Riccardo Hernandez*

    Mark Nelson*

    John Rando*Robert N. Sandberg

    Tim Vasen

    Stacy Wolf 

    * Class of 1932 Visiting Lecturer ** Princeton / McCarter Ford Fellow

    EVENT: New York City—fim screening - "Count Basie"

    Presents

    Count Basie

    Then as Now, Count's the King

    A film by Gary Keys

    Introduced by Professor Jamal Joseph, School of the Arts, Columbia University

    This rich documentary film traces the history of the pianist, composer, and bandleader William "Count" Basie over several decades. 

    The Emmy-nominated filmmaker Gary Keys juxtaposes a roundtable discussion among former members of the Count Basie Orchestra with the

    driving tempo and virtuoso improvisation of Basie's music in recorded performances.

    Archival clips (including a cameo appearance in Mel Brooks' classic comedy, Blazing Saddles) and a gallery of portraits and

    snapshots reveal the ever-smiling face of a man as vivacious as the grooves he delivers—his good humor

    suffusing the music and the players all around him, from Lester Young to Ella Fitzgerald. 

    At the conclusion of the film, the filmmaker Gary Keys will engage in conversation with Jamal Joseph, director of the Graduate Film Program at the School of the Arts, Columbia University.

    Thursday, February 18, 2010, 7:30pm

    Lifetime Screening Room, 513 Dodge Hall

    Columbia University Morningside Campus

    Campus Map: http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/dodge.html

    Free and Open to the public

    Reception to follow

    Co-presented with the Graduate Film Program, School of the Arts, Columbia University

    Please join us as well for these upcoming Center for Jazz Studies events

    *********************************************************************************

    How Does Music Free Us? Afro-Asian Revolutionary Concepts in New Music

    A discussion and reading by author Fred Ho

    Chinese-American composer, baritone saxophonist, scholar/writer, producer, matriarchal revolutionary socialist

    and aspiring Luddite Fred Ho explores the role of music in imagining a new society and foreshadowing a

    transformed humanity.

    Thursday, March 4, 20107:30pm

    301 Philosophy Hall, 116th Street and Amsterdam Ave

    Columbia University Morningside Campus

    Campus Map: http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/philosophy.html

    Free and Open to the public

    Copies of Mr. Ho's newest book WICKED THEORY, NAKED PRACTICE: A FRED HO READER will be available to purchase

    ***************************************

    Jazz Studies Beyond the Commercial Album

    A panel discussion with Jason Moran, Ben Young, Larry Applebaum and Prof. John Szwed

    Moderated by Prof. Brent Hayes Edwards

    Jazz scholarship has focused on commercial recordings – as Max Roach was fond of saying, "Records are our textbooks"

    – yet there is a shadow world beyond these official audio texts – a world of alternate takes, acetates and cassettes of

    live recordings, radio broadcasts, and club appearances.  Fascinating and revealing as these documents are, they are

    seldom used as the basis for published materials.  But with the creation of new and inexpensive technology, mass

    downloading, the virtual collapse of the recording business, and the flood of unlicensed music on the Web, this alternate

    universe of music is overwhelming scholars and the public alike.  This panel is the first public discussion of this phenomenon

    and its implications for the future of jazz scholarship and the music itself.

    Tuesday, March 9, 20107:30pm

    301 Philosophy Hall, 116th Street and Amsterdam Ave

    Columbia University Morningside Campus

    Campus Map: http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/philosophy.html

    Free and Open to the public

    ***************************************

    Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage:
    The Black Rock Coalition Orchestra salutes  The High Priestess of Soul


    Existing as a performance entity since 1987, the Black Rock Coalition Orchestra (BRCO) is a collaboration of

    skilled progressive artists of color whose talents lend themselves to the musical re-interpretation of historically

    significant bodies of work, entertaining audiences at Central Park SummerStage, Symphony Space, Lincoln Center

    Out of Doors, Joe's Pub, BAM Café, and Town Hall, as well as internationally.

    Friday, March 26, 2010
    Dialogue:  6:00 pm
    Pre-Show DJ Mixer:  7:30 pm
    Performance: 8:30 pm
    Aaron Davis Hall
    150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street, New York City
    Tickets:  $15
    For tickets, visit www.harlemstage.org, or call the Harlem Stage box office at 212-281-9240, ext. 19 or 20

    Co-Presented by Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage and the Columbia/Harlem Jazz Project, with support from the Office of the President, Columbia University

    **********************************************

    Beyond Lift Every Voice and Sing: The Culture of Uplift Identity and Politics in Black Musical Theater                                            

    Paula Marie Seniors, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

      From 1898 to 1911, Bob Cole, James Weldon Johnson, and J. Rosamond Johnson formed one of the most prolific song

    writing teams of their era. In their all-black musicals Shoo Fly Regiment (1906–1908) and The Red Moon (1908–1910),

    theater, uplift, and politics collided. Following Booker T. Washington's lead, W.E.B. DuBois's ideology, the tenets of

    Atlanta University, and Cole's own "Colored Actor's Declaration of Independence," and informed by their brushes with

    United States racism and subjugation, the team actively worked to "become leaders and helpers of their race" through

    music and theater. Their careers as producers of black musical theater lasted approximately four years, but these years

    proved pivotal to musical theater and politics. 

    In this talk, author Paula Marie Seniors argues that, far from being conformists, Cole and the Johnsons deployed the very

    tools of hegemony to create a distinctly black theater informed by black politics, history, and culture forging a lasting

    legacy that informed future African American initiatives in the control of the means of artistic production.

    Paula Marie Seniors, assistant professor in Africana Studies and Sociology at Virginia Tech, won the Letitia Woods Brown

    Memorial Prize from the Association of Black Women Historians for her 2009 book, Beyond

     "Lift Every Voice and Sing:" The Culture of Uplift, Identity, and Politics in Black Musical Theater.

    Thursday April 1, 2010, 8:00 pm

    622 Dodge Hall, Columbia University Morningside Campus

    Campus Map: http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/dodge.html

    Free and open to the public


    **********************************************

    Flirting with America: The Zestful Tale of Italian Jazz

    Enzo Capua, with Sara Villa, State University of Milan 

    This conversation focuses on the key figures and events that have characterized the evolution of jazz in Italy, from its origins just

    before the Fascist era to the present day. Capua and Villa discuss the roles that musicians, critics, festivals, and educational institutions

     have played in engaging African-American and European musical cultures as a basis for forging a distinguished Italian jazz tradition. 
      
    Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 7:30pm

    301 Philosophy Hall, Columbia University Morningside Campus

    Campus Map: http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/philosophy.html

    Free and open to the public

    *****************************************


    Jazz Festivals and Cosmopolitan Vernaculars

    Anne C. Dvinge, University of Copenhagen

    jazz continues to migrate across national, ethnic, and cultural borders, jazz festivals function as physical and symbolic spaces where the

    dynamics between the vernacular and the cosmopolitan are put into play. On the one hand, these events are thoroughly vernacular affairs,

    where communities define and celebrate themselves. But on the other, the celebrations are often aimed at both the local culture of a city

    and at local, national, and transnational articulations of jazz communities, providing contact zones not just between audiences, performers,

    and those at the fringes of the festivals, but also between different soundscapes and "acoustemologies". 

    In this talk Anne Dvinge will take a closer look at jazz festivals, and specifically the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, as manifestations of this

    double sense of the cosmopolitan and the vernacular, where jazz enters into dialogue with local music cultures. Perhaps, in the constant

    negotiation and renegotiation of these positions, jazz offers a way out of the either/or bind of the global versus the local. 

    Thursday, April 15, 2010, 8:00 pm

    622 Dodge Hall, Columbia University Morningside Campus

    Campus Map: http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/dodge.html

    Free and open to the public

    *****************************************************

    The Voice Within:  A work-in-progress showing


    Conceived and composed by Diedre Murray
    Book and lyrics by Marcus Gardley

    The Voice Within is a richly textured exploration of the voice—as vocal instrument, as the expression of all we behold and all that

    emerges from us—as seen through the lens of a contemporary urban story laced with myth. 

    Thursday, May 13, 2010 
    Performance: 7:30 pm 
    Harlem Stage Gatehouse 
    150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street, New York City
    Tickets:  $15
    For tickets, visit www.harlemstage.org, or call the Harlem Stage box office at 212-281-9240, ext. 19 or 20

    Co-Presented by WaterWorks at Harlem Stage and the Columbia/Harlem Jazz Project, with support from the Office of the President, Columbia University

    *************************************************

    For more information about the Center for Jazz Studies activities, please visitwww.jazz.columbia.edu or call 212-851-1633

    Yulanda C. Denoon

    Program Coordinator

    Center for Jazz Studies

    Columbia University

    (212) 851-1633 - office

    (212) 851-1634 - fax

    www.jazz.columbia.edu

    EVENT: Atlanta—84th and 5th Presents: "Poems Without Shoes" feat. Tzynya Pinchback

    84th and 5th Presents: "Poems Without Shoes" feat. Tzynya Pinchback

    you DON'T want to miss this reading!
    Host:
    Type:
    Network:
    Global
    Date:
    Sunday, March 21, 2010
    Time:
    7:00pm - 9:00pm
    Location:
    Urban Grind Coffee House
    Street:
    962 Marietta St.
    City/Town:
    Atlanta, GA
     

    Description

    Join us at Urban Grind Coffee House For "Poems Without Shoes" feat. Tzynya Pinchback.

    Bundle up, grab a loved one (or two) and experience what happens when one of our time's greatest (and most beautiful) wordsmiths shares barefoot, burgundy inkblot poetry within the walls of West Midtown's caffeine cocktail centerpiece.

    Do NOT miss this reading. for more information, call 404.789.0928 OR email cjenkinsiv@gmail.com

    * Please feel free to check out the links below for images and audio of Tzynya and her work! *

    Links

    Displaying 2 of 3 linksSee All

     

    PUB: call for submissions—Peace Builders Essay Contest (Grades K-12)

    Win PEACEBUILDERS—Enter the Essay Contest (Gr K-12)

    By bookcover

    “…you can’t put it down until you’ve turned the last page…the type of book that stays with a child throughout life.”-Nathalie Mvondo, Multiculturalism Rocks!

    Become a PeaceBuilders FaceBook Fan

    Read PEACEBUILDERS Reviews

    As the PEACEBUILDERS publication date–March 16, 2010–grows closer, I’m launching an essay contest for grades kindergarten – 12.

    (Even though PEACEBUILDERS is a chapter book biography. It’s got information, inspiration, and history in it for older readers, too.)

    Here’s how the contest works:

     

    PRIZES
    First place: Autographed PEACEBUILDERS color paperback
    Second place: Autographed PEACEBUILDERS black and white paperback
    Third place: Personalized PEACEBUILDERS color eBook (with your name in it)

    ENTRY LEVEL
    (Each level has a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner)

    Kindergarten – 3rd grade

    4th – 6th grade

    7th – 12th grade

    ESSAY TOPICS
    Write an essay on one of these topics:

    1. “How I Build Peace Today, How I’ll Build Peace Tomorrow”

    2. “The PeaceBuilder I Admire–Who It Is & How This Person Builds Peace”

    3. “The PeaceBuilders I Admire–Who They Are & How They Build Peace”

    4. You can make up your own topic about building peace.

    RULES
    1. Essays must be between 200 to 1,000 words.

    If you are in 4th – 12th grade you must write at least 500 words.

    2. Only enter one essay.

    3. Type your essay in the “comment” section of this contest blog entry.
    4. Include your FIRST NAME ONLY and your grade with your entry.

    If your school does not use grade levels, or you are home-schooled, just list your age.

    5. Please DO NOT not name your country, city,  state, province, or district or give your last name with your entry.

    Adults or older children can help very young entrants type, but please do not compose their essays. If I think you’ve done that, the essay won’t count.

    DEADLINE TO ENTER
    You must submit your essay by 11:59 P.M. U.S.A Ohio time on the PEACEBUILDERS book launch date, Tuesday, March 16, 2010.

    To find out what date and time it is where you are when it’s 11:59 P.M. in Ohio on March 16, click here.

    WRITING TIPS
    Before you send in your entry, practice typing it on your computer. Only post it on this page when you think it’s really ready.

    If you make  spelling mistakes, don’t worry. I care more about what you have to say than I do about spelling.

    If you need to remove or change your entry, email me.

    JUDGING
    Three runners up in each category of each level (K-12)–a total of nine entrants–will be judged by a vote.

    Everyone who wants to can vote. I’ll notify people via FaceBook, Twitter, et cetera when voting opens.

    ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNERS
    On Wednesday, March 31, 2010, contest winners will be notified by email and listed on this BookCover blog page.

    Please save this web page link and pass it onto others: http://bookcover.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/win-peacebuilders-enter-the-essay-c... OR http://wp.me/pdHet-cD.

    >

    PERMISSION TO REPOST
    By entering the PEACEBUILDERS essay contest, you give Forest Hill Publishing, LLC and its representatives, including M. LaVora Perry, permission to repost your essay online or in print.

    ****

    Questions? Email mlavoraperry @ mlavoraperry.com.

    Learn about PEACEBUILDERS here http://www.foresthillpublishing.com/peacebuilders.

    Read Chapter 1, “Brave Like Kiichi” here.

    Become a PeaceBuilders FaceBook Fan

    Happy Peace Building!

    LaVora
    www.mlavoraperry.com

    VIDEO: Out of Our Right Minds - Trauma, Depression and the Black Woman

    Out of Our Right Minds - Trauma, Depression and the Black Woman

    by Stacey Muhammad

     

    Out of Our Right Minds - Trauma, Depression and the Black Woman is the next short docu film from Award Winning Independent Filmmaker, Stacey Muhammad of Wildseed Films / Intelligent Media.

    This film explores Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome and and the experience of trauma, and how the lives of Black women have been affected by these experiences. 

    Black women and men from all walks of life, speak openly and candidly about depression, mental illness, anxiety, stress...why these discussions are considered taboo in the African American community..and ways in which we begin to ... and continue to ... heal the wounds.

    Dir. by Stacey Muhammad

    Asst. Dir. RH Bless

    Edited by: Stacey Muhammad

    Music by: T. Taylor, Mr. Famous & Masada

    Marketing and Promotions: C. Wharton

     

    For more information about booking Wildseed Films for screenings / lectures / panels, etc. please contact Intelligent Media @ 484-472-3745.

     

     

     

    This email has been sent as a service by Roland Sheppard.
    Visit my web site at: http://web.mac.com/rolandgarret

    The Nat King Cole Show Black History Month

    Jazz on the Tube

    The Internet's jazz video search engine


    The Nat King Cole Show

    Black History Month


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    Black History Month - The Nat King Cole Show - The Power of Jazz

    In the 1950s Nat King Cole was in the the mainstream of American show business and had already produced several records that had sold millions of copies each. Cole was a regular guest star on many variety shows on national television including those of Perry Como, Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason. Nat was a natural on television he was offered his own show by NBC which premiered in 1956. Cole was nervous about being the first major black performer to host his own show on network television and at the time said "It could be a turning point, so that Negroes may be featured regularly on television. If I try to make a big thing out of being the first and stir up a lot of talk, it might work adversely."

    The show featured excellent music with orchestra leaders Nelson Riddle and Gordan Jenkins and guests that included Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Pearl Bailey, Mahailia Jackson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Tony Bennett, and Harry Belafonte. From the beginning The Nat King Cole show had a lot of trouble finding national sponsors and NBC even sponsored the show at first in hopes of sponsors emerging. Many companies were afraid to endorse a show with an African-American host out of fear that white, southern audiences would boycott their products. This made little sense to Cole and he was quoted as saying "And what about a corporation like the telephone company? A man sees a Negro on a television show. What's he going to do--call up the telephone company and tell them to take out the phone?" The show was able to find companies that would buy advertising in specific regions but no national sponsors would emerge.

    When Singer Sewing Company wanted to sponsor a cowboy show NBC gave them the time slot of Nat's show and while he was offered a less desirable time slot he declined. In Nat's own words "For 13 months I was the Jackie Robinson of television. I was the pioneer, the test case, the Negro first....On my show rode the hopes and tears and dreams of millions of people....Once a week for 64 consecutive weeks I went to bat for these people. I sacrificed and drove myself. I plowed part of my salary back into the show. I turned down $500,000 in dates in order to be on the scene. I did everything I could to make the show a success. And what happened? After a trailblazing year that shattered all the old bugaboos about Negroes on TV, I found myself standing there with the bat on my shoulder. The men who dictate what Americans see and hear didn't want to play ball." Ertha Kitt, one of the guests on The Nat King Cole Show, said "I think it was too early, to show ourselves off as intelligent people."