The Kitchen Sisters Present

In the early 1980s, Black students and the African American community at American University had been demonstrating for more access and inclusion in the university’s community services. One of the demands was for four hours of time every Saturday on Radio station WAMU, the campus station. This demand was met and suddenly Black students and the community were pouring into the station on Saturdays to make radio, to learn the craft, to be heard. Judi Moore Smith heard the call and soon was producing 10 minutes every week during that four-hour Saturday slot. Someone heard one of Judi’s pieces and urged her to apply for funding. She was already going to Union Temple Baptist Church in Anacostia near Washington DC, mesmerized by the preaching of Rev. Willie Wilson. She began to cross the country interviewing preachers and ministers, capturing their speaking styles, their preaching styles, listening, watching, realizing these were not only religious men delivering weekly sermons—these were performing artists. Judi