X-ray Vision - Rudolph Fisher In Harlem

Lindsay Johns explores the enduring relevance of Rudolph Fisher, a writer whose musicality reflected the birth of jazz and blues, and a pioneer of Black detective fiction. Travelling to Harlem, the New York neighbourhood which has for close to a century been, as he puts it, 'the spiritual mecca of Black America', Lindsay makes the case for Fisher's writing, and argues that he deserves to be read today.

Speaking to Fisher scholars, to his granddaughter Laurel, and to influential writers and creators like Ishmael Reed, Gary Phillips, and Cheo Hodari Coker, Lindsay examines how Fisher found a way to portray the diversity of urban Black America at a time when it was rapidly expanding. And he considers Fisher's legacy in another field with enduring relevance - the liminal position of the Black police officer.

Expert contributors include: Professor William Gibbons (City College, New York), Professor John McCluskey (Indiana University), Dr. Aidan Levy (Columbia University), Professor Michelle Robinson (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Professor Miriam Thaggert (University of Buffalo), Professor Frankie Bailey (New York State University at Albany) and Professor Keith Taylor (John Jay College, New York).

Producer: Giles Edwards

Readers: Naajidah Correll and Kaitlin Campbell.

Lindsay Johns makes the case for writer Rudolph Fisher's portraits of Black American life.