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Their image: a corps of ever-smiling black men waiting on white luxury train passengers hand and foot. But these men and women became one of the most influential groups in African American history...becoming civil rights leaders, creating the first black labor union and being the backbone to today?s black middle class. It's been said that behind almost every successful African-American, there is a Pullman porter. From Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to activist Malcolm X to jazz great Oscar Peterson. Laura's guest is Larry Tye, longtime Boston Globe reporter and author of "Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class".

*This show originally aired on 7/19/04. We will not be taking any new calls.*

Bases like Portsmouth, Brunswick and Groton have done more than just fuel their region?s economy, they?re part of the fabric of New England?s military and maritime history. Today on the Exchange, we?ll look at the wider significance of the New England base closures? the social, the cultural and the historic. Kevin's guests are Richard Winslow III, New Hampshire based writer, historian and author of "Do Your Job: An Illustrated Bicentennial History of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, 1800-2000" and "Portsmouth-Built: Submarines of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard". Stephen Jones, Professor of Maritime Studies at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, Principal of Flat Hammock Press in Mystic and author of a number of books on Maritime History. Rick Tetrev, Chairman of the Brunswick Naval Air Station Task Force, and former Executive Director of the Brunswick Chamber of Commerce. Rick Tetrev came to the Brunswick Naval Air Station in 1978 and retired Second in Command in 1996 and Beth Greenleaf Kirmsee, Landscape Architect and Coordinator of the Summer Field Mycology Department at the Rhode Island School of Design. Beth Greenleaf Kirmmse did her PhD. on the Quonset Point Naval Air Station.

A recent poll taken by New Hampshire Magazine named 45 top doctors in New Hampshire, as chosen by their peers. We'll talk to a few of them about the challenges of being a doctor in the Granite State. Laura's guests are Ben Westbrook, Cardiac/Thoracic Surgen at Cardiothoracic Surgical Associates, Emory Kaplan, pediatrician of Kaplan & McNamee Pediatrics, and Donavon Albertson, Emergency Care Doctor at POrtsmouth Regional Hospital

With the debut of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith this week, we are looking at the history of prequels and sequels- why they get made, when they work, when they don't and take a trip in the wayback machine to see the earliest example of sequels- the serial film. Laura's guest is Garen Daly, Film Commentator and Artistic Director of the Dedham Community Theatre in Dedham, Massachusetts who currently lives in Gilmanton, NH.

It's been the color of power, of passion, of courage and danger. As far back as history can record, red has taken on special meaning and the red dye cochineal, the most potent natural red dye in the world, was at one time such a luxury that it only trailed silver as New Spain's most valuable export. Cochineal dyed cloth provided the fabric for royal robes and the uniform's of the world's fiercest fighters, while artists like Rembrandt and Rubens used cochineal in their paintings. Today on the Exchange we explore the history of the color red, the dye cochineal and how one color could mean so much to so many. Laura's guest is Amy Butler Greenfield, author of "A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire".