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The Rita Coburn Whack Collection document her work as a producer and radio host for Chicago public radio and documentarian for public television. The papers include forty-one audio episodes from public radio's Maria Tapp Show, Public Affairs, Latino USA and Eight Forty-Eight.
Rita Coburn Whack is a writer, television and radio producer, and on-air radio contributor. She is a two-time Emmy winner. Currently a contributor for WBEZ-FM, Chicago’s public radio station, she is married, a mother of two, and a resident of south suburban Chicago.
Rita Coburn-Whack, co-director of American Masters – Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, originally introduced Maya Angelou and Common, who continued to work together and collaborate as...
In a novel reminiscent of the work of Maya Angelou and Ntozake Shange, Rita Coburn Whack tells the story of how a young woman’s spiritual awakening leads her to maturity and self-fulfillment....
After five years planning, shooting and editing, Rita Coburn Whack and Bob Hercules had their documentary, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, play at Sundance last year. Now their biography of Maya Angelou’s life will be broadcast as part of the American Masters series this month on PBS.
Whether she functions as an award-winning producer of television documentaries, as an interviewer on public radio, or as a writer, Whack has found a way to give voice to her own experiences, to the experiences of an earlier generation, and to the faith that is so important in her life.
We spoke with Coburn-Whack and Hercules about making the film, exploring ideas of what truth means when telling the story of someone's life, and what kept them going over the multi-year filmmaking process.
