Robert Johnson

American Icons: Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues"

American Icons: ‘Cross Road Blues’

American Icons

How the myth of a pact with the devil and a phenomenal guitar technique turned Robert Johnson’s 1936 song into a hit.

The World

It’s not every day that a 10-year-old blind boy from Quebec sings the blues

Music
The World

It’s not every day that a 10-year-old blind boy from Quebec sings the blues

Music

BET’s Robert Johnson wants companies to be required to interview minority candidates

Sad songs say so much

Arts, Culture & Media

Could the Rooney Rule Work Outside the NFL?

The NFL has in place a regulation called the Rooney Rule, which demands that every team must interview a minority candidate if a coaching or general manger’s position is open. Many would like to see that rule in place in other venues. Robert Johnson, founder of BET, proposed on The Takeaway that if corporate America […]

Solving Black Unemployment in America

The national unemployment level continues to hover around 9 percent. But among African-Americans, that number shoots up to about 16 percent.  On Friday’s program The Takeaway spoke with Robert Johnson, founder of BET and CEO or RLJ Companies. Johnson, who was the first African-American to become a billionaire, has a new idea for how to get […]

BET founder Robert Johnson on black unemployment

The financial crisis has hit just about every corner of the economy but it has been disproportionately harmful to African-Americans. The unemployment rate among black Americans stands at 16 percent. That’s nearly 7 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate of the population as a whole. Robert Johnson  has an idea to significantly reduce that number. […]

Bluesman David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards Dies at 96

Chicago bluesman David “Honeyboy” Edwards died on Monday. He was 96. Edwards was believed to be the oldest member of a generation of Delta blues players like Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Joe Williams. Our partner the BBC prepared this segment, where Edwards, in his own words, recounts his life, and […]