Next week on PBS, I'm introducing you to a young man named Cortlan Wickliff.

Cortlan Wickliff is about to make history at Harvard. We believe Cortlan to be the second youngest Black man to finish Harvard Law School at just 22 years of age. In this...

Tributes to mom from "Tavis Smiley" guests including Jay Leno, President Jimmy Carter, Hilary Swank, Sidney Poitier, Alicia Keys, Carly Simon, Stevie Wonder and more!

Press play on the video below:

And don't forget to tune in this Friday, May 10, 2013, to "Tavis Smiley" on PBS. For more info, visit:

Tonight on PBS, I sit down with writer Mary Williams and the woman she considers to be her second mother, Jane Fonda, to discuss Williams' fascinating new memoir, The Lost Daughter.

In the book, Mary documents a traumatic journey that includes a difficult upbringing, physical abuse, estrangement...

This Thursday on PBS, I sit down with Oscar-nominated actor Harrison Ford to talk about his recent role as Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey in the film, 42.

In the clip below, Harrison reflects on the importance of America coming to terms with racial reconciliation and the humanity...

When is the last time you saw a stage full of Latino thought-leaders, opinion-makers and influencers who were being asked by the mainstream media about their views on something other than immigration reform?

To be sure, immigration is topical and timely, but by far, it is not the only item...

We had to shut the cameras down for a moment. The testimony of the two New Orleans sisters, Kenyatta, 15, and Kennisha, 17, was too surreal, too emotional and too raw.

Kenyatta was involved in a fight at school that she didn't start. Because of "zero tolerance" policies adopted...

I just finished speaking with the incredible "fourth tenor" Andrea Bocelli about his new album, Passione.

In the clip below, he opens up, for the first time ever, about the brand new home that he just purchased in America!

LISTEN HERE:

Tomorrow on PBS, I sit down with the incredibly talented actress Angela Bassett and film director Antoine Fuqua. The pair's latest collaboration is the movie Olympus Has Fallen, an action thriller that has the White House under siege from terrorists.

In the clip below, Antoine addresses the intense gun violence...

The late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was a tyrant to some, but a hero to others, especially the poor.

My first meeting with Chavez occurred in Venezuela where I had the opportunity to sit with him for a conversation in the presidential palace.

My second one-on-one with Chavez took place...

Tonight I talk with the former chair of the FDIC, Sheila Bair, about the economic crisis we're now facing and just how dire the $85 billion cuts will be for our country.

In the clip below, she tells me how the president needs to find a working center from both...

Nearly 50 years ago, a bomb planted by white supremacists killed four little girls in Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. Twenty-two others, mostly children, were injured in the blast just weeks after the historic "March on Washington" where Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Tonight, I will sit down with comedian George Wallace, who is celebrating his tenth year at The Flamingo Hotel -- the longest run in Las Vegas history for any African American performer!

He's also now the recipient of the Centric Comedy Icon Award from BET's Sister Network,...

Friday, June 29, 1990.

I remember the day like it was yesterday. For days prior I couldn't sleep through the night, anxious with anticipation. Nelson Mandela was coming to Los Angeles, and I was plotting how I could position myself to meet him, shake his hand, hug...

Last Friday afternoon I received a call from Jay Leno asking if I would appear as a guest on The Tonight Show to try to help make some sense of the national tragedy that had happened earlier that day at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. The facts were still...

This Monday, I will sit down with the star of the wildly popular Twilight franchise, actress Kristen Stewart, for a conversation about her next project, On the Road.

In the clip below, I ask Kristen about how she manages fame. Be sure to watch our entire conversation...

Ceiling caving, cliff hanging, walls closing in -- sounds like an Indiana Jones movie. Except this is real life. The real lives of millions of Americans.

First, we hit the debt ceiling. Now we're hanging over the fiscal cliff. Next, the walls start to close in on...

For 20 years now I've been blessed to be in the broadcast business, and I've spent most of that time in public media.

As we are about to commence the 10th anniversary season of Tavis Smiley on PBS, I am humbled and honored to be the first American to have...

This past Sunday on Meet the Press, the presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said the following, "Latinos, women and young people --- that is the new governing coalition."

OUCH.

To be sure, there are Black folk in each of those categories. But since President Obama's victory on Election Day,...

1. "They said Obama was winning!"
2. "I didn't get to the polls, but I did say a prayer for the brotha!"
3. "You know they wasn't gonna let no Black man have no two terms!"
4. "See, what had happened was...."
5. "I couldn't get my outfit together!"
6. "Racism."
7. "I must have caught that...

Americans seem to be in a perpetual state of denial. About our past, our present and our future. A friend of mine teases that even Americans who don't live in a state of denial, tend to be frequent visitors.

What are we in denial about? Most things, but especially the...