• Listen to this segment with Grace Lee

• Listen to the entire program with Sonali Kolhatkar

It is a curious fact that one of the most radical living black power figures in the US today is a 98 year old Chinese American woman named Grace Lee Boggs. A new documentary called American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, explores 7 decades of activism and critical thinking on progressive social justice issues set specifically in Detroit, where Boggs has lived for most of her life.

A Marxist with a thick FBI file, Grace Lee Boggs was married for years to James Boggs, a African American radical. They wrote books together, including Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century. The Boggs’ became a fixture in various movements for change.

Today, at nearly 99, Grace Lee Boggs continues to remain active, writing and lecturing. Her latest book, published in 2011 is called The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century.

The film about her is made by her coincidental namesake, Grace Lee. American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs has been showing at the Laemmle Theaters in Pasadena since June 20th but also makes it television debut on PBS on June 30th, as part of the critically acclaimed POV series.

GUEST: Grace Lee, film maker, director and writer of American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, and the Grace Lee Project