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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC -- a program in VOA Special Englishabout music and American life. And we answer your questions.

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This is Doug Johnson.

This week, we answer a question about an American hero from thetime of slavery. And we have music by Lenny Kravitz -- the singer isnominated this year for another Grammy Award.

But first, we kick off our show with a dispute that a lot ofAmerican sports fans are talking about.

BCS Controversy

HOST:

The Super Bowl in the NationalFootball League is February first. The two teams that do the bestthis season will meet in Houston to decide the champion of theN-F-L. College football has tried to develop a championship systemlike the professionals have. This effort, however, has run intoproblems. Shep O'Neal explains.

ANNCR:

College football teams in the United States end their season inNovember, then play championship games. One of the most famous isplayed in the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, on NewYear's Day. Another is the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. Stillanother is the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana.

For years, the teams that played in "bowl" games were thechampions of groups of universities. These groups are calledconferences. For example, the two teams in the Rose Bowl are thebest from the Big Ten and the "Pac Ten" schools. The Big Tenconference is in the middle of the country. The Pacific Tenconference is in the far west. But bowl games have grown over theyears. There is a lot of money to be made from broadcasting footballgames on television. This time there were twenty-eight bowl games.

In the nineteen-nineties, football fans demanded that the finalbowl games be played to decide a national champion of collegefootball. So bowl officials ended up with the Bowl ChampionshipSeries. In this system, experts and computers decide which top teamsplay in which games. The idea is to have the two teams considered tobe the strongest in the nation play for the national championship.

This year, the Sugar Bowl was the national championship game.Louisiana State University won. But, in the media, and in publicopinion, L-S-U split the championship with the University ofSouthern California. That highly rated team won the Rose Bowl.

A lot of people say another game should be played to decide thenational champion. Others say it will hurt the student athletes toextend the football season. The Gateway computer company evenoffered thirty-million dollars in scholarship money for a gamebetween L-S-U and Southern California. But national college athleticofficials rejected the idea.

Bowl Championship Series officials say they hope to avoiddisagreements in the future. They plan to change the computer systemso that it weighs the opinions of the humans more than it does now.

Harriet Tubman

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Akwa Ibom State,in Nigeria. Samuel Bassey asks who was Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman was anAfrican-American woman who fought slavery and oppression. Storiesabout her say she was born in eighteen-twenty. No one really knows.

We do know that Harriet Tubman helped many people escape fromslavery through the Underground Railroad. This was a transportationsystem, but not in the traditional sense. It was an organized effortby people to help slaves from the Southern states get to areas thatbanned slavery.

Her parents belonged to a farmer in Maryland. Slaves lived withthe fear that they could be sold at any time. Families often wereseparated.

Harriet married a free black man named John Tubman ineighteen-forty-four. Yet she remained a slave. She decided toescape. In eighteen-forty-nine, the farmer who owned her and herfamily died. Harriet Tubman heard that she was to be soldimmediately. She ran to the home of a white woman who had offered tohelp.

This woman told her how to reach another home where she couldhide. Harriet Tubman went from place to place this way. Each placewas a little closer to the northern states where slavery wasillegal. This is how the Underground Railroad operated. Finally, shecrossed the border into the northern state of Pennsylvania.

But Harriet Tubman did not forget the slaves in Maryland. Duringthe next ten years, she led a much expanded Underground Railroad.She freed her parents and other family members. She traveled backand forth eighteen times. She helped three-hundred slaves escape.

Harriet Tubman found another way to fight slavery after the CivilWar began in eighteen-sixty-one. She went into the Southern statesto spy for the North. She also helped people as a nurse.

After the North won the Civil War, Harriet Tubman settled in NewYork state. She traveled and gave speeches to raise money for bettereducation for black Americans. She also worked for women's rightsand improved housing. And, she sought help for older adults who hadbeen slaves.

Harriet Tubman died in nineteen-thirteen. By that time, she wasrecognized as an American hero.

Lenny Kravitz

HOST:

The American music industry willpresent its Grammy Awards on February eighth in Los Angeles. ShirleyGriffith tells about one of the nominees this year for best malerock vocal performance.

ANNCR:

Lenny Kravitz was born in New York City in nineteen-sixty-four.He comes from a show business family: His father was a televisionproducer; his mother, an actress. He taught himself to play thepiano, bass and drums as a child. Lenny Kravitz also writes a lot ofhis own songs. You might remember this one fromnineteen-ninety-eight, which earned him a Grammy.

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The song is "Fly Away." It was on the fifth album Lenny Kravitzrecorded; the album is called "Five." A song included on "Five" as abonus track also won a Grammy. It was used in an "Austin Powers"movie: his version of "American Woman."

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The newest album from Lenny Kravitz is called "Lenny." Itcontains the song that earned him a Grammy nomination this year. Weleave you with "If I Could Fall in Love."

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HOST:

This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join usagain next week for VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

And remember to send your questions about American life tomosaic@voanews.com. Be sure to include your name and mailingaddress. If we use your question, we'll send you a gift. Our postaladdress is American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C.,two-zero-two-three-seven, USA.

This program was written by Nancy Steinbach and Jerilyn Watson.Paul Thompson was the producer. And our engineer was Andreus Regis.