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How an illiterate teenager succeeded where lawyers and celebrities had failed.

We fast forward to 1981, to find how a 15-year-old illiterate boy named Lesra Martin succeeded where top lawyers and celebrities like Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan had failed. Lesra, a kid from the New York ghettos, learned to read thanks to Rubin Carter’s autobiography. It inspired him to help free Carter, who by now had been behind bars for 15 years.

Presented by Steve Crossman and produced by Steve Crossman and Joel Hammer for BBC World Service.

18 minutes

Last on

Mon 27 Jan 202002:32GMT
BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

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  • Sun 10 Mar 201902:32GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Sun 10 Mar 201922:32GMT
    BBC World Service
  • Sat 25 Jan 202005:32GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & South Asia
  • Sat 25 Jan 202011:32GMT
    BBC World Service except Australasia
  • Sat 25 Jan 202018:32GMT
    BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
  • Sun 26 Jan 202011:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia
  • Sun 26 Jan 202022:32GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
  • Mon 27 Jan 202000:32GMT
    BBC World Service South Asia
  • Mon 27 Jan 202002:32GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa