Dr. Rogers’ presentation discussed his two visits with the late Robert Owens, (a brilliant African-American pianist and composer who moved to Germany due to his intolerance for racism in America) Robert Owens admired the poems of African- American poet Langston Hughes. Their two lives paralleled because they both were children of well educated African- Americans who were unsuccessful in securing and maintaining jobs due to race. Both Owens and Hughes experienced these problems as well. Robert Owens set the poems to music in his song cycles listed on the program.