Ellis Cose, columnist and contributing editor at Newsweek, is also a radio documentary producer of the series "Against the Odds," which tells the stories of people who have succeeded despite overwhelming circumstances. Mr. Cose talked about his years of writing about race, and about some of the stories profiled in his radio documentary programs. Prior to joining Newsweek in 1993, Mr. Cose was the chairman of the editorial board at the New York Daily News. At age 19, he became the youngest editorial page columnist ever to write for a major daily newspaper when he began a weekly column for the Chicago Sun-Times. Over the course of his career, he has also written for the Detroit Free Press, Time, and USA Today.