Black History Month Programming 2005

[CrimsonTide4]

Slavery and the Making of America (PBS): Premieres 2.9.05 and will be narrated by Morgan Freeman.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/index.html
This is a 4 part series

Episode 1: Episode one opens in the 1620s with the introduction of 11 men of African descent and mixed ethnicity into slavery in New Amsterdam. Working side by side with white indentured servants, these men labored to lay the foundations of the Dutch colony that would later become New York. There were no laws defining the limitations imposed on slaves at this point in time. Enslaved people, such as Anthony d'Angola, Emmanuel Driggus, and Frances Driggus could bring suits to court, earn wages, and marry. But in the span of a hundred years, everything changed. By the early 18th century, the trade of African slaves in America was expanding to accommodate an agricultural economy growing in the hands of ambitious planters. After the 1731 Stono Rebellion (a violent uprising led by a slave named Jemmy) many colonies adopted strict "black codes" transforming the social system into one of legal racial oppression.

Episode 2: From the 1740s to the 1830s, the institution of slavery continued to support economic development. As the slave population reproduced, American planters became less dependent on the African slave trade. Ensuing generations of slaves developed a unique culture that blended elements of African and American life. Episode two follows the paths of several African Americans, including Thomas Jefferson's slave Jupiter, Colonel Tye, Elizabeth Freeman, David Walker, and Maria Stewart, as they respond to the increasingly restrictive system of slavery. At the core of this episode is the Revolutionary War, an event which reveals the contradictions of a nation seeking independence while simultaneously denying freedom to its black citizens.

Episode 3: One by one the Northern states, led by Vermont in 1777, adopted laws to abolish and phase out slavery. Simultaneously, slavery in the Southern United States entered the period of its greatest expansion. Episode three, which starts at the beginning of the 1800s, examines slavery's increasing divisiveness in America as the nation develops westward and cotton replaces tobacco as the country's most valuable crop. The episode weaves national events through the personal histories of two African American slaves -- Harriet Jacobs and Louis Hughes -- who not only managed to escape bondage, but also exposed the horrific realities of the slave experience in autobiographical narratives. These and other stories of physical, psychological, and sexual exploitation fed the fires of a reinvigorated abolitionist movement. With a diverse membership comprised of men and women, blacks and whites, and led by figures including Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Amy Post, abolitionist sentiment gathered strength in the North, contributing to the widening fissure and imminent break-up of the nation.

Episode 4: Episode four looks at Civil War and Reconstruction through the experiences of South Carolina slave Robert Smalls. It chronicles Smalls' daring escape to freedom, his military service, and his tenure as a congressman after the war. As the events of Smalls' life unfold, the complexities of this period in American history are revealed. The episode shows the transformation of the war from a struggle for union to a battle over slavery. It examines the black contribution to the war effort and traces the gains and losses of newly freed African Americans during Reconstruction. The 13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865, the 14th and 15th amendments guaranteed black civil rights, and the Freedmen's Bureau offered aid to former slaves throughout the 1870s. Yet simultaneously, the formation of militant groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan threatened the future of racial equality and segregation laws began to appear across the country. Slavery's eradication had not brought an end to black oppression.


You can go to the website and preview each episode as well.

More to come PLEASE SHARE if you know of other Black History month programming.

[Ten/Four]

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise And Fall of Jack Johnson
Directed by Ken Burns
Premires Jan. 17 & 18 (Check local listings) on PBS
www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/

Johnson — the first African-American Heavyweight Champion of the World, whose dominance over his white opponents spurred furious debates and race riots in the early 20th century — enters the ring once again in January 2005 when PBS airs Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, a provocative new PBS documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. The two-part film airs on PBS Monday-Tuesday January 17-18, 2005, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings).

[CrimsonTide4]

Sorors & Fraters,

I am very pleased to share with you some GOOD NEWS!!! Westchester Alumnae Chapter's Melanie Williams-Oram is being recognized once again for her short film "Shook". Melanie is a long time resident of Greenburgh and is known by many of you on the Council. Some of you also had the opportunity to screen her film about HIV/AIDS during Westchester Alumnae's May Week 2004 activities. Well apparently, the folks at Showtime Network think that if its good enough for Delta it is definitely good enough for them "Shook" has been selected to air as part of the Showtime Black Filmmaker Showcase!!!!!!

Here are the airdates:

Showtime on Tues. 2/1 @ 10PM
Showtime Too on Wed. 2/2 @ 9PM
Showcase on Thurs. 2/3 @ 8PM

You can find out additional time by going to www.sho.com and typing in SHOOK or by typing The Black Filmmaker Showcase. The times above reflect when they're going to air all of the films in the Black Filmmaker Showcase but there will be times when they just show SHOOK as well. SHOOK is in the number 3 spot when they air all of the Black Filmmaker Showcase participants of 2005. Also, look for an interview of Soror Williams-Oram and intro when they air the film as part of the Showcase line-up.

SHOOK is a finalist in the Black Filmmaker Showcase and it will air exclusively on Showtime for the next 2 years and then non- execlusiviely for the next 8 years.

[btb87]

I am proud to say that a few shows will feature a current student of my Alma Mater, North Carolina A & T State University (AGGIE PRIDE!!) and historical former students.

The first show is CBS Late Late Show on January 31/February 1, and 76 year-old freshman Christine Barrett will appear on the show. The show airs at 12:35 ET.

Next, Tavis Smiley will interview the remaining members of The Greensboro Four. In addition, there will be a feature story on The Greensboro Four on PBS on Tuesday, February 1.

*Just wanted to add: When hubby, Soror and I stood by this statue last year, we just stood and looked in awe. No words were necessary. So much history that I bet many of the young folks don't know about.*

[skeeliteful]

I saw the commercial for this today

Black in the 80's-Vh1

Part I: Color TV--This hour explores African American influence on television broadcasting during the 1980's. At the onset of the decade, African American roles on TV were limited to specific character types like the friendly maid, the cute black kid, and the strange and unusual like Mr. T. As the decade progressed, with help from the hip-hop explosion, an audience emerged craving black culture. Names like Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Arsenio Hall, Bryant Gumbel, BET and YO MTV RAPS were there to fill the void, and permanently change the face and color of television.


Part II: Def JamsDef Jams - Black music experienced nothing less than a renaissance in the 1980's. From the unmitigated success of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to the rise of a new generation of Black pop stars like Whitney, Tina, Lionel, and Janet, to the ascendancy of rap and hip hop culture; the 1980's was a decade where black musicians reinvented themselves, took advantage of MTV's new avenues of exposure and made inroads into mainstream white culture like never before. This hour explores the evolution of black music in the 1980's by examining the biggest developments of the decade, and asks in the end what was sold, who was buying, and where does that leave it all today.


Part III: Color on FilmColor In Film - On the heels of the 70's Blaxploitation era, major studios continued to give a limited view of African-American life through film. This hour will examine if these roles/movies transcended or perpetuated existing stereotypes, spoke to a generation, kept us laughing or ignited some to take the black cinema experience into their own hands-by any means necessary. We will celebrate the triumphs of African Americans who contributed to the magic of cinema in the 80's.


Series starts, Tuesday, February 1, 2005 @ 9:00 on Vh1

[CrimsonTide4]

http://www.historychannel.com/blackh...?page=schedule



Black History Month TV Schedule

February 5
7pm ET/PT
Black Preachers
Over the course of American history, black preachers have united their people, incited them, and propelled them forward. Above all, they’ve raised up their voices and lifted their hopes and dreams. This one-hour documentary examines the influence of these men of the cloth and how their roles have changed over two centuries. Part spiritual advisors and part community activists, America’s black preachers represent a rich chorus of voices at the heart and soul of the black experience. Their mission is complex and sometimes contradictory—to battle oppression while preserving peace, to destroy prejudice while celebrating race, and to uphold tradition while fomenting change.

BLACK PREACHERS looks at the efforts of slave preacher John Jasper, the social and economic justice preached by Father Devine, Fred Shuttlesworth and Jesse Jackson, and the multi-million dollar messages now marketed in mega-churches run by the likes of Eddie Long. It features interviews with prominent black ministers including Jesse Jackson, Fred Shuttlesworth, Eddie Long, and Calvin Butts, as well as reenactments of famous preachers and their sermons.

February 12
7pm ET/PT
Conspiracy?: Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr.?
On April 4, 1968, a sniper gunned down Martin Luther King Jr. as he stood on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. Charges of cover-ups and government complicity were heard almost immediately--suspicions that haven't waned with time. Several versions have passed for the "truth" of King's assassination--from the "official" story in '68 with small-time criminal James Earl Ray as lone assassin; Ray's later assertion that he was framed by "Raul", the true killer; to the '78 House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) report that claimed Ray acted on behalf of a conspiracy. And there's a theory that federal government agencies were out to get King--and they had greater motivation to do so than James Earl Ray. We revisit the murder--one of the least explicable of the assassinations that rocked the '60s.

8pm ET/PT
Save Our History: Voices of Civil Rights
SAVE OUR HISTORY: VOICES OF CIVIL RIGHTS is a program about one of the defining moments in America’s history – the Civil Rights Movement – told through the small, powerful, personal stories of men, women and children who lived through it. In this SAVE OUR HISTORY special, ordinary people with extraordinary stories share their memories of the civil rights era: how they first discovered that they were treated differently because of their color, their first small acts of defiance, why some moved from quiet anger to public action, the triumphs, regrets, stands taken and sacrifices made in the process.

AARP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the Library of Congress co-sponsored a nationwide bus tour of 35 cities around the country in 2004, to collect firsthand accounts of the Civil Rights Movement. The tour was part of the Voices of Civil Rights project, a multifaceted effort to build the world's largest archive of civil rights stories for placement in the Library of Congress. Journalists, photographers, and volunteers were on board to help collect visitors' stories. The History Channel recorded several hundred interviews with these eyewitnesses to history.

February 15
10 pm ET/PT
Modern Marvels: George Washington Carver Tech
George Washington Carver was a visionary who shared his knowledge with the world free of charge. At the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he invented more than three hundred uses for the peanut, including synthetic marble, shoe polish, peanut soap, butter, shaving cream, and soil conditioner. He built his laboratory from scratch, and became one of the most respected and honored men in the world. Men like the Prince of Wales and Joseph Stalin consulted him on their agricultural problems, and Thomas Edison offered him a hefty salary to come and work with him. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER TECH looks at contemporary applications of Carver’s ideas – from soy plastics to peanut butter, soy inks to bio-diesel fuel.

[Lady of Pearl]

There will also be a documentary of Shirley Chisholm on PBS tomorrow, Monday February 6th at 10:00 EST. She has always been a role model for me as she was a former Teacher and achieved success as a Politician- not to mention the first African American woman to run for President, I almost want my students to stay up to watch this but since they're in fifth grade I wonder if it will be past their bedtime!

[Ten/Four]

airing on HBO: http://www.hbo.com/films/lackawannab...ategory4_show0 (click full schedule to see times).

I thought someone mentioned this movie already, but if not:


Based on the acclaimed autobiographical one-man show by Ruben Santiago-Hudson (who wrote the adaptation and appears in the film), and co-executive produced by the Oscar®-winning actress Halle Berry, this warm and vibrant drama is an inspiring story of coming of age, of a mother/son love that transcends biological ties, and of an extraordinary woman who built a community and circumvented segregation in her own determined way. Like a good blues song, the film strikes notes that are painful but beautiful, ones that remain alive to both the heartbreaks and joys of life.

Lackawanna Blues pays homage to an era gone by, taking an affectionate look at the ties that bind an African-American community in the period just before desegregation. The drama takes place primarily as a flashback to Santiago-Hudson's childhood, starting with his birth in the upstate NY town of Lackawanna during a raucous Friday-night fish fry hosted by Rachel "Nanny" Crosby (S. Epatha Merkerson). As a boy in the 1950s and 60s, with his parents unable to take care of him, Ruben Jr. is essentially adopted by Nanny, proprietor of a rooming house and mentor to countless down-on-their luck blacks who moved there from Nanny's hometown in Virginia. Nanny's place is not just walls and a roof, but a home where misfits and drifters can escape their personal hells to find a fresh start and a family. Against this background, Jr. receives an education in life from a diverse and colorful group of boarders. However, his biggest bond will always be with Nanny, in a relationship that nobody, not even a pair of zealous social workers, can tear asunder.