BLACK HISTORY MONTH

2015 Program Guide

This February, WETA Television recognizes Black History Month with

special programming that highlights the African-American experience.

Schedule subject to change; visit weta.org for complete listings and

local resources. All programs air on both WETA TV 26 and WETA HD

except when noted.

Sunday, February 1 • 2:30 pm

THE ABOLITIONISTS: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE — A three-part film brings to

life the struggles of the men and women who fought to end slavery in America.

•2:30 pm: 1820s-1838: A look at some of the notable abolitionists

and the rise of violence.

•3:30 pm: 1838-1854: The divide between North and South deepens.

•4:30 pm: 1854-Emancipation: Abraham Lincoln is elected,

war breaks out, and slavery is ultimately banned.

Tuesday, February 3 • 4:00 pm

AN EVENING WITH URSULA BURNS — WITH GWEN IFILL — Taped in front of

a live audience at the New York Times Center and hosted by WETA’s Gwen Ifill,

the program explores the life and career of Ursula Burns, the first African-

American woman to head a Fortune 500 Company — the Xerox Corporation.

Repeats Wed 2/18, 2:00 pm; Sun 2/22, 2:30 am

An Evening with Vernon Jordan with Gwen Ifill. The History Makers/Stephanie Badini

Tuesday, February 3 • 5:00 pm

AN EVENING WITH VALERIE SIMPSON IN HONOR OF NICK ASHFORD —

WITH GWEN IFILL — WETA’s Gwen Ifill interviews Valerie Simpson — who

for more than 40 years wrote hit-making songs with her husband, the

late Nick Ashford. Ashford & Simpson’s classic songs include: “Ain’t No

Mountain High Enough” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.”

Wednesday, February 4 • 1:00 & 3:00 pm

UNFORGIVABLE BLACKNESS: THE RISE AND FALL OF JACK JOHNSON

— Parts 1 & 2 of 2. This Ken Burns film, a co-production of WETA and

Florentine Films, chronicles the life and career of the first African-

American heavyweight champion. Johnson’s dominance over his white

opponents spurred race riots and debates in his time. {DVI}

Repeats Sun 2/8, 1:30 & 3:30 am

Thursday, February 5 • 5:00 pm

AMERICAN MASTERS: CAB CALLOWAY: SKETCHES — A program that

focuses on the life of the pioneering jazz legend who charmed

audiences with his bravado and showmanship. A singer, dancer and

bandleader, Cab Calloway led one of the most popular African-American

big bands during the jazz and swing eras of the 1930s-40s.

Repeats Tue 2/17, 5:00 pm

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. Chicago Historical Society; American

Masters: Cab Calloway: Sketches. Courtesy of Cab Calloway,1943, The Strand, New York, NY

Sunday, February 8 • 12:00 am

INDEPENDENT LENS: THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 —

A film takes a cinematic and musical journey into the black communities

of America from 1967-1975. Combining candid 16mm footage with

contemporary audio interviews from leading African-American artists,

activists, musicians and scholars, the film looks at the people, society,

culture and style that fueled an era of convulsive change.

Sunday, February 8 • 3:30 pm

AN EVENING WITH GWEN IFILL — A special program features a one-on-

one interview with WETA’s Gwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and co-anchor and co-managing editor

of PBS NewsHour. Taped at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.,

the program offers an insider’s perspective into Ifill’s childhood and

development as a print and television correspondent.

Sunday, February 8 • 4:30 pm

AN EVENING WITH VERNON JORDAN — WITH GWEN IFILL — WETA’s Gwen

Ifill interviews the iconic civic and business leader before a live audience.

Appearing on the program are award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-

Gault, Kenneth Chenault, CEO of American Express, and Ursula Burns,

CEO of the Xerox Corporation. Repeats Thurs 2/12, 5:00 pm

Freedom Riders: American Experience. The Nashville Tennessean;

Slavery by Another Name. Library of Congress

Tuesday, February 10 • 3:30 pm

SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME — Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book

by Wall Street Journal senior writer Douglas A. Blackmon, this documentary

explores the little-known story of the post-Emancipation era labor laws and

practices that effectively created a new form of slavery in the South that

persisted into the 20th century. Repeats Sun 2/15, 12:30 am

Wednesday, February 11 • 1:00 pm

BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA — Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

explores the African influence on six Latin American countries and cultures.

•1:00 pm: Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided

•2:00 pm: Cuba: The Next Revolution

•3:00 pm: Brazil: A Racial Paradise?

•4:00 pm: Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet

Repeats Sun 2/15, 2:00 am

Thursday, February 12 • 4:00 pm

AN EVENING WITH BERRY GORDY — WITH GWEN IFILL — WETA’s Gwen

Ifill interviews Berry Gordy, founder in 1959 of Motown Records, which

became the most successful African American-owned enterprise in the

nation. Repeats Wed 2/18, 1:00 pm; Sun 2/22, 3:30 am

Black in Latin America. Courtesy Jemila Twinch

Sunday, February 15 • 3:30 pm

INDEPENDENT LENS: THE POWERBROKER: WHITNEY YOUNG’S FIGHT

FOR CIVIL RIGHTS — A film profiles Whitney M. Young, Jr., one of the most

celebrated and controversial leaders of the civil rights era, following his

journey from segregated Kentucky to head of the National Urban League.

Sunday, February 15 • 4:30 pm

THE MARCH — A documentary spotlights the August 1963 March on

Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his stirring “I Have a

Dream” speech. The film reveals the dramatic story behind the peaceful

event through the memories of March leaders, historians, journalists

and authors. Denzel Washington narrates. Repeats Thur 2/19, 5:00 pm;

Sun 2/22, 4:30 am

Monday, February 16 • 10:00 pm

INDEPENDENT LENS: THROUGH A LENS DARKLY: BLACK PHOTOGRAPHERS

AND THE EMERGENCE OF A PEOPLE — A documentary spotlights the

story of the pioneering African-American photographers — men and

women, celebrated and anonymous — who have recorded the lives

and aspirations of generations, from slavery to the present. {DVI}

Repeats Tue 2/17, 3:30 pm; Wed 2/25, 1:00 pm

The March. Courtesy of NARA/Smoking Dogs Films.

Friday, February 20 • 9:30 pm

AMERICAN MASTERS: AUGUST WILSON: THE GROUND ON WHICH

I STAND — A biographical film captures the legacy of the man some

call America’s Shakespeare from his roots as an activist and poet to

his indelible mark on Broadway. It chronicles Wilson’s triumphs and

struggles along the path to such seminal works as Ma Rainey’s

Black Bottom; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone; Two Trains Running;

and the Pulitzer Prize-winning works Fences and The Piano Lesson.

Repeats Sun 2/22, 1:00 am; Tue 2/24, 4:30 pm

Sunday, February 22 • 12:00 am

THE BLACK KUNGFU EXPERIENCE — A documentary introduces

kungfu’s African-American pioneers, including Ron Van Clief, who

earned the nickname “Black Dragon” from Bruce Lee. These men

challenged convention by mastering the ancient martial art, which

resonated in black communities across the United States.

Sunday, February 22 • 3:00 pm

Sunday, February 22 • 3 pm

FREEDOM RIDERS: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE — From May until

November 1961, more than 400 Americans, black and white, risked

their lives — and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment —

traveling together on buses and trains through the Deep South in a

challenge to segregation during the Civil Rights Era. {DVI}

INDEPENDENT LENS: American Denial. Courtesy of Gordon Parks

Monday, February 23 • 10:00 pm

INDEPENDENT LENS: AMERICAN DENIAL — A film uses the story of

Gunnar Myrdal’s 1944 investigation of Jim Crow racism as a spring-

board to explore the power of unconscious biases and how the ideals

of liberty, equality and justice still affect notions of race and class today.

{DVI} Repeats Wed 2/25, 2:30 am

Thursday, February 26 • 8:00 pm

MOTOWN 25: YESTERDAY, TODAY, FOREVER

A 1983 salute to the company on its silver anniversary reunites

the Jackson 5, Diana Ross and the Supremes (Cindy Birdsong and Mary

Wilson), the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

and the Temptations. Also appearing: Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie,

Martha Reeves, Mary Wells, Richard Pryor, Dick Clark, Howard

Hesseman and Tim Reid. Repeats 10:00 pm; Sat 2/28, 4:00 am

INDEPENDENT LENS.Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People.

Courtesy of Library of Congress.

On the cover: The Abolitionists: American Experience.

Credit The New-York Historical Society

WETA TV 26: Via antenna: 26.4 • Comcast: 26, 92 • Cox: 26, 802 • Verizon FiOS: 26, 471

RCN: 26 • DISH Network: 8076

WETA HD: Via antenna: 26.1 • Comcast: 220 (D.C.), 219 (Baltimore) • DirecTV: 26, 26-1

Cox: 1026 (Fairfax), 1003 (Fredericksburg) • Verizon FiOS: 526 • RCN: 613

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