Recent graduates of Morgan State University, Maryland. Taken from Independent Lens "Tell Them We Are Rising." (Courtesy of Morgan State University) (Courtesy of Morgan State University)
KQED proudly celebrates the diversity of our community with a special Black History Month programming lineup in February on KQED Public Television.
KQED will also offer a selection of Black History Month programs on Comcast XFINITY On Demand, including Lorraine Hansberry: American Masters, John Lewis – Get in the Way, Truly CA, Film School Shorts and The Fillmore. On your Video on Demand menu, choose “Get Local” and look for the KQED Black History folder starting February 1.
Premiere dates are listed below. Please click on each program for additional airdates and information.
Winnie Mandela during her trial in Johannesburg for the murder of child activist Stompie Sepei (1992). (Courtesy of Greg Marinovich/South Photos/Africa Media Online)
Explore the life of Winnie Mandela and her decades-long struggle to bring down apartheid from the inside.
Friday, 2/9
10pm Fats Domino: American Masters Discover how Fats Domino's brand of New Orleans rhythm and blues became rock 'n' roll.
Saturday, 2/10
6pm Fats Domino – Walkin’ Back to New Orleans This special chronicles music legend Fats Domino's triumphant return to the stage after Hurricane Katrina devastated his New Orleans hometown. It includes rare interviews with Domino, Robert Plant, Randy Newman and others.
Friday, 2/16
8pm We Are Superman This documentary reveals the story of Troost Avenue, which draws a geographic line between black and white, rich and poor, in the heart of a city that’s suffered from hyper-segregation for over 60 years – Kansas City.
9pm Maya Angelou: American Masters Journey through the prolific life of the I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings author and activist who inspired generations with lyrical modern African-American thought.
Sunday, 2/18
6pm Our American Family: The Clarks This program traces the lives of the Clarks, an African-American family with seven children, as they employ humor, resourcefulness and respect all through the Depression and WWII.
Tuesday, 2/20
8pm We’ll Meet Again: Freedom Summer (NEW) Join Ann Curry for the dramatic reunions of people who lost touch after the civil rights movement.
Friday, 2/23
9pm B.B. King: American Masters Explore B.B. King's challenging life and career through candid interviews with the “King of Blues” filmed shortly before his death, and fellow music stars, including Bono, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana and more.
Wednesday, 2/28
4pm History Detectives #708 A Lynchburg, South Carolina, woman has a scrapbook of handwritten letters sent to her great-great-grandmother, a freed slave who lived in South Carolina. She pieces together a tale of slaves adapting to freedom.
KQED Plus
Friday, 2/2
10am African American Museum This film reveals what went into creating the space that some are calling a gift to the country and a dream come true, presenting the details, ingenuity, and the history surrounding the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Sunday, 2/4
3:30pmKaramu: 100 Years in the House (NEW) Narrated by James Pickens, Jr., this documentary tells the story of the oldest African American performing arts theater in America.
5pm Boy Scouts of Harlem 759 This film is a gentle exploration of how the Boy Scouts — along with two weeks at a magnificent summer scout camp — can change a group of boys from Harlem into young men.
6pm In Their Own Words: Muhammad Ali Follow Muhammad Ali's path from a gym in Louisville to boxing successes, conversion to Islam, Parkinson's disease and his inspirational re-emergence at the Atlanta Olympics.
5pm The March This documentary examines the 1963 March on Washington, its history and how it almost didn’t take place.
6pmStand! Untold Stories of the Civil Rights Movement (NEW) Witness the key events which led to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), selecting Birmingham, Alabama as the site for the now famous 'Project C' (Project Confrontation) in 1963.
Jamany showing his dance moves (F R E E). (F R E E)
Follow five Oakland teens through a transformative year in Destiny Arts, a performing arts company.
Monday, 2/12
10am Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race This documentary tells the story of the politics of race, and complexities of coalitions in a changing America through the narrative of Tom Bradley's 1973 election as mayor of Los Angeles — the first African American mayor of a major US city with an overwhelmingly white majority.
Monday, 2/19
10am 1964: The Fight for a Right This documentary chronicles the struggles of African Americans in 1960s Mississippi fighting for the right to vote and explores the budding civil rights movement in the American South.
Wednesday, 2/21
3pm Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band This program examines Mary Lou Williams' life and career, and her enduring legacy. In telling her story, the film follows the trajectory of jazz through the lens of a pioneering African-American female instrumentalist.
Sunday, 2/25
11:30pm Sun Studios Sessions: Hope Clayburn’s Soul Scrimmage Memphis-based Hope Clayburn fuses jazz, funk, rock, world beat and soul to create a unique and upbeat Memphis sound. Hear Hope and her band, Soul Scrimmage perform songs like "Snake", "Don't Wanna Think About It" and "Nobody."
Monday, 2/26
10am Mr. Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP This program incorporates rare archival film and extraordinary interviews to explore Marshall's life in the years leading up to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling.
Tuesday, 2/27
10am Finding Your Roots: We Come From People Trace three guests' roots into the heart of slavery, revealing that there is no singular narrative and challenging preconceptions of an era that profoundly shaped our nation's sense of itself. This episodes features Nas, Angela Bassett and Valerie Jarrett.
KQED WORLD
Friday, 2/2
3pm John Lewis – Get in the Way Follow the journey of civil rights hero, congressman and human rights champion John Lewis who, now 76, is considered the conscience of Congress.
8pm Colored Frames This documentary is a reflection on the last 50 years in African-American art, exploring the influences, inspirations and experiences of black artists.
Wednesday, 2/7
4pm Independent Lens: Through a Lens Darkly This is 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.
Saturday, 2/10
3pm Finding Your Roots: Decoding Our Past DNA is used to delve deeper into the families of guests including Deval Patrick, the first African-American governor of Massachusetts, and even host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. himself.
4pm Finding Your Roots: In Search of Freedom Learn how the ancestors of cultural trailblazers Maya Rudolph, Shonda Rhimes and Keenen Ivory Wayans struggled for freedom.
5pm Independent Lens: A Ballerina’s Tale Explore the rise of Misty Copeland, who made history as the first African-American female principal dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theater.
3pm Finding Your Roots: The Vanguard Author Ta-Nehisi Coates, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, and author and activist Janet Mock see their basic assumptions about their families challenged, placing their ancestors — of all colors — into the greater context of black history.
Independent Lens "Birth of a Movement" (Courtesy of Birth of a Movement, Northern Light Productions 2016)
Learn how D.W. Griffith's 1915 The Birth of a Nation unleashed a battle still waging today about race relations and representation, and the power and influence of Hollywood.
Wednesday, 2/21
4pm Slavery By Another Name Spanning eight decades, this documentary challenges one of America's most cherished assumptions: the belief that slavery in this country ended with Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.
Sunday, 2/25
7pm Independent Lens: Accidental Courtesy Meet African-American musician Daryl Davis, who has a peculiar passion — meeting and befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan in an attempt to change their minds and forge racial conciliation.
8:30pm Unlikely Friendship This program chronicles a surprising friendship that emerged between an embittered Ku Klux Klan leader and an outspoken black activist.
KQED 9 is available over the air on DT9.1, 54.2 and 25.1 and via most cable systems on Channel 9. It is on XFINITY cable from Comcast (Channels 9 SD and 709 HD) and on Wave (Channels 9 SD and 164 HD). It can also be found on DIRECTV and DISH satellite systems (Channels 9 SD and HD).
KQED Plus is available over the air on Channels 54, DT54.1, 9.2 and 25.2, and via many cable and satellite systems on either channel 10 or 54. It is on XFINITY cable from Comcast (Channels 10 SD, and 710 HD) and on DIRECTV (Channel 54 SD and HD) and DISH (Channel 54, SD only) satellite systems.
This schedule also lists programs airing on KQED World (XFINITY 190, Channel 9.3 & 54.5).
