DPTV Honors Black History Month with Programming Throughout February

Detroit Public Television is proud to celebrate Black History this February and all year round!  In 2018, we celebrated 50 years of American Black Journal, the longest-running program dedicated to the African-American experience on any public broadcast station. We continue this celebration into 2019 with our American Black Journal 50th Celebration on February 21st. Along with this historic anniversary, we honor African-Americans in the arts, history, and civil rights through special programming this February on DPTV:

• Independent Lens: A Ballerina’s Tale – Wednesday, Feb 6^th at 9am.  Few dancers make it to the highest levels of classical ballet; of that already small number only a fraction of them are black women. Misty Copeland pulled herself up the ladder at American Ballet Theater from studio company to featured soloist.
• Colored Frames  – Wednesday, Feb. 6^th at 10am. Colored Frames reflects on the last 50 years in African-American art by exploring the influences, inspirations and experiences of black artists. Beginning at the height of the Civil Rights Era and leading up to the present, it provides a truthful, unflinching look at often-ignored artists and their progeny.
• We Knew What We Had: The Greatest Jazz Story Never Told  – Wednesday, Feb. 6^th at 11am. We Knew What We Had: The Greatest Jazz Story Never Told chronicles the unrecognized history of jazz in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The hour-long documentary features the talents of international jazz legends George Benson, Ahmad Jamal, Stanley Turrentine, Billy Eckstine, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, Billy Strayhorn and Mary Lou Williams—all Pittsburghers. Using archival footage and photos, it also sheds light on the social conditions and historical events that conspired to make Pittsburgh one of the world’s leading contributors to the legacy of jazz music
• The Education of Harvey Gantt  – Wednesday, Feb. 6^th at 6pm. Narrated by Tony-winning actor Phylicia Rashad, THE EDUCATION OF HARVEY GANTT tells this pivotal, yet largely forgotten, story of desegregation. Interviews with Gantt, distinguished scholars and civil rights veterans, and archival footage and reenactment illuminate the events leading up to Gantt’s enrollment, the unfolding of entrance day and the impact of Clemson’s integration on the state and the nation.
• Independent Lens: Tell Them We are Rising; The Story of Black Colleges and Universities  – Wednesday, Feb. 6^th at 6:30pm. Though much of its history was eclipsed by the explosiveness of the 1960s, the essential role the nation’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) played in shaping black life, creating a black middle class and dismantling segregation cannot be overstated.
• Independent Lens: Black Memorabilia  – Wednesday, Feb. 6^th at 8pm. Explores the world of racist material, both antique and newly produced, that propagate demeaning representations of African Americans. From industrial China to the rural South to Brooklyn, the film shines a light on those who reproduce, consume and reclaim racially-charged items, from banks to Mammy kitchenware, confederate flags, Nazi insignia and other ephemera.
• Black Women in Medicine  – Thursday, Feb. 7^th at 6pm. Black Women in Medicine honors black female doctors around the country who work diligently in all facets of medicine. Through first-hand accounts from a cross-selection of black female pioneers in medicine and healthcare—including Dr. Claudia Thomas, the first black woman orthopedic surgeon and Dr. Jocelyn Elders, the first black woman to hold the position of United States Surgeon General—the program details the challenges these women have experienced and continue to face today in their drive to practice medicine.
• Africa’s Great Civilizations: Empires of Gold; Cities  – Thursday, Feb. 7^th at 9pm. Complex trade networks and advanced educational institutions transform north and West Africa; Africa’s ancient cities such as Kilwa, Great Zimbabwe and Benin City, attract new European interest.
• Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story – Friday, Feb. 8^th at 10pm. Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story explores the extraordinary life of a man who, in his heart, was a poet and “mystic.” Yet through his religious expression, Thurman helped ignite sweeping social change. Though he was born the grandson of slaves, Howard Thurman went on to become one of the great spiritual and religious pioneers of the 20th century whose words and influence continues to echo today.
• Live From Lincoln Center: Pipeline – Friday, Feb. 8^th at 10pm. Alicia Keys performs in Harlem’s Apollo and other notable locations all around New York City.
• Africa’s Great Civilizations- The Atlantic Age;Commerce and the Clash of Civilizations– Thursday, Feb. 14^th 9pm.The impact of the Atlantic trading world; revolutionary movements of the 18th and early 19th centuries; 19th-century Africa and uncolonized Ethiopia.
• Breaking Big: Lee Daniels– Tuesday, Feb. 18^th at 11:3opm. Director and producer Lee Daniels conquers both the independent and mainstream sides of Hollywood.
• American Masters: Sammy Davis Jr; I’ve Gotta be Me – Tuesday, Feb. 19^that 9pm. Featuring exclusive interviews with Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis’ vast personal collection and rare footage from his performances in television, film and concert, American Masters explores the life and art of a uniquely-gifted entertainer whose trajectory paralleled the major flashpoints of American society, from the Depression through the 1980s. The PBS broadcast also features 20 minutes of exclusive bonus performance footage spanning Davis’ 50-year-career after the documentary.
• An Evening With Ken Chenault – Tuesday, Feb. 19^th at 11pm. An Evening with Ken Chenault” provides a rare, inside look into the life and career of one of America’s most successful CEOs, Ken Chenault. Taped in front of a sold out, live audience at The New York Times Center, CBS Sportscaster James “J.B.” Brown serves as the host and interviewer.
• American Masters- Charley Pride: I’m Just Me– Friday, Feb. 22^th at 11pm. Traces the improbable journey of Charley Pride, from his humble beginnings as a sharecropper’s son on a cotton farm in segregated Sledge, Mississippi to his career as a Negro American League baseball player and his meteoric rise as a trailblazing country music superstar.
• American Experience: Roads to Memphis– Friday, Feb. 16^th at 9pm. The fateful narrative of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s killer, James Earl Ray , set against the seething, turbulent forces in American society. The assassination shocked the country, setting off deadly riots from coast to coast and triggering the largest, costliest, and most ambitious manhunt in American history. Roads to Memphis is told through eyewitness testimony from King’s inner circle and the officials involved in Ray’s capture and prosecution following an intense two-month international manhunt.