We have several specials available to help stations commemorate Black History Month this February. You can find more information at our website, or contact your station representative for more information.
Selected Shorts: Celebrating James Baldwin
Guest host LeVar Burton presents a program celebrating the author he calls “potent and polemical.” Christopher Jackson reads an excerpt from Baldwin’s famous letter The Fire Next Time: in “My Dungeon Shook,” he addresses internalized racism.
Next, Anthony Rapp performs an excerpt from Giovanni’s Room, in which an expat comes to terms with his sexuality and loneliness in Paris. And Baldwin contemplates The Great Migration in his novel Go Tell It On The Mountain. We hear an excerpt performed by Charlayne Woodard.
Broadcast Window: January 5, 2021 – February 28, 2021
Note: This program originally aired in 2019.
Lift Every Voice: A Musical Story from Sorrow to Justice
A collection of powerful songs, stories and interviews with some of today’s most acclaimed Black Artists and Scholars.
This program was curated with the intent of creating awareness around the African American musical past, while inspiring listeners to cling to the hopefulness of our musical future together as every voice is heard and celebrated.
Broadcast Window: January 28, 2021 – February 28, 2021
Witness History: Black History Month Special
This special features eyewitness accounts of important moments in recent African American history.
We hear from the daughter of the man named in the court case which became a turning point in the battle for civil rights, plus the sister of a teenage girl killed in a racist bomb attack. We learn how the winning performance of an all-Black basketball team helped change White American’s attitude to segregation in sport.
Later, hear about Rodney King, whose attack by police in 1991 was caught on camera and seen by millions – the later acquittal of the officers sparked days of rioting. Finally we hear from Bilal Chatman, who was sentenced to 150 years in prison under the 1994 ‘three strikes law’ which disproportionately affected Black Americans.
Presenter Max Pearson talks to Professor Gloria Browne-Marshall of John Jay College of Criminal Justice to help put it all into context.
Broadcast Window: February 1 – 28, 2021
Length: One hour
Performance Today: Black History Month
Performance Today listeners will hear a major musical work composed or performed by a Black artist each hour of the show, every day in the month of February.
The program regularly features BIPOC composers, conductors, and performers, but this will be a special celebration of the contribution of Black artists in honor of Black History Month.
Broadcast Window: February 1 – 28, 2021
Questions? Reach out to your station representative here.