TPT is proud to celebrate Black History Month.
This February, use your TPT Passport account to watch content, new and old, that celebrates the Black experience, explores Black history, and shines a light on outstanding Black artists, athletes, and historical figures.
In a time where the conversation around race and racism has been even further amplified by the Black Lives Matter movement, anti-racism has become the center of the cultural conversation. While there will continue to be work to be done, we wanted to take a moment to highlight some shows that educate, inspire, and honor what it means to be Black.
Promotional support for Black History Month programming is provided by Frederickson & Byron, P.A., TKDA and Rosemount Measurement Products Powered by Emerson.
Happy viewing!
Stream Your Favorite Shows Now
Don’t know what TPT Passport is? It’s our online member benefit that allows access to thousands of TPT shows right at your fingertips. All it requires is a $5+ monthly donation and a computer, a smart TV, a tablet or whatever device you use to watch your favorite shows! Download the PBS app for easy viewing.
Don’t know what TPT Passport is? It’s our online member benefit that allows access to thousands of TPT shows right at your fingertips. All it requires is a $5+ monthly donation and a computer, a smart TV, a tablet or whatever device you use to watch your favorite shows! Download the PBS app for easy viewing.
Racism Unveiled
Racism. A word that stings. A force that bites. With every step we take toward some form of equity, the deep roots of systemic racism hold us back, stagnating well-intentioned progress. Whether we put our justice, public health, education or housing systems under a microscope, racism is so entwined in the workings of our society that some folks believe it no longer exists at all.
Racism Unveiled is a digital storytelling project that aims to call out racism and to highlight how we can pull up this weed once and for all. This work is generously funded by a lead grant from the Otto Bremer Trust, with additional support from HealthPartners and created right here at TPT.
American Masters: How it Feels to be Free
A documentary that tells the inspiring story of how six iconic African American women entertainers – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes, and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process.
Minnesota Black Pioneers
For decades, Twin Cities PBS has explored the stories, the histories and the contributions of Minnesota’s Black Pioneers, men and women who have forever shaped what it means to live here. This collection represents a blend of stories about the people, the places and the experiences that continue to ripple through the present moment.
Finding Your Roots: Breaking Silences
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the family secrets of journalist Gayle King, film director Jordan Peele, and comedian Issa Rae, introducing them to ancestors who raise profound questions about the shape and meaning of their family trees.
Driving While Black
Discover how the advent of the automobile brought new mobility and freedom for African Americans but also exposed them to discrimination and deadly violence, and how that history resonates today.
Great Performances: Twilight: Los Angeles
In response to the national crisis in the aftermath of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery (Brunswick, GA), Breonna Taylor (Louisville, KY), and most recently George Floyd (Minneapolis, MN) Thirteen’s Great Performances resumes free streaming of Marc Levin’s film adaptation of Anna Deavere Smith’s play Twilight: Los Angeles. It originally aired on PBS in 2001.
Minnesota Black Pioneers
For decades, Twin Cities PBS has explored the stories, the histories and the contributions of Minnesota’s Black Pioneers, men and women who have forever shaped what it means to live here. This collection represents a blend of stories about the people, the places and the experiences that continue to ripple through the present moment.
Antiques Roadshow: Special: Celebrating Black America
Antiques Roadshow honors Black History Month with the special episode Celebrating Black Americana. Highlights include an 1821 U.S. citizenship certificate for George Barker, a free man of color; an African American beauty book written by Madam C.J. Walker, the first American female millionaire.
The Jazz Ambassadors
The Cold War and civil rights collide in this remarkable story of music, diplomacy and race. Beginning in 1955, when America asked its greatest jazz artists to travel the world as cultural ambassadors, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and their racially diverse band members faced a painful dilemma: How could they represent a country that still practiced Jim Crow segregation?
In Their Own Words: Muhammad Ali
Follow Muhammad Ali’s path from a gym in Louisville to boxing successes, conversion to Islam, opposition to the draft, exile from the ring, comeback fights, Parkinson’s disease and his inspirational re-emergence at the Atlanta Olympics.
American Masters: Charley Pride
Explore the complicated history of the American South and its music through the life of country star Charley Pride. Raised in segregated Mississippi, his journey shows the ways that artistic expression can triumph over prejudice and injustice.
Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize
An outstanding lineup of entertainers gathers in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall to salute Dave Chappelle, recipient of the 22nd annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Ken Burns’ Jazz
Jazz is born in the unique musical and social cauldron of New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century, emerging from several forms of music, including ragtime, marching bands, work songs, spirituals, European classical music, funeral parade music and, above all, the blues. Musicians who advance early jazz in New Orleans include Creole pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton, cornetist Buddy Bolden and clarinet prodigy Sidney Bechet. Composer W.C. Handy codifies the blues through his popular compositions. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band makes the first jazz recordings. Their enormous popularity spreads the sounds of jazz across the country and, eventually, the world. At the end of the episode, viewers meet an 11-year-old New Orleans boy, Louis Armstrong, who will emerge from the city’s toughest streets to become jazz music’s greatest star and transform American music.
American Experience: The Murder of Emmett Till
The murder and the trial horrified the nation and the world. Till’s death was a spark that helped mobilize the Civil Rights movement. Three months after his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, the Montgomery bus boycott began.
American Masters: Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart
Explore the inner life and works of the activist, playwright and author of A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry. Narrated by actress LaTanya Richardson Jackson and featuring the voice of Tony Award-winning actress Anika Noni Rose as Hansberry.
We hope you find something to enjoy on this list – though it is certainly not comprehensive. Browse TPT Passport for even more content on Black culture, history, and joy.
Thank you to our members for making it possible to share these programs with you.
© Twin Cities Public Television - 2021. All rights reserved.
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