George Washington Carver: An Uncommon Life

While George Washington Carver's rise from slavery to scientific accomplishment has inspired millions, time has dulled the luster of his reputation, reducing him to the man who did something with peanuts. This documentary uncovers Carver's complexities and reveals the full impact of his life and work.

Oprah Winfrey Receives Cecil B. de Mille Award at the 2018 Golden Globes

Race and Racism in the Age of Trump

The 2017 Hutchins Forum will be live from Martha's Vineyard at 5pm ET on August 17. The forum is hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and moderated by Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Panelists include Charles Blow, Alan Dershowitz, Asma Khalid, Leah Wright Rigueur, April Ryan and Armstrong Williams.

Before The Dawn

(repost for a friend)

Talk of the Nation, Science Friday
'Before the Dawn' Author Nicholas Wade
April 26, 2006

Review - Monstersandcritics.com

Amazon.com - From Publishers Weekly

"Scientists are using DNA analysis to understand our prehistory: the evolution of humans; their relation to the Neanderthals, who populated Europe and the Near East; and Homo erectus, who roamed the steppes of Asia. Most importantly, geneticists can trace the movements of a little band of human ancestors, numbering perhaps no more than 150, who crossed the Red Sea from east Africa about 50,000 years ago. Within a few thousand years, their descendents, Homo sapiens, became masters of all they surveyed, the other humanoid species having become extinct.

Africa's Great Civilizations

In his new six-hour series, Africa's Great Civilizations, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes a new look at the history of Africa, from the birth of humankind to the dawn of the 20th century. This is a breathtaking and personal journey through two hundred thousand years of history, from the origins, on the African continent, of art, writing and civilization itself, through the millennia in which Africa and Africans shaped not only their own rich civilizations, but also the wider world.

Independent Lens: Birth of a Movement

Birth of a Movement Full Film | Video | Independent Lens | PBS:

The story of William Monroe Trotter, the nearly forgotten editor of a Boston black newspaper who helped launch a nationwide movement in 1915 to ban Hollywood’s first blockbuster movie, the later controversial The Birth of a Nation.

My President Was Black
A history of the first African American White House—and of what came next
By Ta-Nehisi Coates

I. “Love Will Make You Do Wrong”
II. He Walked on Ice but Never Fell
III. “I Decided to Become Part of That World”
IV. “You Still Gotta Go Back to the Hood”
V. "They Rode the Tiger”
VI. “When You Left, You Took All of Me With You”

In his new four-hour series, BLACK AMERICA SINCE MLK: AND STILL I RISE, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. embarks on a deeply personal journey through the last fifty years of African American history. Joined by leading scholars, celebrities, and a dynamic cast of people who shaped these years, Gates travels from the victories of the civil rights movement up to today, asking profound questions about the state of black America—and our nation as a whole.

Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture

Opened September 24,2016, Washington, DC

  

Wow and then some. Simone Biles!

Tough to find inspiration these days. But I found one. She is flying high. A small woman, Simone Biles is bigger than life.

Michelle Obama’s full speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention

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Michelle Obama: Today, I wake up "in a house that was built by slaves" https://t.co/ZAGu4EXP6V #DemsInPhilly https://t.co/gOQj8lW3tO

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) July 26, 2016

Muhammad Ali, 1942-2016

Prince Rogers Nelson, 1958-2016

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One of the greatest Super Bowl Halftime performances of all-time. #RIPPrince  https://t.co/B6aHzYUCoG

— NFL (@NFL) April 21, 2016

Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson

American Masters: Fats Domino and the Birth of Rock 'n Roll

The one-hour documentary traces how Fats Domino’s brand of New Orleans rhythm and blues morphed into rock and roll, appealing to black and white audiences alike. Fats Domino was one of the most popular rockers of the 1950s and early 60s. His achievements and record sales during that time were rivaled only by Elvis Presley. With his boogie-woogie piano playing rooted in blues, rhythm & blues, and jazz, he became one of the inventors, along with Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard of a revolutionary genre of music, rock ‘n’ roll.

PBS In Their Own Words: Muhammed Ali

The film follows Ali’s rise from the Columbia Gym in Louisville to international fame, as he transcended his great athletic achievements to become one of the most influential Americans of his time: how this once polarizing figure ultimately became a beloved and honored national hero.

Key events include Ali’s stunning Islamic conversion and name change, his dramatic stand against the Vietnam-era draft, his 3-year exile from the ring, his legendary comeback fights, his battle with Parkinson’s disease, and his inspirational reemergence on the world stage at the Atlanta Olympics.

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American Masters - Althea Gibson

The story of Althea Gibson (1927-2003), a truant from the rough streets of Harlem, who emerged as the unlikely queen of the highly segregated tennis world in the 1950s. She was the first African American to play and win at Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals (precursor of the U.S. Open) — a decade before Arthur Ashe.

President Obama: South Carolina, Eulogy of Clementa Pinckney

President Obama delivered the eulogy of Clementa Pinckney, pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal church Charleston, South Carolina June 26, 2015. Pastor Pinckney was a victim of an act of white terrorism when a young racist shot and killed him and 8 others during a prayer service June 17, 2015.

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African Methodist Episcopalian church Boston

What Happened Miss Simone?

Using never-before-heard recordings, rare archival footage and her best-known songs, this is the story of legendary singer and activist Nina Simone.

Release June 26, 2015 (Netflix)

W.E.B. Du Bois - The Souls of Black Folk

The Souls of Black Folk is a classic work of American literature by W. E. B. Du Bois.