Black History Month

KCPT Celebrates Black History Month

KCPT Explores African-American Contributions to History and Society

Throughout the year, KCPT invites viewers to explore the vast contributions of African Americans. In honor and celebration of Black History Month, February 2010, KCPT presents new and encore programs of both local and national relevance, beginning in January and continuing through February.

TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton2010 brings a new primetime series hosted by Tavis Smiley. On Wednesday, January 27, at 7 p.m. TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS accompanies Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on diplomatic missions and goes behind the scenes at the State Department.

On Wednesday, February 10, 2010, PBS presents the 3 part series FACES OF AMERICA WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. Building on the success of his series AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES, Gates again poses two questions: What made America? What makes us?

In addition to the extensive line-up of Prime Time programming, KCPT has also produced five 60-second salute spots that honor the contributions made by our Kansas City citizens of African-American heritage. These spots will run frequently during the entire month of February. Individuals featured in these spots are: Ida McBeth, Herman Johnson, Emmanuel Cleaver, Dorothy Hodge Johnson, and Chris Holmes.

ON KCPT

An Evening with Smokey RobinsonAn Evening with Smokey Robinson
Wednesday, February 3, 7 p.m.
An inside look into the life and career of Motown legend Smokey Robinson. Filmed in 2009 before a live audience and hosted by veteran journalist Gwen Ifil.

Independent Lens
“Herskovitz at the Heart of Blackness”
Tuesday, February 2, 10 p.m.
Examines the forgotten legacy of Melville Herskovits, a controversial Jewish anthropologist whose writings in the 40s and 50s challenged widely held assumptions about race and culture.

Great Performances
“Harlem in Montmartre”
Sunday, February 7, 10 p.m.
A picture of the African-American expatriate community in Paris between the first and second world wars.

Faces of America with Louis Gates Jr. (3 parts)
Wednesdays, beginning February 10, 7 p.m.
Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. turns again to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 11 renowned Americans, following the threads of his guests’ lives back to their origins around the globe.

Meet the Past with Crosby Kemper III
“Langston Hughes”
Thursday, February 11, 8:30 p.m.
Crosby riffs with poet and playwright Langston Hughes – Born in Joplin, Missouri, Hughes gained worldwide renown for integrating poetry with the cadence of jazz during the Harlem Renaissance.

American Masters
“Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun”
Monday, February 22, 9 p.m.
This is a profile of author Zora Neale Hurston, one of the most celebrated – and most controversial – figures of the Harlem Renaissance, that creatively expansive era in the 1920s when “the Negro was in vogue.” S. Epatha Merkerson narrates.

Independent Lens
P. Star Rising
Tuesday, February 9, 10 p.m.
A Documentary Film about a single-father who is determined to see his 9-year old daughter become a rap star and thus redeem his deferred dream.

On KCPT2

Independence Lens February One: The Story of the Greensboro FourIndependence Lens
February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four
Wednesday, February 3, 7 p.m.
On February 1, 1960, four college students staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, a pivotal event in the civil rights movement. In this intimate portrait, viewers learn what led these four friends to protest — and how the protests affected their lives.

For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots
Tuesday & Wednesday,
February 23 & 24, 7 p.m.
An unprecedented look at the largely untold history of African-American participation in America’s armed forces, from the earliest days of the Revolutionary War to the current conflict in Afghanistan.

 

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