Unlocking the Gates: How the North Star State Pioneered Structural Housing Discrimination in America

Posted on January 27, 2025

In this Black History Month special from Marketplace Morning Report, host Lee Hawkins investigates how a secret nighttime business deal unlocked the gates of a community called Maplewood for dozens of Black families seeking better housing, schools, and safer neighborhoods -- his own family included. Continue »

Thursday, February 27, at 3:00 p.m. and Friday, February 28, 8:00 p.m.

In Performance at Penn State: Celebrating Black History Month with Essence of Joy

Posted on January 27, 2025

A collection of concert performances from recent years by Essence of Joy, the student choir devoted to performing music from African and African American choral traditions. The choir was founded and directed by the late Tony Leach, professor emeritus of music and music education at Penn State. Continue »

Friday, February 21, at 11:00 a.m. and Monday, February 24, 8:00 p.m.

Wes Montgomery: A Celebration Concert

Posted on January 27, 2025

Celebrate one of the greatest and most influential jazz guitarists of all time in a new concert special. Recorded before a live audience, the concert features the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Jazz Ensemble, and a performance by the celebrated jazz trio of guitarist Dave Stryker, organist Bobby Floyd, and drummer Sean Dobbins. Continue »

Saturday, February 22, at 12:00 p.m.

The Lost Cause — the Civil War, Then and Now

Posted on January 27, 2025

We explore the enduring myth of The Lost Cause, a revisionist history contrived right after the Civil War. It cast the Confederacy’s humiliating defeat in a treasonous war for slavery as the embodiment of the framers’ true vision for America – and pushed the idea that the Civil War was not actually about slavery. Continue »

Thursday, February 20, at 3:00 p.m. and Friday, February 21, 8:00 p.m.

The 89th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

Posted on January 27, 2025

Hosted by jury chair Natasha Trethewey, THE 88TH ANNUAL ANISFIELD-WOLF BOOK AWARDS features the personal stories of the 2024 recipients of the only national juried prize for literature that confronts racism and explores diversity. Viewers are transported to across the U.S. to hear the inspiring and revealing stories of this year’s honorees. Continue »

Friday, February 21, at 10:30 p.m.

Journeys of Black Mathematicians

Posted on January 27, 2025

African Americans have played major roles as researchers and educators in mathematics. This two-part series traces the cultural evolution of Black scholars, scientists and educators in the field of mathematics. The films also introduce innovative educational programs for African American students that will inspire future generations in the pursuit of mathematics. Continue »

Saturdays, February 8 - February 15, at 12:00 p.m. and Saturday, February 15, at 12:00 p.m.

The Lincoln School Story

Posted on January 27, 2025

The Lincoln School Story tells the story of how five mothers and daughters fought for school integration in 1954, in Hillsboro, Ohio. Continue »

Friday, February 7, at 10:30 p.m.

Langston Hughes – I Too Sing America

Posted on January 27, 2025

Hosted by Terrance McKnight, WQXR host and former Morehouse professor of music, “I, Too, Sing America” will dive into the songs, cantatas, musicals and librettos that flowed from Langston Hughes’ pen. As he did with his poetry, Hughes used music to denounce war, combat segregation and restore human dignity in the face of Jim Crow. Continue »

Thursday, February 13, at 3:00 p.m. and Friday, February 14, 8:00 p.m.

100 Years from Mississippi

Posted on January 27, 2025

Mamie Lang Kirkland was seven years old when she fled Ellisville, Mississippi in 1915 with her mother and siblings as her father and his friend escaped an approaching lynch mob. Mamie had vowed for a century that she would never return to Mississippi. Yet at the urging of her son Tarabu, she finally confronted her childhood trauma by returning to Ellisville. Continue »

Saturday, February 1, at 12:00 p.m.

The Breakthrough of ’48: When Civil Rights Won the White House

Posted on January 27, 2025

During this time when racial politics and presidential authority are critical themes, comes a compelling radio program revealing a lesser-known chapter in America’s civil rights story. In 1948, Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey called on the Democratic party to “walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.” This led to a series of dramatic political events eventually leading to the landmark civil rights laws of the 1960s. Based on Samuel Freedman’s book “Into the Bright Sunshine,” this documentary features compelling interviews and archival audio to recall pivotal moments in American history that remain relevant and revealing today.   Continue »

Thursday, February 6, at 3:00 p.m. and Friday, February 7, at 8:00 p.m.

Craft in America: Reclaiming Craft Traditions

Posted on January 19, 2022

Dr. Leslie King-Hammond on craft, culture, and bead artist Joyce J. Scott. Continue »

Craft in America: Philip Simmons

Posted on January 19, 2022

Philip Simmons (1912–2009) was a renowned blacksmith in Charleston, SC. Enticed by the sparks flying in a blacksmith shop he passed on his way to school, he became an apprentice at the early age of 13. Continue »

Metronome: Eric Ian Farmer

Posted on January 19, 2022

Eric Ian Farmer & Josh Troup perform Eric’s song “When You [Side]Walked Into the Room” at Penn’s Cave and Wildlife Park. Continue »

Story Corps: Eyes on the Stars

Posted on January 19, 2022

Carl McNair tells the story of his brother Ronald, an African American kid in the 1950s who set his sights on the stars. Continue »

Story Corps: Driven

Posted on January 19, 2022

Wendell Scott was the first African American inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. His son, Frank, remembers what it took for his father to cross the finish line at racetracks throughout the South in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Continue »

Black History 101 Mobile Museum

Posted on January 19, 2022

Khalid el-Hakim’s Black History 101 Mobile Museum is collection of more than 7,000 items highlights African American history from the transatlantic slave trade to present day. Continue »

Historic Black Churches in Central Pennsylvania

Posted on January 19, 2022

Find out about more than a century of history that still exists today in historic Black churches in central Pennsylvania. Continue »