Celebrating Black History Month Special Slate of Offerings Includes Films

By Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

WETA celebrates Black History Month, presenting special programming in February that includes a wide array of biographies, documentaries, independent films, cultural appreciations and more. Among the themed content is WETA production WETA Arts, which spotlights Washington, D.C. artist and educator Alma Thomas (see page 4); and WETA co-production Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., which as part of its ongoing ninth season features a February 21 episode spotlighting the family histories of activist Angela Y. Davis (left, with Gates) and statesman Jeh Johnson. The slate is especially rich in history content, reprising Prof. Gates’s major history series Making Black America: Through the Grapevine; The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song; and Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, each produced in partnership with WETA, and his Peabody Awardwinning film The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross. Among other presentations are Civil Rights Era history series Eyes on the Prize and the films Freedom Riders and Freedom Summer. Additional highlights are on page 3. Visit weta.org/blackhistory for more programs.