Monday, February 01, 2010

The REAL Black Entertainment Television

Happy Black History Month, I used to do this every year when I was working in advertising and got this info in advance, and when TV programming was a little better. So enjoy, and if you watch television responsibly you might just learn something. These times may not be 100% and schedules are subject to change, all times are based on EST. I'm sure there's more programming out there, so feel free to leave comments that add on to the info or make any corrections. Hell even leave comments on some of the shows you watched. Oh, and by the way if you want some more Black History Month TV programming check out:

PBS Explores African-American Contributions to History and Society

TVOne - Way Black When/Our History Month



Monday, February 1


BET – The BET Honors' – 9:00PM
Hosted by Gabrielle Union the annual event honors the best and brightest in African-American culture.


Tuesday, February 2

Smithsonian Channel – SOUL OF A PEOPLE: WRITING AMERICA’S STORY – 9pm ET/PT
This remarkable documentary explores one of the most controversial public assistance programs of the Great Depression. The Federal Writers Project was one of four arts programs created under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The project employed thousands of unemployed writers, including the future icons Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston and Ralph Ellison, to fan out across America, interview its citizens, and produce a portrait of the United States from the ground up, in a series of state travel guides. They captured a unique portrait of 1930’s Americana. But what began as a program to create guidebooks for every state ended up igniting a storm of controversy when writers sought out not only the triumphs of America, but also its tragedies.

PBS - 'Independent Lens: Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness' – 10:30pm
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. Maggie Gyllenhaal hosts.

SMITHSONIAN SPOTLIGHT: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY – 10:30pm ET/PT
The idea of establishing a museum dedicated to presenting and preserving the African American experience was first considered not long after the Civil War. It took well over a century, however, before Congress, in 2003, finally mandated the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The building isn’t finished yet, but the first exhibit is already assembled – an extraordinary collection of photographs of this country’s most celebrated and influential African Americans. Museum director Dr. Lonnie Bunch discusses his efforts to not only design the museum, but to fill its shelves with objects, documents and artifacts that capture and reflect the African American experience.


Thursday, February 4

SMITHSONIAN SPOTLIGHT: SCURLOCK STUDIO – 7:30pm ET/PT
Beginning in 1911, Addison Scurlock’s photographs portrayed African Americans in a way that wasn’t often seen. With the help of his two sons, George and Robert, the Scurlock Studio mastered the photographic portrait and captured the essence of Black Washington. Their portraits, photographs of weddings, graduations and families stand as a visual record of not only Washington, DC, but of African American culture. The Scurlocks created images to resist the racial stereotypes of their time and, in the process, produced truly fascinating art.


Friday, February 5

VH1 – 'Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America' – 9:00pm
This year marks the 40th anniversary of 'Soul Train.' Terrence Howard narrates the documentary that taught America some of it's smoothest dance moves.

PBS – PRINCE AMONG SLAVES – 10:00pm
This special tells the forgotten true story of an African prince who was enslaved in Mississippi for 40 years before finally achieving freedom and becoming one of the most famous men in America. Mos Def narrates.


Saturday, February 6

Smithsonian Channel LIVES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: NELSON MANDELA 8pm ET/PT

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for standing up for what he believed in. Slowly, from the remote prison on South Africa’s Robben Island, he galvanized the world around his struggle to end apartheid. When Mandela was released from prison, he entered a world that had been profoundly shaped by his dream. Lives That Changed The World: Nelson Mandela tells the story of Nelson Mandela through the stories of nine people who were inspired by that dream, including F.W. DeKlerk, former Prime Minister of South Africa, and Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi, who continues her father’s legacy through her work with the children of South Africa.


Smithsonian Channel – LIVES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: MUHAMMAD ALI – 9pm ET/PT
Muhammad Ali is considered one of the greatest athletes of all time. Lives That Changed the World: Muhammad Ali shows that he is also one of the most influential men of our era. This unique documentary tells the story of Ali through the human faces and voices of nine lives that he has inspired, including, his fight doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, and Etan Thomas, a professional basketball player and poet who was inspired by Ali to work for change.

BET – THE GREAT DEBATERS – 6:30 PM
The blockbuster hit starring Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker is a drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.


Sunday, February 7

BET – TEN9EIGHT – 12:00 PM
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Mary Mazzio, this documentary tells the inspirational stories of several inner city teens from Harlem to Compton and all points in between, as they compete in an annual business plan competition run by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

PBS – GREAT PERFORMANCES “Harlem in Montmarte” – 10:00pm
A picture of the African-American expatriate community in Paris between the First and Second World Wars.


Monday, February 8

SMITHSONIAN CHANNEL’S sound revolution: sounds of jazz – 8pm ET/PT
Jazz was perhaps the first great American art form of the 20th Century. Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman tells the story of the first few decades of jazz, beginning at the mouth of the Mississippi, in the city widely acknowledged as its birthplace, New Orleans. He follows jazz’s journey from its origins as a mixture of African, Classical European and Blues; through the great Dixieland days of Louis Armstrong and King Oliver; to the swing and big band eras of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, when it became the most popular music in the country.

HBO – “The Black List: Volume Three" – 8:30PM
The third installation in a series featuring well respected and distinguished African-American notables. Including 'The View's' Whoopi Goldberg, 'Precious' director Lee Daniels and John Legend.


Thursday, February 11

PBS – 'In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement' – 8:00PM
President and Mrs. Obama will host this musical special at the White House East Room. Performers include Natalie Cole, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, Seal and many others.


Sunday, February 14

BET – THE LORETTA CLAIBORNE STORY – 6:00 PM
The inspiring fact-based saga of a mentally and physically handicapped young woman who fulfilled her dream to excel at track and field.


Tuesday, February 16

PBS – 'Mine/Home' – 10:00PM
A powerful story of animals left behind during Katrina, and of the struggles of hurricane survivors to reunite with their beloved pets. A meditation on the essential bond between humans and animals, “Mine” is an equally compelling story of race and class, and the power of compassion, in contemporary America.


Monday, February 22

PBS – AMERICAN MASTERS “Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun”- 10:00pmET
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 (“Law & Order”) narrates.


Tuesday, February 23

PBS – INDEPENDENT LENS “Behind the Rainbow” – 10:00p.m. ET
A previously untold account of South Africa’s political problems, struggles and realities. Maggie Gyllenhaal hosts.


Friday, February 26

FOX – 'The 41st NAACP Image Awards' – 8:00pm
Celebrating some of the most outstanding achievements from notable minorities. Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Mo'Nique are nominees.


Saturday, February 27

PBS – 'Tavis Smiley Reports: One on One with Hillary Clinton' – 8:00pm
Tavis Smiley sits down with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her first year as America's chief diplomat.


Sunday, February 28

BET – A MOTHER'S COURAGE: THE MARY THOMAS STORY – 3:00 PM
The story of Mary Thomas, the mother of basketball star Isiah Thomas, and how she fought to keep her family together and her sons out of trouble despite the surroundings of poverty, drugs, crime and violence of their ghetto neighborhood. Starring Alfre Woodard.




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