At an evening reception and screening hosted by the Howard and Abby Milstein Foundation at the Times Center in Midtown Manhattan last month, major civic and civil rights figures celebrated the newest PBS series by Emmy and Peabody-award winning Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise” – a two-part, four-hour documentary series hosted, executive produced and written by Gates, Jr., who 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.
The documentary will premiere on PBS stations nationwide next week Tuesday, November 15, and on the following Tuesday, November 22, 2016 at 8/7c.
The series couldn’t be more timely, given recent events.
“Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise” looks at the last 50 years of African American history, charting the remarkable progress of our nation’s African-American community but raising serious questions about the obstacles that remain. The series moves from the sanctified past of the civil rights movement to the complex, raw, conflicted present. Dr. Gates’ program offers a fresh examination of key events and turning points in American race relations and black history over the last five decades, animated by viewpoints that have rarely been heard on television, ideas that are not often said out loud, and questions that many are afraid to ask.
Dr. Gates said: “How has the black community changed since the Civil Rights Movement? Since MLK died? How would you describe the tremendous progress we have made, but also the enormous challenges that far too many of us still face? How could this be the best of times and the worst of times for Black America? These are the questions that this series explores. We are at a crucial point in history, and with this series, I hoped to reflect on our recent past as a way of helping to devise ways to forge a better future. This series is a very personal one for me, one I’m glad to share with the PBS community, thanks to the generous support of the Milstein Foundation and so many others.”
The new series is produced by Inkwell Films, McGee Media, Kunhardt Films and WETA. Additional support was provided by Bank of America; Johnson & Johnson; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Ford Foundation Just Films; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and public television viewers and PBS.
Watch a trailer for “Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise” below, followed by a clip from the documentary series ahead of next week’s premiere:
And here’s a clip from the upcoming documentary:
