Arkansas PBS > Engage > Pressroom > AETN, Fayetteville Public Library to host screening of 'Black America Since MLK' Feb. 26
Posted 15 Feb 2017
The Arkansas Educational Television Network has partnered with the Fayetteville Public Library to host a free screening of 'Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise' Sunday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m.
'Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise' is hosted, executive produced and written by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. The series looks at the last 50 years of black history – from Dr. King to Barack Obama, from James Brown's 'I'm Black and I'm Proud' to Beyoncé's 'Formation' – charting the progress black people have made and raising questions about the obstacles that remain.
The screening, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the Fayetteville Public Library, 401 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville. A panel discussion following the screening will include: Caree A. Banton, associate professor of African-American studies and history at the University of Arkansas; John L. Colbert, associate superintendent for support services at Fayetteville Public Schools and president of the NWA Branch NAACP; Raven Cook, museum educator at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and president/founder of Foundations: Black History Education Programming; Pearl Karen Dowe, associate professor of political science at the University of Arkansas; and Angela M. Monts, University of Arkansas Alumni Association constituent engagement director and president of the NWA Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Council.
Gates 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.
By examining the changes to black America wrought by cultural and political forces, new questions of identity, new modes of communication, a globalizing economy and mass incarceration, Gates asks what the black community has accomplished since 1965 – and what it means to be 'black' today.
Among those interviewed are Oprah Winfrey, Nas, Ava DuVernay, Jesse Jackson, Dr. Cornel West, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Donna Brazile, Robert L. Johnson, DeRay Mckesson, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, former Attorney General Eric Holder and Shonda Rhimes – as well as eyewitnesses to Hurricane Katrina, public intellectuals, education reformers, police officers in communities that have been shaken by racial unrest, and many others.
Major corporate support for 'Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise' is provided by Bank of America and Johnson & Johnson. Major support is also provided by the Howard and Abby Milstein Foundation, in partnership with Hoover Milstein and Emigrant Bank; Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Ford Foundation Just Films; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and public television viewers and PBS.
The Arkansas Educational Television Network is Arkansas's statewide public television network that enhances lives by providing lifelong learning opportunities for people from all walks of life. AETN delivers local, award-winning productions and classic, trusted PBS programs aimed at sharing Arkansas and the world with viewers. AETN depends on the generosity of Arkansans and the State of Arkansas to continue offering quality programming. Additional information is available at aetn.org. AETN is broadcast on KETS (Little Rock), KEMV (Mountain View), KETG (Arkadelphia), KAFT (Fayetteville), KTEJ (Jonesboro) and KETZ (El Dorado).