FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY

Episode 85 features a conversation about the history seen in the 1989 film GLORY with Frank Smith, founder and executive director of the African American Civil War Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Smith shares the history of the museum, established to honor the over 200,000 African American soldiers and sailors who fought for freedom during the Civil War. He highlights the challenges faced by these freedom fighters, including racial discrimination and segregation.

Episode 84 features a conversation with historian Anthony Cohen about the Underground Railroad and its legendary conductor Harriet Tubman as seen in the 2019 film HARRIET.  In 1996, Anthony Cohen personally retraced the  journey of the Underground Railroad and self-emancipation by foot, rail, and boat from Maryland to Canada.  He also prepared Oprah Winfrey for her role as Sethe in the 1998 film BELOVED based on the Toni Morrison novel.

Episode 78 explores the film adaptations of the plays—FENCES, MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, andTHE PIANO LESSON‍ —by award-winning playwright August Wilson (1945-2005) with Dr. Sandra G. Shannon, a leading authority on Wilson’s work, and founder and President Emerita of the August Wilson Society. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States how do we better understand American history through August Wilson’s plays?

In episode 66, The Boston Sisters (Michon and Taquiena) dive into the Tyler Perry film THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT with Brenda L. Moore, associate professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo and author of “To Serve My Country, To Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African American WACS Stationed Overseas During World War II.” Both the book and film tell the story of the only Women’s Army Corps unit of color to serve overseas in World War Two and their extraordinary mission.

Episode 62 features a conversation with Constanza Romero, widow of American playwright August Wilson and executive producer for THE PIANO LESSON based on Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play directed by Malcolm Washington and featuring John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, and Samuel L. Jackson.

SHIRLEY, featuring Oscar winner Regina King as New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, tells the story of the first Black congresswoman and political icon and her trailblazing 1972 run for president of the United States. Our guest is Dr. Zinga A. Fraser, a foremost expert on Shirley Chisholm, Director of the Shirley Chisholm Project on Brooklyn Women’s Activism, and the historical consultant for the Netflix feature SHIRLEY. 

Director Reinaldo Marcus Green talks about making BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE, starring Kingsley Ben-Adir as the Jamaican Reggae icon Bob Marley and Lashana Lynch as his wife, Rita Marley. BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE celebrates the life and music of Bob Marley who inspired generations through his message of love and unity. The film chronicles the reggae icon’s powerful story of overcoming adversity and the journey behind his revolutionary music.

In Episode 47 we talk about the biopic RUSTIN with Robert Raben, founder of the March On Washington Film Festival and The Raben Group, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm in Washington, DC. Featuring Academy Award™ nominated actor Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin, the film RUSTIN shines a long overdue spotlight on the extraordinary man who, alongside giants like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and Ella Baker, dared to imagine a different world, and inspired a movement for freedom.

Carla L. Peterson is back! The author of the 2011 book “Black Gotham” that inspired the Scott family in HBO’s THE GILDED AGE joins us for a conversation on “taste” as a value reflected in the lives of 19th century Black middle class communities in Manhattan and Brooklyn. We also talk about the separate and elite lives of 19th century New York “old money,” “new money,” and the Black elite and how they’re interpreted for the 2nd season of THE GILDED AGE.

Professor of French and French Studies Julian Ledford brings to life the historical Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-George who is dramatized in the film CHEVALIER with Kelvin Harrison Junior in the title role.

A conversation with Carla L. Peterson, author of the 2011 book “Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in 19th Century New York City.” Professor Peterson’s book served as a resource for the creation of the characters, story, and the Black community in HBO’s THE GILDED AGE.

In episode 25 The Boston Sisters feature Amma Asante’s film BELLE by listener request, and a conversation with London-based figurative painter Glory Samjolly, founder of the social media platform Black Aristocrat Art. Glory brings her insights on depictions of Black women and men of the aristocracy in historical European art.

We take a deep dive into THE WOMAN KING with depth psychologist, media scholar, and writer Sharon D. Johnson, Ph.D. THE WOMAN KING, is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen.

Filmmaker and award-winning director, Julie Dash directed two episodes in the recent ABC limited series WOMEN OF THE MOVEMENT about Mamie Till Mobley’s attempts to get justice for the brutal murder of her 14-year old son Emmett Till in the Jim Crow South of 1955.

We will talk with Julie Dash about her film and television work in historical drama, including WOMEN OF THE MOVEMENT; the influence of Black women writers and cultural workers in her creative work; and the impact of bringing untold stories from history to the screen, particularly how we believe and remember history.