Black History Month

WHYY celebrates with new programs on TV12

Tales of triumph over adversity feature prominently in WHYY's annual celebration of Black History Month. Tune in on Monday, February 28, for programs dedicated to the extraordinary contributions and achievements of African-Americans throughout history:

Monday, February 28

The Harlem Globetrotters: The Team that Changed the World

Rapper Chuck D. narrates the captivating untold story of how the Harlem Globetrotters forever changed the game of basketball, revealing for the first time on film the team's role in breaking the color barrier in American sports while introducing the world to basketball. Former Globetrotters and current NBA players remember two pivotal games in the team's history that helped shape post-World War II society: their 1948 upset of the World Champion Minneapolis Lakers and the team's exhibition trip to Berlin, Germany in 1951, where only 15 years earlier African-American Olympian Jesse Owens had been shunned by Adolf Hitler. As current team owner Mannie Jackson, former Senator Bill Bradley and NBA coach Phil Jackson recall, the Trotters' victory over the Lakers served as a catalyst for social reform, opening the world's eyes to the accomplishments of African-American athletes and eventually paving the way for integration of the NBA. 9 p.m.

The Murder of Emmett Till

In August 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till left his home in Chicago to visit relatives in Mississippi. Unfamiliar with the region's racial customs, the young black boy whistled at a white woman and was later brutally murdered by two white men for his inadvertent violation of this Southern community's racial code. This American Experience program recounts Emmett's story, which made headlines around the world and helped spark the American civil rights movement largely due to his mother Mamie Till's insistence on having an open-casket funeral. Horrific pictures of Emmett's mangled face and body flooded the national and international press, as did subsequent coverage the following month of the trial of the two men accused of his murder. When their trial by an all-white jury ended in acquittal, civil rights leaders gawked at the apparent ineffectiveness the federal justice system; they also realized that if change were to come, they would have to do it themselves. 10 p.m.

Tavis Smiley

The first African-American to have his own signature talk show on NPR, Tavis Smiley now hosts this late-night television talk show mixing news, issues and entertainment. The fast-paced half-hour program features Smiley's thought-provoking interviews with a diverse range of guests from the worlds of news, politics, music and the arts. The program was recently nominated for a 2005 NAACP Image Award. Monday through Friday at 11:30 p.m.