Just in case you’re by the Tee Vee.

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PBS CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH WITH A SLATE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMMING

February 1-28, 2007 
Arlington, VA — January 8, 2007 — PBS broadcasts programming created by and about African Americans year-round, from drama to public affairs to history to independent film. In celebration of Black History Month, February 2007, PBS will broadcast a lineup of new and encore presentations honoring and exploring African-American history.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE “New Orleans” (New)
Monday, February 12, 2007, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET
From director Stephen Ives and writer Michelle Ferrari comes a fascinating portrait of one of America’s most distinctive and beloved cities: a small French settlement surrounded by water that ultimately would become the home of America’s biggest party, Mardi Gras, and its most original art form, jazz; the site of explosive struggles with both integration and segregation, and a proving ground for national ideas about race, class and equality; a mirror that reflects both the best and the worst in America. Jeffrey Wright narrates. http://www.pbs.org/amex/neworleans

INDPENDENT LENS “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes”(New)
Tuesday, February 20, 2007, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET
This film takes an in-depth look at machismo in rap music and hip-hop culture — where creative genius, poetic beauty and mad beats collide with misogyny, violence and homophobia. By Byron Hurt. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens

THE 9TH ANNUAL SPHINX COMPETITION (New)
February 2007 (check local listings)
THE 9TH ANNUAL SPHINX COMPETITION is a classical music competition featuring finals performances from the 9th Annual Sphinx Competition Concert. The competitors, all Hispanic and African-American, are accompanied by an orchestra composed entirely of Hispanic and black musicians. This program features performances from the three junior division finalists and the senior division laureate.

SISTERS OF SELMA: BEARING WITNESS FOR CHANGE (New)
February 2007 (check local listings)
This program is an unabashedly spiritual take on the Selma, Alabama, voting rights marches of 1965 from some of its unsung foot soldiers – Catholic nuns. Following the violence of “Bloody Sunday,” sisters from around the country answered Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to join the protests in Selma. Never before in American history had avowed Catholic women made so public a political statement. Risking personal safety to bring change, the sisters found themselves being changed in turn – and they tell viewers how. Selma blacks testify about the importance of Catholic clergy in their lives, and explain why it took until the year 2000 for them to become fully enfranchised. Newfound dramatic archival footage carries much of the story. In 2003, director Jayasri Hart reunited the nuns to let them view themselves and the protests on tape for the first time. Their recorded reactions help narrate the film. Other Selmians, Catholic and Protestant, white and black, give their views on the nuns’ contributions to history.

THE STORY OF OSCAR BROWN JR. (New)
February 2007 (check local listings)
This documentary focuses on Chicago native Oscar Brown Jr.’s work as a writer and performer for over a half a century. Starting at the tender age of 15 he was a radio performer with the network series “Secret City.” He also was a key player in Richard Durham’s “Destination Freedom: Black Radio Days” series from 1948-1950. Brown’s musical explorations included sharing the bill with such greats as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderly. His one-man show Oscar Brown Jr. Entertains led one critic to hail him as “a musical genius.” In 1967, he produced the musical Opportunity Please Knock in conjunction with a huge youth gang known as the Blackstone Rangers and gained national recognition when gang members appeared on the Smothers Brothers CBS television show. He also hosted the popular PBS television show FROM JUMP STREET – THE STORY OF BLACK MUSIC.