Henry Louis Gates, Jr’s compelling and deeply personal documentary ‘Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise’ will be airing in full on 3rd December on PBS.
The documentary, told in four parts, takes an intimate journey through the last fifty years of African American history. Joined by scholars, celebrities and critics, Gates travels through the victory of the civil rights movement to present day, asking questions like how far has America come towards racial inequality since the civil rights era, and what did it mean to have a black president in a country where events like Ferguson still occur?
Part one, ‘Out of the Shadows’, explores the progress and setbacks of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Part two, ‘Move On Up’, looks at the cultural and political changes that occurred in America through the 1970s and early ‘80s as black citizens found upwards mobility.
Part three, ‘Keep Your Head Up’, reveals the profound fissures within the country and black communities that deepened through the 1980s and ‘90s as African Americans became more visible than ever.
Part four, ‘Touch the Sky’, moves through the shock of Hurricane Katrina, through Barack Obama’s presidency and to the Black Lives Matter movement, before finally returning to where the series began: with the key questions of why racial inequality still eludes America.
The series airs on PBS on Sunday 3rd December, with part 1 showing at 1:50pm, part two at 3:05pm, part three at 4:15pm and part four at 5:30pm.
