Page 12 - aruba-today-20220207

a12 people & arts
Monday 7 February 2022

This combination of photos shows promotional art for the series "Everything's Gonna Be All White,"
premiering Feb. 11 on Showtime, left, "Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches," premiering Feb. 23
on HBO center, and "Profiled: The Black Man," premiering Feb. 12 on Discovery+. (Showtime via
AP, left, HBO Max via AP, center, and Discovery+ via AP)
Associated Press

TV marks Black History Month with

provocative, creative fare

By LYNN ELBER there's an impressive field perspective of people of
AP Television Writer of documentaries, profiles color. The three-part docu-
LOS ANGELES (AP) — How and more ahead. Among series delves into topics in-
U.S. history is told and the highlights (all times are cluding racial identity, the
taught is being challenged Eastern): ongoing effects of racism
and potentially constricted —"One Thousand Years of on housing, education and
on several fronts, but tele- Slavery," Smithsonian Chan- health care and efforts by
vision's approach to Black nel, Feb. 7-28. The four-part Indigenous people to pro-
History Month is firmly in docuseries takes a global tect their land. Historians,
overdrive. look at forced labor, exam- artists, activists and others
There's a wealth of pro- ining its effect on people weigh in, including Ibram
vocative and creative and societies. Prominent X. Kendi, Jemele Hill, Favi-
Black-focused programs in figures including Debbie Al- anna Rodriguez and Mar-
February, looking deep into len, Valerie Jarrett, Lorraine garet Cho. Director Sacha
the past to examine topics Toussaint and U.S. Sen. Cory Jenkins has described the
such as the roots of slavery Booker seek out their lega- series as embodying "the
and the achievements of cy from slavery as the pro- collected feelings of folks
towering figures including gram explores Africa, the of color in America.... this is
Frederick Douglass. Freshly Caribbean and elsewhere how America has treated
painful chapters including in an effort to look anew us. This is how we feel."
the 2012 killing of Trayvon at history. The series from —"American Masters: Mar-
Martin in Florida also get Angela Bassett and Court- ian Anderson: The Whole
attention. ney B. Vance's production World in Her Hands," PBS,
The post-George Floyd company "stretches the Feb. 8, (check local list-
onset of racial reckoning canvas beyond the 400 ings). A study of the artist
and the subsequent back- years we've traditionally and civil rights advocate's
lash have coincided with learned about" U.S. slavery, life, career and legacy,
the growth of streaming Bassett said in a statement. the film has the advantage
and its voracious need for Vance narrates the series of her speaking as well as
content, a two-fold incen- airing each Monday this singing voice. Anderson re-
tive for TV to pay heed to month. corded more than 30 cas-
the sweep and nuance of —"everything's gonna be sette tapes of interviews in
Black experience. all white," Showtime, 8 p.m., the 1950s in preparation for
With broadcast networks Friday, Feb. 11. An inven- writing a memoir and they,
and cable channels try- tive, lively and trenchant along with other archival
ing to keep pace with assessment of race in material, were used to "ex-
flush streaming services, American history from the plore history from her point
of view," director Rita Co-
burn said in a statement.
The first Black performer in
a leading role at the Met-
ropolitan Opera, Anderson
made an indelible stand
for civil rights and human
dignity in 1939 when she
was barred from one ven-
ue and instead sang to
the world from the Lincoln
Memorial.q