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Playlist Black History Month

Black History Month

A black and white image of a large group of people posing for a photograph at a meeting of the NAACP

Celebrate Black History Month With These Programs on WTTW

Meredith Francis

Discover the breadth of experience and contributions of Black Americans with a wide variety of programming for Black History Month on WTTW.
In a black and white image, eight members of the Arthur family pose for a photograph in Chicago in 1920, in one of the most famous images tied to the Great Migration.

What to Watch on WTTW for Black History Month

Meredith Francis

In February, you can celebrate Black History Month with a variety of WTTW programming that explores the political, artistic, musical, and other contributions and experiences of Black Americans.

Tyrell Bell and the Belle Singers, featuring Ian Johnson, perform “Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus,” for ‘Gospel,’ a new program hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Credit: McGee Media

Discover Black History Month Programming on WTTW

Meredith Francis

Celebrate Black History Month this year on WTTW with a wide variety of programming that explores the political, artistic, musical, and other contributions and experiences of Black Americans. 

Food at Luella's Southern Kitchen

Celebrate Black-Owned Businesses (and Michael Jordan) with Chicago BLACK Restaurant Week

Daniel Hautzinger

Now in its eighth year, Chicago BLACK Restaurant Week celebrates the "Jordan Year," 2023, after the legendary athlete's number, by offering deals and events to support Black-owned restaurants. 

Jessye Norman

What to Watch on WTTW for Black History Month

Meredith Francis

Black History Month brings a myriad of engaging programs that tell the stories of Black history, arts, culture, and more.

Carl Rowan (center right) with Vice President Lyndon Johnson, 1963. Photo: The Finnish Heritage Agency

Celebrate Black History Month with WTTW's Programming

Daniel Hautzinger

Chicago has a rich and ongoing set of Black history and stories, and Black History Month in February is always a good excuse to further explore them and other stories from around the country. Discover our programming celebrating Black History Month.

Harold Washington on WTTW's 'Callaway Interviews' in 1980

Mayor Harold Washington Through the Years, in His Own Words

Daniel Hautzinger

Harold Washington was a frequent guest on WTTW over the course of his political career. Hear him discuss his upbringing, his coalitional politics, the Council Wars when he was mayor of Chicago, and more in archival interviews ranging from 1968 through 1984.

Marian Anderson singing at her concert at the Lincoln Memorial, April 9, 1939. Photo: Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo

What to Watch in February

Lisa Tipton

Celebrate stories of African American resilience, resistance, and culture, with documentaries about Marian Anderson, the Black church, a groundbreaking public television show, and more.
Host, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Photo: McGee Media

Celebrate Black History Month with WTTW in 2021

Daniel Hautzinger

This February, celebrate Black History Month with a variety of WTTW programming over air and online that explores African American history, stories in the larger African diaspora, and Black culture in America. 

Hazel Johnson with Vice President Al Gore at the White House

The Chicago Woman Who Fought to Clean Up the Southeast Side

Daniel Hautzinger

Hazel Johnson described her Southeast Side community as existing within a "toxic donut," surrounded by landfills, industrial facilities, incinerators, and more. Her activism on behalf of marginalized communities led her to the White House and the title of the "mother of environmental justice."

Brochures advertising events organized by Vivian Harsh at the Hall Branch of the Chicago Public Library

The Chicago Librarian Who Created a Lauded Collection of African American History and Literature

Daniel Hautzinger

Vivian Harsh helped make Bronzeville's library a center for African American writers and intellectuals, hosting speakers such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Zora Neale Hurston and amassing a collection of books and manuscripts by the likes of Langston Hughes and Richard Wright.
Etta Moten Barnett singing "My Forgotten Man" in "Gold Diggers of 1933"

The Many Pioneering Lives of Etta Moten Barnett

Daniel Hautzinger

She went from being a young mother from Texas to becoming one of the first black women to appear onscreen not as a stereotype and the first to sing at the White House. Gershwin wanted her for Porgy and Bess – and later she became a liasion to Africa and a Chicago cultural patron.
Baldwin Ice Cream factory

The Black- and Woman-Led Success of a Chicago Ice Cream Company

Daniel Hautzinger

Baldwin Ice Cream began as a parlor opened by seven African American postal workers on the South Side and eventually grew to offering ice cream in major Midwestern grocery stores and at O'Hare, thanks in part to Jolyn Robichaux, its president for more than two decades.
A statue of Queen Njinga outside the Fortaleza de São Miguel in Luanda, Angola. (Courtesy of Cécile Fromont)

Africa's Global Objects: Cécile Fromont at the Art Institute

Daniel Hautzinger

Cécile Fromont is a professor of Art History at the University of Chicago specializing in Central Africa and Brazil who appears in the new, three-part documentary Africa's Great Civilizations. 
Maya Angelou, circa late 70s, early 80s. (Courtesy of Getty)

"Her Life is History": The Universality of Maya Angelou

Daniel Hautzinger

Maya Angelou was beyond prolific, and her life touched on many of the most significant people and events of the twentieth century. The creators of a film about the great woman discuss the difficulty of capturing her multi-faceted life on film, why they admire her, and what she was like.
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