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English
Description
Spirituals have been described both as the literature of American slavery and as the jewels that the slaves brought out of bondage. Today, the harmony, percussive precision, and evangelical fervor of gospel music have made it a hit all around the world. This program spotlights two venerable groups-The Sterling Jubilee Singers and The Four Eagle Gospel Singers-and climaxes with a Sunday gospel quartet celebration. Additional performers include the...
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English
Description
Jazz is born in New Orleans at the turn of the century emerging from several forms of music including ragtime, marching bands, work songs, spirituals, creole music, funeral parade music and above all, the blues. Musicians profiled here who advanced early jazz are Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, Freddie Keppard, and musicians of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
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English
Appears on list
Description
In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary, part music film, part historical record, created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was largely forgotten,...
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English
Description
The Civil War began as a means of preserving the Union. But to nearly four million African Americans, it held a much more personal promise. As Northern armies swept south, self-emancipated slaves sought refuge behind Union lines. Determined to claim basic human rights, former slaves turned soldiers helped defeat their oppressors. But the road to freedom would be a rocky one. Despite continued oppression and violence, African Americans worked tirelessly...
9) Louie Bluie
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English
Description
Documents the obscure country blues musician and idiosyncratic visual artist, Howard 'Louie Bluie' Armstrong, member of the last known black string band in America. Director Terry Zwigoff honors him with an unsentimental but endlessly affectionate tribute. Full of infectious music and comedy, this is a humane evocation of the kind of pop-cultural marginalia that Zwigoff would continue to make in the coming years.
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English
Description
Take an unprecedented look at the intersection of African American women artists, politics and entertainment and hear the story of how six trailblazing performers - Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Diahann Carroll, Nina Simone, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier - changed American culture through their films, fashion, music, and politics.
13) Black wax
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English
Description
Shot entirely on location in Washington, D.C., primarily at the Wax Museum nightclub and on the streets of the city Mr. Scott-Heron long considered his home. Robert Mugge's 1982 film showcases the art, the life, and the personality of the great African American poet-singer-songwriter-author Gil Scott-Heron whom many have called the forefather of hip-hop and socially-conscious rap music, and whom UK music weekly Melody Maker once dubbed "the most...
Language
English
Description
Traces the history of communal singing and the repertoire rooted in the Black church -- from songs of resistance, courage, and pride to songs of determination and faith -- and explores their roles from the Underground Railroad through the Civil Rights movement and into the 90's.