Watch Making Black America
MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE is a four-part series from executive producer, host and writer Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., which will premiere October 4th on PBS stations nationwide.
Episode 4 Preview
From Black Power to Black Twitter hour four reveals safe spaces created by Black America.
Episode 3
Hour three uncovers vast social networks created by Black Americans to defeat Jim Crow.
Harlem, The Black Metropolis
Hour 3 looks at the black businesses, churches, and entertainment of Harlem, the “Black Metropolis.”
Episode 2
Hour two of MAKING BLACK AMERICA explores the nation within a nation built by Black Americans out of necessity.
Episode 2 Preview
Hour two of MAKING BLACK AMERICA the genesis of organizations and networks that paved the way for Black life to flourish.
Episode 1
Hour one details how African Americans have created spaces for survival, pleasure and joy.
Episode 3 Preview
This hour of Making Black America focuses on organizing for change in the Black community.
The Building of HBCUs
Since 1837, more than 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities have been founded in the United States – most in the half century following the Civil War.
How A’Lelia Walker Created Safe, Sacred places for Black Artists
Madame CJ Walker’s daughter, A’Lelia Walker, fostered Black community by hosting salons.
Annie Malone’s and CJ Walker’s Beauty Empires
MAKING BLACK AMERICA explores how Annie Malone and CJ Walker built their beauty empires
What is Black Love?
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. asks his “Making Black America” panel of experts to define “Black love.”
The Evolution of Black Literature
The first episode of “Making Black America” includes an exploration of the evolution of Black Literature, including a discussion on poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.
Extended Trailer
MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE highlights the vibrant cultural and social spaces at the heart of the African American experience.
Inside Look
MAKING BLACK AMERICA directors Stacey L. Holman and Shayla Harris discuss the significance of telling stories that help build Black culture as we know it today.
Trailer 2
MAKING BLACK AMERICA draws viewers into an extraordinary world that showcased Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.
Trailer
MAKING BLACK AMERICA chronicles the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people beyond the reach of the “White gaze.”