African-American History

Documentary about the American gospel music scene, focusing on two of the movement's pioneering forces, Thomas A. Dorsey and Willie May Ford Smith.

This inspirational saga follows the life of controversial pastor Vernon Johns - now known as the father of the civil rights movement.

A documentary of the history of American slavery from its beginnings in the British colonies through the years of post-Civil War Reconstruction, this series examines the integral role slavery played in shaping the new country and challenges the long held notion that it was exclusively a Southern enterprise. Remarkable stories of individual slaves offer fresh perspectives on the slave experience.

The history of African Americans.

A comprehensive survey of the American Civil War.

The history of legal official racial segregation in the USA.

A documentary about the American Civil Rights Movement from 1952 to 1965.

Boxing documentary on the 1974 world heavyweight championship bout between defending champion, George Foreman, and the underdog challenger, Muhammad Ali.

Five sassy, tap dancing women aged 84 - 96. Meet the "Silver Belles".

This music biography portrays the life of the legendary blues singer and songwriter Alberta Hunter. After 40 years of show business success beginning in the 1920's, Alberta became a nurse. Twenty years later, when the hospital thought she was 70, she was forced to retire. Still anxious to do something with her life, she returned to singing, to enjoy an acclaimed comeback. Her age was really 82! MY CASTLE'S ROCKIN' traces Alberta's remarkable career through the 20th Century, incorporating her best live performances from New York's famous downtown night spot, The Cookery. Ms. Hunter opened her personal archives to the producer for this documentary, sharing never before seen photos and other momentos from her celebrated career. The film features Alberta Hunter's final interview before her death in 1984; plus interviews with her manager, nightclub entrepreneur Barney Josephson; her record producer, the legendary John Hammond, and others.

A survey of the musical form's history and major talents.

A documentary on the history of the sport with major topics including Afro-American players, player/team owner relations and the resilience of the game.

The story of Jack Johnson, the first African-American Heavyweight boxing champion.

A gay man seeks to discover what kinship, if any, exists between his white family and the nearby blacks who share the name of Alston.

At Christmas 2003, New York-based film critic Godfrey Cheshire is visiting his family in North Carolina when his cousin Charlie Silver tells him something startling. Charlie inherited Midway Plantation, the ancestral home of his and Cheshire's extended family, and has been its devoted caretaker. But now Charlie and his wife Dena have made a decision: They want to move Midway - the antebellum manor house and several outbuildings - to a new location to escape Raleigh's encroaching sprawl. Can you really transplant a plantation? Will the "place" be the same if it is uprooted from the soil in which it has stood since 1848? Charlie's plan provokes immediate controversy in Cheshire's tradition-minded family. For Cheshire, it brings back memories of the wild, strange and magical place Midway seemed when he was a child, and of the stories he heard there - stories of his mother's family, the Hintons, settling the area in the early 1700s, fighting in the Revolution, being invaded by Yankee troops in the Civil War, and surviving Reconstruction. Yet stories, Cheshire realizes, both convey and conceal. The reality of the Southern plantation was that it depended on the institution of slavery. In Cheshire's family, stories of slaves always depicted them as happy and devoted, which surely disguised a more painful, complex reality. In fact, Midway bred two sets of Hintons, one white, one black. For years, they have rarely encountered each other. But that begins to change as Cheshire sets out to chronicle Charlie's attempt to move Midway.

This documentary traces the deep-rooted stereotypes which have fueled anti-black prejudice.

Analyzes the evolution of television's earlier, unflattering portrayal of blacks from 1948 until 1988, when they are depicted as prosperous and as having achieved the American dream, a portrayal that is inconsistent with reality.

A documentary about the experiences of black homosexual men living in the United States of America.

A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.

The Icons from the "Harlem Drag Balls" are influencing the biggest stars in pop culture for decades and they are telling their untold stories of their time. The creative lifestyle, fierceness and fabulousness, is the ultimate challenge in fashion, on the runway and dance floor for recognition and fame. Wolfgang Busch is capturing the creative way society's disenfranchised express themselves through movement and creativity.

Documentary covering a Stax Records-sponsored all-day concert at the 1972 Watts Summer Festival with performances by Stax Records artists such as Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, The Staples Singers, and more.

On July 21;1983;the legendary Diana Ross took the stage in New York's Central Park before an audience of over 800,000. Soon after the entertainer began;pouring rain and heavy wind threatened to put an end to the show;but Diana pushed on for much of the set;urging the drenched crowd to remain calm and stay with her. Eventually the torrential storm put an end to the performance;but not before Diana promised her fans she would return the next day. True to her word;Diana performed the entire concert again on July 22nd for the people of New York.

The work of a notable civil rights crusader in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.