Grades: 7-12
Length: 8/30 Minute
Rights: Annual Lease
Wednesday, October 1, 2:00-4:00 a.m. #1-4
Thursday, October 2, 2:00-4:00 a.m. #5-8
Wednesday, February 11, 2:00-4:00 a.m. #1-4
Thursday, February 12, 2:00-4:00 a.m. #5-8
Wednesday, May 27, 2:00-4:00 a.m. #1-4
Thursday, May 28, 2:00-4:00 a.m. #5-8
This original, eight-part series documents Black Achievement in American history, its defining role in the growth of a country, and influence on current events. Presented by James Avery, the series highlights the many contributions of Black Americans that have influenced our culture, enriched our society with their achievements, and shaped the history of the United States. It's one of the least known stories in American history. It is the story of black achievement and accomplishment. Against all odds, American blacks have built their own institutions: families, schools, churches and businesses. Against all odds, American blacks have created great art and science and fought heroically in every American war. Against all odds, black men and women have worked endlessly to secure their own freedom and equality. The untold Story of blacks in America is a 350-year saga of incredible achievements. This is that story.
1.) Settling The New World And Founding The U.S. Of America
1619 - 1621 - Blacks Arrive At Jamestown
1705 - The Virginia General Assembly Passes The Slave Codes
1762 - Entrepreneur Samuel Fraunces Opens New York City's Most Cherished Revolutionary War Site
1770 - Crispus Attucks And The Black Patriots
2.) Emergence Of The Black Hero
1772 - Chicago Is Settled By Jean Dusable
1776 - Lemuel Haynes Helps Lay The Foundation For Abolition
1791 - The First Black Man Of Science, Benjamin Banneker, Surveys Washington, D.C.
1821 - African Grove Theatre Founded In New York.
1822 - Denmark Vesey And The Slave Revolts
1823 - Legendary Mountain Man James Beckwourth Enters The Rockies
1849 - Harriet Tubman Uses Underground Railroad To Become Free
3.) The Fight For Freedom
1851 - Sojourner Truth Delivers Famous Ain't I A Woman? Speech
1854 - First Black University Founded: Lincoln University
1855 - Frederick Douglass Publishes My Bondage And My Freedom
1857 - Dred Scott Decision Helps Trigger The Civil War
1863 - Lincoln Signs Emancipation Proclamation
1863 - Black Regiment Storms Fort Wagner In The Civil War
1865 - 1869 - 13th, 14th And 15th Amendments Establish Civil Rights For All
4.) Blacks Enter The Gilded Age
1875 - Robert Smalls, Former Slave, Elected To House
1878 - The Black Cowboy And George Mcjunkin
1881 - Booker T. Washington Opens Tuskegee Institute
1884 - T. Thomas Fortune Prophesises The Long And Bitter Struggle For Equality
1887 - Granville T. Woods, Called The 'Black Edison,' Patents The Induction Telegraph System
1893 - Ida B. Wells-Barnett Crusades Against Black Lynching In America
1896 - Plessy V. Ferguson Case Upholds Segregation
5.) The Foundation For Equality
1904 - Scott Joplin And Ma Rainey Initiate The Merger Of Two Cultures
1909 - Matthew Henson Discovers The North Pole
1909 - W.E.B. Dubois Founds The NAACP
1924 - George Washington Carver Renaissance Man
1925 - Alain Locke Leads Harlem Renaissance
1926 - Satchel Paige Stars In The National Negro Baseball League
6.) Depression And War
1935 - Mary Mcleod Bethune: American Woman Of The 20th Century
1936 - 1938 - Jesse Owens And Joe Louis Debunk Hitler's Claim Of Aryan Superiority
1939 - Hattie Mcdaniel Wins The Oscar
1940 - First Black General, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., Is Stepping Stone To Desegregation Of U.S. Army
1943 - Duke Ellington's Band Performs Black, Brown And Beige At Carnegie Hall
7.): Civil Rights
1950 - Ralph Bunche Wins The Nobel Peace Prize
1950 - Gwendolyn Brooks Becomes The First Black Recipient Of The Pulitzer Prize
1954 - Brown V. Board Of Education Of Topeka, Kansas
1955 - Rosa Parks Refuses To Give Up Her Seat To A White Passenger On A Montgomery Bus
1956 - Althea Gibson, First Black Woman To Win A Tennis Grand Slam Event
1959 - Lorraine Hansberry's Play 'A Raisin In The Sun Is Produced
1963 - Martin Luther King Jr. Delivers His I Have A Dream Speech
8.) A New Age
1967 - Muhammad Ali Refuses Induction Into The U.S. Army On Religious Grounds
1967 - Thurgood Marshall, First Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice
1977 - Alex Haley's Roots: The Saga Of An American Family Appears On TV
2001 - Colin Powell Appointed Secretary Of State
2004 - Neil Degrasse Tyson Becomes Astrophysics' Superstar