B lack H istory M
February 9. 2005
ta i
c o u e ra a e .
onth . f c
Page A 7
B lack H istory Month
PBS Airs Documentary on Slavery
Feature brings
light to unsung
minority heroes
p.m .
“The diaries, the novels, the
letters that we are finding now
have been there for a couple
hundred years. How come we
d id n ’t find them b e fo re ? ”
Horton questions. "Part of the
reason has to do with what we
thought worthy of looking for.”
Narrated by actor Freeman,
the unique, four-hour series is
told through a collage of filmed
re-enactments, providing a de
tailed visual history o f Am eri
can slavery.
ends in late 1876, Grant con
tends that the story of slavery
is extrem ely relevant today.
“ P resident Bush said re
cently that Am ericans do not
like to look in the rearview
mirror, that we are a forward-
looking - not backw ard-look
ing - people,” Grant said of the
president's inaugural address.
“ H ow ever, as Peter W ood,
one o f the historians from
Duke U n iversity, said in the
show, ‘Slavery is ground zero
fo r race
r e l a ti o n s
in
(AP) - The names Colonel
Tye, Robert Smalls and Harriet
Jacobs aren’t as fam iliar as
George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson and Betsy Ross, but
they, too, are the forefathers
and foremothers of America.
They also were slaves. So
were Denmark Vesey, Mum
Bett, Emmanuel and
Frances Driggus, and
millions of other black
pioneers instrumental
in building a barely
charted territory into
one of the strongest
and richest countries
in the world.
Yet their stories
have been largely ig
nored in U.S. history.
“The reason we
don’t know what we
P hoto provided by PBS
ought to know about
Colonel Tye is one o f the many African American forefathers mentioned in
them isn’t because
PBS' “Slavery and the Making o f America. ”
these people haven’t
“This is not African Am eri A m erica.’ If you d o n ’t un
been telling their stories,” said
George W ashington Univer can history, it’s Am erican his derstand that, it’s hard to get
tory. It’s the history of all of a grip on w h a t’s going on
sity historian James Horton.
H e’s am ong 25 scholars us,” notes executive producer today. Or as Jim H orton said,
who provide an unparalleled W illiam R. Grant, director of 'S lav ery w asn’t the sideshow
look at slavery and the re science, natural history and fea in A m erica, it was the main
m arkable stories of individual ture programs for W NET in event in A m erican h isto ry .’”
“ I hope people can look at
slaves in “ Slavery and the New York, which produced
this project in a holistic con
M aking o f A m erica,” airing the series.
And while the documentary text and keep going back to
on PBS on Feb. 9 and 16 at 9
it,” said series producer Dante
J. James.
“ A frican A m ericans have
the right and, arm ed with the
n ecessary kn o w led g e, can
take pride in the way that
enslaved people m aintained,
as best they could, their fam i
lies, their spirituality, d ev el
oped a new culture, brought
(A P P hoto /P B S, J eremy L ock ) new technology to this co u n
In this promotional photo released by PBS, three o f the first 11
try and w ere an essential e le
enslaved Africans arrive in Dutch New Amsterdam in 1626 for
ment in this nation becom ing
purchase by the Dutch West India Company, as shown in a
the
e c o n o m ic and c u ltu re
reenactment from PBS' “Slavery and the Making o f America, ”
pow
er
that it is today.”
part o f the network's observation of Black History Month.
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* The first were brought in 1619. The last
freed in 1865. In the intervening 250
years, slaves labored to make America
what it is today.
Black History M onth
1 am more than
my arm.
My back.
My sweat.
I am a fighter.
Mother.
Survivor.
Crusader.
1 am one.
I am many,
1 am America.
Wednesday
February 9 and 16
at 9pm
S U IE II
—
♦AND THE >-------
MAKING of AMERICA
NARRATED BY MORGAN FREEMAN
Be more
PBS
Channel 10
opb.org
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ACHIEVE THEM HERE.
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