What To Watch: Black History Month Specials, Movies And Documentaries
TVLine is marking Black History Month by spotlighting special programming that will be unspooling throughout the month of February.
The list below features a plethora of documentaries (old and new) chronicling Black history both in America and popular culture. You can hear the untold story behind Martin Luther King Jr.'s murder in the Smithsonian Channel's MLK: The Assassination Tapes, celebrate the first Black astronauts in Black in Space: Breaking the Color Barrier, and deep dive into President Barack Obama's powerful speeches in The Obama Years: The Power of Words.
Fans of the arts also have plenty to take in, including a movie about the life and loss of Whitney Houston and the premiere of HBO's Black Art: In the Absence of Light (which will highlight the works of contemporary artists such as Theaster Gates, Amy Sherald and more).
Other films featured here are known for breaking boundaries, whether fictional or based on true events. Catch Showtime's Spike Lee double feature (including the Oscar-nominated Do the Right Thing), or revisit the Jacksons biopic An American Dream, which shares the behind-the-scenes highs and lows of the famous family.
In addition, musician Pharrell Williams and filmmaker Kasi Lemmons search for rare accounts of their enslaved ancestors in PBS' Finding Your Roots, and Disney Channel stars help introduce viewers to up-and-coming Black youngsters who are making history.
Below is our curated list of selections from HBO, Smithsonian Channel, PBS and other outlets.
FEBRUARY 1-7
MONDAY, FEB. 1
Use Your Voice (Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD) | This new and ongoing series of interstitials, geared for kids age 2-7, launches with the story of Vice President Kamala Harris — told through the art of motion graphics and featured paintings by teen prodigy Tyler Gordon.
South Central (ALLBLK streaming service) | Bobby Johnson (Menace II Society's Glenn Plummer) finds religion and rehabilitation in prison, only to find out upon release that his young son Jimmie (Moesha's Christian Coleman) has joined his former gang.
The Jacksons: An American Dream (ALLBLK) | Based on Katherine Jackson's autobiography My Family, this decades-spanning miniseries follows the Jacksons' rise from a small steel town to the world's biggest stages; Lawrence Hilton Jacobs (Welcome Back, Kotter), Angela Bassett (9-1-1), Jason Weaver (Smart Guy), Jermaine Jackson II (Moonwalker) and Holly Robinson (Hangin' With Mr. Cooper) star.
TUESDAY, FEB. 2
9:00 pm Civil War 360: Fight for Freedom (Smithsonian Channel) | Enslaved people who fought for freedom share their horrific experiences; Dennis Haysbert (24) hosts.
9:00 pm The Jazz Ambassadors (PBS) | While traveling the world as cultural ambassadors, America's greatest jazz musicians faced a challenging dilemma of representing a country that still practiced Jim Crow segregation.
10:00 pm Escape to the Great Dismal Swamp (Smithsonian Channel) | Archaeologists find evidence that refugee slaves in the 1800s lived and thrived in the Great Dismal Swamp, choosing to suffer there and keep their freedom, rather than live in slavery.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 3
10:00 pm Unsung (TV One) | Catch an encore presentation of the episodes spotlighting James Brown.
THURSDAY, FEB. 4
Blueprint (ALLBLK) | A young Black man (Project Blue Book's Jerod Haynes) searches for his identity following a fatal shooting in the South Side of Chicago.
A Boy. A Girl. A Dream (ALLBLK) | Cass (Power's Omari Hardwick) and Frida (Deception's Meagan Good) embark on an emotional journey on the night of the 2016 Presidential election, as they push each other to revisit broken dreams and discover themselves.
For Ahkeem (ALLBLK) | This 2017 documentary follows Daje Shelton, a 17-year-old who vows to make herself a better future after getting expelled from her Ferguson, Miss. high school — but the challenges many Black teens face consistently stand in her way.
My First Love (ALLBLK) | Omar (Ray Donovan's Pooch Hall) and Carmen's (A Black Lady Sketch Show's Gabrielle Dennis) marriage is on the rocks thanks to their addiction to electronic devices. Can they find a resolution before their love comes to an end?
6:50 pm Spike Lee Double Feature (Showtime) | In Mo' Better Blues, a series of bad decisions jeopardizes the career of fictional jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (Malcolm X's Denzel Washington); then at 9 pm, catch Lee's Oscar-nominated Do the Right Thing, which explores simmering racial tension and tragedy in a Brooklyn neighborhood.
SATURDAY, FEB. 6
8:00 pm The 22nd Annual Super Bowl Gospel Celebration (BET) | This year's event will be hosted by radio and TV personality Rickey Smiley and feature performances by The NFL Players Choir, Erica Campbell, Voices of Fire presented by Pharrell Williams, PJ Morton, Kierra Sheard, Koryn Hawthorne, Zacardi Cortez and John P. Kee.
SUNDAY, FEB. 7
With Drawn Arms (Bounce TV) | Tommie Smith looks back 50 years to the moment that helped define a movement and changed the course of his life forever.
FEBRUARY 8-14
MONDAY, FEB. 8
In the Nook (Disney Channel) | Network stars help introduce viewers to notable Black men and women making history; Chandler Kinney and Ariel Martin (Zombies 2) interview 14-year-old painting prodigy Tyler Gordon about overcoming bullying; Ramon Reed (Just Roll With It) and Christian J. Simon (Sydney to the Max) interview 15-year-old Jessica Hyatt, who is close to making history as the world's first Black female chess master.
9:00 pm American Experience: Goin' Back to T-Town (PBS) | Greenwood, a Black community in Tulsa, Okla., was torn apart by a racially motivated massacre in 1921. Those who lived through it share their bittersweet stories of integration, urban renewal and violence.
9:00 pm Black Wings (Smithsonian Channel) | Meet the Black men and women who took to the skies throughout the 20th century, contributing to the development of aviation all while battling segregation and racism.
10:00 pm Breath of Freedom (Smithsonian Channel) | The story of one million-plus African Americans who fought in World War II is told, with interviews of Colin Powell, Tuskegee ace pilot Roscoe Brown and Charles Evers, brother of Civil Rights activist and WWII veteran Medgar Evers.
10:30 pm Lara and the Beat (Bounce TV) | In this Nigerian film, when two sisters' glamorous lifestyle comes to a screeching halt, they try to rebuild their fortunes and salvage their family's legacy. Stars Seyi Shay, Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama and Vector Ogunmefun.
TUESDAY, FEB. 9
3:00 pm King (Part 1, Bounce TV) | Paul Winfield, Cicely Tyson, Ossie Davis, Howard E. Rollins Jr., Ernie Hudson, Tony Bennett and Al Freeman Jr. star in this 1978 miniseries about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stretching from his days as a Southern Baptist minister up to his assassination in 1968.
9:00 pm Black Art: In the Absence of Light (HBO) | Directed by documentarian Sam Pollard (Atlanta Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children), this new film highlights the work of some of the foremost African American visual artists of today, including Theaster Gates, Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Amy Sherald, Carrie Mae Weems and more.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 10
Unsung marathon (TV One) | Catch encore presentations of the episodes spotlighting The Dramatics (at 8/7c), David Ruffin (9 pm) and Tammi Terrell (10 pm).
1:00 pm King (miniseries Part 2, Bounce TV)
THURSDAY, FEB. 11
Lila and Eve (ALLBLK) | Lila (How to Get Away With Murder's Viola Davis) gets help from Eve (Selena's Jennifer Lopez), who urges her to track down her son's killers.
1:00 pm King (miniseries Part 3, Bounce TV)
8:00 pm Whitney: Can I Be Me (Showtime 2) | Commemorating the ninth anniversary of Houston's death, this 2017 film documents the life, career and tragedy of the diva sensation.
SUNDAY, FEB. 14
4 pm Represent Black Love movie marathon (TV One) | Through 11 pm, catch Mahogany (starring Diana Ross), Carmen Jones (starring Dorothy Dandridge) and Claudine (starring Diahann Carroll).
FEBRUARY 15-21
MONDAY, FEB. 15
8:00 pm Southside With You (Bounce TV) | Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter star in this 2018 indie about the summer afternoon when the future President of the United States, Barack Obama, took his future First Lady, Michelle Obama, on a first date.
9:00 pm American Experience: Voice of Freedom (PBS) | Explore the life of singer Marian Anderson, who in 1939 was banned from performing at Constitution Hall because she was Black, only to later make American history by performing at the Lincoln Memorial.
9:00 pm Seizing Justice: The Greensboro 4 (Smithsonian Channel) | A coffee order in February of 1960 sparked a revolution that helped put an end to segregation in the United States, as four Black college students held a nonviolent sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter.
10:00 pm MLK: The Assassination Tapes (Smithsonian Channel) | A collection of rare footage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination reveals the untold details and events surrounding one of the most shocking murders in America.
TUESDAY, FEB. 16
8:00 pm Finding Your Roots: Write My Name in the Book of Life (PBS) | With the help of historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., musician Pharrell Williams and filmmaker Kasi Lemmons search for rare first-person accounts of their enslaved ancestors.
8:00 pm Gifted Hands (Bounce TV) | Cuba Gooding Jr., Kimberly Elise and Aunjanue Ellis star in this 2009 biopic about Dr. Ben Carson, who as a young man who was inspired by his mother to overcome poverty and prejudice and became a pioneer in the field of neurosurgery.
9:00 pm The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song (PBS) | Explore the 400-year history of the Black church in America, as historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. retraces its resilience, autonomy and freedom. (Re-airs Feb. 17 at 9 pm.)
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17
Unsung marathon (TV One) | Catch encore presentations of the episodes spotlighting Teddy Pendergrass (at 8/7c), Blue Magic (9 pm) and Switch (10 pm).
THURSDAY, FEB. 18
Chris Brown: Welcome to My Life (ALLBLK) | The singer tells the story behind his passion for music and highly publicized relationships in this 2017 documentary, which includes concert footage and special interviews with Usher, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Lopez and more.
FRIDAY, FEB. 19
5:00 pm Road To Freedom: The Vernon Johns Story (Bounce TV) | James Earl Jones stars in this 1994 film about Vernon Johns, who preceded Martin Luther King Jr. as minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and is known as the father of the civil rights movement.
9:00 pm Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America (PBS) | Take a deeper look into how the invention of the automobile brought both freedoms and perils for African Americans in America over time.
SATURDAY, FEB. 20
Sounder (TV One) | The late Cicely Tyson earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in this 1972 adaptation of the young adult novel by William H. Armstrong, which tells the story of a family of poor black sharecroppers struggling in the Depression-plagued South.
SUNDAY, FEB. 21
3:00 pm Lean On Me (Bounce TV) | Morgan Freeman stars as Joe Clark, the New Jersey high school principal who won the respect of his students for his controversial methods in ridding the school of violent students and drug dealers.
8:00 pm BET and CBS News Present: Boiling Point (BET) | This six-part docuseries explores Black America's longstanding struggle for racial justice and equality through CBS News' archival content, original interviews and never-before-seen footage of dramatic flashpoints in history – including George Wallace's Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, Bloody Sunday in Selma, the Attica Prison Uprising, L.A. Riots, Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the killing of George Floyd.
9:00 pm Disrupt & Dismantle (BET) | In this six-part series, Soledad O'Brien investigates injustices across the nation affecting the Black community, from police brutality to redlining to school to prison pipeline, to the infant mortality crisis fueled by systemic racism.
FEBRUARY 22-28
MONDAY, FEB. 22
9:00 pm Black in Space: Breaking the Color Barrier (Smithsonian Channel) | Hear the untold story of when the White House and NASA put the first Black astronaut into orbit, during a time when the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race collided.
10:00 pm The Obama Years: The Power of Words (Smithsonian Channel) | The legacy-defining speeches of President Barack Obama are examined by historians and key figures involved in his writing process, all of whom provide rare insight into the magic behind his iconic words.
10:00 pm Mr. SOUL! (PBS) | Celebrate the work of Ellis Haizlip, who in 1968 developed the public television variety show SOUL! as a way to promote the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24
Unsung marathon (TV One) | Catch encore presentations of the episodes spotlighting Roxanne Shante (at 8/7c), Mtume (9 pm) and DeBarge (10 pm).
THURSDAY, FEB. 25
88 (ALLBLK) | The lives of police and community leaders intersect following the murder of an NYPD officer and the eruption of social unrest in 1980s Queens, N.Y.; Markees Christmas (Morris From America), Fredro Starr (Moesha) and Mitchell Edwards (All American) star.