MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
The four-part documentary begins as Black people fought for full citizenship during this nation’s founding in the Revolutionary War Era, free African Americans exercised their self-determination by building towns and settlements, establishing schools, and creating societies and associations that would become the foundational pillars of Black America. But, even in this period of a devastating Civil War and the abandonment of a multi-racial democracy, it is a misconception that African Americans' lives were exclusively circumscribed by struggle and resistance. Rather, community, economic independence and artistic expression infused this life behind the color line. From the Prince Hall Masons to the National Association of Colored Women; the Underground Railroad to political conventions; literary societies to all Black theater companies, hour 1 highlights this dynamic sepia world.
Our host, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., speaks with a politician, a member of a fraternal order, a poet laureate, and an actor of stage and screen about the origins of these organizations and networks created by and for Black people. Some of the key voices and networks in this episode include members of the Colored Convention, Jermain Loguen, Mary Peake, the Atlanta washerwomen, the black women’s club movement, African Grove Theater, and the poetry from “Les Cenelles.”