HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH
This month NPR honors and acknowledges the role of Black people in our history and their influence on our society and culture. Join us as we share playlists, stories, Tiny Desk concerts, conversations and other special events.
Follow along all month long while we celebrate the past, present and future, find updated NPR Black History Month stories here.
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Hassan Burke
Happy Black History Month
Hassan Burke
LISTEN:
NPR Music
Black History Month Tiny Desk Lineup Jackie Lay hide caption
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Jackie Lay
Black History Month Tiny Desk Lineup
Jackie Lay
Tiny Desk:
"We take tremendous pride in showcasing the many facets of Black culture through music at the Tiny Desk. While we do this year-round, it's only fitting that we turn it up a notch in February, highlighting the best in jazz, gospel, hip hop, R&B, soul and pop in a way that you'll only hear behind the Desk," said NPR Music's Bobby Carter, Senior Producer, NPR Music.
Some of the artists you can expect to hear:
Lady Wray
Theo Crocker
Foushee
Lee Fields
Tamela Mann
Ab-Soul
Omah Lay
See more details here.
Stay tuned for publication dates...
Amplify
New season of Amplify on YouTube
In collaboration with Classical California (KUSC Los Angeles and KDFC San Francisco), NPR Music and Visuals and Lara Downes announce the return of AMPLIFY With Lara Downes, a series of intimate, profoundly personal video conversations with visionary Black artists and cultural leaders who are shaping our creative present and future. The third season launches Thursday Feb.2nd , on NPRMusic.org, YouTube and social media platforms, beginning with the young jazz sensation Samara Joy, a Grammy nominee and winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition.
2/23: NPR x Smithsonian Twitter Spaces conversation on The Black Press and how the press has been used as a tool of resistance.
The Black History Month collection features stories honoring Black history and culture from NPR podcasts and member stations across the country.
PODCASTS:
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Alt. Latino podcast tile.
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Alt.Latino
This month NPR's podcast exploring Latinx history and cultural context through music in a conversational way, will be focusing on music from Afro Latinx musicians. Let the chisme begin!
2/1 - Cimafunk
The Cuban vocalist talks about his connection to the rich Afro Cuban culture that fuels his music and his identity.
2/8 - Cuban Piano 101
A short history of the Cuban piano style that is a perfect blend of European music and Afro Cuban rhythm.
2/15 - Adrian Quesada
During an interview with the prolific Austin based producer/musician, we hear about how Mexican and African American musicians created a distinct Texas soul sound in the years after WWII.
2/22 - Smithsonian Afro Latino Musical Archives
Celebrate Afro Latino music with a deep dive into The Smithsonian's Folkways record label and their collection of authentic folk music from various Latin American and Caribbean countries.
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Throughline:
2/2: Black Panthers
The Black Panther Party's battles for social justice and economic equality are the centerpiece of the Oscar-nominated film 'Judas and The Black Messiah.' In 1968, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover said the Black Panther Party "without question, represents the greatest threat to internal security of the country." And with that declaration he used United States federal law enforcement to wage war on the group. But why did Hoover's FBI target the Black Panther Party more severely than any other Black power organization? Historian Donna Murch says the answer lies in the Panthers' political agenda and a strategy that challenged the very foundations of American society.
2/23 : House Music
Ever since Beyonce's Renaissance dropped last summer, house music has found its way back to mainstream audiences prompting some to ask "Is House back?," but the truth is it never went away. Born out of the ashes of disco in the warehouses of Chicago by Black queer youth in the late 70s and 80s, house music has been the continued soundtrack of parties around the world and laid the groundwork for the most popular musical genre in the world – electronic dance music. And yet, the deeper you dig into the origins of house music the more clear it becomes that the history of house, like the history of rock and roll, is a complicated tale of Black cultural resistance, musical migration and appropriation.
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Kelly Manno/Kelly Manno
Code Switch:
2/8: NFL - Rooney Rule
What does the Rooney Rule — the most high-profile diversity plan in US life — tell us about why DEI initiatives fail?
2/22: Carter G. Woodson
This is the odd story of the descendants of Carter G. Woodson – father of Black history – and their relationship to the man whose ancestors enslaved their own. It will go into the limits of genealogy, the limits of apology and the strange ways that these relationships play out.
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It's Been a Minute
02/03: Look Back at Luther Vandross
On this episode, host Brittany Luse speaks to music journalist Craig Seymour about how Luther changed the sound of R&B, and how his imprint on the culture still shows up today.
Samara Joy
How do you make music feel timeless as a Gen Z jazz singer? It's Been a Minute explores this question with jazz singer Samara Joy.
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Short Wave:
2/1: Ancient Night Skies
Moiya McTier talks with us about what night skies humans saw thousands of years ago and what mythologies emerged.
2/7: Pulse Oximeter
Pulse oximeters are used to read blood oxygen levels and sometimes are used to determine if someone should be hospitalized. But they don't seem to work well on Black skin. Guest Kimani Toussaint is part of a lab that is working on technology to fix this issue.
Australian Tomato
Tanisha Williams, a botanist, plant ecologist and co-founder of #BlackBotanistsWeek, returns to Short Wave to discuss her team's discovery of the Garrarnawun Bush Tomato (Solanum scalarium) - a previously undocumented plant in the Australian Outback that was growing in plain sight.
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Ted Radio Hour
The Three Mothers
MLK Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin are household names, but what about their mothers? This hour, author Anna Malaika Tubbs explores how these three women shaped American history.
RADIO:
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Morning Edition
2/1: The Woodsons:
An American story if there ever was one. The story of Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Black History Week, and his white slave-holding ancestors and their reconciliation.
2/2: Bruce's Beach
Activists aren't so happy with the Black family that got their stolen beach returned, then turned around and sold it back to LA for $20 million.
Poet J. Ivy Profile
Poet J. Ivy is a nominee for the Grammys' Best Spoken Word Poetry Album award — a new category he helped create, after petitioning the Recording Academy. His nominated album features musicians such as John Legend; he has been on HBO Def poetry, and has collaborated with Jay-Z and Kanye West. He's also Time Magazine's Editor at large for Poetry and was featured on Ebony Power 100 List.
Opera Ebony Profile
The groundbreaking company founded by two gifted singers without much money or formal training was founded fifty years ago. Since then, Opera Ebony has been a launching pad for scores of Black singers and toured all over the world. Freelancer Brandon Gates interviews co-founder Wayne Sanders.
Nkechi Okoro Carroll
One of the most prolific Black showrunners in TV is also one of the most under-recognized. But she built a career out of telling stories about characters of color who were often ignored by TV networks.
The Sign
Black playwright Lorraine Hansberry is best known for A Raisin in the Sun, but she had another play produced – and now it's back, starring Oscar Issac and Rachel Brosnahan. And it couldn't be more relevant – addressing the guilt and missteps of white liberals as they wrestle with issues of race.
Samora Pinderhughes Profile
Jazz musician Samora Pinderhughes' The Healing Project is a multi-disciplinary work exploring policing, incarceration and structural violence across the United States. The Carnegie Hall premiere is February 10, produced by director Anna Deavere Smith, composer and pianist Vijay Iyer, and conceptual artist Glenn Ligon.
READ:
2/1 Ya Books Roundup:
5 Winter 2023 Contemporary YA Novels about Identity and Overcoming Hardship
2/2 Book Review: Black on Black
Daniel Black's Black on Black: On Our Resilience and Brilliance in America is a collection of essays that dig deep into Blackness, history, and racial tension in this country, while simultaneously serving as a powerful call to action and a celebration of Black culture.
Targeted Authors
The college board's updated curriculum for its AP African American Studies course, reworked after political pressure from conservatives, removed some notable authors. Books by those same writers have been targeted in recent campaigns against libraries. These are the topics that right-wing activists are pushing back on.
Find your Member station's Black History Month coverage here:
HBCU Member Stations
Did you know that there are many NPR Member stations who are licensed to HBCUs? You can check out the wide variety of programming they provide, such as jazz and gospel music, news, and how they serve their communities overall:
WSNC-FM Winston-Salem State University
WSSB-FM South Carolina State University
WPRL-FM Alcorn State University
WCSU-FM Central State University
WNCU-FM North Carolina Central University
WEAA-FM Morgan State University
WVAS-FM Alabama State University
KPVU-FM Prairie View A&M University
WJAB-FM Alabama A&M University
WURC-FM Rust College, Inc.
WRVS-FM Elizabeth City State University
WCLK-FM Clark Atlanta University
WJSU-FM Jackson State University
WESM-FM University of Maryland- Eastern Shore
