You can and should watch, at this link, the 23-minute film Railroad Ties, presented by Ancestry® and SundanceTV.
“Six descendants of fugitive slaves and abolitionists come together in Brooklyn to discover more about their lineage. Documenting each person learning about their ancestors, and featuring renowned historian, Henry Louis Gates Jr., the film interweaves powerful personal moments with contextual historical anecdotes.”
Here’s the CBS News story about Railroad Ties.
In Buffalo, NY, The Blackness Project is helping people talk about race.
It is “a featured length documentary film about culture and race from the perspectives of African American and other minorities. The film was inspired from conversations about the “Whiteness Project” which is a similar documentary discussing race and the perceived loss of white privilege by white Americans. The main purpose of The Blackness Project film is to bridge the gap between white and black Americans with in depth interviews on race.
My buddy Ken Screven Remains Active, Despite On-Air Retirement
“Years after his retirement from WRGB-TV after 38 years of telling stories that touched everyone, reporter Ken Screven remains a fixture in his community, from his Albany Times Union blogs to his active social media following. This Black History Month, we take an in-depth look at the trails he blazed to become the first black on-air reporter in the Capital Region.”
Weekly Sift: I See Color
“Having a choice about whether or not you’ll notice race today is an element of white privilege.”
Alabama Newspaper Calls For Ku Klux Klan ‘To Night Ride Again’
This Is What Alvin Ailey Gave Us
“We sat down with Leslie Odom Jr. to talk about Alvin Ailey’s powerful legacy in dance.”
“Ensign Jesse L. Brown, USN In the cockpit of an F4U-4 Corsair fighter, circa 1940. He was the first African-American Naval Aviator to see combat. Brown was shot down over North Korea.”
Meet The Fearless Cook Who Secretly Fed — And Funded — The Civil Rights Movement
“Georgia Gilmore, the Montgomery cook, midwife and activist whose secret kitchen fed the civil rights movement.”
Don Newcombe, a star right-hander for the Dodgers who made history by becoming the first pitcher to win the rookie of the year, most valuable player and Cy Young awards in his career, has died at 92.
Nicknamed Newk, he played for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles and was the first black pitcher to start a World Series game, in 1949.
Ken Levine: MVP Frank Robinson
Within the framework of Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is Your Fourth of July,” Congressman Paul Tonko, as featured speaker for the 2018 July 4th Oration, will reflect on the meaning of July 4th in the context of our current political and social climate.
