Black History Month: Watch and Listen

A film by James Blue that takes the viewer behind the planning and mounting of the Civil Rights March on Washington in August, 1963. The film culminates with scenes at the Lincoln Memorial and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. From the U.S. National Archives.

A seminal documentary series from PBS that covers the Civil Rights movement. First broadcast in 1986, a second season premiered twenty years later, in 2006, to update and expand on the first season, showing the continuing progress and setbacks of the ongoing Civil Rights movement.

Explores a singular neighborhood in Brooklyn that gave rise to an African-American arts movement in the late 20th century as vibrant as the Harlem Renaissance.

A 1997 interview with Ruby Bridges Hall, the first African American child to desegregate an elementary school, about her memories of the first day she entered her new school in New Orleans, her first year when she was in a class of one, and her efforts to improve education.

Track the career of John Hope Franklin, the historian who rewrote U.S. history. His major work, From Slavery to Freedom, forever changed historians' perceptions of the African-American role in building America. Franklin describes the difficulties of growing up black in America, yet his indomitable spirit shines through in an uplifting tale of triumph over adversity.

1983 Shirley Chisolm speech on equal rights and civil rights for African American women.

Audio of South Carolina poet and professor Nikky Finney reading a poem by seminal Southern poet and novelist Margaret Walker.

Digital collection of early recorded performances and sheet music from a variety of African-American composers and performers.

Three giants of African-American Literature read read their own poetry and poems by eleven other poets including Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen, and Sterling Brown. Presented in two sessions: part one: The heritage; part two: The contemporary achievement.

For the opening of the Smithsonian's new National Museum of African American History and Culture, people submitted dozens of objects that make up their own lived experiences of black history, creating a "people's museum" of personal objects, family photos and more. Historically Black is a podcast miniseries that brings those objects and their stories to life through interviews, archival sound and music.

Incredible stories of Black people’s quest for liberation, progress and joy in America. From Virginia Public Media and Molten Heart.

An exploration of the long and rich heritage of African American music in Eastern North Carolina.

Curated Spotify playlists highlighting NC Soul music, the music of Eastern NC, and family-friendly music from NC artists.