See http://pressroom.pbs.org/filefolder/Black_History_Month_2010_rls_1.12.10.doc
Press release: PBS Explores African-American Contributions to History and Society
ARLINGTON, VA €“January 6, 2010 — Throughout the year, PBS invites viewers to explore the vast contributions of African Americans. In honor and celebration of Black History Month, February 2010, PBS presents new and encore programs, beginning in January and continuing through February.
2010 brings a new primetime series hosted by Tavis Smiley. On Wednesday, January 27, TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS accompanies Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on diplomatic missions and goes behind the scenes at the State Department. AUSTIN CITY LIMITS and AMERICAN MASTERS take viewers onstage and backstage with performances and stories of groundbreaking musicians in new episodes, €œMos Def/K’naan�? and €œSam Cooke: Crossing Over,�? respectively.
On Thursday, February 11, 2010, PBS presents IN PERFORMANCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE €œA Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement,�? a concert in the White House East Room. President and Mrs. Obama will host the event in honor of Black History Month. The evening will be taped live by WETA Washington, D.C. on February 10 and air on February 11 at 8 p.m. ET on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings). The music special will include Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Seal, Smokey Robinson and the Blind Boys of Alabama, with a complete talent line-up announced in the coming weeks.
Acclaimed Harvard scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. investigates the ancestry of 12 renowned Americans, including poet Elizabeth Alexander, who composed and read the poem at President Barack Obama’s inauguration, and writer Malcolm Gladwell, with FACES OF AMERICA WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., a new four-part series.