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Posts tagged as “PBS”

Levar Burton's 'Reading Rainbow' Kickstarter Campaign Breaks Record With Number of Backers

By goodblacknews on July 1, 2014

rainbow2f-1-web
‘Star Trek’ actor and ‘Reading Rainbow’ host LeVar Burton has created a supremely successful Kickstarter campaign to make a web version of his award-winning PBS show that’s on track to raise $5 million when it ends. (COURTESY OF READING RAINBOW)

“Star Trek” actor and “Reading Rainbow” host LeVar Burton has created a supremely successful Kickstarter campaign to make a web version of his award-winning PBS show that’s on track to raise $5 million when it ends.
A little “Reading Rainbow” has gone a very long way.
The Kickstarter campaign to create a web version of the award-winning PBS show has broken a record on the crowd fund-raising site for most individual contributors, Entrepreneur magazine reports.
With just one day to go, the effort, created by the show’s executive producer and host LeVar Burton, has amassed more than 97,000 contributors and nearly $5 million.
“Bring Reading Rainbow Back for Every Child, Everywhere” was created at the end of May. In a matter of hours, the campaign surpassed its initial goal of $1 million.
Soon after, “Family Guy” creator Seth McFarlane pledged to match donations to the literary project up to $1 million, Burton announced June 28.
As the “Reading Rainbow” effort quickly became the fifth-most funded campaign on Kickstarter, in an unprecedented move the four bigger campaigns — including the “Veronica Mars” movie project — have all donated rewards to it.
article by Chiderah Monde via nydailynews.com

LeVar Burton Helps Raise $1Million on Kickstarter for "Reading Rainbow" Reboot

By goodblacknews on May 29, 2014

ReadingRainbowLevarBurtonLS_article_story_large
LeVar Burton, host of the children’s educational program Reading Rainbow, started a Kickstarter campaign yesterday with colleagues to create an interactive online version of the reading program for kids everywhere and to help schools in need.  The goal of $1 million was reached in just 11 hours.  (See video of Burton’s reaction below.”
Burton hosted the show since its beginning on PBS in 1983 until it went off the air in 2009 and recently helped launch the Reading Rainbow application for tablets.  The Kickstarter campaign says they would like to be on the internet, not just in an app, so the program is accessible to more children.
With the first $1 million, Reading Rainbow could be placed in over 1,500 classrooms for free.  New extended goals will be released for donations past their original goal, said CEO and writer/director of Reading Rainbow Mark Wolfe in an update.
The 35 day campaign still has 34 days left.  As of Thursday morning, the Kickstarter campaign had raised over $1.7 million with over 37,900 backers who had donated.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-XHuNcSMLc&w=560&h=315]
article by Carrie Healey via thegrio.com

First Lady Michelle Obama Celebrating Female Soul Singers with Concert at White House

By goodblacknews on March 4, 2014

Michelle Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama is bringing together an impressive group of female artists for a White House concert celebrating women of soul.  The lineup for Thursday’s concert includes Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Melissa Etheridge and Janelle Monáe. Also performing will be The Voice winner Tessanne Chin, Ariana Grande and Jill Scott.  The show will be streamed live Thursday night on the White House website and broadcast April 7th on PBS stations as Women of Soul: In Performance at the White House.
It is designed to celebrate what the White House describes as great “foremothers” of American music, with songs exploring the struggles and achievements of women.  In connection with the concert, the White House will hold a workshop for students to learn about the history of women in soul.
article via newsone.com

PBS' "American Masters" to Profile Alice Walker

By goodblacknews on January 24, 2014
American Masters - Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth
Alice Walker at the London premiere of American Masters “Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth,” in London. PBS will commemorate Black History Month with programs including a profile of “The Color Purple” author Walker. The Walker profile will air Feb. 7, 2014. (AP Photo/PBS, Brenda Lawley)
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — PBS will commemorate Black History Month with shows including a profile of The Color Purple author Alice Walker.
The public television service announced Tuesday that the program about Walker will air Feb. 7 as part of the American Masters series.
Other PBS shows marking Black History Month in February include American Promise, a coming-of-age documentary about two young men, and a documentary about a Mississippi state commission that investigated foes of segregation.
American Promise airs Feb. 3 on the POV showcase. Spies of Mississippi will air Feb. 10 on the Independent Lens program.
To mark Black History Month online, PBS.org will offer Behind the Lens, about photographer Eunique Jones Gibson‘s portrayals of prominent African-Americans as youngsters.
article via bigstory.ap.org

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to Lead Viewers on "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey"

By goodblacknews on January 13, 2014

Neil Degrasse Tyson
NEW YORK — Bringing a long list of prepared questions to an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson is a fool’s errand. That’s not to say a conversation with the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History isn’t illuminating — quite the opposite.  It’s just that the gregarious astrophysicist can’t help but find science lurking in every corner, turning even the most banal transaction into a teaching moment. An offer of bottled water, for instance, unexpectedly turns into a lengthy digression about the difficulty of freezing distilled water and the origins of Gatorade.

Tyson’s zeal for knowledge is intoxicating and irresistible, even if it means less time for the ostensible topic of the conversation — his starring role in the documentary series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, premiering on Fox and National Geographic in March.  “I see myself as a servant of the public appetite for the universe,” says Tyson, seated in his office overlooking the giant white sphere of the Hayden Planetarium.
Scattered among hundreds of astronomy books are, among other things, a vanity plate reading “COZMIC,” a life-sized bust of Sir Isaac Newton, a half-dozen or so globes, a quill pen collection, a can of Dole pineapples in “cosmic fun shapes” and a pink boa.
Tyson’s combination of humor, intelligence and accessibility have made him one of the most recognizable scientists in the country and put him atop many fantasy dinner-party guest lists. The author or editor of 10 books, he maintains an active social media presence (1.5 million Twitter followers) and produces a radio show and podcast, “StarTalk Radio.” He’s also become a late-night TV regular, through frequent visits to The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Real Time With Bill Maher.
Now he’s moving into prime time with Cosmos, a follow-up to Carl Sagan’s groundbreaking 1980 PBS series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. In what may seem like an odd pairing, Seth MacFarlane serves as executive producer on the series. Tyson first met the Family Guy creator at a gathering of the Science and Entertainment Exchange in Los Angeles several years ago and later pitched him about getting involved in a Cosmos reboot.

PBS Documentary "The African Americans: Many Rivers To Cross" Airing Every Tuesday Through Nov. 26

By goodblacknews on October 23, 2013

 

It always seemed pretty straightforward. And horrifying. Early African-American history was the story of thousands of Africans who were captured, shipped like cargo to the New World and sold into slavery, mostly to work and die on Southern plantations.  But Henry Louis Gates Jr. and PBS show us that history’s complexity in a beautifully done six-part, six-hour documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, which began on Tuesday night and continues weekly through Nov. 26.

Mr. Gates — the Harvard professor, author and critic — is highly visible, interviewing historians, talking to older black Africans who acknowledge that their ancestors became wealthy through the slave trade, chatting with contemporary black Americans over Hoppin’ John and iced tea, standing at seemingly innocuous city intersections where shameful history unfolded.

Everyone (you hope) knows that slavery existed at least as long ago as Ancient Egypt. Many are also aware that black Africans helped the white slave traders who arrived on their shores. But Episode 1 (“The Black Atlantic: 1500-1800”) delves deeper — in Sierra Leone, the Temne people would sell the Loko people, so they didn’t see it as turning against their own — and points out that Europeans invented the idea that skin color determined who was and was not enslavable. As Mr. Gates observes, “the dehumanization of an entire race” takes a while.

Tavis Smiley Marks 10th Year of Daily Talk Show on PBS

By goodblacknews on May 26, 2013
Talk show host Tavis Smiley speaks during the 'Tavis Smiley' panel at the PBS portion of the 2011 Winter TCA press tour held at the Langham Hotel on January 9, 2011 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Talk show host Tavis Smiley speaks during the ‘Tavis Smiley’ panel at the PBS portion of the 2011 Winter TCA press tour held at the Langham Hotel on January 9, 2011 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tavis Smiley has stood out in 20 years in broadcasting, and he has no intention of changing his style or substance.  He’s the rare black host with national TV and radio platforms, one who sees his job as challenging Americans to examine their assumptions on such thorny issues as poverty, education, and racial and gender equality.

In other words, he doesn’t squander his opportunities on PBS’ daily talk show “Tavis Smiley,” which marks its 10th year this month, or on public radio’s “The Tavis Smiley Show” and “Smiley & West,” the latter a forum for commentary he shares with scholar and activist Cornel West.

His quarterly “Tavis Smiley Reports” specials for PBS, in-depth looks at topics such as the relationship between the juvenile justice system and the teenage dropout rate, fit the same bold pattern.

Smiley, marking two decades in broadcasting this year, considers himself engaged in a calling as much as a career: “This is the kind of work I think needs to be done. I’m trying to entertain and empower people.”

Documentaries 'Girls of Daraja' & 'School of My Dreams' to Air on PBS May 9th

By goodblacknews on May 5, 2013

Educate GirlsTwo short documentaries directed and produced by Barbara Rick about Daraja Academy in Kenya air back-to-back on PBS on May 9th, “Girls of Daraja” followed by “Schools of My Dreams.”

Girls of Daraja:
A boarding secondary school for Kenyan girls with top academic scores and exceptional leadership skills but no means to continue their education. The academy provides shelter, food, healthcare and counseling services which allows students to focus on their academic and personal potential, without being hindered by the everyday barriers of poverty.
School of My Dreams:
An engaging portrait of students of Daraja Academy, a free Kenyan boarding school for exceptional girls living in poverty. In their own words and art, Daraja’s first graduating class demonstrates how education is expanding their vision and unlocking their dreams. They commit to transforming their communities and the world.  Watch the trailer below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfHTRrk8FEc&w=560&h=315]Click here for more info about Daraja Academy and the films.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Whitney Young Documentary On PBS Tells Story Of Unsung Civil Rights Leader

By goodblacknews on February 24, 2013

 Whitney Young Documentary

WASHINGTON — Just before the March on Washington in 1963, President John F. Kennedy summoned six top civil rights leaders to the White House to talk about his fears that civil rights legislation he was moving through Congress might be undermined if the march turned violent.
Whitney Young Jr. cut through the president’s uncertainty with three questions: “President Kennedy, which side are you on? Are you on the side of George Wallace of Alabama? Or are you on the side of justice?”  One of those leaders, John Lewis, later a longtime congressman from Georgia, tells the story of Young’s boldness in “The Powerbroker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights,” a documentary airing during Black History Month on the PBS series “Independent Lens” and shown in some community theaters.

PBS Celebrates Black History Month with Special Programs and New Black Culture Website

By goodblacknews on February 1, 2013

Sister Rosetta Tharpe
In celebration of Black History Month and as part of its year-round commitment to diverse programming, PBS announced an on-air lineup commemorating the contributions of African Americans in music, dance, television and civil rights, providing an in-depth look at key figures and events that shaped black – and American – history. In addition to these programs, PBS announced it will launch the PBS Black Culture Connection, a digital storybook of black films, history, trends and discussion that’s available throughout the year on PBS.org as of today, February 1, 2013. 
“PBS’ mission is clear – to provide accessible, educational, informative programs of every genre and culture all year long. Since February is Black History Month, our schedule is heavily focused on the contributions of African Americans,” said Donald Thoms, Vice President, Programming. “During the month, we are also continuing our commitment to feature stories and films from diverse and independent producers, which remains a staple of our content offerings year round.”