New York Public Radio Celebrates Black History Month
This month, New York Public Radio commemorates Black History Month with a broad array of programming on-air and online highlighting the Black experience in America.
WNYC will air a week of special programming from February 21 – 25, every evening from 8-9 PM. Highlights of these one-hour specials, also available to stream at wnyc.org, include a celebration of American master Toni Morrison from guest host Tayari Jones; a rare chance to hear directly from Black leaders through archival recordings of recorded speeches from Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm and Julian Bond; as well as an encore presentation of our Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event, co-produced with the Apollo Theater.
Every Tuesday night in February at 9 PM, WQXR – New York City’s sole classical music stations – will air one-hour radio documentaries hosted by WQXR’s Terrance McKnight, focusing on important Black composers and musicians, including Florence Beatrice Price, Hazel Scott, and the musical works of Langston Hughes. The station will also pay tribute to three legendary singers with February birthdays: Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson and Reri Grist.
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space will present several virtual events, including the continuation of All of It host Alison Stewart’s book club series with Hell of a Book by New York Times bestselling author Jason Mott; and an exploration of the rich tradition of Black composers, conductors, and musicians in classical music from pianist and Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, Dr. Howard Watkins, hosted by WNYC’s Jami Floyd.
Full schedule below:
Tuesday, February 1, 9PM
I Too, Sing America
WQXR, 105.9FM and online at WQXR.org
Join Terrance McKnight, WQXR host and former Morehouse professor of music, for I, Too, Sing America, which dives into the lesser-known musical compositions of Langston Hughes. An enduring icon of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes is best-known for his written work, which wedded his fierce dedication to social justice with his belief in the transformative power of the word. But he was a music lover, too, and some of the works he was most proud of were collaborations with composers and musicians.
As he did with his poetry, Hughes used music to denounce war, combat segregation and restore human dignity in the face of Jim Crow. His musical adventures included writing lyrics for stage pieces such as Black Nativity and Tambourines to Glory, works that helped give birth to the genre of Gospel Play, as well as songs for radio plays and political campaigns, and the libretto for Kurt Weill’s Street Songs.
Thursday, February 3, 7PM
Deep River: Black Currents in Classical Music
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space (virtual), online at TheGreeneSpace.org
Dr. Howard Watkins, renowned pianist and Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, explores the rich lineage of Black composers by curating a recital delving into the rich repertoire of Black American composers, featuring internationally acclaimed soprano Karen Slack and baritone Kenneth Overton. WNYC’s Jami Floyd hosts this illuminating musical performance followed by an insightful panel discussion about the over 100-year tradition of Blacks as creators, conductors, and patrons of classical music.
A community engagement program co-presented by The Greene Space, the Apollo Theater, WQXR, and the American Composers Orchestra in support of The Gathering.
Wednesday, February 8, 9PM
Still Swinging, Still Classic
WQXR, 105.9FM and online at WQXR.org
Terrance McKnight presents a portrait of Hazel Scott (1920-1981), the wife of late Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and a Juilliard-trained pianist who performed in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls.
Known as the “darling of Café Society,” the Trinidad-born Scott was quickly recognized as a child prodigy, being accepted as a piano student at Juilliard at age 8. By age 14, she was playing in touring female bands while being mentored by Billie Holiday, Fats Waller and Art Tatum.
Thursday, Feb 10, throughout the day
Music to celebrate the 95th birthday of soprano Leontyne Price
WQXR, 105.9FM and online at WQXR.org
Leontyne Price was an American soprano, born in Laurel, Mississippi in 1927. After making her broadway debut in 1952, Price made her name appearing as Bess in a revival of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Over the following decades, she performed in operas and appeared on television and film, even being featured in the 2017 documentary The Opera House at 90 years old. WQXR will celebrate her work by showcasing recordings from her diverse and stellar career.
Tuesday, February 15, 9PM
The Price of Admission
WQXR, 105.9FM and online at WQXR.org
WQXR’s Terrance McKnight hosts “The Price of Admission,” a one-hour program that brings to light the music and legacy of one of America’s pioneering but nearly forgotten composers and takes a biographical look at Price’s symphonic music, songs, and works for piano and organ.
Florence Beatrice Price wrote more than 300 musical compositions. Some of her works have been lost, others are unpublished, and some of piano and vocal music is still being heard in concert halls. When contralto Marian Anderson gave that historic concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, she concluded her recital with Price’s “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord.” And since the 1930s, Price’s art songs and spiritual settings have been favorites of artists who specialize in African American concert music.
Saturday, February 19, 7PM
New York in Concert
Repeats Tuesday, February 22, 10PM
WQXR, 105.9FM and online at WQXR.org
With concert halls and venues in New York City and around the world temporarily closed and stages gone dark, WQXR is shining a light into the musical archives and is bringing you exquisite live concert experiences from our friends and partners. You will have the best seat in the house because, well, you’re in your house. This month’s offering features composers and performers of African descent.
Monday February 21, 8PM
Say It Plain: A Century of African American Speeches
WNYC, AM820 and 93.9FM, online WNYC.org
Spanning the 20th century, this collection is a vivid account of how African Americans sounded the charge against racial injustice, exhorting the country to live up to its democratic principles. Listeners will hear the stirring words of speeches from Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm and Julian Bond.
Tuesday February 22, 8PM
BBC Witness: Black History Month
WNYC, AM820 and 93.9FM, online at WNYC.org
A special edition of Witness from the BBC, bringing together interviews looking at the African-American experience. Told by people who were there, we hear stories that are fascinating, harrowing, and inspiring. Segments include: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, American new pioneer Dorothy Butler Gilliam, Nelson Mandela in Detroit, Nasa’s pioneering black women, The “Godfather of Gospel Music” and what the Confederate flag represents in America’s battle over race.
Tuesday, February 22, 9PM
A Beautiful Symphony of Brotherhood: Music in the Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
WQXR, 105.9FM and online at WQXR.org
In this hour-long special, WQXR’sTerrance McKnight interweaves musical examples with Dr. King’s own speeches and sermons to illustrate the powerful place that music held in his work — and examines how the musical community responded to and participated in Dr. King’s cause.
Wednesday February 23, 8PM; Wednesday February 23, 8PM
MLK: Activism And The Arts
WNYC, AM820 and 93.9FM, online at WNYC.org
WNYC and the Apollo Theater’s 2022 annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. Join WNYC’s Melissa Harris Perry, Kai Wright, Alison Stewart, Jami Floyd, and Brian Lehrer for this commemorative and uplifting special that brings together scholars, cultural and community leaders, and activists to engage in conversations and performance, exploring the many ways the arts influenced the creative nonviolent resistance of Dr. King’s activism and how his work is continued today. Guests include: Andrew Young, Najee Dorsey, Jacqueline Woodson, Rashaad Robinson, Garrett McQueen, Trezana Beverly, and Jonathan McCrory.
Thursday, February 24, 8PM
State of Siege: Mississippi Whites and the Civil Rights Movement
WNYC, AM820 and 93.9FM, online at WNYC.org
Mississippi occupies a distinct and dramatic place in the history of America’s civil rights movement. No state in the South was more resistant to the struggle for black equality. No place was more violent. Drawing on archival audio and groundbreaking research on the civil rights era, this special from APM Reports brings to light the extraordinary tactics whites in Mississippi used to battle integration and the lasting impact of that battle in American politics today.
Friday, February 25, 8PM
Selected Shorts: Celebrating Toni Morrison
WNYC, AM820 and 93.9FM, online at WNYC.org
Guest host Tayari Jones helps us celebrate Toni Morrison, the American master who died in 2019. Morrison’s novels, including Beloved, Jazz and Song of Solomon, have become an indelible part of the American canon. Her fierce, poetic visions earned her the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was also an editor, advocate, teacher, and mother. This program features her essay “A Knowing So Deep,” read by Jones; an excerpt from The Bluest Eye, read by Tony Award-winner Anika Noni Rose; an excerpt from Jazz, read by Emmy and Golden Globe winner S. Epatha Merkerson; “Sweetness,” read by NAACP Image Award winner Phylicia Rashad, and a tribute by Morrison’s close friend Fran Lebowitz.
Saturday, February 26, 1PM
Met Opera Archival Broadcast: Celebrating Black History Month: Groundbreaking Artists on the Air
WQXR, 105.9FM and online at WQXR.org
For more than seven decades, the Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts have brought opera into millions of homes, playing a vital and unparalleled role in the development and appreciation of opera in this country. This month, the show highlights some of the Met’s most revered African-American stars.
Sunday, Feb 27, throughout the day
Music to celebrate the 125th birthday of contralto Marian Anderson
WQXR, 105.9FM and online at WQXR.org
On Easter Sunday, 1939, legendary Black contralto Marian Anderson sang at the Lincoln Memorial after she was refused use of Constitution Hall, creating an arts event that rocked a nation grappling with racial segregation.
An internationally renowned opera singer, Anderson had performed in Europe, Russia, South America and across the United States, including a White House show for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But the Daughters of the American Revolution, which owned Constitution Hall, banned Anderson from performing in the auditorium. Eleanor Roosevelt, a member of the D.A.R., resigned to protest Anderson’s exclusion. As part of its Black History Month programming, WQXR will showcase Anderson’s remarkable work.
February 28, 7PM
Get Lit with Jason Mott
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space (virtual), online at TheGreeneSpace.org
WNYC’s All of It host Alison Stewart continues her virtual book club series with Hell of a Book by New York Times bestselling author Jason Mott. An astounding work of fiction and winner of the 2021 National Book Award, Hell of a Book goes to the heart of racism, police violence, and the hidden costs exacted upon Black Americans and America as a whole.
Monday, February 28, throughout the day
Music to celebrate the 90th birthday of soprano Reri Grist
WQXR, 105.9FM and online at WQXR.org
The Brooklyn-born soprano Reri Grist grew up in the East River Housing Projects. She had an early breakthrough as Consuelo in the original Broadway production of West Side Story, in which she sang “Somewhere.” Leonard Bernstein spotted her talent and encouraged her to pursue an opera career, which led to an American debut at Santa Fe Opera in 1959 (as Adele in Die Fledermaus) and a European debut the following year at the Cologne Opera (the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute). Grist went on to make a string of major debuts during the 1960s and ’70s, including with the Metropolitan Opera in 1966. Throughout the day, WQXR will celebrate Grist’s work and legacy.