New York Public Radio Celebrates Black History Month 2024
Bayard Rustin, Kia La Beija, Langston Hughes
(New York – February 1, 2024) New York Public Radio – home to WNYC, WQXR, Gothamist, WNYC Studios and The Greene Space – marks Black History Month 2024 with a robust line up of on-air, online, and live event programming. Through extraordinary journalism, storytelling, conversation, and music, we recognize and honor historic trail blazers and modern mold breakers.
Full schedule below:
I, TOO, SING AMERICA: MUSIC IN THE LIFE OF LANGSTON HUGHES
Thursday, February 1, 8-9pm
WQXR and WQXR.org
WQXR’s Terrance McKnight presents the songs, cantatas, musicals and librettos that flowed from Hughes’ pen.
X: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X
Saturday, February 3, 1pm
WQXR and WQXR.org
The Metropolitan Opera’s premiere broadcast of the work composed in the 1980s by Anthony Davis, with a story by his brother, Christopher Davis, and a libretto by their cousin, the poet Thulani Davis.
I, OF COURSE, WAS LIVID
Monday, February 5, 7-8:30pm
Live event in The Greene Space
Kia LaBeija invites Elizabeth Koke and Theodore (Ted) Kerr to present their documentary theater work based on a historic 1992 hearing at the CDC when the activism of women living with HIV finally resulted in the U.S. expanding the clinical definition of AIDS to include symptoms experienced by women. Presented as part of The Greene Space’s Artist in Residence series.
STILL SWINGING, STILL CLASSIC: A MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY OF PIONEERING PIANIST HAZEL SCOTT
Thursday, February 8, 8-9pm
WQXR and WQXR.org
WQXR’s Terrance McKnight presents a portrait of Hazel Scott (1920-1981), a Juilliard-trained pianist who performed in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls.
THE PRICE OF ADMISSION: A MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY OF FLORENCE PRICE
Thursday, February 15, 8-9pm
WQXR and WQXR.org
The music and legacy of one of America’s pioneering but nearly forgotten composers brought to WQXR by Terrance McKnight. A biographical look at Price’s symphonic music, songs, and works for piano and organ.
MAKING BELAFONTE: AN APPRECIATION WITH TERRANCE MCKNIGHT
Monday, February 19, 8-9pm
WNYC and WNYC.org
Terrance brings the people and experiences that helped shape Harry Belefonte’s character, artistic aspirations, and civil rights activism to WNYC.
NOTES FROM AMERICA: “The Inconvenient King”
Wednesday, February 21, 8-9pm
WNYC and WNYC.org
Special encore presentation of WNYC’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. event hosted in partnership with the Apollo Theater. Kai Wright and special guests discuss the history of the word “woke” and its co-optation by conservatives in the current sociopolitical landscape.
A BEAUTIFUL SYMPHONY OF BROTHERHOOD: A MUSICAL JOURNEY INTO THE LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Thursday, February 22, 8-9pm
WQXR and WQXR.org
Terrance McKnight hosts an audio documentary about the powerful place that music held in the work and life of Dr. King.
ECHOES OF A COUP
Thursday, February 22, 8-9pm
WNYC and WNYC.org
The story of a white supremacist mob that murdered untold Black residents of Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898 to overthrow “negro rule.” Echoes of a Coup puts these events in historical context, at a time when the United States is once again facing threats of political violence, amid orchestrated attacks on democracy – from within.
STATE OF THE RE:UNION: Bayard Rustin: Who Was This Man?
Friday, February 23, 8-9pm
WNYC and WNYC.org
His most transformative act, counseling MLK on the use of non-violent resistance, changed the course of American history. Bayard Rustin’s seemingly incompatible labels: black, gay, Quaker… earned him as many detractors as admirers. Al Letson hosts.
BENBOW FAMILY REUNION CONCERT
Friday, February 23, 7-8pm
Live event in The Greene Space
Kia LaBeija takes the stage with her father, renowned jazz artist Warren Benbow, and her brother, actor and composer Kenn Michael, for an intimate concert. Presented as part of The Greene Space’s Artist in Residence series.
NOTES FROM AMERICA: PLAGUE IN THE SHADOWS
Sunday, February 25, 6-8pm
WNYC and WNYC.org
Kai Wright invites stories and voices from communities disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS to look back at the mistakes made in understanding the full breadth of the epidemic. Two hour special features reporting from the new podcast, Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows, a partnership between The History Channel and WNYC Studios.
CLASSICAL MUSIC AND THE AFRO-AMERICAN
The NYPR Archives
Online at WNYC.org
NYPR Archives has built a playlist that includes paragons of classical music such as conductor Paul Freeman and Arthur Thompson, one of the few African American men to ever receive a Met Opera contract.
KIA LABEIJA: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM PLAGUE IN THE SHADOWS
Through March 11
The Greene Space
Artist in Residence Kia LaBeija, uses multidisciplinary art to narrate complex stories at the intersections of womanhood, sexuality, ethnicity, and living with HIV. Her portraits of New Yorkers featured in the podcast, Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows, from WNYC Studios and The HISTORY CHANNEL about the untold stories of the AIDS epidemic are on display. Free and open to the public, no tickets required, exhibition open during programs at The Greene Space or by appointment.
ALL OF IT
WNYC and WNYC.org
Throughout February All Of It will feature weekly segments about Black New Yorkers who have contributed to the culture and history of New York City. Alison will interview some of the most prominent Black actors and directors nominated for Golden Globes, NAACP Awards, Grammys, and Oscars this awards season, including Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), Ava Duvernay (Origin), Danielle Brooke and Blitz Bazawule (The Color Purple), Roy Wood Jr. and Jon Batiste (American Symphony).
WNYC AND THE APOLLO’S 18th ANNUAL MLK DAY CELEBRATION
Available on-demand on YouTube
This year’s event, “The Inconvenient King,” examined the history of the word woke in the context of Dr. King’s work to build awareness, action, and urgency around injustice and discrimination. Co-hosted by WNYC hosts Kai Wright (Notes from America) and Michael Hill (Morning Edition).