I SEE U with Eddie Robinson
Hosted by Houston Public Media’s Eddie Robinson, I SEE U explores cultural identity through the stories of people and places that have been transformed by the effects of long-standing biases.
Episode 30: Terrestrial Radio Racism
A provocative look into the lack of racial and gender diversity in broadcast radio ownership.
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Episode 29: Civil Whites Movement
Civil right activist recalls being held on death row in a notorious Mississippi penitentiary.
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Episode 28: Storytelling Art of the Dirty South
Contemporary arts merges with the roots of Southern hip-hop culture.
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Episode 25: Troublesome Legacies
The hard truths of the pasts and a partnership with a historically Black college.
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Episode 23: Halftime Is Their Time
Historically black college band directors share HBCU homecoming traditions.
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Episode 20: Race and the City
Houston neighborhoods making a statement on racial composition.
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Episode 11: An Olympic Legend Among Us
Jackie Joyner-Kersee was the first African American woman to win back-to-back gold medals in heptathlon and the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the long jump.
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Episode 10: Black AI = Artificial Inclusion
Amazon AI ethics ethicist leads effort to ramp up technology access in Jackson, Mississippi.
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Episode 3: The Tulsa Operation
Acclaimed composer talks candidly about industry with the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot as backdrop.
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Episode 2: The Reign Check
Houston pasters reveal surprising revelations a year after Floyd’s death.
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Town Square with Ernie Manouse
Town Square with Ernie Manouse is a gathering space for the community to come together and discuss the day’s most important and pressing issues.
What exactly is Critical Race Theory and why is it being banned?
We define, explain, and take listeners’ questions about Critical Race Theory.
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National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and The Future of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Experts discuss HIV/AIDS developments, treatments, and the impact on Black Americans. Plus, a local epidemiologist ponders the changing tides of COVID-19.
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COVID and Mental Health in Black, Latino Communities
Experts discuss the increase in the need for mental health services since the pandemic and how to provide better outreach to communities of color.
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Black, Hispanic and Asian populations are at higher risk for COVID-19 and ICU admission, according to a new study
We’re trying to better understand COVID, race and health disparities.
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The life, career, and causes of U.S. Congressman Al Green
We spend the hour with longtime U.S. Congressman Al Green about his career, advocacy, and the issues that we face locally and nationally.
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What is the origin of Black History Month?
Experts talk about how and why Black History Month came to be and the importance of acknowledging achievement of African Americans at every opportunity possible.
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Houston Matters with Craig Cohen
Houston Matters is the region’s essential daily guide to the people, places, issues, and ideas that define Greater Houston.
Maya Washington of Through the Banks of the Red Cedar (Jan. 31, 2022)
Interview with Maya Washington, writer, director and producer of Through the Banks of the Red Cedar, and daughter of former NFL wide receiver Gene Washington who helped fully integrate college football. (Interview begins at 21:48)
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Houston artist Ted Ellis has made a career out of documenting Black history and culture
Ellis’ paintings anchor a new art installation in Galveston, and he tells Houston Matters about his work and why it’s important.
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TV 8 Programming
Houston Public Media is proud offer a variety of engaging stories, films, and voices centered around Black history and culture.
Ken Burns’ Muhammad Ali, February 4 | 8pm
Muhammad Ali brings to life the boxing champion who became an inspiration across the globe.
American Experience – Riveted: The History of Jeans, February 7 | 8pm
From its roots in slavery to the Wild West, youth culture, the civil rights movement, rock and roll, hippies, high fashion and hip-hop, jeans are the fabric on which the history of American culture and politics are writ large.
American Experience – Freedom Summer, February 7 | 9pm
A historic effort in the summer of 1964 to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in what was one of the nation’s most viciously racist, segregated states.
Finding Your Roots – Forgotten Journeys, February 15 | 7pm
John Leguizamo and Lena Waithe retrace the paths of their ancestors, uncovering crucial pieces of their own identities that were lost on the journey to America.
Fannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America Reframed Special, February 22 | 8pm
“Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave?” With those words at the 1964 Democratic Convention, Fannie Lou Hamer changed the course of Civil Rights forever.
- Tuesday, February 1
3:30pm1964: The Fight for Right 4:30pmWith Infinite Hope: MLK and the Civil Rights Movement 8pmIn Their Own Words
- Friday, February 4
8pmKen Burns’ Muhammad Ali 10pmIndependent Lens – Trials of Muhammad Ali
- Monday, February 7
8pmAmerican Experience – Riveted: The History of Jeans 9pmAmerican Experience – Freedom Summer
- Tuesday, February 8
8pmAmerican Masters – Marian Anderson 10pmIndependent Lens – Owned: A Tale of Two Americas 11:30pmFinding Your Roots
- Friday, February 11
8pmKen Burns’ Muhammad Ali 10pmThrough the Banks of the Red Cedar 11pmJust a Mortal Man – The Jerry Lawson Story
- Sunday, February 13
12pmHenry Louis Gates Jr. – Uncovering America 2pmSlavery by Another Name
- Tuesday, February 15
7pmFinding Your Roots: Forgotten Journeys 8pmAmerican Experience – The American Diplomat
- Friday, February 18
8pmKen Burns’ Muhammad Ali
- Saturday, February 19
4pmJuneteenth Jamboree: Double Feature
- Tuesday, February 22
8pmFannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America Reframed Special
- Friday, February 25
10pmTina Turner: One Last Time
- Sunday, February 27
8:30amAfrican Americans: Many Rivers to Cross
- Monday, February 28
8:30pmHenry Louis Gates Jr. – Uncovering America
Please see our TV 8 Programming Guide for additional airings of selected programs
News 88.7 Programming
Special programming celebrating Black History Month on News 88.7, your NPR station.
BBC BHM Special: The Great Black Music Symposium, Sunday, January 30 | 9pm
Hosts Angel Bat Dawid, Qur’an Shaheed, Dr Adam Zanolini and Ben LaMar Gay discuss the importance of not conforming and recognizing what your gifts are.
With Good Reason BHM Special: Outdoor Archives, Sunday, February 13 | 8pm
We often think of cemeteries as separate worlds unto themselves. But those buried at Confederate graveyards were surely connected to those at the African burial grounds, and the cemetery reveals the intimacy of their connections.
With Good Reason BHM Special: Separate and Unequal, Sunday, February 20 | 8pm
In 1970, Philicia Jefferson was forced to integrate into all-white, E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Virginia. 40 years later, she finally attended her first class reunion. She says it was a profoundly healing experience.
BBC BHM Special: The Great Black Music Symposium Sunday, January 30 | 9pm
Hosts Angel Bat Dawid, Qur’an Shaheed, Dr Adam Zanolini and Ben LaMar Gay discuss the importance of not conforming and recognizing what your gifts are.
With Good Reason BHM Special: New Voices at the Table Sunday, February 6 | 8pm
In 2016, Lashrecse Aird made history as the youngest woman ever elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. She says her unique perspective — shaped by a childhood of adversity and hardship — allows her to better serve the full range of experiences within her constituency.
Humankind BHM Special: Ida B. Wells Battle to Uncover the Truth Sunday, February 6 | 9pm
Born to enslaved parents on a Mississippi plantation during the Civil War, Ida B. Wells emerged as a powerful investigative journalist. She overcame death threats and went on to publish widely in her quest to document the domestic terrorism against African Americans that came to be known as lynching. Ida Wells published the first major study of that crime, whose victims eventually numbered in the thousands.
With Good Reason BHM Special: Outdoor Archives Sunday, February 13 | 8pm
We often think of cemeteries as separate worlds unto themselves. But those buried at Confederate graveyards were surely connected to those at the African burial grounds, and the cemetery reveals the intimacy of their connections.
Humankind BHM Special: The Freed People Sunday, February 13 | 9pm
The United States faced an unprecedented refugee crisis a century and a half ago: 4 million enslaved human beings were emancipated, primarily from plantations where they’d been held captive. Most possessed no more than the clothes on their backs and were now suddenly homeless and jobless.
With Good Reason BHM Special: Separate and Unequal Sunday, February 20 | 8pm
In 1970, Philicia Jefferson was forced to integrate into all-white, E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Virginia. 40 years later, she finally attended her first class reunion. She says it was a profoundly healing experience.
APM Selected Shorts BHM Special: Celebrating Toni Morrison Sunday, February 20 | 9pm
Host Tayari Jones helps us to 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.
Peace Talks Radio BHM Special: John Lewis — Profiles in Peace Sunday, February 27 | 8pm
The late 17-term Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis is remembered in a special that includes the memorial ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol when his body laid in state in the Rotunda, a week after his death July 17, 2020. Also included are other tributes, and archival tapes of John Lewis speeches and interviews.
Peace Talks Radio BHM Special: MLK Three Landmark Speeches Sunday, February 27 | 9pm
Three key speeches of American civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Martin Luther King Junior are excerpted and commented on by two leading King scholars.
Paul Ingles Music Archives Showcase (Airs Saturdays at 7pm)
Radio documentarian Paul Ingles takes a look at the lives, careers, and legacy of two influential musicians: Otis Redding and Mavis Staples.
- Saturday, February 5 | The Emergence of Otis Redding, Part 1
- Saturday, February 12 | The Emergence of Otis Redding, Part 2
- Saturday, February 19 | The Emergence of Mavis Staples, Part 1
- Saturday, February 26 | The Emergence of Mavis Staples, Part 2
Available in the PBS App
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I’m Free, Now You Are Free
A story about the reunion and repair between Mike Africa Jr and his mother Debbie Africa — a formerly incarcerated political prisoner of the MOVE9.
Unapologetic
Meet Janaé and Bella, two fierce abolitionists in Chicago whose upbringing and experiences shape their activism and views on Black liberation.
Homegoings
An up-close look at the rarely seen world of undertaking in the black community and a man who sends loved ones “home.”
A Look Back
Legacies
As more and more of our nation’s leaders are educated and shaped by historically Black colleges and universities, Houston Public Media highlights the legacies and impact of two HBCUs in our community: Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M University.
Houston in Black & White
In 2017, Houston Public Media’s Ernie Manouse and Eddie Robinson sat down with four Houston civil rights activists, discussing topics ranging from racism and Affirmative Action to police and the media. Click here to watch the full show.
The State of Black Texas
The State of Black Texas is a virtual event collaboration between the Houston Defender Network and Houston Public Media, featuring special guests Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Texas State Senator Borris Miles (Houston), and Texas State Senator Royce West (Dallas). The program, hosted by Defender CEO Sonny Messiah Jiles and featuring questions from Houston Public Media’s Statewide Newscaster Sascha Cordner, will address issues impacting our Black community, including health and economic issues as related to COVID-19, criminal justice, redistricting, and more.
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A Conversation with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Join Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., host of PBS’s The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song, in a special conversation with Houston Public Media’s Eddie Robinson. Learn about Dr. Gates’s two-part series about the history and culture of the Black Church, and his ongoing PBS series Finding Your Roots. From the University of Houston Racial Equity and Social Justice Committee and Houston Public Media, the event will also feature a conversation with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
The Black Church
An intimate four-hour series from Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song will explore the 400-year-old story of the black church in America, the changing nature of worship spaces, and the men and women who shepherded them from the pulpit, the choir loft, and church pews.
Watch the trailer, or click here to visit the official website.
Keeping the Faith: The Black Church in Houston
As a companion piece to PBS’s The Black Church and produced by Houston Public Media in partnership with The University of Houston Diversity and Inclusion Committee and KTSU, Keeping the Faith: The Black Church in Houston, is a series of interviews with Houston Public Media’s Statewide Newscaster Sascha Cordner and four influential leaders in the Houston faith community.
You can watch the videos below.
Lift Up Your Hearts: Houston’s Gospel Heritage
A special radio program from Houston Public Media and KTSU, featuring music and interviews from some of Houston’s top gospel talent, Lift up Your Hearts: Houston’s Gospel Heritage uses favorite recordings with short interviews with the singers to introduce each song. The artists share what the church has meant to them, and why they selected their particular song.