NHPR and ClassicalNH will celebrate Black History Month with special programming running through the month of February. Listen live on-air, online, or with the NHPR app.
Check out our special programming line up below, featuring NHPR’s Civics 101 MLK special which looks at the long road traveled for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to become a national symbol in New Hampshire, and the fight to make it so. Other offerings include special programming like Black History of the Banjo from PRX, Witness History: Black History Month from the BBC and The Sound of 13 on ClassicalNH, a historical and contemporary conversation of race in a 13-week classical music series with the 13th Amendment as the guide.
Friday, Feb. 3rd at 1 PM & Saturday Feb. 4th at 12 PM
NHPR’s Civics 101: New Hampshire’s Fight Against Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Today Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is publicly revered across the nation, a symbol of civil and human rights worthy of a memorial holiday. Federal and state legislatures have agreed to honor this man. That agreement took a while. The final state to acquiesce, New Hampshire, resisted the holiday until 1999. The story of that resistance reveals a public sentiment about King and the Black Freedom Struggle that is far from the reverence of today. This is the story of how a man becomes a national symbol, and the fight to make that so.
Saturday, Feb 4th at 8 PM
Black History of the Banjo from PRX
We trace the history of this most American of instruments from its ancestors in West Africa through the Caribbean and American South and into the present, as a new generation of Black women artists reclaim the banjo as their own. Rhiannon Giddens, Bassekou Kouyate, Bela Fleck and more talk claw-hammers, trad jazz, Appalachian folk, African ancestors and the on-going story of American music, which would be woefully incomplete without a Black history of the banjo. Produced by Ben Richmond.
Friday, Feb. 10 at 1 PM, & Saturday, Feb. 11th at 12 PM
Black Enough, The Stoop podcast from PRX
Whether it's the way we talk, the music we hear, or the clothes we wear- many Black people at some point were made to feel 'not Black enough’, including Leila and Hana. In this special from The Stoop podcast, Leila explores with TV host Joshua Johnson what it means to be told she ‘talks white’, Hana talks to a psychologist as she wonders if she has to like everything Black to avoid getting called out, and we go deep with comedian W. Kamau Bell who's felt awkward in Black circles and in front of Black audiences. What does it really mean to be ‘Black enough?’
Saturday, Feb. 11th at 8 PM
Sound Opinions Presents: Music of the Civil Rights Movement
Sound Opinions explores the music of the Civil Rights Era. From Bob Dylan to Odetta to the Staples Singers, hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot remark upon the impact music made on the fight for civil rights in the 1960s.
Friday, Feb. 17th at 1 PM & Saturday, Feb. 18th at 12 PM
Going Black
"Going Black: The Legacy of Philly Soul Radio (One Hour Special)" examines the legacy of Black radio, focusing on the legendary WDAS in Philadelphia. The story of Black radio in Philadelphia is actually the story of Black music, of civil rights and progress in the African-American community, and of how the radio medium has changed in the last century. The documentary special is hosted by legendary Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP) music producer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Kenny Gamble.
Friday, Feb. 24th at 1 PM & Saturday, Feb. 25th at 12 PM
Witness History: Black History Month from BBC
A special hour-long edition of Witness History from the BBC World Service, bringing together some incredible 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 news pioneer Dorothy Butler Gilliam
- Nelson Mandela in Detroit
- NASA's pioneering black women
- The "Godfather of Gospel Music"
- What the Confederate flag represents in America's battle over race.
Saturday, Feb. 4th at 11 AM
The Choral Hour
Join host Kathlene Ritch as she celebrates Black History Month! Featuring music of African American composers William Dawson and Moses Hogan. Kathlene chats with composer and conductor Dr. Andre Thomas, as they discuss how concert spirituals and their performance practice have evolved over the 20th century through the present day.
Wednesdays beginning Feb. 1st at 7 PM, with rebroadcast Sundays at 12 PM
The Sound of 13 (a weekly series)
Host Garrett McQueen opens a historical and contemporary conversation of race in a 13-week classical music series with the 13th Amendment as the guide.
Listen to NHPR and ClassicalNH live on-air, online, or with the NHPR app.