© 2025 Michigan State University Board of Trustees
Public Media from Michigan State University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Celebrate and explore Black History Month with WKAR!

WKAR TV Highlights | Black History Month 2025

Dr. Henry Louis Gates walking into 27th Street Bakery
McGee Media
A scene from Great Migrations: A People on the Move. The series from Dr. Henry Louis Gates airs on WKAR-TV Tuesdays 9pm Feb. 4-Feb. 18.

FEBRUARY 2025

On WKAR-HD 23.1

Schedule as of 1/31/25. Schedule and descriptions subject to change.

3 | Mon

9:00
Antiques Roadshow: Celebrating Black Americana

10:00
Independent Lens: The Strike
The story of a small group of men incarcerated in California's isolated Pelican Bay prison who endured decades of solitary confinement with little due process, but against all odds inspired the largest prisoner hunger strike in U.S. history.

4 | Tue

9:00
Great Migrations: A People on the Move: Streets Paved with Gold
Learn about the second wave of the Great Migration when Northern and Western Black communities matured through migration and transformed the cultural and political power of Black America.

6 | Thu

10:00
St. John Street
St. John Street was a thriving Black neighborhood until urban renewal and a highway displaced it. Compelling first-person interviews chronicle families who built a vibrant community in Flint, Michigan. African Americans migrated from the South for General Motors jobs, creating a cultural and economic hub. In 1960, the city’s plan for Interstate 475 displaced over 7,000 residents. Despite this, former residents strive to preserve their story, aiming to establish a memorial park.

7 | Fri

9:00
Thomas Jefferson: Liberty: The Age of Experiments/The Pursuit of Happiness

Jefferson was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase and commissioning Lewis and Clark's expedition. Explore his battles with the Federalists, his controversial relationship with slave Sally Hemings and the personal tragedies in his later years.

11 | Tue

9:00
Great Migrations: A People on the Move: One Way Ticket Back
Explore how the reverse migration of Black Americans to the South-driven by mass movements, economic change, and an ongoing struggle for freedom-continued to reshape the country.

10:00
Chautauqua at 150: Wynton Marsalis' All Rise
Celebrate the story and lasting impact of this iconic institution through inspiring stories of faith and democracy with a stirring performance of Marsalis' All Rise and appearances by Kathryn Hahn, Kwame Alexander, Misty Copeland, and more.

12 | Wed

10:00
Through The Banks of the Red Cedar
In 1963 Michigan State Head Coach Duffy Daugherty gave 23 African American young men the opportunity of a lifetime. The daughter of Minnesota Vikings football legend Gene Washington deepens her connection to her father as she uncovers how the first fully integrated college football team in America changed the game forever.

18 | Tue

9:00
Great Migrations: A People on the Move: Coming to America
Hear the story of African and Caribbean immigrants in the United States and examine their profound impact on American culture and what it means to be Black in America.

20 | Thu

10:00
Let's Have Some Church Detroit Style
Set in the challenging environment of a rust belt metropolis, Let's Have Some Church Detroit Style introduces 25 men and women singing in an all-star community choir. In this film filled with glorious music, The Hallelujah Singers and their charismatic director, Dr. E. LaQuint Weaver, show us that in a city recovering from bankruptcy, wealth is not always counted in dollars and cents. The film's narrative portraits of seven choir members, young and old, reveal that their community, convictions, and music sustain and enrich them.

 21 | Fri

9:00
American Masters: The Disappearance of Miss Scott

Learn about jazz virtuoso and screen superstar Hazel Scott, the first Black American to have their own television show. An early civil rights pioneer, Scott faced down the Red Scare at the risk of losing her career and was a champion for equality.

10:30
American Anthems: What You're Here For
Singer Ruston Kelly meets Melissa Smith, who runs a performing arts program supporting intellectually disabled adults. Bonding over their pasts, Ruston writes a ballad celebrating Melissa's work and the good we can do when we realize our purpose.

24 | Mon

10:00
Independent Lens: Bike Vessel
After multiple heart surgeries, a 70-year-old man transforms his life to become an avid cyclist. When he and his son embark on a long-distance ride from St. Louis to Chicago, they push each other in their quests to reimagine Black health.

 25 | Tue

9:00
American Experience: Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP
While many consider the birth of the civil rights movement to be 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, the stage had been set decades before, by activists of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Some of the NAACP leaders are familiar, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Thurgood Marshall, but Walter White, head of the NAACP from 1929 to 1955, has been all but forgotten. With his blond hair and blue eyes, Walter White looked white; he described himself as "an enigma, a Black man occupying a white body." Like virtually all light-skinned African Americans of his day, White was descended from enslaved Black women and powerful white men. But he was Black - by law, identity, and conviction and spent his entire life fighting for Black civil rights. Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP traces the life of this neglected civil rights hero and seeks to explain his disappearance from our history.

27 | Thu

10:00
The Bright Path: The Johnny Bright Story
THE BRIGHT PATH: THE JOHNNY BRIGHT STORY chronicles the life and career of African American Drake University football player Johnny Bright who as a walk on at Drake University in 1949 smashed college football records during his sophomore and junior years. In 1951 his college career abruptly ended from an act of violence during his senior year in 1951. Bright's story is one of resilience as the documentary explores how he overcame racial obstacles to carve out his own path in life to become a Hall of Fame athlete and award-winning Educator.

With new leaders shaping policies in Michigan and Washington, WKAR remains committed to providing trusted coverage of the changes that impact you. Your support keeps this vital news freely accessible to our community. Donate today to power the reliable journalism you value.