• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About WXXI
  • Topics
  • Events
  • Contact Us
WXXI Passport Donate
WXXI

WXXI

Go Public

  • Watch
    • Schedule
    • Watch Live
    • Watch On-Demand
    • Original Productions
    • All Channels
  • Listen
    • WXXI News
    • WRUR The Route
    • WITH The Route
    • WXXI Classical
    • WEOS Finger Lakes
    • All Stations
  • Ways to Give
    • Donate Online
    • Membership
    • Update Payment Info
    • Leadership Circle
    • Legacy Giving
    • Other Ways to Give
    • Corporate Sponsorship
  • News
  • Classical
  • The Route
  • CITY
  • The Little
  • Education
  • About WXXI
  • Topics
  • Events
  • Contact Us
WXXI Passport Donate

Major Taylor: Champion of the Race • WXXI-TV

Retraces the life and legacy of an American civil rights pioneer who set more than 20 world records in speed cycling during the heart of Jim Crow America.

Major Taylor: Champion of the Race airs Monday, February 24, 2025 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI app.

In a word, I was a pioneer, and therefore had to blaze my own trail.” – Marshall “Major” Taylor. He earned nicknames that often equated to the most powerful forces in heaven and earth: The Cyclone. The Whirlwind. The Comet. He earned the respect of civil rights pioneer Booker T. Washington and shook the hand of President Theodore Roosevelt, who sought out the great champion to congratulate him. Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor was the world’s first Black sports superstar. Reporters simply called him “The Fastest Man in the World.”

By the time he was in his early 20s, Major Taylor had claimed victory in the world cycling championship, the American cycling crown, and had set dozens of world speed cycling records all while having to endure withering racial pressures.

Photo: Hazel Scott/ Credit: Everett

American Experience “Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP” • WXXI-TV

The story of Walter White and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

American Experience “Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP,” premiering Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI app

 As the story is usually told, the civil rights movement began in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus. In fact, the stage had been set decades before, by activists of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who braved the appalling violence and oppression of the Jim Crow era. Some of their names are familiar: W.E.B. Du Bois and Thurgood Marshall. They all played prominent roles in the NAACP, the preeminent civil rights organization of the era. But Walter White — arguably the most influential Black man in mid-century America and the leader of the NAACP from 1929 to 1955 — has been all but forgotten. American Experience traces the life of this neglected civil rights hero and seeks to explain his disappearance from our history. 

Photo:Dr. Ralph Bunche (right) is greeted at the Dallas airport as he arrives to give address at the closing session of the 45th annual convention of the NAACP. At left is the Rev. Ernest C. Estell, Jr., pastor of the St. John Baptist Church in Dallas and chairman of the Dallas convention committee, and (center) Walter White, NAACP executive secretary, 1954. /Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Visual Materials from the NAACP Records

American Masters – The Disappearance of Miss Scott • WXXI-TV

Hazel Scott was one of the most revered stars of the early 20th century.

American Masters – The Disappearance of Miss Scott, premieres Friday, February 21, 2025 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streaming on the WXXI app.

Not only was Scott a beloved musical sensation, but she also channeled her talents into Hollywood stardom, becoming the first Black American to host their own television show. Discover her storied life, from her childhood as a musical prodigy in Trinidad to her prolific career on stage and the silver screen in this new documentary.

Featuring archival footage and stills, performance clips, animation, and interviews, The Disappearance of Miss Scott is the first known documentary centering on the jazz virtuoso’s life, detailing her awe-inspiring talents on the piano, how she used her star power to be an influential voice of the nascent Civil Rights Movement, and her life in Paris after being blacklisted from Hollywood during the 1950s Red Scare. Her career in the US ultimately ended after she defended herself and her colleagues in front of the House Un-American Committee, and her story has been mostly silenced until this film. Excerpts of Scott’s unpublished autobiography are voiced by Emmy Award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, revealing Scott as a woman who would not compromise on her beliefs, and are complemented by interviews with country star Mickey Guyton, actresses Amanda Seales and Tracie Thoms, jazz musicians Camille Thurman and Jason Moran, and Adam Clayton Powell III, Hazel Scott’s only son.

Photo: Hazel Scott/ Credit: Everett

Chautauqua at 150: Winton Marsalis’ All Rise • WXXI-TV

This film tells the institution’s story through the voices of its current patrons and partners, including those who have spoken and performed from Chautauqua’s iconic stages over the past several years.

Chautauqua at 150: Winton Marsalis’ All Rise airs Tuesday, February 11 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI app.

Chautauqua Institution, founded in the late 19th century as a place for Americans to make purposeful use of leisure time, has dedicated itself to using arts and education to elevate the discussions that have transformed our nation throughout its history. Through musical performances, original filming, archival footage, photos, and interviews, Chautauqua at 150: Winton Marsalis’ All Rise will artistically explore the impact that the Chautauqua Institution has had in providing a critical platform for some of the most thought-provoking, challenging, and often uplifting conversations in America and beyond. 

The documentary is centered around a new production of “All Rise,” written by award-winning trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis. Originally premiered in 1999, this jazz symphony will be performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) with Wynton Marsalis as well as Chautauqua’s Music School Festival Orchestra, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus.

Known best for its nine-week Summer Assembly, Chautauqua Institution serves more than 100,000 patrons annually with programs and services designed to inspire a love for learning across a lifetime and generations, both during the summer months and year-round.  

The historic community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state was described by then President Theodore Roosevelt as, “typical of America at its best.

Photo: Title card/Credit: Provided

Protect My Public Media/ Protect WXXI

Public media is more at risk now than ever before. The House has passed a rescissions package that would take back $1.1 billion in public media funding already approved by law. If enacted, the impact on local stations would be swift and severe. The Senate could take up the package as early as the week of July 7, but they still have time to change it. Now is the moment to urge them to remove the harmful proposal targeting public media.

Want to help keep WXXI strong in our community? Here are four ways you can get involved:

1. Call your Senators

Go to Protect My Public Media and contact your Senator urging them to protect and sustain the essential funding that keeps public media strong and accessible for all. For just about $1.60 per person annually, federal funding supports more than 1,500+ public media stations’ local services.

Call your Senator
An illustration of the Capitol building

2. Pledge your support

Help us sustain our work here in this region by making a contribution in support of our journalism, our arts and culture coverage, our educational outreach, and our ability to serve every household, regardless of zip code or income level.

Donate now
A "Donate button" with a hand clicking on it

3. Share your story

We’re collecting stories from our neighbors to help illustrate how WXXI Public Media plays a vital role in our community. Share what WXXI means to you on your social media accounts (and be sure to tag us and use #ProtectWXXI). Or, click the “Tell Your Story” button to submit your testimonial using our Google doc form.

Tell your story
Illustration of a hand holding a mega phone

4. Engage with us

Share a story that moved you, go to a movie at The Little Theatre, join us for an Indie Lens Pop-Up screening, attend a Live from Hochstein performance, or pick up CITY Magazine. Public Media works best when the public is truly part of it!

See events
Two hands high fiving

Helpful Resources

• FAQ Sheet

WXXI in the community

Chocolatier taping
Mon and daughter standing in front of the PBS KIDS table playing an activity.
Children playing with toys
Gateways NY
two white men singing into microphones. The man on the left is strumming an acoustic guitar

Urge the New Congress: Safeguard Public Media

Federal funding ensures that your local public radio and TV stations can continue to give you access to essential educational, local, and cultural programming; trustworthy, in-depth news; and emergency and community-based services.

Get updates and take action on efforts to cut federal funding for public media by signing up at protectmypublicmedia.org. Your voice matters.

GET INVOLVED >>

Super Drama Sunday • WXXI-TV

For those who don’t enjoy watching the big game, WXXI-TV offers a dramatic alternative – a marathon of PBS’s best dramas.

Super Drama Sunday kicks off Sunday, February 9 at 12:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

Beginning at 12:30 p.m. binge on all three episodes of Sherlock on Masterpiece. an exhilarating union of whip-smart writing and star-making performances from a cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Andrew Scott, and Mark Gatiss among others.

The stellar line-up continues with: Call the Midwife at 5 p.m.. and then your regular Sunday line-up that includes Miss Scarlet at 8 p.m., All Creatures Great and Small at 9 p.m., Funny Woman at 10 p.m. and Death in Paradise at 11 p.m.

Photo: Provided by PBS

The Lincoln School Story • WXXI-TV

Examines the little-known fight for school desegregation led by a handful of Ohio mothers and their children in 1954. 

The Lincoln School Story airs Friday, February 7 at 10:30 p.m. WXXI-TV

In the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, school districts nationwide were mandated to integrate. But when African American mothers in Hillsboro, Ohio, tried to enroll their children in the local, historically white schools, the school board refused to comply. Five mothers and their children took the school board to court and eventually their children became the first Black students to attend a high-quality local elementary school. Their judicial victory in the Midwest inspired Black parents in communities across the country.

Photo: (L-R) Zella Mae Cumberland, Gertrude Clemons and Minnie Speach. Photo credit: Press Gazette

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 19
  • Go to page 20
  • Go to page 21
  • Go to page 22
  • Go to page 23
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 121
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar





Quality Content is made possible by viewers like you. Thank you.

Support Us

sidebar-alt

Keep informed about what’s happening in your community and WXXI by signing up for our newsletters.

Sign Up
The official WXXI logo.
Open facebook in a new window Open twitter in a new window Open instagram in a new window Open youtube in a new window Open linkedin in a new window
In affliation with:
The official PBS logo.The official NPR logo.

WXXI Public Media

280 State Street

Rochester, NY 14614

585-258-0200
wxxi@wxxi.org
  • About WXXI
  • Boards & Management
  • Careers
  • Corporate Sponsorship
  • Our Services
  • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Statement
  • Pressroom
  • Broadcast Coverage
  • Financials & Reports
  • Troubleshooting
Watch
Support
Listen
Contact Us
© 2025 WXXI Public Broadcasting Council FCC Public Files: WXXI-TV, WXXI-FM, WXXI-AM , WXXY-FM, WXXO-FM
  • Closed Captioning
  • Public Files
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright Policy
  • Land Acknowledgement