Black History

Norm & Company: James Norman On-Demand

Norm & Company features James Norman, past President & CEO of Action for a Better Community.

James Norman, a leader, advocate, and role model, has served as the President & CEO of Action for a Better Community (ABC) for the past 25 years. As he heads into retirement, he plans to continue his work as a change agent in our community.

James talks about what inspired him to dedicate his life work to helping people, how he secured the position at ABC and the challenges he faced when he first took the helm. He shares his unique approach to community leadership and his thoughts on how to address the fundamental issues of poverty. He also discusses how to combat structure racism, something he has dedicated his life’s work to doing.

Norm & Company is hosted by WXXI President & CEO Norm Silverstein, who speaks with long-time Rochesterians as they recount fascinating stories about their lives in the community.

Norm & Company: Garth Fagan On-Demand

Garth Fagan, founder and artistic director of Garth Fagan Dance, joins WXXI President Norm Silverstein for an episode of Norm & Company.

Fagan shares stories of growing up in Jamaica, his time spent working on The Lion King, and what he loves about Rochester.

Critics have called Garth Fagan “a true original,” “a genuine leader,” and “one of the great reformers of modern dance.” Fagan has worked as artistic director for various companies throughout his career, including The Lion King in 1997. He also served as Assistant Associate Professor at SUNY Brockport from 1972-85, and as a professor from 1985-86 before becoming a Distinguished University Professor in 1986.

Code Switch Podcast from NPR

What’s CODE SWITCH? It’s the fearless conversations about race that you’ve been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between. This podcast makes all of us part of the conversation — because we’re all part of the story. Learn More:

Driving While Black On-Demand

Chronicling the riveting history and personal experiences of African Americans on the road from the advent of the automobile through the seismic changes of the 1960s and beyond. Available to watch through 10/12/27.

Driving While Black: Race, Space, and Mobility in America, a ground-breaking, two-hour documentary film by acclaimed historian Dr. Gretchen Sorin and Emmy–winning director Ric Burns. The film chronicles the riveting history and personal experiences of African Americans on the road from the advent of the automobile through the seismic changes of the 1960s and beyond. It explores the deep background of a recent phrase rooted in realities that have been an indelible part of the African American experience for hundreds of years – told in large part through the stories of the men, women and children who lived through it.

Drawing on a wealth of recent scholarship – and based on and inspired in large part by Gretchen Sorin’s recently published study of the way the automobile and highways transformed African American life across the 20^th century – the film examines the history of African Americans on the road from the depths of the Depression to the height of the Civil Rights movement and beyond, exploring along the way the deeply embedded dynamics of race, space and mobility in America during one of the most turbulent and transformative periods in American history.

The right to move freely and safely across the American landscape has always been unequally distributed by race and powerfully contested in the American experience. With urgent and powerful relevance to issues and dynamics at work in American society today – of race and class, gender, safety, law enforcement, automobile culture, recreation, personal freedom and national identity – this resonant and deeply moving history is at once revelatory, troubling and deeply inspiring for what it uncovers about the long road to justice in American history, and about the creativity, courage and commitment to change that makes it possible.

Driving While Black utilizes a rich archive of material from the period — including footage, photographs, advertisements, road signs, maps, letters and legal records — and weaves together oral histories and the on-camera insights of scholars, writers, musicians and ordinary American travelers. Program website.

Norm & Company: Shawn Dunwoody On-Demand

Artist and educator Shawn Dunwoody joins WXXI President Norm Silverstein for an episode of Norm & Company. A self-described “creative force for change,” Shawn has used his talents to create public art projects focused on uplifting communities and engaging neighborhoods. Shawn reflects on how his work has brought meaning to his life and the lives of so many others.

A native of Rochester who grew up in the Marketview Heights neighborhood, Shawn has focused his life’s work on visual storytelling, collaboratively painting murals that communicate powerful ideas. His most recent street art shared messages of safety during the pandemic and amplifying the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Learn more about this visionary, who is helping to advance the cultural and economic well-being of the Finger Lakes region and bring much-needed attention to areas of critical need in many city neighborhoods.

PBS KIDS: Talk About: Race and Racism

BS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism is a special co-viewing program for families with young children to watch and discuss together.

The PBS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism special is a half-hour program featuring authentic conversations between real children and their growmups, and will include content from PBS KIDS series DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD, ARTHUR and XAVIER RIDDLE AND THE SECRET MUSEUM.

The special will feature children and their grownups talking about race and racial justice-related topics in an age-appropriate way, such as noticing differences in race, understanding what racism can look like, and embracing the role we all have to play in standing up for ourselves and each other — offering viewers ideas to build on as they continue these important conversations at home.

**Please note: This special programming is designed as a co-viewing experience with adults and children watching together. **

Watch together on-demand

More: Articles and Resources for Grown-ups

More About the Special

Grownup note: PBS KIDS programs are designed to reflect the diversity of communities across the nation, and to address themes relevant to children’s everyday lives. This special is designed for parents and children to watch together, and for parents to build on in whatever way they choose to have these conversations with their children. The program touches on topics such as race, racism, and the recent Black Lives Matter protests from the perspective of real kids in an effort to help children understand what they might be seeing happening around them in a developmentally-appropriate way.

The PBS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism special was created in response to parents increasingly asking PBS KIDS for resources to address tough but important topics with their kids, including race and racism, and is part of PBS KIDS’ ongoing commitment to families across the nation.

Designed as a co-viewing experience, the program explores complicated topics in an age-appropriate way. Our goal is to support parents in talking with their children about race. We hope that our content will provide a helpful starting point in whatever way parents choose to have these conversations with their children. Additional parent resources are available on PBS KIDS for Parents on pbs.org/parents/talking-about-racism to support parents in discussions about race and racial justice-related topics with their children.

The following advisors consulted on this project:

Dr. Aisha White, Program Director, P.R.I.D.E (Positive Racial Identity Development in Early Education)
Dr. Renee Wilson-Simmons, Executive Director, ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) Awareness Foundation
Dr. Dana Winters, Director of Simple Interactions and Academic Programs; Assistant Professor of Child and Family Studies, Fred Rogers Center

Celebrating African-American Contributions On-Demand

WXXI celebrates Black History and Heritage. We proudly feature contributions from these 40 individuals.
WATCH ALL PROFILES IN THIS PLAYLIST or the individual profiles below.

Watch all the segments on a loop above, or click the links below for individual spotlights.

President Barack Obama

Vice President of the U.S. Kamala Harris

Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm

Althea Neale Gibson

William Edward White

Lucy Diggs Slowe

William DeHart Hubbard

Alice Coachman

Lloyd James Austin III

Ethel Waters

Williams Walker

Rafer Lewis Johnson

Black History & Culture Video Playlist On-Demand

PBS continues to provide programming on-air and on-demand regarding history and current issues for race, racism as resources for everyone to educate themselves and continue the conversation on all the ways that inequality in America shows up in everyday life.

PBS is continuing our commitment to highlight content that will continue the conversation, add historical context to these issues and enable change. Below you will find programs that profile police departments, specials that detail conversations parents of color have with their children, documentaries that cover the treatment of Blacks since slavery and films that shed light on both past and current events.

The History of White People in America

The history of how skin became race, and race became power. (3 episodes below the trailer)

AMERICA REFRAMED Tutwiler

Exploring the Alabama Prison Birth Project at Alabama’s women-only Julia Tutwiler Prison.

LOCAL, USA A Dream Deferred: The Broken Promise of NYC Public Housing

An intimate look at the lives of New York City Housing Authority residents.

LOCAL, USA Beyond the Tap

Examining the costs of one of America’s greatest threats: crumbling water infrastructure.

LOCAL, USA Veterans Coming Home – Health

The health challenges veterans face in transitioning from military to civilian life.

Two Dollars and a Dream

The biography of Madame C.J. Walker, America’s first self-made millionairess.