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CNN BEGINS 'BLACK IN AMERICA' SERIES TONIGHT: Ambitious four-month initiative joins national dialogue on race.
*Forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., CNN will launch a sweeping on-air and digital initiative, "CNN Presents: Black in America," the network announced.
The landmark programming features six hours of documentaries, a weekly series of reports that will air on CNN/U.S. and CNN International and appear as part of a multimedia online effort.
The programming, which airs over four months in 2008, focuses on fresh analysis from new voices about the real lives behind the stereotypes, statistics and identity politics that frequently frame the national dialogue about Black America.
Reported by anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien, Black in America begins with the two-hour premiere of Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination, a first-person account of what happened on April 4, 1968.
• Black in America: Eyewitness to Murder – The King Assassination, Thursday, April 3, 9 p.m. (two hours): In this first installment of CNN’s Black in America series, O’Brien investigates how James Earl Ray, an armed robber and escaped convict, had already spent an uncommon year on the run that included plastic surgery just a month before his path collided with that of the civil rights leader in Memphis, Tenn. Through interviews with witnesses and investigators, O’Brien retraces the steps of King, Ray, the FBI and Memphis police and explores alternative scenarios of who was ultimately responsible for the murder that, for some, represented the end of the American Civil Rights era.
Black in America continues in July with two additional two-hour documentaries that will air on CNN/U.S. and CNN International:
• Black in America: The Black Man, Wednesday, July 23, 9 p.m. (two hours): Perhaps the most misreported group in America today, black men are often stereotypically depicted in the media as convicts, gang members and absentee fathers. Told through the personal stories of graduates of the 1968 class of Little Rock Central High School, their sons and grandsons, for The Black Man, O’Brien seeks to determine whether life is better for black men now than it was 40 years ago. She reports on the disparities between blacks and whites in educational, career and economic achievement and factors leading to the devastating rates of black male incarceration. Contributing expert analysis are Harvard economist Dr. Roland Fryer, Princeton professor Dr. Devah Pager, journalist/social commentator Ellis Cose; and Georgetown University professor Dr. Michael Eric Dyson; and others. O’Brien reports on successes and dissects myths to explore the state of black men in America today.
• Black in America: The Black Woman & Family, Thursday, July 24, 9 p.m. (two hours): In this installment of Black in America, O’Brien, examines the unique and varied experiences of black women and families in America. O’Brien looks at the reasons behind the disturbing statistics on single parenthood, disparities between black and white students in the classroom, and the devastating toll of HIV/AIDS on black women. The Black Woman & Family yields insights into black achievements and struggles and perspectives on King’s hopes for progress. The documentary is told through the experiences of the Houston-based Rand family with expert commentary from economist and Bennett College president Julianne Malveaux, Essence magazine editor-in-chief Angela Burt-Murray, Dallas-based preacher and life coach Bishop T.D. Jakes, TV/radio personality Michael Baisden, entrepreneur and activist Russell Simmons, actor Vanessa Williams, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researcher Dr. Camara Jones and others.
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