Celebrate Black History Month with us

Illinois Public Media invites you to join your favorite WILL stations in celebrating Black History Month throughout February. Together we will celebrate and honor these Black scientists, politicians, athletes, activists, artists, and more who have left their mark on U.S. history.

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Discussion revisits music of the Civil Rights Movement and integration of America’s schools

This year, the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign is marking 70 years since the landmark Supreme Court decision that ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision was part of the American Civil Rights movement and was also fueled by music. IPM News Director Reginald Hardwick spoke with Rod Wyatt, Assistant Chancellor of Pre-K through 12 initiatives at the university ahead of Brown V. The Board of Education 70th Anniversary Musicology Experience at the Gallery Art Bar in Urbana Dec. 4 from 6-8 pm.

‘GOSPEL’: Watch, listen, experience

Illinois Soul has created a pop-up gospel exhibit on the second floor of the Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign. This exhibit draws from the film’s story, highlighting the cultural, historical, and musical impacts of gospel music across the nation, alongside the history, the music, and the people here in central Illinois who make up gospel music's impacts.