Illinois Soul

Celebrate Black History Month with us

 

Illinois Public Media invites you to join your favorite WILL stations in celebrating Black History Month throughout February. Tune in to Morning Edition — airing weekdays on Illinois Soul 101.1 FM, WILL-AM 580, and WILL Classical 90.9 FM — and Illinois Soul throughout the day to hear Illinois Black History Minutes, featuring Black leaders of yesterday (and today!) from across the state. Together we will celebrate and honor these Black scientists, politicians, athletes, activists, artists, and more who have left their mark on U.S. history.

WILL-TV also has a wonderful lineup of programs to expand the mind and showcase individuals whose impacts live on, even if their names were lost to history. Highlights include the story of legendary musician Hazel Scott — from her triumph during Jim Crow to the dissolution of her fame due to McCarthy-era blacklisting. She was not only the most famous jazz virtuoso of her time, but she was the first African American to have her own television show. American Masters’ The Disappearance of Miss Scott shines a light on this incredible talent whose voice has been lost. Tune in at 8 pm Friday, Feb. 2.

Other programs include:

  • Fuzz tells the story of a courageous leader in the historically Black community of North Nashville, who is fighting for his life as he fights for his community and premieres at 10:30 pm Friday, Feb. 7.
  • Founded in the late 19th century as a place for Americans to make purposeful use of leisure time, Chautauqua at 150: Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise explores 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 and airs at 9 pm Tuesday, Feb. 11.
  • American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton tells the story of the death penalty case that put racism on trial in a U.S. courtroom in the fall of 1968. Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton was accused of killing a white policeman and wounding another after a pre-dawn car stop in Oakland in which Newton himself suffered a near-fatal wound. A landmark trial ensues and Newton's defense team calls out racism in the judicial system. With a death penalty looming, a shocking verdict is delivered that still reverberates today. The film airs at 10 pm Tuesday, Feb. 25.
  • Bike Vessel takes a hard look at the health disparities plaguing Black men, and the systemic racism that has elevated them to the lowest life expectancy and highest death rate of any other racial or ethnic group. The film, presented by Independent Lens, follows a father and son as they cycle from St. Louis to Chicago, and airs at 9 pm Monday, Feb. 24.
  • For decades, Walter White — leader of the NAACP from 1929 to 1955 — was the face of the civil rights movement, but his name has all but disappeared from history. Discover the man who helped shape America’s most powerful civil rights organization in American Experience’s Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP, premiering at 8 pm Tuesday, Feb. 25.