In this four-hour series, BLACK AMERICA SINCE MLK: AND STILL I RISE, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. embarks on a deeply personal journey through the last fifty years of African American history. Joined by leading scholars, celebrities, and a dynamic cast of people who shaped these years, Gates travels from the victories of the civil rights movement up to today, asking profound questions about the state of black America—and our nation as a whole.
Every aspect of the series—its visual approach, music, narrative scope, and Gates’ intimate tone—is crafted to feel vibrant and relevant, to raise questions that are provocative and thoughtful. How far have we come toward racial equality since the civil rights era? What does it mean to be black today? How can we have a black President while events like Ferguson continue to occur? All Americans, whatever their race, and whenever they were born, want to make sense of the last fifty years of our history. This series drives straight to the heart of those questions with uncompromising honesty, rejecting the conventional narrative of our times to make this history tangible, immediate, and compelling.