Episode 4 Preview
Despite the gains of legal desegregation, hour four reveals how Black political and cultural movements - from Black Power to Black Twitter - provide a safe space to debate, organize and celebrate.
Harlem, The Black Metropolis
This episode looks at the idea of the “Black Metropolis” – a Black city within a larger city – and explores the black businesses, churches and entertainment of Harlem.
Episode 3 Preview
To survive economic disaster, hour three shows how African Americans relied on informal economies, grassroots organizations and cultural innovations behind the color line to dismantle the oppressive realities of Jim Crow.
Episode 2 Preview
As Jim Crow laws went into effect, African Americans built a “life behind the veil” to meet their educational, economic, political, and cultural needs. Hour two explores the genesis of these organizations and networks that paved the way for Black life to flourish. Host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. highlights the progress Black people made during the early 20th Century.
A’Lelia Walker Created Safe, Sacred places for Black Artists
Madame CJ Walker's daughter, A’Lelia Walker, made an astounding impact building Black community and Langston Hughes crowned her “the joy goddess of Harlem’s 1920s.”
Trailer
This four-hour series, hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., introduces viewers to a world that showcases Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.
Extended Trailer
Making Black America: Through the Grapevine is a four-part series hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., that chronicles the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people -beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” Professor Gates sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders, and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today.
Inside Look
"Making Black America" directors Stacey L. Holman and Shayla Harris discuss the significance of telling stories that help build Black culture as we know it today.
Trailer 2
Making Black America will draw our viewers into an extraordinary world that showcased Black people’s ability to
collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.
What is “Black Love?”
"A love that allows for grace... creating spaces for one to be their whole self, all the time."
"Radical love... radical empathy."
-- These are some of the ways "Making Black America" panelists respond when Henry Louis Gates, Jr. asks, "What is Black love?"
The Building of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Since 1837, more than 100 HBCUs have been founded in the United States – most in the half century following the Civil War.
Annie Malone's and CJ Walker's Beauty Empires
"Making Black America" explores how Annie Malone and CJ Walker built their beauty empires. Both women envisioned their businesses as more than money-making enterprises, and also operated as a vehicle to create economic opportunity for Black women and a home for culture and community.
The Evolution of Black Literature
The first episode of "Making Black America" includes an exploration of the evolution of Black Literature, including a discussion on poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. She influenced her fellow Black writers to expand the subjects of their work to include universal feelings, such as love, loss, aspiration, to showcase the Black experience beyond oppression by White people.
Making Black America
Making Black America: Through the Grapevine is a four-part series hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., that chronicles the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people -beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” Professor Gates sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders, and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today.
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