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Media Release

February 4, 2008

KLRU celebrates African American History Month with an extensive lineup of special programming

Austin, TX — KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, broadcasts programming created by and about African Americans year-round, from public affairs to history to independent film to kids programming. In celebration of Black History Month, February 2008, KLRU will broadcast a lineup of new and encore presentations honoring and exploring African-American history.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is joined by Maya Angelou, Morgan Freeman, Tina Turner and other prominent African Americans in African American Lives 2, a sequel to the series The New York Times called “the most exciting and stirring documentary on any subject to appear on television in a long time.” Other program highlights include Third Ward TX, about a project to revitalize a Houston community, Prince Among Slaves, a documentary about an African prince who was enslaved in Mississippi for 40 years before finally achieving freedom; and Independent Lens “Banished,” the story of three counties that forcefully banished African-American families from their towns 100 years ago. Other encore presentations include the first season of Eyes on the Prize and Slavery and the Making of America.

Featured programs include:

PRINCE AMONG SLAVES
Monday, February 4, 9-10 p.m.
This special tells the forgotten true story of an African prince who was enslaved in Mississippi for 40 years before finally achieving freedom and becoming one of the most famous men in America. Mos Def narrates.

SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA (Repeat)
Mondays, February 4, 11, 18 & 25, 10-11 p.m.
This groundbreaking series chronicles the institution of American slavery from its origins in 1619 — when English settlers in Virginia purchased 20 Africans from Dutch traders — through the arrival of the first 11 slaves in the northern colonies (in Dutch New Amsterdam), the American Revolution, the Civil War, the adoption of the 13th Amendment and Reconstruction. Morgan Freeman narrates.

AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2
Wednesdays, February 6-13, 8-10 p.m.
African American Lives again journeys deep into the African-American experience to unearth the triumphs and tragedies within the family histories of an all-new group of renowned participants. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. returns as series host.

SISTERS OF SELMA: BEARING WITNESS FOR CHANGE (Repeat)
Wednesday, February 6, midnight-1 a.m.
This program is an unabashedly spiritual take on the Selma, Alabama, voting rights marches of 1965 from some of its unsung foot soldiers – Catholic nuns. Following the violence of “Bloody Sunday,” sisters from around the country answered Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to join the protests in Selma.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: EYES ON THE PRIZE
Fridays, February 8, 15, 22 & 29, 9-11 p.m.
The groundbreaking documentary series examining America’s civil rights years returns to public television as part of American Experience. Covering the period from the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi, and the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott through school desegregation, the march from Selma to Montgomery and the Voting Rights Act, "Eyes on the Prize" is considered the definitive history of this formative time in the nation’s life.

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS “Etta James” (Repeat)
Saturday, February 9, 8-10 p.m.
The Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award winner continues to be one of the most respected R&B singers in America. Highlights include “All the Way Down” and “At Last.”

MARINES OF MONTFORD POINT: FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM
Tuesday, February 12, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Louis Gossett, Jr. narrates a look at the first African Americans recruits in the Marine Corps.

INDEPENDENT LENS "Banished"
Tuesday, February 19, 9-10:30 p.m.
This is the story of three counties that forcefully banished African American families from their towns 100 years ago — and the descendents who return to learn a shocking history.

FIVE PHENONMENAL WOMEN
Tuesday, February 19, 10:30-11 p.m.
Five African-American women, educators and students themselves, living and working in the suburban Georgia school district of Clayton County, are profiled in this extraordinary half hour. Five Phenomenal Women, inspired by Maya Angelou's poem "Phenomenal Woman" captures the sense of confidence, love and humor of these amazing women. These five women,ranging in age from late 30's to mid 60's are all Ph.D candidates at Capella University. Inspired by one of the five, Patricia DeShazior Hill, the women know the title of "Doctor" will change their lives and also change the lives of the kids in Clayton County.

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS "Tribute to Bluesman Jimmy Reed" (Repeat)
Saturday, February 23, 8-10 p.m.
Joined by blues luminaries James Cotton, Delbert McClinton, Lou Ann Barton and others, guitarist Jimmie Vaughan pays tribute to Jimmy Reed, composer of blues classics “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby,” “Big Boss Man” and “Baby What You Want Me to Do.”

THIRD WARD TEXAS
Monday, February 25, 9-10 p.m.; Tuesday, February 26, 10-11 p.m.
In 1993, a step ahead of demolition crews, a group of passionate and committed African-American artists purchased a block of condemned row houses in Houston's Third Ward with the intent of starting a dialogue about the condition of inner-city neighborhoods. Their venture, The Project Row Houses, stabilized and re-energized the area, transforming symbols of poverty and hopelessness into beacons of strength and imagination. Third Ward TX explores their creative experiment, which challenged traditional notions of community development by mixing art, activism, education and low-income housing. Today, white "shotgun" houses — narrow one-story dwellings with furnished interiors — provide rent-free accommodations to young, single mothers and house after-school programs, offices, a community garden and artists' workshops. The film also documents Project Row Houses' urgent efforts to help the Third Ward maintain its identity when real estate developers threaten to gentrify the neighborhood by building high-priced condos.

About KLRU

KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, reflects, celebrates and inspires Central Texas through creative excellence,
community engagement and lifelong learning. Although primarily a television station providing locally produced and quality national programming, KLRU is also a non-profit organization helping to build a stronger community through educational workshops, community outreach projects and public events. Get more information about KLRU at klru.org.

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