Radio Shows to Mark Black History Month

As part of its celebration of Black History Month in February, National Public Radio affiliate KCLU-FM (88.3) will air special programming starting Friday.

“The Gateways African-American Music Festival” will be broadcast from 7 to 8 p.m. Friday and again Feb. 9. It will feature major African American musicians performing at a landmark Baptist church in Rochester, N.Y. The festival is the nation’s largest gathering of African American musicians.

KCLU will air “Radio Fights Jim Crow” Feb. 16 from 7 to 8 p.m. The show documents the efforts of African American journalists, educators, artists and activists who used radio to fight racist laws and attitudes during the 1930s and ‘40s. The documentary relies on archival tapes and includes the voices of singer Paul Robeson, authors Richard Wright and Studs Terkel, and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

“O Freedom Over Me,” a documentary of the 1964 “Freedom Summer” when college students tried to register black voters and protested racial segregation in the South, will air Feb. 23 from 7 to 8 p.m. The program features interviews with participants as well as archival news tape and music.

For more information, call KCLU at 493-3900.