WLRH is proud to present these wonderful documentaries that explore history, not only of African-Americans, but of us all. Also, please follow our coverage and discussions on our FaceBook page.

Monday, February 18th 6pm - Backstory with the American History Guys : Thenceforward and Forever Free: The Emancipation Proclamation
On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In it, he announced that all slaves in rebellious states "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." Today, Lincoln is remembered as "The Great Emancipator," but the story of emancipation is complex and contradictory. And the question of how we choose to commemorate this anniversary can be touchy. In this episode, we trace the shifting meanings of emancipation, from 1863 to the present. How can we best understand emancipation¿as a moral imperative, military necessity, political strategy, or all of the above?  

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Tuesday, February 19th 6pm - Let Freedom Sing: The Music of the Abolitionists
Classical New England from WGBH offers a companion radio program to the Jan., 2013 PBS series The Abolitionists:  Let Freedom Sing: The Music of the Abolitionists.

Let Freedom Sing chronicles the idealistic artists, uncompromising personalities and powerful music of the era, and looks at how these forces combined to turn abolitionism from a scorned fringe movement into a nation-changing force. This one-hour special will be hosted by NPR contributing correspondent Noah Adams.

But as reformers of the day would say, "Any good crusade requires singing." And in the 19th century, no cause was more righteous than the decades-long crusade to abolish slavery.  

The American Experience series chronicles how five leading abolitionists mobilized a nation to overcome what's been called the "greatest obstacle to America achieving the ideals of its founding."  The Abolitionists tells the story of the movement through the lens of five main characters : South Carolina society dame-turned-abolition crusader Angelina Grimke (GRIHM-kee); radical insurrectionist John Brown, Uncle Tom's Cabin novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, and most especially, African American orator Frederick Douglass, and firebrand newspaper publisher William Lloyd Garrison.  

And music was one of their major weapons.   Host Noah Adams, with the help of Dale Cockrell, professor emeritus at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, and Director of the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN, profiles the five main musical figures of the cause, whose lives and careers were similarly intertwined: English balladeer Henry Russell, the 13-member Hutchinson Family Singers from New Hampshire, the great American songwriter Stephen Foster,  Chicago publisher turned composer George F. Root (author of "Battle Cry of Freedom"), and songwriter Henry Clay Work, author of the Emancipation anthem "Kingdom Coming."

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Wednesday, February 20th 6pm - Maya Angelou Black History Month Special 2013
Host Maya Angelou poetically and historically covers milestones by African Americans in Nobel Peace Prize, Grammy, Academy Awards, and cultural awards.

Far from firsts, African Americans continue to be acknowledged by their communities, our country and internationally. This hour-long Black History Month radio program features milestone conversations with Maya Angelou and lauded African Americans from the Grammy's to the Emmy¿s, Academy Awards, Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize categories. Host Maya Angelou, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Tony and Grammy award winner and Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee, offers a unique, poetic and historical context of African Americans

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