It’s that time again. Every February, the media dutifully dust off the Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks documentaries, and throw a nod to Black History Month.
Younger African-Americans no doubt find the custom quaint at best, if not offensively dismissive.
Why does “White History” get 365 days a year, 366 in leap years, while “Black History” gets one month — the shortest, coldest of the year?
That’s the premise of an entertaining new documentary, “More Than a Month,” by Shukree Tilghman, airing on PBS’s “Independent Lens” on Feb. 16 (10 p.m. on Rocky Mountain PBS, Channel 6 in the Denver area). Tilghman, a 29-year-old filmmaker, undertakes a cross-country quest, campaigning to end Black History Month. He talks to historians and activists and, along the way, learns how the observance came about in the first place, and why it continues. It’s a gimmicky bit of filmmaking in the Morgan Spurlock vein, but with valid points.
Other films treating the subject of black history from new angles this month:
“The Black Power Mixtape 1967-75.” History takes on new depth with this fascinating archival footage shot by Swedish TV journalists looking at the exotic revolution that was the U.S. civil rights movement. Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X, they’re all here speaking candidly, with an impressionistic (as opposed to journalistic) take on the era. At 10:30 p.m. Feb. 9 on RMPBS.
HBO offers “The Loving Story,” a conventional documentary about the landmark civil rights case that overturned the miscegenation laws. So simple, so moving. The idea that a white man and his part-black, part-Cherokee wife were arrested in the middle of the night by law enforcement breaking into their home is so outrageous now, it’s hard to imagine. The ACLU lawyers in the case recount their strategy arguing the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. 7 p.m., Feb. 14, HBO.
“Have You Heard From Johannesburg?” is rerunning on Colorado Public Television, Channel 12. The seven-part documentary recounts the rise of the global anti-apartheid movement. Historians and film critics have proclaimed producer-director Connie Field’s epic the definitive history of the movement. At 8 p.m. Monday on CPT12.
“Slavery by Another Name” challenges the idea that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. In fact, the re-enslavement of black Americans continued from the Civil War until World War II. The film, based on the 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas Blackmon, is eye-opening. If you can tolerate the use of dramatic re-enactments, it’s powerful history. Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. on RMPBS. Also Feb. 19 on CPT12.
“Awareness of this history should reset the clock on when slavery actually ended in this country,” said executive producer Catherine Allan (“Hoop Dreams”).
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
