Black History Month on WCQS

STATE OF THE RE:UNION - "WHO IS THIS MAN?"
Saturday, February 2nd at 3pm and Sunday, February 3rd at 6pm
MLK Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech has become the shorthand of the Civil Rights Movement-- but we might never have heard it, if it were not for another man, who’s largely been forgotten by history: Bayard Rustin. In this program State of the Re:Union explores the life and legacy of Mr. Rustin, a black, gay, Quaker who brought Gandhian non-violent protest to the Civil Rights movement in America.

HEAVENLY SIGHT – A VISION OUT OF BLINDNESS
Saturday, February 9th at 3pm and Sunday, February 10th at 6pm
Since the time of Aristotle, blind seers have been regarded as bearers of special insight. Host David Marash brings us the stories, music and this insight from the blind gospel tradition that transformed American song and gave it soul. We hear the music and stories of black gospel singers including: Arizona Dranes, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Blind Willie Johnson, Ray Charles, Flora Molton - who survived by singing on the streets of Washington DC - and Reverend Gary Davis whose "holy blues" influenced Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan.

LET FREEDOM SING 
Thursday, February 7th at 2pm
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 Noah Adams.
"Any good crusade requires singing," reformers like to say, and in the 19th century, no cause was more righteous than the decades-long crusade to abolish slavery. An original WGBH-Classical New England production hosted by Noah Adams, Let Freedom Sing will profile such powerful figures as Henry Russell, the barnstorming Anglo-Jewish pianist and singer dubbed the master of "chutzpah and huzzah;" the Milford, New Hampshire-based Hutchinson Family Singers, remembered as America's first protest singers; and abolitionist leader and newspaper publisher William Lloyd Garrison, whose "Song of the Abolitionist" (set to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne") literally set the tone for the entire movement. Garrison believed strongly in setting stanzas to familiar melodies—for poetry, he held, was "naturally and instinctively on the side of liberty."

LANGSTON HUGHES – I,TOO, SING AMERICA
Saturday, February 16th at 3pm and Sunday, February 17th 6pm
Langston Hughes, an enduring icon of the Harlem Renaissance, is best-known for his written work, which wedded his fierce dedication to social justice with his belief in the transformative power of the word. But he was a music lover, too, and some of the works he was most proud of were collaborations with composers and musicians.

BACKSTORY: THENCEFORTH AND FOREVER FREE
Saturday, February 23rd 3pm and Sunday, February 24th 6pm
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?