Film Date
8/19/68
Film Reference Number
KQ 1019
Description
Episode 10 of a 10-part TV series made by Dr. Maya Angelou for KQED in 1968 called Blacks Blues Black! which examines the influence of African American culture on modern American society. Includes scenes of Dr. Angelou in the studio recapping on subjects covered in the previous nine episodes. Dr. Angelou also provides a selected reading list (which appears on-screen) of books she feels will assist viewers for their own personal research. Ends with Dr. Angelou reading Margaret Walker's poem 'For My People' first published in 1942. The final lines read by Dr. Angelou with great passion are as follows: "Let a beauty full of / healing and a strength of final clenching be the pulsing / in our spirits and our blood. Let the martial songs / be written let the dirges disappear. Let a race of men now / rise and take control." This episode was written and produced by Dr. Maya Angelou and directed by Robert Hagopian. We'd like to thank KQED WNET and the Library of Congress for collaborating with the TV Archive in making this series available. WNET deposited 2-inch video masters of 'Blacks Blues Black!' with the Library of Congress. The Library's Recording Laboratory remastered these 2-inch tapes onto digital QuickTime masters and copyright holder KQED agreed to let us stream the compressed screener footage in DIVA. The TV Archive provided funding and coordination for this project.