Black History

SOLD OUT! Becoming Thurgood Screening & Discussion • WXXI Studios

Join WXXI for a FREE screening of this new film that explore the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall. It will be followed by a panel discussion. The screening is currently SOLD OUT!

Watch Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect premieres on WXXI-TV and WXXI Livestream on Tuesday, September 9 at 10 p.m.

“Becoming Thurgood” Screening & Panel Discussion
Thursday, September 4. Doors open at 6 p.m. Screening starts at 6:30 p.m.
WXXI Studio A
280 State Street, Rochester, NY

Parking available next door at High Falls Garage

This event is free, but reservations are required and is currently closed.
Event details.

About the film:
With a combination of oral history, animation, and evocative sound design, this new one-hour documentary explores the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the visionary lawyer and civil rights leader who became the first Black justice on the United States Supreme Court. Drawing from rare archival recordings, personal photographs, and exclusive interviews, the film traces Marshall’s journey from his birth in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908 to his formative years at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law to his groundbreaking career as a lawyer championing civil rights and dismantling segregation.

Promo for Becoming Thurgood: Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect premieres on WXXI-TV and WXXI Livestreams on Tuesday, September 9 at 10 p.m.

A discussion will follow the screening of the film, moderated by Kearstin Piper Brown, American Soprano and WXXI Classical Host in addition to graduating from Spelman, an HBCU higher education institution and Northwestern University.

Panelists:

Dr. Shaun Nelms, vice president of community partnerships at the University of Rochester. He previously served as the superintendent as the Educational Partnership Organization (EPO) superintendent for East, to create a school reform model that can be replicated in urban settings throughout the U.S. Since 2018 he has served as the Professor (Clinical), William & Sheila Konar Director of the Center for Urban Education Success at the Warner School. In this role, Nelms leads the center’s efforts to support the success of K-12 urban schools both locally and nationally through a combination of research, relationship building, and a commitment to pursue and share best practices.

The Honorable Melissa L. Barrett, Supervising Judge of the Rochester City Trial Courts, most recently elected for a term of 2020-2029. Barrett earned a B.A. from the SUNY Albany in 1991. She then completed a J.D. at SUNY at Buffalo Law School in 1995. More info:

Her memberships have included the Rochester Black Bar Association. she has also served on the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Town Perinton, and she has been involved in the Genesee Street Business Corridor, the Deaconess Ministry at the Aenon Missionary Baptist Church, the United Way of Rochester African American Leadership Development Program and the Rochester Chapter of The Links, Inc.

Spencer Ash, ESQ, Senior Counsel at the Law Offices of Pullano & Farrow Spencer is an experienced litigation and transactional attorney with vast public and private sector experience. Spencer practices law in New York State Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and is a member of the Supreme Court of the United States. He has worked as counsel for several Fortune 100 companies and currently represents the City of Rochester, New York. Spencer is a Rochester native, a graduate of Pittsford Mendon High School, S.U.N.Y at Buffalo and Touro Law Center. He specializes in state, federal and appellate litigation, as well as contract law.

Spencer is also a passionate community advocate who has served on the Foundation Board of the Monroe County Bar Association, participated in Lawyers For Learning as both a mentor and a Vice-Chair, was President of the Rochester Black Bar Association in 2013 and has contributed to periodicals such as the Daily Record and Our Voice Magazine. He has been named an Emerging Bar Leader, an Emerging African American Leader, received the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Rochester Black Bar Association, is a graduate of Leadership Rochester, and a recipient of Dale Carnegie’s Outstanding Performance Award.

Photo: Thurgood Marshall leaves Federal Court in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 29, 1956.
Credit: Library of Congress

National Partners:

BECOMING THURGOOD: AMERICA’S SOCIAL ARCHITECT is a production of Maryland Public Television, made possible with an appropriation from the State of Maryland for The Center for Maryland History Films. Funding for the film is also provided by Morgan State University, Theralogix, Sage Policy Group, and Allan and Shelley Holt (through the Hillside Foundation).

Local Community Partners:

Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect • WXXI-TV

Explore the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the nation’s first African American Supreme Court justice also known as “Mr. Civil Rights,” from his legal career with the NAACP to his 1967 appointment to the nation’s highest court.

Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect airs Tuesday, December 2 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV and streams live on the WXXI & PBS apps.

With a combination of oral history, animation, and evocative sound design, this new one-hour documentary explores the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the visionary lawyer and civil rights leader who became the first Black justice on the United States Supreme Court. Drawing from rare archival recordings, personal photographs, and exclusive interviews, the film traces Marshall’s journey from his birth in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908 to his formative years at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law to his groundbreaking career as a lawyer championing civil rights and dismantling segregation.

Becoming Thurgood Promo:

Photo: Thurgood Marshall in front of the Supreme Court.
Credit: PBS PressRoom.

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Local Community Partners:

Inside the CIAA: The Baltimore Experience • WXXI-TV

A sneak peek inside the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), the nation’s oldest historically Black athletic conference.

Inside the CIAA: The Baltimore Experience airs Tuesday, September 9 at 3 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

This half-hour special examines the history of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Tournament, the nation’s oldest and most profitable post-season basketball tournament featuring Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the cultural, financial and revitalizing impacts of its 2023 relocation to the City of Baltimore.

Trailer:

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Photo: Quilter Sheléa with Stevie Mackie
Credit: Courtesy of PBS SoCal

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Learn about the celebrated quilts made by a community of African American women in rural Alabama.

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explores how an isolated community of women in rural Alabama became respected worldwide as the creators of celebrated woven works of art. Established during enslavement, the nuanced quilting practice in Gee’s Bend was passed down from mothers to daughters for generations, surviving everything from reconstruction to Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Movement to the present day. A legacy woven by hand, the quilts have been embraced by the modern art world and featured in museums across the country, but little is known about the women who make them and the challenges they have faced.

Photo: Quilter Stella Mae Pettway
Credit: Gionatan Tecle, Seen & Held, LLC

Independent Lens “WE WANT THE FUNK!” • WXXI-TV

Take a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots, to its rise into the public consciousness.

Independent Lens “WE WANT THE FUNK!” airs Friday, January 2 at 9 p.m. and streaming live and on the PBS App & WXXI app (iOS & Android)

Featuring James Brown’s dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat. The story also traces funk’s influences on both new wave and hip-hop.

American Experience – American Coup: Wilmington 1898 • On-demand

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Aired 11/12/2024 | On-demand Expires 11/12/2027

Photo: A mob celebrates in front of the burned Love & Charity Hall which housed the black-owned and -edited newspaper/Credit: The Daily Record. Courtesy of New Hanover County Public Library.

Independent Lens “Bike Vessel” • On-Demand

Father and son bond on an ambitious 350-mile bike ride in this portrait of familial love.

Independent Lens “Bike Vessel” is available on-demand through 5/25/25.

Knowing his dad miraculously recovered from three open-heart surgeries after discovering a passion for cycling, filmmaker Eric D. Seals proposes an ambitious idea: Bike together from St. Louis to Chicago. 350 miles. 4 days. On their journey, the two push each other as they find a deeper connection and a renewed appreciation of their quests for their own health and to reimagine Black health.

Learn more about the film.