What’s CODE SWITCH? It’s the fearless conversations about race that you’ve been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between. This podcast makes all of us part of the conversation — because we’re all part of the story. Learn More:
Black History
Driving While Black On-Demand
Chronicling the riveting history and personal experiences of African Americans on the road from the advent of the automobile through the seismic changes of the 1960s and beyond. Available to watch through 10/12/27.
Driving While Black: Race, Space, and Mobility in America, a ground-breaking, two-hour documentary film by acclaimed historian Dr. Gretchen Sorin and Emmy–winning director Ric Burns. The film chronicles the riveting history and personal experiences of African Americans on the road from the advent of the automobile through the seismic changes of the 1960s and beyond. It explores the deep background of a recent phrase rooted in realities that have been an indelible part of the African American experience for hundreds of years – told in large part through the stories of the men, women and children who lived through it.
Drawing on a wealth of recent scholarship – and based on and inspired in large part by Gretchen Sorin’s recently published study of the way the automobile and highways transformed African American life across the 20th century – the film examines the history of African Americans on the road from the depths of the Depression to the height of the Civil Rights movement and beyond, exploring along the way the deeply embedded dynamics of race, space and mobility in America during one of the most turbulent and transformative periods in American history.
The right to move freely and safely across the American landscape has always been unequally distributed by race and powerfully contested in the American experience. With urgent and powerful relevance to issues and dynamics at work in American society today – of race and class, gender, safety, law enforcement, automobile culture, recreation, personal freedom and national identity – this resonant and deeply moving history is at once revelatory, troubling and deeply inspiring for what it uncovers about the long road to justice in American history, and about the creativity, courage and commitment to change that makes it possible.
Driving While Black utilizes a rich archive of material from the period — including footage, photographs, advertisements, road signs, maps, letters and legal records — and weaves together oral histories and the on-camera insights of scholars, writers, musicians and ordinary American travelers. Program website.
Norm & Company: Shawn Dunwoody On-Demand
Artist and educator Shawn Dunwoody joins WXXI President Norm Silverstein for an episode of Norm & Company. A self-described “creative force for change,” Shawn has used his talents to create public art projects focused on uplifting communities and engaging neighborhoods. Shawn reflects on how his work has brought meaning to his life and the lives of so many others.
A native of Rochester who grew up in the Marketview Heights neighborhood, Shawn has focused his life’s work on visual storytelling, collaboratively painting murals that communicate powerful ideas. His most recent street art shared messages of safety during the pandemic and amplifying the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Learn more about this visionary, who is helping to advance the cultural and economic well-being of the Finger Lakes region and bring much-needed attention to areas of critical need in many city neighborhoods.
PBS KIDS: Talk About: Race and Racism
BS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism is a special co-viewing program for families with young children to watch and discuss together.
The PBS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism special is a half-hour program featuring authentic conversations between real children and their growmups, and will include content from PBS KIDS series DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD, ARTHUR and XAVIER RIDDLE AND THE SECRET MUSEUM.
The special will feature children and their grownups talking about race and racial justice-related topics in an age-appropriate way, such as noticing differences in race, understanding what racism can look like, and embracing the role we all have to play in standing up for ourselves and each other — offering viewers ideas to build on as they continue these important conversations at home.
**Please note: This special programming is designed as a co-viewing experience with adults and children watching together. **
Watch together on-demand
More: Articles and Resources for Grown-ups
More About the Special
Grownup note: PBS KIDS programs are designed to reflect the diversity of communities across the nation, and to address themes relevant to children’s everyday lives. This special is designed for parents and children to watch together, and for parents to build on in whatever way they choose to have these conversations with their children. The program touches on topics such as race, racism, and the recent Black Lives Matter protests from the perspective of real kids in an effort to help children understand what they might be seeing happening around them in a developmentally-appropriate way.
The PBS KIDS Talk About: Race and Racism special was created in response to parents increasingly asking PBS KIDS for resources to address tough but important topics with their kids, including race and racism, and is part of PBS KIDS’ ongoing commitment to families across the nation.
Designed as a co-viewing experience, the program explores complicated topics in an age-appropriate way. Our goal is to support parents in talking with their children about race. We hope that our content will provide a helpful starting point in whatever way parents choose to have these conversations with their children. Additional parent resources are available on PBS KIDS for Parents on pbs.org/parents/talking-about-racism to support parents in discussions about race and racial justice-related topics with their children.
The following advisors consulted on this project:
- Dr. Aisha White, Program Director, P.R.I.D.E (Positive Racial Identity Development in Early Education)
- Dr. Renee Wilson-Simmons, Executive Director, ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) Awareness Foundation
- Dr. Dana Winters, Director of Simple Interactions and Academic Programs; Assistant Professor of Child and Family Studies, Fred Rogers Center
Our Sponsors
Celebrating African-American Contributions On-Demand
WXXI celebrates Black History and Heritage. We proudly feature contributions from these 40 individuals.
WATCH ALL PROFILES IN THIS PLAYLIST or the individual profiles below.
Watch all the segments on a loop above, or click the links below for individual spotlights.
Vice President of the U.S. Kamala Harris
Black History & Culture Video Playlist On-Demand
PBS continues to provide programming on-air and on-demand regarding history and current issues for race, racism as resources for everyone to educate themselves and continue the conversation on all the ways that inequality in America shows up in everyday life.
PBS is continuing our commitment to highlight content that will continue the conversation, add historical context to these issues and enable change. Below you will find programs that profile police departments, specials that detail conversations parents of color have with their children, documentaries that cover the treatment of Blacks since slavery and films that shed light on both past and current events.
The History of White People in America
The history of how skin became race, and race became power. (3 episodes below the trailer)
Exploring the Alabama Prison Birth Project at Alabama’s women-only Julia Tutwiler Prison.
LOCAL, USA A Dream Deferred: The Broken Promise of NYC Public Housing
An intimate look at the lives of New York City Housing Authority residents.
Examining the costs of one of America’s greatest threats: crumbling water infrastructure.
LOCAL, USA Veterans Coming Home – Health
The health challenges veterans face in transitioning from military to civilian life.
The biography of Madame C.J. Walker, America’s first self-made millionairess.
Coming Together: Sesame Street Resources on Racial Literacy
Sesame Workshop continues its major commitment to racial justice with new resources and content called “Coming Together” to help families talk to young children about race and identity.
All kids need a strong individual and group identity, but racism hurts the healthy development of both, as well as our entire society. Whether you and the children in your care are directly affected by racism or you’re allies of those who are, engaging honestly and directly with little ones is the beginning of building racial literacy (the skills needed to talk thoughtfully about race and to identify and respond to racism).
Please note: All of the resources listed below and available through Sesame Street in Communities are designed for co-viewing, co-learning, and co-participation – meaning that to create the most meaningful experience and takeaways, adults and children should use them together.
I Am Somebody Song:
Coming Together is rooted in extensive research and consultation with experts to develop a groundbreaking Racial Justice educational framework and curriculum for young children. Like the science-based whole-child model that Sesame Street is known for, this framework will help guide and inform the creation of new Sesame Workshop content going forward—including future seasons of Sesame Street. This collection of resources are designed to provide families with the tools they need to build racial literacy, to have open conversations with young children, to engage allies and advocates to become upstanders against racism, and more, Coming Together includes a racial justice educational framework, ongoing research, and a rolling release of new content.
Where to Find Coming Together Resources: You can find all of the resources connected to Coming Together and Racial Justice by following the below links.
- All of the resources live within Sesame Street in Communities’ Racial Justice topic page (all of these materials are available in English/Spanish)
- Explainer Article: What is Racial Literacy?
- Never Too Young Article: Ages & Stages of Racial Understanding
- Parent/Caregiver Article: Raising an Upstander
- Meet Real Families: The Preston Foster Ogletrees Family and The Marañas
- Grownup Workshop: Helping Parents/Caregivers Talk About – And Stand Up Against – Racism
- Explainer Video: Explaining Race
Learn More: Sesame Street in Communities Race, Ethnicity, and Culture Resources
Searching for Timbuctoo On-Demand:
This film tells the little-known story of a Black settlement, established in the wilds of upstate New York. It brought together a group of ardent abolitionists willing to risk their fortunes, their families, and their futures to destroy slavery.
In 1846, in an effort to level a blow against racism, wealthy New York landowner and well-known abolitionist leader, Gerrit Smith, gave away 120,000 acres of wild land to nearly 3000 African-American men so that they could have the right to vote in the State of New York. His ‘scheme of justice and benevolence’ helped establish a Black settlement that brought together a diverse group of black and white abolitionists –including a struggling sheep farmer named John Brown — committed to ending slavery.
What Smith could not know is that his plan would also lead one man to the brink of insanity; send another to the gallows, and help hurtle the nation towards a catastrophic civil war. Searching For Timbuctoo reveals the hidden history of this long lost community and follows an archaeology team trying to unearth it.