Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Apollo Theater is hosting its 18th annual celebration of Dr. King’s heavenly birthday, “Uptown Hall: The Inconvenient King,” in partnership with WNYC and March on Washington Film Festival. A panel discussion focusing on Dr. King’s enduring legacy on the culture, and the context and complexity of racial discrimination, will be followed by music, spoken word and other forms of creative expression.
The celebration will be presented live at the Apollo and available via livestream on Sunday, January 14, 2024 at 2:00 pm ET.
On January 16, 1865, Union General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15 which promised the formerly enslaved 40 acres and a mule. The descendants of enslaved Africans are still waiting for their inheritance, preferably payable by check.
The call for reparations dates back to 1783 when Belinda Royall petitioned the Massachusetts General Court (the state legislature) requesting a pension based on her years of enslavement from the proceeds of her master’s estate. Fast forward to today, African Americans from California to New York are saying it’s past time for reparations.
On June 22, 2023, City Council authorized the creation of the Philadelphia Reparations Task Force to “study and develop reparations proposals for Black Philadelphian descendants of enslaved Africans in the United States.”
The Cost of Inheritance: An America ReFramed Special explores “the nation’s legacy of systemic inequities to modern-day America, introducing audiences to descendants of enslaved persons and slave owners, profiling their complex intertwined histories and detailing how their quest to bridge divides galvanized them to seek reparations together.”
The Cost of Inheritance: An America ReFramed Special premieres on Monday, January 8, 2024, at 10:00 pm ET on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS app.
