History
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Hosts “Finding Your Roots” For A 4th Season On PBS (Trailer)
September 10, 2017
Whenever you see/hear a politician or group of protestors talk about cutting funding for PBS, you remember that they are talking about taking away wonderful, scary good, deeply enriching and fulfilling television like this.
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. returns to PBS on October 3rd!
#FindingYourRoots
Can you believe we’re going into Season 4 with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., talking guests through their heritages? He really is a historic/genetic tour guide (like someone said in this clip). Enjoy this extended teaser trailer of all kinds of sneak peeks at celebrity revelations about their family trees. “Finding Your Roots” is so dope!
Posted in Celebrity, History, Human Interest, Investigation, Series, Television, Trailer, Videos | 
Tags: Finding Your Roots, Henry Louis Gates, Jr, Larry David, PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, Public Broadcasting System, Season 4, Season Four | 
No Comments »
African History: Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannan Tell It “Like It Is” (Video)
September 3, 2017
African History is WORLD History! Africa MADE history, not just as the Motherland for all humanity; but for all kinds of advances. Evidence of an astronomical observatory, calendars, advanced husbandry and metal works… way in advance of when man supposedly first ‘discovered’ them… Yeah, this is vintage footage of Black scholars telling us – and offering strong arguments to support – that Africa had all that on lock.
The scholars even speak of the cultural character of ancient African civilizations. When Africans invade, they do not wipe out others’ civilizations. But when others invade…
Well, just watch. Wonder. Learn. SHARE!
Dr. Charshee McIntyre Lectures On The History & Science Of Afrikans and Native Americans (Video)
August 29, 2017
Strength, beauty, honor, AND knowledge! Pay attention as Dr. Charshee McIntyre breaks it down in spite of diagnoses that would have many think she is ‘diseased’… Nah, she is in a constant state ‘dis ease’ (as in, “ill at ease”). Through her lineage, Afrikan and Native American (Cherokee-Choctaw in her instance), she speaks truth to her (read: our) existence and how we have diminished our humanity.
Dr. McIntyre gets deeper in depth in her lecture above. Rep. Maxine Waters popularized ‘reclaiming my time’… Dr. McIntyre implores us all to ‘claim our heritage’ and reclaim OUR humanity!
Yes, OUR humanity – Black, Red, White – all coming out of Africa… all intermingled genetically now. Traced back many, many millennia to The Motherland.
(Oh, and several historical myths are getting blown up in here. Sorry, not sorry, Columbus!)
Posted in Activism, Education, History, Lecture, Science, Travel, Videos, Vintage | Tags: Afrikans and Native Americans, Charshee McIntyre, Dr. Charshee McIntyre, The Black Side, TV108 | No Comments »
An Anti-Facist Film’s Message We Need To Hear… Today! (Video)
August 25, 2017
“When that first minority lost out… everybody lost out.”
At the risk of piling on… Michael Moore said it so right in our post on here: If you are not going to say that what went down in Charlottesville was wrong (not on both sides, Mr. President; the NEO-NAZI side), you are pretty much on the wrong side! Turn it around. Don’t support racists, Neo-whatevers… none of that. Do the right thing: Stand with the right. The right side of the aisle, if you like; but at least be on the right side of HISTORY!
And speaking of history, watch the above clip. And by all means… DON’T BE A SUCKER!
– @ojones1
Posted in Activism, Call To Action, Film, History, Travel, Videos, Vintage | Tags: anti-fascist, anti-fascist film, anti-Nazi, anti-Nazi film, DON'T BE A SUCKER, World War II, WW II, WWII | No Comments »
Watch The Documentary “Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me” (Trailer)
August 23, 2017
I’m colored, Jewish, and Puerto Rican. When I move into a neighborhood, I wipe it out!
– Sammy Davis, Jr.
And that’s how the trailer for this installment of “American Masters” starts! Definitely a different time back then, and Sammy Davis, Jr. was right there in the think of entertainment’s elite. See his story told as only PBS can.
Posted in Celebrity, Comedy, Film, History, Television, Trailer, Videos | Tags: American Masters, American Masters PBS, I’ve Gotta Be Me, PBS, Sammy Davis, Sammy Davis Jr. | No Comments »
The Evolution Of Hip-Hop (1979 – 2017) [Video]
August 18, 2017
Dope. Pretty dope! Google’s Doodle was definitely cool. We posted that here (and the SikzPho song it inspired here). But this is straight to YouTube video documenting a back then-to-now timeline of Hip-Hop. No commentary, just the tunes and visuals to drive it. Nice.
– @ojones1
Posted in Hip-Hop, History, Videos | Tags: Evolution Of Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Universe, Timeline, Timeline 1979 - 2017 | No Comments »
History: Hear The Recorded Voices Of Former Slaves (Video)
August 17, 2017
My Grandma had a neighbor across the street who took these kinds of insights to the grave. When folks would ask what slavery was like or how she made it through, she would respond, “We don’t talk about those times.”
And that’s it. That’s all she’d say.
And now she’s gone. All that perspective lost to the ages. And since she never even talked to my Grandma (her dearest friend) about it, I never even had a second-hand account. Rest in peace, Grandma.
But now, we get to hear audio from actual former slaves – their words, their voices! And lean in around three minutes in… Former slave Fountain Hughes was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. Yeah, the place racists and counter-protesters just gathered.
WATCH. NOW!
– @ojones1
Say No To The Dress, The Caterer, To The Whole Expensive Wedding… It’s All A Total Rip-Off (Video)
August 17, 2017
How could the College Humor crew dare to attack the sacred, traditional, necessary institution of marriage? Well, because it is really none of that. Just hella expensive for no damn reason (except, well, commerce)!
No hate, even though Adam does Ruin Everything… like the need for big weddings in this episode. Just like he did the ‘wedding ring’ racket (see here).
(Your fiancee might not need to see this though. Haaa!)
– @ojones1
Posted in Faith, Fashion, Food, History, Lifestyle, Relationships, Series, Television, Videos | Tags: Adam Ruins Everything, College Humor, tru TV, truTV, Weddings, Why Weddings Are a Total Rip-Off CollegeHumor | No Comments »
History: Life In Roman Britain (Video)
August 16, 2017
Caught a BBC write-up on this Roman Britain history animation video. Intriguing – both that the animators/producers chose to mix in brown-skinned characters as something other than slave-level AND that there was much Twitter beef about the historical accuracy of including Black people in the mix. Well, that second part is not that ‘intriguing’ as you KNOW someone is gonna hate when folks give Black people anywhere near a fair shake.
Come on. Why can’t haters skip the arguments (which they just might lose, seeing some scholars clap back that there were Brit Blacks back then)? To historical accuracy… would this clip’s detractors argument against White actress Elizabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra or all the non-Native players of Native Americans in the ‘classic’ movies? Want to go deeper? Okay, anyone want to tackle the ‘accuracy’ of Tom Cruise playing a White American Army officer who becomes the bad-azz sword-swinging ‘Last Sumerai’ in a year or so?
Yeah. Just watch the cartoon. LISTEN to the content. Maybe learn something about Britannia back in the day.
Posted in Animation, Education, History, Videos | Tags: Britain, Life in Roman Britain, Roman Britain, Roman Empire, The Story of Britain | No Comments »
Google Doodles ‘The 44th Anniversary Of The Birth Of Hip-Hop’
August 13, 2017
So dope! I hope it still works…
I was playing with this Hip-Hop Birthday Google Doodle widget thing Friday and was getting it in, thanks to some snazzy app ware and on point tutelage from Hip-Hop icon Fab 5 Freddy. Watch, learn, play, enjoy. I certainly am!
(Shout to the homie Demetria for this epic share!)
– @ojones1
American Experience: Last Days in Vietnam (Documentary Trailer)
August 3, 2017
Documentarian Rory Kennedy gives us an in-depth look at the final days of the American presence in Saigon. It’s a story where simply following orders would play opposite to doing the right thing. And what do you think heroes do? Could those soldiers and support personnel have lived with themselves getting out safely while leaving South Vietnamese in harm’s way? Even if ordered to do so?
In April of 1975, the North Vietnamese Army was closing in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance was crumbling. Approximately 5,000 Americans remained with roughly 24 hours to get out. Their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers, and friends faced certain imprisonment and possible death if they remained behind. With no official evacuation plan in place, the clock ticking, and the city under fire, a number of heroic Americans took matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many people as possible. In those last days in Vietnam, 135,000 men, women and children managed to escape.
– American Experience PBS
Orders be damned!
Posted in Activism, Film, History, Trailer, Travel, Videos | Tags: american experience, Last Days in Vietnam, Netflix, PBS, Public Broadcasting, Public Broadcasting Service, Public Broadcasting System, Rory Kennedy, Saigon, Vietnam | No Comments »
Ken Burns Covers ‘The War’ In This PBS Documentary (Mini-Series Trailer)
August 2, 2017
We posted a World War I era documentary days ago, got several recent Ken Burns documentary posts – one about the Civil War. But how about Burns taking us to and through World War II? Yep, got that for you. Well, Netflix does. But we have the trailer embedded above.
THE WAR, a seven-part series directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four quintessentially American towns. The series explores the most intimate human dimensions of the greatest cataclysm in history – a worldwide catastrophe that touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America – and demonstrates that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.
– PBS
Posted in Film, History, Series, Television, Trailer, Travel, Videos | Tags: Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, Netflix, PBS, Preview, Public Broadcasting, Public Broadcasting Service, Public Broadcasting System, THE WAR, World War II | No Comments »
Ken Burns’ “Prohibition” Documentary For PBS Is On Netflix (Trailer)
July 31, 2017
What a stupid idea it was – that people thought you could actually get away with this. That you could actually ban alcohol… It’s a preposterous idea.
We now have movies and shows like “The Untouchables” and “Boardwalk Empire” to show us just how crazy alcohol prohibition legislation and enforcement was in America. Of course, NOW we see it was doomed to fail. But when the nation was ‘in it’ and trying to ‘legislate morality,’ the government and people who believed taking sinful booze out of society was in its best interest, people who did not agree (and those who sold and used the then illegal substance) were criminalized.
We are going through something similar now. You see where I am going right? I’m sure Ken Burns thought about it, too. You get it yet?
Okay, watch the trailer and everywhere alcohol is referenced, insert marijuana. Hmmmm.
Should be good watching. Catch the PBS doc on Netflix anytime!
Posted in Film, History, Lifestyle, Politics, Television, Trailer, Videos | Tags: Ken Burns, PBS, PBS Sneak Peek, Prohibition | No Comments »
Learn About A Pivotal Gallipoli Campaign Of World War I (Documentary Trailer)
July 28, 2017
Netflix is the place to experience history. Not all the way sure of what draws me to war epics and documentaries, but this trailer is making me think it is time for me to catch another. Want to learn more about Gallipoli, too? Got the Netlfix link at the end.
An epic reconstruction of the battle that changed nations forever: a film of spectacular visual sweep and great emotional power.
It all began as a demonstration of strength against the Ottoman Empire by Great Britain and her allies. It became one of the largest landing operations in history and one of the bloodiest and most controversial battles of the First World War. The campaign affected Turkey, Australia and New Zealand profoundly.
– Ronin Films
Posted in Film, History, Trailer, Travel, Videos | Tags: AUSTRALIA, Gallipoli, Great Britain, Netflix, New Zealand, Ottoman Empire, Ronin Films, TURKEY | 1 Comment »
The Titanic’s Final Mystery: What Really Caused The Unsinkable Ship To Sink? (Documentary Trailer)
July 26, 2017
Somewhere between that ‘not even God could sink this ship’ braggadocious blasphemy and somebody drunk or sleep on post… that’s my guess for what tore up the Titanic. I mean, come on maaaan, icebergs are big af and pretty slow, right? Cannot sell me on that it-came-outta-nowhere guff!
Get a sneak peek of the new scientific evidence that will blow apart the myths and forever change the way you look at the Titanic tragedy.
– Smithsonian Channel
Another great documentary you can find on Netflix and the Smithsonian Channel, of course.
TITANIC’S FINAL MYSTERY (NETFLIX)
– @ojones1
Posted in Film, History, Investigation, Trailer, Travel, Videos | Tags: Netflix, Smithsonian Channel, Titanic, TITANIC'S FINAL MYSTERY | No Comments »
Documentary Filmmaker John Borowski Brings Us The Full Story Of “America’s First Serial Killer” (Trailer)
July 25, 2017
TORTURE CHAMBERS? VATS OF ACID? SECRET PASSAGEWAYS?? This muthaf*cker here! It’s worth watching this documentary to see how (or if) they caught his twisted azz!
At the height of his criminal career, the infamous Dr. H.H. Holmes designed his castle of horrors in Chicago, where he rented rooms to unsuspecting victims visiting the 1893 World’s Fair. Further benefiting from his victims, Holmes sold their skeletons to local medical schools.
The first ever feature-length film depicting the entire life of Herman Mudgett, alias H.H. Holmes.
-Â John Borowski
Check out the trailer. Chilling music included for effect. Catch the full documentary on Netflix.
Posted in Film, History, Investigation, Trailer, Videos | Tags: America's First Serial Killer, H.H. Holmes, Herman Mudgett, John Borowski, Netflix, Serial Killer | No Comments »
Acclaimed Documentarian Ken Burns Presents “The Civil War” (Trailer)
July 24, 2017
Ken Burns is a gift to the world, always putting out great documentary films we can see on PBS for free! But you do have to catch them. Well, if you have Netflix, catching the Burns documentary, “The Civil War,” just got a lot easier.
Posted in Film, History, Trailer, Videos | Tags: Ken Burns, Netflix, Public Broadcasting Service, Public Broadcasting System, The Civil War | No Comments »
A Mix Of Pride And Shame: Ken Burns The History Of “The West” To Life (Video)
July 21, 2017
The legendary documentary film producer Ken Burns brings us the real story of “The West” in eight parts for PBS America. Might be able to get to see this on-demand from your local cable provider. You can definitely see it on Netflix.
The series explores the region from the times of the earliest Native Americans to the 20th century. Monday’s episode, The People (to 1806), looks back to the emergence of a new world with the arrival of the first Europeans. On Tuesday, Empire upon the Trails (1806- 1848) tells the story of the Americans who headed west, following the fur trade into the mountains, fighting for self-determination in Texas or seeking a better life along the Oregon Trail. In Speck of the Future (1848-56) on Wednesday, the landscape changes dramatically with the discovery of gold in California. The Gold Rush brings the whole world to the West as prospectors scramble for a share, littering the hills with mining towns and creating the West’s first metropolis. But in the push to strike it rich, many are violently displaced. Conflict comes to the West in Thursday’s episode, Death Runs Riot (1856-68). In Utah, federal troops march against Mormon polygamy while along the Rio Grande oppressed Mexican Americans rebel. The war between North and South unleashes brute savagery in the West, leaving behind an army prepared for total war against the native peoples of the plains.
– PBS America
– @ojones1
Posted in Education, Film, History, Investigation, Series, Television, Trailer, Videos | Tags: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Death Runs Riot, Empire upon the Trails, Ken Burns, Netflix, PBS, PBS America, Public Broadcasting Service, Public Broadcasting System, Speck of the Future, THE PEOPLE, The West | No Comments »
Centuries Ago, A “Witch Hunt” Was Not A Metaphor. It Was State-Sanctioned Murder (Documentary Trailer)
July 17, 2017
For all the things we can say about living in society today… at LEAST “witchcraft” is no longer a crime (and look above to see why the quote marks were necessary; lots of room for interpretation in those ‘laws’ that can get someone f*ck*d UP)! Of course, there is still enough frivolous prosecution and unfair persecution today to go around twice.
Historian Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the witch hunts that plagued Britain in the 17th century, examining common myths about their origin.
– Netflix
A Channel 5 two-part documentary that you can catch on Netflix (no chill).
WITCH HUNT: A CENTURY OF MURDER (NETFLIX)
– @ojones1
Posted in Film, History, Investigation, Television, Trailer, Travel, Videos | Tags: A Century of Murder, Channel 5, Netflix, Suzannah Lipscomb, Witch Hunt, Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder | 1 Comment »
History: Learn About The 1920s In America, In Less Than An Hour, In Full Color (Video)
July 14, 2017
The Roaring 20’s… the decade before The Great Depression… The time of Al Capone and Prohibition (like on “Boardwalk Empire”). Heard of it? Sure you have. But how much have you went and learned? It’s a lot of ground to cover in American History. Might be easier, even more engaging, if someone made a documentary about the era and ‘brought it to you live’ (like Mobb Deep, so to speak).
The 1920s was an era of vibrant times and colorful characters. For the first time, we present the Roaring ’20s in color, from Ford’s assembly line to Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight and from speakeasies to New York’s Wall Street.
– Smithsonian Channel
“America in Color: The 1920s.” Like a history class you won’t wanna ditch. Click the pic above and watch. You’re welcome.
(Recognize narration in this by Showtime’s own “Ray Donovan†– Liev Schreiber.)
– @ojones1
Posted in Film, History, Series, Videos | Tags: 1920s, America in Color, America in Color: The 1920s, American History, Liev Schreiber, The 1920s | No Comments »
