LATEST SERIES BY RENOWNED PROFESSOR HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., “MAKING BLACK AMERICA: THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE,” ARRIVES ON THE PBS DOCUMENTARIES PRIME VIDEO CHANNEL
THIS OCTOBER
Stanley Nelson and Nicole London’s: “Becoming Frederick Douglass”
and “Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom,” Also Added to the Channel
Arlington, VA – September 30, 2022 – Arriving this October on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video
Channel are four documentaries presenting key figures and events in American history. “Making Black
America: Through the Grapevine,” is Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s newest series highlighting the
vibrant cultural and social spaces at the heart of the African American experience. The series chronicles
the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people beyond the reach of the
“White gaze.” Two films from Academy Award®-nominee Stanley Nelson and Nicole London premiere
during the month – “Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom” is a rich and nuanced portrait of the
woman known as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, who repeatedly risked her own life and
freedom to liberate others from slavery, and “Becoming Frederick Douglass,” the inspiring story of
how a man born into slavery became one of the most prominent statesmen and influential voices for
democracy in American history. Also added to the channel is Nelson’s documentary “The Murder of
Emmett Till,” that prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to re-open this case. It features interviews
with Till’s mother, witnesses, friends and others who reveal how the inadvertent violation of a code in the
South cost a Black teenager his life.
The subscription rate for the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel is $3.99/month with an Amazon
Prime or Prime Video subscription. Every purchase supports public television for all.
“Making Black America: Through the Grapevine”
This four-part documentary series recounts the establishment of the
Prince Hall Masons in 1775 through the formation of all-Black towns and
business districts, Historically Black Colleges and Universities,
destinations for leisure and the social media phenomenon of Black
Twitter. Gates sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders and
old friends including Charles M. Blow (journalist and commentator),
Angela Davis (political activist, scholar and author), André Holland
(actor), Fab 5 Freddie (hip-hop pioneer and visual artist), Jason King
(chair of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music), and Killer Mike
(rapper and activist) to discuss this world behind the color line and what
it looks like today.
Streaming Date: October 4, 2022
Episodes: 4
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
“Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom”
Born in Dorchester County, Maryland—2022 marks her bicentennial
celebration—Harriet Tubman escaped north to Philadelphia in 1849,
covering more than 100 miles alone. Once there, she became involved in the
abolitionist movement and, through the Underground Railroad, guided an
estimated 70 enslaved people to freedom. She would go on to serve as a
Civil War scout, nurse and spy, never wavering in her pursuit of equality.
Featuring more than 20 historians and experts and grounded in the most
recent scholarship, the film goes beyond the standard narrative to explore
what motivated Tubman, including divine inspiration, to become one of the
greatest freedom fighters in our nation’s history. Academy Award-
nominated and Emmy® Award-winning actor Alfre Woodard narrates.
Streaming Date: October 4, 2022
Episodes: 1
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
“Becoming Frederick Douglass”
Born in 1818 on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Frederick Douglass escaped from
slavery in 1838 and went on to become the most well-known leader of the
abolitionist movement. A gifted writer and powerful, charismatic orator, it is
estimated that more Americans heard Douglass speak than any other 19th-
century figure, Black or white. The documentary explores how Douglass
controlled his own image and narrative, embracing photography as a tool for
social justice, and the role he played in securing the right to freedom and
complete equality for African Americans.
Streaming Date: October 11, 2022
Episodes: 1
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
American Experience “The Murder of Emmett Till”
Director Stanley Nelson takes viewers back 65 years to August 1955, when a
14-year-old African American boy allegedly whistled at a white woman in a
grocery store in Money, Mississippi. Emmett Till, a teen from Chicago, didn’t
understand that he had broken the unwritten laws of the Jim Crow South until
three days later, when on August 28, two white men dragged him from his
bed in the dead of night, beat him brutally and then shot him in the head.
Although his killers were arrested and charged with murder, they were both
acquitted quickly by an all-white, all-male jury. Shortly afterward, the
defendants sold their story, including a detailed account of how they
murdered Till, to a journalist. The murder and the trial horrified the nation and the world and helped
mobilize the Civil Rights movement. Three months after his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, the
Montgomery bus boycott began. Nelson’s film uncovered new eyewitnesses to the crime and helped
prompt the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen the case.
Streaming Date: October 3, 2022
Episodes: 1
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Other titles coming to the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel in October:
Tutwiler – 10/7
Computers v Crime (NOVA) – 10/12
Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March – 10/17
Michael Flynn’s Holy War (FRONTLINE) – 10/18
Running with the Beest (NATURE) – 10/19
Can Psychedelics Cure? (NOVA) – 10/19
Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes – 10/21
Putin’s Attack on Ukraine: Documenting War Crimes (FRONTLINE) – 10/25
Ocean Invaders (NOVA) – 10/26
Canada: Surviving the Wild North (NATURE) – 10/26
Martin Luther: The Idea that Changed the World – 10/31
About PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel
The PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel is a DTC-SVOD channel exclusive to Prime Video. This channel features over 1,500 hours of the highest
quality factual programming, including the full catalog of films from Ken Burns and award-winning documentaries from NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN
MASTERS, NATURE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, in addition to programming from other independent producers. Follow the PBS Documentaries Prime Video
Channel on Facebook and Twitter
About PBS DISTRIBUTION
PBS Distribution is a leading distributor of public media content around the world, reaching audiences through multiple platforms and formats. The
company, a joint venture of PBS and GBH Boston, operates six streaming channels — PBS Masterpiece (US and CA), PBS KIDS, PBS Living, PBS
Documentaries and PBS America (U.K.). Other services include transactional video-on-demand, subscription video-on-demand licensing, physical products
on DVD and Blu-ray, theatrical releasing, educational, non-theatrical, inflight, and international program sales and co-productions.
PBS Distribution offers consumers and educators the highest quality factual, scripted, and children’s programming including films from Ken Burns, hit
series from MASTERPIECE and foreign language dramas from Walter Presents, entertaining and educational PBS KIDS series, and award-winning
documentaries from NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN MASTERS, NATURE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, and many independent producers. For over 10 years, the
company has extended the reach of programming beyond broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system, stations, and producers.
