Worthwhile PBS Viewing for Black History Month

I thought this deserved a mention: The PBS series “Slavery and the Making of America” is IMO the greatest TV show ever seen on American TV about slavery. Narrrated by the excellent Morgan Freeman, the show goes deeper into American slavery than any thing that I have seen on mainstream TV.

More importantly, it brings to light what has all-so-frequently been omitted in US history books. That is, the great role that slaves and ex-slaves played in the building of the USA. It’s a four-part series, each part two-hours long, covering the beginning of slavery in the American colonies to its end in the Civil War and the Reconstruction period.

It goes into territory that we “yankees” sometimes in the past have ignored: that is, slavery in the Northeast or “New England.” According to writer Richard Brookhiser, slavery had a “real presence” in New York; furthermore, the family of the wife of the second US president, John Adams, owned slaves in Massachusetts. It’s covered differently in the series, but the shameful hypocrisy is evident. People that some of us thought didn’t own slaves, in fact, did own them.

I am very pleased to see that something so excellent as this has been broadcast to celebrate Black History Month this year (I know, it’s March now, but still…). I hope everyone gets the chance to see this series and, hopefully, better understand the subject.