CBS Stations announce Black History Month programming

CBS Stations will offer a full slate of Black History Month content as a celebration and an extension of the stations’ year-round inclusive storytelling.

All CBS-owned stations have stellar linear and streaming programming throughout February and daily local news reporting that shines a light on cultural community events, resources and celebrations.

CBS Local News Innovation Lab and CBS’ Executive Producers of Impacting Communities collaborated across CBS-owned stations to produce an hour-long special, “Teaching Black History,” launching Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. The documentary focuses on what communities across the country are doing to preserve history and keep the younger generation informed of Black history during a time when the educational curriculum is highly politicized.

“CBS Stations is dedicated to year-round inclusive storytelling and embraces the richness of diversity,” said Jennifer Mitchell, president of CBS Stations in a statement. “As we commemorate Black History Month, we want our viewers to know our teams include diverse narratives that reflect the communities we serve into the fabric of daily news across all our stations.”

“We invite viewers to join us on a journey of celebration and understanding as they watch our phenomenal Black History Month content, and we want them to know they will continue to see inclusive content celebrating culture throughout the year. That’s our commitment,” added Adrienne Roark, president of content development and integration for CBS News, Stations and CBS Media Ventures.

CBS News New York (WCBS) will air multiple stories a week, in addition to a Black History Month special hosted by anchor Maurice DuBois that will air on Thursday, Feb. 22 (5:30 PM, ET. Highlights of programming include:

• Tenement Museum: Reporter Dave Carlin looks at the Tenement Museum, which for the first time will feature the apartment of a Black family as a permanent exhibit. Since the museum’s opening in 1988, the families featured have been mainly European immigrants and refugees. The goal of the new exhibit is to restore history and tell a broader story.
• Filmmaker Oscar Micheaux: Reporter Nick Caloway examines Oscar Micheaux, considered the greatest Black filmmaker, whose work is part of the Library of Congress collection. His groundbreaking 1919 film “Within Our Gates” was shot in Fort Lee, N.J., in response to D.W. Griffith’s KKK movie “The Birth of a Nation” and the lynching of Black people. Micheaux’s other films include “The Homesteader” and “Murder in Harlem.”
• Shirley Chisholm Legacy: Reporter Lisa Rozner looks at Chisholm’s legacy and how her life is making an impact decades later both locally and nationally.
• Historic Lefferts House: Reporter Zinnia Maldonado looks at the historic Lefferts house, which underwent a $2.5 million renovation and is changing how it will address New York’s history with slavery. The museum will alter how it tells the story of the Lefferts family and include the history of enslaved people who worked on the property.

CBS News Los Angeles (KCAL and KCBS) will highlight numerous monthly stories, including local stories and historical vignettes. The station’s community journalists will also explore and inform viewers on the numerous historical landmarks throughout Southern California. Some highlights include:

• Black Surfers will feature surfer Nathan Fluellen, who has hosted one of the largest gatherings of Black surfers in the history of Huntington Beach, Calif. Fluellen and a few other like-minded activists and surfers are rewriting the narrative about what surfers are supposed to look like as well as challenging the rules over who gets access to one of California’s greatest resources – its beaches.
• Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science, named after the pioneering Black surgeon and scientist, was founded in 1966 following the Watts Rebellion to fill gaps in medical care and bring more African American doctors, nurses and researchers into the field. It’s become one of the nation’s top producers of Black doctors alongside medical schools at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
• Brotherhood Crusade spotlights a 50-year-old grassroots organization with a vision of improving the quality of lives and needs of low-income, underserved and disenfranchised individuals.

CBS News Baltimore (WJZ) will continue its 30-year Black History Month oratory contest, announcing the winner on Saturday, Feb. 24 during the broadcast special. In addition, they will broadcast numerous local Black community stories that will air as specials throughout the newscast and focus on hyperlocal celebrations and stories that highlight this year’s coverage theme: Black History: Past, Present and Future.

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CBS News Bay Area (KPIX) will highlight numerous character-driven stories that look at the Bay Area’s legacy makers who wrote history through their brave actions; celebrating Black individuals who are writing history in real-time, like the founding member of a division at HP, who develops programs that help people of color access the tech industry; and numerous “stories from the heart,” such as Alameda County Black maternal mortality and the health leaders fighting to resolve the issue.

CBS News Boston (WBZ) will air several hyperlocal stories, such as the Lowell Underground Railroad, Black-owned breweries, Black author and civil rights activist James Baldwin and historical vignettes that showcase various locations around Greater Boston that commemorate “Boston’s Black History.”

CBS News Chicago (WBBM) will air historical stories twice a week, with additional programming that includes specials such as “Black Women in Medicine” and “29 Black History Facts You Probably Didn’t Learn in School,” which are one-minute pre-recorded daily lessons led by author Ernest Crimm III.

CBS News Colorado (KCNC) continues its year-round “Elevating Black Voices” series, which shares community stories and will add a 30-minute Black history special, hosts a Black lawmakers community panel featuring prominent Black Caucus members and changemakers, and air numerous hyperlocal stories focused on Black culture, issues that impact the community and Black-owned businesses.

CBS News Detroit (WWJ) will highlight Black-owned businesses including Detroit Manufacturing, a Black-owned company providing auto parts for the Big Three automakers; hyperlocal community stories and celebrations and air a two-part series that explores Detroit’s Black history, including a special on Madam C.J. Walker, the first Black millionaire who developed a line of beauty care products for Black women; and when Ford Motor Company hired its first Black workers.

CBS News Miami (WFOR) will air stories throughout its newscast that include Black historical Floridians, such as the first Black Miami millionaire, Dana Dorsey. His home is now a museum due to his significant contributions to Floridian history, which includes donating large quantities of land for Black schools and parks, and being the original owner of Fisher Island.

CBS News Minnesota (WCCO) will air multiple stories a week, highlighting entrepreneurs, artists, emerging leaders, students and more. The station will focus on Black leaders who are telling their own stories and empowering their communities year-round. Stories will range from a pair of Black men who launched a podcast to change narratives around Black men to a powerhouse theater shaking up their model to offer racial healing.

CBS News Philadelphia (KYW) proudly tells community stories with “Salute the Past. Present & Future” throughout the month, culminating in a 30-minute special hosted by Natasha Brown and Siafa Lewis from the historic Mother Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia. Their stories will educate and celebrate Black historical figures.

CBS News Pittsburgh (KDKA) will air several hyperlocal stories a week that celebrate Black culture, such as Pittsburgh’s missing underground railroads; a new diversity museum; the historical St. Benedict the Moor parish, a predominantly Black Catholic parish; and historical figures such as the Afro-American Music Institute’s reflection of jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal; and many other stories.

CBS News Sacramento (KOVR and KMAX) examines Black history in California, highlighting trailblazers, early settlers and leaders – focusing on Black settlers who significantly impacted the Gold Rush era. The station will address current issues impacting the Black community, such as maternal mortality rates among Black women, and will celebrate local Black-owned businesses. They will also rebroadcast the powerful story of 90-year-old community leader and activist Norman R. Blackwell Sr. on Monday, Feb. 12. CBS Sacramento’s streaming channel will provide extended coverage – including interviews, profiles and compelling stories.

CBS News Texas (KTVT) strives to highlight and showcase community members who have made a financial impact, including business owners who are working to improve the North Texas economy and providing the foundation for future business owners to build upon. Stories range from the first Black business owner who owns a storefront in historic downtown Grapevine to examining the value of Black consumers’ spending and how it has impacted the Dallas-Fort Worth economy.

Affiliate news service CBS Newspath will provide Black History national stories such as Howard University making history as the first HBCU to have a figure skating team; a unique exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum adding moving context to 125 art objects that represent Black individuals from centuries ago; and Hinchliffe Stadium in Patterson, N.J., one of two Negro League stadiums still standing in the U.S., undergoing a $100-million restoration to soon become home to a museum about the Negro Leagues.

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CBS-owned independent stations in Atlanta, Seattle and Tampa will run Black History Month promos throughout February. In addition, Atlanta 69 is running PSAs filmed at the historic Paschal’s restaurant.