INTERVIEW: Paley Center honors African-American achievements in TV
Photo: Mary Wilson, a co-founder of the Supremes, is part of the Paley Center for Media’s month-long celebration of African-American achievements in television. Photo courtesy of Jenny Risher / Provided by the Paley Center for Media with permission.
During Black History Month, the Paley Center for Media is hosting a month-long celebration of the influence and impact of African-Americans on television. The bicoastal event, which continues for the entire month of February, features a number of special events and activities.
The Paley Center’s Shaping Our Nation’s Story: African-American Achievements in Television will take place at the organization’s locations in New York City and Los Angeles. Some highlights include a museum exhibition of archival footage from the 1950s and 1960s, 60th anniversary celebration of Motown Records and 100th birthday anniversary Jackie Robinson, the barrier-breaking baseball player.
“It is part of our month-long celebration of Black History Month, which is officially titled Shaping Our Nation’s History: African-American Achievements in Television, which we’re doing in partnership with Citi,” said Rene Reyes, executive in charge of production at the Paley Center for Media. “I think it’s derived really from the core of what we do here at the Paley Center since we were founded years back as the Museum of Television and Radio, which is preserve and interpret this incredible archive of television spanning the incredible history of the medium. And we’re applying the lens of looking at how our culture and society was shifted through the power of television, and specifically with this month looking at African-American achievements in television and how the visibility pushed us forward to greater equality both in the 1950s and ’60s.”
To remember the days of the Motown sound, the Paley Center will remember the legacy of the Supremes. They will host A Legendary Evening With Mary Wilson Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Los Angeles location. Wilson, of course, is a founding member of the Supremes, and she will talk about her more than five decades in the music industry.
“In Los Angeles, the centerpiece of the whole celebration … is this event because when you think of individuals or performers who really impacted visibility, the Supremes come to mind right away,” Reyes said. “And, of course, we all know their hits, the music and how much that affected generations of people and is still affecting it, but you don’t always tie in the fact that they were on television, [which] really propelled them to the heights that they achieved. While they were doing that and having their success, they were also breaking ground and barriers, just by the fact that they were these incredible, talented, strong, African-American women center stage on television and commanding an audience.”
He added: “It was event television, and that really I think more than almost anything else in this medium really pushed society forward just because of the fact that they were welcomed into your living room at a time when they were still not being welcomed in a lot of places in the country. And the rights that they had were not at the level that they needed to be. I think the Supremes’ legacy is so tied to the Civil Rights Movement and everything that was achieved in that struggle.”
Other events include An Evening With BET’s American Soul Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the New York City location in Midtown Manhattan. American Soul is the untold story of the struggle to bring Soul Train to a wider audience. An Evening With God Friended Me takes place Feb. 26 at 7 p.m., also at the New York City location, and it centers on the successful CBS drama.
The influence on children’s programming is also part of the celebration. Earlier in the month, the Paley Center ran a marathon of the successful series Doc McStuffins, and on Feb. 23-24, the museum will run a special preview of a new episode.
“That’s all been happening throughout the history of television,” Reyes said of children’s programming. “Obviously, we got a really incredible push forward in the late ’60s when Sesame Street launched in terms of what was accessible to kids, and that tradition carries through to today. Everything we do is focused on all the different eras. Obviously, we’re living today, so that’s at the core of what we do. But finding the context in something that was on the air in the past and making it accessible and fresh to our audiences is exciting for us.”
He added: “One thing I should mention is a big part of this celebration is [that] within our archives we’ve developed a special African-American Achievements on Television collection that includes not only the programs themselves but all the conversations we’ve had over the years with significant artists, significant writers, producers, and the conversation that we’re going to have with Mary will become part of that archive as well, too. It’s a living, breathing thing, and we’re always adding to it.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Paley Center for Media, in both New York City and Los Angeles, presents Shaping Our Nation’s Story: African-American Achievements in Television throughout the month of February. Click here for more information and tickets.
