Black History Month 2022 Tiny Desk concerts and thought-provoking interviews.
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Tiny Desk Playlists
Kirk Franklin's favorite Tiny Desk concerts
As part of our Black History Month celebration, we asked the Grammy-winning gospel singer to tell us about his favorite performances.
Colin Kaepernick, co-creator of the Netflix dramatic limited series, Colin in Black and White, attends the series premiere on Oct. 28, 2021. The former NFL quarterback has launched an initiative to offer free second autopsies in police-related deaths. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP hide caption
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America Reckons With Racial Injustice
Colin Kaepernick launches new initiative to offer autopsies for police-related deaths
The new initiative will eliminate concerns from the first autopsy, ensure that it was conducted without any biases or errors.
NPR
Food
From 'Milkshake' to veggies, Kelis and Ron Finley share their farm journeys
Grammy-nominated recording artist and chef Kelis talks to urban gardener Ron Finley about growing your own food, the relationship between Black people and the land, and how to handle a mean rooster.
From 'Milkshake' to veggies, Kelis and Ron Finley share their farm journeys
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Patti LaBelle performs a Tiny Desk (home) concert. Patti LaBelle hide caption
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Tiny Desk
Patti LaBelle (Home) Concert
From a backstage corner of a concert hall in Austin, Texas, the Godmother of Soul performs hits from across the many chapters of her fabulous career.
People pledge allegiance to America as they receive U.S. citizenship at a naturalization ceremony for immigrants in Los Angeles in 2017. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
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Black History Month 2022
1 in 10 Black people in the U.S. are migrants. Here's what's driving that shift
The breadth of what it means to be a Black American is widening, according to new analysis of the latest migration statistics.
1 in 10 Black people in the U.S. are migrants. Here's what's driving that shift
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Nina Simone, in performance in 1964. Getty Images/Getty Images hide caption
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NPR Music Playlists
Black Voices in American Music: The Playlist
Some of the first truly American music was created by Black voices. In this playlist, pianist Lara Downes offers a broad range of songs that speak to the irrepressible, irresistible sound of hope.
Mary Stepp Burnette Hayden, pictured around 1942, with her granddaughter, Mary Othella Burnette, and two of Hayden's great-grandchildren. Mary O. Burnette hide caption
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Black History Month 2022
A granddaughter passes on the legacy of 'Granny Hayden,' a midwife born into slavery
"If somebody needed help — Granny was going. Black and whites alike, it made no difference to her," Mary Othella Burnette says of her late grandmother, a second-generation midwife in Black Appalachia.
A granddaughter passes on the legacy of 'Granny Hayden,' a midwife born into slavery
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Too $hort performs a Tiny Desk (home) concert Too $hort hide caption
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Tiny Desk
Too $hort (Home) Concert
The Oakland rapper delivers a dynamic, funk-laden performance that showcases his extensive contributions to West Coast hip-hop.
Lee Morgan was killed in 1972, tragedy cutting short the life and career of the prolific and celebrated jazz musician. Nearly 50 years later, one fan discovered that Morgan's resting place seemed to have vanished. Joel Franklin/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
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Black History Month 2022
How a jazz legend's resting place was lost and found, 50 years after his tragic death
WBGO
Though the trumpeter Lee Morgan was killed in 1972, his legacy was well maintained. At least it seemed so, until one fan discovered last year that Morgan's gravesite seemed to have vanished.
How a jazz legend's resting place was lost and found, 50 years after his tragic death
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Catherine Russell's Tiny Desk (home) concert. NPR hide caption
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Tiny Desk
Catherine Russell (Home) Concert
The celebrated jazz singer performs a selection of popular early jazz standards at the GB Juke Joint Studio.
Engraved portrait of Abraham Galloway from William Still's The Underground Railroad, published in 1872. William Still's 'The Underground Railroad,' 1872 hide caption
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Black History Month 2022
Abraham Galloway is the Black figure from the Civil War you should know about
Galloway escaped enslavement, became a Union spy and helped recruit thousands of Black soldiers to fight with the North, but his name has been largely left out of the Civil War narrative.
Abraham Galloway is the Black figure from the Civil War you should know about
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For her new documentary, Lynching Postcards: Token Of A Great Day, filmmaker Christine Turner examined hundreds of black-and-white photographs that show how organized these events were and included chilling messages that shared the experience with those who weren't there. The postcard above shows the crowd at the lynching of Henry Smith in Paris, Texas, in 1893. Photo by J.L. Mertins/Library of Congress hide caption
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Black History Month 2022
How Black activists used lynching souvenirs to expose American violence
Christine Turner, the filmmaker behind the short documentary, Lynching Postcards: 'Token of A Great Day,' talks about her film and its present-day resonance.
How Black activists used lynching souvenirs to expose American violence
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El DeBarge performs a Tiny Desk (home) Concert El DeBarge hide caption
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Tiny Desk
El DeBarge (Home) Concert
The torchbearer for the DeBarge family plays a few of his R&B standards from a cozy home studio.
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