http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KFpgHG12p0

Trayvon Martin was 17-years-old when he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. On the evening of February 26, 20012, Martin had travelled with his father to visit his father’s fiancee. Martin went out to purchase some items from a convenience store. On his way home, Zimmerman, a member of the community watch, spotted him and called Sanford police. Although he was told not to, Zimmerman followed Martin, resulting in an altercation between the two in which Martin was shot in the chest. In this video, Trayvon Martin’s parents discuss their emotions and thoughts during Zimmerman’s trial.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Zgu2hrs2k

Toni Morrison is an American novelist and professor best known for her novels The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved. In 1993, Morrison received the Nobel Prize for Literature. In this video, Morrison discusses how her life and experiences led her to write The Bluest Eye and what she was trying to capture in that novel.

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Toni Morrison On Her Motivation For Writing appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA3TLzWAOE0

Satchel Paige was an American baseball pitcher who played in both the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball (MLB). On February 9, 1971, Paige was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, becoming the first Negro leagues player to receive the honor. Paige was also the oldest rookie to play Major League Baseball, pitching his first MLB game for the Cleveland Indians at the age of 42. In this video, former teammates and opponents remember Paige’s talent. There is also a clip of Paige’s induction speech at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

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Satchel Paige’s Storied Career appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uALf_v0zxgE

Alice Walker is a writer best known for her 1982 book The Color Purple, which was the recipient of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The book was later adapted into a film of the same name by Steven Spielberg and went on to become a musical as well. In this video, Walker talks about how the inspiration for this novel came from a desire to connect with her ancestors.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE8zcJnncV8

The Orangeburg massacre took place on February 8, 1968, when a group of about 150 protestors from South Carolina State University had gathered to protest racial segregation at the local bowling alley. South Carolina Highway Patrol Officers responded to the scene and opened fire on protestors, killing three and wounding another twenty-eight. The three protestors who passed were Samuel Hammond, Henry Smith and Delano Middleton. The nine officers brought up on charges following the shooting were all acquitted. In this video, survivors of the Orangeburg Massacre describe the incident.

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Survivors Recall The Orangeburg Massacre appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt5WyHWyRnM

The Apollo Theater on 125th street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is a famous venue that has launched the careers of many African-American performers. The Apollo Theater opened on January 26, 1934. The Apollo went on to host Showtime at the Apollo, which was a nationally syndicated television show from 1987 to 2008 that showcased new talent. In this video, Gladys Knight of Gladys Knight and the Pips discusses how performing at the Apollo helped to launch her career.

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Gladys Knight On The Importance Of The Apollo appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmKPjh5RX6c

Zora Neale Hurston was an American author and folklorist, best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.

The post Zora Neale Hurston On Zombies appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44nqeAXLS-k

Alvin Ailey was a choreographer and activist who is credited with popularizing modern dance. He founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City, and his company, The Alvin Ailey Dance Company, toured extensively. His piece “Revelations” is considered to be the best known and most seen modern dance performance. In this video, Ailey talks about his masterpiece “Revelations” on its 50th anniversary.

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Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations” appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaYPvqYD-UQ

Actress Carmen Ejogo plays Coretta Scott King in the 2014 movie “Selma”, which is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches. Ejogo had previously played Coretta Scott King in the HBO production “Boycott”, and in this video she discusses portraying Scott King at different points in her life. Of the difference between “Boycott” and “Selma”, Ejogo says: “By this point, they’ve really been steeped and very much – they’re deep in the trenches at this point. And I think the threat of violence and death as being something that is a potential on their horizons I think is very much more palpable, and as a result there’s just much more of a burden that I think is very evident in the way that she conducts herself. And so it’s been quite an interesting thing to have played her at a much fresher, more sort of optimistic stage in her life and then to sort of move ten years on and to have all of that experience, all of that sort of that knowledge and research I had from playing her the first time and then adding to that with something that’s so much weightier.”

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Carmen Ejogo On Playing Coretta Scott King appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtBnXJEgAP4

On April 4, 1968, at the age of 39, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. In this video, his friend, advisor and draft speechwriter Dr. Clarence B. Jones recalls hearing the news of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death and speaks about his initial thoughts and reactions. On first getting word of the assassination he says: “Within the first fifteen seconds of the news, the first thing that came across my mind were exactly these words: They finally got him.” Of how he felt in the days after, Jones says: “It was hard to cope. Or to give you some magnitude how hard to cope it was, I had this discussion with myself and with a couple of friends. It started out with ‘I don’t know that I can continue to live in this country.’ ‘Well, where are you gonna go?’ ‘I don’t know where I’m going to go, but I don’t know that I can continue to live in this country.” ‘Why?’ ‘Because I can’t… A country that would do this was just more than I could bear’. And I was really fearful, quite frankly”.

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Dr. Clarence B. Jones Remembers MLK’s Assassination appeared first on Witnify.