Black History Month Segments

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Malcolm X

90.9 WMPG FM

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Malcolm X was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a strong advocate for the rights of Black people. He joined the Nation of Islam, promoting Black supremacy and separation from Whites, and rejecting the Civil Rights Movement. In 1965, after leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X was assassinated by three of its members.
Marsha P. Johnson

90.9 WMPG FM

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Born in Elizabeth, NJ, Marsha P. Johnson was an African American transgender woman and revolutionary gay rights and AIDS activist who was a prominent figure in the Stonewall Riots. Her advocacy in support of young drag queens and trans women helped influence the trajectory of the LBGTA community until her death in 1992.
Mary McLeod Bethune

Aman Mohamed

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Born in 1877 South Carolina, Mary McLeod Bethune, called “First Lady of the Struggle”, was the only one of fifteen children in her family to go to school. She moved to Daytona Beach, FL and started a school for African American girls. From 1917-1925 she was the President of the Florida Chapter of the National Association of Colored People. Later, she became an advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Muhammad Ali

Janelle Potts

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Born Cassius Clay in 1942, Mohammad Ali was a significant and celebrated sports figure of the Twentieth Century. He set an example of African American racial pride and won many boxing titles during the course of his career.
Nelson Mandela

90.9 WMPG FM

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Nelson Mandela was a South African revolutionary, philanthropist, political leader, and anti-apartheid activist. After spending 27 years as a political prisoner because of his anti-apartheid work, Mandela was released in 1990 and elected South Africa’s first Black Head of State in 1994. In 1999, he turned down a second term and went on to become an elder statesman fighting poverty and AIDS.
Nina Simone

90.9 WMPG FM

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Nina Simone wanted to become the first African American concert pianist, but she couldn’t afford Juilliard and was denied another music program because of her race. She decided to switch to jazz and blues. In the 1960’s, she wrote songs about Civil Rights issues, becoming one of the strongest voices of the Civil Rights Movement.
Rachel Talbot Ross

90.9 WMPG FM

This is a brief interview with Rachel Talbot Ross concerning Maine Governor Paul LePage’s refusal to attend the NAACP’s 30th Anniversary celebrations of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the Governor’s accusations that the NAACP was a “special interest group” that wanted to hold him hostage.
Rhiannon Giddens

Nina Siffululowa

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Rhiannon Giddens trained as an opera musician. She later switched to a sound that celebrates bluegrass and folk music, sharing stories of struggle, resistance, and hope that bring attention to buried histories. Among the bands she has started are the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Our Native Daughters.
Ruby Bridges

Audrey Leavitt

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges was the first African American child to integrate into an all-white elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana. In spite of numerous challenges, including death threats, she persevered and still lives in the same city today.
Scott Joplin

90.9 WMPG FM

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Scott Joplin, known as the “King of Ragtime”, was an African American composer and pianist at the turn of the Twentieth Century who caught American mainstream attention. His music combined European classical music with African American folk music with such success that his style of music lives on to this day.
Shirley Chisolm

Dale Robin Goodman

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. In 1968, Shirley Chisolm was the first African American woman elected to the House of Representatives, where she served seven terms. She returned to teaching upon leaving that position in 1983 and remained an outspoken proponent of equal rights for African Americans and women.
Sojourner Truth

90.9 WMPG FM

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Born into slavery in New York, Sojourner Truth escaped to freedom with her infant daughter in 1826. She became one of the first Black women to go to court against a White man and win her case. Her 1850 autobiography, “Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave” became a catalyst for abolition and her famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman” is still acknowledged as a powerful argument for women’s rights.
Stevie Wonder

James Walker

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Stevie Wonder is one of the greatest American musicians of the Twentieth Century, with 25 Grammy Awards and membership in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He helped establish Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a National Holiday and was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, as well as earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sun Ra

90.9 WMPG FM

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer and orchestra leader who released more than one hundred albums. He was a central figure of Afro-Futurism, expanding the horizons Black people could reach.
Tarana Burke

James Cerwin

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Born in 1973 Bronx, New York, Tarana Burke is a prominent activist who founded the “Me Too” movement to raise awareness of sexual assault.
Theresa Kachindamoto

Sam Deering

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Theresa Kachindamoto is the Paramount Chief of the Dedza District of Malawi, known for her efforts to end child marriages and educate both boys and girls.
Thurgood Marshall

Adea Kimator

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Born in Baltimore, MD, Thurgood Marshall graduated from Harvard University School of Law in 1933. He established the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and served as the first African American Justice appointed to the Supreme Court from 1967-1991.
Trevor Noah

Allegra Fortal

WMPG celebrates the lives of Black men and women throughout the month of February. Trevor Noah is a comedian who was born to mixed-race parents one year before it became legal in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has written an autobiography titled, “Born a Crime” and took over hosting The Daily Show when Jon Stewart stepped down. His comedy focuses on race and class. He has also formed the “Trevor Noah Foundation” in South Africa to help support youths.