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3mo ago

PBS Debuts Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Four-Part Black and Jewish America Docuseries

The four-part series offers a nuanced history of Black–Jewish relations across five centuries.

Historian and host Henry Louis Gates Jr. attends a seder in “Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History.” (McGee Media)
Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History on PBS

Overview

  • Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History premiered Feb. 3 on PBS, with new episodes airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET through Feb. 24.
  • Hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., the project was conceived in response to recent surges in white-supremacist and antisemitic violence, including Charleston (2015), Charlottesville (2017) and the Tree of Life shooting (2018).
  • The series opens with a Passover Seder featuring a diverse group that includes Angela Buchdahl, Michael Twitty, Jamaica Kincaid, David Remnick, Shais Rishon and Nate Looney, using the Exodus story to frame shared and divergent experiences.
  • The episodes chart collaborations and conflicts across eras, highlighting the NAACP’s founding, Rosenwald–Booker T. Washington schools, rabbis jailed during civil-rights protests, cultural partnerships in music, as well as ruptures such as Jewish slaveholders, strains within parts of Black Power, Crown Heights and post–Oct. 7 activism.
  • The release comes as PBS contends with CPB’s dissolution after federal cuts; funding for this series was secured beforehand, and Gates and the filmmakers will discuss the work with Sen. Cory Booker at 92NY on Feb. 5.