Black in America

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

How it feels

Reporter Soledad O'Brien hosts a CNN documentary series about the lives and issues facing African Americans. It includes panel discussions and looks at black families, men, and women. Notable figures like Russell Simmons and Spike Lee offer commentary.

informativethoughtfulreflectiveearnestseriouscommunity-focusedsoberinspiring

What happens

Black In America is a multi-part series of documentaries hosted by reporter Soledad O'Brien on CNN that first aired on July 23, 2008. The series is about various issues regarding blacks (African-Americans), which includes panel discussions on issues facing the black community and a look at the culture of black families in America, men, and women. It features exclusive commentary by music mogul Russell Simmons, Grammy Award-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco, comedian D.L. Hughley, award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee, and actress/comedian Whoopi Goldberg. The program has been extremely successful. CNN.com's interactive section for "Black In America" garnered over 2.4 million page views. The "Black In America" iReport.com assignment received over 1,000 submissions. Several viewers of the first episode were so inspired by the program that they launched BlackInAmerica.com, an online community and social network for black Americans who want to address the issues and challenges of Black America. The success of the program also led to CNN producing additional episodes and making it a series. The second episode, "Black in America 2", premiered on July 22, 2009, and tells the story of "Journey For Change", a youth empowerment program funded and led by activist Malaak Compton-Rock. "Journey For Change" is a yearlong program that works with 30 teenagers selected from the community of Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York to be "global ambassadors" through community service and fundraising projects. The program starts off with a 2-week trip to South Africa where kids who are used to being on the receiving end of aid are exposed to an environment where they are the privileged and they are the ones who are giving to the needy. On September 2, 2008, the "CNN Presents: Black in America" documentary was made available for sale on Amazon.com and other retailers. It is also available through iTunes for download. Since 2010, voice actor Kareem Taylor has been the announcer of the "Black in America" commercial campaign. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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