Bounce TV Sets Black History Month Programming

Bounce TV will honor Black History Month in February with a month-long programming tribute featuring African-American stories, motion pictures and performances.

The tribute will also include a new original short-form series of vignettes called Today’s History Makers featuring African Americans including Common, Tamar Braxton, K. Michelle and Grammy-winning producer, singer and songwriter The Dream sharing thoughts and perspective on contemporary African-American heroes.

People discussed include: Renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Keith Black, whose discoveries have revolutionized the treatment of brain cancer; Vernice “Flygirl” Amour, who became the first African-American female combat pilot during Operation Iraqi Freedom; Michele Roberts, the first female executive director of the National Basketball Players Association and Mo’ne Davis, the first girl to earn a win pitching in Little League World Series history.

Here’s the full lineup (all times Eastern):

Sunday, Feb. 1

9 p.m. Malcolm X — The story of America’s civil-rights leader who went from jail to leading a revolution, featuring Denzel Washington’s acclaimed performance in the title role.

1 a.m. For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story — Howard Rollins Jr. stars as Medgar Evers, a successful insurance agent who moves to Mississippi to direct the regional headquarters of the NAACP. Fighting segregation and racist politics, Evers becomes a true leader of the black community. Despite death threats and physical assaults on his family, Evers vows to stay in Jackson until his mission is complete.

Sunday, Feb. 8

9 p.m.  The Color Purple — The multiple Academy Award-winning motion picture based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker spans the years 1909 to 1949, relating the life of a Southern black woman virtually sold into a life of servitude to her brutal sharecropper husband.

12:30 a.m. Ghosts of Mississippi — The widow of murdered civil rights leader Medgar Evers, (played by Whoopi Goldberg) and a district attorney struggle to finally bring the murderer to justice.

Sunday, Feb. 15

9 p.m. Sounder — Black sharecroppers during the Depression fight to get their children a decent education in this multiple-Oscar® nominated classic starring Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield.

11 p.m.  The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman — Tyson also stars in this iconic and multiple award-winning film about a fictional African-American woman whose life began in slavery and ended at the inception of the Civil Rights Movement.

Sunday, Feb. 22

9 p.m. Ray — From his humble beginnings in the South through his meteoric rise to the top of the music charts, Ray Charles’ inspirational journey is a tale of hope, redemption and the power of the human spirit. Jamie Foxx won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the musical giant.

Midnight Mandela & de Klerk — The story of  the negotiations between civil rights activist Nelson Mandela (Sidney Poitier) and South African President F.W. de Klerk (Michael Caine) — onetime ideological enemies — for South Africa’s ordered, legal and peaceful transition to a full democracy.