The season finale of the fourth and final season of satirical documentary web series “Black Folk Don’t,” airs tonight on PBS. The critically-acclaimed web series, featured in Time magazine’s “10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life,” has explored many topics over four seasons including black folk and swimming, NRA membership, getting married and knowing their history to name a few. Season 4 of the series examines the voting habits of African-Americans, which are critical to this year’s hotly contested political battle. Directed by Angela Tucker, the alternately comical, educational and profound series both clings to and challenges common stereotypes of African-Americans. “Black Folk Don’t,” a project of TuckerGurl LLC, is funded by National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and can be seen on NBPC’s official website BlackPublicMedia.org.
This season the series, which is executive produced by NBPC, headed to Chicago for interviews with Dr. Amara Enyia, who ran for Chicago mayor against Rahm Emanuel; Anthony Anderson, a Trump delegate in Illinois; Charlene Carruthers, Black queer feminist organizer of Black Youth Project 100; Jamila Woods, poet and vocalist who has collaborated with Chance the Rapper; and Kyra Kyles, editor-in-chief of Ebony magazine; as well as with prominent Chicagoan musicians, professors, activists and lawyers. The first episode, “Black Folk Don’t …Vote Republican” premiered on Monday, September 26. Additional episodes of the series, which airs weekly on Mondays included “Black Folk Don’t … Listen to Classical Music” (October 3), “Black Folk Don’t … Buy Homes” (October 10), “Black Folk Don’t … Know Their History” (October 17), “Black Folk Don’t … Do Buddhism” (October 24) and “Black Folk Don’t … Get Anywhere on Time” which airs tonight.
“Since last season aired, Black people have been inundated with a constant stream of news of the violence being unleashed against the population, so I thought it was important to bring some humor back into the race discussion,” said Tucker. “And Chicago, a huge, complicated city with such a rich history and a cross section of Black people from across the country due to the Great Migration, seemed the perfect setting.”
“‘Black Folk Don’t’ has been one of NBPC’s most engaging and talked-about web series since its launch in 2011. Its satirical look at stereotypes has flipped the conversation on race without shying away from tough topics but instead treating them with honesty, humor and insightfulness,” said NBPC Director of Programs and Acquisitions Kay Shaw. “The series may end, but ‘Black Folk Don’t’ is now part of the public’s vernacular.”
Watch episodes online on PBS at http://www.pbs.org/show/black-folk-dont/.
This post was curated by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual.
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