KRCU Announces Programming Celebrating Black History Month

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., Jan. 26, 2009 -- KRCU at Southeast Missouri State University will broadcast several specials commemorating Black History Month every Sunday at 9 a.m. during the month of February.

Lady Writes The Blues: The Rose Marie Mccoy Story
Feb. 1

McCoy's songs have been recorded by Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, Dizzy Gillespie, Ike and Tina Turner, Big Maybelle, Ruth Brown, James Brown, Bette Midler, Sarah Vaughn, Johnny Mathis and Aretha Franklin. Her success was even more remarkable since she worked in an era when blacks and women were largely excluded from the business side of the music industry. But despite publishing over 850 songs, McCoy remains largely unknown.

"Lady Writes the Blues" features interviews with such iconic performers as Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Scott and McCoy herself, along with insights from the host. The hour-long special includes previously unreleased songs and a rare recording of McCoy performing in her final concert at the age of 86.

Memories of the Movement: A Black History Month Special
Feb. 8

The years of the Civil Rights Movement are counted among the most volatile yet vibrant in American history. The people and events that shaped this period range from charismatic preachers and actors to students and domestic workers. To celebrate the courage, conviction and commitment of ordinary people who made extraordinary contributions to American social progress, Tavis Smiley presents "Memories of the Movement: A Black History Month Special."

My Song, My Story: Kool & The Gang
Feb. 15

"My Song, My Story" offers an in-depth profile of Kool and the Gang’s beginnings and its evolution over its highly successful three-and-a-half decades. It also reveals how even today, the band continues to tour and connect with new and old fans. "My Song, My Story" includes interviews with the artists, their colleagues and family members, and features archival tape and music.

Women Of The Harlem Renaissance
Feb. 22

Broadway's Carol Woods joins The Jim Cullum Jazz Band to celebrate a largely unsung group of black women whose artistry was pivotal to the Harlem Renaissance.

Scholar and co-founder of the NAACP W.E.B. Du Bois argued that education, art and culture could be powerful weapons for social change. He launched The Crisis, a magazine that played a major role in the Black Renaissance of the 1920s, giving voice to such young writers as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. But it was the dedicated Jessie Fauset, working in DuBois' shadow, who managed The Crisis and shaped its literary style.

"Women of the Harlem Renaissance" spotlights the lives and artistry of women like Fauset who shaped and nurtured black culture in Jazz Age Harlem.

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