FEB 1

MODERN BLACK HISTORY HEROES - BET - Premieres Tuesday, February 1 at 6:00 p.m.* BET NEWS, in partnership with 106 & PARK, brings us MODERN BLACK HISTORY HEROES, a conversation with four African-Americans leaders from various walks of life making black history today. Each week 106 & PARK will introduce viewers to one of our modern day heroes and invite the audience to submit their own modern black history hero and acknowledge African-Americans making a difference in local communities. (It's BET so I'm sure it will run 100 more times - check the listings)

MISSISSIPPI DAMNED - SHOWTIME SHOWCASE - February, 1st at 8pm et/pt Based on a true story, the film focuses on three African-American children living in rural Mississippi who must find strength and determination to overcome the painful, sometimes insurmountable obstacles that have plagued them since childhood. It is written and directed by Tiny Mabry (Itty Bitty Titty Committee), a recent James Baldwin Fellow who received a United States Artist Fellowship for her work on the film.

WAY BLACK WHEN: THE 70’S - TV ONE - 10 PM Stand-up comedian and actor Sinbad Hosts Comedian: David Raibon Performer:  Freda Payne Guests: Michael Jai White, Tim Reid, Daphne Reid, J. Anthony Brown

Craig Ferguson Late Late Show Salute to Black History Month - CBS - 12:35 AM Ferguson and Cornel West engage in a spirited discussion of the history of black oppression and triumph in American history. Musical guest is George Clinton, who performs “One Nation Under a Groove.”

FEB 3

WAY BLACK WHEN: THE 70’S - TV ONE - 10 PM Stand-up comedian and actor Sinbad Hosts Comedian: Luenell Performers:James Ingram, Evelyn “Champagne” King  Guests: James Ingram, Jayne Kennedy, Ernest Thomas, Luenell, Evelyn “Champagne” King

Black Caesar (1973) - TV ONE - 11PM Tommy Gibbs is a tough kid, raised in the ghetto, who aspires to be a kingpin criminal.

FEB 4
 

STILL BILL  - SHOWTIME - Friday, February 4th at 8:30 pm et/pt. An intimate portrait of soul music legend Bill Withers. The documentary offers a unique, rarely seen look inside the world of the incomparable soul stirrer who, during his 13-year career, has penned such classics as “Ain’t No Sunshine".

The Richard Pryor Show - TV ONE - 9PM - this cutting-edge sketch comedy dared to challenge censors’ restrictions like no other TV series before it.

WAY BLACK WHEN: THE 70’S - TV ONE - 10 PM Stand-up comedian and actor Sinbad Hosts Comedian: Don “DC” Curry Perforemers: The Emotions, Jody Watley, Cuba Gooding, Sr.  Guests: Jody Watley, Cuba Gooding, Sr., Don “DC” Curry

Cotton Comes Harlem (1970) - TV ONE - 11PM Two Harlem detectives are assigned by the NYPD to recover $87,000 of poor black families life savings, which have been stolen in a Back to Africa swindle; the money is concealed in a bale of cotton, which keeps changing hands.

FEB 5

SHAKA ZULU - CENTRIC - Premieres Saturday, February 5 at 12:00 p.m.* This sweeping 1986 miniseries captures the rise and fall of an African emperor with brilliant detail. Prophecy is mixed with recorded fact regarding Shaka's birth, exile, innovations in warfare, assumption of the throne, building of the Zulu Empire, first contact with Europe and the events that led to his downfall. Powerful performances by Cele and Dudu Mikhize (as Shaka's iron-willed mother, Nandi) give this sprawling epic the drive and emotional scope of a Shakespearean drama. It was a pop culture phenomena when originally aired in 1986.

Mike Epps Presents: Live From Club Nokia - SHOWTIME - (Saturday, February, 5th at 11pm et/pt) Mike Epps brings the laughs to L.A. Live as he hosts his brand new comedy special, delivering non-stop laughs from the downtown L.A. hotspot along with his hand-picked crew of comedy misfits — Henry Welch, Vanessa Fraction, Gary Owen, Robert Stapleton, Scrunch, Kenny Howell and G-Thang — as they attack everything from relationships to recent outrageous current events.

FEB 6

Legacy "Generations" Guests: Peter & Cory Gunz - MTV 2 -  February 6 at 11:00pm ET/PT Hip hop is breeding generations. Peter and Cory Gunz stop by the Sucker Free studio to talk about their father-son relationship evolving in and out of the spotlight. Cory speaks to the way his father's experience has helped mold his own career, while Peter praises his son's lyricism and artist development by describing his son as a "freak of nature."

FEB 7

"AfriCOBRA: Art For The People" - TV Land - premiering Monday, February 7, 2011 at 8:30PM ET/PT. Narrated by three-time Emmy(R) Award nominee and Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad, ("The Cosby Show") this half-hour documentary features an engaging and animated history of the AfriCOBRA group, a collective of Chicago artists started in the late 1960s, contemporary interviews with some of the AfriCOBRA artists and an illustrious display of their artwork.

FEB 8

Mr. Dial Has Something to Say - OVATION - Feb 8 at 5:00AM ET/PT Thornton Dial is a self-taught artist who constructs figurative sculptures, paintings, and mixed-media assemblages that explore slave life and has been called the visual sibling of jazz, the blues, and gospel. Dial is part of a movement that is one of America's very few home-grown artistic styles. The film examines the meaning and history of the movement and if the Afro-American improvisational visual art has been perceived by the mainstream art world as less important.

Biography: Barack Obama - BIOGRAPHY - Feb 8 at 7:00AM ET/PT Biography follows Obama through his teenage struggles for self-identity, his student days at Columbia University and Harvard Law School, and through his political career in Chicago, where he rose to fame through a focus on ethics and political reform. The program also goes behind the scenes of his presidential campaign.

THE BLACK LIST: VOLUME THREE - HBO - 8:30pm - third installment of intimate first-person video portraits of prominent African Americans from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. (check for additional air dates)

INDEPENDENT LENS “When I Rise” - PBS - (Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET) – The story of Barbara Smith Conrad, a gifted music student who found herself at the epicenter of racial controversy but struggled against the odds to reach the heights of international opera.

FEB 12

Stand Up For Family - SHOWTIME - (Saturday, February 12th, at 10:30pm et/pt) Veteran comic Bill Bellamy has teamed up with some of his comic friends — Earthquake, Doug Williams, Wil Sylvince, D’Lai, Nikki Carr and Pat Brown — for a breakthrough comedy special filmed live at the Center Stage Theater in Atlanta, GA. Bellamy and his crew bring comedy inspired by the everyday family experience.

FEB 13

Nick News With Linda Ellerbee: Beyond "I Have a Dream, " - NICK - 9pm  a special that examines how some of the other words spoken by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. still affect young people.

"Oprah Presents Master Class with Condoleezza Rice" - OWN -  10 p.m. Feb. 13, The intimate biography series focuses on the life lessons of the Stanford professor and former secretary of state.

Legacy "Crews" Guests: Dipset & Slaughterhouse - MTV 2 - February 13 at 11pm ET/PT In this crews themed episode, Slaughterhouse will make an appearance to discuss the hip hop greats that have influenced their career and the up-and-coming artists that viewers should put on their radar. Sucker Free fans will also hear from Harlem's finest when Dipset members talk about their respect for hip hop.

FEB 14

KING - HISTORY CHANNEL - Feb 14, 21 at 6:00am ET/PT Go beyond the dream to discover the man in this two-part documentary about Martin Luther King Jr. Tom Brokaw goes beyond the legend to portray the man, the questions, the myths, and the relevance of Dr. King's message in today's world. This program includes a rare interview with his son as well as associates from the civil rights campaigns and contemporary figures such as former President Bill Clinton and Condaleeza Ride. 

FEB 15

Crucibles of Courage - BIOGRAPHY - Feb 15 at 7:00AM ET/PT This documentary, hosted by President Obama, profiles people across a broad spectrum of history representing achievements in politics, business, medicine, the arts, and sports: Thurgood Marshall, Marian Anderson, Jesse Owens, Shirley Chisholm, and Muhammad Ali. The program includes interviews, location footage, and archive material.

Spike Lee will host a three hour block of MSG Original programs from MSG studios.

THE GAME 365: Celebrating Black History Month - MSG - 7:00 PM Baseball historian Steve Jacobson and legendary basketball champion Johnny “Boy Wonder” Isaacs discuss the untold stories of black athletes who served as unsung pioneers in the wake of Jackie Robinson breaking the major league baseball color barrier for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Halls of Fame Classics: Rachel Robinson - MSG - 7:30 PM Rachel Robinson, a woman of enormous accomplishments, preserved the legacy of her late husband by forming the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which gives scholarships to minority youths for higher education. Since its inception in 1973, the Foundation has provided over 1,400 scholarships to deserving students.

Halls of Fame Classics: Larry Doby - MSG - 8:00 PM Larry Doby joined the Major League Baseball ranks just 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Doby became only the second African-American, and the first in the American League, to play in the big leagues.

The Game 365: Negro League Baseball - MSG - 8:30 PM ‘Negro League Baseball’ pays tribute to Kansas City’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. With over 120 years of history, the museum’s collection dates back to the first black professional baseball team and the formation of the first black professional baseball league that featured Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige.

Lapchick and Sweetwater Breaking Barriers - MSG - 9:00 PM When New York Knicks head coach Joe Lapchick signed Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton to an NBA contract in 1950, together they helped break the color barrier in the NBA, making Clifton the first black player to play for the Knicks. This documentary celebrates the desire of two men to create change in a time that fought so deeply against it.

INDEPENDENT LENS “Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene” (Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET) — America’s original shock-jock, Petey Greene, became a leading activist during some of the most tumultuous years in recent history.

FEB 16

MISSISSIPPI DAMNED - SHOWTIME SHOWCASE - February, 16th at 11pm et/pt Based on a true story, the film focuses on three African-American children living in rural Mississippi who must find strength and determination to overcome the painful, sometimes insurmountable obstacles that have plagued them since childhood. It is written and directed by Tiny Mabry (Itty Bitty Titty Committee), a recent James Baldwin Fellow who received a United States Artist Fellowship for her work on the film.

FEB 17

Searching for Buxton - PBS (NYC Only) - 10:30 p.m. : Narrated by Simon Estes, the film tells the story of a young African-American who searches for his family history in a long-disappeared Iowa mining town, only to discover that his relatives of a century ago may have been better off than he is today.

FEB 18

THE INJUSTICE FILES - Investigation Discovery - Friday, February 18 at 9PM ET Investigation Discovery Teams With Documentary Filmmaker Keith Beauchamp to Explore Key FBI Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases in a New Docu-Series "The Injustice Files"

"Black by Popular Demand" - COMEDY CENTRAL - Friday, 2/18 from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. all weekend long with favorite movies, such as "First Sunday," and hilarious stand-up from stars such as Katt Williams, Kevin Hart and Sinbad

FEB 19

"Eddie Griffin: You Can Tell 'Em I Said It" - COMEDY CENTRAL - February 19 at 1:00 a.m. ET/PT. World Television Premiere Griffin shares his thoughts on his love for Michelle Obama, who really makes up the Tea Party, Tiger Woods and why Cleveland should get over LeBron James.

"Black by Popular Demand" - COMEDY CENTRAL - Saturday, 2/19 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. all weekend long with favorite movies, such as "First Sunday," and hilarious stand-up from stars such as Katt Williams, Kevin Hart and Sinbad

Alonzo Bodden: Who’s Paying Attention?- SHOWTIME -  (Saturday, February 19th at 9pm et/pt) Alonzo Bodden shot to the top of the comedy world when he won NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” With his quick wit and searing delivery, Bodden is a comedy fixture on movies (Bringing Down the House, Scary Movie 4), television (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman), and radio (The Adam Carolla Show). He has headlined international comedy festivals from Montreal to Australia with his laugh-out-loud rants about the continuing decline of Western Civilization. In this one-hour live concert event, taped in New York City, Bodden tackles the absurdity of pop culture.

"Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room" - COMEDY CENTRAL - Saturday, 2/19 at 10:00 p.m. Original World Premiere Stand-Up Special. In brutally hilarious fashion, Patrice O'Neal reveals the unspoken truths about the value of white women, cheating, safe sex and the need for an official Harassment Day in his first original one-hour World Premiere Stand-Up Special, "Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room." Known to many from XM Radio's "Opie and Anthony Show," in addition to being a longtime network favorite ("Shorties Watchin' Shorties" and "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn"), O'Neal gets away with saying what you wouldn't even dare to think.

FEB 20

"Black by Popular Demand" - COMEDY CENTRAL - Sunday, 2/20 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. all weekend long with favorite movies, such as "First Sunday," and hilarious stand-up from stars such as Katt Williams, Kevin Hart and Sinbad

The Color Orange: The Condredge Holloway Story - ESPN -  8 pm. the story of Condredge Holloway, the first black quarterback at an SEC school (University of Tennessee) who didn’t get a shot in the NFL although he went on to be an all-star player in the Canadian Football League.

"Pictures Don't Lie: A Black in America Special" - CNN -  8 p.m. Feb. 20, A look at photographer Ernest Withers, a man remembered as a hero who helped advance the civil rights movement with his stunningly intimate images. Now, his legacy is in question because of accusations that Withers may have led a double life as a paid FBI "racial informant." His children dispute the charges and are speaking out for the first time. 

"Oprah Presents Master Class with Sidney Poitier" - OWN - 9 p.m. Feb. 20, The trailblazing actor, film director, author and diplomat is profiled in a special two-hour installment of the biography series.

Wendell Scott: A Race Story - ESPN on Feb. 20 at 9 p.m. ET, Tells the story of Wendell Scott, often referred to as the Jackie Robinson of motorsports, the only African-American to win a race in NASCAR’s top series.

FEB 22   

Biography: Thurgood Marshall - BIOGRAPHY - Feb 22 at 7:00 AM ET/PT Using archival footage, period accounts, and candid interviews with colleagues and family, this episode of Biography presents the comprehensive story of the legendary jurist and civil rights activist. As a civil rights lawyer in the 1940s and '50s, he traveled the South trying to end discrimination, and as a member of the Supreme Court, he presided over some of the most influential decisions in American history.

MISSISSIPPI DAMNED - SHOWTIME - February, 22nd at 11pm et/pt Based on a true story, the film focuses on three African-American children living in rural Mississippi who must find strength and determination to overcome the painful, sometimes insurmountable obstacles that have plagued them since childhood. It is written and directed by Tiny Mabry (Itty Bitty Titty Committee), a recent James Baldwin Fellow who received a United States Artist Fellowship for her work on the film.

FEB 24
Thurgood - HBO - 9:00 p.m. ET/PT the one-man Broadway play starring Laurence Fishburne in his Tony-nominated performance as Thurgood Marshall, the remarkable Civil Rights lawyer and Supreme Court Justice. Told in the first person by Fishburne in the role of Marshall, 'Thurgood' is a compelling present-tense narration revisiting the turning points in his life and career as he remembers them.

FEB 25

MISSISSIPPI DAMNED - SHO 2 - February, 25th at 1am et/pt Based on a true story, the film focuses on three African-American children living in rural Mississippi who must find strength and determination to overcome the painful, sometimes insurmountable obstacles that have plagued them since childhood. It is written and directed by Tiny Mabry (Itty Bitty Titty Committee), a recent James Baldwin Fellow who received a United States Artist Fellowship for her work on the film.

FEB 26

The Cosby Show: A Look-Back Special" - CENTRIC - 8 p.m. Feb. 26, One of television's most popular sitcoms is honored in this 2002 retrospective, which underscores the significance of the series to blacks and America at large. Featured: Memorable clips, bloopers and comments from series producers and stars, including Cosby.

AUSTIN CITY LIMITS “Allen Toussaint” (Saturday, February 26, 2011, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET — check local listings) – Legendary New Orleans songwriter Allen Toussaint hits the ACL stage with songs from his latest LP, The Bright Mississippi, and classic hits like “Southern Nights.”

Bruce Bruce: Losin’ It - SHOWTIME -  (Saturday, February 26th at 9pm et/pt) Larger-than-life comic Bruce Bruce is back with his new stand-up comedy special delivering raucous laughs as he puts his own unique spin on topics ranging from family, dating younger women and church. Filmed in Boston, MA in front of a live audience at the historic Wilbur Theatre, Bruce Bruce brings down the house with his true-to-life humor and raw comedic wit.

FEB 27

Legacy - Sucker Free Week "Hip Hop N Hoops" from the NBA All-Star Weekend Guests: Snoop Dogg and NBA All Stars - MTV2 - February 27 at 11pm ET/PT Sucker Free Week will wrap up on-location in Los Angeles, recapping some of the highlights from the 2011 NBA All-Star Game and taking viewers to the premiere of the anticipated documentary film, Blackout (www.theblackout.tv). During the show, celebrities take a break from the action to express their thoughts on Black History Month and the Legacies they are personally working to carry on. In addition, viewers can get the exclusive first look at the artist selected to grace the April XXL Freshmen 10 cover.

FEB 28

Honor Deferred - HISTORY CHANNEL - Feb 28 at 6:00AM ET/PT This program documents and recreates the stories of seven black Congressional Medal of Honor winners who only recently received their medals for service in World War II. By the time the Army bestowed these honors, six of the men had already died. This program also looks at the issue of race in the Army and includes the ceremony where President Clinton presents the medals to the lone survivor and the family members of the others.