February is Black History Month and ESPN is commemorating the event across all of its platforms.

Offerings in the works include a television special, a musical remake featuring Aloe Blacc (making-of video above) and other content across the brand’s print, digital and television platforms.

One of the month’s highlights will be TV special Unapologetic: The Black Female Athlete, hosted by professional softball player A.J. Andrews and airing Sunday, Feb. 24, at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The special will be presented by The Undefeated, ESPN’s content initiative exploring the intersection of sports, race and culture.

Recording artist Aloe Blacc and The String Queens came together to perform and shoot a modern rendition of anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” from the historically significant site of Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, in Virginia.

ESPN also started airing a series of video vignettes featuring black athletes and coaches that began airing prior to Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend and will continue to run through February. Participants in the vignettes include David Robinson, Derek Jeter, Warrick Dunn, Kemba Walker and many others.

Throughout the month, ESPN Video on Demand will offer a collection of films and features such as The 16th Man, about South Africa’s hosting for the 1995 World Cup; Straight Outta LA, telling the story of Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis’ fight with the NFL to move the team from Oakland to Los Angeles; From Harlem With Love, about the Harlem Globetrotters 1959 trip to Moscow; and Chubbtown, the story of the historic home town of NFL running back Nick Chubb, where free black families settled after the Civil War.

Much more content will appear throughout the month across The Undefeated, espnW and SEC Network as well as in ESPN the Magazine.

Tags: black history month espn


  Save as PDF