Local Stories Frame JACKIE ROBINSON, Latest Film by Ken Burns

Jackie Robinson may be an icon in national baseball, but his influence and inspiration also touched the personal lives of black and white Rhode Islanders alike. Moreover, Rhode Island has its own incredible stories about its Negro Minor League Baseball players and integration, and that history pre-dates Jackie Robinson by up to a decade!

Proudly, Rhode Island PBS teases these local stories of influence and inspiration through short interview segments that will air throughout April, leading up to the WSBE premiere of the Ken Burns film, Jackie Robinson on Sunday, April 17 and Monday, April 18, at 8 p.m. each night.

Dr. Charles Steinberg

Among those who will appear in the local interstitials are Dr. Charles Steinberg, president of the Pawtucket Red Sox; Branch Rickey III, the grandson of the Major League Baseball executive who signed Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers; Charlie Thomas, Providence ballplayer who broke racial barriers in college sports and WWII military teams - before Jackie Robinson; and Tommy Harper of the Boston Red Sox.

Currently in production, WSBE Rhode Island PBS is making a documentary using these local stories, working under the expertise of Dr. Robert Cvornyek, Rhode Island College professor of history and Negro League Baseball historian and author. Look for the documentary in time for the World Series.

Branch Rickey, III

In the meantime, baseball season starts with Jackie Robinson. Jack Roosevelt Robinson rose from humble origins to cross baseball’s color line and become one of the most beloved men in America. A fierce integrationist, Robinson used his fame to speak out against the discrimination he saw on and off the field, angering fans, the press, and even teammates who had once celebrated him for “turning the other cheek.” After baseball, he was a widely-read newspaper columnist, divisive political activist and tireless advocate for civil rights, who later struggled to remain relevant as diabetes crippled his body and a new generation of leaders set a more militant course for the civil rights movement.

Jackie Robinson, a two-part, four-hour film directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahontells the story of an American icon whose life-long battle for first class citizenship for all African Americans transcends even his remarkable athletic achievements. Join us Sunday and Monday, April 17 and 18, starting at 8 p.m.

In April: Local and National Community Conversations about Cancer

*PLEASE NOTE CHANGE
IN EVENT DATE AND LOCATION*

Rhode Island PBS, in partnership with the American Cancer Society, presents LUNG CANCER | a community conversation, a live panel discussion televised on Thursday, April 23* at 8 p.m. at the Rhode Island PBS studios*, 50 Park Lane, Providence, RI. 

The television program will start with screening selected segments from the Ken Burns film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies. Local experts then take a deeper look and connect this world issue to our local community in a panel discussion that includes tobacco use, smoking cessation, lung cancer, and the rising costs of health care. We'll also take questions from the audience.

You are invited to be in the studio audience from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Arrive at 7 p.m. for light refreshments and light conversation with our panelists and show host, Margie O'Brien. At 7:30, we move into the studio to prepare for live broadcast from 8 p.m. - 9 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public, but audience seating in the studio is limited. Advance registration is required. 

The television special LUNG CANCER | a community conversation is part of  

SCREENINGS | community conversations about cancer

an initiative of Rhode Island PBS, American Cancer Society, made possible by CVS Health.

Watch the full Ken Burns film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies on three consecutive Thursdays at 9 p.m. on April 9, 16 and 23. 

Extending the conversation, Rhode Island PBS presents additional programs about cancer and living with dignity in the face of terminal illness from 8 to 9 p.m. on April 16 and 30. This is the full schedulee of cancer program in April:

April 9

9 p.m. – Ken Burns Film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Part 1

Magic Bullets - The story of cancer and the efforts to find a cure begins with the work of cancer researcher Sidney Farber (1903-73), who, in the late 1940s, introduced the modern era of chemotherapy. Also: the contemporary story of a 14-month-old girl battling T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

April 16

8 p.m. – What Love Is– The Duke Pathfinders 50

Fifty women from North Carolina with incurable breast cancer heroically endure an experimental medical protocol to prove that there is a better way of life -- and death -- for cancer patients and their families everywhere. Read more about the film here.

9 p.m. – Ken Burns Film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Part 2

The Blind Men and the Elephant - The launch of the "war on cancer" by President Nixon in 1971 is recalled. While rapid strides were made in understanding cancer, the research produced few advancements in treatment until the late 1990s. Also: the contemporary story of surgical oncologist Lori Wilson, who was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in both breasts in 2013.

April 23

8 p.m. – LUNG CANCER | a community conversation

This Rhode Island PBS live broadcast features a local panel discussion focused on issues raised in the Ken Burns film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, taped with a live studio audience. 

9 p.m. – Ken Burns Film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Part 3

Finding the Achilles Heel - Optimism that the mystery of the malignant cell has been solved fades due to the layers of complexity and defenses of cancer, leading many to focus on prevention and early detection. However, by the 2010s, new avenues of attack are uncovered, including the possibility of harnessing the human immune system in the battle. Also: two pioneers of immunotherapy treatments, a 60-year-old melanoma patient and a 6-year-old leukemia patient, share their stories.

April 30
8 p.m. – Behind the Ribbon
“Our Heroes” looks at the role of physical appearance in breast cancer treatment and survivorship. Footage from the 2012 Survivor Fashion Show is featured. Behind the Ribbon is the title of an original nonfiction television series produced by the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation and Jai Consulting Group. These short documentaries feature the stories of patients, survivors, and those who have lost their lives to breast cancer - an illness that will affect one in six Rhode Island women.
8:30 p.m. – Living With Dignity
This Rhode Island PBS production explores the local perspective of strength and determination to find balance and happiness while facing a terminal illness.
9 p.m. – Cancer: A Conversation
A companion program to the three-part documentary Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Katie Couric, co-founder of “Stand Up To Cancer,” extends the conversation when she interviews Ken Burns; Sharon Percy Rockefeller, President and CEO of WETA and a cancer survivor; and Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the book upon which the film is based.

Updated: April 4, 2015
Updated April 7, 2015

The Roosevelts: A Intimate History (A Film by Ken Burns)

THE ROOSEVELTS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics.

It is the first time in a major documentary television series that their individual stories have been interwoven into a single narrative.  This seven-part, fourteen hour film follows the Roosevelts for more than a century, from Theodore’s birth in 1858 to Eleanor’s death in 1962. Over the course of those years, Theodore would become the 26th President of the United States and his beloved niece, Eleanor, would marry his fifth cousin, Franklin, who became the 32nd President of the United States.

Together, these three individuals not only redefined the relationship Americans had with their government and with each other, but also redefined the role of the United States within the wider world.

The series encompasses the history the Roosevelts helped to shape: the creation of National Parks, the digging of the Panama Canal, the passage of innovative New Deal programs, the defeat of Hitler, and the postwar struggles for civil rights at home and human rights abroad.

It is also an intimate human story about love, betrayal, family loyalty, personal courage and the conquest of fear.

THE ROOSEVELTS: An Intimate History airs on Rhode Island PBS on Thursdays, beginning September 25 at 9 p.m.

Click here for more information about the series and the Roosevelts - including an extensive photo gallery.

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Film Credits A film by Ken Burns; Written by Geoffrey C. Ward; Produced by Paul Barnes, Pam Tubridy Baucom and Ken Burns; Edited by Paul Barnes, Tricia Reidy, Erik Ewers and Daniel J. White. Narrated by Peter Coyote. Meryl Streep is the voice of Eleanor Roosevelt, Edward Herrman the voice of Franklin Roosevelt, and Paul Giamatti the voice of Theodore Roosevelt. Patricia Clarkson is the voice of FDR’s devoted cousin, Margaret “Daisy” Suckley. Other voices include Adam Arkin, Keith Carradine, Kevin Conway, Ed Harris, John Lithgow, Josh Lucas, Carl Lumbly, Amy Madigan, Carolyn McCormick, Pamela Reed, Billy Bob Thornton and Eli Wallach.

The Dust Bowl, a Film by Ken Burns, Premieres January 3

The Dust Bowl, a Film by Ken Burns, chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the "Great Plow-Up," followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s, nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation. Vivid interviews with twenty-six survivors of those hard times, combined with dramatic photographs and seldom seen movie footage, bring to life stories of incredible human suffering and equally incredible human perseverance. It is also a morality tale about our relationship to the land that sustains us—a lesson we ignore at our peril.

The Dust Bowl, a Film by Ken Burns premieres on Rhode Island PBS on Thursday, January 3 at 8 p.m., and concludes the following week, January 10 at 8 p.m. For more information about The Dust Bowl, visit the PBS Web site. 

Click here to see a dramatic photo gallery of a collection of images from the era. 

PROHIBITION by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

The three-part film directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick tells the story of the rise, rule and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed. Watch PROHIBITION unfold on WSBE Rhode Island PBS on Thursdays at 9 P.M. starting July 12. Episodes repeat on Saturdays at 1:30 A.M. and noon.

(Excerpts from an essay written by historian Michael Lerner)

By 1830, the average American over 15 years old consumed nearly seven gallons of pure alcohol a year – three times as much as we drink today – and alcohol abuse (primarily by men) was wreaking havoc on the lives of many, particularly in an age when women had few legal rights and were utterly dependent on their husbands for sustenance and support.

The Temperance Movement 

The country’s first serious anti-alcohol movement grew out of a fervor for reform that swept the nation in the 1830s and 1840s. Many abolitionists fighting to rid the country of slavery came to see drink as an equally great evil to be eradicated – if America were ever to be fully cleansed of sin. The temperance movement, rooted in America’s Protestant churches, first urged moderation, then encouraged drinkers to help each other to resist temptation, and ultimately demanded that local, state, and national governments prohibit alcohol outright. 


By the late 19th century the Women’s Christian Temperance Union could claim some significant successes – it had lobbied for local laws restricting alcohol and created an anti-alcohol educational campaign that reached into nearly every schoolroom in the nation. But the WCTU’s ultimate goal, a prohibition amendment to the constitution, still seemed impossibly out of reach. 


The Anti-Saloon League became the most successful single issue lobbying organization in American history, willing to form alliances with any and all constituencies that would advance its sole goal: a constitutional amendment that would ban the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol. They united with Democrats and Republicans, Progressives, Populists, and suffragists, the Ku Klux Klan and the NAACP, the International Workers of the World, and many of America’s most powerful industrialists including Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Andrew Carnegie – all of whom supported ASL’s increasingly effective campaign. 


With ratification of the income tax amendment in 1913, and the federal government no longer dependent on liquor taxes to fund its operations, the ASL moved into high gear. As anti-German fervor rose to a near frenzy with the American entry into the First World War, ASL propaganda effectively connected beer brewers with Germans and treason in the public mind. Most politicians dared not defy the ASL and in 1917 the 18th amendment sailed through both houses of Congress; it was ratified by the states in just 13 months. 


Unintended Consequences 


At 12:01 A.M. on January 17, 1920, the amendment went into effect and Prohibitionists rejoiced that, at long last, America had become officially and irrevocably dry. 


But just a few minutes later, six masked bandits with pistols emptied two freight cars full of whiskey from a rail yard in Chicago, another gang stole four casks of grain alcohol from a government bonded warehouse, and still another hijacked a truck carrying whiskey. 


Americans were about to discover that making Prohibition the law of the land had been one thing; enforcing it would be another...

 

Olmsted and America's Urban Parks

Starting on Thursday, June 30 at 9 p.m., and for the next 6 weeks, WSBE Rhode Island PBS broadcasts the beautifully filmed and fascinating story by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales – from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska - The National Parks: America's Best Idea is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background – rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

The series is re-broadcast every Saturday at 1:30 a.m.

~*~*~*~

Before the mini-series begins, WSBE presents Olmsted and America's Urban Parks on Thursday, June 30 at 8 p.m. and at 12:30 a.m. (half after midnight) on Saturday, July 2.

151 years after Frederick Law Olmsted designed New York City’s Central Park with Calvert Vaux, it remains an undisputed haven of tranquility amidst one of the largest, tallest, and most unnatural places on earth.

Olmsted and America's Urban Parks examines the formation of America’s first great city parks in the late 19th century, through the enigmatic eyes of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903), visionary urban planner and landscape architect.

With incredible foresight that spanned centuries, Olmsted brought nourishing green spaces to New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Louisville, and dozens of other US cities. Throughout his working life, Olmsted and his firm carried out over 500 commissions, nearly 100 of which were public parks. The parks, he held, were to be vital democratic spaces in cities, where citizens from all walks of life could intermingle and be refreshed.

Prior to officially committing to landscape architecture, Olmsted was a New York Times correspondent to the Confederate states, the manager of a California gold mine, and General Secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. The man, a workaholic by today’s standards, plagued with chronic ailments, spent the latter half of his life devoting nearly every waking minute to creating restorative green spaces for overworked city dwellers. In large part through his own words, this film weaves together his engaging and poignant personal story with those of the lasting masterpieces he left for us today.

The Civil War - 150 Years

One hundred and fifty years ago, our country was divided: 

North and South... White and Black... Freedom and Slavery...

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, 

Rhode Island College hosts a symposium

"Rhode Island in the Civil War: 

Public History and Popular Memory" 

on Friday, April 8th 

The event includes reenactments, period music, demonstrations, 
panel discussion with historians, exhibits, 
even a game of baseball as it was played in 1864.
It's the Civil War with a R.I. connection.
More information

WSBE Rhode Island PBS 

marks this milestone anniversary
in United States history with
an encore broadcast of the 

acclaimed documentary by Ken Burns 

THE CIVIL WAR

Mondays at 9 PM

beginning April 11

THE CIVIL WAR

Click here to read FULL DESCRIPTIONS of each episode

Episode 1: THE CAUSE - 1861 (2 hours)

WSBE RIPBS (36.1)
4/11 from 9 PM

4/13 from 1:30 AM 

WSBE Learn (36.2)

4/14 at 8 PM 
4/15 at 3 AM

4/16 at Midnight 

Episode 2: A VERY BLOODY AFFAIR - 1862 and 

Episode 3: FOREVER FREE - 1862 (2 hours 30 minutes) 

WSBE RIPBS (36.1) 
4/18 at 9 PM

4/20 at 1:30 AM 

WSBE Learn (36.2) 

4/21 at 8 PM

4/22 at 3 AM

4/23 at Midnight 

Episode 4: SIMPLY MURDER and 

Episode 5: THE UNIVERSE OF BATTLE - 1863 (2 hours 30 minutes) 

WSBE RIPBS (36.1) 
4/25 at 9 PM

4/27 at 1:30 AM

WSBE Learn (36.2) 

4/28 at 8 PM 

4/29 at 3 AM 

4/30 at Midnight 

Episode 6: VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH and 

Episode 7: MOST HALLOWED GROUND - 1864 (2 hours 30 minutes) 

WSBE RIPBS (36.1) 

5/2 at 9 PM

5/4 at 1:30 AM 

WSBE Learn (36.2) 

5/5 at 8 PM 

5/6 at 3 AM 

5/7 at Midnight 

Episode 9: WAR IS ALL HELL and 

Episode 10: THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE - 1865 (2 hours 30 minutes) 

WSBE RIPBS (36.1) 

5/9 at 9 PM

5/11 at 1:30 AM 

WSBE Learn (36.2) 

5/12 at 8 PM 

5/13 at 3 AM 

5/14 at Midnight 

"The Tenth Inning" Premieres on WSBE Rhode Island PBS

THE TENTH INNING is a two-part, four-hour documentary film directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. A new chapter in Burns's landmark 1994 series, BASEBALL, THE TENTH INNING tells the tumultuous story of the national pastime from the 1990s to the present day. THE TENTH INNING airs on Thursdays, beginning January 27 at 9 P.M. on WSBE, over the air on digital 36.1; on cable: Cox/Verizon/Full Channel 08, Comcast subscribers please check listings for local channel; on satellite: DirecTV 36, Dish Network 7776.

Introducing an unforgettable array of players, teams and fans, the film showcases the era's extraordinary accomplishments and heroics — as well as its devastating losses and disappointments.

Combining extraordinary highlights, stunning still photographs, and insightful commentary by players, managers, and fans, THE TENTH INNING interweaves the story of the national pastime with the story of America.

Watch the video clip here.