Over The Years
Black History Month is as much about the future as it is the past. This year Black Voices will look back as a way of seeing the path forward. We will examine the state of black health on the 75th anniversary of the Tuskegee Experiment. We'll look at blacks in sports 60 years after Jackie Robinson's rookie season. Thirty years ago, television was changed forever roots ran for eight nights in January 1977. And the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, will turn 65 this, 20 years after she became the first woman inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. We check out her legacy so far.

Aretha Franklin, 20 Years

The Queen of Soul

Aretha Franklin: Twenty years ago, The Queen of Soul became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the only surprise was that she was not inducted until the second year in 1987. Singing since she was 14, Aretha will turn 65 this March. She continues to work. With 19 Grammys under her belt,including 11 for Best Female Vocalist, she and her powerful voice has spawned much admiration, immitation awe and, yes, r-e-s-p-e-c-t.

    Roots & Black Televison

    Roots

    Roots: Thirty years ago this month, ABC television, ran a miniseries that lasted eight nights and attracted 110 millions viewers. Because the project was about slavery and black people, officals at the network worried that the series would tank. Instead it broke at the existing audience records.
    Scenes From The Epic
    Black TV Since Roots
    Get the background

        Jackie Robinson, 60 Years

        Jackie

        Jackie Robinson: This years will mark 60 season since that fateful spring in 1947, when Jackie Robinson putting on a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform and strode across the color line in professional baseball. His journey, changed life for African Americans, and changed America. .
        See some other great milestones in sports. The Greats in Photos


          Tuskegee Experiment - 75 Years

          The Tuskegee experiment

          Tuskegee Experiment:
          In 1932 in Macon County, Alabama the U.S. Public Health Service began and experiment on 300 black with syphillis that will always stand as one of the darkest episodes in medical history. The men never knew what they had nor did they know that the government was not trying to cure them, but instead were willing to let them die for the sake of research.
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