AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange kicks off its newest season on Monday, April 5. Across five episodes, the series will captivate viewers as they travel around the globe to meet dynamic people shaping our world in exceptional ways - MAMA GLORIA is a portrait of Gloria Allen, a trailblazing transgender activist; MAN OF THE PEOPLE dives into the life & untimely death of Chicago’s visionary mayor, Harold Washington; and PROFESSIONAL BLACK GIRL spotlights the women who give New Orleans its vibrance. Take a peek at the seven films that make this an AfroPop season to remember.
Watch AfroPop Mondays at 8/7c on WORLD (check your local listings), online and on the PBS app.
Mama Gloria
By Luchina Fisher | April 5 at 8/7c
In a story of a mother’s love, MAMA GLORIA profiles 75-year-old Black trailblazing transgender activist, Gloria Allen, who started a charm school for homeless transgender youth in Chicago.
Finding Sally
By Tamara Dawit | April 12 at 8/7c
FINDING SALLY tells the story of a young woman who joined the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party. She went underground, never to be seen again. Four decades later, Tamara pieces together her aunt Sally’s mysterious life.
Professional Black Girl
By Yaba Blay | April 19 at 8/7c
"We hold PhDs and listen to trap music. We twerk and we work.” PROFESSIONAL BLACK GIRL covers everyday topics through personal stories, cultural experiences, and reflections from working Black women.
FILM SHORTS
April 26 at 8/7c
Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business | By Christine Turner
93-year-old Betye Saar’s weapon against inequality is her art. Walk inside her Los Angeles studio, as she talks about collecting objects, African American history, and making people think.
Elena | By Michèle Stephenson
Elena and her family stand to lose their legal residency in the Dominican Republic. Negotiating bureaucratic processes and a racist, hostile society, she becomes the face of the struggle to remain in a country built on the labor of her father and forefathers.
Man of the People | By Amir George
Chicago’s first African American mayor, Harold Washington, left a complex history with two campaign runs leading to his sudden and mysterious death during his second term.
Bakosó: Afrobeats of Cuba
By Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi| | May 3 at 8/7c
What does “Está Rico” by Marc Anthony, Will Smith & Bad Bunny have in common with “Made For Now” by Janet Jackson x Daddy Yankee? When Afrobeats hit Cuba, it helped to create Bakosó - beautiful proof that the exchange between Cuba and Africa did not end with the transatlantic slave trade.
Black Public Media develops, produces, funds, and distributes media about the African American and global Black experience. Since 1979, they have been addressing challenges that stand in the way of the distribution of Black stories. AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange is a production of Black Public Media.
