Guides: Black Power TV: Mainstream News

Television News

'Mainstream' television coverage here includes any material produced and created by non-Black institutions and people. Such coverage includes material produced from a conservative perspective--such as Firing Line and the local news coverage from Roanoke Virginia--material produced by national media, and liberal coverage provided by public television WQED in San Francisco and independent documentaries shown on Bay Area stations. Regardless of ideological bent, all material in this section is produced and created by entirely or predominantly white organizations.

Vanderbilt Television News Archive
Searchable abstracting service for national television network news broadcasts. Includes streaming video of NBC evening news from 1968 forward.

Television News of the Civil Rights Era
The current archive contains films from the nightly news from two local television stations in Virginia--WDBJ (CBS) Roanoke and WSLS (NBC) Roanoke. This rare footage includes full speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, the governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as original footage of school desegregation, public meetings, local debates over civil rights matters, and interviews with citizens.
San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive
Newsfilm, documentaries and programs produced by Bay Area networks, including KPIX, KRON, KQED, KTVU, more. Stations include VHF and Public Televisions stations as well as those associated with major networks. Specific collections, such as the Black Panther collection make searching easier.
Firing Line
an American public affairs show founded and hosted by conservative William F. Buckley, Jr., founder and publisher of National Review magazine. Includes interviews with Huey Newton, Muhammad Ali and coverage of topics such as New Africa and the War on Poverty.

Radio News

Pacifica Radio Archives/UC Berkeley Black Panther Party Sound Recording Project
Pacifica Radio is a network of five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations known for its progressive/liberal political orientation. The recordings in this collection include interviews with and speeches by Black Power leaders and other African-American voices.
UC Berkeley Library Social Activism Sound Recording Project: The Black Panther Party
Includes audio material from the Pacifica Radio Archives, Freedom Archives (mainly material broadcast on KPFA radio in Berkeley) and other sources.

Newsreels

Universal newsreels, 1929-1967
Look here to see a selection of Universal Newsreels pertaining to all aspect of African-American life as depicted in this genre. In the pre- and post-TV era, people saw the news every week in their neighborhood movie theaters. Newsreels were shown before every feature film and in dedicated newsreel theaters located in large cities. Universal Newsreel, produced from 1929 to 1967, was released twice a week. Each issue contained six or seven short stories, usually one to two minutes in length, covering world events, politics, sports, fashion, and whatever else might entertain the movie audience.