This Week in People’s History, Dec 26-Jan 1

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Ebola-related Personal Protective Equipment training session for healthcare workers Ebola Alarm Ignored (in 2013), Ma Rainey's Swan Song (1928), Endangered Species Act Too Young to Die (1973), Sinking Ship No Place for Rats (1958), Is THIS Emergency Response? (2013), Think Before You Drive (1938), Ho Chi Minh's Popularity (1963)

Friday Nite Videos | December 25, 2020

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The True Story Behind Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Merry Christmas Baby | Keb' Mo'. The Dissident | Are You Ready for the Truth? "Twas The Coup Before Christmas". AlphaFold: The Making of a Scientific Breakthrough.

The True Story Behind Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

This is the true story of the life of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, the “Mother of the Blues,” and the subject of the Netflix film starring Oscar-winner Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman.

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Film Review: 'Bessie' Is the Most Honest, Revealing Biopic About a Black Woman We’ve Ever Seen

Aisha Harris Slate
Looking for a decent, memorable biopic about a black woman is like waiting for Haley’s Comet. To find one, you’d have to jump all the way back to Halle Berry’s Emmy-winning turn in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge in 1999, and before that, Angela Bassett as Tina Turner in 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do With It, and before that, Diana Ross as Billie Holiday. Dee Rees’ feature about blues legend Bessie Smith on HBO joins the ranks of those aforementioned films.
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