The Total Black Experience: A History of Television's Positively Black

The Total Black Experience is the first book to chronicle the history and social significance of Positively Black, one of the longest-running public affairs shows in the history of television.Spurred on by the findings of the Kerner Commission, executives at WNBC-TV greenlit the show, and turned production over to a small but dedicated team of storytellers who quickly made it their mission to carve out a space for serious and nuanced discussion of issues important to the Black community and to celebrate all aspects of Black culture.They believed that accurate representation of their experiences was a right, not a privilege.The show’s first co-hosts included the well-known Harlem-based activist Rev.Eugene Callender and Gus Heningburg, activist, successful consultant and mediator, and advocate for organized labor.Callender had founded Harlem Prep to equip young Black people for college while Heningburg played a key role in stabilizing life in Newark following the rebellion there in the l