American Black Journal

American Black Journal.  A public interest television program produced by Detroit Public Television and filmed in Detroit, American Black Journal (ABJ) first aired in 1968 under the name Colored People Time.

This was a time of profound political and social tumult in African American communities, and Detroit was smarting from pervasive racial tensions. The mission of ABJ was "to increase the availability and accessibility of media relating to African American experiences in order to encourage greater involvement from Detroit citizens in working to resolve community problems." Now, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Detroit Public Television and Michigan State University have digitized 36 years of ABJ shows, creating an invaluable archive of African American history.
True to its mission, ABJ highlighted political, racial, economic, and social issues in Detroit. It included not just the voices of the leaders but also the voices of the followers at the neighborhood level who were ignored by mainstream media. The show's first-person approach brought immediacy to the frustrations and celebrations of Detroit's black population. ABJ also represented the black viewpoint beyond Detroit, thus connecting Detroit's issues with those of the rest of black America. The list of guests who appeared on the program is impressive: Louis Farrakhan, Berry Gordy, Cornel West, Desmond Tutu, Isaiah Thomas, Ossie Davis, James Brown, Alex Haley, Bobby Seale, and dozens of others.
Searching ABJ is intuitive. In addition to a basic keyword search, the site allows browsing the programs by guest, host, or theme and browsing episodes chronologically by decade. Each episode is tagged with guests, host, and themes, and hyperlinked to related episodes. The full-length episodes load quickly. The quality of the video and sound is exceptional. ABJ is an important archive for scholars of African American history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All users. -- R. Walsh, Trinity College. Outstanding Title!  Reviewed in ACRL's March 2011 Choice.