More information about the series is available at pbs.org/gospel.
As the birthplace of Mahalia Jackson and home to Grammy-winning gospel artist Irma Thomas, dozens of gospel choirs and site of the beloved gospel tent at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, south Louisiana has a long and rich history with gospel music. WYES and WWNO are giving viewers a chance to explore the history of the musical genre at a screening of excerpts from the new PBS docuseries GOSPEL from acclaimed scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The free screening on Saturday, February 17 at 11:00 a.m. will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with members of the local gospel music community moderated by former WWL-TV anchor/reporter Sally-Ann Roberts.
The event will be held at the WYES Paulette and Frank Stewart Innovation Center for Educational Media located at 916 Navarre Avenue, New Orleans. Admission is free but registration is required at wyes.org/events.
The first two-hour episode of GOSPEL will premiere on WYES on Monday, February 12 at 8:00 p.m. Episode two will premiere on Friday, February 16 at 9:00 p.m. and both episodes will air on Saturday, February 17 at 8 p.m. WYES programming can also be streamed live at wyes.org/live as well as on the WYES and PBS Apps.
Of note to local viewers will be episode one, which highlights gospel music icon Mahalia Jackson, a New Orleans native. The episode takes viewers north to Chicago, where southern migrants Jackson, Thomas A. Dorsey, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe fused blues and jazz with testimonies of God’s goodness to create a genre enduring for generations.