Watch PBS NC for Special Programming on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

On Monday, 1/16, PBS NC and PBS KIDS will bring you special programming to commemorate and honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., exploring his role in the Civil Rights Movement and examining the influence of his legacy today. Explore our programming lineup below and find films and shows available for streaming.

Sesame Street: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Elmo and his friends are making a Peace Tree to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on this special episode of Sesame Street. Watch Monday, 1/16 at 11 AM & 1 PM on PBS NC. Find more airtimes in January on our TV Schedules page.

Watch Martin Luther King Day and more full episodes of Sesame Street online and on the PBS KIDS Video app.

87th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

The 87th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards highlights the 2022 winners of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and their work. The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards is the only national juried prize recognizing literature that has contributed to our understanding of racism and human diversity. The program is hosted by acclaimed scholar, lecturer, social critic, writer and editor Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., chairman of the Anisfield-Wolf Books Awards jury and host of PBS' Finding Your Roots.

Watch the 87th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Monday, 1/16, 2 PM on PBS NC. Streaming now online and on the PBS app. 

With Infinite Hope: MLK and the Civil Rights Movement

With Infinite Hope looks back at the life, leadership and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The program follows King's career from his hiring at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, through his death on April 4th, 1968 in Memphis. The documentary includes interviews with people who participated in well-known events of the Civil Rights Movement: the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Freedom Rides, the Birmingham Children's March, Selma, and the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike. 

This documentary was produced by faculty and students in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and Memphis PBS affiliate WKNO-TV.

Watch With Infinite Hope: MLK and the Civil Rights Movement Monday, 1/16, 3 PM on PBS NC. Streaming now on YouTube. 

1964: The Fight for a Right

By the mid-twentieth century, Mississippi had suffered from nearly 75 years of slavery by another name: Jim Crow discrimination. In 1964, people died in an effort to force the state to allow Black Americans to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Although the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Summer has passed, the struggle for voting rights remains at the forefront of a national debate. With historical footage and interviews with Freedom Summer architects and volunteers, this film uses Mississippi to explain American voting issues in the last 150 years.

Watch 1964: The Fight for a Right Monday, 1/16, 4 PM on PBS NC. Streaming now online and on the PBS app.

Stone of Hope: Moving The Dream Forward

Stone of Hope: Moving The Dream Forward documents the first decade of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Now the fifth most visited memorial, averaging 3-5 million visitors a year, the King Memorial uniquely serves the country as the only memorial on the National Mall honoring an activist, a preacher and man of peace.

Watch Stone of Hope: Moving The Dream Forward Monday, 1/16, 5 PM on PBS NC. Streaming now online and on the PBS app.

Independent Lens: The Big Payback

The Big Payback is the story of how a rookie alderwoman in Evanston, Illinois led the passage of the first tax-funded reparations bill for Black Americans and stirred up a debate about the debt owed from the U.S.

Watch The Big Payback Monday, 1/16, 10 PM on PBS NC & the PBS app.