Conversations with Ken Burns at Brackenridge High School

Tonight we are featuring a new episode of Conversations with Ken Burns at 8:00 pm on KLRN. This interview was conducted at Brackenridge High School and included a very attentive audience of high school students from the school's media literacy program. In this taping, Ken Burns talked about his new documentary airing this fall, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Ken came to San Antonio to highlight the Missions National Parks and showed the students a specially produced mini-documentary entitled San Antonio Missions - Keeping History Alive. Afterward students were invited to ask Ken questions regarding his projects and filmmaking.

For more information about The National Parks documentary go to http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

Wrestling with Our Stories: We Shall Remain

Have you been watching “We Shall Remain” from the folks at American Experience? If you have, you’ve witnessed a moving account of the complex and controversial birth of our nation and the trials of those who were here long before the first settlers arrived.

I grew up in Robeson County, North Carolina in the ‘70s-‘80s, where the racial divide was split equally among whites, African Americans and Native Americans. While I knew vaguely of the local lore of Henry Berry Lowrie and plight of the Lumbee Indians, most of what I knew about our country’s native people could be summarized in a kindergarten class reenactment of the Thanksgiving feast.

“We Shall Remain” has reintroduced me to the stories of real people and families who saw their way of life radically changed by the expansion of the United States. I hope you’ll take time to explore, and perhaps wrestle, with these stories as well.

You can catch the final two chapters of “We Shall Remain” on Monday, May 4 (Geronimo) & May 11 (Wounded Knee) at 9 PM on KLRN. You can watch past chapters (After the Mayflower, Tecumseh’s Vision, and Trail of Tears) online on PBS’ new video player at pbs.org/video. There’s also a robust website of information and resources at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain.