AUGUST WILSON: THE GROUND ON WHICH I STAND A documentary presented by AUGUST WILSON’S WQED Multimedia and the PBS series, American Masters Premiering February 2015*… August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand details 10-PLAY CENTURY CYCLE August Wilson’s unexpected rise from humble beginnings 1966 and adversity to create a 10-play cycle about African American life — a groundbreaking achievement in theater Rise of the Black Power 1865 1896 Movement history. From the 1980s into the first decade of the 21st century, Wilson was the most produced playwright both 13th Amendment to the Plessy v. Ferguson 1965 Constitution ratified, upholds racial 1995 1990s 1986 1980s on Broadway and in regional theaters. His unprecedented prohibiting slavery segregation and Voting Rights Act 10-play Century Cycle (also known as the Pittsburgh Cycle) Million Man March Martin Luther King establishes “separate KING HEDLEY II outlawed discrimination helped launch the careers of countless actors and earned but equal” RADIO GOLF Jr. Day is declared a 1968 in the voting process national holiday in An ex-convict tries to rebuild Wilson two Pulitzer Prizes. Harmond Wilks has ambitious the U.S. his life, family, and sense of plans to redevelop the Hill District, but Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. self in a community plagued clashes with his partner over whether is assassinated A native of Pittsburgh’s Hill District where all but one with violence and prejudice. to deny the past in the name of Civil Rights Act outlaws housing of the plays in the Cycle are set, Wilson put the joys, development, or to preserve the Hill’s history. discrimination (Fair Housing Act) 1964 struggles, history, and culture of African Americans on the national stage. August Wilson: The Ground On Which 1900s A man’s quest for identity and Shirley Chisholm becomes the Freedom Summer first African American woman I Stand features Wilson’s family, friends, and collaborators The rewards of the dignity is thwarted by limited Civil Rights Act outlawed elected to Congress recalling his formative years and, later, the evolution of GEM OF THE OCEAN American Dream are opportunity, secrets from the discrimination based on Aunt Ester carries nearly 300 years weighed against the cost past, and personal demons race, color, religion, sex, his body of work. of memories for the people of the to the larger community and national origin Hill District, and helps one man find Notable actors such as James Earl Jones, Laurence himself within a turbulent history. Fishburne, Phylicia Rashad, and Charles S. Dutton discuss Wilson’s impact on their careers, his artistic process, and his unwavering belief in black life as rich and full of Through the power of memory, 1963 1970s stories worth telling. Powerful performances of scenes a man takes a mystical journey March on Washington toward freedom and redemption from Wilson’s plays round out this definitive story of the August Wilson wrote the JITNEY life, work, and impact of the most prolific playwright of In an unofficial taxi station the last half of the 20th century. threatened with demolition, an frustration and the glory of assorted group of drivers tell * For airtimes, please check your local PBS listings. stories, argue, and dream as they 1910s being black…in America. come and go, hustling to make a living. 1960s Bonds between generations JOE TURNER’S COME TWO TRAINS RUNNING AND GONE are tested by personal and — Ruben Santiago-Hudson Regular customers sit in a Herald Loomis arrives in the community conflicts restaurant and discuss their Hill District after working on views on work, faith, and Joe Turner’s chain gang, and his “ Tony Award-winning actor, Seven Guitars race relations, wondering how journey becomes a search for the meaning of much has really changed for them by the his past and the possibilities for his future. end of the 1960s. Tenants of a boardinghouse African Americans grapple with contend with the personal and the social and psychological social aftermath of slavery 1910–1930 1920s 1955-1956 impact of the Civil Rights and and the Great Migration Black Power Movements Great Migration of 6 million African Montgomery, Alabama The Harlem Renaissance ” bus boycott Americans from the rural South to large industrial cities in the North begins MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM Rich in cultural gifts, but poor in opportunities, four musicians share jokes, bitter barbs, mounting tension, and the blues as they wait for Considered America’s Shakespeare, Pulitzer Prize- their lead singer in a Chicago recording studio. winning playwright August Wilson (1945–2005), created an unprecedented 10-play Century Cycle—one play Stifled and disillusioned by 1954 1952 set in each decade of the 20th century—chronicling the exploitation by white record joys, struggles, history, and culture of African Americans. 1930s Brown v. Board of For the first time labels, black musicians turn Education overturns in 70 years, the August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel on their rage inward “separate but equal” Tuskegee Institute April 27, 1945, in the Hill District community of Pittsburgh, THE PIANO LESSON in America’s schools reports no lynchings A sister and brother wrestle over in the United States the son of an African American cleaning woman, Daisy whether to sell or keep a piano that Wilson, and a German immigrant and baker, Frederick was acquired during slavery through Kittel, who was mostly absent from Wilson’s life. Wilson’s the sale of two of their ancestors. mother raised him and his five siblings in a two-room, cold-water flat. Wilson left school in the 10th grade Siblings disagree about after experiencing racial bullying and false accusations how to honor the legacy of of plagiarism. For the next several years, he educated their family’s painful past 1950s himself at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh during 1948 school hours, unbeknownst to his mother. Executive Order 9981 desegregates the FENCES Wilson began his artistic life as a poet, spending time in armed forces Troy Maxson must reconcile his high aspirations with his personal restaurants and barbershops and on the streets of The Hill, disappointments and experience August Wilson helps us scribbling down the voices of residents as they reflected of discrimination. on their lives. Wilson would later draw on these voices and histories to create unforgettable characters in his plays, all 1940s but one of which are set in the Hill District. A father’s frustration with remember who we are…all of us, SEVEN GUITARS 1947 his own past threatens his As six friends try to make sense The plays in Wilson’s 10-play Century Cycle (also known as Jackie Robinson breaks son’s future of a young blues musician’s The Pittsburgh Cycle) present African American life in all the color barrier in untimely murder, they celebrate as an American people. Major League Baseball its fullness, but they are also explorations of the universal their lives together while riffing themes of community, identity, diversity, activism, self- on their hopes, dreams, and frustrations. — Suzan-Lori Parks reliance, and resilience. August Wilson told extraordinary stories about ordinary people, and in doing so, he changed Internal and external struggles “ Playwright, 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning the face of the American theater. shape African American men as they fight for their humanity drama Topdog/Underdog and self-worth Facebook.com/WQEDPittsburgh Education outreach ” For digital learning resources about August Wilson, is supported by The August Wilson Education Project WQED.ORG/AUGUSTWILSON @AugustWilsonEdu visit PBSLearningMedia.org (available February 2015) is supported by The PNC Foundation. #AugustWilsonInspires.