SCCtv airs Jean Walkinshaw's "Face to Face with Roberta,"
an illuminating look at pioneering African-American educator and talk show host
Roberta Byrd, beginning Wednesday evening, January 27, at
9:00pm.
You can watch the 30-minute special on SCCtv (Comcast Ch 28/Millennium
Ch19) or the simulcast on our Web site, www.scctv.net. The special will air throughout February on Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 7:00pm and Sundays at 8:00pm.
Growing up in Washington state
70 years ago, Roberta longed to become an educator, but the doors to
a teaching career were virtually barred to African-Americans at that time.
Fortunately, she didn't give up hope, and went on to become the first woman and
first person of color to preside over a major Seattle high
school.
In addition to her leadership in the areas of education
and civil rights, Roberta moderated the television show Face to Face. Launched by KCTS 9 and later aired on KING TV, the regional series was the
first to consistently explore issues of concern to minorities. Many of theepisodes
from the 1960s and 1970s remain just as relevant today:
"Unemployment: The Great Leveler," "Forget the Rhetoric, It's The Teacher Who
Makes the Difference," "OK, So I Am Elderly" and "Boomerangs of the Housing
Boom."
About the host, Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Emmett Watson
wrote, "Roberta Byrd is far and away the most intelligent and incisive of our
TV personalities," while Governor Daniel Evans praised Face to Face as
"an example of television at its very best."
Originally created in the
1990s, Walkinshaw's series Remarkable People now revisits the impact of Face
to Face, a program she produced. Using footage from the original program
and an extensive interview conducted with Roberta shortly before her death
in 1993, Walkinshaw creates a fascinating look at a nearly forgotten public
figure who worked to find answers and helped keep us informed during a
tumultuous time.
Previous Remarkable People subjects include
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Theodore Roethke, mountain climber Jim Whittaker,
retired Microsoft executive and philanthropist Scott Oki and singer Pat Wright,
founder of the Total Experience Gospel Choir.
For over 40 years, Jean Walkinshaw has been telling
human stories, most rooted right here in the Pacific
Northwest, leading to eight Northwest Regional Emmy Awards. In 1992,
she was inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
Silver Circle for 25 years of significant contribution
to the TV industry and community.
