Curtis creator Ray Billingsley works in his home studio in Stamford, Conn. Ray Billingsley hide caption
Black History Month 2022 February is Black History Month in the U.S., and this year's theme is Black Health and Wellness. NPR has compiled a list of stories, music performances, podcasts and other content that chronicles the Black American experience.
Special Series
Black History Month 2022
Post racist attack in 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. American National Red Cross Photograph Collection. GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption
Left to right: Xyenz Fyxion, Asante Amin, and Aidah Z. M. Laylah Amatullah Barrayn hide caption
Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts are the first same-sex couple to be featured on the cover of Essence. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images hide caption
People hold up signs and bags of Skittles candy during a rally in support of Trayvon Martin at Freedom Plaza in Washington, on Saturday, March 24, 2012. Jacquelyn Martin/AP hide caption
Shirley Caesar performs a Tiny Desk (home) concert. Shirley Caesar hide caption
Robin D. G. Kelley Simon & Schuster hide caption
Authors Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson say it's important to be honest with children about the history of race and slavery in America. Penguin Young Readers hide caption
National African American History Museum curator on George Floyd protest photo
Patti LaBelle performs a Tiny Desk (home) concert. Patti LaBelle hide caption
Physicist Desiré Whitmore teaches workshops to help teachers better communicate science. As part of that, Desiré uses optical illusions to explain how social blind spots come into play in the classroom. Boris SV/Getty Images hide caption
Tintype of a Civil War soldier, 1861 - 1865 Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Liljenquist Family Collection hide caption
People pledge allegiance to America as they receive U.S. citizenship at a naturalization ceremony for immigrants in Los Angeles in 2017. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
1 in 10 Black people in the U.S. are migrants. Here's what's driving that shift
Lawmakers want to ban discomfort in school. But Black history isn't always comfortable
Tenor Curtis Bannister sings the role of Stan in Beethoven's Fidelio, in a dress rehearsal. Russ Rowland/Courtesy of Heartbeat Opera hide caption
Prison choirs sing in a reboot of Beethoven's opera about unjust incarceration
Big Rodeo Project, Greenville, Miss. Justin Hardiman hide caption
Nina Simone, in performance in 1964. Getty Images/Getty Images hide caption
David Harris became the first Black man to fly a commercial airliner when he was hired by American Airlines. Courtesy of David Harris/National Geographic hide caption
'Segregated Skies' tells the story of the first Black pilot for a commercial airline
Mary Stepp Burnette Hayden, pictured around 1942, with her granddaughter, Mary Othella Burnette, and two of Hayden's great-grandchildren. Mary O. Burnette hide caption
A granddaughter passes on the legacy of 'Granny Hayden,' a midwife born into slavery
A forensic police officer works on a crime scene. Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Too $hort performs a Tiny Desk (home) concert Too $hort hide caption
Members of MISS work up a shark. Cliff Hawkins/Field School hide caption