Starting in March, ABC News will air a six-episode prime-time series on the Black experience in the United States.
“Soul of a Nation” will be the first broadcast network newsmagazine putting Black culture, from Black perspectives, front and center.
Each episode, airing Tuesday nights, will explore a specific theme, including spirituality, Black joy, activism in sports, and the protests, activism and social change that erupted after George Floyd’s death.
In this critical moment of racial reckoning, “Soul of a Nation” travels across the country, unpacking issues critical to Black Americans through intimate storytelling. Every episode will bridge the past, present and future through a variety of voices and experiences from athletes, entertainers, performers and screenwriters.
Jemele Hill, Marsai Martin and others are among the stellar roster of special guest hosts for each episode with interviews and reporting by ABC News anchors and correspondents.
Other guests include Carmelo Anthony, Nick Cannon, Deon Cole, Kim Coles, Tommy Davidson, Mo’Ne Davis, Danny Glover, David Alan Grier, Wood Harris, Janaya Future Khan, Renee Montgomery, Sylvia Obell, Jeneé Osterheldt, Chris Paul, John Ridley, Saweetie, Michael Yo, The Undefeated’s Domonique Foxworth, Soraya McDonald, Marc Spears, Justin Tinsley and ESPN’s Lisa Salters and Maria Taylor.
Viewers will meet remarkable people like 95-year-old Lucille Burden Osborne, the great-granddaughter of Charles McGruder. Her enslaved ancestor was deployed to neighboring plantations as a breeder, but created a home for his many children after emancipation.
Another story will explore the behind-the-scenes lives of some of TikTok’s most influential young Black content creators to understand the business behind their brands. Viewers will also learn about Afrofuturism as a philosophy, aesthetic, genre and tool for social change.
In each episode, familiar faces - performers, activists, scholars and clergy – will gather for an entertaining and provocative conversation “in the kitchen” about current events. A special performance featuring some of the nation’s greatest musicians, such as Emmy, Tony and Grammy award winner Cynthia Erivo, or spoken word artists will close out each episode.