Invitation to Media to Attend A Special Screening of Ken Burns Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

WHAT The Count Basie Theatre, Emerging Pictures and the NJN Foundation invite the media to a special premiere of Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, a provocative new PBS documentary directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. The premiere is open to the public; there is no admission fee, but tickets are required and can be reserved by visiting or calling the Count Basie Theatre ticket office at (732) 842-9000. The film is a production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, DC. The premiere has been made possible by funding from All-American Chevrolet and Panasonic.

WHEN Monday, January 10, at 7:45 pm.

WHERE Historical Count Basie Theatre, 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701.
Media planning to attend should contact Aimee Fisher, Public Relations, at (609) 777-5058 or email at afisher@njn.org.

BACKGROUND – By the end of 1910, Jack Johnson was on top of the world, the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, the most famous – and notorious – African American on earth. But forces were gathering in America to stop him. Ken Burns, whose past films on PBS (The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, etc.) are among the most-watched documentaries ever made, shows the gritty details of Johnson’s life through archival footage, still photographs and the commentary of boxing experts such as Stanley Crouch, Bert Sugar, the late George Plimpton, Jack Newfield, Gerald Early and James Earl Jones, who portrayed Johnson in the Broadway play and film based on Johnson’s life, The Great White Hope. Underwriting for the program is provided by General Motors with additional funding from The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Rosalind P. Walter, Public Television Viewers, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

NJN BROADCAST DATES – Part 1 of Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson airs on NJN Public Television on January 27, from 9 pm to 11 pm, and Part 2 airs on Thursday, February 3, from 9 pm to 11 pm.