BIO.com Kicks Off Black History Month with Original Short Form Videos

BIO.com® announces the kick-off of Black History Month with over 25 original short form videos set around key events, locations and biographies of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama.

The series, "American Freedom Stories: Alabama Civil Rights," captures the personal stories of the people who lived through the Civil Rights Movement at locations where they made history. Videos include interviews with the foot soldiers of the Children's Crusade of 1963 and activists who participated in The March from Selma to Montgomery, among many others. Filming took place in Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, Alabama, as well as at the Medgar Evers House Museum in Jackson, Mississippi.

BIO.com's Black History Month videos will showcase the following:

American Freedom Stories: Alabama Civil Rights:

http://www.biography.com/black-history-civil-rights-videos

· Many of the pivotal moments of the modern Civil Rights Movement in America took place in Alabama. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott that ended segregation on public transportation. In Birmingham, the Civil Rights struggle shocked the world when children were violently arrested during the Children's Crusade of 1963, and four months later four little girls were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. And, in 1965, protestors of all races joined in solidarity in the 50-mile march from Selma to Montgomery to demand African Americans' right to vote. Watch how their American Freedom Stories helped lead the nation to change

In addition to the new series, BIO is featuring original videos that give an account of the tragic murders of Medgar Evers and Emmett Till in Mississippi and how they impacted the Civil Rights Movement.

Medgar Evers - Assassination:

http://www.biography.com/people/medgar-evers-9542324/videos/medgar-evers-%E2%80%93-assassination-109149763632

· As an NAACP field secretary, Medgar Evers became a target for those who opposed racial equality and desegregation. On June 12, 1963 at 12:40 a.m., Evers was shot in the back in the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi.

Emmett Till - Legacy:

http://www.biography.com/people/emmett-till-507515/videos/emmett-till-legacy-109203523793

· On August 24, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till reportedly flirted with a white cashier in Money, Mississippi. Four days later, two white men tortured and murdered Till. His murder galvanized the emerging Civil Rights Movement.

In total, BIO has over 150 short videos in its Black History collection:

http://www.biography.com/black-history-videos

Exclusive first on-camera interviews include:

· Reverend Frederick Reese, who invited Martin Luther King Jr. to lead Selma's voting rights protest and marched alongside MLK in The March from Selma to Montgomery.

· Sheyann Webb, the "smallest Freedom Fighter," who, at the age of 8, was the youngest participant in the civil rights demonstration that became known as "Bloody Sunday."

· Barbara Cross, a Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and daughter of the church's pastor John Cross Jr.

· Althea Thomas, the organist who Martin Luther King Jr. selected for his church in Montgomery, and Dr. Ralph Bryson, a member of MLK's congregation.

· Solomon Seay Jr., a pioneering civil rights attorney who worked on cases involving the Selma to Montgomery March, the Freedom Riders and public school desegregation in the landmark Lee v. Macon decision.

· Georgette Norman, director of Troy University Rosa Parks Museum.

· Reverend Robert Graetz, the white pastor of an all-black church in Montgomery who was friends with Rosa Parks and participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Last February saw an increase in online traffic for BIO.com with over 14 million video views and over 15 million visits (up 193 percent and up 84 percent, respectively, vs. February 2012), and over 40 million page views and over 11 million unique visitors (up 72 percent and 82 percent, respectively vs. February 2012).

Source: Adobe Analytics

About A+E Networks

A+E Networks® is an award-winning, global media content company offering consumers a diverse communications environment ranging from television networks to websites, to home videos/DVDs to gaming and educational software. A+E Networks is comprised of the A&E®, Lifetime®, HISTORY®, LMN®, Bio.®, H2™, HISTORY en Espa?ol™, Crime & Investigation Network®, Military HISTORY®, A&E IndieFilms®, A+E Networks International®, A+E Networks Digital® and A+E Networks Consumer Products™. A+E Networks channels and branded programming reach more than 300 million households in over 150 countries. A+E Networks. is a joint venture of Disney-ABC Television Group and Hearst Corporation.

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