MasterClass Makes Three-Part Class - Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love - Available for Free on MasterClass.com During Black History Month

Teams up with Amazon in the U.S. to also stream class on Prime Video and IMDb TV

News provided by

Feb 01, 2022, 09:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MasterClass, the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world's best across a wide range of subjects, today announced that for the first time ever it will offer free streaming of one of its classes during Black History Month on MasterClass.com and IMDb TV, Amazon's free streaming service. It will also be available to all U.S. Prime Members on Prime Video.

Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love is a three-part, 54-lesson class that examines the past, present and future of race relations in America. Taught by Jelani Cobb, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Angela Davis, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Sherrilyn Ifill, John McWhorter and Cornel West, all three parts of Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love are now available on the MasterClass platform.

As part of a $2 million commitment at MasterClass to make content that inspires and educates on social justice and against systemic racism, Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love will be available at no cost on MasterClass.com and IMDb TV during February, Black History Month.

"Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love is the most important and comprehensive class MasterClass has ever created," said David Rogier, founder and CEO of MasterClass. "This class teaches us how to build a society that honors Black voices, love and joy—lessons everyone can and should hear, which is why, for the first time ever, we are making a full class available for free on MasterClass.com. We are also teaming up with Amazon to make the class available to all Prime members on Prime Video, as well as on IMDb TV."

With 54 lessons and 10 hours of content, the class provides a foundational understanding of the historical and cultural context of white supremacy and its lasting impact on modern societal structures in the United States. The class also provides the knowledge and skills necessary to begin dismantling it and discovering a path forward.

"This class provides an uncensored and unfiltered version of Black history that is not typically taught in school," said Nekisa Cooper, VP of content at MasterClass. "Our groundbreaking instructors teach us the context of timely and important topics, hopefully delivering powerful lessons that will inspire action and help solve the problems we still face as a society today."

"We're proud to offer our Prime Video and IMDb TV customers access to MasterClass' Black History, Black Freedom and Black Love led by thought leaders in the Black community who offer tools and techniques to empower change," says Latasha Gillespie, Amazon Studios & Prime Video Global Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. "This three-part class provides our customers access to in-depth learnings as we celebrate Black History Month."

Covering 400 years of American history, the class informs, contextualizes and challenges how we think about race and racism, reconciles gaps in traditional education about U.S. history and offers tools and techniques to empower change in our own lives.

Part I: The Past explores the ties between slavery and American capitalism; the 14th Amendment and how the law acts as an agent of white supremacy; the history of voter suppression; and equality in education.
Part II: The Present examines important topics such as the origin of critical race theory; the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case; and the legacy of Thurgood Marshall.
Part III: The Future discusses how members can take what they have learned to move forward and create a society built on justice.

"These great voices for truth and justice are indispensable in our turbulent times," said Dr. West. "You want to be able to have a comprehensive and all-embracing way of seeing what's going on in the world, and this class will show you how to feel deeply and act courageously."

Embed & view the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKFdflLGuVw

Download stills here: https://brandfolder.com/s/wkbstz9wbw8z9c3kjb7cb636
Credit: Courtesy of MasterClass

ABOUT MASTERCLASS:
MasterClass is the streaming platform where the world's best come together so anyone, anywhere, can access and be inspired by their knowledge and stories. With an annual membership, members get unprecedented access to 150+ instructors and classes across a wide variety of fields, including Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, Writing and more. Step into Nas' recording studio, Gordon Ramsay's kitchen and go behind the big screen with James Cameron. Design your career with Elaine Welteroth, get ready to win with Lewis Hamilton, perfect your pitch with Shonda Rhimes and discover your inner negotiator with Chris Voss. Each class features about 20 video lessons, at an average of 10 minutes per lesson. You can learn and discover at a pace that best serves your lifestyle—in bite-size pieces or in a single binge, on mobile, tablet, desktop, Android™ TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku® players and devices. Cinematic visuals and close-up demonstrations make you feel like you're one-on-one with the instructors, while the downloadable class guides help reinforce your learning. For those looking to learn by doing, Sessions by MasterClass offers a structured, 30-day curriculum where members can roll up their sleeves, get hands-on and learn meaningful skills through step-by-step guidance from world-class instructors and an active community of peers. With MasterClass at Work, companies can keep their employees engaged and boost morale and motivation with immersive, short-form lessons from the world's best.

Follow MasterClass:
Twitter @masterclass
Instagram @masterclass
Facebook @masterclassofficial

Follow Jelani Cobb:
Twitter @jelani9
Instagram @jelani1906

Follow Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw:
Twitter @sandylocks
Instagram @kimberlecrenshaw

Follow Angela Davis:
Facebook @angeladavis26

Follow Nikole Hannah-Jones:
Twitter @nhannahjones

Follow Sherrilyn Ifill:
Twitter @sifill_ldf

Follow John McWhorter:
Twitter @johnhmcwhorter

Follow Cornel West:
Twitter @cornelwest
Facebook @drcornelwest

ABOUT PRIME VIDEO:

Prime Video offers customers a vast collection of movies, series, and sports—all available to watch on hundreds of compatible devices.

Included with Prime Video: Watch movies, series, and sports, including Thursday Night Football. Enjoy series and films including Emmy-winner The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Emmy-nominated satirical superhero drama The Boys, and the smash hits Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, The Tender Bar, Being the Ricardos, The Tomorrow War, and Coming 2 America. Prime members also get access to licensed content.
Prime Video Channels: Prime members can add channels like discovery+, Paramount+, BET+, EPIX, Noggin, NBA League Pass, MLB.TV, STARZ, and SHOWTIME—no extra apps to download, and no cable required. Only pay for the ones you want, and cancel anytime. View the full list of channels available atamazon.com/channels.
Rent or Buy: Enjoy new-release movies to rent or buy, entire seasons of current TV shows available to buy, and special deals just for Prime members.
Instant access: Watch at home or on the go with your choice of hundreds of compatible devices. Stream from the web or using the Prime Video app on your smartphone, tablet, set-top box, game console, or select smart TV.
Enhanced experiences: Make the most of every viewing with 4K Ultra HD- and High Dynamic Range (HDR)-compatible content. Go behind the scenes of your favorite movies and TV shows with exclusive X-Ray access, powered by IMDb. Save it for later with select mobile downloads for offline viewing.

Prime Video is just one of many shopping, savings, and entertainment benefits included with a Prime membership, along with fast, free shipping on millions of Prime-eligible items at Amazon.com, ultrafast grocery delivery and pickup, unlimited photo storage, exclusive deals and discounts, prescription savings, and access to ad-free music, books, and games. To sign up or start a 30-day free trial of Prime, visit: amazon.com/prime.

ABOUT IMDb TV
IMDb TV is a free streaming video service with thousands of premium movies and TV shows available anytime. Always entertaining. Always Free.

Expansive Catalog: IMDb TV is a modern television network, offering viewers ambitious originals, including Judy Justice, Luke Bryan: My Dirt Road Diary, Leverage: Redemption, Alex Rider, Moment of Truth, and UNINTERRUPTED's Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers, and an always updating library of broadly appealing hit movies and TV shows that customers would expect to see on a paid service. IMDb TV adds new titles to the service every month across a wide selection of genres, including comedy, family, romance, thrillers, science fiction, documentaries, and horror.
Free: IMDb TV is free. No paid subscriptions necessary.
Half the Ads: IMDb TV has half the ads of traditional linear TV.
Instant Access: IMDb TV is available as an app on Fire TV, Fire Tablets, and as a free Channel within Prime Video, across hundreds of devices. To use IMDb TV on Fire TV, customers can find the icon in the "Your Apps & Channels" row or using the Alexa Voice Remote, simply say "Alexa, go to IMDb TV." IMDb TV is also available as an app on third party devices including Roku, Apple TV, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, LG Smart TVs (2018-2021 models), Comcast's Xfinity Flex, Xfinity X1, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles, as well as Chromecast with Google TV, NVIDIA SHIELD, and other Android TV devices. The app is also available on iPhone, iPad and Android mobile devices.

To learn more about IMDb TV, visit www.amazon.com/imdbtv and follow @IMDbTV.

Media Contact:
Alyssa Bergerson, MasterClass
[email protected]

SOURCE MasterClass