Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Produce Documentary on U.S. Protests for A+E Networks History Channel

The NBA legend previously collaborated with A&E Networks on ‘Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution’

Columnist and former NBA All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be executive producing Fight the Power: The Protests That Changed America with Deborah Morales for the A+E Networks History Channel.

The one-hour documentary will examine the effect key protests have had over time on the evolution of America to explore the question: Does the arc of the moral universe bend toward justice when pressure is applied?

This collaboration is the second between the NBA legend and the History Channel, having previously paired up on 2020’s one-hour documentary Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution.

The documentary highlighted “the Black heroes of the American Revolution who stood up against British rule to help establish the United States of America, and, conversely, black loyalists who fought for the Crown—and the promise of freedom,” as well as Abdul-Jabbar’s own personal journey.

When promoting Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution, Abdul-Jabbar said on CBS This Morning, “I think the history that we’re taught, it’s taught to us in a way that kind of minimizes or marginalizes the contributions of people who were not of European descent, and I think that’s the problem…They are only focusing on one segment of society and what they contributed.”

He says in the film, “We could not have won the Revolutionary War without the contribution of black Americans, and success in the war would come to whoever armed blacks the fastest.”

A&E Networks announced two other documentary projects at their virtual upfronts yesterday. Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution, directed and executive produced by Mario Diaz and Jessica Sherif, is a four hour, two-part series said to explore “the evolution of Black comedy and comedians who have used pointed humor to expose, challenge and ridicule society’s injustices and to articulate the Black experience in America.”

Also announced was the docuseries, Secret Origins of Hip Hop, which “follows some of hip-hop’s biggest stars, including Busta Rhymes, Eve, Fat Joe Grandmaster Flash, and Ice-T, as they share the stories and events that molded them into the artists they became.”

Secret Origins of Hip Hop is produced by Mass Appeal and executive produced by Peter Bittenbender and Slane Hatch.

Fight the Power is produced by Six West Media with Abdul-Jabbar and Morales exec producing via Iconomy Multi-Media & Entertainment.