Groundbreaking Film to Tour Nation Before it Airs on ESPN

Tennessee State Team Earl Monroe & Clarence "Big House" Gaines

New York, NY (BlackNews.com) - Black Magic, the breakthrough two-part four-hour ESPN film on the injustice that defines the Civil Rights Movement told through the lives of basketball players and coaches who attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities is going on the road prior to its March 16th and 17th commercial free air dates. Black Magic is directed by award winning filmmaker Dan Klores and produced by Hall of Famer Earl Monroe. It is a riveting examination of "exclusion" and therefore "invention", beginning during Reconstruction and up to the present with stars such as Avery Johnson and Ben Wallace. Klores completed more than 45 interviews and shot more than 250 hours of footage.

Featured in the film are Dick Barnett, Willis Reed, Al Attles, Bob Love, John Chaney, Ben Jobe, Bob Dandridge, Earl Lloyd, Harold Hunter, Cleo Hill, Earl Monroe, Sonny Hill, Travis Grant, Coach Dave Robbins, Charles Oakley, Mrs. Clarence "Big House" Gaines, Mrs. John McLendon, Howie Evans, Donnie Walsh, Bobby Cremins, Malbert Pradd, Ernie Brown, the historians Henry Louis Gates, Cleveland Sellers, and Milton Katz as well as others.

Black Magic also contains 51 songs from the likes of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, Booker T and the MG's, The Temptations and Earth, Wind and Fire. A soundtrack from Rhino Records will be available shortly.

Monroe applauds ESPN honchos John Skipper and Keith Clinkscales for agreeing to give Klores the four uninterrupted hours he requested. "The stakes are so important, the film is about brave, courageous and gifted black men and women who we are in the process of forgetting. Black Magic is a part of our history, a history of injustice and refuge and joy. So frankly, I grow a bit concerned that young people and people who make decisions about what is newsworthy or not, will ignore us."

Producer Monroe added, "The brilliance of what Dan Klores has done, however, is that he told this story blending the worlds of politics and sports in such a way that everybody, black or white can and will grasp in a very, very emotional manner. Both young and old need to see this film, they will learn, they will cry and laugh and they will feel proud, which is what these schools were about in the first place."

Monroe announced that a special series of pre-airdate screenings have been set up and that he and Klores have volunteered to give the film to any HBCU that would like to an edited version for any on campus fundraising or educational purposes.

Currently the line up for special screenings of Black Magic prior to the airdate March 16th and 17th on ESPN are:

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 -- Tennessee State (Nashville)
Friday, February 1, 2008 -- Alabama A&M (Huntsville)
Monday, February 4, 2008 -- Morehouse (Atlanta)
Thursday, February 7, 2008 -- Congressional Black Caucus (Washington DC)
Monday, February 11, 2008 -- NC Central/Duke University (Durham)
Saturday, February 16, 2008 -- NBA All-Star Weekend (New Orleans)
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 -- Civil Rights Institute (Birmingham)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 -- Brooklyn Academy of Music (Brooklyn)
Saturday, February 23, 2008 -- Winston Salem State University (Winston Salem)
Saturday, February 23, 2008 -- Cheyney University (Cheyney, Pennsylvania)
Monday, February 25, 2008 -- The Apollo Theater (New York City)
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 -- Riverside Church (New York City)
Thursday, February 28, 2008 -- CIAA Tournament (Charlotte)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 -- University South Carolina/Benedict (Columbia)
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 -- Morris Dees Civil Rights Center (Montgomery)