Art Fennell formerly served as president of the National Association of Black Journalists. Ebony magazine selected him as one of the 100 most influential African-Americans in the country, and he says the country might have the wrong impression of Baltimore.
“I love ?The Wire,?” Fennell said of the popular HBO show based in Baltimore. “But we wanted to show the city from a historical perspective, a cultural perspective and walk the streets and meet the people here. Baltimore is more than ?The Wire.?”
The Comcast Network this month is broadcasting a special four-part “Art Fennel Reports” series airing 10 p.m. each Wednesday, starting this coming week, that highlights some of the country’s most important African-American figures, events and venues. The first segment highlights Baltimore?s African-American history and then moves on subsequent Wednesday evenings to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.
Fennel, an Emmy-award winning African-American journalist and 20-year news veteran, and his crew kick-off the series with a segment from Baltimore which highlights visits to the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. Also included are interviews with the Reginald F. Lewis Museum?s executive director David Terry and African-American community leaders Dr. Levy Watkins of Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State professor Homer Favor.
“Dr. Watkins and Dr. Favor are very proud of Baltimore, have been here a longtime and are protective of Baltimore?s image,” Fennell said. “But they talked about their disappointments, too, with the city.”
The different segments each week will take viewers to sites such as the Northeast Underground Railroad and Washington?s famed U Street region, as well as examine important events including Boston’s court-ordered busing desegregation and more.
“The Baltimore-area is just steeped in African-American history,” Fennell said “The museums we visited are world-renowned and the Reginald Lewis is a state-of-art facility. We want people who don?t live in the area to see them. We want people to understand the great history here, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman are from here. Maryland has played a vital role in this country?s history.”
