About

"Our America: Living While Black" is an hour-long special that airs as a culmination of a five-part docuseries highlighting the lives of Black families. The special goes beyond the statistics to explore racial inequality and structural barriers affecting Black families across the country. Despite the obstacles, viewers will see the perseverance, hope and success of Black families across America as they seek to build stronger communities and make real change despite centuries of systemic racism.

The docuseries is produced by a diverse editorial team from across the owned stations, led by Jennifer Mitchell, senior vice president of content development for ABC Owned Television Stations. The team included Maxine Crooks, a talent recruitment executive at the station group and former executive producer at owned station WPVI-TV Philadelphia; Monica Barnes, a community engagement executive at WTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham; WPVI's anchor Tamala Edwards, and former overnight anchor for ABC's "World News Now;" Mariel Myers, an executive producer from KGO-TV San Francisco; and Justin Allen, a senior producer of content development for the ABC Owned Television Stations.

The editorial team contributed their unique perspective to every aspect of the docuseries through a lens of diverse cultural awareness and sensitivity. The group collaborated daily to address and tackle all issues covered throughout the series to ensure authentic representation and diversity of voices showcased. At times, the team shared their personal and professional stories that led to real-time production pivots such as refining the graphics package to be cognizant of pervasive stereotypes.