I plan on watching and I'm viewing with an open mind, no expectations.

I plan on watching it, too. I just appreciate the fact that they made this program and are choosing to broadcast it in July instead of coping out and just making this for Black History Month.

I'll also be watching it with an open mind.

No mo cable but I'm sure it will be discussed here tomorrow.:)

I'll be watching. I'm wondering if one of my "experiences" will be featured.

I'll be watching with an open mind.

Watching…not expecting much. doubt they will pay attention to middle class though. Not like we don't exist

30 minutes in and I'm still waiting on The Black Woman & Family.

30 minutes in…I like what I have seen so far.

It's fine thus far. I guess I was thinking they were going to concentrate on what the title is from the beginning.

This is a report to white people about Black problem. Nothing WE have never discussed before… but its not over yet. And I will continue to watch.

Watched the whole thing…missed the part about the black woman.

Sure the men will get their full hour though :\

I don't have cable, but I would have watched. Sorry I missed it.

It was very negative and said nothing that I didn't already know…I am sure I wasn't the target audience: a black woman in America.

The whole idea of this series seems weird to me, and I was a little worried what direction it would take. They seem to be focusing on individuals in a respectable way, but I'm curious if anyone else is going to be the focus of a miniseries ("The Native American Man?"), and what black people make of that distinction. Is this another example of the mainstream media treating black people as a lump demographic? Can a series like this, despite appearances, get it right?

I watched CNN's Black in America: The Black Woman & Family and I liked it. It focused on the good and the not so fortunate situations for black people today. As a black woman, I could relate to a few of the situations that were shown. I wished they would of showed black people & the LGBT community, the church, and economics. Of course it had topics that I already knew about, but I'm glad they featured a single black father raising his children alone.

I hated, hated, HATED IT. I was looking forward to it, but it was very, very negative and doom and gloom. It actually put me in a funk for a while. It's always so odd that the success of black women is always presented in relation to the "failures" of black men. The whole "black professional women can't find a good black man" story was played out 7 years ago. Soledad should really have been smarter than this. I'm disappointed in her and CNN. There was nothing new here, just the same old, same old. Of course, there are people who greatly benefit from the same old images being trotted out in the media.

The thing is it had absolutely nothing to do with being black. It should have been called urban poverty in America. They did not focus on the unique challenges of the BLACK poor or the BLACK middle class. They talked about a man getting kicked out of his apartment, but not about housing discrimination. They talked about poor education but not about how there is discrimination against black kids in the class room even in middle class environments(our quiet boys tend to get put in the "slow" class) and disproportionate government spending away from inner city (read black) schools. They talked about bad health care but not about the fact that food vendors intentionally send nearly expired products to the ghetto, and about how blacks and whites receive different health care even when they go to the SAME DOCTOR. THATS a BIG PART of why blacks die at a higher rate from diseases like cancer — they are typically diagnosed later because doctors spend less time on them.

These are the issues that make being black in America different from being a white person regardless of if you are middle class or poor.

It is important to explain these issues so people can get a sense of why affirmative action programs are more useful in some instances than simple economic incentives.

I agree with most of the other commenters: it was kind of a "introductory lesson" to those who aren't Black on SOME of the issues that Black Americans face. It was very surface-level. I had hoped that I could have gotten more out of the deal but CNN presented it exactly I felt that they would: Black People 101.

I was disappointed that they focused primarily on one family (with a few external people). My friend mentioned that most of the subjects were light-skinned (she said she only saw 3 darker skinned people), I didn't notice when watching but she was right.

It could have been done better, but I'm going to watch tonight's to see what else they have to add.

I agree with the prevailing sentiment that it was a little negative. Not only that, but it was boring. Intentionally done or not it was geared toward ppl who have very little knowledge of black people. After watching the first installment I don't think this gives those people any real insight into us.

Would have preferred to have had HBO do a docu on this. Maybe they would have had the balls to dig deeper.

The fact that they referred to this series as "groundbreaking" was the very reason that I chose not to watch. Again, it was plugged as telling the story of an entire race of people, when clearly we are not monolithic. CNN dropped the ball to be innovative.

It was whatever. Nothing new to me. It's aimed at the general audience so what can we expect. This is the first part though, so I'll have to wait and see what else they'll show.

I hoped they'd discuss "other Blacks" in America, though I doubt they will. All those Africans and Carribeans will of course be left out.

I am so tired of being viewed as a problem or having problems just because I am black.
Why is my blackness( of any shade) a sin?
I thought that program was going to discuss our accomplishments, parental concerns for the future or how we are tired of being viewed as one big ole stereotype because of what's on the evening news. Please tell me that in the next episode tonight that she goes to Morehouse, Spelman, Howard or FAMU to speak with some young black people doing positive things because the stories of our bout with AIDS/HIV, single parenthood, poverty, lack of education and relation to white folks via the slave owners has gotten tired.
I like Soledad. I really expected so much more and was very disappointed.

@Tonya: did you actually watch it? There's a lot on improvement and progress. I watched part of it so I can't answer your question, but there's a need to look at all of black America. What I saw was mostly on working class and a few upper middle class. When they talked about the failing schools, almost all of it was on volunteers trying to get drop outs to go back to school and effective, new strategies to motivate black kids so they, the black working class, can join the mostly middle class and upper middle class people at Spelman, etc.

I wished they would of showed black people & the LGBT community, the church, and economics
It's a series. There are several clips on economics on the video page. I know TD Jakes was interviewed and he said his son didn't want to get blacker. I don't know if his whole interview was related to the church or just his own individual experiences with race when in mainstream America (vs. a black church).

@Tonya:

There are problems in the black community. Those stats don't lie. We need to look at our problems in the eye and deal with them. True, we have blacks doing good and being successful, but only showing the good is like only showing the bad; it's not an accurate representation.

I'm worried when statments like ' those stats don't lie' is a reality for you. Stats lie all the time. CNN has packaged us in one little tight fit box again and failed to tell our entire story. It's not enough time to explain all the truths that we each live. I second everything that 'blackivy' said. Also, we are all not poor, from broken homes and struggling. It would be nice to see some balance represented. There is power in words and if people are constantly told they are downtrotten, hopeless and struggling they will begin to believe it.

I think we have to show both sides. One side is a harsh reality check, while the other provides hope that we CAN and ARE doing better than what is projected.

I love that story about the guy who didn't finish college, but did what he had to do to get a job. I was in a similar situation. Didn't finish because of money issues, but still had above average smarts. I beat the street until I couldn't pound it anymore. With each successive job, I pulled every job skill I could from it to took it to my next job. I'm proud of what I have because hard work and the Lord has blessed me with a very comfortable life.

I watched it but I was disappointed because all it did was restate issues that I already knew existed. It presented no solutions on how I or others on the same level of knowledge as myself with regard to these issues, should fix these problems.

That said, although I learned nothing, I suppose it is decent as a start so that people who don't know about the issues can be aware of them.

I didn't watch it because I can't stand having Michael Eric Dyson on my television and will avoid it if at all possible. He has to be the most annoying black bloviator on the earth.

Dyson is amazing (in my opinion of course). Why don't you like him Charles?

i think it is an absolute shame than in 2008 none of the cable news stations have a prime time show anchored by a black person. soladad was the closest they have so i guess that's why she was chosen for this special. what is even sadder than the all white cable news world is the fact that america does not see the correlation between it and the ills that plague the black community.

If more black people would watch CNN you would know that there are more black anchors than you know; Tony Williams, Fredericka, Michael Onoku,
Leon Harris came from CNN and there are a host of others I can't remember all the names but CNN have black anchors and maybe they were trying to cater to the black audience when the aired the show but unfortunately I don't the Soledad did it any justice - she is not black enough and Im not talking about her complexion.

hahaha. black enough

I watched it but I was disappointed because all it did was restate issues that I already knew existed…
Eric

Thank you Eric. This summed up my feelings. To the others that questioned whether I watched the series….the entire 4 hours, actually twice. While its OBVIOUS the black community has issues that need to be addressed, why must we only discuss these issues and not our accomplishments?I think more black people are inspired when they see accomplishments in our community instead of being constantly beat over the head with our issues. This is not a new discussion or hell, new series. When are we going to accept that many of our issues are quite similar (to some extent) to the greater society so there is no need to treat ourselves like we are the worse of the bunch. We must face our issues head on with real resolutions, but constantly "talking" about them at conferences and in series after series will not solve them either.