The Sit-In chronicles a remarkable moment during February 1968, when for one week, singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte took over the desk as guest host of Johnny Carson’s iconic “Tonight Show.” It was the first time an African-American hosted a late night television show for an entire week.
THE SIT IN
About The Director
Yoruba Richen
Yoruba Richen is a documentary filmmaker who created the documentary specialization at the Newmark J-School. Her work has been featured on PBS, New York Times Op Doc, Frontline Digital, New York Magazine’s The Cut, The Atlantic and Field of Vision. Her film The Green Book: Guide to Freedom aired on The Smithsonian Channel in February 2019. Yoruba’s feature documentary The New Black won multiple festival awards and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and a GLAAD Media Award. Her film Promised Land won the Fledgling Fund award for social issue documentary and was broadcast on “POV.” Yoruba won a Clio award for her short film about the Grammy-nominated singer Andra Day. She has also won Creative Promise Award at Tribeca All Access and was a Sundance Producers Fellow. Yoruba is a featured TED Speaker, a Fulbright fellow, a Guggenheim fellow and a 2016 recipient of the Chicken & Egg Breakthrough Filmmaker Award. She was chosen for The Root 100 list of the most influential African Americans 45 and under, recognizing her as a leader whose “work from the past year is breaking down barriers and paving the way for the next generation.”
