FSN's Black History Month Vignettes Detail Non-Sports Subjects

By John Ourand, Staff Writer

Farmer's Insurance is in the second year of its deal to be the presenting sponsor of FSN's Black History Month programming. This year, the all-sports channel plans to roll out a series of 90-second vignettes called "Americans in Focus," which will profile notable African-Americans, many of whom have nothing to do with sports. Subjects will include Oscar Micheaux, the first African-American to write, produce and direct a feature-length film, and Robert Smalls, the former slave who became a U.S. Congressman. FSN also will telecast "Hyde Rugby: A New World," which is a 30-minute documentary on the students of DC's Hyde Leadership Public Charter School, which fielded the U.S.' first all African-American high school rugby team in '00. As part of its sponsorship deal, Farmer's Insurance attaches its name to all of FSN's diversity programming, including Hispanic Heritage Month in September/October and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May.