TCM Schedule for Monday January 19, 2026 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

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(all times Eastern)

6:00 AM Edge of the City (1957)
1h 25m | Drama | TV-PG
An army deserter and a black dock worker join forces against a corrupt union official.
Director: Martin Ritt. Cast: John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, Jack Warden

7:30 AM Intruder in the Dust (1949)
1h 29m | Drama | TV-G
Only a young boy and an old woman stand between an innocent black man and a lynch mob.
Director: Clarence Brown. Cast: David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Juano Hernandez

9:00 AM Take a Giant Step (1959)
1h 40m | Drama | TV-PG
A troubled black teenager tries to find his place in a white world.
Director: Philip Leacock. Cast: Johnny Nash, Estelle Hemsley, Ruby Dee

10:45 AM Say Amen, Somebody - The Good News Musical (1982)
1h 40m | Documentary | TV-G
The lives and music of early gospel artists are documented. Performers who are highlighted include Sallie Martin, the Barrett Sisters, and the O'Neill Brothers, but much of the focus is on the legendary singers Willie Mae Ford Smith and Thomas A. Dorsey.
Director: George T Nierenberg. Cast: Rhodessa Barrett Porter, Edgar O'Neal, Zella Jackson Price

12:30 PM Freedom on My Mind (1994)
1h 45m | Documentary | TV-PG
The dramatic story of the Mississippi Voter Registration project (1961-64) is told through the eyewitness accounts of several remarkable men and women.
Director: Connie Field. Cast: Endesha Ida Mae Holland, Pam Chude Allen, Marshall Ganz

2:30 PM The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)
2h | Adaptation | TV-PG
Story of a black woman in the South who was born into slavery in the 1850s and lives to become a part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Director: John Korty. Cast: Cicely Tyson, Odetta, Josephine Premice

4:30 PM King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
3h 5m | Documentary | TV-G
Assembled from archival footage, this compilation documentary shines a light on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and his work in support of the Civil Rights Movement.
Director: Sidney Lumet, Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Cast: Martin Luther King, Harry Belafonte, Charlton Heston

8:00 PM I Heard It Through the Grapevine (1982)
1h 35m | Documentary | TV-PG
James Baldwin retraces his time in the South during the Civil Rights Movement, reflecting with his trademark insight on the passage of more than two decades.
Director: Dick Fontaine, Pat Hartley. Cast: James Baldwin, David Baldwin, Chinua Achebe

10:00 PM Malcolm X (1992)
3h 19m | Biography | TV-14
Biographical account of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.
Director: Spike Lee. Cast: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo

1:30 AM Uptight (1968)
1h 44m | Drama | TV-14
A desperate African-American man betrays his friend, a black militant leader, for some money to help feed his girlfriend's children, and then becomes the object of a manhunt by the militant group.
Director: Jules Dassin. Cast: Raymond St. Jacques, Ruby Dee, Frank Silvera

3:30 AM Black Moderates and Black Militants (1968)
10m | Documentary | TV-PG
Three members of the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party, including future congressman Bobby Rush, respectfully debate with the principal of an African American high school on strategies for ending racism.
Director: The Film Group. Cast: Bobby Rush

3:45 AM The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)
1h 28m | Documentary | TV-14
This film depicts the brutal murder of the leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party by the Chicago police and its subsequent investigation.
Director: Mike Gray. Cast: Howard Alk, Howard Alk, Mike Gray

5:15 AM Black Panthers (1968)
31m | Documentary | TV-PG
Interviews and protests at a rally to free Huey P. Newton.
Director: Agnès Varda. Cast: Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, H. Rap Brown